Jewish Customs: Exploring Common and Uncommon Minhagim
By Rabbi Dr. Zvi Ron
Maggid Books
Jerusalem, 2024
482 pages
We live in a time of rapid technological advancement and instant communication. Within the Jewish world, customs that once developed organically within isolated communities are now quickly shared, adopted or adapted across the globe. This social phenomenon makes it even more urgent to understand the origins and meanings of these practices. In Jewish Customs: Exploring Common and Uncommon Minhagim, Rabbi Dr. Zvi Ron, an educator living in Neve Daniel, Israel, provides a careful historical analysis of a wide range of Jewish customs, examining how they emerged and evolved over time.
Rabbi Ron approaches the topic from a historical perspective. He traces the development of specific customs, seeking their earliest sources in rabbinic literature and responsa. Along the way, he explores the different possible causes and explanations for the custom. Because the original reason for a practice is almost always uncertain, he offers educated hypotheses about the possible religious, social or practical factors that may have given rise to it. His careful historical investigation and informed religious speculation offer insight on multiple levels into the customs we see today.
For example, it is now common Ashkenazic practice for a bride to circle the groom seven times under the chupah. Rabbi Ron shows that the original custom of circling the groom, first mentioned as common in the fifteenth century, was to circle three times. Due to Kabbalistic influence, beginning in the eighteenth century, it became more common to circle seven times as protection from demonic forces. We even see the number of times change between earlier and later editions of Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried’s nineteenth-century Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, reflecting how the practice became widespread. Despite the custom’s obscure origin, contemporary interpretations have given it profound meaning about commitment and relationships.
In this book, Rabbi Ron explores approximately thirty customs, ranging from reciting Tehillim 126 and other verses before bentching, to the reading of different Torah scrolls in shul on the yamim tovim, to wearing stripes on a tallit. The exploration of the development of these customs is full of detective work, including unraveling textual anomalies and the identification of historical influences. It is less a precise science than an intellectual adventure through which Rabbi Ron ably guides the reader.
At a time when diverse customs are rapidly entering Jewish communities divorced from their original contexts, looking at how practices developed over time provides valuable perspective. It allows for a deeper understanding of one’s own traditions and fosters an appreciation for the diversity of legitimate customs across the Jewish world.
Al HaRishonim Ve’Al Ha’Acharonim
By Rabbi Dr. Nachum (Norman) Lamm
Kodesh Press
New York, 2025
176 pages
Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, the former longtime president of Yeshiva University, filled many positions in the community—communal rabbi, educator, fundraiser and thought leader. In each of these roles, he succeeded via his charm, brilliance and hard work. And yet, throughout all his communal activities, Rabbi Lamm never ceased his activities as a traditional Torah scholar. He continuously published articles of Torah scholarship in journals and whenever possible taught shiurim. His son-in-law, Rabbi Mark Dratch, recalls that Rabbi Lamm once told him that, despite all he had built institutionally—both in the Manhattan community as rabbi of The Jewish Center and later at Yeshiva University—as well as the many lectures, books, and articles on Jewish thought and philosophy he produced, what he considered his proudest legacy was the Torah essays in his 1990 sefer of traditional Torah scholarship, Halachot VeHalichot. Five years after his passing, his family has now published his second sefer of that nature, Al HaRishonim VeAl HaAcharonim.
Rabbi Lamm’s Torah articles are traditional in the sense that they analyze halachic and Talmudic sources from the perspective of traditional assumptions and methodologies that any rosh yeshivah might use. However, this is not to say that his style of thinking is typical—it is anything but that. The articles in Al HaRishonim VeAl HaAcharonim fall under three categories. Some of them are responsa to actual halachic questions submitted to him. For example: a kohen who was raised non-religious and in his spiritual quest engaged in Buddhist practices is now halachically observant; may he bless the community during Birkat Kohanim? Or if an elderly person is released from the hospital on Shabbat, may a retirement home bring him back right away, or must the transfer wait until after Shabbat?
Another type of article explores sugyot analytically using the tools of Brisker methodology. For example, when an authorized rabbi ordains someone, does he function as a representative of the Sanhedrin or as a rabbinic judge? Rabbi Lamm finds different practical implications to this distinction and uses it to explain difficult passages in Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. Finally, in some articles Rabbi Lamm explores the intersection of Jewish law and Jewish thought, such as his articles about anger and gratitude.
Al HaRishonim VeAl HaAcharonim is at once a traditional work of Torah scholarship and a unique window into the personality of its author. Rabbi Lamm was a brilliant Talmudic scholar and communal leader with a special interest in Jewish thought. This sefer brings together his different interests and roles in a rewarding intellectual journey through traditional sources.
Mastering the Mind: A Guide to Focused Learning and Torah Retention
By Saul Clarke
Mosaica Press
Beit Shemesh, Israel, 2024
268 pages
We live in an age of plenty—not only of material goods but of spiritual ones as well. With so many tools at our fingertips—books, apps, daily programs—we have more opportunities to learn Torah than we ever dreamed was possible. For many, the challenge is no longer finding time to learn Torah but retaining what they’ve learned. The spiritual high of Torah study may linger in our hearts, but the content itself must also be preserved in our minds. That is no small feat.
In Mastering the Mind: A Guide to Focused Learning and Torah Retention, Saul Clarke offers a virtual encyclopedia of memory techniques. Before introducing specific strategies, he outlines the three essential stages of memory formation: encoding, storage and retrieval. He presents religious principles that support mastery, which include prayer, humility, sustained effort and more. True retention depends not just on cognitive technique but also on spiritual alignment with Torah values.
Clarke then turns to scientific methods for improving memory, many of which align with traditional Jewish wisdom. These include repetition, breaking down material into smaller units, vocalizing the text, restating ideas in your words and more. Used consistently, these methods significantly enhance retention. Clarke also addresses the impact of physical habit on cognitive function, a topic often overlooked but essential to memory. Exercise, sleep, healthy eating and freedom from distractions all contribute to stronger memory. Throughout the book, he weaves together Torah sources and scientific studies, creating an engaging, interdisciplinary approach to memory.
Perhaps Clarke’s most impressive contribution is his ability to present a wide range of memory techniques in a relatively concise volume. His clear explanations of mnemonic devices such as acronyms, memory palaces and numerical-verbal systems allow even beginners to grasp and begin applying these tools. He illustrates how to use these methods to memorize, for example, the topics of the first ninety-nine chapters of the Shulchan Aruch or the views in a complex sugya. Clarke’s clarity, conciseness and enthusiasm for the topic make this an exceptionally practical and accessible guide that offers readers strategies for immediate improvement in Torah retention.
Rabbi Gil Student serves as OU director of Jewish Media, Publications and Editorial Communications.