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A Habsburg Hanukkah
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Matti Friedman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

How did the ornamental headgear of an Imperial soldier, emblazoned with the double-headed eagle, emblem of the Holy Roman Emperor, come to be a hanukkiah?
A Writer’s Story
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Nathan Englander | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

“When I set out to write my Argentina book,” recalls Nathan Englander, “I was going to write a Jew-free novel.”  But “the Jews, they just got in everywhere.” (Interview by Kevin Nance)
The Phony Cyberwar
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Brandon Valeriano and Ryan Maness | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

Despite the hype following the success of the Stuxnet and Flame viruses in slowing Iran's nuclear program, cyberwarfare is not the strategic game-changer it’s been made out to be.
Hanukkah Musings
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Gil Student and Ari Enkin | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

From whether a convert can recite the Al ha-Nisim blessing to how to eat a donut, here are the answers to Hanukkah questions you never thought to ask. (E-book)
Broken Accords
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 by Barry Rubin | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

By seeking and winning UN observer status, the Palestinians abrogated the terms of the Oslo Accords.  So, why should Israel be expected to uphold them?
A Meditation on <i>Maoz Zur</i> A Meditation on Maoz Zur
Monday, December 10, 2012 by Ismar Schorsch | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In this 1988 essay, Ismar Schorsch writes that the much maligned final stanza of  Maoz Zur, which calls for divine retribution against Israel’s enemies, illustrates a distinction between redemption within history and the ultimate redemption, which must come from without.
The First Hellenist
Monday, December 10, 2012 by Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

The Maccabees warred against the Seleucids and their Hellenized Jewish allies.  But Judaean Hellenism began earlier, under the Ptolemies—and was not so bad for the Jews.