Taking Responsibility For Halakhic Guidance: A Response to Ezra Schwartz
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.
Animating the Dialogue – A Review of Yeshiva Days: Learning on the Lower East...
Sima Fried reviews Jonathan Boyarin’s Yeshiva Days, illuminating the challenges of examining a community as both an insider and an outsider.
Decentralization and Centralization: A COVID Tale of the Modern Orthodox Community
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.
Celebration and Exploration: Why Good Israel Education Needs Both
In this timely essay, Noam Weissman of OpenDor Media argues for a form of Israel education that tackles challenging topics in Israel’s history.
The Rational Theology of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein
David J. Landes z"l, former chairman of the Etzion Foundation at Yeshivat Har Etzion, developed a very close relationship with Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l. In honor of Rav Lichtenstein's 6th yahrtzeit, Dr. Landes' family has generously offered to publish his penetrating analysis of Rav Lichtenstein's 1957 Harvard dissertation, published in 1962 under the title Henry More: The Rational Theology of a Cambridge Platonist.
Reflections on Rav Aharon Lichtenstein’s Sixth Yahrtzeit
It has been six years since Rav Aharon Lichtenstein passed away. In reviewing a 2018 collection of essays by Rav Lichtenstein’s students, Alan Jotkowitz reflects on what we have lost and the void that remains.
Modern Orthodox Jews Should Be Trailblazers in Holocaust Education
As we commemorate Yom HaShoah, Shay Pilnik urges us to add a Modern Orthodox voice to a discourse increasingly dominated by secular perspectives.
A Return to the World of Medieval Ashkenaz
Alan Jotkowitz reviews the latest volume of Dr. Haym Soloveitchik’s collected essays, bringing us back to the world of medieval Ashkenaz.
Seinfeld at Your Seder
Esther Lindell reviews “The Haggadah about Nothing,” Rabbi Sam Reinstein’s not-too-serious exploration of how the Haggadah relates to Seinfeld, the ever-popular 90s sitcom.
Does Hashem Wear Pyjamas? On The Unacknowledged Educators Of Seder Night
As we approach the Seder, Joe Wolfson invites us to consider how children’s questions help adults appreciate the true meaning of Pesach.
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