Bible
The Bible: From One-Reeler to Docu-dramaTuesday, April 23, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The History Channel's The Bible is a small epic, with editorial choices that produce predictable results. But some of this smallness yields unexpected insights.
Rejoice When Your Enemy Falters?Friday, March 22, 2013 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Proverbs says, "When your enemy falters do not rejoice and when he stumbles do not feel glee." Does that apply even if your enemy is really, really evil?
AIPAC and the Secret Worlds of PeoplehoodTuesday, March 12, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
No cause, force or organization, brings Americans, primarily Jews but also Christians, together like the cause of Israel as managed by AIPAC.
Judaism and the Meaning of LifeFriday, March 1, 2013 by Emil Fackenheim | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Emil Fackenheim is often remembered only for his Holocaust theology. This 1965 Commentary essay reminds us of his understanding of the covenantal relationship between God and man.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
What was the sound that Joshua heard, and what did Moses say about it? (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:15
Go to Ammon and MoabMonday, February 25, 2013 by Daniel Gordis | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Imagining themselves to be the wise men consulted on Vashti’s fate, the Rabbis deferred to the Jews’ enemies, saying, “from the day when we were exiled from our land, wisdom has been taken from us."
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
After Leviticus, Aaron's breastplate (hoshen) is never mentioned again. But the mysterious ephod appears several times in the Prophets—as an idol. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:18
Theology, Identity, and CovenantFriday, February 15, 2013 by David Hartman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
David Hartman, who passed away on Sunday, was among the foremost Jewish theologians of his generation. Here, we reprint some of his thoughts on God and the Jewish people.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
The goring ox—to whom it belongs, and whom it gores. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:12:05Yitro: Men of the People
Wednesday, January 30, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
It's all about the am, "the people"—but who is included? (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:10:52
Editors' Picks
Another Crime of Passion Larry Poland, Abraham Cooper, Yitzchok Adlerstein, First Things. Most of the Jewish characters in the History Channel's The Bible look like "imports from Texas." But Caiaphas and company are made to appear distinctively Jewish.
Discovering Gush Halav Aviva Bar-Am, Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel. Despite centuries of persecution, Galilee-based Christian followers of a hermit named Mar Maroun have refused to abandon their faith. Sound familiar?
"How the Mighty Have Fallen!" Geoffrey O'Brien, New York Review of Books. Marc-Antoine Charpentier's opera David et Jonathas, now playing in Brooklyn, minimizes the religious elements of the biblical narrative to turn the fall of Saul's dynasty into a tragedy.
Still Blaming the Jews Richard Wolin, Chronicle of Higher Education. German Egyptologist Jan Assmann claims that Judaism disrupted the ancient Middle East by inventing "religious exclusivity"—and calls his theory "a historical analysis of anti-Semitism."
The Mighty Hand Lazer Gurkow, Chabad. Why does the Torah tell us that God rescued the Israelites with both a mighty hand and an outstretched arm? Because our redemption was not only physical, but spiritual.
God's Children James Tabor, Taborblog. Angels, anointed kings, and the Children of Israel are all called sons of God in the Bible—without its implying that they share in God's divinity.
Benedict and the Bible Meir Y. Soloveichik, Weekly Standard. Benedict XVI "began and ended his papacy by celebrating the Hebraic, traditional Jewish understanding of love and marriage."
Returning to Eden Brennan Breed, Marginalia. Biblical critics have long insisted that we view the Bible only in its original, "authentic" context. But there was never a single original context, as the critical approach to Genesis itself testifies.
Criticizing the Biblical Critics James Kugel, Kavvanah. Modern biblical criticism, for all its sophistication, treats "only the literal meaning of the Bible’s words on the page, divorced from Judaism’s age-old traditions of interpretation." (Interview by Alan Brill)
Prophetic Democracy Warren Zev Harvey, Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Equality of all Israel’s citizens "is not a grudging compromise that Judaism has made with modern secular ideologies, but derives from within Judaism—from the vision of the Prophets."