This week’s readings were heavily focused on moral philosophy and law. One particular short reading from this list that stood out to me was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s essay, written when she was only 13. It was inspiring to me because it demonstrated her palpable cognizance of the debilitating effects of a World War, her apt awareness of a disintegrating social order, and her incredible foresight in acknowledging the obstacles that lie ahead, but most importantly, it illustrated her indefatigable resolve to face all of these challenges head-on. For Ginsburg, this writing was a preamble. After Bergen-Belsen is liberated, she urges her readers not to fall into forgetfulness and complacency, in a manner that highlights both a sense of urgency that humanity must come together, and an unwavering hope that such togetherness is indeed possible. Every nation must “meet together in good faith,” she states, because we are bound together as one human family. When the purveyors of justice and compassion meet in mutual association, then, and only then, can the world be fully repaired. All of this at the tender age of 13.

• Read Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Teenage Essay on the Holocaust by Jonathan Zalman (Tablet Magazine)
• Embracing Aristotle’s Philosophy in Yom Kippur Liturgy  by Eylon Aslan-Levy (Tablet Magazine)
• Antonio Guterres Pledges to Help Vulnerable as Secretary General by Somini Sengupta and Raphael Minder (New York Times)
• What About the Planet? by Paul Krugman (New York Times)
• ‘I Am Very Afraid I Will Die Tonight’ by Nicholas Kristof (New York Times)
• Incest & Widow Burning: How Much Can Muslims Stomach? by Jonathan AC Brown (Al Madina Institute)
• If War Can Have Ethics, Wall Street Can, Too by Nathaniel B. Davis (New York Times)
• ‘If I Sleep for an Hour, 30 People Will Die’ by Pamela Druckerman (New York Times)
• Five Days That Shaped A Presidency by Jonathan Chait (New York Magazine)