American Orthodoxy

The dynamic conversation continues with three letters to the editor widening our perspective on Torah u-Madda. Steve Gotlib grapples with the challenges of living Torah u-Madda in the real world; Ezequiel Antebi Sacca adds a Sephardic view from Argentina; and Eugene Korn adds insight to the Jewish view on Christianity.

A Lehrhaus Symposium dedicated to Chaim Saiman's recent article on gedolim.

So many of the most exciting developments in Jewish thought, explains Ariel Rackovsky, are occurring in Israel. Are American Jews sufficiently aware of them?

In a never-before-published memoir, Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein recalls the politics that surrounded Yeshiva University upon the death of President Bernard Revel and the search for his successor. 

Today's letters to the editor rethink the utility of Torah u-Madda in today's world. Noam Stadlan reminds us that all knowledge is God's creation and thus inherently valuable, while Larry Grossman (author of “The Rise and Fall of Torah U’Madda“) argues that Torah u-Madda fails to address the various issues that now confront Modern Orthodoxy.

Tovah Lichtenstein responds to and critiques Zev Eleff's counter-history, "What if Rav Aharon Had Stayed?"

Devora Steinmetz Thank you to Rabbi Saul Berman for his essay about the deliberations and planning that led to Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s opening shiur at Stern...

Shayna Goldberg contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

Yaakov Jaffe argues that kids would be better served by coming to shul for the beginning of the Shabbat davening rather than the end.

Peter Berger, Daniel Korobkin argues, offers an important lens to understand Orthodox Judaism, its religious features and institutions.