TRADITION continues its yearly tradition of turning to our esteemed editorial board for endorsements for summer reading. Some of the picks could have easily been predicted, others are quite surprising, all are worthy of your attention. Read the first installment today on TraditionOnline.

As the current of modernity continues to rage, the lessons of Jonathan Ziring’s “Torah in a Connected World” will only become more relevant. Tamar Koslowe’s review argues that as an entire generation of Jews is growing up alongside the technological revolution, confronting how technology affects our religious lives is prudent: “The reader walks away more knowledgeable and motivated to thoughtfully consider these questions. More than any particular elucidation of halakha, Ziring asks the reader to, at the very least, think critically about the technological changes that are transforming lives across the globe.”

Win a TRADITION subscription by picking our picks! We continue our yearly tradition of turning to our esteemed editorial board for endorsements for summer reading. Some may be amused to think of a seaside read with the hefty tomes our team chose – but that’s what you get for turning to TRADITION-niks for their reading picks of works of Torah, Madda, Torah u-Madda, or enlightening literature. Before the series launches, you can enter to win a subscription to our print journal by predicting the titles most likely to appear on this year’s list.

As Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary celebrates its Chag HaSemikha today we recall the charge that R. Norman Lamm delivered to the YU musmakhim 30 years ago. In a well-known address, “The Spirit of Elijah Rests Upon Elishah,” R. Lamm expressed his passion for what it means to enable each new rabbi to take up his task. R. Menachem Penner recently examined R. Lamm’s many addresses to the rabbis under his charge, writing: “Those infused with the wisdom of God are required, in a separate but equal way to the king, to play a role in steering the nation. R. Lamm did not downplay the challenges that lie ahead for his charges. He understood that the world in which the new rabbis would soon be serving was hostile to many values cherished in the walls of the yeshiva.”

In advance of celebrating Matan Torah, read Heshie & Rookie Billet’s exploration of the  centrality of personal Torah study in the life of every Jew as outlined in the writings of R. Norman Lamm as we mark his 4th Yahrzeit on 8 Sivan (from TRADITION’s “Rabbi Norman Lamm Memorial Volume”).

Part Rebbetzin, part spy; part pious, part criminal; part defender of the faith, part kidnapper. What is one to make of the idiosyncratic life of Ruth Blau—a woman who seduced a Nazi officer but married an influential rabbi; was captured by the Mossad for criminal activities, but later met with the Ayatollah Khomeini to protect Jewish interests? In reviewing “Ruth Blau: A Life of Paradox and Purpose,” Yoel Finkelman says: Motti Inbari traces her unbelievable story with academic rigor and dedication to describing just what happened to one of the most enigmatic Haredi women of the 20th century.