History
A Zionist Who’s WhoThursday, January 20, 2011 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The state of Israel, like the Zionist movement in all its forms—political, cultural, artistic, religious—was an astounding collective creation. The famous names are known, as are the slightly less famous. But what about all the others?
Ladino!Thursday, January 13, 2011 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Long overshadowed by its Yiddish cousin, Ladino—the "other" modern Jewish language, also known as Judeo-Spanish—has increasingly benefited from new waves of scholarly and cultural retrieval.
The Persian PuzzleWednesday, January 12, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A synagogue in today's Jerusalem bears the name "Hajji Yehezkel." Yehezkel is Ezekiel, and Hajji is the Persian term for one who has fulfilled the Islamic precept of going on pilgrimage to Mecca. Who was this Ezekiel, and how did he earn his improbable honorific?
Under FireWednesday, January 5, 2011 by Sol Stern | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The second Lebanon war in the summer of 2006 forced Israelis to come to grips with the definitive end of the Oslo era and the shattering of two fundamental assumptions about the nature of their conflict with the Palestinians.
Lost & FoundTuesday, January 4, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1974, a strange letter from northeastern India landed on the desk of Israel's then Prime Minister Golda Meir. It was sent by a group of Indians claiming to be descendants of the biblical tribe of Menashe.
The Huguenot ConnectionMonday, January 3, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In the darkest hours of the Holocaust, the safest place for Jews in occupied Europe may have been the southern French hamlet of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.
A Year in BooksThursday, December 23, 2010 by D.G. Myers | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
It was a good year for Jewish books in English. From the popular to the scholarly, here is a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best.
Land of the Crescent Moon?Tuesday, December 21, 2010 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When an Islamist suicide bomber accidentally detonated two of the three explosive devices he had brought to a bustling Stockholm shopping district in early December, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt urged his fellow citizens in the "Land of the Midnight Sun" not to jump to hasty conclusions about any jihadist connection. But that may prove tricky.
The DNA SpeaksMonday, December 20, 2010 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Are Jews a "nation" or a "people"? The Hebrew term ‘am means both. Both terms, moreover, have been subjected to disapprobation in our time—although not nearly to the extent of "race," a term that Jews themselves stopped using nearly a century ago. How, then, are we to think about the mounting genetic evidence that points to Jewish biological continuity over time?
The Continuing War for SafedThursday, December 16, 2010 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Safed (Hebrew: Tsfat) is a picturesque town of 32,000 souls nestled in the hills of Galilee. It is also home to a hardline branch of the Islamic Movement looking for ways to undermine Jewish sovereignty.
Editors' Picks
Auster and Erdogan on Human Rights in Turkey Dave Itzkoff, New York Times. The Turkish Prime Minister called the novelist ignorant for refusing to visit Turkey because of all those journalists in Turkish jails. Auster has delivered quite an answer.
Ardor, or Architecture Yonatan Silverman, Jerusalem Post. The holiness of Jerusalem in the Muslim tradition owes less to the Koran than it does to the opportunistic building program of Jerusalem's eight-century Umayyad rulers.
The Big Lie Returns Ben Cohen, Commentary. As long as the enemies of the Jews control the meaning of the term 'anti-Semitism,' Jews will remain vulnerable to the calumny that they alone are the authors of their own misfortune.
Restrictions on the Reformation Dean Phillip Bell, H-Net. The Hebraism which permeated the Reformation did not necessarily translate into increased tolerance of Jews.
Hard Times for Hamas Guy Bechor, Ynet. Its rhetoric is as fierce as ever, but since it's been strangled in Jordan, expelled from Syria, and defunded by Iran, Hamas lacks the friends and money to match.
"Subbotniks" Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz. 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.
Assad in the Balance Daniel Freedman, Forbes. Of all Israel's neighbors, Syria has traditionally been the most hostile. But now that the Arab League has deserted him, President Assad might be open to rapprochement with Israel and the West.
A Conspiracy Against Catholicism? Piers Paul Read, Telegraph. When Captain Alfred Dreyfus was unjustly convicted of espionage, many of those who rallied to his defense were not philo-Semites but militant atheists, bent on destroying his Catholic opponents.
Germany's Jewish Voice Ofer Aderet, Haaretz. With an influx of immigrants from Russia and Israel, Germany's Jewish community is the fastest growing in the world. Now a new quarterly heralds the rebirth of Jewish-German culture.
How Many Came Out of Egypt? Shlomo Karni, Torah Musings. David Ben-Gurion did the math.