Silver Spring, Md. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The true measure of a scholar is not the number of books they publish or the titles they hold. It is whether they speak when human beings are starved, bombed, and erased as a people. By that measure, some of America’s most visible academics have failed. […]
Gaza’s “Walking Corpses:” Jewish Law does not Permit ignoring Atrocities
Silver Spring, Md. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Jewish law does not permit us to look away when atrocities are being committed. It is painful beyond words to see the hollow eyes and bloated bellies of dying children and infants in Gaza—but we must look. The Torah commands: “Do not stand idly by the […]
Shattering the Myth of the “Holy Land”
( The Times of Israel) – Could someone earn a commendation for deliberately breaking the holiest object ever created, one that was crafted and inscribed by God Himself? According to a midrash [scripture interpretation], this is exactly what happened to Moses. In our weekly scripture reading, Exodus 30:11–34:35 [“Ki Tisa”], Moses shatters the tablets after […]
“No other Land”: When Ordered to Destroy, we Sometimes have a Moral Obligation to Lie
( The Times of Israel ) – You are ordered—like in the Oscar-nominated documentary No Other Land—to demolish the homes, schools, and wells of Palestinian families in Masafer Yatta, a community in the West Bank that has existed since the early 1900s. The official reason: to clear the land for a live-fire military training zone. But when […]
Tevet, Palindromes, and the Ceasefire in Gaza
( The Times of Israel ) – On the occasion of the ceasefire in Gaza, let’s reflect on the current Hebrew month of Tevet: This word is a linguistic treat—it’s the only month that forms a palindrome, a word or phrase that reads the same backward and forward. However, in Hebrew, this palindrome magic doesn’t […]
Gaza: Harris lost because her Party represented War Mongering, Q.E.D.
( The Times of Israel) – My beloved grandmother Savta Greta z”l often liked to use the acronym “Q.E.D.” – an abbreviation of the Latin phrase “quod erat demonstrandum” which means “that which was to be demonstrated” — signifying the end of a mathematical proof or logical argument. Essentially, it indicates the argument has been […]
The Verse “Hear O Israel” is Common to Judaism and Islam
( The Times of Israel) – This Shabbat we read the second paragraph of the Shema, and last week we read the first paragraph which opens with a call — arguably the most famous prayer in our liturgy: Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). “The first paragraph of […]
Does Compromise show Weakness or Strength? – A Surprising finding in the Talmud
Growing up in Israel, the prevailing mentality surrounding me everywhere I went was that compromise shows weakness. The message was clear: compromise is a “Diaspora thing,” but for us Israelis – we stand strong, we take “what is ours,” and we don’t back down. But my father Elhanan Leibowitz OBM (of blessed memory), whose yahrtzeit, […]
Leon Fleisher – the Pianist Who Reinvented Himself and Inspired the World
It was a sad day for the music world when we heard that concert pianist, conductor, and teacher par excellence Leon Fleisher died on August 2 at the age of 92. But it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of a great musician who was an inspiration to countless music lovers and anyone struggling […]
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