David Novak

The most recognized face of any Jewish leader of the past fifty years belongs to the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, even more so today than at his death in 1994. There are few Jews who have not seen the picture of the Lubavitcher rebbe on billboards or in other media or who have not . . . . Continue Reading »

One way anti-Jewish sentiment has been interpreted is simply as a quid pro quo. Gentile animosity, in this view, does to the Jews what the Jews have done, or at least would like to do, to Gentiles—because we Jews present ourselves as the chosen people. In the seventeenth century, Baruch . . . . Continue Reading »

In the Tuesday, September 29 edition of the National Post (Toronto), long time columnist Conrad Black wrote “Why I Became a Catholic.” I was intrigued by Lord Black’s story of his spiritual journey to a more intense Christianity, yet I began to recoil when reading his dismissal of Judaism as a real spiritual option for himself (or for anyone else like him)… . Continue Reading »

In his youth in rural Ontario and rural Texas, Richard John Neuhaus had little or no contact with Jews––but as an adult his contact was constant. And this played a key role in Richard’s life and career as a priest and a public intellectual, for his constant contact with Jews went hand in hand . . . . Continue Reading »

Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology by Michael Fishbane University of Chicago Press, 246 pages, $30 The word theology means literally God-talk . But since talk about anything”even talk about God”takes place in a particular language at a particular time, how one engages in theology . . . . Continue Reading »

Seeking ideas for presents this year, we asked several of our well-read friends and contributors for recommendations of a few wise, or fun, or disturbing books that every First Things reader should know—limited only by the request that the lists not include the Bible, Shakespeare, or volumes . . . . Continue Reading »

Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972 by edward k. kaplan yale university press, 544 pages, $40 Abraham Joshua Heschel is probably best remembered today for his political activism during the 1960s and early 1970s. Whenever newsreels taken during that time are shown, one . . . . Continue Reading »

The eight-hundredth anniversary of the death in 1204 of Rabbi Moses the son of Rabbi Maimon the Spaniard”better known to the world as Maimonides”was celebrated throughout the world. It gave Jews, especially, the opportunity to call the world’s attention to Maimonides’ great . . . . Continue Reading »

Following the no confidence vote in the House of Commons that led to the fall of the minority government of Liberal Paul Martin, the Governor-General of Canada (who is the official representative of the Head of State, Her Majesty the Queen) has called for a parliamentary election on January 23rd, . . . . Continue Reading »

Essential Essays on Judaism by Eliezer Berkovits editied by David Hazony Shalem. 393 pp. $22.95 paper. During the second half of the twentieth century, three significant traditionalist Jewish thinkers were at work in America, if by “traditionalist” one means thinkers who affirm the divine . . . . Continue Reading »