Midrash
Shabbat Shirah: Song Takes WingMonday, January 21, 2013 by Jerry Friedman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Complementing the Song of the Sea, which will be read this Shabbat in synagogue, the Rabbis suggested a home-based ritual to celebrate Shabbat Shirah: feeding the birds.
Seeking the Peace of Jerusalem—or a Piece of Jerusalem?Thursday, January 17, 2013 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Archeology has become a full-fledged battlefield in the dispute over who has the superior claim to Jerusalem: Jews or Muslims.
A Pillar with a PastTuesday, January 8, 2013 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Gil S. Perl’s The Pillar of Volozhin sheds light on the Netziv, one of Lithuanian Jewry's greatest leaders, whose own intellectual development is reflected throughout the yeshiva world today.
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.
Story Master from AshkenazWednesday, September 19, 2012 by Moshe Simon-Shoshan | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Today, the use of literary theory and criticism to study Midrash and Aggadah—non-legal and interpretive rabbinic literature—is a well-established and even popular endeavor.
Is Romantic Love a Jewish Value?Friday, August 3, 2012 by Ben Greenfield | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Today is the happiest day in the Hebrew calendar. According to the Mishnah, Tu b’Av (the 15th of the month of Av) was a joyous occasion on which the unmarried women of ancient Jerusalem would dance in the vineyards, hoping to find a match.
Back From HeavenWednesday, April 25, 2012 by Micah Stein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In May 2011, Gallup conducted its annual "Values and Beliefs" poll, seeking to quantify religious demographics and beliefs in America. One question struck a national nerve, eliciting a consensus that defied religious or cultural distinctions. The question: Do you believe in heaven? The answer: Yes, overwhelmingly.
The Stuttering ServantThursday, April 12, 2012 by Samuel Davidkin | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Stuttering, the curious speech impediment that causes a few percent of the mostly male population to succumb unpredictably and unwillingly to occasional muteness, most recently received attention with the Oscar-winning film The King's Speech, the story of Britain's wartime King George VI.
Make Yourself a TeacherTuesday, March 27, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The meanings of "Torah" are inexhaustible, but its plainest sense is "teaching." It does not exist apart from being communicated. That circulation between human beings, and between humans and God, both gives Torah life and teaches us that Torah itself teaches life.
Editors' Picks
Genesis' Afterlife Ronald Hendel, Jon Levenson, Moment. Are modern Bible commentaries more reliable than traditional interpretations—or simply founded on different methodological premises?
The Genesis of Genesis Jon D. Levenson, Moment. A new book explains Genesis by isolating it from the rest of the Bible and later religious contexts. But the fact that it can be read in isolation is no argument that it ought to be.
Returning to Eden Brennan Breed, Marginalia. Biblical critics have long insisted that we view the Bible only in its original, "authentic" context. But there was never a single original context, as the critical approach to Genesis itself testifies.
Misunderstanding Midrash Moshe Shamah, Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Maimonides wrote that those who take the Midrash literally "destroy the Torah’s glory and darken its brilliance," but many Orthodox teachers today do just that.
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)
Consider the Bee Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. A midrash exhorts Jews to emulate bees. But while we admire their hierarchical structure, we must be careful to adapt enough to cope with new challenges.
Scholarship at the Fault Line Monica Osborne, New Republic. English departments and literary studies curricula have yet to acknowledge the significance of Jewish and midrashic thought to their disciplines.
Fixed Stars Govern a Jewish Life? David S. Zinberg, Rationalist Judaism. An alarming fundamentalist tendency has arisen in Orthodox thought—leading, for instance, to a book whose premise is that astrology is a true science having the full support of Jewish tradition.
Translate Thy Enemy Jeremy Sharon, Jerusalem Post. A translation of the Talmud into Arabic seems motivated less by historical interest than by a desire to understand what is considered to be "the main source of Jewish iniquity."
Three Talmudists Confront the Evil Urge Shai Secunda, Amit Gevaryahu, Eva Kiesele, Raphael Magarik, Talmud Blog. A symposium on the psychological, historical, and rabbinic development of the yetzer hara picks up where Jewish Ideas Daily left off.