Articles by Avraham Wein

Of Priorities and Perspective: Land for Peace in the Thought of Religious Zionist Thinkers

By Avraham Wein | Comment ()
In the aftermath of the Baruch Goldstein massacre,[1] Rabbi Dov Lior, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba and rosh yeshiva of its hesder yeshiva, eulogized Goldstein in front of the beit midrash of the yeshiva. This eulogy horrified Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, and ... Read more →

Of Obligation, Brotherhood, and Confusion: Why Did Yonah Run?

By Avraham Wein | Comment ()
In the waning hours of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, the book of Yonah is read. A standard explanation for this practice is that Nineveh’s repentance and subsequent redemption following God’s decree serve as both a critical and timely reminder of the opportunity for ... Read more →

Of Perspective and Paradox: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Analysis of Holiness

By Avraham Wein | Comment ()
In[1] the opening of his famous essay “Sacred and Profane,” Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik writes, “In the same fashion that kodesh and hol form the spiritual framework of our halakha, so do the kodesh and hol determine the dichotomy of living experience into sacred and profane… This ... Read more →

Of Sensitivity and Humility: An Exposition of Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein’s Approach to the Suffering of Others

By Avraham Wein | Comment ()
  Over the course of the last century, two immeasurably significant events occurred in Jewish history. The first was the Holocaust, which consisted of the murder of six million Jews and the suffering of countless more. The second was the establishment of the State of Israel, a redemption ... Read more →

Of Angels and Men: Peshat As A Universal Tool

By Avraham Wein | Comment ()
In the opening pages of Family Redeemed, Rabbi Soloveitchik proclaims:[i] [ii] “I am sorry to say that many Jews don’t look to Bible for guidance and that its spiritual message, so indispensable for man today, is completely ignored. Our approach to Biblical interpretation is too often ... Read more →