Sublime

The Talmud18 offers an imaginary case for your contemplation. Suppose you embarked on a journey across a remote and distant desert in company with an associate. Imagine that you brought a large water supply for yourself, whereas your associate neglected that elementary preparation. Halfway across the desert, it became apparent that there was insuff

The message of the Bible for the politics of the contemporary West is that it is not enough to have a state. You also need a society – meaning, that common belonging that comes from a sense that we are neighbours as well as strangers; that we have duties to one another, to the heritage of the past and to the hopes of generations not yet born; that

It’s as if, notes Rabbi Telushkin, the Hebrew Bible is one long answer to the question Cain asked in its earliest pages: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”*6 (Spoiler alert: The answer is yes.)

Since ancient times, in every place they have ever lived, Jews have represented the frightening prospect of freedom. As long as Jews existed in any society, there was evidence that it in fact wasn’t necessary to believe what everyone else believed, that those who disagreed with their neighbors could survive and even flourish against all odds. The J

It took faith to stay Jewish in the Hellenistic age,