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Family RomanceWednesday, January 25, 2012 by Benjamin Ivry | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
In the Freud family letters, the figure of Jacob Bernays—classical philologist, Orthodox Jew, homosexual, and deep influence on his brother-in-law Sigmund—comes to light.
Trotsky Eats and RunsWednesday, January 25, 2012 by Micah D. Halpern | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
I first heard the name Trotsky when I was seven years old. My grandfather, a Jewish tailor from Belarus who arrived in the goldene medine and pulled himself up by his bootstraps to own a men's suit factory in New York, had just gotten a swept-back haircut. He called it a Trotsky.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Our parashah begins: "God said to Moses: 'Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants in order to place these signs of mine in his midst.'" Indeed, this motif of the hardened heart already appeared in last week's portion and recurs nearly a dozen times in the context of the ten plagues. The problem, however, is this: If Pharaoh and the Egyptians were denied free will in their dealings with Moses, how can their subsequent punishment be justified?Maple Leaf and Olive Branch
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by Harold Waller | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Canada's desire to distinguish itself from the U.S. and UK sometimes led it away from the policy of "scrupulous impartiality" that it wished to adhere to in the Middle East.Academe Award
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by Elli Fischer and Shai Secunda | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Footnote is a work of serious philosophical inquiry, cloaked in winking academic gossip for those in the know. (Here, an interview with the director.) A Biographer’s Ethics
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by Michael McDonald | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
"Solzhenitsyn up close turned out to be a far less saintly figure than he had seemed from afar . . . [but] Koestler, who has always had a bad reputation for his character, grew in my estimation."The New Normal
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Jackson Diehl | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
In spite of the Islamist ideology of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, Turkey may prove to be a key U.S. ally in the Middle East during the coming decades.
Siren SongsTuesday, January 24, 2012 by Shlomo Zuckier | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
"For your voice is sweet and your appearance pleasant" (Song of Songs 2:14). On the basis of this verse, Jewish law prohibits a man's listening to kol ishah, a woman's voice in song. Unlikely as it may seem, this prohibition has sparked a controversy that could shake the foundations of Israel's self-defense and self-definition.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Stefany Anne Golberg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
In a collection of the Austrian novelist Joseph Roth's correspondence, there aren't any letters written to his parents, or to those who were perhaps his closest friends. There are no love letters—or any letters at all—to his wife.Digital Davening
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Michael J. Broyde | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Smartphones have already begun to supplant traditional siddurim; but the potential of the digital revolution to transform the experience of prayer has barely been realized.
