Nathan Jeffay
By Nathan Jeffay
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The Schmooze Prisoner Hamouri Slams Rabbi Who Freed Him
The Shmooze reported last week that the prominent Israeli Rabbi Ovadia Yosef gave his consent to the freeing of a man who plotted to kill him. It was a remarkable story given that Yosef is pretty hard-lined and has spoken in the past about opposing mercy to Palestinian terrorists. But those of us who were…
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The Schmooze Getting Divorced All Over Again
One of the recurrent themes of my work as the Forward’s Israel correspondent is trying to make sense of Israeli bureaucracy regarding life-cycle events — or, often, to explore the lack of sense that guides the system. I have covered the woman who was regarded Jewish in one city but a Gentile in another, the…
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Israel News Israel Deports Some Converted Immigrants
Within the next few weeks Martina Ragachova could be deported from Israel — for being too frum. Prague-born Ragachova, 37, moved to Israel a decade ago, and in 2004 converted to Judaism in the Bnei Brak rabbinic court of Nissim Karelitz, one of the world’s best-respected and most stringent Haredi rabbis. Karelitz was so moved…
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The Schmooze Ovadia Yosef Frees Man Who Tried to Kill Him
What would be your attitude toward someone who had plotted to kill you? I can’t help thinking that I’d be more than a little broiges. You would imagine that the stakes are upped a little when the target of the murder plot is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of…
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The Schmooze Rabbi Destroys TVs in Religious Ritual
Check out this video. What’s the story? Any guesses? It looks like a video of a garbage processing plant, or maybe a recycling project. In fact, as the noisy truck starts to tip out its load, so begins the newest bizarre religious ritual in Israel. Amnon Yitzhak, the charismatic outreach rabbi, decided to hold a…
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News Back to Basics of Israeli Food
When Guy Rilov lights his Hanukkah menorah, he will literally be carrying a torch for tradition. The trees from which he harvests olives for their oil are more than a millennium old and, he believes, powered the menorahs of generations past. “There isn’t another crop in Israel where the same trees are being harvested today…
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The Schmooze Travel Guide Details Israel as Palestine
It’s the ultimate contentious issue in the Middle East — how to define territory. This week, the Palestinian Authority’s representatives in the UK were disciplined by the country’s advertising watchdog for seemingly wiping Israel off the map. As part of its campaign, it published a map of Israel, in addition to the occupied Palestinian territories…
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The Schmooze #israelhates on Twitter: Fun or Offensive?
It’s like one of those catchphrase competitions, but for Israel-haters. The new craze on Twitter: #israelhates. According to reports at one point this week the hashtag accounted for 0.15% of all Twitter traffic, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you think about the scale of Twitter’s usage, is quite remarkable. Now, pro-Israelis have…
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