Death of the Generals
The untimely death last December of General Amnon Lipkin-Shahak (whom I had the privilege of knowing), had put the January elections in a new and surprising perspective. I call it “Death of the...
View ArticleThe Kibbutz Origin: What a Surprise!
Watching the latest version of Anna Karenina on the big screen lately, took me back to – of all places – the kibbutz where I was born. How could it be, you may ask. Well, here’s how: At the end of...
View ArticleCode-of-Silence: Jewish Style
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,” a woman friend had told me at a Super Bowl party last month. (Both of us, if I remember correctly, were holding open beer bottles in our hands.) We were...
View ArticlePeace be upon you, Jews, you are free!
These words were spoken by Rabbi Herschel Schacter shortly after he rode through the gates of the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, together with the liberating American forces. Rabbi Schacter...
View ArticleThe United States of Israel-Palestine
Or if you prefer, “The United States of the Holy Land.” You can throw Gaza into the mix as well, why not, and name it yet again: “The United States of Israel-Palestine-Gaza.” Whatever floats your boat,...
View ArticleWho is a Zionist?
One afternoon ten years ago or so, a young woman peeked in through the open door of my office, and asked if she can take a few minutes of my time for a talk. Back then, when I was the Executive...
View ArticleRabin Square Now!
It was a warm, full-moon July night in which I went to bed late, with the image of Tahrir Square embedded firmly in my mind. The large demonstrations in Egypt continued, with pro the deposed President...
View ArticleSex, Jews & High Holydays
So what is it, lately, with Jews and sex? Really, people of the book, it’s embarrassing, and demands some serious contemplations. And of course, the proximity to our High Holydays – with Rosh Hashanah...
View ArticleRed Lines in the Sand
A line in the sand is just that: a momentary, transient line that will disappear soon enough. It is what we used to do as kids, mark a line in the sand with our toes or fingers, signifying a border...
View ArticleShould Israel Come Out Of The Closet?
First, full disclosure: I’ve heard this expression lately – an expression reserved usually to gay people coming out and admitting to being homosexual – being mentioned at a lecture in regard to...
View ArticleThe War of Light against Darkness
As my favorite Jewish Holiday – Chanukah, the holiday of lights – is about to begin, I was struck by the fact that the Maccabees of this world are still fighting against oppression; and the forces of...
View ArticleThe Israeli Mandela
Who is he, the Israeli Mandela? Where is he hiding? Let him come into the light, stand up and speak out. He is desperately wanted, and much needed. We actually had one, hadn’t we? His name was Yitzchak...
View ArticleBleeding the beast
If Israel is facing an existential threat, it is not – as the narrow-minded traditionalists would have you believe – coming from the Arab and Muslim world. And not, more specifically, from the...
View ArticleDays of decision
In the next month, which so appropriately will bring the “from slavery to liberation” holiday to Jews all over the world, some crucial decisions will have to be made in the Holy Land. Both by the...
View ArticleNetanyahu’s Fig Leaf
There was a leader in the land once, who had a vision: a vision of peace. He was a soldier and a general, who had reached the highest position in the army and in the government, though in essence he...
View ArticleShould American Jewry Save Israel?
In other words: Is it time – high time, in fact – for the Jewish people of America to take a more active, decisive role in Israel’s policies, decisions and the directions, and save it from itself? And...
View ArticleLong Live the Lie!
Or What a Wild, “Anti-Israeli” Bunch! On the weekend of June 7-8 the new feature film, “Long Live the Lie,” depicting “J Street 2014 National Summit” was screened in San Francisco; where else, you may...
View ArticleTunnel Vision
Tunnel vision, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as “a condition in which there is a major loss of peripheral vision; also, one in which anything away from the center of one’s...
View ArticleConfession of a Settler
Hey you, what’s new? Not much, except your new land grab. That’s why you’re calling? It’s Rosh Hashanah. I know. So why now, the whole world is against us anyway? Listen to me: stop whining and come...
View ArticleIsrael, Palestine, and the Snowball Effect
First, some history: On November 2nd 1917, United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a letter – i.e. The Balfour Deceleration – to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish...
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