Israel Can’t Afford Not to Defeat Hamas Decisively
But can it do so before the diplomatic clock runs out?
May 30, 2025
Ruth’s Message of Lovingkindness
The law and the deeds of a noble gentleman.
The ancient rabbis taught that the book of Ruth belongs in Scripture because it is a tale of “deeds of lovingkindness (hesed).” Since Second Temple times, the related word hasid—literally, “a person of kindness”—has meant an especially pious person, who goes beyond the letter of the law in religious practice. With that in mind, Daniel Z. Feldman considers a question about Ruth that has bothered Jewish commentators for centuries: central to the plot is Boaz’s fulfilment of a legal obligation to Ruth involving levirate marriage and property rights, but—at least in the rabbinic understanding—these obligations in no way apply to the circumstances. Feldman cites an answer that gets at the heart of the book’s meaning:
May 30, 2025
The U.S. Can Demand an End to Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions without Risking War
Washington shouldn’t be deterred by its own hesitation.
The Black Congressman Who Quoted the Book of Ruth as Proof That Anyone Could Join the American Experiment
Robert Brown Elliott.
Ruth’s Message of Lovingkindness
The law and the deeds of a noble gentleman.
Celebrating Shavuot in Pre-Independence Israel
Rare photographs.