Divine Law, Revelation, and Judaism

Can the idea of divine revelation be reconciled with biblical criticism? Did ancient rabbis get their idea of divine law from the ancient Greeks? Does the Pentateuch really claim that the commandments are the word of God? And what do the answers to these questions imply for the practice of Judaism? Discussing their recent books with Richard Hidary and Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, Christine Hayes and Benjamin Sommer address these questions and others. (Video, about two-and-one-half hours.)

Read more at Slifka Center

More about: Biblical criticism, Jewish law, Judaism, Natural law, Religion & Holidays, Revelation, Theology

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF