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Temple & SynagogueWednesday, December 16, 2009 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The structure defiled by the pagan Greeks in the rabbinic story of the miracle of Hanukkah was a replacement building for the First (Solomon’s) Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. The replacement was itself replaced by the magnificent Second Temple, completed by King Herod around 20 B.C.E. and in turn destroyed by the Romans 90 years later. By then, the centralized model of Temple worship with its sacrifices had already begun to be supplanted by prayer worship in small synagogues both inside and outside the Holy Land. Although the precise architecture of Solomon’s Temple can only be guessed at,...
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 by Haviv Rettig Gur | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
A quarrel between the Jewish Agency and a private organization obscures a more salient fact about American Jewish immigration to Israel.No Time to Be Silent
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Yair Sheleg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Unless countered by religious moderates, increasing extremism in Israel’s national-religious camp will feed a corresponding extremism among secular Israelis.The Scrooge of Hanukkah
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Robert M. Goldberg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
On the dishonesty of Tony Judt.Amplifying anti-Semitism
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Laura Kam | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
On the eve of a global conference in Jerusalem, a summary look at the role of media in the new wave of physical and verbal attacks on Jews.The Last Jews of Beirut
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Josie Ensor | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
The collapse of efforts to restore a historic synagogue signals the impending demise of a once-flourishing Jewish community.
Who Can Retell?Tuesday, December 15, 2009 | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Among the holidays of the Jewish year, Hanukkah may surpass even Passover in the sheer number and variety of the songs devoted to recalling, retelling, and rejoicing in the events of the past and their evergreen message. For American Jews of a certain age nostalgic for their childhood, Diane Ashton deftly surveys the English-language ditties of the 1950’s, from “Who Can Retell” to “I Had a Little Dreydl” and beyond. Today’s casual consumers have their pick of dozens of new CD’s in English, Yinglish, and Hebrew, folk, rock, and heavy metal, many of them rivaling the Christmas market for kitsch. But...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Martin Goodman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
“The question for historians of Judaism is not whether Jews borrowed from Hellenism, but what they did with what they borrowed.” Richly illustrated.Voyage of the Damned
Monday, December 14, 2009 by Elinor J. Brecher | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Seventy years ago, 937 German Jewish refugees aboard the SS St. Louis were refused entry to the United States and forced to return to Europe; yesterday, 33 survivors gathered in Miami.Are Israelis Down on Obama?
Monday, December 14, 2009 by Amjad Atallah and Daniel Levy | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Picks
Not really; but they see little benefit in changing the status quo.
