Haman, Builder of Towers, Brother of Abraham?
A new book raises the possibility that interpretive motifs from within both Jewish and Islamic traditions might have led to the uniquely Islamic tradition that Abraham and Haman were brothers.
Empty Torah Cases and “Little Purims”
There are more than a hundred known examples of Little Purims commemorating miraculous deliverances of Jewish communities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Conversion, “Catholic Israel,” and the Jewish Future: An Exchange
Tal Keinan argued for a radical transformation of Jewish life in God Is in the Crowd. Our editor wasn't convinced, which led to a pointed but cordial discussion.
The Inheritance of Jacob: A Rejoinder
Abraham Socher closes out his exchange with Tal Keinan, author of God Is in the Crowd with a rejoinder.
Crowds and Converts: A Response to Abraham Socher
Tal Keinan has written an interesting response to Abe Socher’s review of his book, which takes the conversation in a new direction.
Stemming the Yuletide
As the Yuletide rolls in, one finds oneself yearning for some Hanukkah pop with a little more depth than Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song.
Pancho Villa and the Star of David Men
When the Young Men's Christian Association began offering wholesome recreation to soldiers in 1916, Jewish leaders were as as worried about evangelism as they were about bars and bordellos.
A Life of Dialogue
Martin Buber’s call for a “Jewish renaissance” provided a generation of young Jews estranged from their heritage with a vision of Judaism they could identify with.
Overturned Tables
Despite his incontestable Jewishness, Jesus never participated in a Seder as the Mishnah describes it any more than he intended for Judeans to abandon biblical law for the worship of God’s only begotten son.
Law, Lore, and Theory
In his new book, Chaim Saiman points out that this “exclusive focus on the precise details of religious practice” left the Pharisees, the forebears of rabbinic Judaism, open to Jesus’s critique that they mistook “the legal trees for the spiritual forest.”