Jewish Ethics, from Ancient Bible to Modern Bus

The next time someone tells you that ethical behavior doesn't need a foundation in religious teaching, step onto an Israeli bus (it doesn't have to be the gender-segregated variety) or open a mass-circulation Israeli newspaper and see how religion puts Jewish ethics on steroids.

The Pale God  Aryeh Tepper,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Spinoza begins the process of turning God from an interventionist to a grandfatherly figure sitting in a corner.  SAVE

Hope in a Democratic Age  Alan Mittleman,  Oxford University Press.  Mittleman explains that hope should be viewed as not merely a sentiment but an ethical choice and a virtue that is critical to modern democracies.  SAVE

The Business of Ethics  Havruta.  A Hartman Institute symposium on the responsibilities of the Jewish community toward the needy (PDF; 2010); also briefly summarized here.  SAVE

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The Dangerous Mr. Nelson

Eric Nelson is a danger to academia. You would not think so from his background. He is the Frederick S. Danziger Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University. He has had a proper education, at Harvard and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Jerusalem and Athens  Leo Strauss,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Strauss's seminal essay on the Greeks, the Hebrew Bible, and the profound differences between the two.  SAVE

Created Equal  Joshua Berman,  Oxford University Press.  While ancient Greece is often considered the cradle of political thought, "the patrimony of modern political thought rests no less squarely in the texts of the Bible."  SAVE

The Bible and the Good Life  Aryeh Tepper,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Arguing with God is one thing. Where is the evidence that the Bible is a philosophical text?  SAVE

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The Pale God

Imagine God not as a benign force infusing the universe with love and sustaining it with mercy, and not as a stern judge smiting sinners from on high with his cosmic zap-gun, but as a grandfatherly figure, kind but, truth be told, somewhat out of it, sitting in a corner, tolerant of the various paths his children have chosen.

A Portrait of Israeli Jewry  Asher Arian, Ayala Keissar-Sugarmen,  Avi Chai Foundation.  A comprehensive study of religious behavior among Israeli Jews, worshiping Spinoza's pale God. (PDF)  SAVE

Secularism and Its Discontents  Yehudah Mirsky,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A dependence on the idea of Jewish "tradition" has been a hallmark of Jewish secularists and proto-secularists for nine centuries or so.  SAVE

Spinoza: A Life  Steven Nadler,  Cambridge University Press.  The first complete biography of Spinoza in any language—and a portrait of 17th-century Jewish Amsterdam.  SAVE

Gender Trouble  Yehudah Mirsky,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Israel's secularists have their work cut out for them in implementing their vision of a moderate, state-friendly Judaism.  SAVE

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America the Biblical

The Greeks did not invent equality. Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and the gang famously believed that the rich are different from you and me—not merely because they are shaped by their privileges but because they are actually, literally made of superior stuff.

Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece  Kurt A. Raaflaub, Josiah Ober, Robert W. Wallace,  University of California Press.  Athens may have recognized political equality among citizens, but not just anybody could be a citizen.  SAVE

Americanism: the Fourth Great Western Religion  David Gelernter,  Random House.  "America is no secular republic," Gelernter says; "it's a biblical republic."  SAVE

The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah  Alan L. Mittleman,  Lexington Books.  There is a "theological-political predicament" in modern Jews' spiritual dependence on their surrounding political systems.  SAVE

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Judaism on Steroids

Ryan Braun, the reigning MVP of baseball's National League, is having a rough offseason. On December 12, ESPN reported that Braun had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug (PED) after a league-mandated drug test revealed elevated levels of testosterone in his system.

Braun’s Temple  Richard Sandomir,  New York Times.  Why such interest in whether a ballplayer plays a game or worships on a High Holy Day? Call it the Greenberg-Koufax Yom Kippur Precedent.  SAVE

The Golden Age of Jewish Ballplayers?  David Elfin,  Moment.  Profiles of Braun, Craig Breslow, Ike Davis, Danny Valencia, and Kevin Youkilis.  SAVE

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