History & Ideas
Jews in Arab lands spoke much the same Arabic as their neighbors. But the notion that they thought of themselves as Arab Jews, pushed now in some circles, is a historical absurdity.
Technologies have radically changed religions in the past. But that doesn’t mean they’ll do so this time.
The story of “the nation’s greatest men’s tailor.”
Zionism, Communism, vegetarianism, and the “Ghandi of East Broadway.”
The possibility raised by the discovery of an intriguing inscription on an ancient column.
A visit to Joseph Roth’s hometown of Brody.
The great philosopher and jurist also wrote ten treatises of medicine. What ideas about human life do they contain?
In her latest short fiction, the great American Jewish writer retells the true story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Italian boy taken by the pope in 1858 and raised to become a priest.
Abraham Cahan’s still-relevant vision of America’s place in the world, and the Jews’ place in America.
Abraham Cahan was one of America’s first great Jewish newspapermen, and set an example of independent thinking that the nation could sorely use today.
The great rabbi introduced puzzling questions of philosophy and religion right under the surface of his writing. What are they?
The director of UN Watch explains the human-rights movement’s divorce from Israel.
A Jewish lawyer coined the term because there was no word that described the murder of a whole people. But the definition he favored is so loose it can apply to almost any conflict.
An expert introduces the life and mind of the rabbi and great Jewish philosopher.