Rachel Auerbach was a writer and journalist who worked for the Polish and Yiddish press in pre-war Poland when Emanuel Ringelblum, the chronicler-martyr of the Warsaw Ghetto, drafted her to the Oyneg Shabbos archival group, which heroically documented the Nazi oppression. In his review of Aurbach’s “The Jewish Revolt” David Bernstein profiles Auerbach as an inspiring, mission-driven woman.

As we approach the holiday of the giving of the Torah, David Shatz profiles a remarkable work by Zechariah Haber z”l, who fell in battle in Gaza, leaving behind a profound body of Torah scholarship, now published posthumously as “Minha Hadasha” (Yeshivat Har Etzion). “Its pages,” Shatz writes, “amply display the analytic brilliance of Torah, her richness and beauty; while the persona and life story of author augments our reverence for those who not only passionately love Torah, but stand ready to sacrifice their lives for the nation that treasures her.”

Responding to TRADITION’s recent COVID+5 symposium, Yaakov Blau questions assumptions about the impact of the pandemic on schooling, and asks if we haven’t been using the events of 5 years ago as a distraction from more systemic and underlying problems facing Jewish education.