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Yitzchak Blau

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May 26, 2026, 12:06 PM

The Worth of an Ivy League Education

In February 2023, I wrote an article for the Commentator, Yeshiva University's student newspaper, decrying YU's English department not teaching great authors from the Western literary canon ( It turns out that Harvard and Columbia are far worse. Harvard...

Oct 15, 2025, 1:57 PM

Understanding the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Yosef Bronstein, Engaging the Essence: The Torah Philosophy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Maggid, 2024), 686 pages. Writers on the Lubavitcher rebbe could focus on his thought expressed in his published sichot or on his institutional activity such as sending out...

Jul 29, 2025, 12:30 AM

Of manels and women scholars

Women are frequently unjustifiably excluded from various religious settings. I think of women not being allowed into a men's adult education shiur, women's section doors remaining locked during communal prayer, opposition to women speaking at funerals, and the like....

Jun 1, 2025, 11:29 AM

Making music meaningful

Avi Procter produces YouTube videos about the gap year in Israel ("Israel Gap Year B'iyun Podcast") in which he interviews relevant educators. He recently uploaded an episode with R. Dani Kunstler, a rebbe at Toras Shraga and a musician. R....

Feb 7, 2025, 6:07 PM

Hope in our Students

Critics claim adolescents raised on TikTok and Instagram have short attention spans and lack the ability to read long books or engage in analysis requiring sustained attention. Detractors who thought that contemporary Israeli teens lack heroism and idealism were...

Jan 16, 2025, 6:06 PM

R. Schachter’s Divrei Soferim: A Review

Rav Hershel Schachter, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, has, for some sixty years, successfully taught Torah to university students, older working people, and even to high school students in the NCSY summer kollel. His range of knowledge and his...

Dec 3, 2024, 6:07 PM

Trump’s Win: The Blindness of Republicans and Democrats

Armin Rosen wrote a critique of The New Yorker's response to Trump's election victory in Tablet Magazine ("The New Yorker's Cavalcade of Ignorance" 11/26/24) which inspired me to read that issue of the New Yorker. I identified with many...

Nov 14, 2024, 8:30 AM

R. Lopiansky’s Ben Yeshiva: A Moderate Haredi Approach

R. Ahron Lopiansky, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington and a representative of the moderate wing of American Haredim, recently came out with a second quality English volume. After previously publishing a guide for b'aal habatim, (Orchos...

Oct 15, 2024, 1:36 PM

Jewish Unity: Getting Beyond the Platitudes

Talk about Jewish unity and loving all Jews often becomes empty platitudes. No one will disagree with these sentiments (It is akin to disliking Mom and apple pie) but they quickly dissolve after utterance without making any impact. The...

Aug 11, 2024, 8:18 PM

Begin and Today’s Politics

I recently read Daniel Gordis's biography, Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel's Soul, and was struck by how much contemporary Israeli politics desperately needs a few traits of this impressive person. 1) Avoiding Civil War: Infighting doomed the Second Temple...

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About Me

Rabbi Yitzchak Blau is a rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Orayta and also teaches at Midreshet Lindenbaum. He is an associate editor of the journal Tradition and the author of Fresh Fruit and Vintage Wine: The Ethics and Wisdom of the Aggada.