As part of their training to become Modern Orthodox intellectual leaders, Straus Scholars bring into conversation - within the classroom and beyond - classic texts from the Jewish and Western canons through a variety of courses as well as extracurricular reading groups and winter break trips. 

In the academic year 2023-2024, the Straus Center has launched “Two Texts, Three Questions,” a new program led by rabbinic intern Yehuda Goldberg designed to encourage Straus Scholars to pursue their own intellectual interests and explore new connections between Torah and Western thought.

In this initiative, each Straus Scholar selects one Jewish text and one Western text and poses three questions about them. Straus Scholars have selected a wide variety of sources, ranging from the Bible to ancient Greek philosophy, early modern political thought, rabbinic literature and Talmudic commentaries, modern theological works, and famous literary texts. The questions they pose bring the two texts into conversation, offering thought-provoking perspectives on timeless sources. Sometimes, the questions elaborate a tension between the two texts or identify a point of similarity; others probe difficulties raised by the texts or ask the reader to consider the broader corpus of the excerpted thinker.

Straus Scholar Tamara Yeshurun (SCW ‘26) used Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield alongside Eishet Chayil, drawn from Proverbs 31, to consider the topic of women’s virtue, asking the reader to compare how each text describes the trait. Straus Scholar Matthew Minsk (YC ‘26) read an excerpt from the Talmudic tractate Bava Kama, which deals with torts in Jewish law, alongside famed seventeenth-century philosopher John Locke, to explore questions about rights. Straus Scholar Adina Feldman (SCW ‘26) provided a reflection on intellectual and spiritual maturity based on eighteenth-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant and Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, a twentieth-century Talmudic scholar.

The numerous topics and thinkers reflect the intellectual diversity of the Straus Scholars, and the initiative has generated much discussion both within and beyond the broader Yeshiva University community. The entries of “Two Texts, Three Questions” can be viewed here.