As part of the Straus Scholars Program of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, Straus Scholars participate in weekly reading groups outside the classroom that cover the great texts of the West and Judaism.

Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University, is leading an honors seminar entitled “The Consumer and The Covenant: A Jewish Philosophy for our Times.” President Berman’s seminar analyzes the challenges and opportunities of life in 21st-century America through the dual prism of the consumer and the covenant. With readings ranging from Plato, the Netziv, Tocqueville, Keynes, and the Rav, the students are learning new perspectives on how to conceptualize the challenges of today with an eye towards creating a better tomorrow.

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, Director of the Straus Center, and Rabbinic Intern Yehuda Goldberg are co-leading “C.S. Lewis and the Rav,” bringing into conversation the works of two remarkable essayists who presented theologically and philosophically complex issues with clarity and insight.

Rabbi Dr. Itamar Rosensweig, a maggid shiur (lecturer) at YU’s Mazer Yeshiva Program for undergraduate Torah studies, is leading “Philosophy of Mitzvot,” which explores the philosophical and legal underpinning of the concept of a mitzvah (commandment) in Jewish thought.

Senior Scholar Dr. Tevi Troy and Associate Director Dr. Neil Rogachevsky are co-leading “Reading the Greats: Essays by Modern Jewish Writers,” studying authors such as Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, Seymour Martin Lipset, Irving Kristol, Leon Kass, Ruth Wisse, and Jonah Goldberg. Impact Officer Sarah Wapner is teaching “The Writings of Menachem Begin,” tracing his evolution from Revisionist Zionist activist in pre-war Poland, to leading the Irgun in a revolt against the British in Palestine, to becoming Israel’s sixth prime minister.

Finally, Resident Scholar and Recruitment Officer Dr. Shaina Trapedo, together with Clinical Assistant Professor Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner are facilitating sessions framed around Jack Miles’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book God: A Biography. This reading group focuses on how Miles tracks the portrayal of God from Creator to Liberator to Law-Giver to Bystander and beyond in his illuminating and original work.