Yisrael Valis: The Police Lied — Anyone Surprised?
This comment, from my friend Moshe, is far too important to remain in the comment thread. Those fluent in Hebrew can follow the link and read the transcript excerpts for themselves… OK: I don’t...
Category: Israel
Katzav and Yoffie… Just What We Didn’t Need
[CORRECTION: Please see the comment from Yisrael below. President Katzav only refuses to refer to non-Orthodox clergy as Rav in Hebrew. As per my statements below, calling them Rav would be entirely inappropriate. I...
Yisrael Valis: Two Versions of a Story
by Sarah Shapiro On April 10th, Erev Pesach, an appalling news item appeared in The Jerusalem Post: The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office on Sunday filed an indictment against a 19-year-old father on the day...
Act of War
As if the barrage of Kassam rockets were not enough, Hamas operatives — in conjunction with other factions — conspired to dig a tunnel in order to attack soldiers at the PA-Israel border at...
The Vote Against Divestment: Three Reasons to Cheer
By now, most of our readers have certainly heard of the momentous victory for fairness at the Presbyterian General Assembly in Birmingham. Because I spent considerable professional time working on this issue for two...
The Meaning of Pluralism
My post of Sunday evening on the limited tolerance expressed by a Reform Rabbi has drawn many comments. Surprisingly, the bulk of these have gone towards debating the meaning of the word “pluralism.” I...
Gay Parade in Jerusalem: Nuanced or categorical opposition?
25 bSivan Why did a prominent writer of over 50 juvenile books in the Orthodox world, whose essays have also been published, write against the upcoming parade this summer in Jerusalem promoting homosexual activity?...
Free Speech for Me, But Not for Thee
The Torah contains many prohibitions against speaking derogatorily of others. When it comes to the laws of lashon hara – bad mouthing – even truth is not a defense, except in certainly narrowly defined...
Yisrael Valis: Shoe on the Other Foot
In a fascinating article in Ha’aretz, Uzi Benziman explains why “the state authorities… have acquired for themselves a shady reputation when it comes to their credibility.” Meanwhile, in the Jerusalem Post, the Mayor of...
A Reform Rabbi’s Tolerance Only Goes So Far
Yediot Acharonot’s YNet carries an opinion piece on the subject of an Orthodox synagogue at Kibbutz Degania, written by Reform Rabbi Dr. Dalia Sara Marx, a teacher at the Hebrew Union College. Considering that...
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