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January 25, 2018

Don’t Treat the Torah as a Collection of Left-Wing Policy Prescriptions

Judaism beyond slogans.

“I might not know that much Torah,” a participant in a Jewish youth program once told Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, “but I certainly can’t believe that every issue in the world comes under the general heading of ‘Justice, justice, shall you pursue.’” Yet, Salkin writes, it is twisted hermeneutics of precisely this sort that have become commonplace in all denominations of American Judaism. According to this approach, nearly every standard policy prescription of the progressive left can be read into a handful of verses like the one cited above or the now-ubiquitous kabbalistic term tikkun olam (repair of the world):

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January 25, 2018

  1. American Policy Would Benefit from Keeping in Mind Who in the Middle East Blesses the U.S., and Who Curses It

    A tale of two speeches.

  2. Britain, and the EU, Must End the Appeasement of Hizballah

    The false distinction between “military” and “political” wings.

  3. Can Islam Solve Its Jewish Problem?

    Ignoring anti-Jewish texts isn’t the answer.

  4. Don’t Treat the Torah as a Collection of Left-Wing Policy Prescriptions

    Judaism beyond slogans.

  5. How “The Hobbit” was Brought to Israeli Readers

    Translated by Israeli POWS.