Schools
The Moral Costs of Jewish Day SchoolMonday, 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.
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.
Max Lilienthal’s Aborted ReturnWednesday, 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.
Are Day School Vouchers the Answer?Tuesday, August 28, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Is Jewish education a parental or communal responsibility? The privately funded heder, with its melamed, or tutor, emphasizes the parental aspect. The publicly maintained talmud torah, or congregational school, emphasizes the communal obligation.
Jewish Studies, Once and FutureThursday, August 23, 2012 by Adina M. Yoffie | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
It’s that time of year again—not just the High Holidays but the time when Jewish college students pore over online course catalogues and make their choices for the fall semester. Will they take Jewish Studies courses? If so, does it matter which ones?
When Jews Became DoctorsFriday, June 22, 2012 by Jacob Friedman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The study of medicine has fascinated the Jewish imagination for centuries, from the mysterious remedies of the Talmud to the medieval medical practice of Maimonides and the modern age of my-son-the-doctor bragging rights.
The Jewish Left, between History and RevelationMonday, June 11, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The association of Jews with leftist ideas and movements has been a fixture of Western politics for the past 150 years. But is the relationship logical and necessary, or is it historical and contingent?
The Mona Lisa of ViennaWednesday, May 30, 2012 by Susan Hertog | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1857, when Emperor Franz-Joseph pulled down the ancient stone wall encompassing Vienna, the social and cultural traditions of the country seemed to tumble with it. Impoverished immigrants, many of them Jews, flooded in from the east.
Sending Mein Kampf Back to SchoolTuesday, May 22, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Important literature can't be kept under wraps forever. A case in point is Mein Kampf. The German state of Bavaria, which holds the German copyright, has blocked the book's publication within Hitler's homeland.
The Moral Costs of Jewish Day SchoolMonday, May 14, 2012 by Aryeh Klapper | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
There is a lot of hand-wringing these days about whether the rising costs of Jewish day schools are sustainable. The discussion has been about money: How can we get more? How can we spend less? These questions miss the point.
Editors' Picks
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?
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?
Math and Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union Edward Frenkel, New Criterion. A leading mathematician recalls anti-Semitic university admissions in the USSR.
Homeshuling Steve Lipman, Jewish Week. As the cost of Jewish schools in America soars, several hundred families have taken to educating their children at home.
West Bank U. Ira Sharkansky, Jerusalem Post. Think political resistance to a university in Ariel will be bad? It might pale in comparison to academic antagonism from Israel’s seven competing universities . . .
Whither Judaic Studies Departments? Bruce Kesler, New Criterion. In campus atmospheres often hostile to Israel, it's understandable that Jewish Studies departments would be defensive. But they must do more to justify themselves and to fulfill their mission.
Apathy and Anti-Zionism Seffi Kogen, Times of Israel. With their relentless scaremongering about anti-Zionism on campus, Jewish educational institutions have raised a generation apathetic not only to activism but to Israel itself.
We Failed Zuckerberg Dana Evan Kaplan, Forward. A Reform rabbi argues that his movement's pluralistic theology is to blame for the detachment of young Jews from their faith.
Israelis, Learn Arabic! Yaron Friedman, Ynet. Though tiny Israel is surrounded by more than 200 million Arabic speakers, its government has failed to treat Arabic studies with the appropriate seriousness.
Jewish is the New Black Peter Wood, Chronicle of Higher Education. Identity group labels seldom work as their proponents hope—and at CUNY, some faculty members see a new taxonomy as rife with the potential to become a tool of exclusion.