July 21, 2022

The BEST: Eviatar Banai’s “Night as the Day Does Shine”

Marina Zilbergerts writes for The BEST on Eviatar Banai’s song “Night as the Day Does Shine”: “Banai has found a way to synthesize elements of his previous self with the new, and to bridge conflicting worlds into musical inspiration. Speaking directly to the essence of our age, Banai’s music pulls the aspiration to holiness and transcendence directly from the banal ups and downs of human experience.”
July 19, 2022

TRADITION Summer 2022 Arrives

TRADITION’s Summer 2022 issue arrives with a special section on Jewish Universalism. Also in this issue: The curious case of Prozbul's disappearance and reemergence; cannabis kashrut questions; R. Esriel Hildesheimer on women's Torah education;  the relationship between fear and trust in Tanakh and classical commentaries; and book reviews.
July 17, 2022

REVIEW: The Sabbath of the Land

As we begin our observance of the Three Weeks we turn our attention to an exploration of the spiritual, halakhic, and ecological dimensions of shemitta presented in Yedidya J. Sinclair’s thoughtful new translation of “Shabbat HaAretz” by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (Maggid Books). Ariel Evan Mayse suggests that the volume is an extremely timely contribution, given the perilous potential ecological calamities humanity faces.
July 14, 2022

The BEST: “What Gorgeous Thing”

Rivka Krause writes on poet Mary Oliver and her lesson to pause for gratitude: At times, the deepest understanding comes from appreciating the simple and often overlooked things around us. Our rituals aim to ingrain a thankfulness through awareness into the Jewish consciousness. The action of blessing food before eating should lead to thoughtfulness of where it comes from and why we eat it, but it so rarely does, because we do not pause and think.