The Blogs | The Marketplace of Ideas

Apply for a Blog

US negotiator Thomas Barrack speaks to reporters after his meeting with Lebanon's parliament speaker in Beirut on June 19, 2025 (AFP)

Hussain Abdul-Hussain

US envoy Barrack should stick to the script

The ambassador’s missteps reflect a poor grasp of the region’s complex dynamics and jeopardize opportunities for peace

The Grok account on X displayed on a phone screen is seen in this illustration photo taken in London, Great Britain on July 9, 2025. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

David Zvi Kalman

Grok’s antisemitic spree: Yes, AI poses a real threat to Jews

AI antisemitism is not unique to Elon Musk’s platform – these systems must be regulated for the sake of all Americans

‘Can I touch your fork?’

Could it be that we Jews are inadvertently fostering antisemitism?

Medical workers wheel a patient to safety after a building at Soroka hospital was hit by an Iranian missile, in Beersheba, on June 19, 2025. (John Wessels/AFP)

Osnat Levtzion-Korach

The battle to heal Israel’s hospitals is just beginning

The medical system operated bravely under fire, but it will have to care for the country’s ill and injured long after the war is over

William Kolbrener

What Rembrandt saw in Balaam

In the rabbinic imagination, messengers from nature convey God’s truth – whether stones, trees, or a donkey – when the people themselves don’t see clearly (Balak)

Ariel Beery

Gaza has been Palestined

What does global support for Hamas’s rejection of Trump’s ceasefire terms tell us about the fate of the Palestinians?

US President Donald Trump, left, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 7, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

The Washington visit isn’t really about the leaders

The US’s new Big Beautiful Bill promotes a new economy, where innovation, military readiness, and industrial policy converge. Israel has become its model

See all Featured Posts

Blogs topics

Latest posts

Jul 13, 2025, 11:51 PM

Take the Entire Day Off

I was walking with a friend, one Shabbat, and as we reached the crosswalk, he bent to push the button to stop the traffic. I reminded him it was Shabbat, when we don’t use electronics. Instead, I suggested we...

Jul 13, 2025, 11:48 PM

Why It Matters That God Exists—Even Without Religion

I often make the case that science, especially physics, can be used to build a rational argument for the existence of God. Not for any particular religion, and not necessarily for a God who intervenes in human affairs, but...

Yitzchak Gimple

Jul 13, 2025, 11:47 PM

History of Esau and Israel – Part 2

Characteristics of Esau's Descendants Before proceeding to the history of Esau, the author would like to present a means of identifying Esau and his descendants to interpret world history especially in the messianic era of 2,000 years. The application of...

Jul 13, 2025, 11:46 PM

Deborah sits under a Mother Tree and listens

Perhaps the Prophet Deborah under her tree it isn’t so much about the prophet as it is about the tree. A Mother Tree is connected to all the other trees in a forest; all the trees are networked in community...

Jul 13, 2025, 11:45 PM

Shaphan ben Azaliah, Author of the Biblical Historical Saga

It appears that the scribe Shaphan, a prominent figure in the Judean administration, along with his supporters, was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate King Amon. Following this act, Shaphan effectively seized power, initiated a radical cultic reform, and...

Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Jul 13, 2025, 11:43 PM

Permanence as Fire

A very hard sight for those new to Judaism is Jews engaged in Judaism without any detectable enthusiasm. This is especially true for converts and non-religious Jews becoming religious. What's even more puzzling is that to admonish the Old Guard...

Peter Himmelman

Jul 13, 2025, 11:41 PM

The betrayal (entering the mindset of Gazan workers in the weeks before 10/7)

I want to share something that haunts me. Not because I agree with it—and certainly not because I find it morally acceptable. I want to explore it because it happened, because it is real. And because it has, in...

Yocheved Pianko Feinerman

Jul 13, 2025, 11:32 PM

Discovering sentimental value at the 2025 Jerusalem Film Festival

Credit: SentimentalValue_Renate-Reinsve_Inga-Ibsdotter-Lilleaas_photo-Kasper-Tuxen

With real life unfolding at a pace more intense, more crushing, and more surreal than any film, it’s hard — impossible, really — to pretend everything is normal. Films end. The lights come up. There’s a structure, a promise...

Ryan Aviv Fagan

Jul 13, 2025, 11:20 PM

Liberal, Jewish, and Tired of the Moral Evasion

I’m a liberal. I believe in justice, dignity, and equal rights for all people. I support a future in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security. I’m pro-Israel and pro-Palestine — because I don’t believe...

Jul 13, 2025, 11:19 PM

From the River to the Sea, and Somewhere in Between

AI-generated image

If I moved to Florida, I’d be a Floridian. If I moved again to Texas, I’d be a Texan. But I was born in California, and for better or worse, that’s still how I see myself. Our identity is...

Load more