The Medieval Logic Behind Modern Anti-Israel Lies

There was a time when Jews were accused of poisoning wells, spreading plague, murdering Christian children for ritual purposes and concealing monstrous moral depravity beneath a civilized exterior. The details changed by century and geography. The structure rarely did. And one of the most uncomfortable truths about those episodes is that the accusations were never […]

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The Book and the Sword

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy entered common usage through the Septuagint, a Jewish translation of the Bible into Greek. These names are rough translations of ones used in early Rabbinic literature and are in fact rooted in the Jewish tradition.‌ In this older system, each name corresponds to the theme of the book. The […]

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A Bisl Torah — Your Time Capsule

I’ve noticed a few schools encouraging the graduating class to create a time capsule. A newspaper headlining a major moment of that year may be included. Perhaps a trendy piece of clothing or something representing an inside joke. But what if the time capsule included items that represented the students’ values? Perhaps a Magen David […]

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Michigan Mischief

It has been a busy time for combatants and spectators in the campus free speech wars. As I was drafting a comment about the University of Michigan, we got word that Northwestern University President Emeritus Morton Schapiro canceled his plan to deliver an invited address and receive an honorary degree from Georgetown University Law School, […]

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The Best and Worst of Times

Sorry to go all-out Dickensian this week, but for global Jewry, it surely is both “the best of times” and “the worst of times.” Not a tale of two cities, but a story of two realities—one sanguine; the other ominous. The Jewish State of Israel is a global phenomenon. Yet, its very existence—and envy over […]

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Michigan Mischief

It has been a busy time for combatants and spectators in the campus free speech wars. As I was drafting a comment about the University of Michigan, we got word that Northwestern University President Emeritus Morton Schapiro canceled his plan to deliver an invited address and receive an honorary degree from Georgetown University Law School, […]

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