Religious Communities
The Case of American Religious ZionismThursday, May 10, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Few things divide and provoke American Jews like the question of Zionism. Though many wish to remember otherwise, this was also the case before the founding of Israel in 1948.
Going the DistanceFriday, April 27, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Israel is a nation-state. In contrast, Diaspora Jewry—in particular, American Jewry—is a network of voluntary communities, constituting not just different structures but different life-worlds. While it is usually taken for granted that nation-states and their respective diasporas will grow apart, with Jews the issue is hotly debated.
Reading between the ListsWednesday, April 4, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
As long as humans have been writing, humans have been making lists and ranking things. The new Daily Beast/Newsweek list of "America's Top 50 Rabbis for 2012" is, like most American lists, whether of rabbis, cars, or colleges, designed to shape reality as much as reflect it.
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.
Jews, Damned Jews, and SociologistsThursday, March 1, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What is this thing called Jewishness? What does it look like? What are its boundaries? Even the most neutral-sounding answer reflects some position on one side or the other of the crazy-quilt of conflicts that have defined and continue to define Jewish life over the last 200 years.
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.)
OrthosexualityMonday, December 19, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Talmud tells a story about one Rabbi Kahana who hid under the bed of his master, Rabbi Abba (better known as Rav), as the latter was having sex with his wife. Kahana, shocked at the type of frivolous language used by his mentor, commented that Rav was behaving ravenously.
Bittersweet CharityThursday, December 8, 2011 by Suzanne Garment | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In a recent issue of Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues, Debra Mesch, director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, together with colleagues, has published an article called "Does Jewish Philanthropy Differ by Sex and Type of Giving?"
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."
America’s Holy Haunted HousesMonday, October 31, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Halloween is most certainly no Jewish holiday; yet its spooky mood is curiously congruent with the ambience that overcomes American synagogues this time of year.
Editors' Picks
Why Do Hasidim Dress Like That? Joseph Berger, New York Times. “Does anybody ask a congressman why he walks into Congress with a suit or a Wall Street executive why he goes to work in a suit?”
Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out Shalom Carmy, Avi Woolf, Yitzchak Blau, Tradition. When the Beatles sang "fun is the one thing that money can't buy," they meant something beyond the passive absorption of an inexhaustible stream of mass-produced sights and sounds. (PDF)
Reform Has Mandate to Change Rick Jacobs, Presidential Installation Sermon, Union for Reform Judaism. "Come survive with us" is hardly an inspiring call to Jewish commitment. We can do better.
We Failed Zuckerberg Dana Evan Kaplan, Forward. A Reform rabbi argues that his movement's pluralistic theology is to blame for the detachment of young Jews from their faith.
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.
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.
Abundant Harvest Tamar Snyder, Rachel Light, Bikkurim. What's happening as the Jewish start-up sector matures? A study finds that communal support drops off just as budgets and potential for impact are greatest. (PDF)
The Ten Commandments of America's Jews Jack Wertheimer, Commentary. Go ahead and break the current tablets—here are the new shalls and shall nots.
The Hermeneutics of Hasidism Zackary Sholem Berger, Tablet. Although writers who reject the Hasidic world capture public attention, the really interesting literature comes from writers who struggle with Hasidism but love it too much to leave.
If You're Reading This, You're Part of the Problem Micah Stein, Tablet. It took 750 buses, a few boats, the involvement of 28 state agencies, and a baseball stadium rented for $1.5 million; but 40,000 men gathered to affirm the dangers of the Internet.