Archive for Diaspora
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Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Israel’s 60th anniversary: the CD
Pesach is over now, and Israeli motorists have begun attaching Israeli flags to their cars in honor of Israel’s upcoming 60th birthday.
To honor the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence, Britain’s chief rabbi, R’ Jonathan Sacks, has compiled a double CD of readings (read by R’ Sacks himself) and songs celebrating the millennia-old attachment of the [...]
Abuse: Two Jewish responses
In the past couple of weeks here in Israel, several stories have broken in the press about severe child abuse, including one here in Beit Shemesh. There is a fine old saying that “The Jews are just like everyone else, only more so.” God forbid. But unfortunately, spousal and child abuse do occur within the [...]
What Israel and the Diaspora need…
There have been several articles in the press, as well as some brief discussions on this blog, about how to achieve a closer relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. I’ve given this topic much thought, and have recorded the results below, limited by my experience and personal outlook. I’m sure I’ve left out things, but [...]
Israel-US conversion authority crisis resolved?
Last week, an article appeared in the Jerusalem Post (by Matthew Wagner) announcing that “the Chief Rabbinate has agreed to recognize conversions performed by the Rabbinic Council of America.” This sounds like a momentous occasion, trumpeting greater recognition by the Israeli rabbinical establishment of Diaspora rabbis and conversions. However, the reality is not quite as [...]
Jerusalem doesn’t make sense
cross-posted on True Ancestor
I’ve sometimes thought that Judaism cannot make sense to you if you’ve never been to Jerusalem. And it follows that neither can Islam, or even Christianity — in its elemental, formative, rebellious beginnings — really make sense if you’ve never been to the one city in the world that has loosed more [...]
Hanukkah, Light, and Adaptation
Hanukkah begins tomorrow night, the 25th of Kislev, which this year corresponds to December 4. As most of you reading this are undoubtedly aware, the holiday lasts for eight days, and each evening we light an additional candle in the Hanukkiah, the special 8-branched menora (+1 for the shamash). We eat foods fried [...]
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