Education

History without Witnesses

Deborah E. Lipstadt — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

As the Holocaust disappears from living memory, what matters is not who is speaking but who is listening.

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 Very English Institution

Simon Gordon — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Last week some 600 Jews converged on the hamlet of Kerhonkson in upstate New York for Limmud NY, a three-day "marketplace of Jewish ideas." Now in its eighth year, the volunteer-run Limmud NY is open to professional teachers and amateurs alike.

Unity in Adversity

Ofra Bengio — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Deteriorating Israeli-Turkish relations have caught Turkish Jews in the crossfire. Yet Limmud Istanbul testifies to a community as resolute and vibrant as ever.

Renaissance in Russia

Alex Weisler — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The idea of bringing Limmud to the former Soviet Union was dismissed as ridiculous. But now, with a network from Odessa to Beersheba, it is rejuvenating the Russian-speaking Jewish community.

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.

Human Rights and Religious Wrongs

Jonathan Neumann — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Although the discourse on human rights has a long pedigree, traceable at least to early modern natural rights theory and politics, the philosophical case for human rights against one alternative, religion, has yet to be made.

Write On for Israel

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The advocacy journalism program that trains high school students in pro-Israel writing, speaking, and broadcasting.

Three Talmudists Confront the Evil Urge

Shai Secunda, Amit Gevaryahu, Eva Kiesele, Raphael Magarik — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

A symposium on the psychological, historical, and rabbinic development of the yetzer hara picks up where Jewish Ideas Daily left off.

Indices, Plural

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

The New York Times' recent report on a new index to the Talmud neglected to point out that this work stands in the shadow of a 16th-century index—one that, perhaps, changed the course of Jewish history.

Bullies, Sluts, Bulimics . . . and Supreme Court Justices

Shira Kohn — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Given the numbers of women involved over the decades, historians won't be able to ignore the Jewish sorority experience for much longer. (PDF)

Decoding Day School Enrollment

J.J. Goldberg — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

Despite two decades and millions of dollars spent pushing the idea, Jewish day schooling just isn't catching on among non-Orthodox American Jews.

Jerusalem and Athens

Leo Strauss — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

The holiday of Hanukkah is, in part, a celebration of the victory of traditionalist Jews over Jews bent on assimilation to Greek Seleucid culture. As such, the second-century B.C.E. Maccabean revolt has resonated throughout the ages not only as a key historical contest, but as a wellspring for interpretations of the divergent views of the Hebrews and the Greeks.

Digging that Hole

Efraim Karsh — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Attempting to defend his political science department against charges of bias, one professor betrayed the true depth of the problem by likening Israel to Nazi Germany in several key respects.

Geoffrey Hartman's Jewish Turn

Andrew Bush — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

The scholar's aim is not to tear down the temple of the Western academy, but to build a third, distinctively Jewish pillar within it. Its name is midrash.

A Guide for the Orthoplexed

Steven Bayme — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

The Newlywed's Guide to Physical Intimacy has generated a lively discussion on a forum for (mostly Orthodox) Jewish educators.

Secular U.

Mathew N. Schmalz — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

What might Grayling's "atheist university" look like? Like a conservative Catholic or Evangelical Christian institution, perhaps.

The (God-Free) Good Life

Nina Rastogi — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Grayling recommends five titles for their perspectives "on how to live a satisfying and morally good life."

Saintly Scientist

Benjamin Ivry — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

Co-winner of the 1925 Nobel Prize in physics, James Franck's achievements and extended hand to postwar Germany are long overdue for a returned hand from his native country.

Narrating the Law

Dvora E. Weisberg — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST

A new work of Talmud scholarship challenges the traditional distinction between halakhah and aggadah by identifying an overlapping literary genre: the talmudic legal story.