Inheriting Abraham, by Jon Levenson, expertly dismantles the idea of the patriarch as the father of three religions

Yoram Hazony’s new book bases Judaism on a naturalistic reading of the Bible, but it’s a stretch

Germany’s challenge to Jewish tradition focuses on individual rights, but what about our bodies’ sanctity?

Michael Willens, the grandson of Yiddish theater greats, conducts the Kölner Akademie in piano concertos

In Notes on a Century, the historian is still optimistic about a ‘great civilization’ in the Muslim world

Middle East expert Robert Kagan argues in a new book that American foreign policy has spawned a golden age of liberal democracy. He’s wrong.

Judaism rejects the notions of beauty that underscore Christian classical music, from Bach to Mozart—but the music still speaks to us

Vladimir Jurowski, directing the London Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall this week, was loose with Brahms but well-suited to Mozart’s “Turkish” concerto

In a recent performance of Schubert’s and Schumann’s settings of Heinrich Heine’s poetry, tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Thomas Adès excelled

The Metropolitan Opera’s new Siegfried, part of its ambitious Ring cycle, exposes the greatness—and the limitations—of Wagner and his admirers

The new production of Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera is well cast but marred by poor conducting

The hidden story of Don Giovanni, Mozart’s Jewish opera

The New York Philharmonic Opening Night Gala

Performances of Wagner’s music are effectively banned in Israel. Should they be?

Conventional wisdom says Israel must reach a peace deal quickly, before population trends and diplomatic isolation overtake the Jewish state. Demographics and geopolitics tell a different story.