Watching Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey got Robert thinking about one of the most powerful stories in Western culture, the Hero’s Journey, and the very different story outlined by the Bible.

In this episode of Hebraica, Robert compares Odysseus and Abraham—the hero and the Hebrew—and asks what happens when we measure our lives against the wrong story. The Hero’s Journey promises struggle, transformation, victory, and return. The Hebrew’s Journey is a pilgrimage shaped by faithfulness, promise, exile, and a story that may not be completed in our own lifetime.

Israeli settlers are back in the headlines. But who are these people, what do they believe, and why is a violent fringe hijacking the rest? 

In this episode, Robert travels back to a Shabbat evening in Ofra, the murder of an innocent young man, and the trauma of the Gaza disengagement to understand what drives Religious Zionism and why its radical edge is gaining ground.

• Ali Sawafta, "Israel sends troops into West Bank homes besieged by Jewish settlers," Reuters (Aug. 13, 2016)
• Nurit Yohanan, "In Qusra and beyond, settlers are chasing Palestinians out and taking over their homes," Times of Israel (Aug. 12, 2026)
• Reports re: the murder of Dvir Sorek, Times of Israel

What does a Christian owe his Jewish neighbor in a time of rising antisemitism?

In this episode, Robert explains why he’s come to see the Jewish people not simply as friends or neighbors, but as brothers—and why that conviction carries practical obligations. Drawing on the New Testament and the history of Jewish-Christian relations, he makes the case for a covenantal brotherhood that goes beyond politics, theology, or sentiment. A brotherhood lived out in action.

Why does Christian Armenia maintain close ties with Iran while Israel has built a strategic partnership with Muslim Azerbaijan?

In this episode, Robert explores the strange logic of Middle Eastern alliances and introduces the “minority shuffle”—the way small, vulnerable peoples navigate a region dominated by larger powers. From Armenia and Israel to Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, he shows why minorities rarely choose their friends according to sentiment or shared identity, but according to survival. 

Where the modern world promises universal rules, the Hebraic tradition sets the world against the backdrop of time. The effect on judgment is enormous.

Drawing on verses from Ecclesiastes to Proverbs, Robert looks to Solomon for clarity in a moment of temporal distortion and distraction. The upshot: wisdom means knowing not just where we are, but when we are.

Israel's rapidly growing Haredi population is forcing the Jewish state to confront a question buried in the Zionist project from the beginning: What happens when the institutions that preserved a stateless people collide with the demands of Jewish sovereignty?

In this episode -- the first of several focused on the growing place of religion in Israel -- Robert breaks down a new Israeli law focused on Torah study, the political crisis behind it, and the deeper tension between two radically different answers to the question of Jewish survival.

• Keshet Neev, "Knesset passes contentious haredi-backed bill to enshrine Torah study in Israel's Basic Law," Jerusalem Post (July 13)
• Ronen Gurievsky, "The untold heroes of this war," Times of Israel (July 24)

A Wall Street Journal article about artificial intelligence provokes reflection on a saying from the Talmud: "From the forest itself comes the wood for the axe handle." 

It's a simple saying with profound implications. Throughout history, people, institutions, businesses, and societies have often created the very conditions that led to their own decline.

In this Field Note, Robert reflects on the old proverb, a neighborhood grocery store from his hometown, and what both have to teach us about ambition, unintended consequences, and the mysterious way God has woven irony into the fabric of history.

• "AI’s Wider Availability Is Good for China, Not Great for OpenAI and Anthropic," Wall Street Journal (July 17)
• Sanhedrin 39b.16, Babylonian Talmud (Sefaria)

Turkey is rising, Israel is worried, and President Trump is betting that his friend Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can help bring order to a chaotic region. But America has made this kind of bet before.

From the Afghan jihad to the War on Terror, the United States has repeatedly empowered forces whose beliefs and ambitions it failed to take seriously, thinking their power could be harnessed for American purposes. 

In this episode, Robert explores Turkey’s resurgence, Israel’s growing concern, and one of the oldest temptations of great powers: the belief that because history is dangerous, it must therefore be controlled.

• Netanyahu interview, The Sunday Briefing (July 5)
• Netanyahu interview, Fox & Friends (July 6)
• "Trump's visit a win for Turkey's Erdogan, NATO tensions aside," Reuters (July 9) 
• See also: Netanyahu interview, Life Liberty Levin (July 13)

A Pharisee rises before the Sanhedrin and saves the apostles from execution. The story of Gamaliel challenges some of Christianity's deepest assumptions about Judaism, religious authority, and the mysterious ways in which God works.

At a time when political and religious disagreements increasingly tempt us to identify enemies and demand punishment, Gamaliel offers another path: humility before history, restraint in judgment, and confidence that God remains the final arbiter of human affairs.

Why do nations act the way they do? Why do some societies endure hardship while others collapse? Why do people continue to sacrifice, fight, build, and hope in ways that seem irrational to outsiders?

In this episode, Robert argues that human beings (and the cultures they create) cannot be understood through material interests alone. As he puts it, we are what we believe. Our deepest convictions about God, history, freedom, suffering, and man's purpose shape everything we do.

Drawing on examples from America, Israel, Russia, and Iran, he explores a simple but often forgotten truth: to understand the world, we must learn to see both the visible and invisible forces that move it.

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