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The Jabotinsky Paradox
August  

The Jabotinsky Paradox

How could the man who at one point openly scorned religion also be the forefather of the political coalition that ensured for it a key place in Israeli life?

The Present, Past, and Pre-History of Conversion
May  The Great Awakenings

The Present, Past, and Pre-History of Conversion

Longing to leave liberalism behind, everyone from Catholics to Communists is experimenting with self-transformation. What’s fueling that desire, and is it strong enough to make the break?

Skokie Then and Now
April  Free Speech and the Jews

Skokie Then and Now

In 1977, a Jewish director of the ACLU famously agreed to defend the rights of neo-Nazis in Illinois to demonstrate in public. Would the same thing happen today—and should it?

The Return of the Peace Processors
February  The Dark Side of Daylight

The Return of the Peace Processors

For decades, America’s foreign-policy establishment has, in the name of peace, incentivized conflict in the Middle East. Now that it’s back in power, can it learn from its mistakes?

The Mystery of Theodor Herzl
January  

The Mystery of Theodor Herzl

A young secular Viennese writer had an experience 125 years ago that would lead him to change Jewish history forever. He could never explain it. Can anyone else?

My Quarrel with "My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner"
December  The Debate at the Center of Jewish Modernity

My Quarrel with “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner”

How I came to translate one of the greatest stories in all of Yiddish literature, a work that I believe uniquely illuminates the debate at the very center of Jewish modernity.

Israel’s Russian Wave, Thirty Years Later
November  Israel's Eastern Bloc

Israel’s Russian Wave, Thirty Years Later

Three decades ago, a million emigres from Eastern Europe arrived in Israel, increasing its population by 20 percent almost overnight and changing its culture forever. What’s their story?

How America's Idealism Drained Its Jews of Their Resilience
October  The Wellsprings of Jewish Resilience

How America’s Idealism Drained Its Jews of Their Resilience

In Israel and in traditional communities, life and liturgy don’t run away from hardship. Most American Jews prefer to think on the brighter side, but that comes at a high cost.

The Jewish Schools of the Future
August  Jewish Education and the COVID Crisis

The Jewish Schools of the Future

After the Great Disruption, a new renaissance can emerge, marrying Jewish classical education and novel technology, and confronting the cultural crisis with Jewish exceptionalism.