Jewish Ideas Daily has been succeeded and re-launched as Mosaic. Read more...

Religion


The Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments
Monday, June 3, 2013 by Leon Kass | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Mosaic has launched!  Read an extract from our inaugural essay on the Ten Commandments here, or go straight to our new site: www.mosaicmagazine.com. 
Orthosexuality Orthosexuality
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Addressing a trend toward greater openness about sexuality in the Modern Orthodox community, Elli Fischer reminds us, in an article first published December 19, 2011, that Judaism has never treated sex as a taboo subject.
Christianity: Good for the Jews? Christianity: Good for the Jews?
Friday, May 24, 2013 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Examining the state of contemporary Christendom in an article first published January 5, 2012, Elliot Jager asks whether Jews have an interest in seeing Christianity thrive—and answers yes.
The Riddle of the Satmar The Riddle of the Satmar
Thursday, May 23, 2013 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In this review of an adulatory biography of the Satmar rebbe, first published February 17, 2011, Allan Nadler considers Judaism's most traditional—and most alienated—community. 
The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School
Monday, May 20, 2013 by Aryeh Klapper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

As Jewish Ideas Daily nears its re-launch, we look back at some of our highlights over the last three-and-a-half years—beginning with Aryeh Klapper's day-school proposal, first published May 14, 2012.
Going Home Going Home
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 by Judah Bellin | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In his new book, Rod Dreher insists that communities are difficult to forge in America’s largest cities.  But for traditional Jews, the demands of modern capitalism and community are not as incommensurate as Dreher assumes. 
The Black-Hat Underground The Black-Hat Underground
Monday, May 6, 2013 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The likely closure of Aderaba, the magazine by, for, and about frustrated Israeli ba’alei teshuvah, demonstrates that the mainstream haredi community is too great to overcome—for now.
The Decline of the Rabbi-Intellectual The Decline of the Rabbi-Intellectual
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 by Zach Mann | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The congregation-based scholars of yesteryear labored to make Judaism intellectually stimulating as well as emotionally stirring and politically applicable.  
Simply the Besht Simply the Besht
Friday, April 26, 2013 by Glenn Dynner | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Earlier biographers of the Ba'al Shem Tov had left him shrouded in the mists of legend.  But Moshe Rosman insisted that "only by bringing the Besht down to earth will it be possible to evaluate his way in the service of heaven."
Orthodox Schooling: What Do We Know? Orthodox Schooling: What Do We Know?
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

80 percent of American Jewish day school students are Orthodox, but there is little research on the state of Orthodox education—because the Orthodox community has never funded it.
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Editors' Picks
Heaven on Earth Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Cardozo Academy. Jewish law rescues man from unrealistic dreams, replacing them with dreams that are viable.
Blowing the Whistle Moshe Simon-Shoshan, Torah Musings. According to respected Orthodox rabbis, the prohibition against reporting Jewish suspects to secular authorities rarely applies in the modern Western world. 
Hiding before God Jonathan Sacks, Algemeiner. "The tallit [prayer shawl] hides the person we are and represents the person we would like to be, because in prayer we ask God to judge us, not for what we are, but for what we wish to be."
No Compromise Ben Elton, ThinkJudaism. Accepting contemporary biblical scholarship amounts to "rejecting the attitude toward the Torah held by every Jew until Spinoza and every traditional Jew since."
Lending Limits Gil Student, Torah Musings. By allowing loans to be reformulated as business deals, the Talmud circumvents the Torah’s prohibition on usury.  But there are limits to when this legal device should be used. 
Restoring the Grand Gesture Naftali Brawer, Jewish Chronicle. Whatever happened to the worship of God through a spontaneous outpouring of the soul?
The Post-Yeshiva Synagogue Yonatan Kaganoff, Torah Musings. In American Orthodoxy, a fair number of synagogues have shifted from being places for whole families to gather to becoming places for men to pray and, especially, to study.
Discovering Gush Halav Aviva Bar-Am, Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel. Despite centuries of persecution, Galilee-based Christian followers of a hermit named Mar Maroun have refused to abandon their faith.  Sound familiar?
Could the Holy Ghost be Jewish? Philologos, Forward. The roots of a quintessential Christian concept trace back to the Hebrew Bible.
The Samaritan Torah Chavie Lieber, Tablet. The Samaritan version of the Torah, recently translated into English, differs from the Masoretic text in 6000 instances—but has far fewer discrepancies with the Dead Sea Scrolls.