In Defense of the Isolationist Jew
Instead of placing ourselves as the main characters in another mighty civilization’s story, our task remains to plough our own furrow, and reap our own harvest.
The Baffling Appeal of "Jews Don’t Count"
Why is a silly new documentary about anti-Semitism that breathlessly reveals David Schwimmer has “never felt white, ever” getting such a rapturous response?
In Israel and America, Haredi Jews Are Starting To Vote Like Everyone Else
Ultra-Orthodox Jews no longer vote in blocs and are now enthusiastic participants in national ideological movements. They may rue the change.
How to Solve the Haredi Education Controversy
If outsiders listen to leaders of the community rather than reformers on the margins, they’ll be more likely to come to agreement. Just look to Israel, where a new precedent was set.
Watch, Read, or Listen to Eli Spitzer on the New York Times's Controversial Yeshiva Report
Watch the recording or read the transcript of our columnist’s conversation last week about the hasidic yeshiva controversy.
The Not-So-Mysterious Logic of the Shiddukh System
Everyone from Netflix to the Forward is fascinated by the ḥaredi matchmaking system because it rejects liberal norms. Here’s what they’re missing.
The End of the New Jew and the Rebirth of the Old
Zionist revolutionaries dreamed that Israel would create a New Jew, purged of the exile’s disfigurements. Instead, it’s become a vehicle for the renewal of the old Jew, and the old Judaism.
The Specter of Satmar
How did a small Transylvanian movement become the most powerful player in worldwide ultra-Orthodoxy?
Watch Our Conversation on the Rising Power of Haredi Judaism
Missed the live event? Catch the recording here of Eli Spitzer speaking live on the rising influence of haredi Judaism with a journalist, a researcher, and a haredi rabbi.
The Haredi Moment Has Arrived
The balance of power in the Jewish world is shifting to the ultra-Orthodox. Can conflict with the current establishment be avoided?
Stranger and Neighbor at the Schvitz in London
At a public bath in east London, three of the city’s most insular groups—cockneys, Russian immigrants, and ḥasidic Jews—sweat together in peace. How?
The Best Books of 2021, Chosen by Mosaic Authors (Part II)
Four more of our writers pick several favorites each, featuring two Ruths, passengers, Lincoln, Verdun, chief rabbis, Jewish Montreal, sweet spots, a fortress, and more.
New York State vs. the Yeshivas
Those who defend ḥasidic yeshivas against increasing state regulation have conjured up an unrecognizable fairy-tale world. But the arguments of the state’s defenders are even worse.
What the Future Holds for Modern Orthodox Judaism: A Conversation
A video of a discussion earlier this month with the Mosaic columnist Eli Spitzer and Sarah Rindner about the former’s attention-grabbing argument about Modern Orthodox Judaism.
How Modern Orthodoxy Can Chart Its Course Without Jonathan Sacks
More than most, Modern Orthodoxy is a movement constantly ensnared by ideological disputes. Here’s how it can survive.
How Yiddish Survived
Suddenly, Yiddish is no longer the archetype of a dying language but is transformed, growing, and built to withstand the rigors of the 21st century. What happened?
To Free Your Children from the Tyranny of Social Media, Look to the Haredim
Only by giving up some individual freedom and banding together can parents gain the power to reject the harmful influence of Silicon Valley on young minds.
What Drove Chaim Grade Away from Religion
The author of “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner” was alienated from traditional religion not because of Orthodoxy in general but because of his yeshiva’s misanthropic separatism.