Tradition Podcast

TRADITION joins with the Jewish world, and with lovers of wisdom everywhere, in mourning the untimely loss of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who passed away on Shabbat. Rabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, and was made a Life Peer in House of Lords in 2009. For many worldwide, his influence was felt through his dozens of books, countless essays, as well as his translations and commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and prayer-books, alongside his public speaking and presence on the world stage. Rabbi Sacks spent a distinguished life and career as a profoundly eloquent teacher and spokesman for Torah values within the Jewish community and throughout the world.

R. Sacks served as a member of TRADITION’s editorial board, and, in fact, his very first scholarly essay, titled “Alienation and Faith,” was published in our pages in 1973. Written as a 25 year-old, it was a response – and respectful critique – of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s “The Lonely Man of Faith,” which we had published only eight years earlier. Re-reading the essay now we can identify themes and concerns which would occupy him as his mind matured and his eloquence flourished over the next half-century.

To help us absorb the shock of his loss, and begin to assess R. Sacks’ legacy, TRADITION’s editor, Jeffrey Saks, spoke with Daniel Rynhold, professor of Jewish philosophy and Dean at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. Together, they surveyed R. Sacks’ interests and achievements as a thinker in his native Britain and worldwide. Rynhold outlines how R. Sacks functioned as both a particularistic Jewish writer and a universalistic member of the western philosophical tradition; they discuss his role and impact as a public intellectual; and consider how his legacy will impact generations to come. Rynhold, a London native, enjoyed a personal relationship with R. Sacks, and shares memories of the great man’s impact on himself – personally, professionally, and spiritually.

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The story of Akedat Yitzhak, the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22), read in synagogues this Shabbat, has posed significant philosophical challenges throughout the history of Jewish and religious thought. In his newest book, “Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought” (JPS), Aaron Koller leads his readers on a trek of discovery into this most challenging biblical story — from Soren Kierkegaard’s understanding of the Akeda as teaching suspension of ethics for the sake of faith, through the role the story plays in the thought of Rabbi Soloveitchik.

TRADITION’s Fall 2020 issue featured an extensive review of Unbinding Isaac by Alex S. Ozar (open-access here). We thought it would be interesting to bring the reviewer and his subject together for a discussion about this provocative book. As you’re about to hear, they had a lot to talk about. In this wide-ranging, dynamic conversation, Koller and Ozar discuss and debate the meaning of the Akeda for contemporary Jewish practice and life; how R. Soloveitchik’s philosophical outlook was shaped by world-historical trauma and the radical intellectual environment in which the Rav received his academic training; whether contemporary society really has moved beyond human sacrifice; and how, in light of Koller’s ambitious reading of the Akeda narrative, we might follow Abraham’s lead in achieving a more just world.

Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern Studies at Yeshiva University. His previous book was “Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought” (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Aaron has served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman Institute.

Alex S. Ozar serves as a rabbi with OU-JLIC and the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University, where he is also pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy and religious studies. He received a BA, MA, and semikha from Yeshiva University. His writing has appeared (or is forthcoming) in such publications as Harvard Theological Review, Journal of Religious Ethics, Torah u-Madda Journal, Dine Israel, and Jewish Quarterly Review.

Click here for the Zoom video recording of this discussion.

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TRADITION’s  recent Fall 2020 issue features a fascinating symposium on “Jewish Thought in the Contemporary World: Educational Challenges and Goals,” guest edited by Mrs. Mali Brofsky who writes by way of introduction: “Meaning and complexity are the two essential values that lie at the heart of learning Jewish thought. These two concepts are central to an individual’s living a purposeful life, as well as to our creating a thriving culture and society. The search for truth and meaning shapes the discipline, as well as the attempt to cut to the core ideas upon which we build our values, our interpersonal interactions, our communities, and our culture. But this endeavor cannot be achieved without the second principle, complexity, which serves as the tool enabling this discovery of truth and meaning through intellectual excavation and thoughtful sharpening of ideas. Now, more than ever, the serious study of Jewish thought, both for its content – the serious exploration of intellectual, ethical, religious, and spiritual values and ideas – and for the critical skills it engenders is invaluable. It is inspiring to see that so many contemporary teachers are considering these issues with thoughtfulness, dedication, and commitment.”

The eleven, wide-ranging entries in the symposium were authored by some of today’s leading thinkers, educators, and academics in North America and Israel. TRADITION thanks Mali Brofsky, herself a distinguished pedagogue in the field of Jewish thought, faculty member at MMY and a social worker in private practice. In this podcast Mali meets with 2 of the authors:

R. David Bashevkin is the director of education for NCSY and an instructor at Yeshiva University. He recently published “Sin·a·gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought.”

Dr. Daniel Rynhold is Professor of Jewish philosophy and Dean at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. His most recent book, coauthored with Michael Harris, is “Nietzsche, Soloveitchik, and Contemporary Jewish Philosophy,” which was reviewed in our Summer 2019 issue.

Click here to access the Fall 2020 symposium.

Click here to watch the Zoom video recording of this conversation.

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In TRADITION’s Summer 2020 issue we deviated from our normal habit and published a review of a work of fiction – Yaakov Z. Mayer’s new Hebrew novel, “Nehemiah” (Yediot Sefarim), reviewed for us by Dr. Shlomo Tikochinski (read it here).

Mayer is a writer in the Israeli popular press, an academic, and a novelist. In his academic work he focusses on the printing of the Talmud, the history of Hebrew publishing. He is, as he calls himself, a “Historian of the Book” as a physical and cultural object in Jewish life.

The release last autumn of “Nehemiah” caught the Israeli literary world by surprise. The novel focusses on Nehemiah Cohen, a historical figure, a 17th century  rabbi and kabbalist who travelled from Poland to Turkey to meet the false messiah Sabbatai Tzvi – and Cohen’s eventual conversion to Islam in the wake of Sabbatai himself. The novel traces Nehemiah’s travels throughout Europe in the company of an enchanting cast of characters – some based on historical figures, others conjured through the author’s imagination. Students of Rabbinic literature will be interested in a novel which features the likes of the Magen Avraham, the Bach, Shach, and Taz, alongside others.

In this episode Mayer chats with our editor, Jeffrey Saks, about the intersection of his academic, literary, and Torah study interests, and the production of this work; how those of us interested in those three realms can benefit from historical fiction; trends in 21st century Jewish learning and spirituality which are reflected in this novel about the 17th century; and the state of contemporary Israeli culture’s interactions with Jewish texts and language. 

Click here to watch the Zoom video recording of this session. (Apologies for the sound quality – the current lockdown prevented us from meeting in the TRADITION Recording Studio.)

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For over a year TraditionOnline has been featuring a weekly column exploring different cultural treasures which have the potential to contribute to the spiritual life and mind. “The BEST” (whose title is drawn from Matthew Arnold’s well-known line about  reading “the best that has been thought and said” as an antidote to the anarchy of materialism, industrialism and individualistic self-interest) has profiled a staggering array of items: from poetry, literature, art, film and television—you name it.  In “The BEST” you’re as likely to encounter Harry Potter or the Twilight Zone as you are Shakespeare and Robert Frost. To mark the first anniversary of the column, its mastermind and editor, Chaim Strauchler, discussed “The BEST” with two of our regular authors: Naamit Sturm Nagel, a teacher of English and Jewish literature at Shalhevet High School in Los Angeles, and Yitzchak Blau, Rosh Yeshivat Orayta and an associate editor of TRADITION. 

Chaim Strauchler is the rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim in Toronto, and an associate editor of TRADITION. Read his introduction to “The BEST” and to see an index of all the columns in the series: https://traditiononline.org/the-best-%d7%a2%d7%99%d7%93%d7%99%d7%aa/

Watch a Zoom video recording of this episode: https://youtu.be/fk37L6whv18

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The central feature of Professor Haym Soloveitchik’s “Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy” (TRADITION, Summer 1994) was its focus on trends in Ashkenazic Orthodoxy of the twentieth century. Given Soloveitchik’s areas of scholarly focus, and the community he was describing, it could hardly have been otherwise. Our recent symposium on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the essay neglected to offer other perspectives on the issues from a less “Ashkenormative” angle. We were pleased to offer a corrective by publishing an essay by Joseph Dweck, “Rupture and Reconstruction: A Sephardic Perspective,” in our recent Summer 2020 issue.

Rabbi Dweck is uniquely situated to reflect on this, serving as the Senior Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Community of the United Kingdom. Dweck joins TRADITION’s editor, Jeffrey Saks, to discuss his essay, and trends in the community he leads. Among the topics the two explore is the impact and legacy of Rav Ovadia Yosef in crafting a pan-Sephardic religious tradition. Read Saks’ review essay in TRADITION (Summer 2007) which examined this question at length.

Click here to watch the Zoom video recording of the session.

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In this inaugural episode of “Debates L’Shem Shomayim” we explore the complexities around the annexation of territories in Judea and Samaria – a matter being hotly debated in Israel, Washington, and around the world. 

Arguing against annexation: Dr. Yoel Finkelman (National Library of Israel)

Arguing in support: Prof. Jeffrey Woolf (Bar-Ilan University)

Moderator: Mrs. Mali Brofsky, MSW 

This series is produced by the Rabbinical Council of America and its TRADITION Journal, with the goal of modeling a culture of listening and learning as we discuss important and difficult topics facing our community and the Jewish world.

To watch a video recording of the session click here: https://youtu.be/qovGuEAMlrk

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In TRADITION’s recent Spring 2020 issue we published an essay by Dr. Yaakov S. Weinstein, a physicist by profession and a new writer to our pages. His essay “Four Facets of the Love of God” explores themes in Ahavat Hashem, drawing on C.S. Lewis’ important work “The Four Loves,” which is a rich portrayal of the multiple types of human and divine love. Lewis, perhaps most well-known for his “Chronicles of Narnia,” was a significant 20th century British author, academic and popular theologian.

Recently Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, a member of TRADITION’s editorial board and our resident C.S. Lewis expert, had a chance to discuss the article with Dr. Weinstein, and explore the literary and theological legacy of Lewis through a Torah lens. The two question the potential contributions of Lewis to a Jewish worldview. Along the way, they debate the merits of Lewis’ different literary genres, and his engagement with both Judaism and with actual Jews. Most significantly they consider the question of how traditional Jewish thought can be substantively enhanced and deepened by an encounter with the writings of C.S. Lewis.

For the Zoom video recording of their conversation: https://youtu.be/jDsYzVtDxjw

Dr. Yaakov S. Weinstein is a physicist for the MITRE Corporation and blogs at “Torah from Narnia” (https://torahfromnarnia.blogspot.com). Rabbi Mark Gottlieb is Senior Director of the Tikvah Fund and Dean of the Tikvah Summer Institute at Yale University.

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As our readers will have by now heard, during these dark days of COVID, Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm zt”l has passed away at the age of 92. In 1987, when I entered Yeshiva University as a freshman, R. Lamm had already been president for over a decade, and – timed with YU’s centenary, he had embarked on conducting a conversation within the university and the larger American Modern Orthodox community, organized around the concept of Torah Umadda.

It was a conversation he very deliberately placed on the communal agenda in order to examine how we grapple with, make sense of, and organize our values around the confrontation and interaction of Judaism and Torah, on one hand, with secular studies and civilization writ large on the other. I cannot exaggerate the importance those ideas, that ongoing debate and discussion, has meant to me in shaping my life as a Jew, and as a rabbi and educator. In occupying the position he inaugurated as the founding editor of TRADITION, I am animated on a daily basis by his model of how ideas should influence and elevate our lives as thinking religious beings. I pray that our journal continues to live up to his aspirations and ideals.

In the coming days and weeks much will be said and written about his legacy, and we hope to bring you some of that on our pages. However, today I am thinking about a conversation I had with R. Lamm in 2011 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary edition of his book, Torah Umadda: The Encounter of Religious Learning and Worldly Knowledge in the Jewish Tradition (Maggid Books). I had a small role in bringing that volume about and had a chance to chat with him about the book for different program. We’re pleased to bring you that recording now courtesy of the ATID Jewish Educators podcast.

I opened our conversation by asking R. Lamm what compelled him to focus on Torah Umadda, and to place it at the center of the communal agenda – where it very much continues to resonate, or at least very much ought to resonate, in our world today…. 

—Jeffrey Saks

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AUDIO EDITOR’S NOTE: Issachar in Lockdown

This is an Audio Editor’s Note from TRADITION’s newly released Spring 2020 issue — Rabbi Jeffrey Saks reads his essay “Issachar  in Lockdown.”

In this column, our editor muses on the state of Jewish life and learning during this time of coronavirus. He asks how we might evaluate ourselves in lockdown as individuals and as a community? Even those of us housed with family members are undergoing prolonged isolation from friends and colleagues, teachers and students, rabbis and congregants, workplaces and synagogues, with no end in sight. Assuming we are, please God, among the healthy sheltering in place, how are we making the most of our time enough at last? 

For the print version of the column: https://traditiononline.org/%f0%9f%94%93editors-note-issachar-in-lockdown/

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