American Orthodoxy

Rosh Hashanah is a day dedicated to reflecting on our relationships with all humanity. If so, Ari Perl contends, we confront the fact that for all the extraordinary work in the Orthodox community in regard to organ donation, there is one area where we have fallen short.

Ezra Schwartz uses artificial intelligence and a famous story about gizzards as a prism to discuss the role of the rabbi in the modern age.

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

Zev Eleff explains what Zionism has to do with Sukkot, at least in America.

Joshua Leifer’s new book illustrates the collapse of several paradigms that long sustained American Jewish life. In his review, Steven Gotlib notes that Leifer’s search for a viable, non-separatist, traditional Judaism overlooks several existing models of Jewish life and practice.

In his first article for the Lehrhaus, Akiva Garner explores the phenomenon of vulnerability through both Jewish texts and modern psychology–and highlights its unrecognized significance in Jewish living and meaning.

Margueya Poupko explains how lessons from literature can bring us closer to Torah truths.

Gil Perl argues that Modern Orthodox currently lacks a “Hedgehog Concept,” namely something at their core that they passionately believe they do better than anyone else in the world. He argues that Or Goyim, as articulated by 19th century luminaries like Netziv and Hirsch, is the Hedgehog concept that can engage Modern Orthodox Youth in a postmodern world.

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

Chaim Saiman suggests that, in the midst of a political transition, we may be on the brink of a "Modern Orthodox Moment."