Visual Moment | A Sephardi Silversmith’s Masterwork
A remarkable and rare pair of elaborate silver Torah finials have been jointly acquired by New York’s Jewish Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston.
Opinion | For Israel, Days of Judgment Are Looming
Some of Israel’s Supreme Court justices are terrified of the situation.
Book Review | The Maker and Breaker of Ideas
In 1974, Martin Peretz and his wife Anne bought The New Republic with her money.
WATCH | New Holocaust Museum Opens—In a Video Game
Luc Bernard was inspired to create the map after seeing the statistic that 80 percent of Americans have not visited a Holocaust museum.
Boychik in Blue: An Interview With the NYPD’s Chief Jewish Chaplain
I don’t carry a gun, and I don’t go out and do police work. The job of a police officer is to serve the public. My job is to serve police officers.
Book Review | From Half a Line to Hebrew Heroine
Feldman not only recovers these female characters but brings together the traditional rabbinic commentaries on these marginal or marginalized women.
Oy, Oy, AI: What ChatGPT Can Tell Us About Jewish Jokes
One thing most people don’t want explained are jokes. BUT, if a joke is already bona fide boffo funny, an explanation might help us appreciate it even more.
Is Artificial Intelligence Good for Humanity?
AI is the brainchild of cognitive scientists, computer programmers and physicists; it raises problems for politicians, journalists and philosophers; and it’s alive in the imaginations of artists, cartoonists and science fiction writers. We’ve asked people from all these fields how best to approach this astounding moment in human history.
Analysis | A Dark Day for Israeli Democracy
With no judicial oversight, this self-serving government can use its powers to fire and appoint anyone it wants, to use public resources for pet projects and to otherwise abuse its power.
Ask the Rabbis | What Impact Will Artificial Intelligence Have On People’s Spiritual Lives?
Artificial intelligence has been around ever since we plucked the fruit off the branch of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and came away with clarity around neither.
Sing to Survive: New Jewish Songbook Combats Climate Crisis
This May, climate action organization Dayenu released “Rising Tides, Rising Voices: Songs for the Jewish Climate Movement,” a digital songbook, which brings together a diverse set of songs—Jewish and secular, English and Hebrew, chanted and sung—for Jewish climate activism.
Book Review | The Truth Only Fiction Can Touch
After Italian philosopher Umberto Eco published his first novel, The Name of the Rose (1980), to worldwide critical acclaim and instant bestsellerdom, scores of major humanities scholars started thinking about fiction as a possible genre for them too.