Response ·
The Mind and Man Behind Philologos
By Hillel Halkin, Jonathan Silver, Andrew KossA conversation about Jews and language.
Subject
History & Ideas
Latest Mosaic Content for History & Ideas
Observation ·
All Good Things Must Come to an End, but What Does That Have to Do with Summer?
By PhilologosPhilologos says farewell.
Response ·
Why the Two-State Solution Is Dead—and What Comes Next
By Elliott Abrams, Jonathan SilverElliott Abrams and Jonathan Silver discuss why the two-state solution is likely dead—and what the most realistic path forward might be.
Observation ·
Free E-Book: A College Guide for the Perplexed
By The EditorsLeading thinkers confront the crisis of anti-Semitism and anti-Western ideology on campus—and explore how America’s universities might yet be renewed.
Response ·
The Perverse Microeconomics of the American University
By Michael HochbergEven in STEM fields, the forces that shape decision-making for students, faculty, and administrators push them towards academic mediocrity and leftist politics.
Response ·
With No Easy Fixes for Middle East Studies, It’s Time for New Programs
By Robert SatloffBreaking out of a field notorious for poor scholarship and ideological capture by Israel-obsessive, activist faculty.
Response ·
The Campus Intifada Is a Golden Opportunity for Those Who Study Israel Seriously
By Avi ShilonThe spotlight on Israel should be seen as a chance to explain the country to those who misunderstand it.
Observation ·
The Use and Abuse of “Genocide” by Those Who Should Know Better
By PhilologosMany people are delighted to be told that Israel is doing to the Palestinians of Gaza exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews of Europe.
Response ·
The Quest for Wisdom, Truth, and Virtue at the University of Dallas
By Jonathan J. SanfordA university is more than a set of departments, and an education is more than a set of facts. Wisdom is inextricable from the knowledge and exercise of moral virtues, and a true education must help shape both.
Response ·
Western Civilization and the Jews: A Shared History
By Steven H. FrankelEven our modern doubts about the West are products of the fruitful tension between Jerusalem and Athens. We cannot hope to understand ourselves without appreciating that tension and its intellectual history.
Response ·
How Islamism Took Over the Middle East
By Ze'ev Maghen, Hussein Aboubakr Mansour, Bernard HaykelThree experts on Arab and Islamic thought discuss the ideas that have mired the Middle East in grievance, instability, and authoritarianism
Response ·
Today’s Jihadism Uses Ancient Vocabulary, but Its Ideas Are Modern
By Hussein Aboubakr MansourIslamists absorbed the ideas of Fanon and Foucault from the air around them.
Response ·
Hamas Didn’t Need to Learn Violence from Frantz Fanon
By Martin KramerWhat Bernard Lewis understood about jihad.
Response ·
Jihadism Is a Modern Philosophy, but Its Islamic Roots Run Deep
By Daniel SonnenfeldMansour risks swinging too far in the wrong direction.
Observation ·
No, the Israeli Minister of Defense Didn't Suggest Creating a Concentration Camp in Gaza
By PhilologosThe problem with history is not that it has no lessons but that the ones it has can be read in opposite ways.
Observation ·
How Mosaics Got Their Name, and How “Mosaic” Got Its
By PhilologosMoses, the muses, and an early-1960s Jewish magazine at Harvard.
Monthly Essay ·
The Enchantment of the Arab Mind
By Hussein Aboubakr MansourToday’s Islamism promises authenticity but is postmodern in form, postcolonial in posture, and pretends to retrieve the sacred through the techniques of the profane.
Observation ·
Do Kippot and Keffiyehs Share an Etymology?
By PhilologosOnly one was a mark of prestige for ancient rabbis.
Response ·
Ancient Jerusalem Reborn: The Discovery of the City of David—and the Palestinian Effort to Erase It
By Doron Spielman, Jonathan SilverRead or watch the conversation between Doron Spielman and Jonathan Silver.
Observation ·
The Forgotten Story behind the “Deep State”
By PhilologosThe real network of criminals, secret police, and dissident officers that transformed the Ottoman empire.
Monthly Essay ·
The Parking Lot That Determined the Future of Jerusalem’s Past
By Doron SpielmanIn the 1860s, a British explorer discovered the City of David. Fifteen years ago, the Palestinian Authority tried to stop those who wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Response ·
Rescuing the Classroom from the High-Tech Takeover
By Mathis Bitton, Jack SadlerDigital technology promised to free students. Instead, it threatens the extinction of education.
Response ·
For Today’s Children, Screens Are Becoming Formative Institutions
By Christine RosenPutting digital dynamite in the hands of babies.
Response ·
The Ed-Tech Revolution: A View from the Frontlines
By Miriam KrupkaTeenagers may love their smartphones, but they know intuitively that real learning doesn’t happen on screens.
Observation ·
The Blood Libel Is Very Old, but the Term Is Surprisingly New
By PhilologosThere’s no more point in arguing with the UN about Israel than there is in arguing about whether Jews really kill Christians for their blood.
Observation ·
“In That Basic Sense the Zionists Were Right”: A Conversation with Irving Howe
By Edward GrossmanAn American Jewish intellectual considers Israel, American Jewry, and anti-Semitism.
Monthly Essay ·
Standing Athwart the Ed-Tech Revolution
By Mathis Bitton, Jack SadlerJewish schools can illuminate the tradeoffs of screen-mediated learning, and show the country how to refocus on education’s higher purposes.
Observation ·
“Get the Jew”: The Crown Heights Riot Revisited
By Michael Pack, Elliot Kaufman, Jonathan SilverWatch or read our discussion with Elliot Kafuman and Michael Pack about the new documentrary on the 1991 pogrom in Brooklyn, and what it means for American Jewry today.
Observation ·
The Origins of “Tariff,” the Most International of Words
By PhilologosBrought from Arabic via Algerian pirates and Italian merchants, it only acquired its current meaning at the end of the 18th century.
Observation ·
The Golden Age of American Jewry Hasn’t Ended. It May Have Just Begun
By Rabbi Meir SoloveichikWhat Winston Churchill and Jerry Seinfeld can teach us about the challenges we face.
