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Tag: Israel
Pita on Pesach: When Jewish Identity Dies, Jewish Blood Is Spilled
In the first part of this series, we established a foundational principle for survival: A is A. Drawing on sources that Aristotle learned from the Jewish prophets to the Creator’s own self-declaration of “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh,” we argued that to deny the observable, empirical identity of our enemies is a…
A is A: Torah, Aristotle, and the Limits of Judging Enemies Favorably
After an Arab worker was recorded contaminating ice cream for Jewish customers, I commented that I always wondered about the people who run to bomb shelters, yet have no problem eating in restaurants with Arabs working there. A reader commented, "Tell me to which population you generalize when a, or…
The Manufactured Measles Crisis: How Vaccine Campaigns Ignite Outbreaks from Texas to Tel Aviv
In the summer of 2025, a specter returned to haunt the Western world. Measles, a disease declared vanquished from the United States a quarter-century ago, is back with a vengeance. With 1,408 confirmed cases logged across America as of late August 2025 and hundreds in Israel amid ongoing surges, public…
Justice, Justice You Shall Automate?
The Torah portion of Shoftim contains one of the most foundational injunctions in Jewish jurisprudence: “צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף” – “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Rashi explains the repetition of the word “justice” as a profound command: one must pursue justice relentlessly, through just and righteous means. The method of pursuit…
From Baseless Hatred to a World at War: Reversing Tisha B’Av
A Shot Heard Across Time It began, as world-changing events sometimes do, with a single act of violence on an obscure side street. On June 28, 1914, in the provincial city of Sarajevo, a young Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip fired two shots, killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to…
The Tyranny of Tolerance: How an Enlightenment Error Is Tearing Israel Apart
A recent, thoughtful critique of the idea of a "Jewish Compassion Deficit Syndrome" raised a crucial point about the pragmatic necessity of distinguishing friend from foe. Why, the commenter asked, should we hold an Arab village that supports Zionism to a different standard than our political allies? Why demand a…
Jewish Compassion Deficit Syndrome: Our Dangerous Double Standard
In an era of perpetual conflict, where Israel’s survival hinges on unflinching realism, a peculiar and dangerous inconsistency plagues our public discourse. We, as a society, have fallen into the habit of invoking exceptions to soften necessary generalizations about our adversaries while simultaneously wielding broad-brush condemnations against our own brothers,…
The Deliberate Downsizing of the IDF and the Myth of the Haredi Manpower Crisis
For years, it was the symbol of Israeli ingenuity: a multi-billion dollar “smart fence” bristling with sensors, cameras, and automated machine guns. This technological marvel was the physical manifestation of a doctrine that had defined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for a generation—the promise of a “small and smart army.”…
Political Thalidomide: The Deliberate Corruption of Science and State
The Bitter Pill In the late 1950s, a German pharmaceutical company, Chemie Grünenthal, executed a masterful market strategy. It launched a new sedative, thalidomide, as a "wonder drug" for anxiety, insomnia, and, most lucratively, morning sickness. The public was assured it was so astonishingly safe it could be sold without…
Serving Two Masters: G-d or the State?
In the biblical Book of Numbers, twelve spies—princes of their tribes—are sent to reconnoiter the Promised Land. Ten return with a professional assessment detailing impenetrable defenses, a situation analysis so demoralizing it dooms a generation to perish in the desert. The Midrash offers an instructive explanation for their betrayal: they…