Abortion in Jewish Law
What the Texts and Movements Actually Say
Field archive
Religion & Thought
Jewish law, ritual, theology, practice, and the debates that keep religious life changing across movements.
Ashkenazi vs. Sephardic Jews
History, Ritual, Language, and What the Difference Really Means
Avinu Malkeinu
What It Means, Where It Comes From, and Why It Still Moves People
Choosing Judaism
How Conversion Works, and Why Recognition Matters
Do You Need to Believe in God to Be Jewish?
In one sense the answer is simple. Judaism is saturated with God language, prayer,...
Does Judaism Believe in Reincarnation? Gilgul Explained
Reincarnation is not the first idea most people associate with Judaism, and it is not a...
Female Cantors
How Women Changed the Sound of American Jewish Worship
Fertility Treatment in Jewish Law
Insemination, IVF, Donors, and Why the Answers Differ
Get Refusal in Jewish Divorce
Why Agunah Cases Persist, and How Advocates Fight Back
Halacha vs. Minhag
What's Law, What's Custom, and Why Both Matter
Hasidism, Explained
History, Beliefs, Rebbes, and Daily Life
How COVID Changed Jewish Prayer, and
COVID moved Jewish prayer online quickly, and hybrid synagogue life remains because...
How Conservative Judaism Changes Jewish Law, From Driving to Shul...
Conservative Judaism treats Jewish law as binding yet changeable, using rabbinic process...
How Conversion to Judaism Works and
People often ask how to convert to Judaism as if there were one universal checklist.
How Synagogues Can Become Accessible to Deaf and Disabled Jews
Synagogue accessibility is often discussed as if it were a facilities problem. Sometimes...
How Women Became Central to Talmud Study
In one generation, women moved from the edges of advanced Talmud learning to the center...
How a 'Shomer Shabbat' Restaurant Can Serve Food on Shabbat
A Shomer Shabbat restaurant can serve food on Shabbat by preparing before the day begins...
How to Talk to Jews by Choice Without Making Conversion the Whole...
People who convert to Judaism are often welcomed warmly and then immediately treated as...
Is Judaism a Religion, a People, or a Civilization?
Saying Judaism is \"not a religion\" captures something real about Jewish identity. It...
Judaism 101
Belief, Practice, Peoplehood, Text, and the Shape of Jewish Life
Judaism and Science
Why the Relationship Was Never a Simple War
Kabbalah, Explained
What Jewish Mysticism Is and Why It Still Matters
Non-Binary Mitzvahs
How Jewish Communities Are Reworking a Classic Ritual
Rabbi Rachel Isaacs
American Jewish institutions often assume serious Jewish life happens in a few big...
Reconstructionist Judaism
The American Movement of Evolving Jewish Life
Reform Judaism
Its History, Core Ideas, and How It Is Practiced Today
Sara Hurwitz
Sara Hurwitz became historically important as the first woman publicly ordained as an...
Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews
What the Distinction Means, and Where It Breaks Down
Should Rabbis Talk Politics From the Pulpit?
The Jewish argument over politics from the pulpit is not really about whether Torah has...
Sitting Shiva
What the Seven-Day Mourning Period Is For, and How It Actually Works
The High Holidays, Explained
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the Days of Awe
What Are Selichot? The Penitential Prayers That Prepare Jews for...
The High Holy Day season does not begin only when Rosh Hashanah arrives.
What Are Tefillin? Leather Boxes, Torah Verses, and a Daily...
Tefillin can look strange to outsiders because the practice is so physical.
What Blessing, If Any, Should Jews Say After a Vaccine?
A bigger halakhic question: when medicine brings visible relief, which Jewish blessing...
What Is Brit Milah? The Covenant of Circumcision
Brit milah is among the oldest and most enduring rituals in Jewish life.
What Is Chabad? The Hasidic Movement That Made Intellectual...
Chabad is one of the most visible Jewish movements in the world.
What Is Challah? The Sabbath Bread, the Separated Dough, and the...
Challah is widely recognized as braided Jewish bread.
What Is Conservative Judaism? Tradition, Change,
Conservative Judaism tries to solve one of the hardest problems in modern Jewish life.
What Is Halakha?
People often translate halakha as Jewish law and leave it there.
What Is Hanukkah? Rededication, Menorah Lighting, and Why the...
Hanukkah is one of the most widely recognized Jewish holidays.
What Is Hasidism? Devotion, Rebbes,
Hasidism is one of the most visible and most misunderstood movements in Jewish life.
What Is Havdalah? Wine, Spice, Flame,
Shabbat does not simply stop.
What Is Havruta? The Paired Study Method That Makes Jewish...
Jewish learning is often imagined as solitary reading over a difficult text.
What Is Kabbalah? Jewish Mysticism, Esoteric Tradition, and the...
Kabbalah is one of the most popularized and most distorted words in Jewish religious...
What Is Kaddish? The Jewish Prayer of Praise That Became the...
Many people think Kaddish is a prayer about death.
What Is Kiddush? The Blessing Over Wine That Sanctifies Shabbat...
Kiddush is small in scale and central in meaning.
What Is Kosher? Jewish Dietary Law, Food Rules, and
People often think kosher means blessed food or rabbi-approved food in a vague...
What Is Lag BaOmer? The Omer Break, Bonfires, and a Strange Joy in...
Lag BaOmer can puzzle outsiders because it lands in the middle of a restrained period...
What Is Midrash? Jewish Biblical Interpretation as Method, Story,...
Midrash is sometimes treated as if it were just imaginative storytelling about the Bible.
What Is Minhag? Jewish Custom, Local Practice, and When Habit...
Outsiders often think Jewish life runs only on formal law.
What Is Olam Ha-Ba? The Jewish Idea of the World to Come
Jewish thought has many arguments about the afterlife, but one of its key terms is olam...
What Is Orthodox Judaism? Tradition, Halakha,
Orthodox Judaism is the major branch of Judaism most committed to the binding force of...
What Is Passover? Exodus, Seder, Matzo,
Passover is the Jewish festival of liberation.
What Is Purim? Esther, Survival, Costume,
Purim is one of the loudest and most playful days in the Jewish year.
What Is Reconstructionist Judaism? Judaism as Civilization and the...
Reconstructionist Judaism is one of the smallest modern Jewish movements, but its...
What Is Reform Judaism? Modern Adaptation, Personal Choice, and...
Reform Judaism is the branch most associated with modern Jewish adaptation.
What Is Rosh Hashanah? The Jewish New Year, Judgment, and the...
Rosh Hashanah is often called the Jewish New Year.
What Is Shabbat? The Jewish Day of Rest, Covenant, and Weekly Time...
Shabbat is one of the clearest examples of what Judaism means when it says holiness can...
What Is Shavuot? Torah at Sinai, Harvest Memory,
Shavuot is one of the three biblical pilgrimage festivals, but it can be harder for...
What Is Shemini Atzeret? The Eighth Day After Sukkot
Shemini Atzeret is often overshadowed by Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
What Is Simchat Torah? The Festival That Ends and Begins the Torah...
Simchat Torah is one of Judaism's most explicit celebrations of study itself.
What Is Sukkot? Booths, Harvest, Fragility,
Sukkot is one of the most tactile holidays in Judaism.
What Is Tikkun Olam? The Jewish Idea of Repairing the World and...
Tikkun olam is among the most quoted phrases in modern Jewish public life.
What Is Tohorah? Ritual Purity, Impurity, and a Category Modern...
Ritual purity in Judaism is often mistaken for cleanliness or morality.
What Is Tzedakah?
Tzedakah is often translated as charity.
What Is Yizkor? The Jewish Memorial Service That Returns Four...
Yizkor is one of the clearest ways Jewish liturgy makes room for the dead inside the...
What Is Yom Kippur? Atonement, Fasting,
Yom Kippur is often summarized as the Jewish Day of Atonement.
What Is a Bar Mitzvah? Jewish Religious Adulthood for a Boy at...
A bar mitzvah is often remembered as a party.
What Is a Bat Mitzvah? Jewish Religious Adulthood for a Girl and...
Bat mitzvah is now a familiar part of Jewish life, but it is historically newer than bar...
What Is a Beit Din? Jewish Courts, Rabbinic Authority, and Why the...
A beit din is easiest to misunderstand if you imagine it as either a relic of ancient...
What Is a Beit Midrash? The Jewish House of Study and Why Learning...
A beit midrash is one of the clearest signs that Judaism has long treated study as more...
What Is a Bimah? The Platform From Which the Torah Is Read
A bimah is one of the most important pieces of synagogue space.
What Is a Cantor? The Prayer Leader Whose Work Joins Music,...
A cantor is not just a good singer.
What Is a Chuppah? The Jewish Wedding Canopy
The chuppah is one of the most recognizable visual elements of a Jewish wedding.
What Is a Gabbai? The Synagogue Officer
In many synagogues the gabbai is the person who quietly makes the service work.
What Is a Genizah? The Repository for Worn-Out Sacred Jewish Texts
Jewish tradition does not treat sacred writing as ordinary paper.
What Is a Get? The Jewish Bill of Divorce and
In Jewish law, a civil divorce and a religious divorce are not always the same thing.
What Is a Haftarah? The Prophetic Reading That Follows the Torah...
The Haftarah is the reading that follows the Torah, but it is not a decorative add-on.
What Is a Haggadah? The Passover Book That Tells the Exodus at the...
The Haggadah is one of the most used Jewish books outside the Bible.
What Is a Ketubah? The Jewish Marriage Contract and
A ketubah is often admired as a piece of calligraphy hanging on a wall.
What Is a Kippah? Reverence, Identity,
A kippah is one of the most visible markers of Jewish practice.
What Is a Menorah? The Temple Lamp, the Hanukkah Lamp, and a...
The menorah is one of the oldest and most recognizable symbols in Jewish history.
What Is a Mezuzah? The Doorpost Scroll That Turns a Home Into...
A mezuzah is small enough to be overlooked by outsiders.
What Is a Mikvah? Ritual Immersion, Purity, Conversion, and the...
A mikvah is sometimes described as a ritual bath.
What Is a Minyan? The Jewish Prayer Quorum and
Judaism makes a real distinction between praying alone and praying as a community.
What Is a Mitzvah? Commandment, Obligation, and
The word mitzvah is widely used in English, but usually in a softened form that hides...
What Is a Mohel? The Trained Ritual Specialist
A mohel is not simply a person who knows how to circumcise.
What Is a Ner Tamid? The Eternal Light That Burns Near the...
The ner tamid is easy to miss if you do not know what you are looking at.
What Is a Parashah? The Section of the Torah Read Publicly in...
Jews often talk about "this week's parashah" as if everyone knows what that means.
What Is a Rabbi? Teacher, Legal Authority, Pastor, and Why the...
Many non-Jews assume a rabbi is simply the Jewish version of a priest.
What Is a Sefer Torah? The Handwritten Scroll at the Center of...
A Sefer Torah is not just a copy of the Torah.
What Is a Shofar? The Ram's Horn That Turns Jewish Time Into a...
A shofar is not played for atmosphere.
What Is a Siddur? The Jewish Prayer Book, Its Order, and Why...
A siddur is not just a book of prayers.
What Is a Sidra? The Weekly Torah Portion in the Synagogue Reading...
If parashah is the smaller section, sidra is the larger weekly portion.
What Is a Synagogue? Prayer, Study, Community, and
A synagogue is often described as the Jewish equivalent of a church.
What Is a Tallit? The Prayer Shawl, Tzitzit,
A tallit is one of the most recognizable garments in Jewish ritual life.
What Is a Yeshiva? Jewish Text Study, Talmudic Learning, and the...
A yeshiva is often described as a Jewish school, but that is too broad to capture what...
What Is an Aliyah? The Honor of Being Called Up to the Torah
Aliyah is a word with more than one Jewish meaning.
What Is the Ark in a Synagogue? The Cabinet That Holds the Torah...
In synagogue architecture, the ark is not just furniture.
What Is the Gemara? The Rabbinic Discussion That Turns the Mishnah...
If the Mishnah is the compact legal core of rabbinic Judaism, the Gemara is the...
What Is the Jewish Calendar? A Lunisolar Year That Organizes...
Jewish holidays do not float randomly.
What Is the Mishnah? The First Great Rabbinic Code
The Mishnah is one of the most important books in rabbinic Judaism.
What Is the Omer? The Forty-Nine-Day Count Between Passover and...
The Omer is not a holiday by itself.
What Is the Oral Law?
The Oral Law is one of the ideas outsiders hear about Judaism early and usually...
What Is the Shema? The Jewish Confession of Faith
The Shema is one of the most famous lines in Judaism.
What Is the Talmud? Mishnah, Gemara, Argument,
People often talk about the Talmud as if it were a rulebook.
What Is the Torah? Text, Teaching, Scroll, and
People ask what the Torah is as if the answer were one neat definition.
What Is the Written Law? Torah, Canon,
The phrase Written Law sounds simple until you realize that Judaism almost never treats...
What Orthodox Jewish Environmental Thought Actually Says About...
Orthodox Jewish environmental thought is not a carbon-policy platform in a kippah.
When Did Judaism Become a Practice-Centered Religion? The Yonatan...
Yonatan Adler is not arguing that ancient Israelites did not worship the God of Israel.
Why Adon Olam Gets Sung to Pop Tunes, and
When a congregation suddenly realizes that Adon Olam fits a Broadway hit, a Beatles...
Why Some Seder Plates Include an Orange
The orange on some Seder plates is a modern Passover ritual tied to Susannah Heschel and...
Women in Orthodox Judaism
Law, Learning, and Leadership
Yeshiva University
Shows a longer argument about what an Orthodox institution thinks it is recognizing when...