History
Old-New LeonardFriday, March 9, 2012 by Peodair Leihy | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
After 60 years of publishing and recording, seventysomething Leonard Cohen has something else to say; and, lo and behold, the "Camp"—the Bergen-Belsen of the remembered newsreels of his childhood—comes up. He also gets the "Eye"—Jerusalem's Eye of the Needle—in there, a Jewish metaphor from the Talmud and the New Testament.
Hitting the JackpotThursday, March 8, 2012 by Micah Stein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Who doesn't like Purim? Besides the costumes and candy, the story itself has all the politics, sex, and violence of a juicy HBO series. In case you missed it: "Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy the Jews, and had cast a pur—that is, a lottery—with intent to crush and exterminate them."
Cyrus, Ahmadinejad, and the Politics of PurimWednesday, March 7, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
At this week's pre-Purim meeting in Washington between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss Iran's nuclear threat to Israel, Netanyahu gave Obama a present: the book (or m'gilah, scroll) of Esther, which tells how the Jewish heroine foiled Haman's plot to kill the Jews of ancient Persia.
A Convenient HatredTuesday, March 6, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
With some 1,000 books currently in print on the subject, does the world desperately need another tome on anti-Semitism? What difference will it make, when anti-Israelism provides only the latest justification for Europe's persistent prejudice against Jews and anti-Semitic views are shared by 15 percent of Americans and 90 percent of Muslims worldwide?
What Would Ariel Sharon Do?Monday, March 5, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Biographies of father by sons are an uncertain genre. Closeness necessarily entails distortion, positive or negative. But at a time when the vast majority of Israeli and world leaders seem strikingly small, it is worth considering the portrait of Ariel Sharon provided by his youngest son.
Jews, Damned Jews, and SociologistsThursday, March 1, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What is this thing called Jewishness? What does it look like? What are its boundaries? Even the most neutral-sounding answer reflects some position on one side or the other of the crazy-quilt of conflicts that have defined and continue to define Jewish life over the last 200 years.
Gertrude Stein, Fascist?Wednesday, February 29, 2012 by Eitan Kensky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Does it say something that the most indelible portraits of Gertrude Stein come from the outside? Or, to frame the question a different way: what does it say when our most lasting impressions of a writer are based not on her words, but on the visions and appropriations of others?
Order in the HouseMonday, February 27, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On a bad day, Israeli parliamentarians have been known to hurl water at political adversaries, denigrate immigrant MKs' Hebrew accents, and even bow their heads in the memory of Palestinian suicide bombers. On a good day, they mostly go about the nuts-and-bolts crafting of bipartisan legislation for the benefit of all Israelis.
Evil GeniusThursday, February 23, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Very little anti-Semitic literature is new; most of its tropes seem ageless, continually recombined and updated by haters reacting only dimly to their actual circumstances. Few anti-Semitic works exhibit literary or lesser, sociological gifts. The one exception is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Do Jews Have a Mormon Problem?Wednesday, February 22, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The religious values of presidents seldom satisfactorily explain their attitudes toward the Jews. Franklin Roosevelt's Episcopalian faith could not have foretold his hard-hearted policies during the Holocaust. Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter, both Baptists, went in opposite directions.
Editors' Picks
Trippingly on the Tongue Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz. In one day, Obama aroused public ire by referring both to "Polish death camps" and to his superior knowledge of Judaism. He might tackle shmirat halashon as his next area of Jewish study.
A Life in Rock, and Writing Greil Marcus, Los Angeles Review of Books. "I told my wife about [a conversation with the editor of Rolling Stone] in great detail. And Jenny said, ‘Greil, you've just been fired.' I said, ‘I have?!?'" (20,000-word interview by Simon Reynolds; here, part II, part III, and part IV)
Britain's Post-War Pogrom Daniel Trilling, New Statesman. The deaths of two British soldiers at the hands of the Irgun in 1947 sparked the most widespread violence against Jews ever in the UK. But no sooner did it happen than it was forgotten.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us? AlphaGalileo Foundation. The discovery of a Hebrew inscription from the fourth century in Portugal is not only the earliest evidence of Jews in Iberia, but also testifies to a close relationship between Jews and Romans.
Jews of Yemen, Get Out! Lyn Julius, Times of Israel. The few dozen Jews who remain in Yemen—many incentivized against aliyah by the Satmar movement—insist that Jewish life is good in Tzanaa despite a death toll attesting to the contrary.
Face to Faith Larry Yudelson, Jewish Standard. The story of how the Dalai Lama encountered the Jewish community in 1990 is well known. Less well-known is how Jews first encountered the Dalai Lama—in an 1804 compilation of travelers' accounts.
Amid the Alien Corn Jewish Ideas Daily. In one stunning declaration, the young Ruth shattered what had previously been an impermeable barrier of Israelite law, reshaping the law and Jewish history at once.
The Fugees' Score Jonathan Schanzer, Foreign Policy. A new congressional bill could slash the number of Palestinian refugees—but neither the UNRWA nor its beneficiaries is likely to accept this change of status without a fight.
Odyssey in Odessa Paul Berger, Forward. A century ago, Odessa's rambunctious ghetto rivaled New York's Lower East Side as a melting pot. Now? "If you want the real Moldavanka you must go to Brooklyn."
Morality, Not Theology Meir Soloveichik, Weekly Standard. Mormons trying to talk across doctrinal divides to evangelical Christians can learn from Joseph Soloveitchik's advice on how Jews should—and should not—discuss their faith with Christians.