Reasons for Hope about Syria
Replacing an enemy with an asset.
May 16, 2025
The Origins of the Lag ba-Omer Bonfire
And its rabbinic critics.
Today is the holiday of Lag ba-Omer, which celebrates the end of the plague that ravaged the students of Rabbi Akiva in the 2nd century CE. Later, the holiday also became associated with another 2nd-century sage, Shimon bar Yohai, whose grave is located in the Galilean city of Meron. Chaim Strauchler discusses the origin of what has become the day’s most prominent ritual:
May 16, 2025
Why Islamism’s Ideology of Resentment Focuses Its Anger on the Jews
While betraying the Islamic view of history.
John Fetterman’s Concern for Jews Drives His Party, but Not His Voters, Crazy
A sane man in an insane world.
The Origins of the Lag ba-Omer Bonfire
And its rabbinic critics.
The Biblical Owl as Symbol of Destruction and Loneliness
“I am like a desert owl of the wilderness.”