Matt Abelson, at The Blogs

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Nov 24, 2021, 9:52 PM

The Imperative of Reading Ruth

More than anything else, Ruth Wisse’s memoir, Free as a Jew, is a necessary book. In her person, Wisse holds two realities that some Jews have difficulty reconciling – pre and post-Holocaust reality. Born in 1936 in Romania, Wisse...

Sep 2, 2018, 5:03 AM

Daily consumers of news think they can understand the nature of the conflicts in which Israel is embedded when they keep up with the course of daily, weekly, and monthly events. The recent riot-protests accompanied by flaming kites along...

Jul 17, 2018, 7:08 AM

“And Israel?” writes Paul Berman on Tablet -- almost as an afterthought -- toward the end of an essay lauding the primary election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Contrast this with an essay in The Times of Israel last week by...

Jun 25, 2018, 12:32 PM

Krauthammer’s glory

Charles Krauthammer (YouTube screenshot)

If you never watched Fox News, you missed a national treasure

Aug 9, 2015, 6:06 PM

In Praise of Netanyahu

Given the cottage industry in the American print media – not to mention the international media – of Netanyahu bashing, we ought, occasionally, to praise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister of Israel’s address to 16,000 listeners via...

Oct 31, 2012, 10:25 PM

Obama’s Israel trust gap

It's true that by the second half of his tenure, the president’s approach toward Israel seemed to evolve, but it was never clear that his basic thinking had changed

Sep 9, 2012, 12:32 PM

With Iran, teshuva may mean acting alone

Last week, the president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem, Rabbi Donniel Hartman, entered into the conversation about the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran, stating that “silence is a position” that he is no longer comfortable...

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About Me

Matt Abelson is a Conservative Rabbi living in Somerville, MA.