Susannah Heschel

Jan 7, 2025 | arcmag.org | Susannah Heschel

As Mark Oppenheimer writes in his critique of David Brooks, “For the Jew, Christianity is a heresy, an elevation of a false messiah.” While Judaism plays a significant role within Christianity, which views itself as the fulfillment of Judaism’s theological promises, for Jews, writes Oppenheimer, the two religions “contradict each other.” Oppenheimer is right.

Apr 23, 2024 | thespectator.com | Frances Wilson |Svitlana Morenets |Jawad Iqbal |Susannah Heschel

The hypochondriac is the butt of jokes. Even his butt is the butt of jokes. A story doing the rounds in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries concerned a Parisian glassmaker who, believing himself to be also made of glass, fastened a cushion to his buttocks in case they broke when he sat down.

Apr 23, 2024 | thespectator.com | Svitlana Morenets |Jawad Iqbal |Susannah Heschel |Matthew Lynn

When Israel and its allies shot down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles, they demonstrated what an effective air defense looks like. The slow-moving Shahed-136 suicide drones were not hard for the Israeli, Jordanian, British, American and (probably) Saudi air forces to find and eliminate. Even Iran’s cruise missiles were thwarted. It was an overwhelming victory for Israel and a humiliation for Iran. In Ukraine, all this was watched with desperation and even anger.

Apr 23, 2024 | thespectator.com | Jawad Iqbal |Susannah Heschel |Matthew Lynn |Ben Appel

University campuses across the United States are facing a growing wave of student-led protests over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Campus officials have responded by taking unprecedented measures, including calling in the police, to try to clamp down on the unrest and contain an increasingly chaotic situation. The end result? Some of America’s most prestigious educational institutions look less like places of learning and more like crime scenes.

Apr 23, 2024 | thespectator.com | Susannah Heschel |Matthew Lynn |Ben Appel |Daniel DePetris

During his 2022 Senate campaign, former NFL running back Herschel Walker said he graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in criminal justice. Like many things said during the campaign, however, this turned out not to be true: Walker had dropped out his junior year to pursue professional football. But now the NFL star is back in class.