Whose Holocaust?

 

For much of Europe, today is the UN-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has dedicated his address this year to children murdered by the Nazis, with the message that "the best tribute to the memory of these children is an ongoing effort to teach the universal lessons of the Holocaust, so that no such horror is visited upon future generations."

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2011: A Year in Books

 

The holidays are over, the coffee-table books have all been unwrapped and set aside, and winter isn't going anywhere for a while. In short, it's time to settle in for some good reading. The literary critic D. G. Myers here presents the 38 best Jewish books of 2011, all of which merit your attention.

2010: A Year in Books  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  From the popular to the scholarly, a reader's and buyer's guide to 34 of the best books of 2010.  SAVE

Retrieving American Jewish Fiction  D.G. Myers,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  A historical symposium of some neglected classics, and an introduction to the avot and imahot of American Jewish writing.  SAVE

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Highlights of 2011:
Part II

 

Part II of our round-up of the past year's most popular features on Jewish Ideas Daily. (Part I is here.)

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Part II"

Pay to Pray?

 

In the middle decades of the 20th century they were called "mushroom synagogues." They popped up in the waning days of summer to provide High Holiday services, then disappeared at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Today, "mushroom synagogues" are once again in vogue—but with a critical difference.

The High Cost of American Jewish Living  Jack Wertheimer,  Commentary.  The economic recession has exacerbated an ongoing and multifaceted crisis.  SAVE

High Holy Day Scalpers  Chabad of East Bruswick solves comedian Larry David's ticketing dilemma. (Video)  SAVE

Free Tickets to Non-Members?  Steve Friedman, Maxine Sukenik,  RJ.org.  Two presidents of Reform congregations debate the issue.  SAVE

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Insight & Analysis

Is the Kotel Plaza a Synagogue?  David Golinkin.  G’vanim.  How should the State of Israel respond to the increasing religious policing around the Western Wall that is slowly but surely turning the area into a Haredi synagogue? (PDF).  SAVE

Sha-bot  Gil Student.  Torah Musings.  Can a robot be a Shabbos goy? The question is not simple, but it is not without Talmudic precedent.  SAVE

Radical Orthodoxy  Daniel Boyarin.  Book of Doctrines and Opinions.  The Talmud scholar imagines a religious practice, "free of the ethnocentrism and even racism that characterizes so much of contemporary orthodox language . . . that would authentically enable my own radical political commitments." (Interview with Alan Brill).  SAVE

Choose Your Poison  Philologos.  Forward.  Why do some say l'chaim when blessing wine: to confirm that the drink hasn't been poisoned, to dispel grim associations, or simply to make sure that all present are ready for the blessing?.  SAVE

Faith is Not Quite the Word  Martha Himmelfarb.  Daily Princetonian.  The scholar of religion talks about Israel, interreligious friendship, trends in American Judaism, and her own practice, including saying kaddish for her father, sociographer Milton Himmelfarb. (Interview by Robert George).  SAVE

Absolute Citron  Miriam Krule.  Tablet.  "It's easier to grow 2,000 acres of oranges or lemons than to grow one acre of etrogs," says California citrus farmer John Kirkpatrick, the only large-scale grower of the fruit in the U.S.  SAVE

Shaken, Not Stirred  David Rosenberg.  Media Line.  In developing innovative storage techniques for lulavim (palm fronds), Israel's technological prowess went head-to-head against an Egyptian embargo, and won.  SAVE

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