Although Jake Wallis Simons sympathizes with some of the domestic criticism of the Israeli prime minister, he found himself forced to admit that, “when it comes to making the case for Israel, the man is a genius. He is by far the best orator the Jewish state has ever produced.” Indeed, Simons pronounces Netanyahu’s address to Congress “a resounding triumph.” He adds: Here, at long last, was a demonstration to the West of what moral clarity looks like, delivered at the very heart of the free world. “In the Middle East, Iran’s axis of terror confronts America, Israel, and our Arab friends,” Neta ..read more

Beyond Kamala Harris, beyond Netanyahu’s speech, beyond the near riots in Washington is another main story of the day. That would be the IDF’s recovery of the bodies of five Israelis who were murdered on October 7. The corpses were being held in a tunnel beneath one of the safe zones for civilians Israel has designated in Gaza; no doubt Hamas was keeping them as gruesome bargaining chips. The discovery of the bodies is but one more example of how Hamas exploits Israel’s both concern for its own citizens, dead or alive, and for international humanitarian law (IHL), which regulates military cond ..read more

According to the Hebrew calendar, today is the 120th anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl. Yizhar Hess uses the opportunity to examine this great Zionist leader’s relationship with the physician and philosopher Max Nordau. Hess, like Nordau before him, currently holds the position of vice-chairman of the World Zionist Organization: They differed in appearance, in temperament, in age (Nordau was more than a decade older than Herzl), and in public standing. Nordau was better known than Herzl when the First Zionist Congress convened. The very participation of the esteemed author and physicia ..read more

Among Theodor Herzl’s friends was the Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, who like Herzl was a product of the cosmopolitan culture of the Hapsburg empire, but did not share in his Zionism. Zweig was a highly successful author of short fiction, essays, and biography in his own day, but he is best remembered now for The World of Yesterday, a memoir which depicts that cosmopolitan culture at its height. John P. Rossi reflects on the book and its author: World War I ended that golden age for Zweig. It destroyed the Austrian empire and left his beloved Vienna a backwater city. The war and its vast destruct ..read more

What does the newly minted Democratic candidate for president think about the Jewish state ..read more

When I first saw news that Google wasn’t going through with its acquisition of the tech startup Wiz, I was afraid hesitancy over its Israeli founders and close ties with the Jewish state might have something to do with it. I couldn’t have been more wrong: the deal is off not because of Google’s hesitancy, but because Wiz feared the FTC would slow down the process with uncertain results. The company is instead planning an initial public offering. In the wake of the CrowdStrike debacle, companies like Wiz have every reason to be optimistic, as Sophie Shulman explains: For the Israeli cyber secto ..read more

There will be more to say about Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech yesterday, but now I’d like to focus on the behavior of two of Congress’s most prominent Jewish members. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, having bizarrely called for Israel to hold elections and vote Netanyahu out in March, refrained from taking a seat behind him at the podium. (Reportedly the two men nodded at each other but didn’t shake hands.) And then there is the Manhattan representative Jerrold Nadler, who on Tuesday announced on social media that he would attend the speech but believes that “Benjamin Netanyahu is the worst ..read more

Last week, the writer, activist, and Baptist minister Luke Moon arrived at the Bnai Yeshurun synagogue in the Orthodox Jewish enclave of Teaneck, New Jersey for the second time. The first was in April, when he came to stand in solidarity with the congregants when the synagogue was surrounded by a mob of hostile protesters. The second was to speak with two rabbis: Jacob J. Schacter, a distinguished talmudic scholar and historian, and Elie Mischel, who is active in fostering Jewish-Christian relations. The three discussed the limits and possibilities of cooperation and mutual understanding betwe ..read more

Although it may come as a surprise to many of today’s Jews, the symbols of the zodiac were a common motif of synagogue art in ancient times, and astrology plays an important role in the Talmud, in kabbalistic texts, and even in the works of rationalist rabbis like the medieval poet and Bible-commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Jewish calendar combines both lunar and solar elements, so that each month corresponds to a zodiac symbol. The artist Mark Podwal explains the significance of Cancer, which is the constellation for the current month of Tammuz and the subject ..read more

Cinnamon’s most common place in Jewish ritual is in the havdalah ceremony, which marks the conclusion of the Sabbath. Its fragrance is sniffed to lift the spirits of those who might be disappointed that the day of rest has come to an end. While other spices can be used, cinnamon is by far the most common. In almost all traditions, it is also an ingredient in haroset, the fruit-and-nut mixture eaten during the Passover seder. But its most important ritual use is remembered only in the liturgy: as a main component in the incense offering in the Temple, considered the most holy and sublime of all ..read more