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EruvOne of the more obscure municipal systems knocked out of commission by late February's blizzards along the Atlantic seaboard were eruvim. These, as the New York Times explained, are networks of poles and wires that construct symbolic boundaries around Jewish communities, thus enabling the observant to carry objects through outdoor public spaces on the Sabbath. The prohibition against carrying is of ancient vintage, attested in the book of Jeremiah (17:21-22): ". . . and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; neither carry forth a burden out of your houses." The Talmud (Shabbat...
Friday, March 12, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi condemned al-Qaeda and the full-face veil, but his devotion to Hosni Mubarak abetted the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood.My Zionism
Friday, March 12, 2010 by Yossi Sarid | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
A sort of credo by a prominent former Knesset member, cabinet minister, and leader of the Meretz party.Bystander Effect
Friday, March 12, 2010 by Ahmad Saeid | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
One and a half billion Muslims, held everywhere at bay by a tiny world community of Jews, can learn a lesson from their enemies.The Night Arafat Kissed Me
Thursday, March 11, 2010 by Walter Russell Mead | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Why are Americans so supportive of Israel?Reading like a Middle Easterner
Thursday, March 11, 2010 by Lee Smith | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Interpretations of American policy are couched in stark conspiratorial terms by Muslims and Arabs, and are often manipulated by their regimes.Labor Relations
Thursday, March 11, 2010 by Christoph Schult | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Jews who worked in Nazi ghettos during World War II still wait for their pensions.
The Gift of Humboldt ParkThursday, March 11, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
"I am an American, Chicago born"—Augie March's opening flourish, mixing New World swagger with Yiddish syntax—was the calling card of his creator, Saul Bellow, whose own march through American and world literature came to an end five years ago today according to the Hebrew calendar. Born in Montreal in 1915 to Russian-Jewish parents, Bellow moved at age nine to Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. Doubly migrant, the multilingual boy (French, Yiddish, Hebrew) became an avid student and celebrant of that most American city. After university, wartime service in the Merchant Marine, years in Europe and New York, he returned to Chicago in...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 by Israel Harel | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
The director was right in claiming his film does not "represent" Israel. If it did, it would never have been nominated for an Oscar in the first place.How Matzah is Made
Thursday, March 11, 2010 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Touring a Shmurah bakery in Lawrence, Long Island. And see the leading matzah factory in Israel.
