In September, Philologos hung up his pen. Now, his creator, Hillel Halkin, reflects on almost four decades of life spent with his alter ego in a touching, funny, and insightful farewell to the world's greatest Jewish language column. https://t.co/SoVWvZJCVL

Examining the current situation in Gaza, Efraim Inbar writes that only Israel can finish off Hamas. "This is not a boxing match that can be won on points. The war began in Gaza, and Gaza is where victory will be decided. Israel must win by a knockout." https://t.co/72JykQZowZ

In Virginia schools, an assignment accused Israel of genocide and asked, “How does Israel use the Holocaust to victimize themselves show an example of a logical fallacy?” @nickineily writes about the org feeding anti-Israel lessons to U.S. K12 schools. https://t.co/won7iifMWX

Colorado’s efforts to punish a Christian cakemaker are well known. Nicholas Reaves writes that the state is leveling yet another attack on religious freedom, refusing to include Catholic schools in its new program to fund universal preschool. https://t.co/t4dhM8FnV4

Don't miss @ShMMor's response to @ArthurLHerman's essay. Giving credit to Netanyahu's strategic victories, Mor also castigates him for moral and leadership failures, giving readers of all political persuasions plenty to fume over. https://t.co/vtwtFiIsX8

I summarize this double assessment in my new article in @mosaicmag which you can read here.

Delivered 162 years ago last Friday, the Gettysburg Address is one of the best-known orations in American history. Steven B. Smith examines its timeless words, its biblical evocations, and its revolutionary implications. https://t.co/pmGOM7CW7v

After a period of lowered activity on the Lebanese front, the IDF killed Hizballah's number two, Ali Tabatabai. @Yossi_Mansharof explains the dilemma facing the terrorist organization, unable to respond forcefully but with no choice but to respond. https://t.co/VZYSLhTx7O

"Social justice, decolonization, and DEI have become entrenched among Hillel’s top staff and the core of its organizational outlook." In a probing new piece, Josh Tolle examines how Hillel failed to meet the moment as universities turned on the Jews. https://t.co/wAxahwZ8cj

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik writes about the historic bond between Jews and Christians in the US, reflecting on Ezra Stiles at Yale in the 1770s and the author's own time at Yale, and what it says our joint duties to preserve the spirit of this great country. https://t.co/BOLR9mLTPS

My latest for @mosaicmag How Israel’s Victory Strengthens America’s Hand The calculations of Middle Eastern regimes turn on more concrete questions: who can blunt Iran & who remains anchored in the American security system. By those measures, Israel has become indispensable.

As Guy Goldstein and Rebecca Bar-Sef explain, Iran is now in a state known as water bankruptcy, in which underground reservoirs have been drained and the country is literally sinking into the ground, as a result of specific and deliberate policy failures. https://t.co/Q684CAhmRc

10 years ago, Islamic State killed 130 people and wounded many more in Paris. @zriboua writes about how quickly many intellectuals came to blame the victims—and France as a whole—and why the West began to sanctify certain kinds of violence. https://t.co/MhGIPeT9Gn

As @SaeidGolkar writes, despite their rhetorical claims to the contrary, the 12-Day War exposed the many vulnerabilities of Khamenei and the IRGC, domestically and abroad. Iran is at a turning point: is the regime too inflexible to alter course? https://t.co/YfpJy3Rpkk

Israel has an important lesson for the West: "Once the power to defeat the enemies of civilization is combined with the will to use it without wavering or apology, nothing stands in civilization’s way." From this month's essay by @ArthurLHerman. https://t.co/dVqQJo9FZB

While @ShayGal84 agrees that bringing Kazakhstan into the Abraham Accords is more about Washington than Israel, he argues that it is a possible strategic misstep, muddying America's intentions in the eyes of its allies. https://t.co/BUx0FRDj8l

To @AmitSegal, Kazakhstan joining the Abraham Accords isn't about its relations with Israel, which are already very good, but about America’s grand strategy in Asia, and a huge warning sign to Moscow and Tehran. https://t.co/Pg6Phg4W9R

Writing for @mosaicmag, Straus Center Director Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik honors @rabbisacks z"l, who understood that the ideals at the heart of American political culture can be traced back to its covenantal origins. (From 2020)

Catholic author Mary Eberstadt describes online anti-Semitism as "moral pornography," mostly engaged in secretly, delivering illicit thrills to degraded users, and embarrassing users when their consumption comes to light. Young Catholics: "look away." https://t.co/cymSUuFDUW

My thanks to @mosaicmag for featuring my article on Rabbi Hauer