Friday’s Yediot Aḥaronot published an article about potential legal troubles for the family of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. The article describes how a close family member sent a letter to the Attorney General describing how the Yosef family has been trying to take over positions within the Chief Rabbinate through the appointment of family members. There [...]
A new poll (Hebrew) released in Israel shows the potential of Yair Lapid and Aryeh Deeri to upend the makeup of the Knesset. Without Lapid or Deeri heading a party, the Likud wins 38 seats, Yisrael Beiteinu 16, Kadima 15, Labor 13, and Shas 8. With Lapid and Deeri running, Likud wins 25, Lapid 20, [...]
This morning, the mayor of Beit Shemesh, Moshe Abutbul, gave an interview (Hebrew) on Galei Tzahal. Why was there rioting the other night? The police didn’t know how to handle the situation. Why are some fanatic ultra-orthodox attacking little girls? It’s an unnecessary provocation to put the school in their neighborhood. What he doesn’t get [...]
In a recent column in the Jerusalem Post that called for greater tolerance among secular and religious groups in Israel, Jonathan Rosenblum wrote the following: Jews, unlike Moslems, have a millennia-long history of living as a despised minority. Minority status has also imbued us with an appreciation of prudence. Satmar Chassidim in Williamsburg, for instance, [...]
The limits that a democratic society can place on the freedom of speech is a difficult question. During the past few days this question has been in the headlines in Israel. The reason for this is that the police detained Rabbi Dov Lior after he refused the be investigated regarding the approbation that he wrote [...]
On Sanhedrin 17b there is a discussion about the עיר הנידחת (“an idolatrous city”) that was to be destroyed. The Talmud addresses how many cities can be destroyed within a specific time period and geographic area. One of the reasons given for limiting the number of cities was to minimize the desolation of the Land [...]
A number of people have written about Mahmoud Abbas’s op-ed piece in the NYT, focusing on what they claim are inaccurate statements about what happened in 1948 and the reasons why his family left Tzefat/Safed. See e.g. Elder of Ziyon, Daled Amos, and Jeffrey Goldberg. They are all correct that Abbas’s piece is filled with [...]
With the word Nakba being in the news during the past few days, I thought that some might find the following interview with Arieh Lova Eliav interesting. Eliav was someone who could truly say that he helped build the modern state of Israel. He was also one of the first Israelis to call for the [...]
The most recent of the never ending spats centered around Jerusalem was the destruction of the Shepherd’s Hotel. For some commentary on the issue see this post by Yaacov Lozowick and this one by the Magnes Zionist. I happen to think that both of them are partially right, Yaacov Lozowick in the larger political picture, [...]
From an article in the Jewish Week. Here are a few snippits. He said he is trying to reclaim the Sephardic heart within Shas, “so the world is watching me.” He began to speak out, he noted, because “Israel is in big trouble and it is time to go back to the tradition” of tolerance [...]
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