About

Shalom, and welcome. I’m Aryeh Leib Thorne Toren, and I write from Jerusalem.

My writing moves between three places that, for me, have never really been separate: the Torah, the State of Israel, and the region we live in. Some weeks that means a parsha essay for the Shabbat table, or a piece on the festivals of Tishrei. Other weeks it means working through the arithmetic of an Israeli election, or the pressure between Washington and Tehran, or what a single flight can teach us about courage and partnership.

I try to write plainly, to source what I say, and to keep what is confirmed apart from what is not. I write for readers in Israel and across the Diaspora, and I hope each piece leaves you with something worth bringing home.

The essays join Orthodox Torah and Chassidus with republican political thought (Pettit, Nelson, Elazar, Hazony). I write as a talmid, not a consultant, and I write G-d, not God. Featured pieces are on the Writing page. CV (PDF).

I am a Jerusalem-based Torah scholar, researcher, and writer. Pittsburgh roots. I was born in 1985 in San Diego; my family moved to Pittsburgh in 1987. Steelers, Pirates, Penguins. We made Aliyah in 1996.

I have a BA in Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science from Ariel University, and an MA in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

[ARYEH TO CONFIRM: a line on your background or where you learned, if you would like one.]

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You can read new pieces on Substack, and follow along on LinkedIn and on X at @ALThorne_Toren.