Over breakfast one morning the spousal unit said "Here's something that might interest you – a walking tour with Sayed Kashua." We both enjoy reading the Israeli-Arab's columns in Haaretz every weekend (in English translation from the original Hebrew), and she knows I've read one of his books (in the original Hebrew). "Great idea."...
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Today, May 15, is the day that Palestinians commemorate as "Nakba Day," "Catastrophe Day," a day to mark the expulsion from homes in Israel during the 1948 war. Nakba Day provides a great example of how much lack of understanding there is in this part of the world. On the one hand, there are...
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"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land" …Leviticus 25:10 "Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families that are with you, which they fathered in your land; and they shall be your possession. And you shall take them as an inheritance...
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For the last several days, the talk in Israel was about early elections -- supposedly planned for September 4. Some pundits saw the timing as an indicator Israel was going to bomb Iran between September and November (when the US elections could make Obama a much stronger power to deal with). And then --...
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Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel's Independence Day starts tonight, Wednesday April 25, 2012. Just like in America, Independence Day is patriotic holiday, filled with fireworks, crowded highways, Air Force flyovers, and, of course, barbeques and self-congratulatory speeches from politicians. Israel has a lot to proud of. We are the cradle of monotheism, the place where the...
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It's not often that you get the opportunity to participate in a "historic moment," even if it's historic in a relatively small way. Last night – April 19, 2012 – I had the opportunity to participate in such a moment, at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem. Schechter is the institution that trains rabbis...
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