The Lessons of Israel’s Destruction of the Syrian Nuclear Reactor
Israeli self-reliance is good. Self-reliance with American support is even better.
July 12, 2019
Taking the Greatest Jewish Commentary on the Torah Seriously
Rashi, theologian.
Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (1040–1105), known by the Hebrew acronym Rashi, authored a running commentary on almost the entire Talmud as well as one on almost all of the Hebrew Bible. Both fairly quickly became essential to all traditional Jewish study and teaching of these texts. In his recent book Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah, Eric Lawee attempts to give this work its proper place in Jewish intellectual history by examining both the commentary itself and its rabbinic admirers and detractors. Discussing the book with Alan Brill, Lawee explains Rashi’s use of midrash—rabbinic exegesis, mostly from the 4th through 7th centuries—which the sage draws on heavily, often presenting it alongside a more literal interpretation:
July 12, 2019
For an Intellectual, the Centennial of a Holocaust Writer Is an Opportunity to Condemn Both Israel and Democracy
Pankaj Mishra takes on Primo Levi.
The Pilgrimage Road Excavation, Which Has Already Uncovered Much about Jerusalem’s History, Is No Threat to Arab Jerusalemites or to the al-Aqsa Mosque
Truth from the City of David.
Taking the Greatest Jewish Commentary on the Torah Seriously
Rashi, theologian.
The Rabbi Who Followed 300 Orphans to Their Death in Nazi-Occupied Poland
The Orthodox Janusz Korczak.