Synagogue & Community
In the Jewish Dark ContinentTuesday, November 22, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Most American Jews descend from ancestors who resided in the Pale of Settlement, the territory from the Black Sea to the Baltic in which Jews were confined by the Czars. A new book describes one effort to chart that territory.
Kosher FictionFriday, November 11, 2011 by Eitan Kensky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Haredi adventure stories are a curious but popular genre. There is the 2005 Yiddish-language film A gesheft ("A Deal"), the story of a Hasid-gone-bad out for revenge on the pious man he wrongly blames for his childhood misfortunes.
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.
The Yiddish Silver ScreenThursday, October 27, 2011 by Nahma Sandrow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Nobody is sure exactly how many movies were ever made in Yiddish. James Hoberman's exhaustive study Bridge of Light (2010) lists some hundred such films, made in the 20th century primarily in America, Germany, Austria, Romania, Poland, and Russia.
Are Young Rabbis Turning on Israel?Monday, October 24, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
For all the theological, ritualistic, and institutional differences separating the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements, what distinguishes the groups in the minds of many ordinary American Jews comes down to branding.
The End of the TorahMonday, October 17, 2011 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Torah begins with a bang—the Big Bang, the creation of the universe. But it ends with a whimper, albeit a whimper concealed by a very loud noise of another kind. Let me explain.
Diversity at Dura-EuroposWednesday, October 12, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A new exhibit at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World brings to life the ancient city of Dura-Europos, which stands high above the Euphrates River on the eastern border of modern Syria, a monument to vanished eras.
Muslims and Jews in AmericaMonday, October 10, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Consider these two questions: During the past ten years, approximately 170 American Muslims have been arrested for plotting terror attacks against Jews or materially aiding other terrorists.
All These VowsFriday, October 7, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
No one knows for sure how Kol Nidrei originated. It is by far the best-known Yom Kippur prayer, but in fact it is neither a prayer nor actually recited on Yom Kippur. Rabbis have never liked it.
Jonah and the Music of Yom KippurThursday, October 6, 2011 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Leviticus 10 tells us that Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died for bringing "strange fire" before the Lord in the wilderness. As a result of their deaths, according to Leviticus 16, God instructed Moses to ordain an annual Day of Atonement.
Editors' Picks
Agunot Jewish Ideas Daily. Ta'anit Esther, the traditional fast day preceding Purim, is observed today. In recent years it has been designated as an international day of study, reflection, and calls to action on behalf of agunot, literally "anchored" or "bound" women.
From Slovakia to Flatbush Binyamin Rose, Voz Iz Neias?. The busiest synagogue in Flatbush traces its roots to a bunker in rural Slovakia, where its founder, Yechezkel Shraga Landau, led a community in hiding during the war.
Belief and Bewilderment Suzanne Last Stone, Hartman Institute. Arguing over whether Israel or the U.S. is more religion-mad is less productive than recognizing the common Jewish struggle being played out on these two fronts.
Disjecta Membra Benjamin Balint, Los Angeles Review of Books. Not for nothing was the Cairo Genizah called "the Living Sea Scrolls": its discoverers revolutionized the study of Mediterranean Jewish life at the very moment that it was drawing to a close.
Digital Davening Michael J. Broyde, Torah Musings. Smartphones have already begun to supplant traditional siddurim; but the potential of the digital revolution to transform the experience of prayer has barely been realized.
Changes Fred MacDowell, On the Main Line. On Orthodox liturgical reform during the 19th century, and the case of one British synagogue.
Shrine Online Sohrab Ahmari, Tablet. Unable to restore a shrine with a prominent Star of David in Iran, a U.S. organization and an Iranian-American architect are reviving the site in cyberspace.
Is the Kotel Plaza a Synagogue? David Golinkin, G’vanim. How should the State of Israel respond to the increasing religious policing around the Western Wall that is slowly but surely turning the area into a Haredi synagogue? (PDF)
Shnorrers Simon Yisrael Feuerman, Tablet. One dollar buys you a torrent of blessings from the elderly Russians who sit in the synagogue literally with their hands out: A gut yahr, na zdrovie, they say. Spraznikom. And those are just the regulars.
Incitement and Enlightenment Yitzhak Laor, Haaretz. Even the fact that ultra-Orthodox women work in professions while the men are increasingly cooking and taking care of the children isn't enough. The Left demands a single set of standards for everyone: its own.