Torah Personalities

Oran Zweiter Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, the first ordained rabbi to travel to the Americas, arrived in Recife, Brazil in 1642. The writings of...

In December 1932, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik had just arrived in Boston and outlined his vision for Orthodox Jewish education in the United States.

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.

What led Rav Steinsaltz to inaugurate a yeshiva in the Soviet House of Sciences on February 22, 1989? In honor of R. Steinzlatz's sheloshim, Yehiel Poupko, a first-hand witness, offers a glimpse into the inner world of his mentor.

Baruch Sterman, founder of the @Ptil Tekhelet Institute, tells the story of Rav Rabinovitch's pivotal role in the discovery of the tekhelet - and an episode of "The Worst Jobs in History," a 2004-2006 BBC series.

Lawrence Kobrin recalls Rabbi Norman Lamm's 1960s emergence as a pivotal Orthodox rabbi in Manhattan and Jewish intellectual.

Zev Eleff explores how the Jewish family anchored Rabbi Norman Lamm's sermons and thought during the destabilizing 1960s.

Chaim Trachtman shows how a careful examination of debates between Shammai and Hillel challenge our preconceived notions about them.

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.

What can we learn from Rav Kook's writings before he immigrated to the land of Israel? As Yom Ha-Atzma'ut approaches, Levi Morrow reviews Yehuda Mirsky's new prehistory of Rav Kook.