People & Places
The Six-Day War: Day FiveOnce Dayan decided against a limited attack in the Golan and opted instead to take the entire Heights, Israel's air force pounded the Syrians. The Syrians had supposed the Israelis to be tired and intimidated by their incessant shelling . . .
The Lower Lower East SideFriday, June 1, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What most American Jews know about New York's Lower East Side comes from books like Irving Howe's World of our Fathers. But I was born and raised in the neighborhood at a time when there were still pushcarts along Avenue C . . .
The Baron-Cohens and the Problem of EvilThursday, May 31, 2012 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The pervasiveness of evil and the suffering of innocents have confounded religious believers throughout history. Jews have produced a vast literature that attempts to reconcile God's justice with evil's apparent dominion.
The Mona Lisa of ViennaWednesday, May 30, 2012 by Susan Hertog | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1857, when Emperor Franz-Joseph pulled down the ancient stone wall encompassing Vienna, the social and cultural traditions of the country seemed to tumble with it. Impoverished immigrants, many of them Jews, flooded in from the east.
Shavuot: The Stopping PointFriday, May 25, 2012 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There is always something going on in the Jewish festival calendar. From the fast of the 10th of Tevet through Hanukkah right around to the next fast of the 10th of Tevet on December 23rd, it's hard to go more than four or five weeks in a row without finding some special day to be observed.
Sleepless on ShavuotThursday, May 24, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Two practices long associated with Shavuot, the "time of the revelation of the Law" (z'man matan Torateinu), are the enrolling of children in religious school and the marathon all-night study vigil (tikkun leyl Shavuot).
(F)rum RunnersWednesday, May 23, 2012 by Lawrence J. Epstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Prohibition is perennially making a comeback, at least in the media; and this is one of those revival times. It began with the HBO TV series Boardwalk Empire, now in its second season, set in Prohibition-era Atlantic City and priding itself on its historical accuracy.
Sending Mein Kampf Back to SchoolTuesday, May 22, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Important literature can't be kept under wraps forever. A case in point is Mein Kampf. The German state of Bavaria, which holds the German copyright, has blocked the book's publication within Hitler's homeland.
Abuse Among the Orthodox: Bad News, Good NewsMonday, May 21, 2012 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
First, the bad news: Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse occurs in Orthodox Jewish communities. Next, the worse news: Two recent New York Times stories are just the latest piece of evidence that Orthodox communities are often in denial and worse.
Faces and HandsFriday, May 18, 2012 by William Meyers | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Mindla Diament was a beautiful woman. We know that from the portrait her older sister Julia Pirotte took of her in Marseille in 1942. In Julia's picture Mindla's face emerges from darkness, classically Semitic, with large eyes, a full mouth, slender neck, and imposing spiritual depth.
Editors' Picks
Romania’s Final Solution Michael Gesin, H-Net. Romania’s wartime leaders were so enamored of Nazi Germany that they developed their own Final Solution. So, why did half of Romania’s Jews manage to survive?
How Orientalism Shaped Obama Lee Smith, Tablet. Blaming the recent attacks against U.S. targets on a cheap video reflects Edward Said’s argument that Europe subjugated Muslims by distorting perceptions of their culture.
Drawing a Line Sarah Glidden, Jewish Quarterly. Angoulême is proud of its history as the center of France’s comics and animation industry. The city is less keen to acknowledge the role it played during the Second World War. (Comic)
Noam Gershony’s Incredible Gold Marcus Dysch, Jewish Chronicle. The Israeli war hero lost the use of his legs in a helicopter crash in the 2006 Lebanon War. At this year’s Paralympics, he became a hero again.
The Rest of the Leaked Romney Video Douglas Bloomfield, Jewish Week. In that fundraiser video, Romney also talked about Israel: “Pushing the Israelis to give something up to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world.”
Poet of the Palmach Sigal Arbitman, Eran Swissa, Yehuda Shlezinger, Israel Hayom. Haim Hefer wrote songs that built Israel’s character and gained the status of national anthems. He died on Rosh Hashana at age 86.
Lebanon’s Unholy Bedfellows Hilal Khashan, Middle East Quarterly. In Lebanon the Maronites are Christian liberals, while the Shiites are Islamic theocrats. The contradiction hasn’t kept them from an alliance based on resentment of Sunni domination.
In Search of a Cultural Arab Spring Salman Masalha, MEMRI. In the images of Syrian violence an Israeli Druse sees the brutality of modern Arab regimes: “Every one of them is based on tribal and religious tyranny.”
Poland’s Casualties of War Suzanne Rozdeba, Tablet. In Nazi-occupied Poland, Wladyslaw Gugla risked death as a Jew and a teacher of Slavic children. Protected by villagers, he survived—only to die from habits formed in hiding.
Ignore Anti-Semitism: Bernstein’s Rules David Bernstein, Forward. Has a fringe group announced an anti-Israel demonstration on campus? Odds are that it’s Israeli and Jewish sources who will give them the publicity they want.