Halakhah Provides a Uniquely Rabbinic Way of Analyzing the Human Condition

In his recent book, Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law, Chaim Saiman asks why Judaism has traditionally seen the study of the intricacies of tort law, or the minutiae of long-defunct sacrificial rituals, as the highest form of religious devotion. Saiman argues that halakhah in fact provided ancient rabbis with a rubric for discussing the profoundest questions about God and the human condition in a way that never departs from concrete reality. He discusses these ideas, the future of talmudic education, and the meaning of Jewish law in the state of Israel in conversation with Mark Gottlieb. (Audio, 46 minuntes.)

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More about: Halakhah, Jewish education, Judaism in Israel, Religion & Holidays

Why South Africa Has Led the Legal War against Israel

South Africa filed suit with the International Court of Justice in December accusing Israel of genocide. More recently, it requested that the court order the Jewish state to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip—something which, of course, Israel has been doing since the war began. Indeed, the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has had a long history of support for the Palestinian cause, but Orde Kittrie suggests that the current government, which is plagued by massive corruption, has more sinister motives for its fixation on accusing Israel of imagined crimes:

ANC-led South Africa has . . . repeatedly supported Hamas. In 2015 and 2018, the ANC and Hamas signed memoranda of understanding pledging cooperation against Israel. The Daily Maverick, a South African newspaper that previously won an international award for exposing ANC corruption, has reported claims that Iran “essentially paid the ANC to litigate against Israel in the ICJ.”

The ANC-led government says it is motivated by humanitarian principle. That’s contradicted by its support for Russia, and by [President Cyril] Ramaphosa’s warmly welcoming a visit in January by Mohamed Dagalo, the leader of the Sudanese-Arab Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. Ramaphosa’s smiling, hand-holding welcome of Dagalo occurred two months after the RSF’s systematic massacre of hundreds of non-Arab Sudanese refugees in Darfur.

While the ANC has looted its own country and aided America’s enemies, the U.S. is insulating the party from the consequences of its corruption and mismanagement.

In Kittrie’s view, it is “time for Congress and the Biden administration to start helping South Africa’s people hold Ramaphosa accountable.”

Read more at The Hill

More about: International Law, Iran, South Africa