Fall 2024 Issue Arrives
TRADITION 56:4 (Fall 2024) is wending its way to subscribers’ mailboxes in time for the upcoming holidays. Visit TraditionOnline to view the full table of contents for the issue (contents accessible to subscribers).
Knowing it will tempt the non-subscribers to do teshuva when it’s most needed (and finally order a subscription!), we invite everyone to enjoy sample open-access content particularly appropriate for the upcoming season:
Neti Penstein, “Forgiveness: A Philosophical Analysis of the Halakhic Sources”
According to philosopher Aurel Kolnai, forgiveness is not a distinct moral virtue. This is because it is either extraneous—as in cases where the perpetrator has already repented or morally problematic—as in cases where the perpetrator is wholly unrepentant. Known in the literature as “Kolnai’s Paradox,” this 20th-century argument set the stage for contemporary philosophical discussions of forgiveness. In this debut essay by a dazzling young voice in our intellectual community, Neti Penstein argues that halakha seems to embrace Kolnai’s paradox and that this explains Maimonides’ uncompromising approach to a topic as nuanced and sensitive as interpersonal forgiveness. The embrace, however, is not complete, and there are two cases in which halakha does recognize a distinct virtue of forgiveness. Analyzing these exceptions allows Penstein to provide us with a positive halakhic definition of forgiveness which avoids both horns of Kolnai’s dilemma and helps us think of our interpersonal religious duties heading into the Yamim Noraim.
Arthur (Ari) Schaffer, Review Essay: The Citron Compendium: The Citron (Etrog) Citrus medica L.: Science and Tradition & Be Fruitful! The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture and History
The past couple of years have been an unusually fruitful period for books about the Etrog. Following a bumper crop of colorfully illustrated volumes dedicated to the halakhic issues of kashrut and hiddurim of the Four Species that have filled bookstore shelves, the number of articles focusing on the topics of science, tradition, art, culture, and folklore surrounding the Etrog has recently blossomed. Dr. Arthur (Ari) Schaffer, a research scientist at the Volcani Center of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, reviews two new collections with a combined 40 articles dealing with these broader aspects. The two volumes are different, yet complementary. The Citron Compendium, edited by Eliezer E. Goldschmidt and Moshe Bar-Joseph, can be described as more scientific, with comprehensive primary research articles and detailed coverage of a broad interdisciplinary range of subjects. Be Fruitful! The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture and History, edited by Warren Klein, Sharon Liberman Mintz, and Joshua Teplitsky, is valuable as an extremely informative and enjoyable source for developing a colorful and detailed picture of the subject. Together these books, and Schaffer’s review essay, will make for delightful Sukkot reading.
With the arrival of the new issue, our special Tradition Today Summit volume on “Material Success and Its Challenges” (Spring 2024) is now fully open access.