Yehuda Halper, at The Blogs

Yehuda Halper

Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University

Oct 28, 2026, 4:46 PM

In his final book, The Jewish War Front (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1940), Vladimir Jabotinsky described the constitution of a future Jewish State in Israel: In every Cabinet where the Prime Minister is a Jew, the vice-premiership shall be...

May 7, 2026, 8:48 PM

Ibn Rushd and the Maharal go to the Knesset: Defending Academic Freedom

Framed as a defense against “political” academic strikes, Likud MK Avihai Boaron’s proposed law would grant the Minister of Education full discretion to lower or cancel university budgets in order to prevent such strikes. Historically, I am told by...

Apr 22, 2026, 12:23 PM

A Tale of Three Ceremonies

The Liberal-Democratic Torch Lighting Ceremony for Israel’s Independence Day 2026, photo by Yehuda Halper

Though famous for their informal dress and way of speech, Israelis are enamored of formal ceremonies. Independence Day is, of course, a hub of such ceremonies, along with intense arguments about who participates in what and even who gets...

Apr 1, 2026, 2:18 PM

Make Passover Celebrate Rule of Law Again

Last night, in a prerecorded message, Benjamin Netanyahu compared the war against Iran, Hizballah, Hamas, and the Houthis to the ten plagues visited against Egypt in the Bible. In this analogy, Netanyahu compares Israel’s enemies to Egypt and himself...

Nov 18, 2025, 5:36 AM

Featured Post

Make Netanyahu the next pope

Pedro Berruguete, Portrait of Sixtus IV (c. 1500), oil on canvas, Cleveland Museum of Art (PD via Wikimedia Commons)

Israel's prime minister bears a certain resemblance to a long-ago pontiff who Machiavelli described as 'spirited'

Mar 20, 2025, 6:41 AM

Netanyahu and the Trial of Socrates

The Death of Socrates (1787), by Jacques-Louis David, Public Domain Image from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Socrates#/media/File:David_-_The_Death_of_Socrates.jpg

“Plato wanted the rule of a philosopher, exalted above the people and he replaced the democracy that was there Tel Aviv,” he continued, “are trying to take this to a place where the court and the legal advisors...

About Me

Yehuda Halper is Professor in the department of Jewish Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. He directs the Israel Science Foundation, Research Grant: "The Last Hebrew Metaphysicians of Aragon." His 2021 book, Jewish Socratic Questions in an Age without Plato won the Goldstein-Goren book award for best book in Jewish Thought 2019-2021.

Contact Me