In my daily journey through the Jewish Internet to prepare this newsletter, one of my regular stops is Gil Student’s website Torah Musings, which I find essential for keeping track of what’s going on in the Orthodox world. Student has just released a volume of essays titled Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era. In his review, Reuven Chaim Klein rightly praises Student’s “independence of thought,” which manages to coexist with his reverence for rabbinic authority:

Perhaps the book’s most pressing, overarching concern is how to sustain religious conviction and rabbinic authority in a postmodern world saturated with skepticism and unfiltered information. Rabbi Student recognizes that the Internet’s democratization of knowledge and erosion of traditional hierarchies poses a unique existential challenge to communal norms. Yet . . . he resolutely opposes reactionary solutions like sweeping bans on technology, arguing persuasively (and prophetically) that such measures are both impractical and counterproductive.

Instead, he advocates for a more sustainable approach: deepening one’s study of mussar [moral and pietistic texts] and ethical self-refinement to cultivate an internal compass that resists the pitfalls of the digital age. In his view, the antidote to modernity’s chaos is not retreat but resilience—forging individuals whose commitment to the Torah’s values is so deeply internalized that external temptations lose their power.

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.