For the Sin of Hillul Hashem…

For the Sin of Hillul Hashem… by Erica Brown              Reflecting on Yom Kippur just days ago, it strikes me that the language of our al chet list can seem alien, foreign, stiff and archaic. We wonder what it means that we have removed a yoke from us or scoffed or hardened our hearts. We [...]

Glatt Yoshor: Orthodox Leaders Speak Out Against Illegal and Unethical Behavior

    A few weeks ago, the following letter was sent to the membership of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) by the executive leadership of the RCA, the Orthodox Union, and Yeshiva University.  I reproduce below, with permission from the RCA (and I believe for the first time to the wider public), the most central [...]

“So Long” vs “Thanks for All the Fish”: A New Reading of Sefer Yonah and Its Implications for Modern Orthodoxy

“So long” vs. “Thanks for all the fish”[1]: A New Reading of Sefer Yonah and Its Implications for Modern Orthodoxy By Aryeh Klapper              Imagine a man coming into Times Square looking and smelling like he’s spent considerable time inside a fish.  The man climbs onto a soapbox and declaims: “The end is nigh!”  How [...]

Land and Sea, Natural and Supernatural in the Book of Jonah

Land and Sea, Natural and Supernatural in the Book of Jonah by Daniel Reifman  Like many texts that have been incorporated into the liturgy, the book of Jonah seems inseparable from the time it is read in the synagogue: the afternoon of Yom Kippur. As the day draws to a close, our thoughts turn to [...]

From Our Archives: Saving Lives on Shabbat

In light of Rabbi Rothstein’s most recent post, I have featured online two important articles from Tradition’s archives regarding saving the life of  non-Jews on shabbat.  These articles responded to the infamous Shahak affair, in which a prominent radical Israeli leftist thinker alleged (without a shred of evidence) witnessing Orthodox Jews refusing to violate shabbat to save the [...]

Our Writers Respond: Why Do We Insist on Misrepresenting the Torah’s Attitude Towards Non-Jews?

Why Do We Insist on Misrepresenting the Torah’s Attitude Towards Non-Jews? by Gidon Rothstein My previous post in this space generated a great deal more comment than I had expected. In broad terms, those comments felt that a) Judaism has always, and continues to, discriminate against non-Jews, the thrust of Torah Temimah’s comment and my [...]

Tradition 42.2 is now online!

The latest edition of Tradition is now online. Table of Contents:

Aseret Yemei Teshuva: Insights From an Early Biblical Paradigm

Aseret Yemei Teshuva: Insights from an Early Biblical Paradigm by David C. Flatto  Bridging the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, Aseret Yemei Teshuva have an urgent and distinctive quality that is such a familiar aspect of the Jewish calendar.  Less known, however, is the earliest source for singling out these days.  [...]

Theological Truths vs. Spiritual Vibes: Nigunim, Heresy, and Machnisei Rachamim

Theological Truths vs. Spiritual Vibes:   Nigunim, Heresy, and Machnisei Rachamim By Shlomo Brody I would like to write about the latest development in a long-standing debate over the propriety of asking angels to bring one’s prayers to God, known as intercessory prayers.  In particular, I refer to popularization of singing machnisei rachamim to the tune of [...]

Engaging with a Difficult Halakha: May One Show Affection Toward their Children in Shul?

Engaging with A Difficult Halakha:  May One Show Affection Toward their Children in Shul? by Nathaniel Helfgot Introduction 1. Much, if not most, of the halakhic lifestyle that many of us practice on a regular basis, especially in the relative comfort of our western-world middle class existence is pleasant, enjoyable and often fills our life with meaning and purpose. There [...]

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