People & Places
Bittersweet CharityThursday, December 8, 2011 by Suzanne Garment | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In a recent issue of Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues, Debra Mesch, director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, together with colleagues, has published an article called "Does Jewish Philanthropy Differ by Sex and Type of Giving?"
Returning to Pearl HarborWednesday, December 7, 2011 by Micah Stein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Vernon Olsen was a 21-year-old seaman assigned to mess hall duty aboard the USS Arizona, a battleship moored in the calm waters of Pearl Harbor. At 7:55 that morning, the ship's air raid alarm sounded.
The Evil InclinationMonday, December 5, 2011 by Raphael Magarik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The yetzer hara, usually translated "evil impulse," is an elusive rabbinic concept. The words derive from God's observation in Genesis 8:21 (paralleled earlier in 6:5) that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth."
From Bucharest to JerusalemFriday, December 2, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The cabinet of Romania headed by Prime Minister Emil Boc came to Jerusalem on November 24 to hold a joint session with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Boc spoke eloquently of the two countries' common security concerns and shared views on peace and security.
Look for the Union LabelThursday, December 1, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
With the din from the Occupy Wall Street encampments fading in the early winter chill, it's time to step back and consider the phenomenon as part of the broader history of the anti-capitalist struggle in America.
Jews and Black BaseballWednesday, November 30, 2011 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Prague has its Altneuschul and Rabbi Judah Loewe, who created the original Golem; Worms has its Raschi-Haus, where the great medieval scholar is said to have studied. And in America, St. Paul, Minnesota has its Temple of Aaron.
Is Judaism a Religion?Tuesday, November 29, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There is no end to the conundrums involved in defining what it means to be a Jew. Must a Jew be someone who believes in the Jewish religion, in the way a Christian believes in Christianity or a Muslim in Islam? That can't be the case, since many devoted Jews are atheists.
Love, Marriage, and the Israeli RabbinateMonday, November 28, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The organization Tzohar is fighting for the right to perform its popular "alternative" weddings in Israel. A recent dispute with the Ministry of Religious Services was apparently resolved after a media war, frantic mediation, and a high-level Knesset meeting.
Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After AllWednesday, November 23, 2011 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation recommending that Thursday November 26th of that year be devoted "to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
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.
Editors' Picks
Stubborn Hope David P. Goldman, Tablet. Bernard Lewis' hopes for Muslim society resonated with characteristic American generosity and optimism. And so his disappointment also is ours.
A Conservative Catechism Diane Cole, Jewish Week. Ten years in the making, the Conservative movement's Observant Life covers halakhah, ethics, and thorny modern issues. Will it resonate with the youth it obviously wishes to court?
The Future Belongs to Religious Conservatives Eric Kaufmann, American. The Jewish example shows that population change can reverse secularism and shift society's center of gravity in a conservative religious direction. It's happening in the U.S.
Forward! Seth Lipsky, Daily Beast. Obama is getting razzed for the hard-Left associations of his new campaign slogan. But the newspaper that made the name "Forward" famous may have been the most anti-Communist in U.S. history.
Press Aftershocks Yossi Nachemi, Times of Israel. The Israeli press has recovered from the surprise announcement of a unity government deal between Likud and Kadima. Now they're grappling with the new political reality.
Anti-Fascist Warrior-Hairdresser Tiffany Gabbay, Blaze. From a Sephardic orphanage to the Haganah to the hair salon, Vidal Sassoon, who died yesterday at age 84, lived a life worth celebrating. (Read an interview with Sassoon here.)
Murder is My Business Elizabeth Greenwood, Guernica. Weegee lived opposite NYPD headquarters, and slept most of the day, rising at night to pack flashbulbs into the trunk of his '38 Chevy and prowl the streets looking for bloodstained sidewalks to photograph.
The First Book Maurice Sendak Ever Illustrated Peter D. Sieruta, Collecting Children's Books. The co-author of Atomics for the Millions asked one of his high school students if he would illustrate the volume. The student agreed to do the artwork in exchange for $100 and a passing grade.
Witnesses to the Bible? Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. Two rare 3,000-year-old models of ancient shrines are among the artifacts claimed by an Israeli archeologist as evidence for the historical veracity of the Bible.
What Next for Netanyahu? David Horovitz, Times of Israel. Just before his colleagues were set to vote the 18th Knesset into history, the prime minister achieved something that he and his supporters will doubtless depict as a political masterstroke. Was it?