The past year presented Israeli society and its elected officials with quite a few challenges. Notable among them was a sense of polarization and (some maintain) hatred between different population sectors.

The past year was the year of television. The lockdowns, social isolation and extra free time strengthened a medium that has in any case flourished in recent years. And in the era of television, the year of television, it was also a shining time for Israel’s (relatively) new public TV channel Kan 11. In last month’s Israeli Academy of Film…

Despite everything they have in common, the Israeli Jewish experience differs greatly from the Diaspora Jewish experience. The two communities don't always have the same interests or find the same issues compelling, and they disagree on quite a few matters, both those relating to values and those relating to modes of action. Understanding these tensions in depth, and trying to…

The conflation of Israel advocacy and Israel education has resulted in growing numbers of North American Jews ill prepared to understand and negotiate the complexity of contemporary Israel.

Yom HASHOAH, Holocaust Remembrance Day, is a solemn day in which we remember the six million Jews, including one and a half million children, along with millions of others who were victims of Nazi brutality who were murdered between 1933-1945; honor the 330,000 survivors worldwide, a third in Israel; and recognize how the absence of a Jewish state in which European Jews could take refuge directly contributed to the Shoah.

The most recent Israeli elections, like all election campaigns, can be analyzed on the tactical, short-term level or in regard to longer-term trends. On the tactical level, the elections did not result in a decisive victory to any of the political camps. This deadlock could lead to a fifth election cycle, or alternately, to the piecing together of an ideologically…

Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) centrality to the Israeli experience is a surprising development: at the time the state was founded, Israel's Haredi community amounted to a handful, mainly from the Old Yishuv and a small number of immigrants, refugees from the European Holocaust.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way Jews practice and express their Jewishness. Because the possibility exists that things will not return to the pre-pandemic norm, measures must be taken to assist Diaspora Jewry address the recent developments and their impacts, turning them into opportunities for renewal and growth. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way Jews practice and…

Creativity means change and innovation, generating new products and ideas. In modern times, Jewish creativity exploded when discrimination ended, but creativity existed even in biblical times. Anxiety, education, and multicultural views are drivers of creativity. The COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Semitism are now increasing anxiety and are, thus, likely to boost Jewish creativity.   What is Creativity? The COVID-19 crisis could…