In considering the Jewish legacy of the great philosopher, who was formally expelled by the Sephardi community of Amsterdam in 1656, Steven B. Smith urges that we focus less on his attempt to undermine the authority of Jewish scripture as on his fundamental, and highly costly, ideas about religion and politics:

With unemployment skyrocketing and the government contemplating renewed lockdowns in the face of a second wave of the coronavirus, Israeli Treasury officials have been working to craft a fiscal plan to pave the way to economic recovery. But the budget has been stalled by the rivalry between the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his primary coalition partner Benny Gantz, who is scheduled to replace him in November 2021. Haviv Rettig Gur explains the impasse, and why it matters: