Rabbinic Figures
Jewish Ethics, from Ancient Bible to Modern BusMonday, February 13, 2012 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The next time someone tells you that ethical behavior doesn't need a foundation in religious teaching, step onto an Israeli bus (it doesn't have to be the gender-segregated variety) or open a mass-circulation Israeli newspaper and see how religion puts Jewish ethics on steroids.
Siren SongsTuesday, January 24, 2012 by Shlomo Zuckier | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
"For your voice is sweet and your appearance pleasant" (Song of Songs 2:14). On the basis of this verse, Jewish law prohibits a man's listening to kol ishah, a woman's voice in song. Unlikely as it may seem, this prohibition has sparked a controversy that could shake the foundations of Israel's self-defense and self-definition.
Jerusalem’s Ego and IdThursday, January 19, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Biography is not the same as history. Biography charts the outer and inner life of a person—character, spirit, morality, emotion, perhaps even soul. History, by contrast, incorporates different narratives and pieces of evidence, seeks out new data, then rises above all the fragments with a synthesis.
Highlights of 2011:Part II
Friday, December 30, 2011 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Part II of our round-up of the past year's most popular features on Jewish Ideas Daily. (Part I is here.)
In Search of the Moderate VoiceTuesday, December 20, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Rabbi Haim Sabato is a unique figure on the Israeli scene, both head of a yeshiva and a prominent Hebrew writer. His best known work, the novel titled Adjusting Sights, won Israel's most prestigious literary award and was made into a movie.
The Evil InclinationMonday, December 5, 2011 by Raphael Magarik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The yetzer hara, usually translated "evil impulse," is an elusive rabbinic concept. The words derive from God's observation in Genesis 8:21 (paralleled earlier in 6:5) that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth."
Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After AllWednesday, November 23, 2011 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation recommending that Thursday November 26th of that year be devoted "to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
The Great Orthodox ComebackTuesday, November 1, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The resurgence of Orthodoxy may be the most profound, and is certainly the most surprising, transformation of Judaism in the past 60 years.
Who Owns Maimonides?Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by Joshua Halberstam | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Abraham Joshua Heschel once suggested that if one didn't know that "Maimonides" was a person, one would assume it was the name of a university. Heschel was referring to the monumental breadth and influence of the 12th-century philosopher's work.
Rosh Hashanah with the Chief RabbiTuesday, September 20, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Ten years ago, the first day of Rosh Hashanah—the two-day Jewish New Year—fell on September 18. That was one week after September 11, 2001, when almost 3,000 people were killed by Muslim terrorists. On that Rosh Hashanah, rabbis did not lack for sermon topics.
Editors' Picks
Journey Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. For millennia, Jews made pilgrimages to Israel. Today, in a remarkable reversal, Jews in Israel make their spiritual journeys back to the Diaspora.
Tales from Tiberias Aviva Bar-Am, Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel. “Now,” said the rabbi, “Go home and tell your husband you spat in my face seven times!”
Talmudic Stories, with Ruth Calderon Steve Paulson, To the Best of Our Knowledge. Woven into the Talmud’s legal arguments are “miniature stories,” written by Babylonian rabbis, that leaven the debate with human texture.
Two Faces of the Law Marc Angel, Institute for Jewish Ideas . How two halakhic authorities, Rabbis Avraham Yitzhak Kook and Bentzion Meir Hai Uziel, examine the same texts—and reach opposite conclusions.
Under My Umbrella? Gil Student, Torah Musings. The use of umbrellas on Shabbat, universally forbidden in Orthodoxy, is an example of an early authority dominating the discussion and setting communal standards.
Is “Torah from Heaven” a Myth? Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle. And by “myth,” do we mean an imaginative recreation of the past, or simply an invented past?
The Idealist and the Pragmatist Daniel Bouskila, Institute for Jewish Ideas. Two of Israel's Sephardic chief rabbis, Benzion Meir Hai Uziel and Ovadia Yosef, had strikingly different views about how Sephardic traditions were to meet Ashkenazic ones in Israel.
Between Tradition and Modernity Ari L. Goldman, Jewish Week. The same week in which the Conservative movement issued guidelines for performing same-sex marriages, it ruled against the use of computers, cell phones, and e-readers on Shabbat.
Eighteenth-Century Aliyah Fred MacDowell, On the Main Line. Two hundred years before modern Zionism, Jews across the Russian empire funded Rabbi Judah Chassid and his 120 followers on their trek from Europe to a new life in the Promised Land.
Transit of Venus Jeremy Brown, Rationalist Judaism. Three rabbinic responsa to the rare astronomical phenomenon visible today, and what it means for a Copernican—and a Jewish—world view.