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Jewish education


The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School
Monday, May 20, 2013 by Aryeh Klapper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

As Jewish Ideas Daily nears its re-launch, we look back at some of our highlights over the last three-and-a-half years—beginning with Aryeh Klapper's day-school proposal, first published May 14, 2012.
The Decline of the Rabbi-Intellectual The Decline of the Rabbi-Intellectual
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 by Zach Mann | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The congregation-based scholars of yesteryear labored to make Judaism intellectually stimulating as well as emotionally stirring and politically applicable.  
Orthodox Schooling: What Do We Know? Orthodox Schooling: What Do We Know?
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

80 percent of American Jewish day school students are Orthodox, but there is little research on the state of Orthodox education—because the Orthodox community has never funded it.
Eizenstat on the Jewish Future Eizenstat on the Jewish Future
Friday, March 15, 2013 by Jerome A. Chanes | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In his new book on the Jewish future, Jewish diplomat Stuart Eizenstat sees Jewish destiny evolving in the friendly competition between the sovereignty of Israel and the pluralism of America.
The National Library The National Library
Thursday, March 14, 2013 by Rochelle Furstenberg | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

I counted on the National Library at the Hebrew University as my senior citizen’s refuge, my succor in my declining years, a protective womb that leads to a new learning.  But all this will soon change.
Reform of Tradition, Tradition of Reform Reform of Tradition, Tradition of Reform
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Max Lilienthal’s life provides a lens through which we watch American Judaism, Reform Judaism in particular, struggle with the consequences of its own idiosyncratic condition.
Max Lilienthal’s Aborted Return Max Lilienthal’s Aborted Return
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by Allan Arkush | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In Bruce L. Ruben’s new biography Max Lilienthal: The Making of the American Rabbinate, about one of the pioneers of the American Reform movement, I was surprised to learn that Lilienthal almost made a second trip to Tsarist Russia.
Crisis in the Curriculum Crisis in the Curriculum
Monday, October 22, 2012 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

In 1953, in a bold move, Israel passed a State Education Law.  Before then, Israeli education was run by political movements and parties which used their schools not just to teach the three R's but to indoctrinate as many unsuspecting youngsters as possible.
Yeshiva Revolution Yeshiva Revolution
Friday, September 7, 2012 by Yoel Finkelman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Shaul Stampfer, one of Israel's foremost experts on Eastern European Jewry, is the most unlikely of iconoclasts.  A thin, quiet, unassuming man, he gives the impression that he would have been happy as a simple melamed (elementary school teacher) in the shtetls he describes.
Englishing the Talmud Englishing the Talmud
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

According to a rabbinic tradition recorded in the Talmud (Shabbat 12b), God’s angels do not understand the Aramaic language in which the Talmud itself is mainly composed. As many a modern reader can testify, they’re hardly alone.
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Editors' Picks
Israel's Talmudic Turn Sid Slivko, Jewish Week. Educators reaching out to young secular Israelis in the hope of introducing them to the Talmud have discovered a willing audience.
The Post-Yeshiva Synagogue Yonatan Kaganoff, Torah Musings. In American Orthodoxy, a fair number of synagogues have shifted from being places for whole families to gather to becoming places for men to pray and, especially, to study.
Prolonging the Inevitable Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. Private donations to the haredi kollel system in Israel help to ensure that haredi men never acquire the skills they will need when they are forced to enter the workforce.
Don't Just Celebrate Mishael Zion, eJewish Philanthropy. "How fitting would it be if the week of Yom Ha'atzma'ut would be a time in which American Jews educate themselves on Israel’s challenges and opportunities."
Torah—at the Taxpayer's Expense Harry Maryles, Jewish Week. "What kind of message does it send to the world that our vaunted Jewish minds are put to use to milk the welfare system for our own benefit?" 
Vienna's Jewish University Cnaan Lipshiz, JTA. To its founder, the Lauder Business School is a first-rate business university for European Jews.  To Austria, it is a chance to "re-establish Vienna as the seat of Jewish intelligentsia."
Limmud Turns 33 Clive Lawton, eJewish Philanthropy. "As far as I remember, this was the first time in the Jewish world that Orthodox Jews could hear what Reform Jews really thought and vice versa."
E Pluribus Unum? Ashley Rogers Berner, First Things. The United States requires all publicly funded schools to be secular, but several European governments provide public funding to religious schools.  Which model is better?
The Zionist of Vilna Michael Freund, Jerusalem Post. On the 215th anniversary of the Vilna Gaon’s death, he should be remembered not only for championing Talmud study but also for encouraging thousands of Jews to make aliyah.