From “War and Destruction” to “Pain Not Even Satan Could Create,” Israeli popular music reflects changing moods toward the current war. What began with self-assurance about the IDF’s strength and inevitable victory has drifted to address the fear, pain, and loss that accompany any war, certainly this one. As we approach Yom HaZikaron, Yoel Finkelman shows how Israeli music calls upon us to live up to the memory of our friends, neighbors, and family who will not return.

TRADITION vol. 56 no. 2 (Spring 2024) has arrived as a special issue delivering the papers presented at last year's “Tradition Today Summit” exploring the spiritual challenges of material success, edited by Jeffrey Saks and Shlomo Zuckier. Subscribers can access the entire issue online; others can read select open-access content.

In his sophisticated and immensely erudite new book of essays, Daniel Sperber argues powerfully that it is difficult to justify eating meat produced by modern industrial farming methods, on grounds of both kashrut and ethics. Yedidya Sinclair suggests that Sperber's book makes a strong case for the interwovenness of ethics with the halakhot of kashrut, persuasively arguing that ecology and environmentalism should be higher priorities in the Jewish world.