Rabbinic Literature
Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After AllWednesday, November 23, 2011 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation recommending that Thursday November 26th of that year be devoted "to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
The Great Orthodox ComebackTuesday, November 1, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The resurgence of Orthodoxy may be the most profound, and is certainly the most surprising, transformation of Judaism in the past 60 years.
The Genesis of Modern ScienceTuesday, October 18, 2011 by David Curzon | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton, and the other founders of modern science were all believers in the truths of the opening chapter in the Hebrew Bible.
Jonah and the Music of Yom KippurThursday, October 6, 2011 by Michael Carasik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Leviticus 10 tells us that Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died for bringing "strange fire" before the Lord in the wilderness. As a result of their deaths, according to Leviticus 16, God instructed Moses to ordain an annual Day of Atonement.
Who Owns Maimonides?Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by Joshua Halberstam | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
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.
Rosh Hashanah with the Chief RabbiTuesday, September 20, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Ten years ago, the first day of Rosh Hashanah—the two-day Jewish New Year—fell on September 18. That was one week after September 11, 2001, when almost 3,000 people were killed by Muslim terrorists. On that Rosh Hashanah, rabbis did not lack for sermon topics.
Mysteries of the MenorahThursday, September 8, 2011 by Meir Soloveichik | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On the eve of Tisha b'Av, 2011, archeologists revealed artifacts newly unearthed from the great Jewish revolt against Rome (67–70 C.E.), including coins minted by the rebels and a stone incised with a sketch of the Temple menorah. But what is the menorah, and what does it symbolize?
The New Enemies of CircumcisionThursday, August 11, 2011 by Jon D. Levenson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Among the practices that have characterized the Jewish people over the millennia, surely none has been observed more widely, or more faithfully, than circumcision.
Reconstructing JudaismWednesday, August 3, 2011 by Joseph J. Siev | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
At a time when all three major Jewish denominations in America—Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform—find themselves in a state of deep internal fracture, a fourth and much smaller movement, Reconstructionism, has just voted to create a unified body to coordinate the activities of its lay and rabbinical arms.
Slaughterhouse RulesFriday, July 29, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Pending approval by its upper house of parliament, the Netherlands will join Switzerland and a handful of other Western countries in mandating that animals slaughtered for food must first be stunned unconscious, generally by a hammer blow to the skull.
Editors' Picks
Cancelling Conversions Shlomo Brody, Jerusalem Post. Fraud? Sin? A romantic link to a Gentile? Under what circumstances can a conversion to Judaism be annulled?
Sorrow in the Talmud Marc Bregman, H-Net. Counterintuitively, traditional Jewish teaching inculcated right behavior by relating how even the greatest leaders sometimes failed to behave according to their own principles.
The Stranger in Our Midst David Ellenson, Daniel Gordis, Times of Israel. Even if we cannot eradicate the complexity of our tradition's attitude to conversion, we must understand the pain it causes for those who seek to join us.
Standards and Practices Shlomo Brody, Jerusalem Post. The idea that one may convert without intent to carry out mitzvot is a minority opinion.
Fixed Stars Govern a Jewish Life? David S. Zinberg, Rationalist Judaism. An alarming fundamentalist tendency has arisen in Orthodox thought—leading, for instance, to a book whose premise is that astrology is a true science having the full support of Jewish tradition.
I'm Waiting for the Ham Raphael Fuchs, Jewish Press. Some Jewish sources suggest that pig will one day be kosher. Come again?
The Practice of Musar Geoffrey Claussen, Conservative Judaism. The Conservative movement likes to see itself as intellectual one. But it might have something to learn from a 19th-century movement of strenuous moral development.
Face to Face Gavi Brown, Kol Hamevaser. One was a talmudist, the other an ontologist—yet the two figures' work reveals striking similarities. Either it was a case of plagiarism or an instance of cosmic significance.
What Jews Should Know about the New Testament Amy-Jill Levine, Biblical Archaeology Review. By reading the New Testament in its historical contexts, Jews can better comprehend not only Christianity's polemics, but its point of departure from Judaism.
Trailing the Rabbis' Breadcrumbs Judith Shulevitz, Tablet. What is man? He who is capable of searching inside himself. What does he search for? Some dark or foreign matter that he has put there himself. With what does he search? The light of God, which is also in himself.