Isaac’s Laughter
December 2, 2022
At the start of this week’s Torah reading, Jacob, like his grandfather Abraham before him, leaves the land of his birth for new horizons.
Matthew Schultz
Matthew Schultz is the author of the essay collection “What Came Before” (2020). He is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts.
Why This Non-Orthodox Jew Is Sticking With His Orthodox Prayer Book
November 16, 2022
If we want to create a new liturgy that stands a chance of becoming a lasting, vital contribution to Jewish spiritual life, we will not achieve this by going through the siddur with a red pen.
What the Headlines Can’t Tell Us About the Western Wall
October 26, 2022
We would all do well to remember that what we see in the headlines is partial. It is an “edge of the people” or a glimpse of “the wasteland” but it isn’t everything.
Do You Need to Believe in God to Convert to Judaism?
October 12, 2022
For the Torah, “belief” does not mean “belief in the claim that something exists,” but rather is an expression of trust, loyalty, and dedication.
The Three Books of Judgment
September 16, 2022
How do we maintain a belief in God’s goodness in a world where evil and misfortune exist?
Leonard Cohen Took Judaism Seriously
September 8, 2022
In 1964, at a symposium For English language Jewish writers, Leonard Cohen delivered a jeremiad against North American Judaism — a Judaism that had abandoned God in favor of bourgeois, assimilationist dreams.
Fundamentalist Chic
August 31, 2022
Jewish religious leaders should take note. Young people like sleek, modern design for our consumer electronics, yes, but not for our religion.
Learning How to Read on Shavuot
June 2, 2022
The Torah remains our greatest inheritance and our heaviest piece of baggage—simultaneously an elixir of life and an elixir of death depending on the spirit in which it is imbibed.
An Idiot Abroad on Yom HaZikaron
May 3, 2022
The atmosphere of Memorial Day in Israel speaks to the fact that, in Israel, history runs wild in the streets.
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