What if Jewish law (halakhah) isn't law as Westerners typically understand it? That is the premise of Saiman's book, which explores how halakhah fits and doesn't fit our idea of law.

Is there a relationship between creativity and social collapse? David Aberbach makes the case in a study of Hebrew literature, but his avoidance of halakhic creativity undermines his argument.

A brilliant account of how the West became secular through twenty centuries of rereading the Roman trial of Jesus.

A memoir of Gershom Scholem's friendship with Walter Benjamin reveals that the rivalry inherent in intellectual friendship may produce depths of insight to which later readers should pay attention.

The murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers didn't come out of nowhere. I felt compelled to write this piece for the Times of Israel to explain the roots of the new wave of antisemitism. May the memories of Yaron and Sarah be for a blessing.

Some books you have to wait to read until you're grown, if you want to get what they're really about. That's the case with Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.