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What a Friend We Have in JesusFriday, April 27, 2012 by Paula Fredriksen | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Until very recently, scholarly work on the Jewishness of Christianity has been a largely Christian project, but over the past fifty years, in ever-larger numbers, Jewish scholars have joined in.The Stranger in Our Midst
Friday, April 27, 2012 by David Ellenson and Daniel Gordis | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Even if we cannot eradicate the complexity of our tradition's attitude to conversion, we must understand the pain it causes for those who seek to join us.

Friday, April 27, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Israel is a nation-state. In contrast, Diaspora Jewry—in particular, American Jewry—is a network of voluntary communities, constituting not just different structures but different life-worlds. While it is usually taken for granted that nation-states and their respective diasporas will grow apart, with Jews the issue is hotly debated.
Friday, April 27, 2012 by Emanuele Ottolenghi | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Gary Sick's success is indicative of how lucrative stridently politicized pseudo-research on the Middle East can be.The Miracle
Thursday, April 26, 2012 by Paul Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
The state of Israel is the product of more than 4,000 years of Jewish history. "If you want to understand our country, read this!" said David Ben-Gurion on the first occasion I met him, in 1957. And he slapped the Bible. But the creation and survival of Israel are also very much a 20th-century phenomenon, one that could not have happened without the violence and cruelty, the agonies, confusions, and cross-currents of our tragic age. It could even be argued that Israel is the most characteristic single product, and its creation the quintessential event, of this century.1948: Palestine Betrayed
Thursday, April 26, 2012 by Efraim Karsh and Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Zionist Jews were not interlopers in Palestine. The creation of the Jewish state was not an "original sin" foisted upon the Arab world. The tragic flight of the Palestinian refugees was overwhelmingly not the fault of the Zionists. To the contrary, at every momentous junction the Zionists opted for compromise and peace, the Arabs for intransigence and belligerency. This, in summary, is how most people once understood the Arab-Israel conflict. Today, however, as Israel marks its Independence Day, an entire generation has come to maturity believing a diametrically opposite "narrative" . . .

Thursday, April 26, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Every spring, within a single week, Israel commemorates Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha'atzma'ut. These days revisit the core drama of the modern Jewish experience. They are also among the most controversial in the Israeli calendar.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
A new study offers a strong focus on the faults inherent in Orthodox masculinity without adequate discussion of its strengths.War Diary
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by Matti Friedman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
"Arab Legion reported to be trying to smoke out the Haganah who had entered underground channels . . ." Excerpts from a British clergyman's 1948 journal.Standards and Practices
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by Shlomo Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
The idea that one may convert without intent to carry out mitzvot is a minority opinion.