A Very English Institution

Last week some 600 Jews converged on the hamlet of Kerhonkson in upstate New York for Limmud NY, a three-day "marketplace of Jewish ideas." Now in its eighth year, the volunteer-run Limmud NY is open to professional teachers and amateurs alike.

Talking Heads  Nathan Lopes Cardozo,  Cardozo Academy.  Is wearing a kippah all the time equivalent to not wearing it at all? Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo tells Limmud how his kippah has come between him and God.  SAVE

Renaissance in Russia  Alex Weisler,  JTA.  The idea of bringing Limmud to the former Soviet Union was dismissed as ridiculous. But now, with a network from Odessa to Beersheba, it is rejuvenating the Russian-speaking Jewish community.  SAVE

Unity in Adversity  Ofra Bengio,  Haaretz.  Deteriorating Israeli-Turkish relations have caught Turkish Jews in the crossfire. Yet Limmud Istanbul testifies to a community as resolute and vibrant as ever.  SAVE

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Jerusalem and Athens

The holiday of Hanukkah is, in part, a celebration of the victory of traditionalist Jews over Jews bent on assimilation to Greek Seleucid culture.  As such, the second-century B.C.E. Maccabean revolt has resonated throughout the ages not only as a key historical contest, but as a wellspring for interpretations of the divergent views of the Hebrews and the Greeks. 

Hebraism and Hellenism Reconsidered  Louis H. Feldman,  Judaism.  For almost every supposed difference between the two systems of thought, one can point to exceptions or actual similarities; yet certain very real divisions remain.  SAVE

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Jewish Farm School.

Eating Your Values

The many Jewish laws regarding food—how it gets from the ground and into our mouths in a kosher manner—are central to Jewish life.  But what ethical framework underlies the system of kashrut? Maimonides' justifications for kashrut range from avoiding cruelty to animals and eschewing the idolatrous practices of antiquity to considerations of health.

Yiddish Farm  Devra Ferst,  The Jew and the Carrot.  Where Yiddish-language immersion meets sustainable agriculture. (Interview with Naftali Ejdelman)  SAVE

Locusts, Giraffes, and the Meaning of Kashrut  Meir Soloveichik,  Azure.  Sifting historical and contemporary explanations, one Orthodox intellectual settles in the end on divine love and Jewish difference. (PDF)  SAVE

They Were What They Ate  Susan Marks,  H-Net.  A new volume on the role of food in shaping ancient Jewish identity goes farther and deeper than earlier studies of the subject.  SAVE

Slaughterhouse Rules  Elli Fischer,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  As Jewish ritual slaughter makes multiple provisions for the minimization of animal pain, it's evident that those who seek to ban the practice often have something other than animal welfare in mind.  SAVE

Going Kosher  Sue Fishkoff,  JTA.  Reform rabbis of late are challenging their constituents to develop a dietary practice based on such values as sustainability, morality—and, yes, kashrut.  SAVE

Kosher Nation  Jenna Weissman Joselit,  New Republic.  The expansion of the kosher food industry has, ironically, caused kosher food to become invisible.  SAVE

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The Genesis of Modern Science

Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton, and the other founders of modern science were all believers in the truths of the opening chapter in the Hebrew Bible.

Thomism  John O'Callaghan, Ralph McInerny,  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  Thomas Aquinas saw natural law as primarily governing the relations between human beings and God, not the operations of the natural world.  SAVE

Marvels  Eugene Wigner,  Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics.  The appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.  SAVE

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