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Religion


Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews Imaginary Vampires, Imagined Jews
Monday, July 11, 2011 by Allan Nadler | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

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.
Capital Crime.  Capital Punishment? Capital Crime. Capital Punishment?
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Since its founding, the only person ever to be executed by the state of Israel has been the notorious Nazi, Adolf Eichmann. But the brutal murders of Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their young children this past March has the IDF weighing the possibility of seeking the death penalty for the Fogels' murderers.
Before the Law Before the Law
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 by Suzanne Last Stone and Alan M. Dershowitz | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

The holiday of Shavuot, which falls this year on June 8 and 9, commemorates the giving of the Law. In video interviews conducted by the Israeli media agency Leadel, the prominent legal scholars Suzanne Last Stone and Alan M. Dershowitz explain the differences between Jewish law and Western law, and how their own interest in the former has informed their careers in the latter. —The Editors
Beyond “Religious” and “Secular” Beyond “Religious” and “Secular”
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

What should be the place of the Jewish religion in a Jewish state? There are many putative answers to this question, and the answers have changed over time. When Zionism was still an aspiration, a great blank yet to be filled in, the terms of debate were set by a self-confidently secular dispensation preoccupied with state- and institution-building. In the first few decades of statehood, religion, though state-established, was clearly subservient.
Eichmann Goes Digital Eichmann Goes Digital
Monday, April 18, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

This year, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Eichmann trial, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, together with the Israel State Archives, has posted to YouTube an extraordinary series of videos: over 200 hours of courtroom sessions and testimonies in the original Hebrew, German, and Yiddish, as well as a parallel set with English voiceover. What do they tell us?
“The Sickening Question”: God, Cancer, and Us “The Sickening Question”: God, Cancer, and Us
Monday, April 4, 2011 by Eve Levavi Feinstein | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Many scholars of the Bible and ancient Judaism prefer to focus exclusively on ancient texts and the world that produced them, refraining from engaging with the implications of their work for contemporary religious life. James L. Kugel has never been one of those scholars.
Halakhah for Americans Halakhah for Americans
Friday, March 18, 2011 by Elli Fischer | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Asked in a 1975 New York Times interview how he had acquired his standing as America's most trusted authority in Jewish religious law (halakhah), Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986) replied: ''If people see that one answer is good and another answer is good, gradually you will be accepted."
Jewish Philanthropy 2.0 Jewish Philanthropy 2.0
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Jewish mega-donors are hardly news. It is also a commonplace that wealthy Jews allocate less than 25 percent of their giving to specifically Jewish causes. Of the two facts, the latter has understandably puzzled and frustrated fund raisers for Jewish causes. But is it really so mysterious?
Spirituality Lite Spirituality Lite
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 by Aryeh Tepper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

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.
Skeletons in the Closet of Hasidism Skeletons in the Closet of Hasidism
Friday, February 11, 2011 by Lawrence Grossman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Popular demands for transparency in our institutions and the availability of technological means to achieve it have made it hard to keep secrets. This has affected the conduct not only of government and business but also of religion.
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Editors' Picks
Revisionist Rabbis Yitz Landes, Talmud Blog. A new book argues that the Mishnah's descriptions of Temple rituals serve to "claim authority for the rabbis," by portraying proto-rabbinic decisors as the arbiters of Temple practice. 
The Purpose of Prayer Yakov Danishefsky, Kol Hamevaser. Jews are commanded to worship God.  But do we pray for God's sake, for our own—or both?
Rosh Hashanah, But Not Yom Hadin Ari Enkin, Torah Musings. "Many people mistakenly attribute Tu Bishvat as being the day of judgment for trees.  However, trees are judged on Shavuot, not on Tu Bishvat."
School's Out Forever Seth Berkman, Forward. A new survey reveals that the number of Schechter schools in America has fallen by over 35% since 1998.  Is there a future for non-Orthodox Jewish day schools?
Community, Covenant, and Commitment George E. Johnson, Jewish Ideas and Ideals. While Joseph B. Soloveitchik ruled out religious collaboration with non-Orthodox Jews, he advocated political unity.  But since his death, American Jewry has fractured.
Raised on Hatred Ayaan Hirsi Ali, New York Times. "As a child growing up in a Muslim family, I constantly heard my mother, other relatives and neighbors wish for the death of Jews, who were considered our darkest enemy." 
The Silent Yeshiva Deborah Fineblum Raub, JNS. Ma’aseh Nissim, Israel’s first yeshiva for the deaf, has not only tailored Talmud study to the needs of students who cannot hear, but also brought sign language into the ultra-Orthodox world.
Sending An Emissary to God Dovi Nadel, Kol Hamevaser. The role of sheliah tzibbur (messenger of the congregation) as a prayer leader, is as old as the synagogue.  But the term goes back further still—and is applied to God Himself.
Defending the Faith Allan Nadler, Forward. The Great Partnership, Jonathan Sacks' new book on the relationship between science and religion, is a moving expression of his own faith.  But does it lack intellectual honesty?
When Community Is Not Enough Peter Berger, American Interest. "Religion offers something much more central than community in the abstract: It offers a community gathered around the message that... nothingness is not the final destiny of the universe."