To commemorate Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ fourth Yahrzeit, TRADITION turns its questioning gaze inward. Last year was the 50th anniversary of R. Sacks’ first major publication, “Alienation and Faith.” The essay probed a core assumption of R. Soloveitchik’s “Lonely Man of Faith”—the Jew is fated to an existence that is divided, alienated, and lonely. At the young age of 25, R. Sacks disagreed. Chaim Strauchler examines the article’s publication and reception.

Chaim Strauchler questions the hermetically-sealed plastic sleeves in which hadassim and aravot are delivered. What advantages and disadvantages does pre-checking mitzvot create?

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?

Chaim Strauchler extrapolates from the earworm to a term he coins the “Torah worm.” At seemingly random points in the yearly public reading, community members join the ba’al keria in singing a phrase from the Torah reading. This installment of “TRADITION Questions” asks what unites the texts that become Torah worms? What do such Torah worms say about public Torah reading and about modern Jewish life?