January 21, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 21, 2025
R. Haim Druckman’s “Be-Hayyil uve-Ru’ah” covers a wide range of military-related issues. The book is noteworthy because the author (one of the leading voices in Israeli Religious Zionism before his death in 2022) cannot be easily categorized as a hawk or dove. Yitzchak Blau returns for a supplemental entry in the Alt+SHIFT series.
January 19, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 19, 2025
As we approach the five-year mark since the initial COVID lockdown, TRADITION has published Rav J. David Bleich’s essay on “Vaxxers and Anti-Vaxxers” in his “Survey of Recent Halakhic Literature” column (available open access for a limited time at TraditionOnline.org).
January 16, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 16, 2025
In 1980, R. Moshe Feinstein issued a harsh condemnation against cheating on the New York State Regents exam. While the question of cheating was immediately put to rest, what remained less clear was his general approach to secular studies. In this column, Moshe Kurtz explores R. Feinstein’s complicated opinions on college, medical study, and more.
January 14, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 14, 2025
A new Hebrew book by Nahal Elgad Binyamin Shoham, “Becoming a Redeemer” (Har Bracha), delves into teachings of the Rebbes of Ruzhin, emphasizing the deep connection between Hasidism and Zionism. Yehuda Brandes reviews, asking what the message of those Rebbes nearly a century ago might mean for our own contemporary religious identity.
January 12, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 12, 2025
TRADITION’s seasonal roundup of noteworthy new titles in Jewish studies and learning, with offerings on halakha and mental health, peshat and aggada, and definitive new histories of Jewish Provence, the medieval Jewish wine trade, the Soviet dissident movement, and more…
January 9, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 9, 2025
Chaim Strauchler connects a peculiar Russian youth trend to a classic Hasidic parable and questions what it means for today’s Jewish educators and youth.
January 7, 2025
Published by Jeffrey Saks at January 7, 2025
As we prepare to conclude reading Sefer Breishit, we are re-publishing this column by Rachel Sharansky Danziger, who reflected on cycling through the Book last year in the early months of the war. A year later, the war is still being waged and her insights are no less powerful: On Simhat Torah 2023, 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.
January 5, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 5, 2025
Moshe Taragin’s “Reclaiming Redemption” (Mosaica) explores the contemporary Jewish nation that has emerged “from the tunnel of history”—a people who are no longer bystanders or objects, but actors on the world stage. In this new existence, redemption, once an abstract concept, now looks very real and practical. Elie Weissman reviews…
January 2, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at January 2, 2025
Is it enough to believe that the Messiah “might” arrive soon? In this installment of "Unpacking the Iggerot," Moshe Kurtz provides us with a selection of stories and halakhic rulings that reveal R. Moshe Feinstein’s unique approach to living with a Messiah Mentality.