Can the case be made in purely secular terms that Israel’s continuing existence should urgently matter to the United States? Because if not, Israel is in serious trouble. The Jewish state can’t rely exclusively on Evangelical Christians and, secondarily, Jews to ensure America’s continuing friendship.  George Gilder’s fantastic book, The Israel Test, is out today…

Regarding Elie Wiesel’s new biography Rashi, on the great medieval French commentator on the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and the Talmud, I mentioned that he’s important not just for Jews but for Christians. His name is an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo son of Yitzhak. Writes Wiesel about Nicholas of Lyra (13th century):

Today is the Yahrtzeit (death anniversary) of Rashi, whose massive commentary on most of the Hebrew Bible and Talmud defines much of the meaning of those documents not only for Jews but for Christians too. I’ve been reading Elie Wiesel’s sweet new little biography of him for the Jewish Encounters series (published by Nextbook and Schocken). Rashi…

My purpose here as always is to make sure that anyone with an idea or response to share will feel comfortable participating in any discussion sparked by this blog. Turmarion, a thoughtful reader and oftentimes critic of what I write, changed my mind on commenters using pseudonyms. I now think in a context like this, a discussion…

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