Letters, Winter 2023
From the Editor: As we were closing this issue, I was, like you, talking with friends about the recent Israeli election—the usual conversations, half potted punditry (at least on my part), half worried banter. When I spoke with JRB editorial board member Hillel Halkin, he surprised, even shocked me. It wasn’t his erudite eloquence that surprised me—Hillel is, after all,…
Are Demographics Destiny?
Despite my many agreements with Hillel Halkin’s essay, he lost me when he appealed, yet again, to “demographics.” Demographics seem to be a constant focus in Halkin’s writings. In his…
Jeremiah, Ben-Gurion, and Hillel Halkin
In one of David Ben-Gurion’s last addresses on the Bible, an essay entitled “The Monarchy and the Prophethood” delivered in October, 1968, the old, former prime minister meditated on Yehuda…
Method to Our Madness: A Response to Hillel Halkin
Hillel Halkin is the reason I moved to Israel. I read his Letters to an American Jewish Friend at sixteen, and my life trajectory was changed forever—mine and that of…
Responses to Halkin
Hillel Halkin's article about the future of Israel and Zionism has sparked a tremendous debate. We have curated some of the most interesting and engaging responses.
Fleishman Is a Series
Fleishman's real problem is not an acrimonious divorce, but an uninspired adaptation.
Hanukkah’s Confounding Miracle
How Hanukkah became a holiday of many miracles and none.
As the Story Goes: Hanukkah Spears, Cheese, and Goblins
Where did all the Hanukkah stories go?
Jacob in the Bosom of Abraham
When Abraham met Jacob.
EUGENE NADELMAN: A Tale of the 1980s in Verse
"Our tale's debut / Takes place in 1982 / When I, for one, if not exactly / A double of our leading guy / Was like him, bookish, awkward, shy." - Coming of age in iambic tetrameter.