Religion

The Ten Commandments

Mosaic has launched!  Read an extract from our inaugural essay on the Ten Commandments here, or go straight to our new site: www.mosaicmagazine.com. 

Orthosexuality

Addressing a trend toward greater openness about sexuality in the Modern Orthodox community, Elli Fischer reminds us, in an article first published December 19, 2011, that Judaism has never treated sex as a taboo subject.

Christianity: Good for the Jews?

Examining the state of contemporary Christendom in an article first published January 5, 2012, Elliot Jager asks whether Jews have an interest in seeing Christianity thrive—and answers yes.

The Riddle of the Satmar

In this review of an adulatory biography of the Satmar rebbe, first published February 17, 2011, Allan Nadler considers Judaism's most traditional—and most alienated—community. 

The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School

As Jewish Ideas Daily nears its re-launch, we look back at some of our highlights over the last three-and-a-half years—beginning with Aryeh Klapper's day-school proposal, first published May 14, 2012.

Going Home

In his new book, Rod Dreher insists that communities are difficult to forge in America’s largest cities.  But for traditional Jews, the demands of modern capitalism and community are not as incommensurate as Dreher assumes. 

The Black-Hat Underground

The likely closure of Aderaba, the magazine by, for, and about frustrated Israeli ba’alei teshuvah, demonstrates that the mainstream haredi community is too great to overcome—for now.

The Decline of the Rabbi-Intellectual

The congregation-based scholars of yesteryear labored to make Judaism intellectually stimulating as well as emotionally stirring and politically applicable.  

Simply the Besht

Earlier biographers of the Ba'al Shem Tov had left him shrouded in the mists of legend.  But Moshe Rosman insisted that "only by bringing the Besht down to earth will it be possible to evaluate his way in the service of heaven."

Orthodox Schooling: What Do We Know?

80 percent of American Jewish day school students are Orthodox, but there is little research on the state of Orthodox education—because the Orthodox community has never funded it.