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Government by Executing the Messenger
Government by Executing the Messenger By Rachel Liel Ostensibly, a stormy debate is proceeding in Israel. It’s “There’s no one to talk to” versus “Abu Mazen is a partner.” It’s “Let’s not turn into Greece or Spain” opposing “The middle class has turned into the government’s ATM.” It’s “Throw Hanin Zoabi out of parliament” against…
It Won’t End with the Vote
Some Israeli and American friends have undoubtedly spent the last twenty-four hours casting re-elected President Obama and Vice President Biden in the roles of Samuel Jackson and John Travolta from the classic Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction — plotting how best to avenge Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s unseemly interventions in the American election. Make no mistake,…
Rabbi Amar is wrong. Now what?
by Rabbi Seth Winberg, Assistant Director of the University of Michigan Hillel Israeli Chief Rabbi Shlomo Shlomo Amar says that non-Orthodox rabbis are “destroyers who have already brought terrible and horrific destruction on the Jewish People in the Diaspora.” Rabbi Amar issued his letter last month to protest Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein’s order for…
Victory of ultra-nationalists in Israel may estrange U.S. Jews
More and more, it seems as if the world’s two largest Jewish communities are watching each other through the rear-view mirror as they move further apart. U.S. Jews must find ways to support progressive voices in Israel whose values we share as they fight to take back their country. By Daniel Sokatch | Jan.14, 2013…
Sermon for Shavuot Day Two 5772 – 5/28/12
Several months ago, in another context, I told you the following story, which I heard from Leonard Fein. I tell it again now, for a different, and very specific, reason: Ahmad Babikar Abdel Aziz, who is now 30 years old, is originally from a small town in north Darfur, a town lacking in education, health…
Coalition Tag Meir
June 18, 2012 Tag Meir — a coalition of Israeli organizations convened by NIF — sent the following letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister MK Benjamin Netanyahu Jerusalem Dear Mr. Netanyahu, Re: Price Tag – A Strategic Threat We — the members of the Coalition Tag Meir (Bright Tag) comprising non-profit organizations…
From Hope to Fear
by Stephen Slater I met George Kulang in 2007, he had heard of the plight of Sudanese refugees fleeing first from genocide, and then racism and state sanctioned murder in Egypt. Like myself, he had arrived recently in Jerusalem. I was part of a group of student activists from Hebrew University, where I was studying…
The women of the wail
by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman Just as the so-called “War on Women” has become a major issue in American politics, it appears likely that it will be prime subject in the upcoming Israeli campaign. Pundits and politicians from around the world, including Hilary Clinton, have joined Israelis in questioning continued segregation, discrimination and humiliation of women…
Progress?
by Noam Shelef Social change is a long, drawn out process, frustratingly so. Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether to welcome modest change, or wait to celebrate until the change amounts to a significant revolution. Two of our colleagues — Rabbi David Rosenn (our COO) and Naomi Paiss (our Communications Director) — had an instructive…
Israeli Independence Day 2048: Shaharit’s Centennial Celebration
Imagine what Israel will look like on its 100th birthday. Israel of 2012 is a place of stark contradictions. For most Jews, Israel is a dream fulfilled: a national home and a place of their own. It is also a homeland for Palestinians who also seek a state of their own. Israel is a boisterous…