JL;DR

Ruby Namdar's novel "The Ruined House" won the Sapir Prize in 2014, the first time awarded to a non-Israeli resident. Published in English in 2017, the novel...

"Eternal Life" by Dara Horn is a novel that imagines the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai's mother, Rachel, who takes a vow at the Temple, granting her imm...

"Sons and Soldiers" by Bruce Henderson tells the stories of German-Jewish soldiers who escaped the Third Reich to become combat interrogators for the U.S. Ar...

"The Story of the Jews, Volume Two: Belonging, 1492-1900" by Simon Schama and "Et Hadashah (A New Age: Eighteenth-Century European Jewry, 1700-1750)" by Shmu...

The text explores a newly discovered poem by Yehuda Amichai and reflects on his unique poetic style that intertwines scientific and poetic perspectives. It r...

The Winter 2018 edition of "Letters" touches on various topics. Ben Rich discusses the use of the simile of seas and ink in the Quran and its potential origi...

Joseph Sss Oppenheimer, a court Jew in 18th-century Germany, faced a tumultuous rise and fall that culminated in a trial and execution in 1737-1738. Yair Min...

The discussion delves into the late Hebrew poet Lea Goldberg's work, focusing on her later poems as a departure from traditional forms and a reflection of he...

In 1923, Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapiro introduced the Daf Yomi program, encouraging daily study of a page of Talmud for seven and a half years. Ilana Kurshan's m...

In the 11th century, a Jewish man from Afghanistan named Yair faced personal and financial struggles, seeking advice from his family's patriarch and brother-...

Recent novels by prominent Jewish American writers such as Jonathan Safran Foer, Joshua Cohen, Nathan Englander, and Nicole Krauss have prominently featured ...

The Fall 2017 issue of Letters covers various topics related to Jewish identity and education. It discusses the origins of the trope equating Israelis with N...

Bruno Chaouat's book, "Is Theory Good for the Jews?" critically examines how postmodern theorists in Europe and America have often failed to effectively addr...

Hans Kohn, a prominent figure in Zionism and nationalism studies, led a remarkable life from pre-World War I Prague to Cold War America. His journey encompas...

The text explores the concept of repentance and moral conflict through a discussion of Aristotle's ideas on akrasia (weakness of the will) and Alasdair MacIn...

Diana Trilling, a prominent 20th-century writer and intellectual married to renowned critic Lionel Trilling, is the subject of Natalie Robins' biography "The...

In "Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History" by Todd Endelman, the discussion revolves around figures like Card...

During the Bar Kokhba Revolt, a Jewish woman named Babatha fled Ein Gedi but perished, leaving behind a satchel containing various legal documents. These doc...

The article discusses the complex relationship between the Lowell family, Harvard University, and the Jewish community. It delves into the conflicting views ...

Heinrich Heine's prophetic statement, "Where they have burned books, they will end up burning people," is now engraved on the Bibliotek memorial in Berlin, c...

"The Patriots" by Sana Krasikov is a novel that follows the life of Florence Fein, an American Jew who moves to the USSR seeking a just society but ends up d...

Emil Fackenheim, a renowned Jewish thinker known for his assertion about the 614th commandment after the Holocaust, was a philosopher and Rabbi who experienc...

Micah Goodman's book "Catch 67: The Ideas Behind the Controversy Tearing Israel Apart" delves into the complexities surrounding Israel's control of territori...

The article discusses the parallels between Shakespeare's play "King Lear" and the biblical story of the binding of Isaac. It explores how both stories revol...

Scholarly works by Yair Furstenberg, Mira Balberg, and Stuart S. Miller delve into the intricate topic of purity in ancient Jewish communities. Ritual purity...

"Oslo" is a play by J. T. Rogers that delves into the negotiations leading to the first Oslo Accord signed by Israel and the Palestinians in 1993. The play, ...

Jacob Taubes and Arthur A. Cohen, both with deep connections to Jewish scholarship and thought, engaged in a heated exchange in 1977 in Paris regarding Simon...

The text discusses the issue of disrespect and inappropriate behavior at sensitive locations such as Holocaust memorials and concentration camps, particularl...

In "Great Jews in Robes," David Dalin explores the rise of Jews to prominent positions in American law, particularly focusing on Jewish Supreme Court Justice...

"The Wandering Jew Has Arrived" by Albert Londres is a reissued work shedding light on the French investigative journalist's 1929-1930 travels to Jewish comm...

In "The End of Europe" by James Kirchick, the author explores the rise of figures like Nigel Farage in the UK and Angela Merkel in Germany within the context...

Ernst Kantorowicz, a prominent medieval historian, is brought to life in Robert E. Lerner's biography, detailing his fascinating life. Kantorowicz's wealthy ...

The text discusses various scholarly and historical perspectives related to Jewish themes. It delves into the concept of repentance in the Hebrew Bible, noti...

In "A New History and Old Facts," the author discusses the events leading up to the Six-Day War in 1967 and challenges the traditional narrative through an a...

Rabbi Joseph Rozin, known as the Rogochover, was a renowned 20th-century talmudic genius known for his unconventional and highly original legal thinking. His...

David Grossman's novel "A Horse Walks into a Bar" tells the story of comedian Dov Greenstein's final stand-up show in a seedy club, where he performs a dark ...

"Fauda" is an Israeli TV series on Netflix following an IDF special ops team dealing with a resurrected Hamas operative planning an attack. The show delves i...

"The Wedding Plan" is a film directed by Rama Burshtein, known for her portrayal of the haredi community in movies like "Fill the Void." The story follows Mi...

Allan Bloom's influential book "The Closing of the American Mind" ignited a firestorm of controversy when published in 1987, criticizing higher education for...

In "Undeclared Wars with Israel: East Germany and the West German Far Left 1967–1989," the author Jeffrey Herf explores how both East Germany and the West Ge...

S. Y. Agnon is revered as one of the greatest Hebrew writers of all time, often compared to literary giants like Dante and Kafka. While praised for his lingu...

The text delves into the importance of texts both inside and outside the Bible in understanding Jewish tradition. Scholars have uncovered a wealth of ancient...

In "The Sephardic Mystique," the focus is on the 19th-century German Jewish obsession with Sephardic culture, contrasting it to traditional Ashkenazic Jewish...

Rebecca Goldstein's book "Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity" sparked intense engagement from a previous reader, evidenced by extensiv...

The Letters section of the Spring 2017 issue explores various aspects of Jewish culture and history. Raymond S. Hack reflects on his cousin Nathan Green's co...

Jonathan Levi's novel "Septimania" tells the story of Malory, a British organ-tuner who discovers he is a descendant of the Jewish exilarch of Baghdad, Charl...

In "The Story of Hebrew," Lewis Glinert presents Hebrew as a language with a rich and complex history, detailing its survival and evolution over centuries. G...

Saul Friedländer's memoirs, "When Memory Comes" and "Where Memory Leads," delve into his experience as a Holocaust survivor and his struggles with memory, id...

American Yiddish poet Celia Dropkin's work, including the poem "Di tsirkus dame" and "In heysn vint," reflects a personal yet provocative exploration of them...

Erez Bitton, a Mizrahi poet and social worker in Israel, encountered Zohra el-Fassiya, a Moroccan Jewish singer, in the 1960s, which inspired him to start wr...