Article Archives

The Mad Zionist

British Major-General Orde Wingate, who fought in theaters from Palestine to Burma, was a military genius.  He was also a Zionist's Zionist.  A new Wingate biography tries to explain why.

The Outliers

Bukharan Jews are often viewed as a group of isolated exotics.  In fact, they are not so different that there has ever been much question about their belonging to the Jewish people.

As a Driven Leaf

Milton Steinberg's As a Driven Leaf is no literary masterpiece.  But the novel, with its story of a notorious 2nd-century, C.E. heretic, has been in print for 75 years.  What accounts for the book's appeal to generations of modern Jews? 

Rejoice When Your Enemy Falters?

Proverbs says, "When your enemy falters do not rejoice and when he stumbles do not feel glee."  Does that apply even if your enemy is really, really evil? 

Back When the Jews Built Like Jews

In December 1872, authorities in Florence halted elaborate plans for a grand synagogue and criticized the city's Jews—for not building more Jewishly.

Shani Boianjiu and the Past and Present of Jewish Literature

Israeli writer Shani Boianjiu's first novel, composed in English, is a rare contemporary addition to the Jewish tradition of transnational literature. 

Fresh-Baked Matzah and the Spirit of Capitalism

Small-scale matzah bakeries in Israel are enabling people to fulfil the mitzvah of baking matzah—and strengthening communities.

What Is Free Will?

For millennia, philosophers have attempted to prove or disprove the existence of free will.  Ludwig Wittgenstein saw this as a misguided exercise—which obscures a genuine moral issue.

Eizenstat on the Jewish Future

In his new book on the Jewish future, Jewish diplomat Stuart Eizenstat sees Jewish destiny evolving in the friendly competition between the sovereignty of Israel and the pluralism of America.

The National Library

I counted on the National Library at the Hebrew University as my senior citizen’s refuge, my succor in my declining years, a protective womb that leads to a new learning.  But all this will soon change.