Tanakh
Seeking the Peace of Jerusalem—or a Piece of Jerusalem?Thursday, January 17, 2013 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Archeology has become a full-fledged battlefield in the dispute over who has the superior claim to Jerusalem: Jews or Muslims.
Lincoln’s “Limp”Friday, November 30, 2012 by Judy Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Abraham Lincoln was a transcendently great American president. Yet Steven Spielberg’s recently released film Lincoln depicts him as a practitioner of political chicanery and manipulation. Must an individual be calculating and deceitful in order to be a great leader?
Inheriting AbrahamTuesday, November 27, 2012 by Jon D. Levenson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On August 28, Jon D. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, spoke with the current class of Tikvah fellows about his latest book, the first volume in the Library of Jewish Ideas: Inheriting Abraham. Here, an edited transcript of the event.
Did Red Bull Stratos Break a Halakhic Barrier?Friday, November 2, 2012 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Not long ago, much of the world watched as Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped to earth in a record-setting free fall that broke the sound barrier.
A Jewish View of HurricanesThursday, November 1, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
With school closed, transportation suspended, and the local park off limits, I cast about for something other than “work” to fill the day. My thoughts turned to the weather, and I asked myself whether Judaism has anything instructive to say about hurricanes.
Is Judaism a Proselytizing Religion?Friday, October 19, 2012 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When Mitt Romney became the Republican Presidential candidate, some of the media attention focused on his experience as a Mormon missionary in France and asked, subtly or not so subtly, whether a member of a proselytizing religion could properly lead a pluralistic society.
Editors' Picks
God's Children James Tabor, Taborblog. Angels, anointed kings, and the Children of Israel are all called sons of God in the Bible—without its implying that they share in God's divinity.
Ascending to Heaven James Tabor, Bible History Daily. Though Paul of Tarsus decisively broke with Judaism, his vision of heaven in the Book of Corinthians was not so different from contemporaneous Jewish ideas.
David's Tomb , Bible History Daily. Archeologists have long dismissed Raymond Weill's century-old hypothesis that tunnels in the City of David were the necropolis of the ancient kings. But could Weill have been right?
There Must Be an Angel Gil Student, Torah Musings. While angels often appear in Biblical narratives, medieval Jewish commentators could not agree about what they are—and what their nature means for the afterlife.
How Democratic was the Jewish Demos? Jonathan Sacks, Jewish Chronicle. Is the Hebrew Bible an attempt on the part of humans to govern themselves? Or is it the story of a people who saw themselves under the sovereignty of God?
Worlds in Collision Steven Shapin, London Review of Books. When Immanuel Velikovsky sought to explain biblical events in terms of astronomy, he ended up in a violent collision with the scientific establishment.
Punishment without Crime Gil Student, Torah Musings. If God prophesies to Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land, why does He ultimately punish the Egyptians?
To Each His Abraham Peter Monaghan, Chronicle of Higher Education. In Inheriting Abraham, Bible scholar Jon D. Levenson shows that while Jews, Christians, and Muslims all consider themselves the patriarch's children, they aren't talking about the same Abraham.