Nathan Jeffay
By Nathan Jeffay
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Opinion I’m a Lag B’Omer Scrooge
Bah humbug, it’s Lag B’Omer. I’m usually game for Israel’s national and religious holidays, eating the correct patisserie items on the correct days (honey and cheese cake on Rosh Hashanah and Shavuot respectively), sweating in a succah on Succot, and even finding a certain comfort in the melancholy of the Fast of Av. But I’m…
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News Women Win Landmark Court Decision on Western Wall Prayer
Images of police detaining women for public worship at the Western Wall could be a thing of the past, after an important ruling today by the Jerusalem District Court. A judge considered the main grounds that police cite for detaining members of Women of the Wall, the interdenominational feminist group that gathers monthly for prayers…
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Israel News Tzipi Livni Faces Uncertain Future as Peace Negotiator in Government of Hardliners
When U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Israel in early April, he waxed optimistic about getting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process back on track. But even as Israeli leaders smiled in public alongside him, a stubborn reality went unacknowledged: Of the main parties in the new government, only one actually championed restarting the peace process…
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Opinion Let ‘Em Eat Airplane Food
Yesterday, Israel’s cabinet passed its first reform of the new Knesset, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced afterwards: “The goal of the reform that we approved today is to lower the prices of flights to and from Israel and to increase incoming tourism… We will continue to advance reforms to lower the cost of living…
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Opinion A Woman Among the Chief Rabbis?
As the race to choose the next chief rabbis heats up in Israel, a new lawmaker is proposing appointing a female religious figure to serve alongside them. She says that she will propose legislation to introduce the role. Aliza Lavie of the centrist Yesh Atid party wrote today that there should be a female in…
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Opinion Turkey Sees Bright Future for Israel Alliance
Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister has given an optimistic forecast for the ongoing efforts for reconciliation between his country and Israel. Bülent Arınç is quoted in today’s Ma’ariv saying that “Turkey welcomes full normalization and returning relations between the two countries to what they were before.” Globes gives an outline of his comments in English. Arınç…
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Opinion Orthodox Push Back on Kotel
The rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz isn’t opposed to the plan for an egalitarian prayer section there, he announced in a statement emailed to reporters yesterday. But it’s already clear that he doesn’t speak for the Haredi mainstream. Rabinowitz is Haredi, but softer on religious issues than most Haredi leaders. This is partly…
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News Real Battle Over Western Wall Is Just Beginning in Israel
American Jews and others pushing for religious pluralism at Judaism’s most accessible sacred space may have won a major advance for their cause with the new compromise proposal put forth by Natan Sharansky. But it is only now, in Israel, that the real debate begins. The Western Wall, or the Kotel, as it is known…
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