Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: The Virtue of Mortality Chapter 2: Body, Soul, and Afterlife Chapter 3: Family—the Jewish Answer to Mortality Chapter 4: Who Believes in the Future? When Jews raise their glasses in celebration, they toast “l’chaim!” “to life!” Judaism’s belief […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: God or Pharaoh? Chapter 2: God’s Commandments and Self-Command Chapter 3: Shabbat and the Family Chapter 4: The People of the Book The revelation at Sinai was central to the transformation of the people of Israel into a nation. Fresh from their […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: The Left and Right on Liberty Chapter 2: Theory and Practice in America Chapter 3: Stations on the Long Road Chapter 4: The Jew in Society Chapter 5: Challenges, Pitfalls, and the Journey to Freedom Lamenting the ideological […]

Ours is an age in which the notion that men and women are created with distinct and complementary purposes is seen as little more than thinly veiled bigotry. But one of the great Jewish contributions to civilization is the idea that the sexes are not identical to, but are instead in need of, one another. […]

Press play below to listen to the podcast, download it in the iTunes Store, or stream it via Stitcher. Chapter 1: Marriage, Children, and the Beginning of Wisdom Chapter 2: Commandments, Faith, and Moral Formation Chapter 3: Do Judaism and Christianity Entail Different Political Orientations? Chapter 4: Lessons for Jews and Christians Sometimes, it takes an outsider to teach […]

American Jews are facing a demographic crisis. An aging population, low fertility rate, and high rate of intermarriage combine to reveal an exceptionally weak desire to raise up a new generation of Jewish Americans. In this 2005 Commentary article, sociologist Jack Wertheimer explores and explains this phenomenon and asks whether there is anything that can […]

It is widely known that a substantial number of men from the yeshiva community in Israel study Torah full-time, relying on broad support from the state to supplement their wives’ income in order to sustain their families. Perhaps less well known is that this phenomenon is not a traditional way of Jewish life, but one […]

In this 1955 book chapter, the eminent American sociologist Nathan Glazer profiles the American Jewish community in its first three hundred years. He describes the experiences of Sephardi and Ashkenazi immigrants to America: their professions, educations, family life, and economic mobility. In this discussion, spanning from the early colonial days to the post–World War II […]

On top of the rising costs of raising a child in America, Jack Wertheimer estimates that “actively engaged” Jewish families pay a premium of “$50,000 and $110,000 a year just to live a Jewish life.” Behind these financial costs are significant moral ones, Rabbi Aryeh Klapper argues in this 2012 article. High costs of living […]

In this 1968 Commentary article, a self-described feminist reflects on the virtues of separate gender roles in the synagogue and in the Jewish family. Separate gender roles prevent women from relieving men of their communal obligations, lowering the risk of alienating them from religious service and synagogue life. Separate seating and complementary but distinct duties enable […]