Shlomo Zuckier’s recent Tradition essay traces the wide-ranging literary “afterlife” of R. Aharon Lichtenstein’s “Does Jewish Tradition Recognize an Ethic Independent of Halakha?” In a recent response Natan Levin engages Zuckier’s analysis through the lens of the famous debate between R. Lichtenstein and Reform theologian Eugene Borowitz.

Eli Rubin's “Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity” (Stanford University Press) presents a groundbreaking study of Chabad Hasidism. Through close readings of primary texts, historical analysis, and engagement with modern philosophy, Rubin, a scholar and Chabad insider, traces the historical evolution of the movement’s theology. Todd Berman shows that the result is an indispensable work for anyone wanting to better understand Chabad's intellectual and historical trajectory.

Outside the Orthodox Jewish world, discussion of the high cost of living focuses on housing costs, rather than on tuition. Yoni Appelbaum’s “Stuck” (Random House) discusses how the American housing shortage came to be, and its negative social consequences. Nathan Kasimer considers its applicability and impact on the economics of Orthodox Jewish communities.

Before October 7, 2023, conventional thinking was that Israel had abandoned its pioneering ethos of self-sacrifice on behalf of the larger community—just another victim of rising affluence and liberal, Western individualism. Moshe Weinstock charts the return of repressed values of collective responsibility, which have lain dormant as part of a national, Jewish “deep consciousness,” now awoken during these many long months of war. 

Jerusalem is described in Eikha as a lonely city. In advance of Tisha B’Av, Erica Brown examines the theme of loneliness in the book’s first chapter set against the pandemic of loneliness researchers decry today and questions if “the lonely city” metaphor is useful of debilitating in describing Israel’s current alienation.