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In God They Trust? In God They Trust?
Thursday, February 9, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Stick an average alumnus of the Israeli public school system into a synagogue during morning prayers, and chances are they would be bewildered. Even if they could recollect an arid Bible class they had to endure long ago, what good would it do them? They'd still be lost.
Warming to Israel
Thursday, February 9, 2012 by Moshe Arens | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

With the advent of the Arab Spring, the press predicted that Israel would be alone on the world stage. But burgeoning relationships with the Netherlands, Canada, and the Obama administration suggest otherwise.
Blessed are the Bootleggers
Thursday, February 9, 2012 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

While rabbis opposed Prohibition in the name of religious freedom, and many Jews embraced the black market, one Izzy Einstein became the most successful enforcer of dry laws in the country.
Plant a Tree in Israel?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Joel Greenberg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

Perhaps not; in the wake of recent forest fires there is general agreement that the focus should be on sustainable management and a decades-long process of natural regeneration.    
The Roots of Torah
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Rachel Kobrin | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

Tu Bishvat falls in the midst of winter—not a time when one might expect a holiday that celebrates the glory of nature, but perhaps the right time to remind us of its ultimate potential.
From New Year to Arbor Day From New Year to Arbor Day
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The holiday of Tu Bishvat ("the fifteenth of Shvat") falls this year on Wednesday, February 8. What are its origins, and when and why did it become incorporated into the calendar as the Jewish "Arbor Day"?
Land of Milk and Honey
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Thomas H. Maugh II | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

A 3,000-year-old apiary sheds light on the economy of the biblical period.
Man is the Tree of the Field
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Natan Zach | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

Contemplating Deuteronomy 20:19, a contemporary Israeli poet seeks a grim comfort in the arboreal bond.
The Politics of Tree Planting
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by David Newman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

Aiming to transform Israel's aridity, earlier functionaries imported trees unsuited to the Middle-Eastern landscape, putting pressure on a scarce environmental resource: water.
Oak Tree
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 by Avishai Cohen | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks

"I will keep standing," sings the Israeli jazz bassist (Video; performance begins at 1:30.)