October 27, 2025
Published by Jeffrey Saks at October 27, 2025
Today, October 27, marks the seventh anniversary of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, which claimed the lives of 11 shulgoers. To mark that traumatic event we re-publish Sarah Rudolph's review of “Bound in the Bond of Life” – a collection of essays by Pittsburgh writers on the tragedy which resonates with the “recurring theme of connection its most powerful element – connections between people, between ideas, within and between varying beliefs and worldviews, between experiences.”
October 26, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 26, 2025
December 16th will mark the 250th birthday of the renowned English novelist Jane Austen, and “Janeites” (as her fans call themselves) are aflutter worldwide. In this episode of the TRADITION Podcast Mali Brofsky chats with Yaffa Aranoff about her recent essay “The Perils of Gentle Selfishness: Jane Austen’s Emma and Halakhic Morality” (TRADITION, Winter 2025). The conversation serves as a demonstration of engagement with “the best” in literature, showing how it can redound to our growth as thinking religious beings.
October 24, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 24, 2025
The Personalities of Noah and Abraham are frequently compared and contrasted in rabbinic writings. Judith Bleich offers an insight to why, despite being he progenitor of all of post-Flood humanity, Noah is sidelined while Abraham becomes a Forefather and conveyer of God’s moral message.
October 23, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 23, 2025
George and Ira Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” fuses opera, jazz, and spirituals to create a uniquely American sound. Drawing on Jewish liturgical melody, the Gershwins transformed sacred motifs into secular skepticism. Chaim Strauchler reflects on how their work embodies both creative synthesis and moral tension in the pursuit of the artistic and spiritual “BEST.”
October 21, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 21, 2025
Join us in Teaneck on Sunday evening, November 9 for an in-person event: Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter and a panel of respondents on “Historical Realities & Educational Methodologies”— the open to the public Keynote event of the Tradition Today Summit.
October 18, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 18, 2025
TRADITION, together with the Rabbi Sacks Legacy, has published its largest ever issue dedicated to the thought of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l—view the table of contents, volume introductions, sample chapters, and essay abstracts. Join is online for a special “issue launch” on Sunday, November 2, as part of the series of events to be held worldwide in advance of R. Sacks’ fifth yahrzeit.
October 16, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 16, 2025
There is a fairly self-understood principle in halakha that it is forbidden to erase the Holy Name of God. What then are the implications for recordings found on our phones and laptops? With this new season on “Unpacking the Iggerot” Moshe Kurtz shows us how R. Moshe Feinstein addressed questions that emerged with new technologies.
October 6, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 6, 2025
The Sukka is a structure that turns a fleeting dream into a physical structure—giving it a chance for permanence once its fleeting time has passed. Avraham Stav recalls the early days of the war, two years ago, with their sleepless nights on flimsy army cots and in temporary mud dugouts, and the experience and potential of our own Sukkot.
October 5, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at October 5, 2025
In this episode of the TRADITION Podcast, Ilana Kurshan and Sarah Rindner Blum discuss how the time spent reading books with our children can yield profound intellectual and spiritual insights, not to mention deeper and more enjoyable relationships. Kurshan’s new book, “Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together,” explores the ways in which reading books and learning Torah in the context of family life can be uplifting and transformative.