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Going the DistanceFriday, 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.Darkness Visible
Friday, April 27, 2012 by Robert Zaretsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Himmler and Heydrich were careerists. This is not to say they were not anti-Semitic: They were, rabidly so. But fanatical anti-Semitism was also a good career move in Nazi Germany.Cyrus the Unappreciated Great
Friday, April 27, 2012 by Daniel Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
No Gentile is treated with such reverence in the Bible as Cyrus. But his example shows just how alien Iran's recent rulers are to the long history of Persia and its people.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" . . .
Independence DayThursday, 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.
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.
Back From HeavenWednesday, April 25, 2012 by Micah Stein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In May 2011, Gallup conducted its annual "Values and Beliefs" poll, seeking to quantify religious demographics and beliefs in America. One question struck a national nerve, eliciting a consensus that defied religious or cultural distinctions. The question: Do you believe in heaven? The answer: Yes, overwhelmingly.
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.
