The establishment of the Jewish State in 1948 introduced previously unimaginable questions for halakha and Jewish religious life — most relevantly in terms of statehood and governance. Aviad Tabory’s "State of Halakha" (Maggid Books) is best understood through its subtitle: “Israel’s history in Jewish law.” Sruli Fruchter, in reviewing the work, says the book shows that “halakha always has something to say. And in Israel’s case, we have the ability to listen.”

The recent republication of TRADITION’s twenty-five year-old symposium on “The Sea Change in American Orthodox Judaism” generated a “looking back” on the part of some of those original 35 authors. Marc D. Angel and Judith Bleich each stands by his and her opinions of a quarter century ago.

In "Perpetuating the Masorah" (Maggid Books & OU Press) we meet Rabbi Yitzhak, not Professor Isadore, Twersky—an expositor par excellence of Torat Hashem, delivering eternal wisdom to his faithful followers, not to his academic seminar room. That he could straddle these two worlds speaks volumes to his intellect and personality. Todd Berman reviews…

TRADITION recently held its first Tradition Today Summit, addressing the issue of “Material Success and its Challenges.” Orthodox life in the United States has seen increasing material success in recent decades. This has had an impact in a wide range of areas – sumptuary trends, philanthropy, career choice, institutional sustainability (e.g., the tuition crisis), social and communal gaps between haves and have-nots, and more. While many of these topics have been discussed informally, little has been written about them in a systemic and organized fashion. Here is a summary of the proceedings, which we expect to publish in an upcoming issue of the journal.

Maimonides invokes passionate love between people as a key metaphor for the human relationship with the Divine, an idea widely explored by midrashic interpretations of Shir HaShirim which provokes questions about how love is nourished and how it functions. In reviewing Yakov Danishefsky’s “Attached: Connecting to Our Creator” (Mosaica), Sara Wolkenfeld evaluates the claim that the skills we develop in relating to the people around us, particularly our romantic partners, can help us craft a relationship with God.