Religion
The Moral Costs of Jewish Day SchoolMonday, 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 HomeWednesday, 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 UndergroundMonday, 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-IntellectualTuesday, 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 BeshtFriday, 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?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.
Faith and MatrimonyFriday, April 19, 2013 by Dana Evan Kaplan | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
An initiative to admit intermarried students to Reform rabbinical schools is yet another indication that Reform Judaism is swiftly becoming not so much a religious movement as a Jewish activities club.
Tithing and TaxesFriday, April 12, 2013 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A significant proportion of tax revenue is used for charitable purposes: food stamps, Social Security, housing assistance, public healthcare. May Jews therefore count tax payments as charitable contributions?
Enigmas of Modern Jewish IdentityTuesday, April 9, 2013 by Stephen J. Whitfield | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Over the course of a lifetime facing modernity's conflicting demands, how might Jewishness affect the struggle to sustain identity, and how might this struggle mark the contours of Diaspora history?
Wednesday, April 3, 2013 by Torah Talk with Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Weekly Portions
Kosher creatures, non-kosher creatures, and what the difference has to do with the priestly calling. (Click here for source sheet.) Download
Editors' Picks
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.
Burial Rights and Wrongs Shlomo M. Brody, Tablet. Should Tamerlan Tsarnaev, co-perpetrator of the Boston bombings, have been buried? Jewish law extends burial rights even to the worst criminals and the most ardent enemies of God.
Rage against the Rebbe Baruch Sterman, Huffington Post. The Pshiskhe Hasidim challenged the establishment belief that "only the great and holy Rebbe could bring salvation," maintaining instead that spirituality comes from within.
Bad Education Vigen Guroian, Imaginative Conservative. "I try to explain to my pupils that envy is despicable," wrote Martin Buber, "and at once I feel the secret resistance of those who are poorer than their comrades."
Prolonging the Inevitable Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. Private donations to the haredi kollel system in Israel help to ensure that haredi men never acquire the skills they will need when they are forced to enter the workforce.
Lost Cause? Francis J. Caponi, Marginalia. A new book argues that the root of the conflict between science and religion is the reductive modern understanding of causality—which many scientists are now rejecting.