Iran’s Recent Behavior Suggests a Regime in Its Death Throes
What looks like resilience might be collapse.
March 23, 2026
What Do Academic Scholars Know about the Talmud?
Making sense of the debates.
While there can be no doubt that the Babylonian Talmud (or Bavli) is the most important Jewish book since the completion of the Bible, academic scholars still debate some of the most basic questions about it. What precisely is its relationship with the Jerusalem Talmud (or Yerushalmi), completed in the late 4th century—about 200 years prior to the Babylonian—in the Galilee? Who composed the elusive stam, the book’s anonymous editorial voice that intervenes amid the flow of “Rabbi X said” and “Rabbi Y objected”? Should critical study take place at the level of the tractate? The sugya (a discussion of a single topic)? The memra (single statement)?
March 23, 2026
Defining Israel’s Priorities in the War with Iran
Degrading the nuclear and missile programs must take precedence over other goals.
A Conservative Response to Anti-Semitism
Identifying the disease and combatting it.
To the Prophet of Overpopulation, Humans Were No Different from Insects
What Paul Ehrlich couldn’t grasp.
What Do Academic Scholars Know about the Talmud?
Making sense of the debates.