September 4, 2024

ONLINE EVENT: The Ideology of Hesder Revisited

Join TRADITION and the Rabbinical Council of America for an online Zoom conversation with R. Mosheh Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshivat Har Etzion, revisiting a classic essay from our archives: R. Aharon Lichtenstein’s “The Ideology of Hesder,” using it as a lens to explore contemporary issues in Israeli religious and civilian life and society, and the particular challenges of the current war. Sunday, September 15 on Zoom (registration at link).
September 2, 2024

ARCHIVE: Elul’s Shofar

As we prepare to enter the month of Elul, we revisit a classic Elul essay in the TRADITION archives. In 1994 our editor, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman, penned an “Editor’s Notebook” titled “The Shofar That Is Sounded in Elul." It was an opportunity to explore divisions in Israeli society and—even three decades on—remains relevant even as he could not have known how the country would be paradoxically more united and more divided in unexpected ways.
August 29, 2024

Unpacking the Iggerot: Paging Dr. Cohen?

When a mysterious document purporting to permit kohanim to attend medical school surfaces, controversy ensues—involving the likes of R. Shimon Schwab, R. Shlomo Goren, and, of course, R. Moshe Feinstein. In this week’s “Unpacking the Iggerot,” Moshe Kurtz takes us through a fascinating episode in contemporary halakha that has the potential to imperil the ambitions of many Jewish mothers who would like nothing more than say, “My son, Dr. Cohen”!
August 26, 2024

PODCAST: “Bittersweet” with Susan Cain

In reviewing Susan Cain’s “Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole” (Crown) for this summer’s TRADITION Book Endorsements, Mail Brofsky drew lessons, strength, and encouragement following the events of Simchat Torah and throughout this year’s long war. In this podcast Cain joins Brofsky to discuss her #1 NY Times bestseller (and Oprah pick), and explore its message for our religious community.