American Orthodoxy

Today, we share letters to the editor by Ephraim Chamiel, Steven Gotlib, and Moshe Kurtz.

The Brachos Bee, Zev Eleff argues, shows how Orthodox Jews Americanize and form their own particular religious subculture.

Gidon Rothstein mines parashat Yitro for insight into best practices in synagogue governance.

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.

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.

Wendy Amsellem While I greatly enjoyed reading Chaim Saiman’s thoughtful essay, “The Market for Gedolim: A Tale of Supply and Demand,” nothing about it made...

Jeremy Stern dissects the recent and supposed Israeli ban against the BDA prenup. 

Gavi Kutliroff There is a popular misconception that Modern Orthodox teenagers abandon halakhic observance because of a pubescent pattern of rebellion and disdain for authority...

Leah Sarna contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

A review of Yehoshua November’s The Concealment of Endless Light.