Good Girl Gone Bad

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.

Boycotting the Boycott Charlie Laderman, Standpoint. Instead of "respecting” the boycott, Spanish novelist Antonio Munoz Molina accepted the Jerusalem prize  saying, "there is in Israel a society that is alive, democratic, pluralistic and open, in which I can recognize myself as a citizen."

Israel's Strongest Union Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom. "Simple arithmetic teaches us that contrary to the official announcement on Monday, the defense budget wasn't actually cut by 3 billion shekels.  In fact, it was actually increased by 2.5 billion shekels."

Friends Again? Shashank Joshi, Fathom. The recent rapprochement between Israel and Turkey has repaired diplomatic ties, but the relationship is not about to be restored to what it once was.

The Samaritan Torah Chavie Lieber, Tablet. The Samaritan version of the Torah, recently translated into English, differs from the Masoretic text in 6000 instances—but has far fewer discrepancies with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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.

Voice in the Wilderness Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Cardozo Academy. "Avraham found God in the desert and so the people of Israel received the Torah in a place of ultimate authenticity: The Desert of devastating conditions and great opportunities."

A Love Letter from God Jonathan Sacks, Jewish Press. "In giving the Torah to Israel, God was not asserting His power, dominance or lordship over Israel.  He was declaring His love."

Children of the Revelation Gil Student, Torah Musings. From equality to heresy via dueling mountains, here is your guide to Revelation at Sinai and its aftermath. (E-book)

Where Worlds Collide Eli Rubin, Chabad.org. "At Sinai—the Torah tells us—'God descended upon the mountain.'  From this point on, man would be able to enjoy a direct relationship with the essentiality of the divine self."

The Theology of Cheesecake Ben Elton, Jewish Chronicle. "It is anything but trivial to turn eating cheesecake into a religious experience, it is an example of the Jewish genius."