God & Theology
A Meditation on Maoz ZurMonday, December 10, 2012 by Ismar Schorsch | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In this 1988 essay, Ismar Schorsch writes that the much maligned final stanza of Maoz Zur, which calls for divine retribution against Israel’s enemies, illustrates a distinction between redemption within history and the ultimate redemption, which must come from without.
Inheriting AbrahamTuesday, November 27, 2012 by Jon D. Levenson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On August 28, Jon D. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, spoke with the current class of Tikvah fellows about his latest book, the first volume in the Library of Jewish Ideas: Inheriting Abraham. Here, an edited transcript of the event.
“I, and Not an Angel”Thursday, September 20, 2012 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
"Warning: The Following Prayer May Be Dangerous to Your Spiritual Health. Recite with Caution." When was the last time you saw this kind of warning in a prayer book? Yet in most Ashkenazic S’lihot prayer books, that is the message that actually accompanies one of the hymns.
The Hebrew Bible and the Human MindMonday, September 10, 2012 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Yoram Hazony has a bone to pick with Tertullian, the second-century Christian theologian who asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”
Spinoza in ShtreimelsTuesday, September 4, 2012 by Carlos Fraenkel | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Philosophy professor Carlos Fraenkel wrote that “the cultural relativism that often underlies Western multicultural agendas [is] a much greater obstacle to a culture of debate than religion.” Today, in an exclusive preview from the Jewish Review of Books, Fraenkel relates how his theory fared among a group of Hasidim.
Sin, Sin, SinWednesday, August 29, 2012 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the current Hebrew month of repentance, it’s hard not to notice that we live in a culture that takes sin far less seriously than it used to. The formula “mistakes were made” has largely replaced the admission of personal responsibility.
The Month of ReturnTuesday, August 14, 2012 by Tevi Troy and Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Jewish month of Av will soon become Ellul, and mourning for the destruction of the Temples will give way to repentance for our sins. It is time for introspection; and, as we contemplate our relationships with others and with the Divine, questions about penitence, forgiveness, change, and mortality itself inevitably arise.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
"If" the Israelites obey the Lord, they will be blessed (of course). But this week's unusual word for "if"—ekev—signals something more. (Click here for source sheet.) Download | Duration: 00:11:46
Endearment in the WildernessFriday, July 27, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
First of all, let’s stipulate that the midbar in Sefer B'midbar, the fourth of the five books of Moses which we have just finished reading, is not necessarily a desert.
Disturbing the UniverseWednesday, June 27, 2012 by Daniel C. Matt | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Today, in an exclusive preview from the new issue of the Jewish Review of Books, preeminent Kabbalah scholar Daniel Matt steps away from his Zohar translation for the first time in years to review Lawrence Krauss's New Atheist account of the Big Bang and Alan Lightman's quirky novel about creation. Special to Jewish Ideas Daily readers: Click here to receive a free copy of the whole summer issue!
Editors' Picks
Reason, Revelation, and Revolution Patrick Allitt, Claremont Review of Books. America's founders have been characterized both as devout Christians and as militant secularists. A new book argues that they remained believers in God, but revolted against the Bible.
When the Sun Stood Still Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. Copernicus' heliocentrism, though embraced by many Jews, threatened Judaism—not by displacing man from the center of the universe but by elevating him to the heavens.
The Bible, for Non-Believers Hayyim Angel, Tradition. In his commentary on the Torah, Leon Kass does not begin from the premise that the text is divinely revealed. But he makes a strong case that man cannot live by reason alone.
The Godless Delusion Neilson MacKay, New Criterion. By "making a 'god out of man,'" artists like Schoenberg, Goethe, and Matisse thought that "in the wake of religious disbelief, art could give us meaning again."
Mahler: A Musical Messiah? Robert R. Reilly, Claremont Review of Books. Born Jewish, but converted to Christianity, Gustav Mahler was never a true believer in either. But did he believe in the divinity of his music itself?
The Conversion Crisis Marc Angel, Haaretz. "The halakhic Jewishness of an Orthodox convert is not decided by the Rabbanut—but by God. The Rabbanut has no right whatever to question or deny the validity of halakhic conversions."
Remembering David Hartman Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post. Rabbi David Hartman, who died in Jerusalem this week at 81, leaves a legacy of theological works and educational institutions that will continue to shape Judaism and Zionism for modern Israel.
Rebelling In God's Name Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Jerusalem Post. "When we go to synagogue, it is a protest against man’s arrogance in thinking that he can do it all himself."
God Above Moves Down David Wolpe, Sh'ma. "Belief in what is above us has increasingly moved to what is within us.... God has been not only dethroned, but given a seat next to us in the bleachers."
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)