Blog Posts

Second in the series “Seek the Peace of the City,” on what Judaism teaches Jews about the countries they live in. Part I is here. The previous article described a letter. Jeremiah told the Jewish exiles in Babylon to build houses, raise families, a…

First in a new series, "Seek the Peace of the City," on what Judaism teaches Jews about the countries they live in. There is an accusation that has followed Jews for as long as there have been Jews living among other peoples. It goes by several nam…

Last week marked three years since October 7, 2023. On that morning, more than 1,200 people were murdered in southern Israel, and 251 were carried off as hostages. Families were killed in their homes. Elderly men and women, small children, and infan…

Eighth and final in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 This series began with a picture most people carr…

This week The Atlantic published a long essay by Adam Kirsch titled "What Is Zionism?" Kirsch is a thoughtful writer, broadly sympathetic to Israel, and the essay is a serious piece of work. It is also, in its middle section, one of the clearest sum…

Seventh in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Six articles into this series, a fair question comes up. If the rec…

Sixth in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 The previous article ended with a puzzle that deserves a real answer. For eig…

Fifth in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In the standard telling of Jewish history, the Jews leave the Land of Israel when Rome …

Below, @voiceofrabbis presents the "Cliff Notes" version of the letter the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, sent to President Trump. "Key quotations" are direct quotes from the letter. The rest is our summary. The letter was two pages long, with…

Fourth in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The popular picture of Jewish history between Rome and the modern era is a picture of victims. …

Every year, at the end of the Passover Seder, Jewish families around the world say four words together: next year in Jerusalem. The same words close the Yom Kippur service. They are among the most recognizable lines in Judaism, and they are often pr…

The Jewish Zionists Got the Idea of Zionism From the Christians Below we preent the Twitter work of two top scholars: An old thread by Rabbi @yaakov_shapiro, and a brand new video of the history from @_ZachFoster. For a full treatment, see Rab…

Third in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 Here is a puzzle worth thinking about. For two thousand years, Jewish communities have been scattered fro…

Australian Supreme Court rules (like every other court in the world should) that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, is not anti-Jewish, and is a perfectly legitimate expression, held by many, including Jews. Many of those people are clearly not anti…

Second in the series "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Part 1 In the year 70, Jerusalem was surrounded. The Roman army had encircled the city, the siege had gone on for months, and inside the walls the situ…

First in a new series, "The Two Thousand Year Argument," on what the Jewish people did with exile. Most people carry a picture of Jewish history without ever having chosen it. The picture goes something like this. There were the Jews of the Bible, …

Sixth and final in the series "The Kippah and the Flag," on religious Zionism and how it fits, or does not fit, into the Jewish religion. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 This series began with a question as…

Fifth in the series "The Kippah and the Flag," on religious Zionism and how it fits, or does not fit, into the Jewish religion. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The previous article described a doctrine: the teaching…

Fourth in the series "The Kippah and the Flag," on religious Zionism and how it fits, or does not fit, into the Jewish religion. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The last article ended with a puzzle. The flag beside the ark, …

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, better known as the Satmar Rebbe, one of the most influential Orthodox Jewish leaders of the twentieth century. To much of the outside world (and even among Jews), the Satmar Rebbe …

Third in the series "The Kippah and the Flag," on religious Zionism and how it fits, or does not fit, into the Jewish religion. Earlier installments are here: Part 1 | Part 2 Walk into many Modern Orthodox synagogues in America and you will see, at…

Second in the series "The Kippah and the Flag," on religious Zionism and how it fits, or does not fit, into the Jewish religion. Part 1 is here. When religious Zionism appeared a century ago, the leading Torah authorities of the era saw it while it…

First in a new series, "The Kippah and the Flag," on religious Zionism and how it fits, or does not fit, into the Jewish religion. This publication has spent months arguing one point: Zionism is a modern nationalist movement, born in nineteenth-cen…

New York City is having a very loud summer. In July, Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a video announcing that he had no authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu under the International Criminal Court's warrant, calling on the federal government to do it,…