Esau

Gun Control, Halakhah, and History: Further Thoughts

While the use of weaponry is at times morally necessary, the glorification of weaponry is foreign to Jewish thought.

Lincoln’s “Limp”

Abraham Lincoln was a transcendently great American president.  Yet Steven Spielberg’s recently released film Lincoln depicts him as a practitioner of political chicanery and manipulation.  Must an individual be calculating and deceitful in order to be a great leader?

Does Jacob Hate Esau?

Jews have traditionally kept non-Jews at arm’s length.  The rabbinic approach to anti-Semitism may be summarized as Halakhah hi b’yadu’a she-Eisav sonei et Yaakov, “It is an established normative principle that Esau hates Jacob.”