September 5, 2023

RESPONSE: Sea Change and Seeing Change

The recent republication of TRADITION’s twenty-five year-old symposium on “The Sea Change in American Orthodox Judaism” generated a “looking back” on the part of some of those original 35 authors. Marc D. Angel and Judith Bleich each stands by his and her opinions of a quarter century ago.
September 3, 2023

REVIEW: Perpetuating the Masorah

In "Perpetuating the Masorah" (Maggid Books & OU Press) we meet Rabbi Yitzhak, not Professor Isadore, Twersky—an expositor par excellence of Torat Hashem, delivering eternal wisdom to his faithful followers, not to his academic seminar room. That he could straddle these two worlds speaks volumes to his intellect and personality. Todd Berman reviews…
August 31, 2023

TRADITION QUESTIONS: Standing at Weddings

Chaim Strauchler questions some of the fanfare within the modern Jewish wedding. Focusing on the near-universal practice of rising for the bride and groom during the procession, he questions the practice’s source and what it says about celebrity culture’s connection to religious community.
August 28, 2023

FIELD NOTES: Material Success and Its Challenges

TRADITION recently held its first Tradition Today Summit, addressing the issue of “Material Success and its Challenges.” Orthodox life in the United States has seen increasing material success in recent decades. This has had an impact in a wide range of areas – sumptuary trends, philanthropy, career choice, institutional sustainability (e.g., the tuition crisis), social and communal gaps between haves and have-nots, and more. While many of these topics have been discussed informally, little has been written about them in a systemic and organized fashion. Here is a summary of the proceedings, which we expect to publish in an upcoming issue of the journal.