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The Jewish Egyptian RevivalWednesday, March 13, 2013 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Passover marks the day on which God liberated the Israelites from Pharaoh’s rule. But three millennia after the Exodus, emancipated Jews expressed their national identity by building synagogues in the Pharaonic style.
AIPAC and the Secret Worlds of PeoplehoodTuesday, March 12, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
No cause, force or organization, brings Americans, primarily Jews but also Christians, together like the cause of Israel as managed by AIPAC.
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.
Who’s Sadat? Or, Defining Israel Literacy UpwardMonday, March 4, 2013 by David B. Starr | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
American Jewry is becoming less and less well informed about Zionism and Israel. Can anything be done to reverse this decline?
Opening the Gates of JudaismWednesday, February 20, 2013 by Motti Inbari | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Given the demographic and spiritual decline among “biological” Jews in America, if we want to keep Judaism alive, we must do something that we haven't done for 2000 years: proselytize.
Department of Excuses: BDS at Brooklyn CollegeTuesday, February 12, 2013 by Jonathan Marks | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Brooklyn College's BDS panel was no "open forum to discuss important topics," but anti-Zionist evangelism—which no academic department could support in good faith.
Signs of the TimesThursday, February 7, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A new report by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America is the latest in a long line to allege anti-Israel bias at the New York Times. But the newspaper isn't about to change.
Denominational DelusionsWednesday, February 6, 2013 by Andrew Apostolou | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
With synagogues closing, congregations ageing, and the non-Orthodox majority dwindling, American Jews are caught in a crisis. Yet no one is tackling the root of this problem: intermarriage.
The Halakhah of Selling ArmsTuesday, February 5, 2013 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Jewish law prohibits individuals from selling weapons to irresponsible or violent customers. But how does this apply to Israel's arms sales to foreign governments?
Why Israel’s Gaze Has Turned InwardThursday, January 31, 2013 by Yiftach Ofek | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
“It takes two to tango,” goes the oft-quoted idiom. Without a reliable Palestinian partner, the Israeli public seems to have chosen to dance with itself.
Editors' Picks
Where Does the Buck Stop? James Cartwright, Amos Yadlin, Atlantic. While its military capabilities enable the U.S. to be patient with Iran, for Israel the window for military action is rapidly closing.
Kissinger the Jew Gil Troy, Tablet. “The outsider even as an insider, he endured the president’s anti-Semitic rants—and then endured the same contemptuous cries of ‘Jew-boy’ from harsh critics in Israel.”
“Hitler's Reign of Terror” Emily Greenhouse, New Yorker. A 1934 documentary of Nazi oppression might have galvanized America against Hitler; but under pressure from Germany, the film was banned.
Hanging in the Balance Lee Smith, Weekly Standard. Facing hostile actors on nearly every border, Israel aims to preserve the regional balance of power—a task made all the more delicate by American indifference.
Nabokov's Jews Benjamin Ivry, Forward. A sympathetic portrayer of Jews in his fiction, Vladimir Nabokov denounced anti-Semitism as "philistinism in all its phases" in both Russia and the United States.
Going Nuclear Michael Segall, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Iran already has the technological capacity to produce one nuclear bomb—it is just waiting for the right moment to "break out."
In Defense of Kissinger Robert D. Kaplan, Atlantic. Despite being America's first Jewish Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger dismissed the refuseniks as "not an American concern." But, "Kissinger’s realism was more effective than the humanitarianism of Jewish groups."
Lessons in Counterterrorism Greg Myre, NPR. "Israelis have figured out how to live with this contradiction: Something terrible could happen at any moment and there's no reason to let fear dictate how you live."
How Kabbalah Shaped Mormonism Tomer Persico, Haaretz. Joseph Smith was versed in Christian commentaries on Kabbalah as a teenager, but it was from a Jew named Alexander Neibaur that he came to understand the "secret Jewish Bible."
Is Israel Isolated? Efraim Inbar, Middle East Quarterly. "A closer look at Israel's relations with countries near and far, as well as with international institutions, belies the claim that it is isolated. In fact, Israel is increasingly acknowledged as a world player."