People & Places
In November, the Arabs Said “No”Monday, November 21, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There are no uneventful months in the tortured history of the Arab-Israel conflict. November is no exception. It was on November 2, 1917 that British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent Lord Rothschild a letter—the Balfour Declaration.
The New Jewish SoundFriday, November 18, 2011 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Richard Wagner famously dismissed Jewish music as "mongrelized," a musically incoherent product assembled from many disparate influences. But for many modern Jewish musicians, this "mongrel" character is a point of pride, the feature that allows Jewish music to absorb and reflect the musical experience of the world.
Israeli Intransigence? Try Palestinian RejectionismThursday, November 17, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The conventional wisdom in diplomatic and media circles concerning the Israeli-Arab conflict is that Israeli intransigence—especially on the building of West Bank settlements—is the dead weight that prevents the achievement of a two-state solution.
On the Road AgainWednesday, November 16, 2011 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The chronically tense relations between the Israeli government and Bedouins in the Negev—where unrecognized villages are built, razed, and built again—are certain to grow even more tense with the Israeli Cabinet's recent approval of a plan that will recognize about half these villages but demolish the other half.
Finally, a Palestinian “Peace Now”?Monday, November 14, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What if a group of youthful Palestinian activists, fed up with Hamas and Fatah for leading the Palestinian Arabs over and over down bloody, self-defeating dead ends, were to emerge as a new political and social force—something like a Palestinian "Peace Now"?
Kosher FictionFriday, November 11, 2011 by Eitan Kensky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Haredi adventure stories are a curious but popular genre. There is the 2005 Yiddish-language film A gesheft ("A Deal"), the story of a Hasid-gone-bad out for revenge on the pious man he wrongly blames for his childhood misfortunes.
The Holy Land of EnglandThursday, November 10, 2011 by Liam Hoare | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The King James Bible, along with the Book of Common Prayer, Shakespeare, and Milton, transformed the English language, introducing a vibrant lexicon that is used to this day. It also fused biblical mythology with concepts of English national identity.
Among the TruthersWednesday, November 9, 2011 by James Kirchick | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Do we live in the age of conspiracy? In April, after repeated prodding by then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump, Barack Obama felt compelled to release his "long form" birth certificate to dispel rumors that that he was not a natural-born U.S. citizen.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, Alive in Times SquareTuesday, November 8, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the basement of a converted theater on West 44th Street, tucked between the legendary Sardi's restaurant and a bowling alley, a block from Times Square and across the street from the musical Memphis, is Discovery Times Square.
To Be Young, Gifted, and a British JewMonday, November 7, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
One way to think of British Jewry is to focus on its slow and steady decline: 270,000 souls, demographically graying; synagogue affiliation on a downward spiral; out-marriage running at between 30-50 percent.
Editors' Picks
Taba via Trouble Yuval Ben-Ami, +972. Disregarding Israel's severe travel warning, one journalist ventures—with his camera—into the Sinai Peninsula. (Photographs)
The Dirt on Mr. Clean Ben Birnbaum, New Republic. In recent years, Salam Fayyad has shaken more hands, kissed more babies, and cut more red ribbons than any Palestinian official. Presidential aspirations or no, it's enough for Fatah to feel threatened.
The Reality of Race Jon Entine, Forward. Historical analysis now depends not only on pottery shards, flaking manuscripts, and faded coins, but on something far less ambiguous: DNA. And the study of Jewish DNA yields some surprising findings.
Search on a Centennial Ben Sales, JTA. One hundred years ago, Yosef Haim Brenner sold a pair of suspenders to fund the publication of S.Y. Agnon's first book—copies of which are now actively sought after.
Where's the Outcry over Palestinian Censorship? David Keyes, Washington Post. Hamas has arrested journalists and jailed bloggers. In the West Bank, slander of high-ranking officials is punishable by up to two years in prison. Where is the world's outrage?
Foolish, but Consistent Elli Fischer, Times of Israel. There are groups that advocate for allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount and there are groups that advocate for freedom of worship at the Kotel. But each group views these "rights" selectively.
Caves of Refuge Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz. A fifth mikveh has been found in the caves on the Galilee's Cliffs of Arbel, indicating that the people who lived there under Roman rule were most likely kohanim, Jews of the priestly class.
The Measure of Marx Shlomo Avineri, Jewish Review of Books. "Rather than focus on biblical sources, I decided to alert [UNESCO] to the fact that there has been a Jewish majority in Jerusalem since the 1850s, before the emergence of Zionism." According to whom? Karl Marx.
Cancelling Conversions Shlomo Brody, Jerusalem Post. Fraud? Sin? A romantic link to a Gentile? Under what circumstances can a conversion to Judaism be annulled?
TV and the War on Terror Tom Streithorst, Prospect. Homeland is a hit not only with the press but with the president—though unlike the Israeli show on which it is based, it doesn't have a clue about terrorism, national security, Iraq, or the CIA.