This week, those who follow the daily regimen of Talmud study known as daf yomi completed Bava Metzia, perhaps the most studied tractate. It contains one of the most famous of all talmudic tales, in which Rabbi Eliezer summons miracles to convince his colleagues that his opinion on an issue of ritual law is correct—and still loses the argument. David Bashevkin seeks to interpret this story in its wider context:

Most of Tractate Bava Metzia centers on the principles that establish ownership: the muhzak, the person who currently has possession of the item in question; methods of acquisition of an object; and the different evidentiary rules required to establish who owns what.

Yet, upon closer examination, this story [of Rabbi Eliezer’s dispute] reframes the central theme of ownership that occupies our tractate: who owns the Torah? Like the [disputed garment with which the tractate begins], the traditions of the Torah are held by two parties: God and the Jewish people. . . . The Jewish people, however, are the muhzakim of Torah—the Torah is not in heaven, it is in our possession.

For much of Jewish history, the Jewish people, like Rabbi Eliezer, looked upward for prophetic revelation to know the proper way forward. . . . Rabbinic law, however, is built on the central idea that even after the destruction of the Temple, even after the explicit divine voice has been muted, God has not abandoned the Jewish people—God speaks through the Jewish people. The collective body of the Jewish people still possesses the divine word. Now however, the divine voice no longer emanates from the heavens—the Torah is not in heaven—but through the interpretive community of the Jewish people.

Recent reports suggest that the White House has at last acted to allow the shipments of weapons that had been withheld from Israel and to end further the delays. On this topic, Elliott Abrams comments, “I don’t know what and how much has been held up, but it shouldn’t have happened. The level of delay should be zero.”

In this interview with Ariel Kahana, Abrams also comments on the failings of U.S. policy toward Iran, and the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce existing sanctions:

According to Abrams, Iran has indeed halted the advancement of its nuclear program on rare occasions. “This happened when Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, and when [President] Trump eliminated Qassem Suleimani in 2020. The U.S. needs to be ready to use force in Iran, but credibility is critical here. Only if [Iran’s leaders] are convinced that the U.S. is willing to act will they stop.”

Abrams claims that the U.S. president tried for two-and-a-half years to revive the nuclear deal with Iran until he realized it wasn’t interested. “Iran has benefited from this situation, and everyone outside the administration sees it as a failure.”