Analysis
Monday, March 25th 2024 / Sunday, March 24th 2024
Rabbi Wendy Zierler The Torah.com, Mar. 17, 2016 “Purim merits repeated reassertion and preservation as an enduring truth in modern times and beyond not merely because it serves as a yearly reminder of Jewish vulnerability in exile and our gratitude for all the salvation that chance has sent our way but because it is the holiday […]
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Isranet Daily Briefing
Friday, March 22nd 2024
SHABBAT READING Purim: Mocking Persia’s Dat and Reaccepting the Torah: Rachel Friedman, The Torah.com, May 3, 2023 — The book of Esther centers on the action and intrigue at the royal court of King Ahasuerus in the Persian capital of Shushan (Susa), repeatedly calling attention to its silliness and eccentricities.[1] Nowhere does the Persian court appear more […]
Friday, March 22nd 2024 / Thursday, March 21st 2024
Stuart Halpern Tablet, Mar. 21, 2024 “A humble young woman thrust onto a stage she never expected to step on to, a scheming and irredeemably wicked antagonist, and a society hoping that by virtue of its faith it might merit heavenly favor have served as the concocted elements of countless American moments.” Twenty-three years […]
Yoram Hazony Commentary Magazine, March 2016 “Strength attracts strength, and power attracts power. Thus the weak, to the degree they can make themselves seem strong, can attract the support of the strong, thereby becoming strong in reality.” As the book of Esther reaches its climax, the Jews of Persia have turned political defeat into political […]
Friday, December 8th 2023 / Friday, December 8th 2023
Hanukkah as the Messy Middle: Elana Stein Hein, Times of Israel, Dec. 7, 2023 The Meaning of the Menorah: Seth Mandel, Commentary Magazine, Dec. 7, 2023 The Battle Cry of Hanukkah: Arynne Wexler, Tablet, Dec. 5, 2023 The Self-delusion of Secular Jews: David Mamet, Unherd, Dec. 7, 2023 _______________________________________________________ FOR FURTHER REFERENCE: Hanukkah Celebrations Are Being Cancelled Due to […]
Friday, December 8th 2023
Arynne Wexler Tablet, Dec. 5, 2023 “The story of the Maccabees is one of defiance and anti-assimilation. It’s about hard-as-nails Jews who fight for survival. It’s time we bring that back.” I hate Hanukkah. Wait, let me revise that. I hate what Hanukkah has become. A minor holiday in Israel, Hanukkah is often the one […]
Seth Mandel Commentary Magazine, Dec. 7, 2023 “No menorah lighting because Shirley Vermillion and her festival don’t want to give the impression that they support killing children—and having a Jewish ceremony would, in her eyes, do exactly that.” Nothing crystallizes the inseparability of Judaism from the state of Israel quite like efforts to ban […]
Elana Stein Heinpower Times of Israel, Dec. 7, 2023 “What bound all of these Jews together was more powerful than what divided them.” Hanukkah reminds us that miracles are possible and that seemingly unwinnable wars can be won. But it also holds lessons about partial victories, imperfect heroes, and incomplete belonging. We tell the story […]
Friday, September 29th 2023 / Wednesday, November 1st 2023
________________________________________________________ SHABBAT READING Is Kohelet’s Wisdom Vanity of Vanities?: Prof. Rabbi Marty Lockshin, The Torah.com, Sept. 2023 — The Mishnah (m. Yadayim 3:5) makes clear that the inclusion of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) in the biblical Canon engendered more opposition than other biblical books.[1] Unfortunately, we don’t have a detailed record of the rabbinic discussions about Kohelet, pro and […]
Friday, September 29th 2023 / Thursday, November 2nd 2023
S.Y. Agnon Tablet, Sept. 25, 2015 “Rabban Gamliel purchased an etrog for one thousand zuz, and the sages did not even specify whether it was beautiful or not, and you set aside the choicest of etrogs on account of a few shillings?” To witness how precious the mitzvah of Etrog is to the Jewish people […]
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Aish, no date “How odd of God / to choose the Jews,” goes the famous rhyme, to which the answer is: “Not quite so odd: the Jews chose God.” They may have been, at times, fractious, rebellious, ungrateful and wayward. But they had the courage to travel, to move, to leave […]
Rossella Tercatin Jerusalem Post, Sept. 20, 2021 “Anyone, regardless of their social status, could join, immerse themselves in the pool, walk toward the Temple as the experience built up with tens if not hundreds of thousands of people gathered inside the city on this route.” Some 2,000 years ago, as the festival of Sukkot approached, tens […]
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