Israel & the Near East
Fueling Israel’s FutureThursday, July 21, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Are abundant natural resources a blessing, or a curse? Israel, thus far burdened with a crippling dependency on imported oil and gas, has had astonishing success in developing its human resources—so much so that it has flourished economically even in the current global recession.
The Good FenceWednesday, July 20, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Just about anything that makes Israel more secure is opposed by someone: either by its enemies and their enablers, or by its fair-weather friends in the international arena, or by dissident elements within the Jewish community—and sometimes by all three. A case in point is Israel's West Bank security barrier.
A Tale of Two Nation-StatesFriday, July 15, 2011 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What made Greece, long a pro-Arab country with a history of anti-Semitism and a notoriously soft line on terrorism, stop political activists from sailing a flotilla to Gaza? What led Greece to rush fire-fighting helicopters to the Mt. Carmel fire?
The Bible and the Good LifeThursday, July 14, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
What manner of work is the Hebrew Bible? The 17th-century freethinker Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza had an answer. As part of his war to emancipate philosophy from the influence of religion, he reduced the biblical message to, in effect, one word: obedience.
A Two-Day Weekend in Israel?Friday, July 8, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
With July 4th behind them, Americans can look forward to closing out the summer season with Labor Day on September 5th. All told, they will enjoy ten national holidays. And, of course, they have the leisure of weekends.
What is Aggadah, and How to Read ItThursday, July 7, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Although the Talmud is best known for its discourse on religious law, its pages contain a vast amount of non-legal material, including ethical teachings, interpretations of biblical narratives (midrash), and excurses on topics from brain surgery to dream interpretation.
Getting Birthright WrongWednesday, July 6, 2011 by Philip Getz | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In mid-June, The Nation magazine, which for decades has provided a special platform for Jewish critics of Zionism, published an article by a young alumna of Birthright Israel, the organization that since 1999 has sent 260,000 young Diaspora Jews (including this writer) on free ten-day tours of the Holy Land.
In the Wake of the AltalenaThursday, June 30, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Ships and their comings and goings have lately been a fixation over at Haaretz, Israel's chief left-wing newspaper. One of the paper's advocacy journalists has been writing enthusiastically about joining up with a pro-Palestinian flotilla that intends to smash Israel's naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
One Woman ArmyMonday, June 27, 2011 by Daniel Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Andrei Sakharov, the great nuclear physicist and human-rights campaigner, had been dead for two years by the time I came to his Moscow apartment in the early summer of 1991. Elena Bonner, his widow, was there, still defiantly at war with the faceless foe that had slaughtered her family, exiled her and her husband, slandered her Jewish name, and lied about it all.
Following the Strong HorseFriday, June 24, 2011 by Elliot Jager | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A Druse physician from the Golan Heights, who works at an Israeli hospital, was one of 24 members of his community arrested for pummeling IDF troops with rocks during so-called Naksa Day protests. Just where do Druse loyalties lie?
Editors' Picks
Elite Philanthropy in Israel Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Philanthropy Daily. Two scholars see a distinctive pattern emerging among elite Israeli philanthropists. For starters, they're not particularly religious.
Jewish Literacy and Jewish Imagination Samuel Lebens, Haaretz. If they wish to make an impact, progressive Jewish activists and thinkers must learn to speak the language of Judaism.
Mourning, Melancholia, and Maimonides Jon Sommer, Zeek. Perhaps because a number of medieval Jewish philosophers were also mathematicians and astronomers, their writings on suffering offer commonsensical guidance still useful today.
Paupers' Cemetery Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom. For over a century, the Sambusky Cemetery on Mount Zion has been looted for masonry and covered with garbage. But now plans are afoot to restore it and properly commemorate its dead.
Chaos Theory Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, Haaretz. Despite Israeli fears, the Arab Spring will not translate into hostile Islamic theocracies across the Middle East. Instead, the region's popular revolts will divide Israel's enemies.
Digging Tiberias Matti Friedman, Times of Israel. Long beloved of archeologists but overshadowed by more famous sites, the ancient metropolis of Tiberias is finally emerging from underneath soil, rubble, and the remnants of an old garbage dump.
Newton the Theologian Aron Heller, Associated Press. Known for revolutionizing empirical science, Isaac Newton was also an influential theologian. His writings on Scripture and mysticism (as well as his prediction of the apocalypse) have now been digitized in Israel.
Israel's African Influx Dan Kosky, Times of Israel. If Netanyahu genuinely wants to control illegal immigration to Israel from Africa, he should be constructing a proper legal process to separate economic migrants from asylum seekers.
The False Crusade Peter Frankopan, New York Times. The medieval narrative of the First Crusade as a Papal expedition to conquer Jerusalem is still rarely questioned; yet the roots of the Crusade lie not in Rome but rather in Byzantium.
Crisis of Succession Yair Ettinger, Haaretz. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the spiritual leader of Israel's Lithuanian Haredi community, has never chosen a successor. Now that he is critically ill, the Haredi world may soon be facing a power struggle.