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Zionism Before HerzlMonday, April 22, 2013 by Erika Dreifus | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1876, 21 years before Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress, a non-Jewish woman, writing for an English audience, published a novel with a powerful Zionist message. She went by the name of George Eliot.
Coming HomeThursday, March 7, 2013 by Ella Taylor | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
I’ve visited and lived in Israel since then, but mostly I’ve been in London and the United States. By most measures, every city in which I’ve put down roots in is an easier place to live than just about anywhere in Israel.
Why America Has No Chief RabbiWednesday, January 23, 2013 by Jonathan D. Sarna | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Just as America introduced free-market capitalism into the economy, so it created a free market in religion.
It’s All Happening at the ZooMonday, January 7, 2013 by D. G. Myers | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Howard Jacobson's latest novel, Zoo Time, is not immediately recognizable as Jewish fiction; but Jacobson again portrays the fear, uncertainty, and ambivalence that characterize the modern Jew.
The ISI and the JewsThursday, January 3, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Pakistan's intelligence agency has supported Al Qaeda, Iran, and Lashkar-e-Taiba—the terrorists who attacked Mumbai in 2008, killing six at Chabad. But the U.S. still treats it as an ally.
The Chief Rabbi of CanterburyMonday, December 24, 2012 by Simon Gordon | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
With his public defense of religion, the outgoing Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, has fulfilled an important role within British society—just not the one he was appointed to perform.
Chemical Warfare in the Middle East: A Brief HistoryThursday, December 13, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
At this time of Hanukkah’s memories of Syrian tyrants past, the Syrian tyrant present, Bashar al-Assad, has reportedly assembled chemical weapons for use against the rebellion.
Jacob’s Sons in the Bishop’s PalaceWednesday, November 14, 2012 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The current Baron Rothschild is one of the British philanthropists backing a new museum of Christianity in Britain, built around a dazzling series of thirteen Baroque paintings, each over eight feet tall.
Holocaust Reparations: The Back StoryMonday, August 13, 2012 by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On July 10th, dignitaries from the U.S., German, and Israeli governments attended a curious ceremony at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
The Queen’s JewryMonday, July 23, 2012 by Ben Elton | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the history of the British monarchy, there have been only two Diamond Jubilees. Last month, Elizabeth II celebrated sixty years on the throne. In 1897 Queen Victoria marked the same milestone. To mark Victoria’s Jubilee the communal leader Lucien Wolf published an article that set out the progress that Jews had made during Victoria’s reign.
Editors' Picks
Kindertransport Remembered Lucy Ward, Telegraph. This year, Britain marks the 75th anniversary of a mass evacuation of Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe.
Lone Survivor Marc Pitzke, Spiegel. Refused entry into Palestine in 1942, set adrift by Turkey in the Black Sea, the Struma was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing all 800 of its Jewish passengers—except one.
Memories of Maggie Jonathan Sacks, BBC. "In public, her leadership style was more like Moses than Aaron—more conviction and confrontation than compromise and conciliation. But we need them both." (Audio)
Thatcher's Other Special Relationship Shimon Cohen, Jewish Chronicle. A confidant and adviser throughout her time in office, Margaret Thatcher said of Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits: "He was my friend—I relied on him and miss him so."
"More Estonians than Etonians" Charles C. Johnson, Tablet. A philo-Semite ever since her family rescued a Jewish girl from Vienna in 1938, Margaret Thatcher gave unprecedented prominence to Jewish politicians in her government.
The Anti-Semitism of British Muslims Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman. "It pains me to have to admit this but anti-Semitism isn’t just tolerated in some sections of the British Muslim community; it’s routine and commonplace."
Britain’s Masada Alan Shaw, Jewish Chronicle. This week in 1190, 150 Jews were besieged in York Castle by a local mob—and, at the bidding of their rabbi, chose to take their own lives rather than die at the hands of their enemies.
Mapping the Holy Land Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. Founded in 1865 to explore "the land to which we turn as the fountain of all our hopes," the London-based Palestine Exploration Fund completed its survey in June 1914. One month later, war began.
Britain’s New Jews David Dee, Jewish Chronicle. By promoting participation in sports, the Anglo-Jewish establishment transformed Eastern European immigrants from aliens to “Englishmen and women of the Mosaic persuasion”—at the expense of their Judaism.
How Ike Screwed Up Suez Michael Doran, Washington Post. Defense Department nominee Chuck Hagel says he admires President Eisenhower’s handling of the Suez crisis. But Eisenhower looked back on Suez as his biggest foreign policy mistake.