People & Places
Ardor, or ArchitectureFriday, March 23, 2012 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A look inside three of the twentieth century's most interesting careers in architecture: the world-renowned Israeli Moshe Safdie, on the verge of shutting down the office he opened in Jerusalem in 1970; the Polish-born, polarizing Daniel Libeskind, now at work on rebuilding New York's World Trade Center; and the mythic postwar master Louis Kahn.
Marching to JerusalemThursday, March 22, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Protests, marches, sit-ins, boycotts—all these nonviolent techniques have been employed in support of the Palestinian cause, but violence has remained at the core of the enterprise. For decades, well-meaning people have suggested that a wholehearted embrace of nonviolence would do more for the Palestinians than their continuing resort to terrorism.
Varieties of Post-Religious ExperienceWednesday, March 21, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Israel is, on top of everything else, a gigantic open-air laboratory for experiments in Judaism and Jewish identity, mixing and matching old and new forms, deliberately and on the fly. One of the more interesting recent specimens is Religiozionisticus Postreligious.
Mothering and SmotheringTuesday, March 20, 2012 by Brauna Doidge | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When did "natural" become a synonym for "good" or "better"? Advertisers tell us that everything from our food to our skincare is better when it's used in its most natural state. But haven't the philosophers tried hard to get us out of the state of nature?
The Book of NumbersMonday, March 19, 2012 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Jewish ambivalence about demography goes back a long way. The Bible, in several places, meticulously enumerates each tribe's population even while warning that conducting head counts can bring dire consequences.
Martyr in WaitingFriday, March 16, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Khader Adnan, currently under administrative detention in Israel, has announced the end of his 66-day hunger strike in exchange for a commitment by Israeli authorities to set him free on April 17. His pending release raises a moral dilemma.
Ron Silver’s RiskThursday, March 15, 2012 by Adam J. Sacks | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Three years ago today, Ron Silver—actor, director, producer, radio host, and political activist—died of esophageal cancer at the age of 62. Today he is sorely misremembered; but his legacy is worth fighting for.
Heschel in Yiddish and HebrewWednesday, March 14, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Standing at Sinai, "All the people were seeing the thunder" (Exodus 20:15), seeing the sounds. The word "revelation" would be somewhat misleading, since nothing was unveiled: The mountain was wreathed in cloud and smoke.
AIPAC and the Politics of ReaffirmationTuesday, March 13, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Politics is a matter of emotions as much as intellect, and rituals and ceremonies are central. The annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C. is, perhaps above all, a ceremony of reaffirmation of the relationships among American Jews, non-Jewish Americans, the American state, and Israel.
The Butcher and the SurgeonMonday, March 12, 2012 by Micah D. Halpern | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
They call Bashar al-Assad "son of the butcher," but he is merely a butcher twice removed. The original butcher of Syria was Abul Abbas al-Saffah, the last appellation meaning "shedder of blood."
Editors' Picks
Dolphins from Deutschland Ronen Bergman, Spiegel. Angela Merkel thought Israel was going to freeze settlements in return for getting German nuclear-capable submarines. There's been no freeze, but Germany is sending the subs anyway.
Intellectual Guilt Jonathan S. Tobin, Contentions. The spate of attacks on French Jews since the Toulouse massacre flows from not just the anti-Semitism of Arab leaders but its legitimation by the European intelligentsia.
Bild-ing Zion Igal Avidan, Times of Israel. A new Frankfurt exhibition asks, why did Axel Springer, Christian publisher of the German newspaper Bild, openly take sides with the Jewish people after World War II?
A Jewish Esperanto? Philologos, Forward. According to two encyclopedias, out of an estimated 16 million Jews in the world in 1939, 11 million were Yiddish speakers. But that figure doesn't stand up to closer inspection.
Missing Mubarak Jacky Hougy, Globes. As Egypt passes sentence on Mubarak, some in Israel are mourning an ally. But Mubarak was no friend of Israel—and the military dictatorship which he led still holds the levers of power.
Defender of the Faiths Jonathan Sacks, London Times. While committed to defending the Anglican faith, Queen Elizabeth II has also played a significant role in the transformation of Britain into a multi-ethnic, multi-faith society.
The Macaronic Talmud Yair Furstenberg, Talmud Blog. The rabbis of the Talmud were not only exposed to Greek, but proficient enough to cunningly manipulate the language with wordplay and puns.
The Negev's “First People”? Havatzelet Yahel, Ruth Kark, Seth J. Frantzman, Middle East Quarterly. The Bedouin may be a poor and marginal sector of Israeli society, but this does not transform them into an indigenous nation.
The Third American Jewish Revolution Steven F. Windmueller, eJewish Philanthropy. In the current economic climate, the American Jewish system—a $9.7 billion annual enterprise—will need to rethink basic elements, like work, membership, and community.
Good Queen Bless Jonathan Fishburn, Fishburn Books. While Jews have long prayed for the welfare of their rulers, the upcoming Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II calls for special liturgical compositions. (PDF)