Anti-Semitism and Man at Yale
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Continuing our retrospective, we revisit Alex Joffe's critique of the unwillingness of Western universities to confront contemporary anti-Semitism, first published June 13, 2011.
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.
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.
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.
Who's Sadat? Or, Defining Israel Literacy Upward
Monday, March 4, 2013 by David B. Starr | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
American Jewry is becoming less and less well informed about Zionism and Israel. Can anything be done to reverse this decline?
The Fool and the Assassin
Monday, February 18, 2013 by Dan Kagan-Kans | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Most movie stars don't act, they play themselves. Danny Kaye, the biggest star of all in the 1940s and 1950s, who would have been 100 last month, was different.
Is Judah Halevi's Kuzari Racist?
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 by Ari Ackerman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
A recent attempt to redeem the Kuzari from the charge of ethnocentrism raises the question as to whether Jewish texts should be reinterpreted to accord with modern sensibilities.
Department of Excuses: BDS at Brooklyn College
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 by Jonathan Marks | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Brooklyn College's BDS panel was no "open forum to discuss important topics," but anti-Zionist evangelism—which no academic department could support in good faith.
"Touch not Mine Anointed Ones"
Friday, December 21, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Contemplating what occupies God all day, the Talmud declares that "during the last set of hours, God sits and teaches Torah to children who died untimely deaths."
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.
Bad Education Vigen Guroian, Imaginative Conservative. "I try to explain to my pupils that envy is despicable," wrote Martin Buber, "and at once I feel the secret resistance of those who are poorer than their comrades."
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.
Blue-Collar Haredim Sam Sokol, The Tower. In 1979, 90 percent of haredi men in Israel were employed; by 2011, that figure had fallen to under 50 percent. But now the trend is starting to move in the other direction.
Education, Education, Education Maristella Botticini, Zvi Eckstein, PBS. "The literacy of the Jewish people, coupled with a set of contract-enforcement institutions, gave the Jews a comparative advantage in occupations such as crafts, trade, and moneylending."
Teaching Like Strauss Lee Trepanier, Imaginative Conservative. Countering the scientization of the academy, Leo Strauss defended philosophy as the route to understanding "the dignity of the mind," and thereby "the true ground of the dignity of man."
Memorializing the Rav David Shatz, YU News. On the occasion of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's 20th yahrzeit, some thoughts on how his thought will be conveyed to a generation that did not know him.
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?"
Dumbing Down The Talmud? Gil Student, Jewish Action. The ArtScroll Talmud App makes the Talmud with an English translation available for iPad. But certain features ensure that the text isn't too accessible.
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."
Does Harvard Favor Jews? Andrew Gelman, AndrewGelman.com. Commentators hailed Ron Unz's recent article claiming that today's Ivy League universities underrepresent Asian-Americans and overrepresent Jews. But his calculations don't add up.