With the arrival of Rosh Hodesh Elul we enter the month of “mercy and forgiveness.” Among the season’s most well-known but challenging customs is the recitation of Selihot. The publication of a new edition of these penitential prayers and piyutim, with an introduction and insightful commentary by Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter, will enhance our recitation of the Selihot for generations to come. In this excerpt R. Schacter explores themes related to the meaning and force of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy – the central experience of the Selihot prayers.

Through a close reading of Natan Slifkin's new “Rationalism vs. Mysticism: Schisms in Jewish Thought” Alex Ozar aims to get to the bottom of what it means to identify as a "rationalist," what it means to divide the Jewish intellectual world into rationalist and mystical camps, and what's at stake in asserting a "schism" in Jewish thought. 

It is too easy to dismiss or ignore popular culture, especially that addressed to children. A new collection of personal and critical essays, “Artifacts of Orthodox Jewish Childhoods” (Ben Yehuda Press), helps combat that dismissal, and might even inspire us to think seriously about the cultures of our own childhoods. Uri C. Cohen reviews the volume and applauds its blurring of boundaries between the scholarly and the personal, suggesting it proves to be a positive development when scholars are open about their subjectivity.