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Jerusalem, Obama, and the Middle East GameWednesday, April 28, 2010 by Mortimer B. Zuckerman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
The president's position betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of both history and politics.
The Impresario of ZionismWednesday, April 28, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Theodor Herzl, father of modern political Zionism, was born in Budapest 150 years ago next Sunday, May 2. He died at age forty-four in Vienna, four-and-a-half decades before the establishment of the state of Israel. Herzl came into maturity with no particular Jewish learning, no Hebrew, and scant ties to his community. Yet with his top hat, white gloves, and tails, this broadminded Central European journalist with a utopian streak came to be the foremost revolutionary of the modern Jewish world. The basics outlines of Herzl's life are fairly well known. Born into a comfortable, assimilated family, he considered law but settled...
Jordan’s DilemmaTuesday, April 27, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
King Abdullah II returned home from Washington earlier this month, having attended a two-day Nuclear Security Summit and becoming the first Arab leader to visit the Obama White House. Photographs showed the king and the president smiling and looking relaxed. Ostensibly, Abdullah urged Obama to put forward his own plan for resolving the Israel-Palestinian "tinderbox." However sincere the king's interests in a settlement may be, they are by no means straightforward. In a subsequent interview with the Chicago Tribune, he predicted that, since the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative is set to expire in July, and since "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
A Hartman Institute symposium on the responsibilities of the Jewish community toward the needy; also briefly summarized here.Remembering San Remo
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by Salomon Benzimra | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
At an international conference 90 years ago, the geographical region known as Palestine acquired legal identity, and title to it was formally transferred to the Jewish people.Flunking the Liberty Test
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by David Hazony | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
In removing a parody of Muhammad from its website, the comedy show South Park lost its credibility as the slayer of all sacred cows, and the liberal idea buckled.Bitten by the Zionist Bug
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by Yair Lapid | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Recovered: an American Jewish philanthropist's reels of exceedingly rare color film of Israel's early days; a television report with subtitles and original footage.How I Learned Talmud
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by Rick Richman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
At ninety-four, Herman Wouk recalls his scholarly grandfather's novel method of instructing him in the logical patterns of talmudic discourse.The Peace Distraction
Monday, April 26, 2010 by Richard N. Haass | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
It's easy but dangerous to exaggerate the centrality of the Israel-Palestinian issue either to the politics of the Middle East or to the national-security interests of the United States.
Speaking of HebrewMonday, April 26, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Over time, successful social transformations lose their capacity to amaze. So it is that we forget just how astounding was the modern revival of Hebrew as a language suitable for all aspects of life. Of course, Hebrew never really died; throughout history it was the written language of scholarship and religious thought, and the spoken and sung language of prayer. This rich and multi-layered legacy was mined by the Zionist writers, linguists, and educators who over decades would painstakingly bring forth the modern Hebrew language. Among the questions they had to settle was how, exactly, to pronounce it. The decision was to...