מאמרים

Embarrassed, isolated, still loyal: The dilemma of young American Zionists

For many US Jews, October 7 brought a stronger sense of identity and a deeper bond with Israel; now, that bond is clouded by growing embarrassment
Embarrassed, isolated, still loyal: The dilemma of young American Zionists
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What remains of the religious status quo?

Relations between the Jewish religion and the State of Israel began to take form even before the state was founded. Since then, and over the past 70 years, it has been customary to speak about a “status quo” on matters of religion and state. Politicians, the courts, the media and the wider public regularly refer to this status quo. But…

Israel’s ‘Status Quo’ On Religion Is In Chaos

In this document, the future prime minister promised that in the future Jewish state, Shabbat would be the statutory day off for Jews; that all official kitchens would observe kashrut; that marriage and divorce would be conducted according to religious law; and that the educational institutions of the various religious streams would be allowed autonomy beyond the definition of a…

Leviathans, Minnows and the Rule of Law

One of the talmudic sages, R. Hananiah the Temple prefect, made the same point: “Pray for the welfare of the government. For if it were not for fear of it, one man would swallow his fellow alive (Avot 3:3).” But the powers we voluntarily surrender to the leviathan are incomparably vast and dangerous. The government employs institutionalized violence internally (the…
Geopolitics

Op-Ed: Red Lines Belong to the People

Rabin was right; red lines are not for prime ministers to draw. They need to hold their cards close to the chest. Real red lines belong to the people. The following is an op-ed originally published by the Jerusalem Post.In the spring of 1995, as the Washington bureau chief of Ma’ariv, I wrote a couple of analyses explaining why then…
Geopolitics
Asia

India, Israel and the Jewish People

  INDIA, ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE Looking Ahead, Looking Back 25 Years after Normalization   With a Foreword by H.E. President Reuven Rivlin   Shalom Salomon Wald and Arielle Kandel
Asia
Identity and Education

Raising Jewish Children: Research and Indications for Intervention

     Family, Engagement, and Jewish Continuity among American Jews   Sylvia Barack Fishman and Steven M. Cohen   Learning Jewishness, Jewish Education, and Jewish Identity   Sylvia Barack Fishman and Shlomo Fischer Contributors: Rachel S. Bernstein, Dov Maimon and Shmuel Rosner  
Identity and Education

Voyage to Identity

On Shavuot night, hundreds of thousands of people will leave their homes and celebrate a “white night.” For a few hours, they will detach themselves from the powerful forces that move all Israelis — money, politics, celebrities, disputes, and sports. Large numbers of women and men will assemble to study Jewish texts and ideas. This amazing event — the Tikkun…

Battling Over Equality

The State of Israel has an obligation to protect itself and its Jewish identity as long as it does so while creating full civic equality for the members of the state’s Arab minority. The state, and the vast majority of its Jewish citizens, is willing to grant equality to Arabs in Israel. But equality means different things to the Jews…
Identity and Education

Op-Ed: When Craziness Makes Sense

Israel at 69, re-finding American deterrence. Published in the Jerusalem Post Independence Day is a good time to take stock of the state of the Jewish state – and it doesn’t look so bad. As a Jew, an Israeli and a Zionist, I enjoy seeing the half-full glass on such occasions. Living in a crazy neighborhood as a normal state…
Identity and Education