YU News

On April 13, 2026, the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, in conjunction with the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program, hosted Dr. Carl Richard to discuss his book So Help Us, God: American Presidents and the Bible and the role scripture has played in shaping…

During the summer of 2025, Yeshiva University students pursued a wide range of Judaic research and editorial projects with the support of the Impact Office at the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. From forthcoming Torah books to research on halakhic approaches to ...

On February 10, 2026, the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, in conjunction with the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program, hosted Douglas Century to discuss his National Jewish Book Award finalist Crash of the Heavens: The Remarkable Story of Hannah Senesh and…

Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, the director of the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, has been awarded the 2026 Bradley Prize from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Rabbi Soloveichik will receive the award at the Bradley Prizes ceremony on Thursday, May 14, 2026…

On Friday, March 6, 2026, Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought Deputy Director Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern delivered remarks during a panel discussion at the Arts and Humanities Summit at the White House in Washington, D.C. Hosted by the White House Task Force 250 and the…

In the Spring 2026 semester, the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought is offering numerous courses for Straus Scholars and Yeshiva University students to study the great texts and traditions of Judaism and the West. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, the director of the Straus ...

Through the Hertog Constitutional Studies Program, Fayga Tziporah Soloveichik (née Pinczower) (SCW ’27), a Straus Scholar and political science major, spent the summer of 2025 immersed in the study of the American founding, constitutional interpretation and the enduring tensions between judicial ...

On Wednesday, February 25th, 2026, the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., hosted a symposium on Jewish Roots of American Liberty: The Impact of Hebraic Ideas on the American Story (Encounter Books), edited by Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought Deputy Director Dr…

February 2026 saw several Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought faculty and staff publish in leading publications, contributing to the discourse and debates that continue to shape American society and the Jewish people. Straus Center Director Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik…

The Straus Center celebrated the launch of “Jewish Roots of American Liberty: The Impact of Hebraic Ideas on the American” story with Ruth Wisse, Ari Lamm, Ilana Kurshan and Elliot Kaufman.