State of the Nation

Welcome to the Farm: All Equal, All Betrayed

BY CLAIRE AMBINDER KANNER “Socialism only works in two places: Heaven, where they don’t need it, and Hell, where they already have it.” That was Ronald Reagan at his finest,…

Science, Technology, and Society

The Science Behind Shabbat

BY HODAYA HARARY “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy—because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that God had done” (Genesis 2:3).

Poetry

Little Bird – ציפורה קטנה

BY RITA SETTON – מאת רבקה סתהון Let your wings fly freeFly, flyAway, little bird,You, who has never knownThe cold of a cage, justThe warmth of a nest andThe love…

The Hero Tree – עץ הגיבור

BY HANNAH KATZ – מאת חנה אריאל כ”ץ There is a tree that stands alone atop a mountain.A heroic tree, yet a weak one.Once, the tree had many leaves,But on…

Arts & Culture

Why Hebrew Matters

BY BENNY MARMOR – מאת בני מארמער זאת המהדורה הראשונה של כתב העת סולומון שתכלול מאמר בעברית. קידמנו את היוזמה הזאת מתוך אמונה רבה בחשיבותה של השפה העברית לעם היהודי…

Undoing Reality Through Language

BY SARA LIM “If thought corrupts language, languagecan also corrupt thought.” George Orwell, Politics and the English Language In the beginning, God spoke the universe into existence, establishing a…

Tanakh

Political Lessons from Tanakh

BY OZZIE HOLLANDER George Washington once observed, “To rectify past blunders is impossible, but we might profit by the experience of them.” Frederick Douglass similarly argued that “We have to…

Features

Captives of Longing

BY ADELAIDE RUBENSTEIN In one night, I became a “captive of longing” for my homeland. I walked the streets of Princeton on the night of Tisha B’Av, August 3, 2025,

State of the Nation: Debate

The Language of Exclusion

BY LIAD GELDWERT Language can both unite and divide, and an English-language proficiency requirement in the US citizenship process risks exclusion rather than inclusion. Requiring English for citizenship ignores important…

English Proficiency Is the Wrong Measure of Citizenship

BY SOLOMON BURGESS EISENBERG Over the last year, Congress has pursued several efforts to raise the level of English proficiency required for naturalization. These efforts, coupled with changes the executive…

Symposium

The Price of Free Speech

BY AKIVA LEVINE I was standing in line at an airport in Amsterdam when a man behind me noticed my kippah and said, “Free Palestine.” There was no discussion. No…

Beyond AB 715: Jewish Dignity and Free Speech

BY SIMCHA ROSENBERG Since the Founding, Americans have strived to build a system powerful enough to protect citizens from abuse without becoming one that itself abuses power. After the Revolution,…

Lessons on Free Speech from the Hebrew Bible

BY ORLY BERENSON Although the concept of free speech did not originate in America, America’s commitment to free expression is what makes this country exceptional. Jews are familiar with the…