Dara Horn

 

 

 "Is there a Final Solution to the Jewish Question?"

 

Antissemitismo

 

 

 "Why Antisemitism Works", Ruth Wisse 

 

Vida

 

 

 

 A pair of Pallas’s Cat Kittens in the Grasslands near Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China

 

Atenas

 

 

 

"The Striking Connection Between Plato and the Talmud & Athens and Jerusalem", Jacob Howland

 

Dan Schueftan

 

 

 

"Inside Israel's New War Doctrine: Preventative Violence"

 

Oslo

 

 

 

 "This One Decision Israel Refuses to Make Could Change Everything", IDF Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch 

 

Benny Morris

 

 

"This is a Jihad against Jews" 

 

Islão

 

 

 

"Should the West be suspicious of Islam?", Jonathan Sacerdoti at the Oxford Union 

 

Morte

  

 

"Jewish Wisdom for Death and Dying"  

 

Vida

 

 

 

A Leopard climbs a tree at Tsavo West national park, southern Kenya

 

Talmude

 

 

 

"The Greatest Lesson the Talmud Can Teach Us", Daniel Boyarin  

 

Boy George

 

 

"We Will Dance Again"

 

UN

 

 

 

 "The UN’s anti-Israel propaganda war", Hillel Neuer on the lies that demonise Jews 

 

Dalia Ziada

 

 

"Egyptian Dissident has Dark Warning for Islamic World" 

 

Tisha b'Av

 

 

 

"Tisha b'Av: The Bottom of the Calendar", Rachel Goldberg-Polin 

 

Médio Oriente

 

 

 

"Two Ways to Understand the Middle East", Michael Doran & Hussein Aboubakr Mansour 

 

Vida

 

 

 

Two whales swim near the shoreline in the San Jorge gulf, southern Argentina

 

 

"Twenty years after fleeing to his uncle Laban in Haran, undertaken at his mother Rebecca’s urging, Jacob has an experience that rivals Menelaus’s encounter with Proteus. It occurs on his return to Canaan, during the long and anxious night before his fateful reunion with Esau, now a powerful chieftain who is just then approaching with 400 men—a standard number (as Robert Alter notes) for a war party. The unfinished business between the two now also stands between Jacob and the land God had promised to him two decades earlier as he slept at Bethel and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven.

And [Jacob] rose on that night and took his two wives and his two concubines and his eleven boys and he crossed over the Jabbok ford. And he took them and brought them across the stream, and he brought across all that he had. And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. And he saw that he had not won out against him and he touched his hip socket and Jacob’s hip socket was wrenched as he wrestled with him. And he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” And he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And he said, “Not Jacob shall your name hence be said, but Israel, for you have striven with God and men, and won out.” And Jacob asked and said, “Tell your name, pray.” And he said, “Why should you ask my name?” and there he blessed him.

The text is as opaque and portentous as a dream. Who is the anonymous “man”—a double so well matched with Jacob that they fight to a draw? Why do they contend with each other? “And he saw that he had not won out against him and he touched his hip socket”: the very language flips around so that we cannot tell who is who, and even the name given to him by the man is ambiguous. He calls him Israel, “for you have striven with God and men and won out”; but Alter notes that Yisra’el, “he strives with God,” might also mean “God will rule” or “God will prevail.”

Some things are clear enough, however. If Menelaus wrestles the sea-god at noon, a time of maximum visibility, Jacob comes to grips with his strange double when the black of night veils all appearances. More importantly, Menelaus wears a disguise and has three strong sidekicks to help him in the struggle with Proteus, but Jacob is alone, raw with fear and guilt, and with nowhere to hide when the mysterious man appears. “Odyssean” strength and cunning have gotten him where he is, but what characterizes him in this encounter with the divine is his great moral vulnerability—a vulnerability underscored by the crippling wound to his hip socket sustained in the struggle.

Yet even in his pain, he will not release the man until he is blessed. What does this mean? A psychological interpretation confirms our sense that the mysterious man is something more than human—some haunting spiritual power. On this reading, the man is on one level a figuration of Esau, whose blessing Jacob needs if he is to let go of the guilt and fear he incurred when he wronged him. No less important, Esau’s blessing, which in the sequel Esau does deliver, will allow him finally to let go of his own anger toward Jacob.

Only moral boldness can dispel the fratricidal curses that hang over both men, the feelings toward each other that harm and undermine them. Jacob will go forth healed in soul, if also limping like a wounded warrior. And Jacob is a hero—a distinctly Israelite one, whose victories are achieved not (or not simply) on the battlefield but in the realm of the spirit.

Jacob thus looks to the future in a way that Menelaus does not. That Greek hero grapples with Proteus so that he may learn how to get back home, while Jacob insists on hearing the word of blessing that will allow him to go forward. This fundamental difference points toward the metaphysical and spiritual gulf that separates Genesis from the Odyssey.

The first thing in Homer is nature, while the first thing in the Bible is God, the “source of living waters” and the author of nature itself. And God’s authority or agency is manifested also in the linear, goal-directed process of history: a concept foreign to the Greeks. Nature is cyclical or repetitive—Menelaus speaks of “the circling year”—but history, forged in the interaction of God and man, advances along an untrodden path.

There is nevertheless a deep commonality that binds Jacob’s night at the Jabbok with Menelaus’s days on Pharos. These come together in the middle ground of something like Rabbi Yishmael’s twilight. For Jacob’s wrestling, too, seems to be an allegory of reading. Jacob is called Israel, but so are the people of the Book, the people who paradoxically strive with God so that God may prevail. They do so in the first instance by coming to grips with the Bible, the God of which hides His face and will not be named but speaks to those who are ready to hear. That would also be those who tenaciously struggle with the text; who open themselves to being transformed, even wounded by it; and who boldly demand its blessings even though—or perhaps just because—the fullness of its meaning will always exceed their grasp."

 

"Should Jews Read Homer?", Jacob Howland (here)

 

AI

 

 

 

"AI is Activating Antisemites Left and Right", Niall Ferguson 

 

Tisha B'Av

 

 

 

"Turning Loss into Possibility", Rabbi Meesh Hammer-Kossoy 

 

Homero

 

 

"Israeli Soldiers and the Greek Classics", Ido Hevroni 

 

Menasseh Ben Israel

 

 

 

"Menasseh Ben Israel: The Most Famous Jew in the World", Steven Nadler  

 

Gadi Taub

 

 

 

"October 7 Proved the Pessimism of the Right was Prophetic"  

 

Vida

 

 

 

Red Weaver ant, Oecophylla longinoda major worker in Morogoro, Tanzania

 

Misticismo

 

 

 

"Jewish mysticism is the garment that I wear in this world", Elliot Wolfson

 

Inglaterra

 

 

 

Why supporting Israel became a test of Britishness: Melanie Phillips on the new antisemitism 

 

Menachem Begin

 

 

"Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin" (2020)

 

Einat Wilf

 

 

"Hamas Isn't the Real Problem", Einat Wilf 

 

Irão

 

 

 

"Iran is closer to freedom than you think", with Armin Navabi  

 

Isaías

  

 

 "Isaiah’s Prophecies", Prof. Marc Zvi Brettler 

 

Vida

 

 

 

A Common Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly feeds on a flower in Chisseaux, France

 

Inglaterra

 

 

"Britain is Afraid to Defend Itself",Josh Howie  

 

Islão

 

 

 

"Where Islamist Terrorism Really Comes From", Ed Husain 

 

América

 

 

 

"How Jewish Influence Shaped America", Henry Abramson

 

250 Anos!

  

 

"God Bless America", Irving Berlin 

 

Islão

 

 

"Does Islam hate Jews?", with Prof. Meir Litvak 

 

Shtetl

 

 

"Shtetl" (full documentary) | FRONTLINE (1996)

 

Vida

 

 

An Adélie Penguin

 

GOP

  

 

 

"Is JD Vance Changing the Republican Party?", James Kirchick 

 

Dara Horn

  

 

"The BIG LIE Behind Every Form of Antisemitism"

 

Irão

 

 

 

"The Truth about Iran that Nobody in the West Wants to Hear", with Kian Tajbakhsh 

 

Douglas Murray

 

 

"Why the Iran Deal Will Fail", with Coleman Hughes

 

Israel

 

 

 

Parashat Balak: "A Lonely Nation?" | Rabbi Shai Finkelstein 

 

Dan Schueftan

 

 

The Commentary Magazine Podcast

 

Vida

 

 

 

Male and female damselflies court during the initial stage of mating in Moreton, Essex, UK 

 

Netanyahu

 

 

 

PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the JNS International Policy Summit 2026 

 

Jihad

 

 

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali  on the Islamist Threat and the Crisis of Western Civilization | Tikvah Podcast  

 

"Gazalogia"

 

 

 

"Media ‘Gazaology’ Exposed": Former AP journalist Matti Friedman 

 

Europa

 

 

 

  ‘It’s over for Jews in Europe’, Batya Ungar-Sargon on Islamist anti-Semites & Woke Useful Idiots 

 

Irão

 

 

 

"No Objectives Achieved": Karim Sadjadpour on Trump's Failed War 

 

Israel

 

 

 "Who Are You, Gadi Eisenkot?", with Nadav Eyal 

 

Vida

 

 

 

Footage captured by a diver shows a rare sighting of a great white shark in the Mediterranean Sea

 

Heidegger

 

 

 "Heidegger and His Jewish Reception: a Discussion" 

 

7 de Outubro

 

 

(2023)  “סטילה ונס - "חרבו דרבו

 

Dan Senor

  

 

 "Dan Senor Sends Us to Voicemail", Ask a Jew Podcast 

 

Sam Harris

 

 

 

"Sam Harris on tribalism, religion, and what actually saves us", with Haviv Rettig Gur  

 

Oren Kessler

 

 

 "What Everyone Gets Wrong About Israel-Palestine"  

 

7 de Outubro

  

 

"The Hamas Documents Reveal the Real October 7 Plan", Daniel Sobelman

 

Vida

 

 

 

David Attenborough: "How the platypus made us rethink evolution"

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

 

 

 

 "On the Islamist Threat and the Crisis of Western Civilization" 

 

Gilgamesh

 

 

 

 "The Gilgamesh Epic and Its Interpretations", Prof. Ed Greenstein (2014)

 

Reform

 

 

 

"Re-Charging Reform Judaism: Clarity, Courage and Moral Leadership", Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch   

 

Roy Altman

 

 

 

"Judge Roy K. Altman Interrogates Six Claims Against Israel" 

 

Coleman Hughes

 

 

 

 "The History of Black-Jewish Relations, and How It Unraveled"

 

Deborah Lipstadt

 

 

 

"When They Say They Want to Kill Jews, BELIEVE The Antisemites!" 

 

Vida

 

 

 

A Pelitropis rotulata planthopper rests on a leaf in Orlando, Florida, US

 

Yohay Sponder

 

 

 

"Israel’s Most CANCELLED Comedian Turns Jew-Hate Into Comedy"

 

1948

 

 

 

"The best speech an Israeli diplomat ever held": George Deek in Oslo (2014)

 

Melanie Phillips

 

 

Launch of "Fighting the Hate" - Melanie Phillips and Daniel Gordis 

 

Esquerda

 

 

 "They Used Blacks, Jews, and Gays", Dr. Carol Swain 

 

Shabbat

 

 

 

  "The Sabbath: Present and Future, Jewish and Christian", Jon Levenson 

 

Shavuot

 

 

 

Chag HaBikkurim (“Festival of the Fruits”) Celebrations in Ramat Yohanan, Israel (1945)

 

Vida

 

 

 

A hippopotamus swims in a lake Puerto Triunfo, Colombia

 

Gad Saad

 

 

"Undocumented Love Making", Ask a Jew Podcast 

 

Neoconservadores

  

 

 

"Exposing the “Clean Break” Myth: Israel Was Not Behind the Iraq War", with Dr. David Wurmser 

 

Inglaterra

 

 

 

 "Simon Sebag Montefiore on the History — and Future — of British Jews"  

 

Marcionismo

 

 

 

"An Ancient Christian Heresy Is Back—And Jews Are Its Target", R.J. Snell 

 

Árabes

 

 

 

"Why Arabs Should Embrace Israel", Hussain Abdul-Hussain 

 

Austrália

 

 

 

"Australia's Royal Commission on Antisemitism", with Alon Cassuto & Lisa Mittelman 

 

Vida

 

 

A Cock Pheasant

 

Abe Foxman ז״ל

 

 

(1/2) 

 

(2/2)

  "L'Chayim" (2016)

 

Gadi Taub

 

 

"The Left Chose Iran Over Israel"

 

Job

 

 

"The Book of Job", Rabbi David Wolpe 

 

Edith Eger ז״ל

 

 

"Never Stop Climbing" 

 

Moshe Halbertal

 

 

The Days of Awe

 

Canadá

 

 

 

"My diaspora Jewish world is crumbling", with Jesse Brown  

 

Vida

 

 

 

Zebras graze at the Hells Gate National Park in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya

Nora Bussigny

  

 

 

"Paris Journalist Targeted After Exposing Radical Left–Islamist Alliance" 

 

Bret Stephens

 

 

 

"On His Jewish Faith, A Palestinian State, Iran and the Important Question" 

 

Israel

 

 

 

"A Political Shakeup in Israel?" - with Amit Segal and Nadav Eyal 

 

Inglaterra

 

 

‘British Jews are under siege’ | Spiked reports from Golders Green after anti-Semitic knife attack 

 

Howard Jacobson

 

 

 

"They Said Gas the Jews in a Quiet Voice. He Wrote a Novel About It" 

 

Hannah Senesh

 

 

"The Untold Story of Hannah Senesh", Matti Friedman 

 

Vida

 

 

 

A capybara and its cub cool off in the Pinheiros River in São Paulo, Brazil

 

Canadá

 

 

 

 Ask Haviv Anything: 

"The crisis no one is talking about in Canada, with Dr. Casey Babb"  

 

Rachel Goldberg-Polin

 

 

 

Rachel Goldberg-Polin joined Hugh to talk about her heart-breaking book about her son Hersh

 

Antissemitismo

 

 

 

"The 'dark forces' behind the radicalisation of the West", David Harris 

 

78!

 

 

Yom HaAtzmaut 

 

Yom HaZikaron

Einat Wilf

 

 

 "After October 7, Can Israeli Politics Be Rebuilt?"  

 

Islão

 

 

 

"Is This the End of Political Islam?", Hussein Aboubakr Mansour & Dan Schueftan  

 

Gadi Taub

 

 

"Israel-Iran War Explained and Why Deterrence Fails"  

 

Vida

 

 

 

 

An elephant seal lies on the shore at Kelp Point on the Falkland Islands

 

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik

 

 

 

"On the Connection Between Antisemitism and Anti-Americanism" (PragerU) 

 

Carol Meyers

 

 

"Origins of Ancient Israel" (1997)

 

Media

 

 

 "How the Media Works Against Israel",  Matti Friedman   

 

Irão

 

 

 

 "We can’t make peace with a terrorist state", Michael Oren 

 

Vitória

 

 

"A Messy Victory", Israel Update

 

Artes

  

 

"How ‘Anti-Zionism’ Corrupted the Arts", Zoe Strimpel 

 

Ruth Wisse

 

 

"Renewing Jewish Strength and Spirit" 

 

Vida

 

 

A damselfly rests on a leaf in Assam, India

 

Pessach

 

 

"Ma Nishtana"

 

Pessach

 

 

 

  "From Freedom to Responsibility", the Chief Rabbi's Pre-Pesach Shiur (2013) 

 

Pessach

 

 

"Did the Bible Plagiarize the Exodus?", Joshua Berman 

 

Irão

 

 

"Morgh e Sahar", Mohammad Reza Shajarian (2004)

 

"Bird of dawn, begin your lament,
Renew the pain within my heart.
With your shower of sparks,
Break this cage apart and turn it upside down.

O nightingale with bound wings, come out from the corner of the cage,
Raise the song of freedom for humankind.
With one breath, fill the face of this dusty land
With fire and flame.

The tyrant’s cruelty, the hunter’s oppression,
Have blown my nest away.
O God, O heavens, O nature,
Turn our dark night into dawn.

It is spring anew, flowers are raining down,
Yet my eyes pour tears like raindrops.
This cage, like my heart, is narrow and dark.

Cast flames into this cage, O fiery sigh,
O hand of nature, do not pluck my flower of life.
Guard the lover’s soul, O fresh blossom,
Make it bloom more, more, and more.

O restless bird, shorten the tale of separation,
Shorten this sorrow of longing."

 

Ruth Wisse

 

 

52nd Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities:

 “A Message from the ‘Blue and White’ in the ‘Red, White, and Blue,’"  

 

Micah Goodman

 

 

"Why We Fight"

 

Vida

 

 

 

 Cows chill on Playa de Retin, on Spain’s Southern Atlantic Coast

 

 

 

 "The Witch", Lea Grundig-Langer (1935)

 

Antissemitismo

 

 

"The Roots of Islamic Jew-Hatred", Andrew Bostom

 

Mossad

 

 

 

"Inside the Mossad’s Secret War on Iran", Yonah Jeremy Bob

 

Israel

 

 

Israel Update: "Trump's Dilemma: Win It or End It?"

 

Melanie Phillips

 

 

"Iran’s Evil Empire" | The Brendan O’Neill Show  

 

"Marty Supreme"

 

 

Josh Safdie in conversation with Alejandro G. Iñárritu  

 

Vida

 

 

 

A koala recovers in the native wildlife rescue centre in Robertson, Australia

 

Antissemitismo

 

 

SAPIR Debates: "Is Fighting Antisemitism a Losing Battle?", with Dara Horn & Deborah Lipstadt 

 

Netanyahu

 

 

 

 "Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses press for first time since start of Iran war" 

 

Israel

 

 

"Israel and the Holy Land", with Barry Strauss 

 

Irão

 

 

"Iran Is Not What It Seems", Israel Update

 

Brendan O'Neill

 

 

"Why the West Condemns Israel but Ignores Iranians"  

 

Walter Russell Mead

 

 

"Trump’s Gamble" 

 

Vida

 

 

A polar bear and her three cubs