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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

The answer — both simple but also heavy and complex — is personal responsibility. The Holocaust is a Jewish, nationalist and personal event that somehow impacts or relates to every other tragedy we have experienced in human history. The extent of the Holocaust — and its roots in satanic, anti-Semitic ideology — is something we must remember forever, so as…

This article was first published by EJP- European Jewish Press A controversial anti-Israel conference held recently at University College Cork in Ireland, raised once again an old debate over when criticism of Israel is legitimate, and when it is a thin cover for deeply rooted anti-Semitism. This debate is important because to effectively combat anti-Semitism and protect Europe's Jewish communities, it is…