American Orthodoxy

As this election season draws to a close at last, Zev Eleff crunches the numbers on the Modern Orthodox vote—a demographic whose politics are not so easy to pin down.

Rivka Kahan weighs in on the impact of the Rav's 1977 Stern College Talmud lecture and how the Modern Orthodox community can move forward.

Elinatan Kupferberg argues that the boundaries between Torah and Madda have blurred and evolved throughout Jewish intellectual history. This erudite analysis upends our assumptions about Torah u-Madda and breathtakingly reimagines its past, present, and future.

Zev Eleff examines some of the toys peddled around by mitzvah merchants and other fascinating features of Ultra-Orthodox culture. 

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

Todd Berman warns of antisemitism in strange places.

Ezra Schwartz The recently published account of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s inaugural shiur at Stern College has rightfully generated much conversation about women and Gemara study. In light of this appropriate benchmark of forty years,...

William Kolbrener calls for an end to Rav-polemicizing so that all interested parties might finally take his legacy and teachings at full-depth.

Responding to Moshe Kurtz, Olivia Friedman argues that forging deep connections between Torah and popular culture can be an uplifting and sanctified experience.

In part 1, Gil Perl argued that Modern Orthodox is in need of a Hedgehog Concept and put forward Or (la-)Goyim as a candidate for that role. In part 2, he details what this might look like in practice and why it would appeal to our youth in a post-modern world.