Miriam Shaviv

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British Jewry’s Self-Inflicted Wound

By Miriam Shaviv

The opening of Britain’s brand-new Supreme Court last month was an occasion for celebration. But for some sections of Britain’s Jewish community, it was accompanied by trepidation.Read More

Non-Jewish Husbands, More Jewish Kids

By Miriam Shaviv

In her new book, Keren R. McGinity, left, traces the attitudes of intermarried women toward Judaism throughout the 20th century. She argues that as the century progressed, intermarried women became significantly more likely than their male counterparts to retain their Jewish identityRead More

Thoroughly Modern Marranos?

By Miriam Shaviv

Diego Arias was born a Jew in 15th-century Spain, but his parents converted him to Catholicism following a wave of anti-Jewish persecution. Later in life, as royal chief financier of Castile, and one of the most powerful figures in the land, he enjoyed chanting Jewish prayers; ate hamin, a stew in the style of a traditional Sabbath cholent, on Saturdays, and was once seen treating a Christian saint’s effigy with disrespect. Yet he did not consider himself the least bit Jewish, and — just to complicate matters further — occasionally expressed skepticism about all religions.Read More

Disraeli, Please Come Home

By Miriam Shaviv

Queen Victoria once asked Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th-century British prime minister, about his “real” religion.Read More

Studying the Results of the ‘Year in Israel’

By Miriam Shaviv

Since the 1980s, it has become the norm in the Modern Orthodox community for high-school graduates to spend a year studying in yeshivas in Israel. More than 1,000 American 18-year-olds each year, including up to 90% of the graduates of Modern Orthodox schools in New York, immerse themselves in Jewish law, custom and thought, away from the influence of their families, at a critical stage in their lives. Yet until now, there has been no full account of the programs — including who runs them, how they operate and what is really taught in them — and barely any hard data measuring their impact. How do the students change? How long does the change last? And is this responsible change or, as some parents fear, too much, too fast?Read More


 

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