Women
Good Girl Gone BadWednesday, May 22, 2013 by Margot Lurie | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Among the highlights from our archives is this reflection on Herman Wouk's "plucky, unlucky" heroine Marjorie Morningstar by former editor Margot Lurie, first published October 18, 2010.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
The straying wife of Num. 5:13—was she "seized" or was she "caught in the act"? (Click here for source sheet.) Download
Adorno, Butler, and the Death of IronyFriday, September 28, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Irony cannot exist in isolation; something is ironic only in relation to a larger pattern of events or behavior. Every three years, the city of Frankfurt awards its Adorno Prize to honor scholarly achievement in philosophy, music, film, and theater.
Story Master from AshkenazWednesday, September 19, 2012 by Moshe Simon-Shoshan | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Today, the use of literary theory and criticism to study Midrash and Aggadah—non-legal and interpretive rabbinic literature—is a well-established and even popular endeavor.
The Daily Page: A “Siyum”-posiumThursday, August 2, 2012 by Jacob J. Schacter, Yoel Finkelman, Michael Carasik, Tzvi H. Weinreb, Devora Steinmetz, Moshe Sokolow, Yehudah Mirsky, Mark Gottlieb, David Glasner, Aryeh Tepper, Marc B. Shapiro, Gil Student, Emanuel Feldman, Alon Shalev, Viva Hammer, Shlomo Zuckier, and Saul J. Berman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
UPDATE: New posts as of 8/3/12, 1:11 a.m.
The First Lady of Fleet StreetMonday, April 23, 2012 by Susan Hertog | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Her story is as old as Eve—lust for knowledge and power, disillusion, tragedy and rebirth—and as new as the modern world's technologically based global empires. It begins in the ghettos of Frankfurt and the cities of ancient Babylonia and ends in the mansions of Mayfair and country estates of England.
Jumping with DanceThursday, October 28, 2010 by Margot Lurie | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
"I don't like that people think Israel: war, guns, army. This doesn't really color who we are." Thus speaks Ohad Naharin, artistic director of the Batsheva dance company, which recently completed a triumphantly successful round of performances in New York. To tell the story, and the significance, of modern dance in Israel is indeed to add a bright and distinctive hue to the "color" both of the state and of its cultural achievements, among which Batsheva occupies a place of shining honor.
Good Girl Gone BadMonday, October 18, 2010 by Margot Lurie | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Fifty-five years ago, a star was born: plucky, lucky Marjorie Morningstar, the "American Everygirl who happens to be Jewish." At least, that's how Time described her. Today, depending on whom you ask, Herman Wouk's 1955 novel, Marjorie Morningstar, is either the story of the romantic awakening of a blue-eyed Jewish beauty or a cautionary tale about what happens when you stray too far from your origins.
Editors' Picks
Of Women and Walls Elliott Horowitz, Tablet. At the Western Wall in 1842, William Bartlett saw "seated many venerable men, reading the books of the law," but also "many women . . . kissing its ancient masonry, and praying through the crevices."
The Science of Muddling Through Gil Student, Torah Musings. Drawing on Burke, Chaim Navon argues that women will gradually assume larger roles in Orthodox Judaism—and that those who demand sudden change risk doing more harm than good.
Can A Woman Wear A Tallit? Michael J. Broyde, Torah Musings. Jewish tradition offers little precedent for a woman’s wearing tallit. But the idea that wearing one is an act of rebellion is even less well founded.
Hollywood for Haredim Debra Kamin, New York Times. A recent spate of movies by female Haredi directors has exposed secular film-goers to the ultra-Orthodox world—but has also exposed Haredi women to the cinema.
Telling Israel Like It Is—In Arabic Philippe Assouline, Times of Israel. Boshra Khalaila, an Israeli Arab, has suffered for defending Israel internationally. “But to be accused of treason,” she says, “is the price you have to pay to make a difference.”
A New Paradigm Zev Farber, Jewish Journal. Instead of forbidding women to perform Jewish rituals unless halakhah expressly allows it, they should be permitted to participate unless halakhah expressly forbids it.
A Newer New Paradigm Joshua Maroof, Vesom Sechel. A focus on expanding women’s role in rituals takes us in precisely the wrong direction: We should be looking beyond rituals to the fulfillment of more fundamental mitzvot.
Torah, She Wrote Amy Spiro, Jerusalem Post. Despite the talmudic prohibition on women being scribes, growing numbers of women outside the Orthodox world are writing Torah scrolls.
Women of Valor Vered Ramon-Rivlin, Globes. While most armies remain male-dominated, women have always played a significant role in the IDF—even in the undercover field units of the Mossad.
Equal Rights for . . . Heterosexuals? Mayrav Saar, New York Post. Spouses aren’t property, divorces are easier—Jewish same-sex marriages are leaving some heterosexual couples jealous.