Today, 20 Tevet, is the 819th Yahrzeit of the “Great Eagle” Maimonides. That amount of time may surprise those of us for whom Rambam is a daily, living companion. To mark the occasion we release open-access Michael A. Shmidman’s recent essay, “Isadore Twersky’s Unique Contribution to The Guide of the Perplexed” (TRADITION, Summer 2023).

It is impossible to ignore an obvious fact: The outsized statistical prominence of Religious Zionists soldiers among the fallen of this war. A high casualty rate is not a pleasant flag to wave, but does serve one public importance: To defy the wicked, long-standing campaign that seeks to present Religious Zionism as a messianic, fascist, racist sector. And yet, writes Israeli columnist Yair Sheleg, it should cause us to reembrace our triple identity, which includes the religious, national, and universal-liberal components.

Dovid’l Weinberg’s “Birth of the Spoken World” is a book of great depth and breadth which advances an important thesis about the significance of prayer for our day. In reviewing the volume Yitzhak Blau suggests that anyone interested in understanding the balance between Torah learning and prayer, or in experiencing a neo-hasidic model that also sees beyond Hasidism will benefit.

On Simhat Torah, we set out on two journeys: our planned-for journey through the weekly Torah reading, and a harrowing voyage down the path of loss and war. The second trek challenges us daily, while the first helped Rachel Sharansky Danziger through each challenge posed along the way. As the two looped into each other, they changed her understanding of them both.

You are no doubt inundated with end-of-year donation requests for worthy causes. Please accept this update not as an appeal for your support but as a year-end inventory of what TRADITION has contributed to you, our readers. This year our Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought undertook important new ventures, made new achievements, and delivered engaging and enlightening scholarship in the four installments of Volume #55. Our editor Jeffrey Saks reviews 2023’s highlights here….

How could Judah convince an Egyptian official (unbeknownst to Judah, none other than the long-lost Joseph) to enslave an innocent man and let a convicted thief go free? Judah rises to the challenge magnificently. Read about the epic confrontation between Joseph and Judah in Hillel J. Chiel’s essay from the TRADITION Archives.

In light of the rare non-coincidence of Miketz and Hanukka we will read the almost always preempted Haftara for this week’s portion – which includes the well-known episode of Solomon’s judgment in the case of maternal identity. Rabbi J. David Bleich discussed this passage from I Kings in his “Survey of Recent Halakhic Literature” in our Fall 2023 issue. Read an excerpt from his article, “Horton Hatches the Egg, Who Raises the Chick?: Maternal Identity, Custody, and the Israeli Courts.”