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Leading Figures


One Woman Army One Woman Army
Monday, June 27, 2011 by Daniel Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Andrei Sakharov, the great nuclear physicist and human-rights campaigner, had been dead for two years by the time I came to his Moscow apartment in the early summer of 1991. Elena Bonner, his widow, was there, still defiantly at war with the faceless foe that had slaughtered her family, exiled her and her husband, slandered her Jewish name, and lied about it all.
The Osirak Precedent The Osirak Precedent
Thursday, June 23, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In May 1981, eight Israeli fighter jets were on the runway waiting for the go-ahead to execute the most daring operation ever undertaken by the Israeli air force: flying more than 1,000 miles east over enemy territory to destroy Osirak, Iraq's nuclear reactor.
Hebrew School Hebrew School
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 by Allan Arkush | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Samson Benderly, one might say, had crusading in his blood. A direct descendant of Jacob Emden, the zealous 18th-century European battler against Sabbateanism, he spent his youth in Palestine before coming to the United States in 1898 with the aim of becoming a physician.
Is Israel’s Labor Party Finished? Is Israel’s Labor Party Finished?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

What has become of Israel's left-wing Labor Party some five months after its leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, abruptly defected to establish his breakaway Atzmaut (Independence) Knesset faction?
No Ford in Israel’s Future? No Ford in Israel’s Future?
Thursday, June 16, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

With little fanfare, the Ford Foundation has initiated a phased withdrawal from its long, largely behind-the-scenes campaign to influence Israeli politics.
Anti-Semitism and Man at Yale Anti-Semitism and Man at Yale
Monday, June 13, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The modern university is no longer made up simply of departments and regular professors teaching students. Ancillary centers, programs, and initiatives proliferate, undertaking research on every conceivable topic. The fates of such entities rarely make the New York Post. But anti-Semitism is not a normal subject.
American Orthodoxy and Its Discontents American Orthodoxy and Its Discontents
Friday, May 27, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

A "case study in institutional decay": that description of Orthodox Judaism in America was offered in 1955 by the late sociologist Marshall Sklare. It has long since entered the gallery of scholarly misjudgments, acknowledged as such by Sklare when events turned out to belie his assessment.
No Springtime for Palestinians? No Springtime for Palestinians?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 by Sol Stern | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In his May 19 speech celebrating the Arab Spring, President Obama expressed enthusiasm for the "movements for change" that have been unseating tyrants previously supported or tolerated by the United States. In language echoing that of his despised rival George W. Bush, he adopted as his own the idea of promoting democracy in the Middle East.
Israel and Western Guilt Israel and Western Guilt
Friday, May 20, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

"Confront Your Privilege." So reads a "subtly coercive" sign on display at tony American liberal-arts colleges. Why coercive? Because, as Wilfred McClay explains in an illuminating recent essay in First Things, what such signs are really telling the students is, "Feel Guilty."
What Would Ben-Gurion Do? What Would Ben-Gurion Do?
Thursday, May 19, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

How would David Ben-Gurion handle himself if he were the one scheduled to meet Barack Obama on May 20 and address a joint session of the U.S. Congress a few days later? That hypothetical question has been aired frequently by Israelis in the run-up to Benjamin Netanyahu's pending appointments in Washington.
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Editors' Picks
Syrian Dreams Avigdor Lieberman, Jerusalem Post. Although many expect Syria to degenerate into radicalization if Assad falls, Israel's minister of foreign affairs refuses to give up hope that Syria's middle class could build a liberal democracy.
Mr. Popularity Susan Hattis Rolef, Jerusalem Post. Shimon Peres was widely reviled during his career in the Labor Party, much to the bemusement of political pundits. But, just as inexplicably, he has come to enjoy near-universal approval as President.
Defending Defense Mitch Ginsburg, Times of Israel. When Amir Peretz commissioned a missile defense system five years ago, he faced blanket opposition from the IDF, who saw attack as the best form of defense. But none doubt Iron Dome now.
Settling a Legacy Chaim Levinson, Yair Ettinger, Haaretz. As the settler movement is divided over whether to follow Zvi Yehuda Kook's theoretical refusal to cede land or his practical compromises, the young are gradually deserting religious Zionism for Hasidism.
Disagreeing with Dagan Jonathan S. Tobin, Contentions. The public warnings by Meir Dagan against a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran have captured the headlines, but closer analysis shows that he agrees with Netanyahu more than he cares to admit.
Rhetorical Record Dan Senor, Wall Street Journal. Obama claims to have done more for Israel's security than any previous president, but his record, along with the discontent it has provoked within the Democratic party, tells a different story.
Courting Change Mati Wagner, Times of Israel. As chief justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Dorit Beinisch brought the judiciary into the thick of public debate. Her successor, Asher Grunis, will favor a new era of judicial restraint.
Tiptoeing Around the Tal Law Jerusalem Post. In responding to the ruling that the law which exempted Haredim from military service is unconstitutional, Netanyahu must resist the political temptation to force Haredim to serve.
Israel's African Influx Dan Kosky, Times of Israel. If Netanyahu genuinely wants to control illegal immigration to Israel from Africa, he should be constructing a proper legal process to separate economic migrants from asylum seekers.
Crisis of Succession Yair Ettinger, Haaretz. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the spiritual leader of Israel's Lithuanian Haredi community, has never chosen a successor. Now that he is critically ill, the Haredi world may soon be facing a power struggle.