In the fall 2026 semester, the Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought is offering numerous courses for Straus Scholars and Yeshiva University students to study the great texts, enduring ideas, and crucial traditions of Judaism and the West.
Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, the director of the Straus Center, is teaching “Josephus’ The Jewish War” on the Beren campus, and two courses on the Wilf campus: “Classical Jewish Philosophy,” which explores the thought of figures such as Josephus and Philo, and “Advanced Topics in Philosophy: Plato’s Republic,” co-taught with David Johnson, chair of the philosophy department at Yeshiva College.
On the Beren campus, Dr. Tevi Troy, Senior Scholar and Director of the Straus Center Impact Office, is co-teaching “The American Presidency” with Dr. Joseph Luders, the David and Ruth Gottesman Associate Professor of Political Science and chair of the Department of Political Science. The central aim of the course is to offer “an in-depth study of the most powerful office in the world, focusing on explanations for presidential power and success in domestic and international affairs, as well as how the executive branch interacts with the rest of the American political system.” On the Wilf campus, Dr. Troy is teaching a course on healthcare policy, which seeks to “explore trends in medical practice—politicization of health care, contemporary social and ethical issues in health care, genetic engineering, [the] right to die, living wills, and consumer movements in health care.”
Chair of the Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies at Stern College and Clinical Assistant Professor Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner is teaching “Modern Messianism” on the Beren campus, and Rabbi Dr. Itamar Rosensweig, the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Professor of Talmud and Philosophy, is teaching “Medieval Jewish Philosophy,” which covers readings from Joseph Albo, Rabbeinu Bahya, Hasdai Crescas, Yehudah HaLevi, Maimonides, Saadiah Gaon, and topics such as neoplatonism, Kalam, and Aristotelianism. Rabbi Dr. Rosensweig is also teaching “Philosophy of Law” on the Wilf campus, highlighting “fundamental questions about the nature and scope of law, grounds for legal obligation, and the justification of particular jural practices, such as punishment.”
Other Straus Center courses by affiliated YU faculty include “Introduction to Medieval Jewish Philosophy” with Dr. Shira Weiss, assistant professor of Jewish Philosophy at Bernard Revel Graduate School and Yeshiva College; “Family and Gender in Talmud” with Rabbi Dr. Ari Bergmann; and “Suffering and Evil” with Rabbi Shalom Carmy, chair of Bible and Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva College.
In addition to its course offerings, the Straus Center is also convening weekly extracurricular reading groups that delve into great Jewish and Western texts. Wilf Straus Scholars in Rabbi Dr. Rosensweig’s group are reading Haym Soloveitchik’s Jews and the Medieval Wine Trade, whereas Rabbinic Intern Ezra Seplowitz’s group is juxtaposing The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis with Uvikashtem Misham by Rav Soloveitchik. In “Reading Grace Aguilar: The Politics of Representation,” Beren Straus Scholars are exploring Grace Aguilar: Selected Writings with Straus Center Program Coordinator Rebecca Guzman (SCW ‘26), and in “Jerusalem & Athens” with Resident Scholar Dr. Shaina Trapedo, Beren Scholars are studying Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations alongside the Book of Proverbs.
