October 31, 2024
R. Moshe Feinstein stood as a bulwark against innovations of liberal movements, delineating the borders between acceptable and unacceptable halakhic practice. His opposition to Bat Mitzva ceremonies is an iconic case in point. In this installment of "Unpacking the Iggerot," Moshe Kurtz shows us that behind this social issue lies a fascinating debate about the nature of how R. Feinstein chose what and when he wanted the public to read from his literature.
October 28, 2024
As people live longer, questions about the decision-making process regarding care for the infirm and elderly have grown more prominent. A 2010 TRADITION essay by Judah Goldberg makes an invaluable contribution to our thinking on these matters. Yitzchak Blau shows how Goldberg's analysis touches on the nature of medical knowledge, the relationship between doctor and patient, the value of autonomy, and how formalistic halakha is.
October 15, 2024
Before TraditionOnline signs off for a Sukkot break, we leave you with one of the most profound columns we've published since last Simhat Torah. Israeli poet Bacol Serlui turned to Tehillim as the rockets began falling on Oct. 7 and her son was called away to war: “I sat with my Tehillim, reciting from beginning to end until the close of the holiday, until my tears dried up and the breaking news broke me once again. I recite the Psalms again and again and feel that the Tehillim are reading me, dubbing my fear and sorrow, giving me a voice. Three millennia ago a Jew sat and poured out the agony of his soul in times of peace and war, and here he reaches out a hand of prayer and speaks to our own day, until we will be redeemed.” Read Serlui’s essay on King David, the warrior poet, and his Psalms’ ability to reach us across the millennia.
October 10, 2024
With Yom Kippur hours away, Chaim Strauchler shares reflections on the sins of auto-correct. How does technology uniquely affect a transliterating community? What future technologies might assist and hamper the moral quest and the religious life journey?