Opinion Articles

Thin constitution needed to stabilize the government amid political crisis

Israel’s political future depends on adopting a thin constitution that prioritizes stability, fairness, and compromise, ensuring democratic governance amid internal divisions.
Thin constitution needed to stabilize the government amid political crisis
Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL

Who Really Cares about Converts?

Recently, however, MK David Rotem of the Yisrael Beiteinu party took up the mantle of this issue and is to be congratulated for this. As the political party supported by the vast majority of Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Yisrael Beiteinu is largely promoting this bill due to its relevance to a large percentage of its constituents. However,…

From Ruth to Natasha

Quick Navigation Introduction Conversion, the process by which non-Jews become Jews, has always occupied an important place on the Jewish agenda. From a theoretical standpoint, conversion is a fascinating phenomenon in many respects: religious and national, historical and social, philosophical and psychological. From a practical standpoint, conversion is an important social institution that is vital for Jewish continuity. Jewish attitudes…

Dismantling Sectarian Cities of Refuge

Responsibility for combating crime is placed, first and foremost, on the various law enforcement authorities: the police, the prosecution, and the courts, which do much, but can still do more. However, in parallel, the onus to act against crime is on each and every citizen and community. How? A sample of four headlines that have besmirched our image recently include…

Our False Apprehensions

On the surface, the Israeli marketplace of ideas crosses a very deep divide that splits us into two camps—"democrats" and "Jews." In practice, only a tiny fringe element objects to the state defining itself as "Jewish" and seeks "a state of all its citizens." Similarly, only a small, marginal group opposes a democratic state and favors an alternative vision, like…

Gamblers in Disguise

The ongoing financial crisis, however, has confronted us with a very different reality: the people most engaged in calculation – whom we entrusted with the responsibility of managing every aspect of our lives, from retirement to natural disasters – acted systematically and persistently in a dangerous manner that eventually led to the collective suicide of some of the most established…

Executive Salaries and the Financial Crisis

The initiative is in fact valid, in principle, from a capitalist point of view. One doesn't necessarily have to have socialist tendencies—although there is nothing wrong with those who do—in order to support salary caps for executives, only rational and realistic ones.According to Israeli corporate law, directorates and shareholders are responsible for overseeing executives and setting salary levels. But in…

Orthodox Ought to Lead the Search for a Solution: How Should Israel Treat Refugees from Darfur?

The question before us here is to what extent we have a responsibility, as a Jewish democratic nation, to pursue tikkun olam on a countrywide scale. In recent months, Israel has been faced with an opportunity to prove itself truly committed to this ideal. Waves of Sudanese refugees have been arriving weekly at the Israeli border. They hope to find…