Swiss illustration of I Maccabees.

The First War of National Liberation

This is the 2,179th anniversary of the world's first war of national liberation. There have been many since. To a surprising extent, such wars have followed the pattern first established by the Maccabees. They, like later heads of independence movements, were leaders of a people conquered and occupied by a great empire.

The History of the Menorah  Daniel Sperber,  Journal of Jewish Studies.  When the Maccabees recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem, its golden menorah was gone. So, following a soldiers' custom, they made a menorah out of their hollow spear-heads.  SAVE

Sri Lanka Leader Says International Criticism “Tainted”  Agence France-Presse.  There were international allegations that the Sri Lankan army massacred civilians as they ended the Tamil rebellion. The Sri Lankan president disagreed.  SAVE

The Warrior Rabbi  Aryeh Tepper,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Shlomo Goren, first chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces, helped revive the tradition of the Jewish warrior.  SAVE

Mel and the Maccabee  Alex Joffe,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Should Mel Gibson play Judah Maccabee in "Hannukah—the Movie?"  SAVE

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Orthosexuality

The Talmud tells a story about one Rabbi Kahana who hid under the bed of his master, Rabbi Abba (better known as Rav), as the latter was having sex with his wife. Kahana, shocked at the type of frivolous language used by his mentor, commented that Rav was behaving ravenously.

Rendezvous with Reality  Benjamin Abramowitz,  Commentator.  Yeshiva University's student newspapers have published articles far more sexually explicit than the currently controversial one—but they all had educational or journalistic merit.  SAVE

A Guide for the Orthoplexed  Steven Bayme,  Lookstein.org.  The Newlywed's Guide to Physical Intimacy has generated a lively discussion on a forum for (mostly Orthodox) Jewish educators.  SAVE

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Love, Marriage, and the Israeli Rabbinate

The organization Tzohar is fighting for the right to perform its popular "alternative" weddings in Israel. A recent dispute with the Ministry of Religious Services was apparently resolved after a media war, frantic mediation, and a high-level Knesset meeting.

The Chief Rabbinate  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Founded as a body that would help unify the modern Jewish state, the rabbinate (Hebrew: rabbanut) has evolved into something else entirely.  SAVE

Fairy Tale  Merav Michaeli,  Haaretz.  Calling a Tzohar wedding an "alternative" shows how keenly some Israelis want to escape the rabbinate's authority.  SAVE

Will Tzohar Declare War on the Rabbanut?  Elli Fischer,  On the Contrary.  In the area of kashrut, the rabbinate is not transparent or accountable; but Tzohar may not have the will to mount a fundamental challenge.  SAVE

Has the Chief Rabbinate Outlived Its Usefulness?  Shlomo Riskin,  Jerusalem Post.  The rabbinate is unfriendly and inflexible—but it can be reformed.  SAVE

Without the Rabbinate, I'll . . .  Yair Ettinger,  Haaretz.  In addition to marriage, initiatives to sidestep the rabbinate also exist in the realms of divorce, conversion, and burial.  The Chief Rabbinate responds to Haaretz's series here.  SAVE

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In the Jewish Dark Continent

Most American Jews descend from ancestors who resided in the Pale of Settlement, the territory from the Black Sea to the Baltic in which Jews were confined by the Czars.  A new book describes one effort to chart that territory.

Still Lives  Vox Tablet,  Tablet.  An interview with the authors of a book on newly discovered photographs from the An-Sky expedition. (With slideshow)  SAVE

Of Devils and Dybbuks  Allan Nadler,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Far more than modern Jews care to admit, demons, imps, and spirits permeate the history, and even the present-day consciousness, of many of their co-religionists.  SAVE

The Weaver  Gabriella Safran,  Jewish Review of Books.  An-Sky the revolutionary hoped that by reminding Jews of their ancestors' lives and crafts, he could make them more creative, more socialist, and less capitalist.  SAVE

Photographic Memory  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Roman Vishniac created a famous book of photographs of shtetl Jews—but left out images that didn't fit his story.  SAVE

The Phonoarchive of Jewish Folklore  Lyudmila Sholochova,  National Library of Ukraine.  The story of the Jewish music archive at the Vernadsky National Library, which contains original wax cylinder recordings from the An-Sky expedition.  SAVE

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Lieberman, Horowitz.

The Book of Life

The High Holy Days are traditionally a time for introspection. Even the sturdiest soul must pause with trepidation over the more harrowing passages in the somber liturgy of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Who shall live, and who shall die?

Secret of the Sabbath  Yosef Yitzhak Lifshitz,  Azure.  What is the Sabbath ban on work really about?  SAVE

Bring Back the Sabbath  Judith Shulevitz,  New York Times.  Interrupting the ceaseless round of striving requires a surprisingly strenuous act of will, one that has to be bolstered by habit as well as by social sanction.  SAVE

Manuals for the Dying  Avriel Bar-Levav,  Sh’ma.  Historically, the work of caring for the dying predated the rituals that came to govern it. (PDF)  SAVE

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