I study how Jewish thinkers have understood sovereignty, democracy, human nature, and the state.
The political theology of Joseph B. Soloveitchik, read alongside German-Jewish thought, Cold War liberalism, and the Mizrachi movement. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with Benjamin Pollock.
A study of Rav Shagar and the possibilities of Orthodox theology in the twenty-first century. In progress.
Doctoral Fellow, Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center. Kogod Research Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute.
Writing
Articles
“Gratitude, Self-Governance, and Orthodoxy’s Democracy Problem.” Tradition.Moshe Feinstein, Joseph Soloveitchik, and Orthodox theologies of democratic participation.
“Outraging Justice.” With Shraga Bar-On. AJS Review.Dworkin’s chain novel and a Talmudic narrative of sovereignty.
“Redemption and State Violence: Rav Shagar and the Political-Theological Capture of Religious Zionist Messianism.” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 34, 184–198. Open access
“Modernity’s Demons: Joseph Soloveitchik’s Critique of Instrumental Reason.” AJS Review 49:2, 401–422. Project MUSE
“Factical or Fungible? The Self in Halakhic Man and The Lonely Man of Faith.” Tradition 55:2, 113–137.
“Omens Discourse in Modern Judaism.” With Shraga Bar-On. Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol. 23. De Gruyter.
Chapters
“Murder/Killing: Avraham Yehuda Chein’s ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’.” In Again at a Crossroads: New Jewish Thought for a Better World, ed. Jordan King-Lacroix. Ben Yehuda Press.
“Why Theology Should Always Be Fantasy: Imagination, Fantasy, and Science-Fictional Messianism in the Writings of Rabbi Shagar.” In Fantasy, Theology, and the Imagination. Lexington Books.
“‘Those Are the Ancestors You Hear’: Luke Cage and Franz Rosenzweig’s Theology of the Past.” In Theology and the Marvel Universe, 85–102. Lexington Books.
In preparation
“Religious Zionism and Individualism: Neo-Hasidic Trends.” With Dov Schwartz. In Hebrew.
Translations
Menachem Froman, Hasidim Just Laugh. Deuteronomy Press. From Hebrew.
Shimon Gershon Rosenberg (Rav Shagar), Living Time: Festival Discourse for the Present Age. Maggid Books. From Hebrew.
Avi Sagi, “Religious Zionist Halakhah and the Problem of Liberalism.” From Hebrew.
Selected writings of Rav Shagar, and Rav Yitzchak Hutner’s Pachad Yitzchak.
Poetry
“Know These Bones.” Gashmius.A crown sequence written with and against Maimonides’ Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah.
Selected talks
“Lockean Legitimacy and Orthodox Theology: Joseph Soloveitchik as a Political Theologian.” 19th World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem.
“Joseph Soloveitchik’s Imaginary Friends: Mesorah as Method in Torah Study and Teaching.” Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center Annual Conference.
“Everyday Sacrifice: Piety and Polemics in Joseph Soloveitchik’s Political Theology.” Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center Annual Conference.
“Joseph Soloveitchik’s Political Theology of the Diaspora Community.” Penn Jewish Studies Graduate Conference, Jews and Political Authority.
“The Worship of the Dictator, the Spiritual Idea of the State: Joseph Soloveitchik’s Lost Political Theology of Fascism and Redemption.” Bikkurim Jewish Studies Graduate Conference.
“Speaking with Buber, Shadowboxing with Schmitt: Joseph Soloveitchik’s Naturalistic Theopolitics.” Western Jewish Studies Association.
“Resisting Modernities: Joseph Soloveitchik’s Critique of Instrumental Reason.” Midwest Jewish Studies Association.
“Redemption Deferred: Rav Shagar’s Post-Kookian Political Theology of the Future.” Conference on the Thought of Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg, Bar-Ilan University.
“Better Redemption through Revelation: Reimagining the Modern State with Rosenzweig and Rav Shagar.” International Rosenzweig Society, Back to Redemption: Rosenzweig’s Star 1919–2019.
Teaching
I teach year-long courses in Jewish philosophy at Orayta in Jerusalem, and short courses for adult learners at the Drisha Institute. Syllabi are available on request.
Orayta, Jerusalem
Medieval Jewish ThoughtSaadia, Halevi, and Maimonides, with Bahya, Crescas, and others. Year-long.
Faith and Philosophy: Rav Soloveitchik and Rav ShagarYear-long.
The Theology of Rav ShagarYear-long.
Foundations of a Critical Modern Orthodox TheologyYear-long.
The Theology of Rav SoloveitchikYear-long.
Drisha Institute (online)
Orthodox Liberalism: Three Jewish Theologies of DemocracyFeinstein, Soloveitchik, and Sacks. Fall. Course page
Medieval Solutions for Modern ProblemsSpring.
Teshuvah and Modernity: Themes in Rav Soloveitchik’s Discussions of TeshuvahElul.
The Man of Faith in the Age of “AI”: What R. Joseph Soloveitchik Can Teach Us about Society, Each Other, and OurselvesSpring.
Fear of God at the Nexus of Divine and Human KingshipElul.
Ki D’vash L’Matok: The Practice of Hebrew Translation from Tanakh until TodayTranslation workshop, Kol u’Deyo Writers’ Program. Spring.
Lectures and scholar-in-residence. Available for talks, Shabbatonim, and short courses on Soloveitchik, Rav Shagar, Jewish political theology, Judaism and democracy, and medieval Jewish philosophy.
Public writing
I write regularly on medieval and modern Jewish theology and on Israeli politics. Recent essays take up the Kuzari proof, Rav Hutner on da’at, Schmitt and the fantasy of a life without politics, and Rav Shagar on violence and Jerusalem Day.
Essays elsewhere
“Human Words: Rav Elhanan Nir’s ‘Intentions for Rosh Hashanah’.” The Lehrhaus.
“God, Torah, Self: Accepting the Yoke of Heaven in the Writings of Rav Shagar.” The Lehrhaus.
CV & Honors
Education
PhD, Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of JerusalemDissertation on the political theology of Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Advisor: Benjamin Pollock.
MA, Jewish Philosophy, Tel Aviv UniversityThesis on Rav Shagar’s appropriation of the theology of Franz Rosenzweig.
BEd, Hebrew Bible and Jewish Philosophy, Herzog Academic College
Fellowships & honors
Doctoral Fellowship, Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Kogod Research Fellowship, Shalom Hartman Institute
Award for Excellence, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Contact
[email protected]