Episode Description:   With recent developments in the pandemic and election, we have seen important developments that bear on the Orthodox community. What were the positive and negative impacts of the SCOTUS decision, or was it a moot issue? How have social media platforms and other communal developments allowed for conspiracy theories in the health and political realms to run rampant? With vaccine distribution on the horizon, what issues might arise - halakhic and communal?

Hockammendations:

Shlomo Brody: Moshe Koppel, Judaism Straight Up - A great new book by Prof. Moshe Koppel about what religion does for us and society.

Shlomo Zuckier: Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow - This book considers upcoming trends in human life as technology becomes more central to our lives. I don't agree with everything he says, but these are essential questions to grapple with, including and especially from a Jewish perspective. 

Avital Chizhik-Goldschimdt: Shlomo Zuckier, "American Orthodoxy's Twilight of Authority," Mosaic - This article walks through the history of the past months, charting the vacuum of rabbinic leadership in parts of American Orthodox and how philanthropists and charismatic outsiders have filled the void.