Religious Life

In God They Trust?

Elliot Jager — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Stick an average alumnus of the Israeli public school system into a synagogue during morning prayers, and chances are they would be bewildered. Even if they could recollect an arid Bible class they had to endure long ago, what good would it do them? They'd still be lost.

The Lost Tribe of New Mexico

Irene Wanner — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Straddling the border between Colorado and New Mexico, San Luis Valley is home to Hispano communities, where research shows that almost everyone is related by blood. Jewish blood.

Returning to God

Haim Shine — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Some of Israel's founders may have envisioned Jews without God, but their descendants are coming home in droves.

A Portrait of Israeli Jews

Asher Arian, Ayala Keissar-Sugarmen — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Most Israeli Jews feel a sense of affinity—variously defined—to their country and the Jewish people. (PDF)

From New Year to Arbor Day

Moshe Sokolow — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

The holiday of Tu Bishvat ("the fifteenth of Shvat") falls this year on Wednesday, February 8. What are its origins, and when and why did it become incorporated into the calendar as the Jewish "Arbor Day"?

When Have "Most of the Rains Passed"?

Yair Goldreich — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Analyzing the climatic factors that help determine the date of Tu Bishvat.

Creaming the Competition

Elli Fischer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Ruling Haagen Dazs ice cream to be non-kosher, the Israeli chief rabbinate misconstrues Moshe Feinstein's position and once again demonstrates its contempt for Diaspora Judaism.

Disjecta Membra

Benjamin Balint — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

Not for nothing was the Cairo Genizah called "the Living Sea Scrolls": its discoverers revolutionized the study of Mediterranean Jewish life at the very moment that it was drawing to a close.

A Separate Peace

Tamar Rotem — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

A Gur Hasid, who practices a strict sexual separation, will not walk with his wife on the street. He will not call her by name. To address her, he will knock on the table. Or hum.

Cancelling Conversion

Gil Student — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

While many Orthodox rabbis have become too willing to annul conversions, even the non-Orthodox world recognizes that there are some circumstances in which a conversion must be overturned.

Blurring the Issue

Hadassah Levy — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Blurring or removing photographs of women might be understandable in the ultra-Orthodox world, but it should have no place in Modern Orthodoxy.

"Subbotniks"

Eli Ashkenazi — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

In 1876, a community of converts left their native Russia to settle in the Galilee, forsaking their Christian past. Now their descendants are rediscovering their roots.

Bugged by Kashrut

Jonah Lowenfeld — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Whereas fifty years ago Jews rarely worried about bugs in vegetables, today there is a growing market for bug-free produce which is certified kosher. But stricter observance comes at a price.

Whose Holocaust?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

For much of Europe, today is the UN-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has dedicated his address this year to children murdered by the Nazis, with the message that "the best tribute to the memory of these children is an ongoing effort to teach the universal lessons of the Holocaust, so that no such horror is visited upon future generations."

A Stunning Discovery

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

As Holland, among other countries in Europe, seeks to ban Jewish ritual slaughter, new research demonstrating that stunning animals does not minimize their suffering has come not a moment too soon.

The Seed of Israel

David Ellenson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

He has been accused of heresy and expelled from Shas, but Haim Amsalem's lenient approach to conversion in Israel may yet be a blueprint for a more unified nation.

Digital Davening

Michael J. Broyde — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Smartphones have already begun to supplant traditional siddurim; but the potential of the digital revolution to transform the experience of prayer has barely been realized.

Talking Heads

Nathan Lopes Cardozo — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Is wearing a kippah all the time equivalent to not wearing it at all? Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo tells Limmud how his kippah has come between him and God.

Changes

Fred MacDowell — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

On Orthodox liturgical reform during the 19th century, and the case of one British synagogue.

Shrine Online

Sohrab Ahmari — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Unable to restore a shrine with a prominent Star of David in Iran, a U.S. organization and an Iranian-American architect are reviving the site in cyberspace.