In this Omer season, as we read each Shabbat from Avot, Ephraim Fruchter sees parallels in Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations” and draws our attention to the benefits of reading this classic ethical text opposite the musar tradition.

For Yom HaAtzmaut, TraditionOnline’s The BEST shares Rafi Eis’ application of John Locke’s “A Letter Concerning Toleration” to a dispute between Rabbis Sacks and Riskin concerning the separation of religion and state: When “religion enters politics, it becomes a divisive, not a uniting, force. If it seeks power, it will forfeit influence” vs. “Without power, how can the chosen people protect the powerless against their exploiters?”

As we mark Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) sample these relevant recent offerings from “The BEST” on Holocaust literature that engages our hearts, minds, and memories: Jeffrey Saks and Yitzchak Blau on Primo Levi; Shay Charka on Spiegelman’s “Maus.”