In a remarkable new essay appearing in TRADITION, Neti Penstein explores the interplay of halakhic sources in the writings of Maimonides, Rabbi Soloveitchik, and others, and brings her analysis of that wisdom to bear in offering a solution to a particular 50-year-old philosophical paradox about the meaning and mechanics of forgiveness. Penstein discusses her essay on the Tradition Podcast—and listeners will be reminded of the Rav’s closing remark in “The Halakhic Mind”: “Out of the sources of Halakhah, a new world view awaits formulation.”

This week TraditionOnline ran a series of excerpts from three new books which have been written and published from within the fog of war; each aiming to offer religious insight and respond to the traumas of our collective Jewish experiences since Simchat Torah 2023. In this podcast we chat briefly with Erica Brown, Rachel Sharansky Danziger, and Moshe Taragin about their writing, the challenge of responding “from the gut” in real time, and how powerful and responsive works of this nature impact in their moment and resonate across the years.

Writing for TRADITION, Menachem Kellner recently reviewed ArtScroll’s new anthology of Maimonidean philosophy, “Kisvei HaRambam: Writings of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon,” and profiled “The Guide to the Perplexed: A New Translation” (Stanford University Press). With some critical reservations in place, in the podcast with Jeffrey Saks he applauds ArtScroll for a new openness to exposing its readers to Maimonides the philosopher, and praises the new translation of the Guide as an important corrective to earlier works that occluded the fact that “Rambam was also a rabbi”!

TRADITION and the Rabbinical Council of America recently hosted R. Mosheh Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshivat Har Etzion, for a conversation revisiting a classic essay from our archives: R. Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l, “The Ideology of Hesder” (Fall 1981), using it as a lens to explore contemporary issues in Israeli religious and civilian life and society and the particular challenges of the current war. Listen to a recording of the conversation on the Tradition Podcast.