Author: David Rutman

The hatred of Jews, from time immemorial to the outlandish way it has resurfaced globally today, is truly breathtaking. What on earth could this infinitesimal population of Jews, and their tiny ancestral homeland, Israel, have possibly done to inspire such universally unflinching contempt? Many of the original justifications for why Jews are to be despised […]

President Trump likes to portray himself as a great dealmaker– a shrewd negotiator who knows how close the toughest deals. But in reality, he’s more of an impulsive man who craves power and attention and flies by the seat of his pants. And he’s meeting in Alaska today with a real shrewd negotiator in Russian […]

During Sukkot last year, Esti Kohen, then 10-years-old, decided to bake a cake for guests coming to her home in Pico-Robertson. She always loved it when her parents, the rabbi and rebbetzin at Young Sephardic Community Center, invited people over, and she wanted to be a welcoming host. But her good intentions suddenly turned tragic: […]

In April 1777, in the German city of Trier, Heschel HaLevi was born to a distinguished rabbinic family. His father and grandfather had served as the local rabbis, and his older brother would eventually step into that role. When he was a teenager, the French Revolutionary Army took control of Trier, and brought with it […]

In my 19 years of writing a weekly column for the Jewish Journal, I’ve never written a column about another column. So why am I doing it now? Because I can’t stand seeing an evil entity like Hamas win the propaganda war while my beloved Israel turns into a pariah state. My friends on the […]

Heart-breaking pictures of shockingly thin young children in the Gaza Strip have been splashed across the front pages of major papers, broadcast on important news channels, and reproduced on international media sites in recent weeks. These photographs have deadly consequences. Manufactured with the intent of inflaming passions and provoking outrage, they are inciting hatred, anti-Israel […]

Who knew barbarism as a career path pays so well? With the ostensible objective of bringing the war in Gaza to an end—and the moral perversity of punishing Israel for the continued endangerment of Gazans at the hands of Hamas—the leaders of France, the U.K. and Canada have announced their nominal recognition of a Palestinian […]

One of the most consequential but least-covered stories of the year came out of a radio station in Sacramento last week. Sportscaster Grant Napear, who was fired five years ago for tweeting “All Lives Matter,” is back at work, taking over the weekday afternoon slot on Fox Sports’ local station. The man will make a […]

Eli Sharabi was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7th, and taken hostage by Hamas. Sharabi had never recited the Shema. Until he was in Gaza. Even though he was never a religious man, the Shema gave Eli enormous comfort; and he repeated it over and over again, as if it were […]