March 16, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at March 16, 2021
When erev Pesach occurred on Shabbat in 1974 – as it will this year – it was the first time in 20 years that Jews worldwide confronted this phenomenon which presents a slew of halakhic challenges. Rabbi J. David Bleich was at the ready with a column in TRADITION’s “Survey of Recent Halakhic Literature.” Here it is, fresh from our archives...
March 14, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at March 14, 2021
As we turn our attention to Passover, Yitzchak Rosenblum reviews the Eliezer Berkovits Haggadah, situating it within larger trends in that important 20th-century philosopher’s thought.
March 11, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at March 11, 2021
Writing for the R. Sacks Bookshelves project, Chaim Strauchler examines points of intersection between Charles Taylor's "A Secular Age" and Sacks' lifelong work showing that “human beings are meaning-seeking animals, and the search for meaning is constitutive of our humanity, and religion is the greatest heritage of our meanings.”
March 7, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at March 7, 2021
Erica Brown considers why R. Jonathan Sacks introduces his Haggada with an emphasis on the family as the heart of the Passover experience. “R. Sacks makes the case that the Seder, what he calls the oldest of Jewish rituals, takes place at home because Judaism attaches immense significance to the family.” Read the review essay and an excerpted chapter from “The Jonathan Sacks Haggada.”
March 4, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at March 4, 2021
R. Sacks observed the United States in the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville – admiring its institutions but knowing he had a role in helping Americans (and citizens of the world) navigate liberal democracy, the market economy, and ever-advancing science and technology. Stuart Halpern presents “Democracy in America” in this week’s R. Sacks Bookshelves Project.
March 2, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at March 2, 2021
“VaYoel Moshe” is the most long-lasting Antizionist tract. Understanding its impact is toed up with knowing something about its author, R. Yoel Teitelbaum. A new biography sheds light on the Satmar Rebbe and his work.
February 25, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at February 25, 2021
Daniel Rose explains the impact of Leonard Cohen’s music on R. Sacks -- for the R. Sacks Bookshelves Project. Hallelujah!
February 22, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at February 22, 2021
A response to our recent “A Halakhic Framework in Acute Critical Illness” by Judah Goldberg, and its rabbinic postscript by Rabbis Hershel Schachter and Mordechai Willig. Does emerging evidence require us to think differently about the effects of hydration, nutrition, and oxygen at the end of life?
February 18, 2021
Published by Tradition Online at February 18, 2021
How are Jewish texts the overlooked and underappreciated sources of enlightenment political thought? Rafi Zarum shares with us R. Sacks’ reading of Eric Nelson’s “The Hebrew Republic” – this week in the Sacks Bookshelves Project.