April 29, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 29, 2025
As we mark the 10th yahrzeit of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l the Tradition Podcast catches up with two contributors to our recent Spring issue exploring his thought. Alongside a never-before published essay by R. Lichtenstein, “Relevance and Reverence,” exploring challenges in Jewish education – we bring you Michael S. Berger’s analysis of its ongoing relevance. In this episode we talk with Michael about the topics raised in the two essays. Later in the episode we hear from Shlomo Zuckier about his contribution to the volume, revisiting R. Lichtenstein’s classic essay, “Does Jewish Tradition Recognize an Ethic Independent of Halakha.”
April 27, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 27, 2025
How did COVID reshape our synagogues, schools, and souls? In episode of the Tradition Podcast we speak with the authors of our recent “COVID+5” series, looking back on the pandemic 5 years later. Listen to guest editor Yehuda Halpert and a panel of prominent educators, rabbis, and mental health experts as they reflect on the pandemic’s lasting impact—from leadership decisions to silent personal struggles. This raw, honest conversation explores how our communities have changed, and how such change can be an opportunity for growth.
April 24, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 24, 2025
Carl Hochhauser and Gila Muskin explore COVID’s ripple effects on mental health, religious life, and infertility struggles through data, reflection, and personal insight. From the surge in teletherapy to shifting stigmas and the echoes of isolation, they invite us to ask: What is the current state of our mental and spiritual health. Have we grown from crisis, or simply repressed and moved on?
April 23, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 23, 2025
What pandemic era changes has the Jewish community retained? Have we as a community and as individuals chosen wisely? Did we meet the challenge or fail to rise to the it? Rabbis Daniel Korobkin and Larry Rothwachs offer honest, deeply reflective insights on the long-term spiritual and cultural aftershocks of COVID in the Jewish community—from synagogue shifts and spiritual disconnection to the rise and fall of simplified celebrations. A must-read for anyone grappling with how COVID reshaped our values, our rituals, and our communal life—for better and for worse.
April 22, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 22, 2025
Five years after COVID-19 upended Jewish education, Rabbis Joshua Kahn and Leonard Matanky reflect on the lasting impact of the pandemic. From reshaping school values and prioritizing teen mental health, to redefining instruction and faculty culture, our schools were both tested and transformed. With resilience, reflection, and renewed purpose, these pieces explore how crisis became catalyst—offering insight, inspiration, and a vision for a stronger, more deliberate educational future.
April 21, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 21, 2025
Join us for the "COVID+5" series, where we explore the lasting impact of the pandemic on Jewish education, communal life, and spirituality. Through the insights and reflections of a diverse group of authors discover how COVID reshaped our synagogues, our communal celebrations, our Yeshiva high school and elementary schools, and our relationship with God and each other, including those suffering with infertility, while sparking opportunities for growth and empathy. Yehuda Halpert introduces the series….
April 10, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 10, 2025
What brought about the moment of redemption from Egypt? Exodus 12 has the Israelites hastily preparing to leave—the display of their eagerness seemingly the necessary prerequisite for their freedom—while God passes-over above, busy with the slaying of Egyptian firstborn sons. The midrash, however, suggests that God, too, was acting with haste, eager to bring about the redemption. Ilana Goldstein Saks shows how Rashi’s interpretation offers a creative reworking of the midrash which both incorporates the midrash and remains true to the meaning of the biblical text, and gets to the very heart of the meaning of the holiday of Passover.
April 10, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 10, 2025
Was R. Moshe Feinstein a posek with a predisposition to dispensing lenient halakhic rulings? Moshe Kurtz argues that by looking at a sampling of his landmark Shabbat responsa we may be left with a very different impression of how R. Feinstein approached the world of contemporary halakha.
April 7, 2025
Published by Tradition Online at April 7, 2025
Any new book by Marc Shapiro naturally elicits enthusiasm, given his role as one of Jewish Studies’ most erudite scholars. His most recent offering, “Renewing the Old, Sanctifying the New: The Unique Vision of Rav Kook “ (Littman Library) demonstrates how Rav Kook’s theological vision might contribute to contemporary Jewish thought. Yoel Finkelman reviews….