March 16, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 16, 2022
For this Purim-edition of “The BEST” Jeffrey Saks offers a reading of S.Y. Agnon’s “The Bridal Canopy” and its message for the holiday. “Naturally, if this novel’s plot twist is to take place on any particular day of the year, Purim is pre-programmed for such a thing. On this holiday of masks and disguised identities, what is concealed will be revealed, and God works it all out for his faithful in the end.”
March 15, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 15, 2022
Responding to Eric Lawee’s recent essay about the long-lived ancients of the book of Genesis, Edward Reichman brings to our attention interesting scientific research revealing secrets that lay dormant, in our genetic code, unappreciated for centuries. Might “living until 120” one day be considered a tragically short life?
March 13, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 13, 2022
Megillat Esther is a scroll of hiding and seeking – its mysteries have not yet been fully revealed. In this unmasking of one of the book’s curiosities Phyllis Silverman Kramer and Mordecai Kramer explore the 6 appearances of the word Yehudim with a double-yud spelling and correlate them to 6 particular miracles and corresponding halakhic observances.
March 10, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 10, 2022
Dov Lerner writes on what makes John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” so revolutionary and so significant to the religious reader: “Milton dismantles the epic celebration of mortal combat so paradigmatic of Homer and Virgil—depicting belligerence as the blemish of the weak, and resilience as the sign of the strong.”
March 9, 2022
Published by Jeffrey Saks at March 9, 2022
TODAY // Join RCA and TRADITION for a special online panel discussing Ukrainian Jewry's war-time challenges. Panelists will detail their heroic struggle in the face of the humanitarian and refugee crisis unfolding on the Polish border, their work on the ground as communal leaders, the fears and prospects for Jewish institutions going forward—and help us understand the realities of this rapidly unfolding tragedy with greater nuance. Wednesday, March 9 at 12:30 pm ET.
March 8, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 8, 2022
Judith Bleich explores the obligation to remember Amalek as an observance tied to the elemental identification of Jews with the history and destiny of Klal Yisrael, and considers women’s obligation and opportunity in this commandment.
March 6, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 6, 2022
A new anthology-style commentary on Megillat Esther presents the wisdom and enduring insights of R. Eliezer Berkovits, and may make that 20th-century theologian’s thought accessible to new generations of readers—despite the drawbacks of this increasingly popular genre’s attempt to cobble unified commentaries from diverse works of the geniuses of the past. Tuvia Berman reviews “Faith Fulfilled.”
March 4, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 4, 2022
Join RCA and TRADITION for a special online panel discussing Ukrainian Jewry's war-time challenges. Panelists will detail their heroic struggle in the face of the humanitarian and refugee crisis unfolding on the Polish border, their work on the ground as communal leaders, the fears and prospects for Jewish institutions going forward—and help us understand the realities of this rapidly unfolding tragedy with greater nuance. Wednesday, March 9 at 12:30 pm ET.
March 3, 2022
Published by Tradition Online at March 3, 2022
Chaim Brovender sees in Rembrandt’s art a message for our humanity: Rembrandt telegraphs to us that each person’s individual identity cannot be suppressed. Each one’s face is unique and meaningful. Each figure is not quite like anyone else, and recalls to our minds the midrashic observation: “Just as no two people resemble one another, so no two people think alike. Rather, each person has an opinion of his own.”