Isranet Daily Briefing
Friday, December 27th 2024
“From this perspective, the revolt of the Maccabees against Greek rule wasn’t just about religious freedom or political independence from pagans. It was a fight between those Jews who accepted the Hellenic claim to intellectual superiority—to a human-oriented knowledge of science, mathematics, and philosophy that surpassed the intellectual achievements of all other cultures—and those who, […]
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Analysis
Mois Navon Lehrhaus, Dec. 10, 2023 “… who is the intended audience for “publicizing the miracle”?” On Oct. 7, 2023, the day that has come to be called “the Black Sabbath,” our enemies darkened our eyes and our world. To overcome them, we must fight them with light. Of course, I do not mean to […]
Richard Hidary Jewish Review of Books, Dec. 27, 2016 “The early rabbis rejected these books from the canon not only because of the late date of their composition but likely also because they wanted to suppress their revolutionary message.” In his response to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s review of his book, Not in God’s Name, Rabbi […]
Lewis H. Glinert Mosaic Magazine, Dec. 14, 2017 What have they done to my song? The medieval Ashkenazi maestro who penned the poem we now call Maoz Tsur (in English, “Rock of Ages”) might well have asked this question. True, Mordechai—his name is encoded in the first five stanzas—is a mysterious figure; one can only surmise that […]
Meir Soloveitchik The Free Press, Dec. 26, 2024 “Churchill understood that the fire of Sinai was not only on that mountain, but also in Moses’s heart.” In darker times we look for light. Among Jewish images of illumination there are few more inspiring than one taken in the German city of Kiel in 1931. Akiva Posner, rabbi […]
Wednesday, October 16th 2024
Meir Y. Soloveichik Commentary Magazine, October 2023 “But that was not all that Yadin found. The cavern contained letters from Bar Kochba himself, including one written in advance of the Sukkot holiday, referencing the ritual of waving a lulav, a palm frond:” Striking archeological discoveries are a constant in Israel, but they can still occasionally inspire wonder. […]
Dovid Bashevkin Tablet, Sept. 1, 2021 “I don’t know why we long so for permanence,” writes the philosopher and physicist Alan Lightman, “why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs.” Most Jewish holidays are easy to explain to your non-Jewish colleagues. Many, if not most, know about Passover, and after enough years with enough Jewish […]
Scott Walker Washington Times, Oct. 10, 2024 “Over and over again, we will counter attempts to glorify terrorists and their evil deeds with the truth about the horrors of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and all others who seek to harm Israel and Jewish people around the world. They continue trying to intimidate us, but we will not back […]
Tuesday, June 11th 2024
Jeffrey Levine The Times of Israel, June 9, 2024 “Trust, as a path to enlightenment, often leads to vulnerability, which in turn fosters bravery. Bravery cultivates connection, connection leads to purpose, and purpose enriches life.” As we approach Shavuot, we commemorate the momentous occasion of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks profoundly […]
Dr. Tzvi Novick The Torah.com, May 27, 2020 “Thus, if in the first stage of Israel’s covenantal history, at Sinai, the people accept responsibility only for sins committed openly, in the second stage, upon entering the land of Israel, they are compelled to accept responsibility also for concealed sins.” Mutual Covenantal Responsibility at Sinai The […]
Leon Kass and Hannah Mandelbaum Jewish Review of Books, May 11, 2021 “… her words bespeak a profound desire—and capacity—for loyal and devoted friendship, that lifelong being-together of souls that, as much as is possible and beyond any mere concourse of bodies, can overcome the isolation and separation of human beings.” The recently widowed Ruth […]
Monday, April 22nd 2024
NATION BUILDING AND PEOPLEHOOD The People-Forming Passover: Leon R. Kass, Mosaic Magazine, Apr. 6, 2020 — The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. _________________________________________________________________ That Pain You’re Feeling Is Peoplehood: Mijal Bitton, Sapir Journal, October 2023 – February 2024 The Undying People: Meir Y. […]
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