From Haaretz.
Hebrew is alive and well. At least in the Arab and Druze communities. For students from those sectors, the Hebrew language has become the new business administration - a social and professional catapult to get ahead and succeed in life. The sticklers add Hebrew literature, too. It’s a triumph of practicality over ideology. The [...]
Jeffrey Goldberg posts about Rahm Emanuel accepting the post of White House Chief of Staff. He specifically addresses the question of Emanuel’s relationship with Israel, and the serious nature of his post is highlighted by this very funny line, which those who know Israeli slang, and who probably also hold certain political views, can [...]
Some corners of the world are quite excited about one of the recent archaeological discoveries to come out of Israel. In an archaeological dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa, which is not far from where we lived for a few years, what may turn out to be the oldest evidence of written Hebrew on pottery has [...]
From an interview with R. Benny Lau.
Rabbi Benjamin (Benny) Lau, a leading voice of modern Orthodoxy in Israel, believes in “evolution, not revolution.”
When it comes to human rights, women’s rights, treatment of animals and other issues not necessarily considered in the religious realm, Rabbi Lau – the 47-year-old director of the Center for Judaism and [...]
See this article from Ynet about the refusal of a hevra kadisha (burial society) in Israel to allow a family to bury someone in a coffin. (hat tip) For a discussion of the issue, see this responsum (in Hebrew). See here for some scholarly discussion regarding burial practices in antiquity in the Land [...]
From Ynet.
Eleven Israeli backpackers were stranded in a snowstorm in northwestern India during the weekend, and rescued in a complex mission launched by the country’s air force. But two other Israeli backpackers were left behind – refusing to be rescued as it would constitute desecration of Shabbat.
(hat tip)
From the State Department’s most recent report on religious freedom around the world.
“Governments, often seeking to protect the beliefs, traditions and ideology of the majority or dominant religion, took steps to restrict the rights of individuals to proselytize and to change their religion,” said the report, which covered the period June 30, 2007, [...]
At Giluy Milta Balma there is a recent new post about Adjustments for Eretz Israel in Liturgy from the Genizah. These older questions again became relevant with the resettling of large numbers of Jews in the Land of Israel. In the siddur published by the Masorti Movement (Conservative) in Israel, ואני תפילתי, in [...]
During today’s Torah reading, I noticed the following verse, Deut. 19:21,
ולא תחוס עינך נפש בנפש עין בעין שן בשן יד ביד רגל ברגל
“Nor must you show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. “
Do you think that an organization that does such good work as Nefesh [...]
I recently posted about an Hebrew “translation” of the Tanakh that was going to be used in Israeli schools. It turns out that the Bible-lite, as it is being called, won’t be in Israeli schools after all.
The Education Ministry is to ban Bible aid booklets that help elementary and junior high school students by [...]
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