JL;DR

As the fall holiday season approaches, the Jewish Review of Books reflects on past issues and web articles, selecting 10 favorites that correspond with the t...

The text discusses three scholarly essays from leading journals, highlighting key points. The first essay focuses on the Jewish version of the repentant pros...

In "The Rabbi Goes to Court," the graphic history by Nina Caputo and Liz Clarke, the story of the medieval rabbi and scholar Nachmanides at the Barcelona Dis...

Rabbi Shai Held's two-volume work, "The Heart of Torah," comprises essays on Torah portions, exploring open-ended biblical narratives and themes like God's l...

Claude Lanzmann, the director of the renowned Holocaust documentary Shoah, passed away at the age of 92. Born to a secular Jewish family in Paris, Lanzmann j...

Jeremy England, an accomplished research scientist and an observant Jew, explores the origins of life through his work on the emergence of life-like behavior...

Joshua Holo responds to Elli Fischer's critique of Michael Chabon's commencement address at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). Fisc...

In this reflection, the author discusses his experience working for a Jewish organization and delves into the sociological theories of Peter Berger, particul...

The Letters from Summer 2018 discuss various topics related to Jewish identity and history. One letter juxtaposes Ruth Wisse's portrayal of Mendele Mokher Se...

Two new books recount the story of the Nili spy ring, which aided the British against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. James Srodes' "Spies in Palestin...

Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, a modern and highly knowledgeable scholar, has produced an extensive 23-volume commentary called Yad Peshutah on Moses Maimonides' ...

During the age of the scientific revolution, figures like Sir Isaac Newton held beliefs that God's revelations were found in both Scripture and Nature, worki...

Stanley Kubrick, a Jewish director from New York, infused his films with Jewish themes and sensibilities despite a facade of seeming Gentile. He explored Hol...

Israel Zangwill's play "The Melting Pot" presented America as a melting pot where immigrants of various backgrounds come together and assimilate, celebrated ...

The text discusses the themes of sacrifice and its evolution in Jewish thought and practice, as reflected in Ruby Namdar's novel "The Ruined House" and Mira ...

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a rift emerged between the Hasidic movement and its opponents, particularly the Lithuanian mitnagdim, over theolog...

Leopold Zunz, considered the founder of Jewish Studies, revolutionized the field by emphasizing historical context and incorporating non-Jewish sources. Desp...

Lon Werth, a Jewish writer and friend of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, hid in the French countryside during the Nazi invasion, chronicling the chaotic exodus in ...

The history of American anarchists, including Jewish anarchists, is often overshadowed by the communist movement. Two recent books explore the lives of 20th-...

During the Holocaust in the Vilna Ghetto, Jewish inmates faced intense scrutiny at the ghetto gate, with some risking their lives to smuggle various contraba...

The French publishing house Gallimard's decision to republish three anti-Semitic pamphlets by the controversial author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, known for his ...

Jewish Life magazine engaged with prominent African American leader Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois in the late 1940s and early 1950s, seeking to connect the struggles ...

Rabbi Shai Held's two-volume collection "The Heart of Torah, Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion" delves into the importance of the Torah reading cycle and th...

Aharon Barak, a prominent figure in Israeli law, reshaped the country's legal landscape through bold judicial activism during his time on the Supreme Court f...

In his controversial commencement speech at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Cha...

Translator Jessica Cohen, who shared the 2017 Man Booker International Prize with David Grossman for translating "A Horse Walks into a Bar," discusses the co...

In this New York Times essay, novelist Dara Horn criticizes Philip Roth's inability to create complex female characters. She argues that his portrayal of Jew...

The article discusses the legacy of the Jewish American author Philip Roth. It explores Roth's impact on American literature, his themes of Jewish identity a...

Muriel Spark, a celebrated author, and icon, known for works like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, explored human motivation with depth and humor. Born to a Je...

The article discusses how anti-Semitic messages were displayed on envelopes during the Holocaust as a reflection of growing hatred towards Jews. The author f...

The author describes their experience researching ancient Temple sacrifices at Passover and their desire to witness the events firsthand. Unable to time trav...

The text discusses the phenomenon of revolutionism among Russian intellectuals, particularly focusing on the love and veneration for revolution as an end in ...

In the discussion "What's Divine about Divine Law?" at Yale, various perspectives on divine law were examined. Ezra the Scribe emphasized the divine origin a...

Freud's controversial work "Moses and Monotheism" presents a reinterpreted history where Moses, an Egyptian noble and monotheist, unites the Israelites and i...

In "Strategic Imperatives," the author explains Israel's historical national security strategy focused on deterrence, early warning, and decisive victories i...

Patrick Modiano, a French novelist and Nobel Prize winner, explores the themes of occupation and collaboration during World War II in his works, including "L...

Poland's Law and Justice Party (PiS) passed a bill criminalizing accusations of Polish complicity in Nazi crimes and historical distortions, aiming to whitew...

Albert Memmi, a Tunisian writer, has gained both admiration and criticism for his commitment to telling the whole truth in his writings since the 1950s. With...

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove questioned the relevance of Jewish studies professors to the broader Jewish community, highlighting the disconnect between academic wor...

The text discusses various topics related to Jewish history and culture. It explores the geopolitical context of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, highlightin...

In late May 1903, Prince Sergey Urusov was appointed governor of Bessarabia following anti-Jewish riots in Kishinev, Russia, where 49 people were killed and ...

In this text, the author reflects on his experiences and encounters related to key Jewish figures like Zalman Shazar, Theodor Herzl, and Sabbtai Zevi. He hig...

The discussion centers around the concept of doublethink as manifested in the experiences of Jews in the context of Soviet history. The article touches on th...

Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh, known as Mendele Mokher Seforim, is a key figure in modern Yiddish literature, often using his alter ego Mendele to critique Jewis...

"Strange Miracle" explores the intersection of Jewish faith and Christian Zionism throughout history, emphasizing the significance of the Jewish people's ret...

"Harpoon: Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism's Money Masters" delves into the story of Meir Dagan, a former Mossad director, who revolutionized Israeli ...

"Adam & Thomas" by Aharon Appelfeld is a poignant novel about two young boys left in a forest during the Holocaust, embodying themes of Jewish survival and r...

Israeli science fiction and fantasy novels such as Yoav Blum's "The Unswitchable" and Ofir Touch Gafla's "The Guests" delve into themes of identity and body-...

Jeremy Dauber, author of "Jewish Comedy: A Serious History," discusses the significance of Jewish humor rooted in the Book of Esther and its correlation with...

The article discusses the ongoing controversy surrounding the Mortara Affair, where a Jewish boy was taken from his family and raised Catholic in Bologna in ...