March 4, 2022
Join RCA and TRADITION for a special online panel discussing Ukrainian Jewry's war-time challenges. Panelists will detail their heroic struggle in the face of the humanitarian and refugee crisis unfolding on the Polish border, their work on the ground as communal leaders, the fears and prospects for Jewish institutions going forward—and help us understand the realities of this rapidly unfolding tragedy with greater nuance. Wednesday, March 9 at 12:30 pm ET.
March 3, 2022
Chaim Brovender sees in Rembrandt’s art a message for our humanity: Rembrandt telegraphs to us that each person’s individual identity cannot be suppressed. Each one’s face is unique and meaningful. Each figure is not quite like anyone else, and recalls to our minds the midrashic observation: “Just as no two people resemble one another, so no two people think alike. Rather, each person has an opinion of his own.”
March 1, 2022
Following Chaim Waxman’s expression of pessimism regarding the current role of great works of Western literature in the Orthodox world, Yitzchak Blau strikes a more optimistic note arguing for the significance of this literature – and the live possibility of encouraging our students to read it.
February 27, 2022
Addressing the many challenges facing the contemporary Orthodox rabbinate, time and again R. Norman Lamm returned to the foundational, sometimes conflicting, dual obligations of Ahavat ha-Torah and Ahavat Yisrael. The primary challenge is to produce a self-confident, strong Rabbinate that will empower its members to fulfill their complex calling, while meeting the challenge to balance the unrelenting truth of Torah, with hesed – loving-kindness toward all Jews. Benjamin J. Samuels explores R. Lamm’s vision of the rabbinate, its challenges and opportunities, in his contribution to the “Rabbi Lamm Memorial Volume” (open access).