December 24, 2020

The BEST: Democracy Versus the Melting Pot

Helena Miller, for the Saks Bookshelves Project, on the progressive era’s legacy of cultural pluralism, and its meaning for contemporary religious society.
December 23, 2020

PODCAST: The COVID Vaccine and Halakha

In the TRADITION Podcast R. Yona Reiss explains the religious obligation to vaccinate against COVID-19 as part of halakha’s imperative to be vigilant in preserving and protecting human life.
December 22, 2020

Mourning Through a Glass Pane

Our editor Jeffrey Saks on what Jacob and Joseph, and the Chief Rabbi and Archbishop, teach us about parents suffering the tragic death of children.
December 20, 2020

RESPONSE: Teaching Towards Inspiration

Todd Berman responds to TRADITION's recent symposium -- questioning what the goals of the encounter with Jewish Thought are if not to inspire a life of Torah and mitzvot.
December 17, 2020

The BEST: Tiny Habits

In this week’s Rabbi Sacks Bookshelves Project, Tamra Wright considers the implications of a recent trend in behavioral science for crafting a “new musar.”
December 16, 2020

Our Da’as Torah Figure

R. Yona Reiss remembers the late Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz zt”l as a brilliant and brave spokesman for integrity and humanity in pesak halakha.
December 15, 2020

The Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Medieval Jewish Thought

Look heavenward this coming Monday to witness the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Jeremy Brown reports on how various Rishonim understood this astronomical rarity – and hopes it might be a good omen for our pandemic age.
December 13, 2020

Hanukka in Hazal

In this TRADITION classic from our archives: Gerald Blidstein offers possible explanations for Hazal’s suppression of the Jewish Hellenizers in the Hanukka story.
December 10, 2020

The BEST: After Virtue

Michael J. Harris, writing for The BEST's R. Sacks Bookshelves Series, introduces our readers to Alasdair MacIntyre's groundbreaking work of moral philosophy.