On the Origins of Judaism: An Exchange

On the Origins of Judaism: An Exchange

In our Winter 2024 issue, Malka Simkovich took a deep dive into Yonatan Adler’s thought-provoking new book, The Origins of Judaism: An Archeological-Historical Reappraisal. Her review explored Adler’s argument that Judaism as we know…

The Romance and Rage of Rashbi

The Romance and Rage of Rashbi

Elli Fischer

In the technical halakhic sense, Lag BaOmer is not really a festival, and it is not attested to in any of the classical sources. So how did the Hilula de-Rashbi, as the Meron Lag BaOmer celebration is called, become such a large, and largely Hasidic, pilgrimage—and rave?

Second-Hand Jew: A Self-Portrait in Scenes

Second-Hand Jew: A Self-Portrait in Scenes

Maxim Biller

I took my first novel to Israel with me, and when a suitcase bomb exploded twenty meters away from me at the Munich airport, I shielded the manuscript with my body. My sister didn’t read it until just before I left. Then she said: “I thought Thomas Mann was dead. Anyway, if you ask me, he’s not a good example.”