SHABBAT READING
When Peace Fails: Psalm 120: Prof. Adele Berlin, The Torah.com, Oct. 26, 2023 — In these troubled times we often look to psalms to express our feelings and to find hope. Psalm 120 seems especially relevant now. It begins by calling on God for protection from the deceptive speech of the speaker’s enemies:
שיר המעלות קכ:א שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת אֶל יְ־הוָה בַּצָּרָתָה לִּי קָרָאתִי וַיַּעֲנֵנִי. קכ:ב יְ־הוָה הַצִּילָה נַפְשִׁי מִשְּׂפַת שֶׁקֶר מִלָּשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה.
Ps 120:1 A song of ascents. In my distress, I called to YHWH and He answered me. 120:2 O YHWH, save me from treacherous lips, from a deceitful tongue!
YOU KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT
The Hatred on Our Doorsteps: Bari Weiss and Oliver Wiseman, The Free Press, Oct. 25, 2023 — Last Tuesday, Free Press staffers arrived for work in New York to discover antisemitic graffiti sprayed on hallway walls outside of our office.
Your Periodic Reminder That Evil Is Real: Lance Morrow, WSJ, Oct. 24, 2023 — Justice Potter Stewart observed in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) that while hard-core pornography is difficult to define, “I know it when I see it.” The same is true of evil.
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Do Israel’s Critics Understand Evil?: Jacob Howland, UnHerd, Oct. 16, 2023
The Insidious Hatred that Spawned the Holocaust and Hamas’ Latest Pogrom: Barbara Kay, National Post, Oct. 22, 2023
The Day the Delusions Died: Konstantin Kisin, The Free Press, Oct. 22, 2023
How the Democrats Betrayed the Jews: David Memet, UnHerd, Oct. 23, 2023
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:
The Struggle Against Holocaust Denial: The 2023 Edition: Pnina Sharvit Baruch, INSS, Oct. 22, 2023 — Only two weeks after the horrific events of Saturday, October 7, when Hamas terrorists committed abominable crimes, reminiscent of Holocaust crimes against the Jews and the tactics of ISIS, the next stage has already begun: the process of denying the events.
The West’s Fifth Columnists: Melanie Phillips, JNS, Oct. 19, 2023 — For several hours this week, the BBC, The New York Times, The Financial Times and other prominent mainstream media outlets claimed that Israel had bombed and destroyed Gaza City’s Al-Ahli hospital, killing hundreds of patients and staff.
Signs Showing a Star of David in a Trash Can Are Suddenly Everywhere. Hamas Used the Image 10 Years Ago: Beth Harpaz, Forward, Oct. 26, 2023 — Photos of pro-Palestinian protesters holding signs with a Star of David in a trash can and the words, “Keep the world clean,” are becoming commonplace at rallies and on social media.
‘The Gulag Archipelago’: An Epic of True Evil: Gary Saul Morson, WSJ, May 5, 2023 — Today the word “gulag” is often used figuratively, but in the Soviet Union the Gulag—an acronym designating the system of forced labor camps—was all too real. Millions of people lived and died in the Gulag’s many “islands,” the camps scattered over the vast country.