Over Chanukah, Yeshivat Frisch students had the opportunity to delve into special topics of interest within the Modern Orthodox world.

Freshman Gemara classes had a week-long unit over Chanukah about the integration of Torah u’Madda, a concept at the heart of modern Orthodox philosophy. Utilizing sources from the Gemara, rishonim and acharonim, the unit dealt with the primacy of learning Torah, the value of secular knowledge in its own right and from the practical perspective of getting a job. The unit served as an introduction to other topics that will be touched on this year from a Torah perspective, including literature and its limits, evolution and Judaism’s approach to Christianity and Islam. Chanukah served as an auspicious time to complete the unit, as the holiday highlights the tension that can arise between the religious and secular realms.

Meanwhile, select junior and senior Chumash classes listened to Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s 1978 dvar Torah on Parshat Beha’alotcha, a Torah portion which begins with Aharon Kohen Gadol’s commandment to light the menorah in the Mishkan. The students had the opportunity to hear the Rav’s voice for the first time, and learn his approach to the unity of the stories in this parsha. They were tasked with identifying one thing that surprised them, two things they already knew and three things that they learned from the shiur.