Faith & People
Toward a Pluralistic Middle East?Thursday, March 17, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
As the Middle East lurches through the present confusion of civil war, revolution, and mass protest, decent people everywhere wonder about the chances of a more pluralistic and democratic order emerging. One way of measuring progress in that direction will be to track the treatment of minorities like the Berbers and the Jews.
Purim PuzzlesFriday, March 11, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Purim, Judaism's strangest holiday (which this year falls on March 20), is prescribed by what may be the strangest book in the Hebrew Bible, the scroll (m'gilah) of Esther. Two public readings of the book, one at night and the other in the morning, tell a story of Persian palace intrigue in the fifth century B.C.E., a recitation accompanied by the holiday's decidedly unspiritual noisemaking, tippling, and masquerade.
The Old Young GuardMonday, March 7, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
One of the most significant movements of Jewish renewal in the 20th century was Hashomer Hatzair: the Young Guard. Founded as a youth group in Vienna in 1916, the movement set itself in opposition to what it regarded as the emaciated character of Jewish life.
The Odessa FileFriday, March 4, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Undoubtedly the most searing image of the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea is Sergei Eisenstein's reconstruction of a bloody massacre on its famed "Potemkin Steps" in his epic silent film, Battleship Potemkin (1925).
Military Virtue, and VirtueMonday, February 28, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On February 14, Benny Gantz was appointed the twentieth chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It wasn't supposed to be that way. Yoav Galant, a decorated soldier and former head of the IDF's southern command, had been named to the position at the end of 2010.
Jewish-Christian Dialogue TodayMonday, February 21, 2011 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
How do today's Jews and Christians encounter one another? The most obvious way is in the countless interactions of Jewish and Christian colleagues and acquaintances in a host of daily settings, including exchanges on their respective religious attitudes and experiences.
Skeletons in the Closet of HasidismFriday, February 11, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Popular demands for transparency in our institutions and the availability of technological means to achieve it have made it hard to keep secrets. This has affected the conduct not only of government and business but also of religion.
The Seed of IsraelWednesday, January 26, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Until modern times, the boundaries of Jewish identity were cut and dried. If you were born to a Jewish mother, or if you were a convert according to Jewish religious law (halakhah), you were Jewish. If not, you weren't.
The Iraqi Jewish ArchiveMonday, January 24, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
To whom do antiquities belong? For Jews, the question took on flesh in 2003 in the flooded basement of a building belonging to the Iraqi secret police.
The Conscience of a Jewish ConservativeFriday, January 21, 2011 by Ruth R. Wisse | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A Jewish thinker is normally someone devoted to the study and interpretation of Jewish texts, Jewish history, Jewish issues, Jewish ideas. The late Irving Kristol (1920–2009) was, for the most part, something else: a consummate American intellectual.
Editors' Picks
The Mis-Education of a Young Evangelical Dexter Van Zile, New English Review. How traumatic has the Jewish refusal to accept Jesus as the messiah been for Christians, and to what end?
Changing Jewish Liturgy Aryeh A. Frimer, Torah Musings. Over the millennia, changes to Jewish prayers have been introduced by printing errors, or forced upon Jews by censors. Now, changes are proposed to correct an "androcentric bias."
Technicolor Metropolis Jonathan Rosen, New York Times. Far from an account of daily life, a "biography" of Jerusalem unleashes 3,000 years of kings, killers, prophets, pretenders, caliphs, crusaders, and orgiasts, all surfing an ocean of blood.
An Egyptian Jew in Exile Jerry Gordon, New English Review. "We started our life as stateless, robbed, homeless refugees": In an interview, Bat Ye'or speaks of her family's heritage, her writing career, and her predictions for the Middle East.
Point Man Noam E. Marans, JTA. Even after half a century of improved Catholic-Jewish relations, the Vatican's liaison to world Jewry does not have an easy job.
Fronds on the Front Lines Steven Fine, YUTorah. The lulav was such a central symbol of victory that in the midst of his revolt against Rome (132-5 C.E.), Bar Kokhba ordered a special supply for his troops. (PDF)
Myrtle, Date Palm, Willow, Citron Arthur Schaffer, Tradition. What do the "four species" of Sukkot signify? A botanist finds an agricultural interpretation that would have been readily available to an ancient Israelite farmer. (PDF, 1982)
Plato and the Talmud Alan Avery-Peck, Review of Biblical Literature. Philosophically, "Athens" and "Jerusalem" represent wholly incompatible viewpoints on the truth. Not so, argues a new book. (PDF)
Bible Translations: From Bad to Worse Joel Hoffman, TEDx Talks. In twenty minutes, learn why every English translation of the Bible is unfaithful to the text. (Video)
Meet the American Shul Emily Katz, H-Net. Everything you ever wanted to know about the history, the mores, and the character of "the most significant institution in the life of [American] Jews."