Straus Center: Faculty and Staff Publications
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12202/6701
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Item Restricted God Delivered the Pilgrims—and My People(Dow Jones, 2013-10-22) Soloveichik, MeirRabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik reflects on the convergence of Thanksgiving with the first day of Hanukkah.Item Open Access God’s Providence and the United States: A Thanksgiving Reader on Judaism and the American Idea(Yeshiva University: YUTorah.org, 2013-11-13) Soloveichik, MeirMuch has been made in the media of the fact that Thanksgiving occurs this year on the first day of Chanukah. While this has provided much fodder for humorous remarks about "Thanksgivukkah," in fact, the convergence of calendars ought to inspire us to ponder how the Jewish approach to expressing thanks and gratitude to God may have impacted America millennia later. This essay, and the sources that follow, provide a framework for reflecting on the American holiday and on the Jewish ideas that may have inspired it.Item Open Access When Lincoln died on Passover(ISSN: 2641-094X, 1083-3013, 2015-04-20) Soloveichik, MeirAbstract: Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik explores the historical and theological significance of Lincoln's death, which occurred over Passover 1865.Item Open Access Dignity in Flames(First Things, 2019-12-23) Lerner, DovRabbi Dr. Dov. Lerner remarks on the tension between the pure halakhic utility of the Chanukah candles and their public symbolism.Item Open Access Six Perspectives on the Yamin Noraim — Home Shuling: Patience in a Pandemic(NY, New York: Yeshiva University, 2020) Koenigsberg, Chaya SimaWriting for Yeshiva University's Rosh Hashanah 5781 Torah To-Go, Straus Center Resident Scholar Dr. Chaya Sima Koenigsberg reflects on transitioning from a Rosh Hashanah centered on synagogue service to a Rosh Hashanah centered at home.Item Open Access The Not-So-Strange Death of Israel’s Labor Party(American Affairs Foundation, Inc., 2020) Rogachevsky, NeilThough he ultimately could not dethrone Netanyahu, Benny Gantz in 2019 and 2020 succeeded by running an old Labor Party–style campaign—but without laborers. Like earlier Labor candidates, Gantz was a general, patriotic rather than woke, and a man of few words. But unlike them, he was neither dependent on, nor constrained by, the Histadrut. As I noted previously, elsewhere in the world his efforts would be seen as a classic center-right campaign. Looking forward, some melancholy about the fate of Israeli Labor is certainly justified—as is some trepidation about the politics of the state in the years ahead if the movement’s true animating impulse is left behind. If “start-up nation” is to crash, the country will require an organized political force that can reenergize the productivity of the state and aim to create high-paying jobs for its workers. The torch of national developmentalism—the original aim of Israel’s Labor Par ty—might now have to be carried by others. This article originally appeared in American Affairs Volume IV, Number 2 (Summer 2020): 168–81.Item Open Access Freedom and the Flames of Faith: A Tribute to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, zt”l(yutorah.org, 2020) Lerner, DovWriting for YU Chanukah To-Go, Straus Center Resident Scholar Rabbi Dov Lerner makes the case for Chanukah as a celebration of, in the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "personal responsibility for the moral-spiritual order."Item Open Access Simchat Torah, the Cain Mutiny, and religious responsibility(RIETS • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Sukkot 5781, 2020) Halpern, StuartUtilizing the philosophy of Rabbi Norman Lamm, Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern explores the differences and similarities between the brotherly tales of Cain and Abel and Joseph and his brothers.Item Open Access What the Bible Taught Lincoln About America(Dow Jones & Co., Inc., 2020-02-15) Soloveichik, MeirRabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik tracks Lincoln's use of the Bible in his presidential speeches and remarks.Item Open Access Review: Esther: Power, fate, and fragility in exile(Rabbinical Council of America, 2020-03-04) Halpern, StuartRabbi Dr. Stu Halpern reviews Erica Brown's book on Esther — Esther: Power, Fate, and Fragility in Exile — from Maggid Books for Tradition.Item Open Access Haman, builder of towers, brother of abraham?(Eric Cohen, 2020-03-05) Halpern, StuartRabbi Dr. Stu Halpern reviews Adam J. Silverstein's Veiling Esther, Unveiling Her Story: The Reception of a Biblical Book in Islamic Lands, which explores how the book of Esther was read, understood, and used in Muslim lands throughout the agesItem Metadata only Queen Esther, a hero of our time.(The New York Times, 2020-03-08) Soloveichik, MeirA paradox of Jewish fragility and heroism. A perplexing paradox lies at the heart of Purim, the holiday celebrated this week by Jews around the world. No day is more associated with Jewish joy; yet rightly understood...Item Open Access Spare Your People a Fourth Election, O Israel, and Form a Minority Government(Bee.Ideas, LLC (The Tikvah Fund), 2020-03-12) Rogachevsky, NeilMinority governments are thus not a panacea. They are weaker than majorities; they don’t last; and they complicate the business of parliamentary government. But at least they allow that business to take place and thereby produce a record of accomplishments and failures for voters to judge when the government falls after a couple of years. As I’ve argued elsewhere, Israel’s current crisis demonstrates the need for systemic reform of the country’s political and electoral framework of proportional representation. That system is clearly broken. But, first, Israel needs a government. At the very least, the clumsiness of a minority government would have the satisfyingly symbolic benefit of reflecting the very political deadlock and lack of consensus that prompted its formation, and thereby of best capturing the will of the Israeli people, who can’t quite make up their minds.Item Open Access Liel Leibovitz expertly explores superheroes’ Jewish roots and Stan Lee in new biography.(TRIBE Media, 2020-03-24) Halpern, StuartThe author reviews Liel Leibovitz's new biography of Stan Lee — Stan Lee: A Life in Comics — which explores the Jewish roots of superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk.Item Metadata only Was Exodus a trick?(Eric Cohen, 2020-04-02) Halpern, StuartRabbi Dr. Stu Halpern examines the different levels of deceit and wiliness that God displays in the book of Exodus.Item Open Access Satan at the Seder.(Nextbook, 2020-04-06) Halpern, StuartHow one not-quite-biblical book gives us a very different read on the familiar Passover story.Item Open Access The Exodus: America's ever-present inspiration(The Lehrhaus, 2020-04-13) Halpern, StuartRabbi Dr. Stu Halpern surveys the various ways the story of Passover has served as a source of inspiration for America.Item Open Access How to pray in a plague.(Nextbook, 2020-05-01) Halpern, StuartThree times a day, Jews are asked to do something very difficult and essential to our well-beingItem Open Access "We Were All Born in Jerusalem": A Never-Before Translated Speech by Menachem Begin(2020-05-14) Rogachevsky, Neil; Begin, MenchemGiven by Menachem Begin at a commemorative event for the Soviet city of Brisk, which served as a home for 20,000 Jews before they were slaughtered by the Nazis, this newly translated speech (courtesy of Straus Center Associate Director Dr. Neil Rogachevsky) touches on many of ideas that Begin advocated for during his storied political career, including reverence for the Jewish past, Jewish unity and inner courage.Item Open Access How to cure loneliness.(Nextbook, 2020-05-27) Halpern, StuartThe Book of Ruth delivers an ancient prescription to a thoroughly modern condition