Observation ·
Haketiya, the Spanish Yiddish
By PhilologosLike Ladino, Haketiya grew out of the Spanish of Jews exiled from Spain. Like Yiddish, it has a range of loving, spiteful, sarcastic, ironic, anxious, and superstitious expressions.
The Jewish World
Latest Mosaic Content for The Jewish World
Observation ·
Podcast: Eli Steinberg on the Warriors of Torah
By Eli Steinberg, Tikvah Podcast at MosaicWhat were 27,000 ḥaredi men doing in a sports arena in Philadelphia last week, and what does it reveal about their world?
Observation ·
Is a Christian Delicacy Behind the Shlissel Challah Phenomenon?
By PhilologosOrthodox Jews on Instagram have become obsessed with baking key-shaped challah. Is the idea derived from a decidedly non-Orthodox source?
Response ·
Who’s Afraid of Ritual Slaughter?
By Eric MechoulanInsects may be welcome on European plates, but not kosher meat.
Response ·
The Marcionite Offensive
By Michel GurfinkielEuropean hypocrisy on animal rights and ritual slaughter comes straight from an ancient Christian heresy.
Observation ·
The Best of Mosaic in 2022: Israel, the Jewish World, Politics
By The EditorsAs 2022 comes to a close, we’re looking back at some of our favorite stories from this year. Today, we focus on Israel, Jews across the world, and on contemporary politics.
Monthly Essay ·
The Haredi Moment Has Arrived
By Eli SpitzerThe balance of power in the Jewish world is shifting to the ultra-Orthodox. Can conflict with the current establishment be avoided?
Observation ·
Brazil’s Bizarre Love of Comparing Things to the Holocaust
By Igor SabinoFrequent and outrageous use of Holocaust imagery is now part-and-parcel of Brazilian political dialogue. How did this happen, and why?
Observation ·
What Jonathan Sacks Gave
By Robert P. George, Rabbi Meir SoloveichikTwo friends, a leading Catholic thinker and a leading American rabbi, pay tribute to the late chief rabbi, and his legacy both here and in Europe.
Observation ·
What the Mizrahim Lost, and What Fairness Demands Be Done About It
By Emily BenedekThe majority of Israeli Jews, Lyn Julius points out in her book Uprooted, are not new to the Middle East—they were moved from one part of it to another.
Observation ·
“A Lot of People Want Malmö to Fail, Just as They Want Salahuddin and Me to Hate Each Other”
By Annika Hernroth-RothsteinA visit with an imam and a rabbi who together are attempting the impossible in Sweden's most notoriously anti-Semitic city.
Response ·
How Lenient Should Standards for Conversion to Judaism Be?
By Shlomo BrodyThere's an argument for leniency particularly in Israel, where the surrounding society naturally facilitates some form of ritual observance on the part of would-be Jews.
Response ·
Jews Wanting to Draw Others Closer to Judaism Should Ask Themselves Why
By Hillel HalkinIt’s all very well to be excited by the prospect of millions of new Jews. It’s something else to grasp that each already has a life that stands to be changed forever.
Monthly Essay ·
The Restoration of the Jewish People
By Ofir HaivryUnprecedented numbers of individuals with some historical connection to the Jewish people are seeking closer contact with it, and many are aspiring to join it.
Response ·
The AMIA Saga Is Not Some Long-Ago and Safely Buried Horror
By Avi WeissThe continued cover-up and obstruction of justice make it a potential future horror as well, and Buenos Aires is still at risk.
Response ·
In Argentina, France, and Elsewhere in Europe, Attacks on Jews Are Judged by a Separate Yardstick
By Ben Cohen“This odious bombing was aimed at striking Jews who were going to the synagogue, and it hit innocent French people."
Monthly Essay ·
The Shameful Cover-Up of the Worst Attack on Diaspora Jews Since the Holocaust
By Avi WeissA personal look at the 25 years that have passed since the bombing of an Argentine Jewish center that killed 85 people, with no progress toward justice.
Observation ·
What’s Behind the Resurgence in French Anti-Semitism
By Harry Zieve CohenA new book forthrightly stares the various brands of French anti-Semitism in the face. Whether the author succeeds in placing them in their proper context is another question.
Observation ·
The Mind-Boggling Story of Shlomo and Yemimah Gangte
By Hillel HalkinHow a young man from a village in northeast India, convinced of his hidden Jewish roots, moved his family to Israel, became an Orthodox rabbi, and turned into a national hero.
Observation ·
The Journey to Jewtown
By PhilologosThe origins of two strange names for French villages that are now suburbs of Paris.
Observation ·
The Unique Architecture of Jewish India
By Al HymanA new book portrays a community of enduring faith and proudly distinct character dating back to pre-Roman times: a remarkable Jewish path through time.
Observation ·
What Life Is Like for Jews in Cuba
By Dovid MargolinNow that Americans can easily visit the "Latin paradise," I jumped at the opportunity to see first-hand the reality of life for its few remaining Jews. It isn't pretty.
Response ·
Where Would Russia’s Jews Go?
By Konstanty GebertThe situation for Jews in Russia is far from ideal. But where is it ideal?
Monthly Essay ·
The Prospect for Russia’s Jews
By Maxim D. ShrayerOutwardly secure and flourishing, the community is a fraction of its former size and dwindling. What troubles the minds of those who stay?
Observation ·
Cupping in Jewish Life and Law
By PhilologosA form of folk medicine now in the news thanks to Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps, cupping has a long history in Judaism.
Observation ·
“Next Year in Birobidzhan!”
By Walter LaqueurIn 1928, a "Jewish autonomous region" was set up in the far east to provide a home for Soviet Jewry. But, as a new book describes, it was no solution at all.
