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The Secrets of the Jewish Leap Year

The Secrets of the Jewish Leap Year

Some years in the Jewish calendar, like the current one, have an extra month. How’d that come about and why?

Jan. 2 2024 12:24AM
Podcast: Matti Friedman on Whether Israel Is Too Dependent on Technology

Podcast: Matti Friedman on Whether Israel Is Too Dependent on Technology

The writer joins Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver to talk about the tradeoffs that Israel’s advanced defense technology brings.

Dec. 29 2023 12:01AM
Podcast: Ghaith al-Omari on What Palestinians Really Think about Hamas, Israel, War, and Peace

Podcast: Ghaith al-Omari on What Palestinians Really Think about Hamas, Israel, War, and Peace

A Middle East expert and former Palestinian negotiator breaks down recent polling on Palestinian public opinion.

Dec. 22 2023 12:01AM
The Best Books of 2023, Part II

The Best Books of 2023, Part II

Featuring fears, fates, burdens of power, memory wars, Sabbath days, Russian writers and timeless questions, years of upheaval, Japanese Jews, and more.

Dec. 21 2023 12:01AM
The Best Books of 2023, Part I

The Best Books of 2023, Part I

Featuring prime ministers, kidnappings, popes, silences, exiled shadows, portraits, intellectual origins, the best minds, and more.

Dec. 20 2023 12:01AM
Podcast: Alexandra Orbuch, Gabriel Diamond, and Zach Kessel on the Situation for Jews on American Campuses

Podcast: Alexandra Orbuch, Gabriel Diamond, and Zach Kessel on the Situation for Jews on American Campuses

Two current students and one recent graduate analyze what’s really happening in the universities and how Jewish students are reacting.

Dec. 15 2023 12:01AM
Does the Slang Word "Shamus" Come from the Yiddish "Shammash" or the Irish "Seamus"?

Does the Slang Word "Shamus" Come from the Yiddish "Shammash" or the Irish "Seamus"?

The long-running case of the word for private detective can finally be considered closed.

Dec. 12 2023 12:01AM
Podcast: Roya Hakakian on Her Letter to an Anti-Zionist Idealist

Podcast: Roya Hakakian on Her Letter to an Anti-Zionist Idealist

The writer, an Iranian Jewish refugee to America, joins the podcast to discuss a confrontation in writing.

Tikvah Podcast at Mosaic and Roya Hakakian
Dec. 8 2023 12:01AM
What Kissinger Really Thought

What Kissinger Really Thought

Interviews with Norman Podhoretz and Elliott Abrams recreate the foreign-policy debates of the cold war, and illuminate Kissinger’s attitudes toward Israel and the Jewish people.

Dec. 6 2023 12:01AM
Podcast: Edward Luttwak on How Israel Develops Advanced Military Technology On Its Own

Podcast: Edward Luttwak on How Israel Develops Advanced Military Technology On Its Own

The distinguished strategist explains how such a small state has managed to become such a major innovator in defense technology.

Dec. 1 2023 12:08AM
The Hebrew Language's Expression of the Year

The Hebrew Language's Expression of the Year

Rarely heard in the speech of most Israelis in the past, b’sorot tovot, an ironic “good news,” has suddenly become a common way of saying goodbye.

Nov. 30 2023 12:01AM
Podcast: Assaf Orion on Israel's Initial Air Campaign in Gaza

Podcast: Assaf Orion on Israel's Initial Air Campaign in Gaza

A retired IDF brigadier general offers a preliminary retrospective on what happened in the three weeks before Israel’s ground forces moved into Gaza.

Nov. 17 2023 12:01AM
What Invoking Amalek Means Today

What Invoking Amalek Means Today

The name of the biblical tribe of murderers, the arch-rivals of ancient Israel, has been much discussed in the wake of October 7. Is that appropriate?

Nov. 16 2023 12:01AM
Where Are We Now?

Where Are We Now?

Why do we suddenly care so much about Israel or Jewish survival? Is it only the Jew as eternal victim that we cherish? Hardly—it is the Jewish way of living that matters.

Nov. 13 2023 12:01AM