Family
OrthosexualityWednesday, May 29, 2013 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Addressing a trend toward greater openness about sexuality in the Modern Orthodox community, Elli Fischer reminds us, in an article first published December 19, 2011, that Judaism has never treated sex as a taboo subject.
Going HomeWednesday, May 8, 2013 by Judah Bellin | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In his new book, Rod Dreher insists that communities are difficult to forge in America’s largest cities. But for traditional Jews, the demands of modern capitalism and community are not as incommensurate as Dreher assumes.
Fresh-Baked Matzah and the Spirit of CapitalismTuesday, March 19, 2013 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Small-scale matzah bakeries in Israel are enabling people to fulfil the mitzvah of baking matzah—and strengthening communities.
The Voice That Speaks in My SoulFriday, March 8, 2013 by Susan Taubes | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Echoing Kafka in this 1949 letter of protest to a domineering male, Susan Taubes writes: "I can no more keep to the laws of the Bible than I can cross myself or take the sacrament."
Purim in a New York TaxiFriday, February 22, 2013 by Viva Hammer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In reading the megillah together, my brother and I share a special bond of experience, family history played out against the rich backdrop of our people’s history.
The Fool and the AssassinMonday, February 18, 2013 by Dan Kagan-Kans | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Most movie stars don’t act, they play themselves. Danny Kaye, the biggest star of all in the 1940s and 1950s, who would have been 100 last month, was different.
The Whole BodyMonday, December 17, 2012 by Viva Hammer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
My rabbinic father-in-law and my lay leader mother agree on one thing: no body piercing. Ears, nose, and bellybutton, all are sacred property on loan from God.
The Real Jewish GeographyFriday, November 16, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A new series of high resolution maps, produced by geographer Joshua Comenetz, provide a view of American Jewish life that is seemingly familiar—but, beneath the surface, spread unevenly across the 50 states.
More Expensive by the DozenThursday, October 11, 2012 by Dara Horn | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A hundred years ago, industrial efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth, Jr. claimed that children were “cheaper by the dozen.” Recently the economist Bryan Caplan made the modern version of the self-interested argument for producing more offspring. In an exclusive feature from the current issue of the Jewish Review of Books, novelist Dara Horn elegantly begs to differ. —The Editors
The Egyptian Jewish Remnant, Against IsraelWednesday, October 3, 2012 by Joseph Mayton | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
CAIRO: At this upscale Cairo café, Sam and Amira, brother and sister, are the last two who would be seen as Jewish.
Editors' Picks
Faith and Family Mary Eberstadt, Standpoint. "The welfare state has been an ineffective and hideously expensive substitute for the fractured Western family. If the churches are to succeed, they must compete successfully against it."
"Was I a Man or a Jerk?" David Wolpe, Los Angeles Review of Books. Greg Bellow's memoir of his father, author Saul Bellow, reveals "a sort of uneasy, seesaw truce between a famous, domineering, and rageful father, and a sensitive son."
Is Blood Thicker than Holy Water? , Economist. Mary Eberstadt argues that religion goes hand in hand with the traditional family. But religions are often founded on the triumph of faith over kinship.
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."
The Problem with Gay Marriage Gilles Bernheim, First Things. "All the affection in the world will not suffice to produce the basic psychological structures that address the child’s need to know where he comes from."
Count Your Blessings William Kolbrener, Open Minded Torah. Halakhah says that the blessing recited upon the birth of a child with Down Syndrome is the same as the blessing upon a death. A 17-year-old girl may know better.
Prenup: The New Ketubah Shlomo Brody, Jerusalem Post. The ketubah was the first prenuptial agreement, meant to ensure appropriate divorce settlements. The new "halakhic prenup" aims to supplement the ketubah—and solve the agunah problem.
So, Was Jesus Married After All? Peter Berger, American Interest. The excitement wanes around a sensational discovery, but the question is not so easily settled.
Last Chance to Quiz Granddad David Crossland, Spiegel. Historian Moritz Pfeiffer intended his new book about his own grandparents’ Nazi past to encourage others to question their aging relatives. But young Germans just want to move on.
Math and Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union Edward Frenkel, New Criterion. A leading mathematician recalls anti-Semitic university admissions in the USSR.