Faith & People
Urban Planning, Hasmonean-StyleWednesday, December 28, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the early 1990s, construction began on Modi'in, Israel's new "City of the Future." Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie and located mid-way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Modi'in is in many ways typical of modern planned communities.
Jerusalem and AthensMonday, December 26, 2011 by Leo Strauss | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The holiday of Hanukkah is, in part, a celebration of the victory of traditionalist Jews over Jews bent on assimilation to Greek Seleucid culture. As such, the second-century B.C.E. Maccabean revolt has resonated throughout the ages not only as a key historical contest, but as a wellspring for interpretations of the divergent views of the Hebrews and the Greeks.
The First War of National LiberationWednesday, December 21, 2011 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
This is the 2,179th anniversary of the world's first war of national liberation. There have been many since. To a surprising extent, such wars have followed the pattern first established by the Maccabees. They, like later heads of independence movements, were leaders of a people conquered and occupied by a great empire.
OrthosexualityMonday, December 19, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Talmud tells a story about one Rabbi Kahana who hid under the bed of his master, Rabbi Abba (better known as Rav), as the latter was having sex with his wife. Kahana, shocked at the type of frivolous language used by his mentor, commented that Rav was behaving ravenously.
Newt and the PalestiniansTuesday, December 13, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
It was almost inevitable: Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has lobbed a grenade into the Republican nomination race, and the subject is Israel.
Returning to Pearl HarborWednesday, December 7, 2011 by Micah Stein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Vernon Olsen was a 21-year-old seaman assigned to mess hall duty aboard the USS Arizona, a battleship moored in the calm waters of Pearl Harbor. At 7:55 that morning, the ship's air raid alarm sounded.
Terror Out of ZionTuesday, December 6, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There is no love lost between the British Foreign Office and Israel. In a report to parliament last month, Foreign Minister William Hague condemned Israel for building in Jerusalem, being in the West Bank, and treating the present Gaza regime like the enemy it is.
Is Judaism a Religion?Tuesday, November 29, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There is no end to the conundrums involved in defining what it means to be a Jew. Must a Jew be someone who believes in the Jewish religion, in the way a Christian believes in Christianity or a Muslim in Islam? That can't be the case, since many devoted Jews are atheists.
Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After AllWednesday, November 23, 2011 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation recommending that Thursday November 26th of that year be devoted "to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
In the Jewish Dark ContinentTuesday, November 22, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Most American Jews descend from ancestors who resided in the Pale of Settlement, the territory from the Black Sea to the Baltic in which Jews were confined by the Czars. A new book describes one effort to chart that territory.
Editors' Picks
The Exodusters Yoram Ettinger, Jewish Press. Three of the Founding Fathers proposed a U.S. seal depicting Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, with the inscription: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God."
Will Churches Boycott Israel? Giulio Meotti, Ynet. The five biggest mainline Protestant denominations in the United States have all debated or adopted policies intended to divest from or boycott Israel. And much will be decided in the next few months.
Saved to Disc Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. A rare glass disc depicting the menorah from the Second Temple in gold leaf was kicked around Europe for two thousand years before the Israel Museum gave it a home.
Settling a Legacy Chaim Levinson, Yair Ettinger, Haaretz. As the settler movement is divided over whether to follow Zvi Yehuda Kook's theoretical refusal to cede land or his practical compromises, the young are gradually deserting religious Zionism for Hasidism.
Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians Michael Oren, Wall Street Journal. The extinction of the Middle East's Christian communities is an injustice of historic magnitude. Yet Israel provides an example of how this trend can not only be prevented but reversed.
Hester Panim? Daniel Pipes, DanielPipes.org. Jerusalem in the Qur'an is a 142-page text—but Jerusalem is nowhere to be found in the Koran.
A Tale of Two Synagogues David Gelernter, Jewish Review of Books. Frank Lloyd Wright's sprawling celebration of suburban Judaism echoes the shape of a long-ago building in Poland. And that echo tells us something about the remarkable history of synagogue architecture. (With images)
On the Record eJewish Philanthropy. Which organization brought the first John Deere tractor to Ukraine? What killer disease was eradicated in Ottoman Palestine by a Jewish doctor? A unique chronicle of Jewish life abroad comes to the web.
Vanished Vienna Giles MacDonogh, Standpoint. For all its dryness, Georg Gaugusch's extraordinary new tome captures the meteoric rise of Jews into Austrian high society and their precipitous fall.
Losing the Temple Mount Amir Shoan, Ynet. The Muslim waqf which oversees the Temple Mount is allowing archeological sites to be bulldozed, in contravention of the law. But instead of intervening, the Israeli government is covering it up.