American Orthodoxy

Steven Gotlib explores Modern Orthodoxy’s strengths and weaknesses with regard to Kiruv.

The Poland trip has become de rigueur for Modern Orthodox gap-year students. But seismic changes in contemporary Poland and shifting trends in Modern Orthodoxy mean that the content and meaning of these trips are different than they used to be. David I. Bernstein, who has been leading Poland trips since 1992, tells the story of the student Poland experience, then and now.

Louis Jacobs, the controversial British rabbi and theologian, died 15 years ago. Steven Gotlib reviews Harry Freedman’s new book on Jacobs’ life, and considers how what happened to Jacobs should inform the way we draw the boundaries of Orthodoxy today.

In response to recent articles by Ezra Schwartz and Nathaniel Helfgot on the issue of centralization, Jeffrey Fox offers a vision of collaborative, personalized pesak in the post-Covid era.

In this response to last week’s article by Ezra Schwartz, Nathaniel Helfgot wonders whether the new pandemic-fueled trend toward centralized halakhic decision-making overburdens the most learned rabbis and takes too much autonomy from the others.

As the Covid-19 pandemic looks like it might be subsiding, Ezra Schwartz, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, incisively examines competing trends toward decentralization of synagogue life and centralization of halakhic decision-making that are reshaping the Modern Orthodox world.

In this timely essay, Noam Weissman of OpenDor Media argues for a form of Israel education that tackles challenging topics in Israel’s history.

As we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Shay Pilnik urges us to add a Modern Orthodox voice to a discourse increasingly dominated by secular perspectives.

What is President Trump’s legacy for Orthodox Jews? Shalom Carmy, taking stock of the past four years, considers religious liberty, Israel policy, and the bitter polarization that dominates American politics

Steven Gotlib reviews Roberta Rosenthal Kwall’s book Remix Judaism, which has an important message about navigating Jewish practice in the modern world for non-Orthodox and Orthodox Jews alike.