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The Tremors of Muslim Reform

The Tremors of Muslim Reform

The powers at the center of the Muslim world are refusing to tolerate radical Islamism, and a spirit of repair and renewal is at hand. Will it catch on?

Nov. 10 2020 12:12AM
Why the King James Version of the Bible Remains the Best

Why the King James Version of the Bible Remains the Best

The 400-year-old translation is denigrated because of its archaic language. That’s one of its greatest strengths.

May 27 2015 12:01AM
Rembrandt's Great Jewish Painting

Rembrandt's Great Jewish Painting

Not only strikingly beautiful, his painting of Moses holding the Ten Commandments also happens to be one of the most authentically Jewish works of art ever created.

June 10 2016 12:01AM
Why Does “Making” Mean What It Means for American Ashkenazi Jews?

Why Does “Making” Mean What It Means for American Ashkenazi Jews?

If you don’t know what it means, you can probably figure it out. (Or you can read this column.)

Nov. 22 2017 12:01AM
My Life with Leonard Cohen

My Life with Leonard Cohen

Friends, but never close, our paths intersected and then diverged, until this past September, when I connected with Leonard for the last time.

Nov. 30 2016 12:01AM
What I Learned When I Called Out an Anti-Semitic Cartoonist at Stanford Earlier This Month

What I Learned When I Called Out an Anti-Semitic Cartoonist at Stanford Earlier This Month

An open letter to fellow students who want to write about Israel and anti-Semitism.

May 21 2019 12:01AM
How Modern Orthodoxy Can Chart Its Course Without Jonathan Sacks

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.

Aug. 3 2021 12:01AM
Are Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew the Same Language, or Two Different Ones?

Are Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew the Same Language, or Two Different Ones?

What separates language from language, and language from dialect.

Feb. 5 2020 12:01AM
On View for the First Time in 100 Years: An Exquisite Medieval Haggadah

On View for the First Time in 100 Years: An Exquisite Medieval Haggadah

A few months ago, I was approached with a request to become involved in a then-secret mission: to examine one of the very few high-medieval Haggadahs still in private hands.

April 23 2019 12:01AM
An Unknown Yiddish Masterpiece That Anticipated the Holocaust

An Unknown Yiddish Masterpiece That Anticipated the Holocaust

Written in 1923, “In the Crucifix Kingdom” depicts Europe as a Jewish wasteland. Why has no one read it?

April 15 2015 12:01AM
In Photos: The Story of the Liberation of Jerusalem a Century Ago

In Photos: The Story of the Liberation of Jerusalem a Century Ago

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s unification in the Six-Day War. It also marks the 100th anniversary of a fierce World War I battle that saved the city from destruction.

May 22 2017 12:01AM
What the First Senate Hearing for a Supreme Court Nominee Shows about Today's Confirmation Process

What the First Senate Hearing for a Supreme Court Nominee Shows about Today's Confirmation Process

The possibility of another contentious confirmation hearing recalls the first the Senate ever held, which just happened to be for the first Jewish justice to sit on the court.

Oct. 6 2020 12:01AM
The Soviet Jews Who Risked Persecution for the Sake of Matzah

The Soviet Jews Who Risked Persecution for the Sake of Matzah

Lugging suitcases or large woven bags—anything big enough to hold a carton of matzah without raising suspicion—tens of thousands made their way to underground bakeries.

April 28 2016 12:01AM
One Who Fought Back: Herschel Grynszpan and the Holocaust

One Who Fought Back: Herschel Grynszpan and the Holocaust

A new book gives reason to reflect on the little-known story of the Jewish teenager who assassinated a German diplomat in 1938, an act that served as the pretext for Kristallnacht.

April 25 2019 12:01AM