August 10, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at August 10, 2023
With no moral equivalencies being made to Palestinian terror attacks against Jews, Roi Sharon’s journalistic book forces us to confront acts of Jewish terror aimed at Arabs. Yitzchak Blau’s Alt+SHIFT review focuses on the wild weeds in our own garden, a dangerous and evil growth that needs to be opposed and eradicated. While the overwhelming majority of the Religious Zionist world opposes this phenomenon, it is time to admit that we have a serious problem.
August 7, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at August 7, 2023
From the evidence offered in his writings the tragic loss of R. Eitam Henkin in a terror attack is compounded by the promise of future scholarship of which we will be deprived. Gidon Rothstein reviews R. Henkin’s posthumous collection, “Studies in Halakhah and Rabbinic History,” and asserts that each individual essay as well as the overall experience of meeting this writer will reward the reader.
August 3, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at August 3, 2023
A recent study shows that house color décor influences perceived property values. How does design affect our perception of our shuls and schools as trendy and relevant or outdated and passé? This is a particular challenge for institutions whose identities are closely connected to their modernity, or alternatively, to a sense of tradition. Chaim Strauchler asks if we should be playing these color wars—and at what cost?
August 1, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at August 1, 2023
Replying to their critics, Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman defend an October 2020 TRADITION article which anticipated the overwhelming endorsement of the COVID vaccine by the medical community, government agencies, and subsequent positions staked out by the majority of poskim. In short, vaccines were the best way through the pandemic. They worked and helped fulfil “lo ta’amod al dam re’ekha.”
July 30, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at July 30, 2023
Reflecting on a TraditionOnline essay from 2020, Rafi Eis questions mistakes he believes were made during COVID about social ostracization of non-vaxxers, school closings, and aspects of the halakhic and medical analysis made in the moment.
July 26, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at July 26, 2023
The final verse of Lamentations is difficult to understand, and has been interpreted in various ways by Hazal which have distinct implications with regard to the theological meaning of Hurban. Aton M. Holzer explores the approaches and argues that the liturgy and customs of Tisha B’Av embrace one particular reading, one which sees excessive Divine rage as a manifestation of continued interest in and engagement with the Jewish people.
July 23, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at July 23, 2023
TRADITION’s Summer 2023 issue is on its way to subscribers. It features a special cluster of essays commemorating the Yom Kippur War in advance of the upcoming 50th anniversary; J. David Bleich on “Above-Ground Burial”; Michael Shmidman on Isadore Twersky’s contribution to study of The Guide of the Perplexed; David Berger reviews new and problematic scholarship on Christian-Jewish Relations after Vatican II; and more…
July 20, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at July 20, 2023
In R. Benny Kalmanzon’s “Al Ma Avda haAretz” the recently retired Rosh Yeshiva of Otniel analyzes the aggadot in Gittin about the Second Temple’s destruction and makes an important contribution to the growing world of aggadic study. Yitzchak Blau’s Alt+SHIFT installment suggests the book will enhance one’s understanding and appreciation of these texts in advance of Tisha B’Av.
July 18, 2023
Published by Tradition Online at July 18, 2023
David Shatz offers an assessment of the significance of Mark Smilowitz’s recent essay, “The Lonely Man of Faith as Halakhic Philosophy” (Spring 2023), now open-access. Shatz says it aids our understanding of the surprising relationship between “Lonely Man” and “Halakhic Mind”—two works, written two decades apart, that initially appear distant, even contradictory, in both method and content.