In conversation with Dru Johnson and Matthew Lynch, Jon D. Levenson addresses some widespread misperceptions about death in the Hebrew Bible, most importantly the idea that death is seen as final and irreversible and that notions of resurrection and the afterlife found in both Christianity and in rabbinic Judaism are wholly alien to it. Levenson also argues that a host of “debunking ideologies” have left contemporary academic biblical scholarship in a sorry state—and that the talmudic rabbis would have preferred footnotes to endnotes. (Audio, 51 minutes.) https://onscript.study/podcast-player/1183/jon-levenson-resurrection-and-the-restoration-of-israel.mp3

On Monday, Houthi rebels in Yemen fired ballistic missiles at Abu Dhabi, which were intercepted with American aid. The week before, the Iranian proxy group launched drones at the Emirati capital, killing three; similar attacks have targeted Saudi Arabia and other locales in the UAE. The Biden administration recently ceased to consider the Houthis—whose slogan includes the phrases, “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “Curse the Jews”—a terrorist group. Eran Lerman calls that decision “a beginner’s mistake,” that was