The Riddle of the Satmar

An Overdue Marriage Proposal Michael Freund, Jerusalem Post. Reforms to Israel's religious bureaucracy, announced this week, will force rabbis to compete for clients.

Iran and the Brotherhood Eric Trager, Washington Institute. Iran is becoming increasingly unpopular in the Arab world—except among Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

A Voice from Salonika Nina Caputo, Marginalia. A 19th-century Ladino memoir, published last year, depicts Salonikan Jews tyrannized by a despotic rabbinic ruling class that benefited from exorbitant taxes and fees.

“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.

Fallen Soldier Joseph Berger, New York Times. Boruch Spiegel, who was one of the last survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, escaped the Nazis via the sewers, only to return to the city to fight with Polish partisans a year later.

Israel's Interests in Syria Efraim Inbar, Begin-Sadat Center. "Israel would be better served by having a failed state next door than by having a strong, Iranian-backed entity there."

Another Crime of Passion Larry Poland, Abraham Cooper, Yitzchok Adlerstein, First Things. Most of the Jewish characters in the History Channel's The Bible look like "imports from Texas."  But Caiaphas and company are made to appear distinctively Jewish. 

Archeology on the Battlefield Jesse Casana, ASOR Blog. From the Iraqi Revolt of 1920 to the upheavals of the Arab Spring, war and revolution have dictated the focus of archeological research in the Arab and Muslim Middle East.

Beef with the Butcher Nic Cavell, Dissent. In 1902, working-class Jewish women in New York rioted to enforce a boycott against price-gouging kosher butchers. A new "street musical" dramatizes their battle.

Listening to Israel's Arabs Alexander Yakobson, Fathom. The claim that the Arab citizens of Israel are essentially and fundamentally alienated from the state is plain wrong.

Ghosts of Scandals Past Rafael Medoff, JNS. Seventy years ago, FDR used the IRS to target a group lobbying for the rescue of Jews from Nazi Germany; but Roosevelt's investigators ended up as sympathizers.

What Happened on the Temple Mount? Noah Wiener, Bible History Daily. Carbon tests suggest that wooden beams removed from the al-Aqsa Mosque may have originated in the Temple built by King Herod.

Restoring the Grand Gesture Naftali Brawer, Jewish Chronicle. Whatever happened to the worship of God through a spontaneous outpouring of the soul?

Go West, Young Man Jeremy Gillick, Moment. Joining the Californian gold rush in the 1850s, Jews discovered a land with no established hierarchy, no significant anti-Semitism—and no rabbis.

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.

Fatah’s Two Faces MEMRI. On Nakba Day, Mahmoud Abbas endorses a two-state solution even as his party refuses to recognize the Jewish state and claims a right, which “never expires,” of return to Israeli land.

The Post-Yeshiva Synagogue Yonatan Kaganoff, Torah Musings. In American Orthodoxy, a fair number of synagogues have shifted from being places for whole families to gather to becoming places for men to pray and, especially, to study.

Discovering Gush Halav Aviva Bar-Am, Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel. Despite centuries of persecution, Galilee-based Christian followers of a hermit named Mar Maroun have refused to abandon their faith.  Sound familiar?

Could the Holy Ghost be Jewish? Philologos, Forward. The roots of a quintessential Christian concept trace back to the Hebrew Bible.