Volume # 81

Fall 2020(5781) 5781

In this issue
What Makes a Jewish Leader?
Jewish Thought

What Makes a Jewish Leader?

So many books have been written about leadership. And yet, to the best of my knowledge, there are no classic Torah books dedicated exclusively to the topic. This is puzzling, since the Torah itself—in the Chumash, the Talmud and all of our holy sources—is replete with wisdom on how to be a good leader. Why, […]

Crusades and Crisis
History

Crusades and Crisis

Exploring the Jewish response to the Crusades and how the resilience and spiritual fortitude of those communities can serve as lessons for us today

Plagues and Perseverance
History

Plagues and Perseverance

How the Jewish community of Prague, the largest Jewish settlement in pre-Modern Christian Europe, coped with a devastating plague in 1713

Life After the Holocaust: How They Rebuilt
Faith

Life After the Holocaust: How They Rebuilt

Jewish Action Editor-in-Chief Nechama Carmel spoke with famed lecturer, author and historian Rabbi Berel Wein about how resilience has shaped the Jewish historical experience, specifically the American Orthodox community in the postwar era.

Darshan for the Ages
People

Darshan for the Ages

The closing words of Megillat Esther describe Mordechai as doresh tov leammo. Literally, that means he sought the good of his people. In the spirit of Rabbi Lamm’s playful puns, however, I say: Rabbi Norman Lamm was a doresh tov, a great darshan—and all that he did, he did for the sake of his people and for the sake of Torah.