Publishing top scholarship in Judaic studies for over a century, now in open access. Find our archives on JSTOR and recent issues on Project Muse.https://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mwbhdwbgq22bNahmanides has appeared often in JQR, from Solomon Schechter’s eponymous 1892 essay, to Hannah Davidson’s piece in our summer issue, which examines yet another of his guises: that of physician. On the blog, our latest Archive Dive rounds up some of these studies: https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/archive-dive-nahmanides24 Sep 2026 14:22 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwbhdwbgq22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mw4i2ljwh22iDylan Shaul's essay in our current issue reconstructs Hegel’s critique of Jewish law and applies a Maimonidean framework to counter it and critique it in turn. Check it out: https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.2026.a99816422 Sep 2026 14:51 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw4i2ljwh22ihttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mvnanyi76s2sThank you to all those who have peer reviewed for JQR! You make what we do possible. [contains quote post or other embedded content]16 Sep 2026 13:29 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvnanyi76s2shttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mvie5c7vos2wIn the 1940s-60s, JQR editor Solomon Zeitlin published numerous essays advancing the theory that the Dead Sea Scrolls were not authentic Second Temple compositions, but medieval forgeries. On the blog, we revisit this lively chapter in JQR history: https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/archive-dive-zeitlin-and-so-called-phenomenal-discovery-dead-sea-scrolls14 Sep 2026 14:48 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvie5c7vos2whttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3muzdzgoy2k2fHave you read Oded Zinger's new essay in JQR 116.3, "Voices, Authorship, and Communication in Women’s Letters from the Cairo Geniza"? Find out what this corpus can tell us about how medieval women effected action in their world. (It's free to read!) https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/99816108 Sep 2026 15:36 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3muzdzgoy2k2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mtvzlghot22hIn JQR 116.3, Yuval Fraenkel examines the “narrative world” of the afterlife in the Babylonian Talmud in which the deceased retain their physical bodies, and shows how this signals resistance both to normative rabbinic theology and to Zoroastrian imperial policies. 👇 https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.2026.a99816025 Aug 2026 14:26 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtvzlghot22hhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mtgu64gets2sJQR 116.3 has landed and this one truly has something for everyone: the Babylonian Talmud, Cairo Geniza letters, medieval MSS diagrams, Nahmanides, early Hasidic lit, and Maimonides in dialogue with Hegel. And not a paywall in sight! Peruse the contents: https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/new-issue-jewish-quarterly-review-summer-202619 Aug 2026 13:39 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtgu64gets2shttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mrmze2sjck2zReaders of Christoph Hopp's recent essay might also try Caroline Kahlenberg's 2024 JQR essay on Ribhi Kamal (1912–79), a Palestinian scholar of Semitic languages who grew up in Jerusalem and went on to host Radio Damascus’s Hebrew-language broadcast. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.2024.a921351 [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Jul 2026 13:37 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrmze2sjck2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mr3leqonfk2mIn JQR 116.2, Jeremiah Lockwood highlights early 20th-cent American women performers of popular cantorial music (khazntes) and explores what their reception says about gender, religion, and power in that historical moment—and he includes some amazing photos! https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.0000320 Jul 2026 15:12 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mr3leqonfk2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mqmd76x6ic2bInterested to learn more about Albo? Some open access classics from JQR's archives: Shira Weiss, "Free Choice in the Responsum of Joseph Albo: The Case of the Katlanit" (2015) https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.2015.0026 Warren Zev Harvey, "Albo's Discussion of Time" (1980) www.jstor.org/stable/1454498 [contains quote post or other embedded content]14 Jul 2026 13:36 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqmd76x6ic2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mq2waqdirc2lEsra Almas's new essay analyzes language, music, and sound in Who Are You, Jak Samanon? (1997), a novel by Liz Behmoaras about a Jewish family in 19-20th c Turkey, to illuminate how Jews shaped and were shaped by Turkish modernity. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.00005 (And don't miss her blog post!) [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Jul 2026 15:29 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq2waqdirc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mpocinxz6k2xHave you read Tanja Werthmann's new book The Transcendent Beloved: Platonic Eros and Its Graeco-Arabic Paths to Kabbalah (OUP, 2026)? If so, try her latest JQR essay, which exposes the Neoplatonist, Christian, and Islamic underpinnings of Maimonides' via negativa! https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.0000102 Jul 2026 15:03 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpocinxz6k2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mpgn2jnlgc2jIn JQR 116.2, Christoph Hopp examines how the political ideals of Israel Ben-Ze’ev’s contemporary Cairo informed his History of the Semitic Languages (1929), which postulates, against the scholarly norm, that Hebrew originated from early Arabic dialects. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.0000429 Jun 2026 13:51 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpgn2jnlgc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mp4lskiko22kIf Jeremiah Lockwood's latest JQR essay on early 20th c. American women cantors left you wishing you could hear their music yourself, you're in luck! On the JQR blog, Lockwood describes how contemporary musicians are continuing the legacy of the early khazntes. https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/cantorial-music-ever-new-guises25 Jun 2026 14:02 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mp4lskiko22khttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mov6xirowk2pCheck out Yosi Yisraeli's essay in JQR 116.2, which contextualizes Joseph Albo’s Book of Principles (ca. 1420) with Christian conversionist sources. Yisraeli shows how it responds to specific contemporary critiques of Judaism: https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jqr.00002 Like all our content, it is open access!22 Jun 2026 15:23 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mov6xirowk2phttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mnul2gg6us2lOn the blog, Esra Almas reflects on the life, work, and inspirational friendship of Turkish author Liz Behmoaras—whose 1997 book Kimsin Jak Samanon? (Who are you Jak Samanon?) is the subject of Almas's latest JQR essay. https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/remembering-liz-behmoaras-1950-202509 Jun 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnul2gg6us2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mnkc63w3es2hJQR 116.2 is out with 5 new open access essays! Have you perused the table of contents yet? muse.jhu.edu/issue/56911 https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/5691105 Jun 2026 13:56 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mnkc63w3es2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mndd4cdn4s2mIn our latest issue, Tanja Werthmann marshals late antique Eastern Syriac philosophy and theology and their reception in the Islamicate world to shed light on Maimonides’s via negativa. Find out how and why Maimonides elevates silence to a form of spiritual practice: muse.jhu.edu/article/99193902 Jun 2026 19:25 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mndd4cdn4s2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mmwcqqblm22jJQR 116.2 is here! Learn about: -Maimonides's via negativa -Joseph Albo (15th c.) on Christian conversionist arguments -early 20th c. popular women cantors -Semitic linguistics historiography -modern Turkish Jewish lit It's open access, so what is there to lose? https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/new-issue-jewish-quarterly-review-spring-202628 May 2026 15:13 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mmwcqqblm22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mm5nvgt2w22oThis week on the blog, we're reflecting on the origins of Jewish art history scholarship through the eyes of pathbreaking 20th century art historian Rachel Wischnitzer—as told in her own words, in JQR essays from 1922–1949. https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/pathbreaking-scholar-rachel-wischnitzer-jewish-art-and-how-study-it18 May 2026 19:56 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm5nvgt2w22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mllbzyp7cc2qWe know you're hungry for spring reading, so we dug deep into the JQR archives and harvested several essays on food and drink, all open access. We hope you enjoy this gastronomic tour from the Roman triclinium to the streets of New York, and everywhere in between! https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/feast-food-jqr11 May 2026 12:36 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mllbzyp7cc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mk3rdz3huc2pLooking for Earth Day reading? Try Sarah Abrevaya Stein's 2022 essay "The Queen of Herbs: A Plant’s-Eye View of the Sephardic Diaspora," which she describes as an "ethnobotanical, historical study" of the plant known as ruta graveolens, rue, or ruda. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/84919722 Apr 2026 15:03 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk3rdz3huc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mjwtcoytbk24Check out Elly Moseson's essay in our current issue, which "sheds new light on the complex role played by literature in the transformation of Hasidism from a small local phenomenon into a mass movement." 👇 https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/98160020 Apr 2026 15:54 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjwtcoytbk24https://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mjf3rlyzfs2tIn JQR 116.1, Vered Noam investigates why primordial priestly figures in Second Temple Jewish culture who had all but disappeared from early rabbinic literature are celebrated in the High Holiday prayers. Check out her essay! https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/98159913 Apr 2026 14:38 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjf3rlyzfs2thttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mhqawrpsb22cWe combed through the winners and finalists of the latest AJS Schnitzer Awards and National Jewish Book Awards for JQR alumni, and we have gathered their essays on our blog. Some open-access research by the honorees for your reading pleasure! https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/we-knew-them-when23 Mar 2026 14:19 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhqawrpsb22chttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mhgbxcfzt22dIf you read Benjamin Pollock's essay in our current issue, "Redactor Is Rabbenu: The Editorial Theology of the Buber-Rosenzweig Bible," check out his 2012 JQR essay "On the Road to Marcionism: Franz Rosenzweig’s Early Theology." https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/981602 https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/47531519 Mar 2026 15:11 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhgbxcfzt22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mh6nedcde22oDon't miss Elnatan Chen's scholarly note in our winter issue, which assembles evidence for the existence and nature of a previously unknown exegetical text on the Prophets by 11th-cent. Hebrew grammarian Jonah Ibn Janāḥ. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/98160316 Mar 2026 14:14 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mh6nedcde22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mgnaico26c2gOn our blog, Joseph Davis traces afterlives of the tale of Ashmedai, the demon who impersonated King Solomon and ruled for a while in his stead. Learn about the history of this fascinating story and read JQR essays on the topic, now in open access! https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/solomon-and-ashmedai-forever09 Mar 2026 16:08 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgnaico26c2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mg642jnoc22qJQR has long published scholarly "notes" on interesting intellectual nuggets. In 2016 we even devoted a forum--a collection of short essays--to such shortform scholarship! Read our thoughts on the note in this 2016 blog post (and consider submitting one!): https://katz.sas.upenn.edu/resources/blog/notes-notes03 Mar 2026 15:39 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg642jnoc22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/thejqr.bsky.social/post/3mfrodzbelk2tIn JQR 116.1, Katalin Rac unravels the intertwined stories of a paprika merchant and a food journalist in 18th-19th c. Hungary to reveal how Jews contributed to Hungarian cuisine and identity, and how paprika became part of Jewish integration into Hungarian culture. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/98160126 Feb 2026 17:01 +0000at://did:plc:2hc4kcle72dginkpf22yk6bf/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfrodzbelk2t