Hi all, While engaging in my addictive behavior of cruising the internet in search of cool images and websites related to Israel and Jewish life, I stumbled upon an awesome set of photos by Israeli artist Toby Cohen. The website on which his work is featured is called Omanoot: Israel Through Art, and it is [...]
Conversion Bill Update From the Masorti Movement – Its Good News!!!
March 16, 2010 By 1 Comment
Well this is good news! Maybe our emails did help! The Conversion Bill The Conversion Bill This is an update, and a thank you. As a result of the strong feelings expressed by so many, including many of you, the bill in the Knesset which would have affected conversion and the Law of Return has [...]
Yair Dalal – Connecting Jews and Arabs Through a Shared History
March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Hi all, I thought I would share with readers an artist who many have probably heard of before, and whose music is some of my very favorite. His name is Yair Dalal, and he is an Israeli Jew born to parents of Iraqi extraction. His music ranges from Jewish prayers to traditional Iraqi Jewish music [...]
URGENT ACTION REQUESTED regarding Knesset Conversion Bill
March 8, 2010 By 13 Comments
I just received an email from Rabbi Menachem Creditor of Netivot Shalom and the Shefa Network regarding a Conversion Bill that’s about to be presented to the Knesset. I’ve already posted about it here but I thought I should pass along Rabbi Creditors request on the main blog. Despite my own burnout and apathy on [...]
Yehuda Halevi – Rabbi, Philosopher, Poet, and Proto-Religious Zionist
February 12, 2010 By 2 Comments
One of my favorite topics for study is Jewish history, particularly of Jewish communities in the Islamic world. The cross-cultural fertilization that happened between Jewish and Arabic cultures in Islamic Spain, Iraq, Egypt, and other places provides an interesting reminder of the closeness our people share with the Arab world, despite current geopolitical challenges. Some [...]
Israeli Conversion Crisis and a Measure of its Impact
February 11, 2010 By 2 Comments
YNet news reported an interesting look at at least one aspect of the fallout of the conversion crisis in Israel. The numbers presented by Rabbi Israel Rosen to the Chief Rabbinate’s conversion department and religious courts show a 12% drop in the rate of conversions – all of which must be sanctioned by the Rabbinate [...]
Don’t Worry. Be Israeli!
May 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
As a sort of companion post to Avi’s Jerusalem video, I wanted to share an article I recently came across from the online Asia Times, entitled “Why Israel is the world’s happiest country.” It’s rare to think of Israel in any terms other than negative ones these days. Our unenviable geographic position, our corrupt government, [...]
