November 23, 2021
Published by Jeffrey Saks at November 23, 2021
How Colorful Was Joseph’s Coat? Though many assume Jacob's gift to Joseph was “a coat of many colors,” a study of classical commentators and midrashic traditions reveals a spectrum of alternative interpretations. Analyzing these offers deeper insight into why it upset Joseph’s brothers to such a degree that they would plot to kill him! Sarah Rudolph explores...
November 22, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 22, 2021
Rabbinic biographies are often thinly disguised hagiographies designed to “inspire.” In reviewing two recent books that buck this trend, Zev Eleff shows how the biographies of R. Yudel Rosenberg and R. Herschel Schacter ask profound—and in their own way “inspiring”—questions about leading a Modern Orthodox life and leadership in Modern Orthodoxy.
November 18, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 18, 2021
The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik is an erudite polymath, and his elegant essays are a source of astute acumen, offering valuable insight and a model of superb writing. Yitzchak Blau’s offers a reader’s guide in this week’s “The BEST.”
November 16, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 16, 2021
What was life like for little Dina in the household of Jacob? What exactly was she seeking when she embarked on her excursion? What actually happened to Dina that day? After Dina was saved, what happened to her? Dan Jacobson considers these questions in offering a new understanding of the Dina story which sheds light not only on the Biblical text but also on the experience of sexual abuse victims through the ages.
November 14, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 14, 2021
The TRADITION Podcast explores Rabbi Norman Lamm’s energetic rabbinic leadership and his message and challenge to his rabbinic colleagues and students. Guests R. Menachem Penner and R. Benjamin Samuels chat with our editor R. Jeffrey Saks about their contributions to the recent “Rabbi Lamm Memorial Volume.”
November 11, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 11, 2021
In which “Squid Game” reminds our editor, Jeffrey Saks, of a more worthy exploration of how shockingly easily humanity can become degraded – Primo Levi’s remarkable work of incredible moral power, “Survival in Auschwitz,” in this week’s “The BEST.”
November 9, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 9, 2021
TRADITION is pleased to release our Fall 2021 issue (53:4) – highlights include R. Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg zt”l in “Praise of Peshara”; Menachem Kellner reexamines the perils of laying claim to the Maimondean legacy; Chaim Saiman reviews new works on halakha and the Jewish State; Daniel Gordis on why nostalgia isn’t enough, and more.
November 7, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 7, 2021
In this episode of the TRADITION Podcast our editor R. Jeffrey Saks speaks with Rachelle Sprecher Fraenkel about her contribution to our “Rabbi Norman Lamm memorial Volume” in which she assessed his writing, preaching, and teaching on the role of “Family and Morality in Turbulent Times.”
November 4, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at November 4, 2021
Revisit the many book reviews published in TRADITION and on TraditionOnline in the last half-year…