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Modern Times


Going the Distance Going the Distance
Friday, April 27, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Israel is a nation-state. In contrast, Diaspora Jewry—in particular, American Jewry—is a network of voluntary communities, constituting not just different structures but different life-worlds. While it is usually taken for granted that nation-states and their respective diasporas will grow apart, with Jews the issue is hotly debated.
Independence Day Independence Day
Thursday, April 26, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Every spring, within a single week, Israel commemorates Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Ha'atzma'ut. These days revisit the core drama of the modern Jewish experience.  They are also among the most controversial in the Israeli calendar.
The First Lady of Fleet Street The First Lady of Fleet Street
Monday, April 23, 2012 by Susan Hertog | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Her story is as old as Eve—lust for knowledge and power, disillusion, tragedy and rebirth—and as new as the modern world's technologically based global empires. It begins in the ghettos of Frankfurt and the cities of ancient Babylonia and ends in the mansions of Mayfair and country estates of England.
The Education of a “Wise Man” The Education of a “Wise Man”
Friday, April 20, 2012 by Allan Arkush | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Eddie Jacobson was once a folk hero among American Jews, and even today he is far from forgotten. In their authoritative book A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel, Allis and Ronald Radosh tell how Truman's old business partner did his part to bring Israel into existence.
Righteous Among <i>Our</i> Nation Righteous Among Our Nation
Thursday, April 19, 2012 by Chaya Glasner | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Even before visitors walk through the door of Yad Vashem, they see a powerful tribute to Holocaust heroism. Along the Avenue of the Righteous leading to the museum, thousands of trees bloom in honor of the approximately 21,000 "Righteous Among the Nations," courageous Gentiles who defied the Nazis and risked their lives to save Jews from deportation.
A Real Titanic Love Story A Real Titanic Love Story
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 by Philip Getz | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

One hundred years ago today, the RMS Carpathia pulled into New York's Pier 54 carrying 705 survivors of the Titanic disaster. Most of the survivors were women and children from first class. But Ida Straus, one of the wealthiest and possibly one of the oldest women on board, was not among them.
Getting Hitler Getting Hitler
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Some cataclysmic events occur with the speed of a train wreck; others unfold over months or even years. Nassim Nicholas Taleb's 2007 bestseller The Black Swan argues that the more earth-shattering the event, the less likely that the press will provide an early warning.
Poison Pen Poison Pen
Monday, April 16, 2012 by D.G. Myers | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

A Nobel Prize-winning German novelist—a former SS soldier, no less—accuses the state of Israel of seeking to exterminate an entire people, and the literary republic yawns. But when Israel bars its accuser from entering the country, because ex-Nazis have no place in the Jewish state, the cries of "bullying" and "censorship" nearly drown out the original accusation.
Not Everything is Illuminated Not Everything is Illuminated
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 by Ben Greenfield | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Judaism is famously infatuated with text; and the New American Haggadah, with contemporary authors Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander listed as editor and translator, respectively, is the latest in a long line of love letters by Jews to their object of adoration.
Like a Player Like a Player
Thursday, April 5, 2012 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Sports fans and religious adherents often speak the same language—of allegiance and passion, drama and catharsis, belief and faith, idols and icons, shrines and cathedrals, curses and blasphemy. When these two empires intersect, it is no surprise that there is often a struggle for primacy.
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Editors' Picks
India's Jewish General Aimee Ginsburg, Open. Asked to name a great Jewish warrior, few Jews would point to Jack Jacob. But in his native India, the Jewish general who won the Indo-Pakistan War is a hero.
Dolphins from Deutschland Ronen Bergman, Spiegel. Angela Merkel thought Israel was going to freeze settlements in return for getting German nuclear-capable submarines. There's been no freeze, but Germany is sending the subs anyway.
Intellectual Guilt Jonathan S. Tobin, Contentions. The spate of attacks on French Jews since the Toulouse massacre flows from not just the anti-Semitism of Arab leaders but its legitimation by the European intelligentsia.
Bild-ing Zion Igal Avidan, Times of Israel. A new Frankfurt exhibition asks, why did Axel Springer, Christian publisher of the German newspaper Bild, openly take sides with the Jewish people after World War II?    
Missing Mubarak Jacky Hougy, Globes. As Egypt passes sentence on Mubarak, some in Israel are mourning an ally. But Mubarak was no friend of Israel—and the military dictatorship which he led still holds the levers of power.
Not Just Peace Barry Gewen, New Republic. Citing various instances of individual reconciliation, a new book questions the so-called clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. But personal anecdotes are no guide to statecraft.
The Other Olympics David E. Sanger, New York Times. The U.S. cyberwarfare program (likely working with an Israeli partner) has frustrated Iran's nuclear project for six years. But now that the virus is loose, America must be braced for retaliation.     
Defender of the Faiths Jonathan Sacks, London Times. While committed to defending the Anglican faith, Queen Elizabeth II has also played a significant role in the transformation of Britain into a multi-ethnic, multi-faith society.
Good Queen Bless Jonathan Fishburn, Fishburn Books. While Jews have long prayed for the welfare of their rulers, the upcoming Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II calls for special liturgical compositions. (PDF)
Non-Arab Spring Emanuele Ottolenghi, Times of Israel. Analytic focus on the Arabs misses the real beneficiaries of the ongoing Middle Eastern revolutions: the non-Arab minorities who have gained autonomy and, in some cases, even statehood.