Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 BCE–50 CE) was the first person to write books explaining Judaism to a non-Jewish audience, the first to record a description of a pogrom, the first to try to reconcile Judaism with Greek thought, and the first to write about Judaism in the idiom of Western philosophy. He is also difficult to place in Jewish history: it is unclear whether he knew of the early rabbis or they of him; later Jewish thought paid no attention to him until around the 16th century; and his allegorical readings of the Bible differ greatly from the approaches favored by rabbinic Judaism. In fact, his work was largely preserved because of ancient Christian authors.

In this discussion with J.J. Kimche, Maren Niehoff explains Philo’s life and work and argues that he is much closer to the Jewish mainstream than generally assumed, noting that he wrote extensively about Jewish law and that his biblical commentaries—which pose textual difficulties, acknowledge multiple opinions, and engage in argument—have much in common with their rabbinic counterparts.

Below, today’s newsletter will return to some other reflections on the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the current war, but first something must be said of its recent progress. Israel has kept up its aerial and ground assault on Hizballah, and may have already killed the successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader it eliminated less than two weeks ago. Matthew Levitt assesses the current state of the Lebanon-based terrorist group, which, in his view, is now “a shadow of its former self.” Indeed, he adds,

it is no exaggeration to say that the Hizballah of two weeks ago no longer exists. And since Hizballah was the backbone of Iran’s network of militant proxies, its so-called axis of resistance, Iran’s strategy of arming and deploying proxy groups throughout the region is suddenly at risk as well.

Hizballah’s attacks put increasing pressure on Israel, as intended, only that pressure did not lead Israelis to stop targeting Hamas so much as it chipped away at Israel’s fears about the cost of military action to address the military threats posed by Hizballah.

At the same time, Levitt explains, Hizballah still poses a serious threat, as it demonstrated last night when its missiles struck Haifa and Tiberias, injuring at least two people:

Hizballah still maintains an arsenal of rockets and a cadre of several thousand fighters. It will continue to pose potent military threats for Israel, Lebanon, and the wider region.

How will the group seek to avenge Nasrallah’s death amid these military setbacks? Hizballah is likely to resort to acts of international terrorism, which are overseen by one of the few elements of the group that has not yet lost key leaders.

But the true measure of whether the group will be able to reconstitute itself, even over many years, is whether Iran can restock Hizballah’s sophisticated arsenal. Tehran’s network of proxy groups—from Hizballah to Hamas to the Houthis—is only as dangerous as it is today because of Iran’s provision of weapons and money. Whatever Hizballah does next, Western governments must prioritize cutting off Tehran’s ability to arm and fund its proxies.