Who Owns Maimonides?

Abraham Joshua Heschel once suggested that if one didn't know that "Maimonides" was a person, one would assume it was the name of a university. Heschel was referring to the monumental breadth and influence of the 12th-century philosopher's work.

Perplexed by Maimonides?  Natan Slifkin,  Rationalist Judaism.  A chart of the various approaches to Maimonides' theology, from the academic to the ultra-Orthodox.  SAVE

Mediterranean Maimonides  Jewish Ideas Daily.  For Maimonides, Islamic culture was not just background but shaping influence.  SAVE

The Tale of Maimonides and Peter  Fred MacDowell,  On the Main Line.  Was the great religious philosopher a heretic, as some medieval rabbis thought? A legend extant in many versions tells how he dramatically and successfully dispelled the charge.  SAVE

Sifting the Cairo Genizah  Lawrence Grossman,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  The centuries-old materials found in the loft of a Cairo synagogue include handwritten letters and documents of Maimonides.  SAVE

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Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews

1897 was a watershed year in Jewish history. And now, Jewish historians may consider adding a surprising entry to the list of that year's events that proved so repercussive in Jewish history: the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Creatures of the Night  David Wolpe,  Jewish Journal.  Their day begins at sundown, they show a certain aversion to the sign of the cross, and they dress in black. Of course, I am talking about Jews.  SAVE

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The Riddle of the Satmar

A prospect terrifying to secular Israelis and Zionists worldwide has been the rapid growth of the Jewish state's ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community. Given the stranglehold of haredi political parties on recent coalition governments, and the encroachments by non-Zionist haredi clerics upon Israel's chief rabbinate, once religiously moderate and firmly Zionist, the fear is not entirely irrational.

The Satmar Hasidic Dynasty  Allan Nadler,  YIVO Encyclopedia.  A concise profile of the ultra-Orthodox sect and its founder.  SAVE

Satmar at the White House  Yeshiva World.  In July 2010, a delegation from Williamsburg to Washington, D.C., protested the activities of the "Zionist state." (Video.)  SAVE

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Spirituality Lite

A simple truth lurks behind the rise of "post-denominationalism" in Jewish religious life. It is that increasing numbers of Jews are becoming less interested in defining what Judaism means than in sampling aspects of the Jewish tradition that seem to promise spiritual vitality.

Hidden Master  Daniel Landes,  Jewish Review of Books.  A modern-Orthodox educator criticizes Arthur Green's Radical Judaism and by extension the Jewish Renewal Movement. (Green responds here.)    SAVE

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