A bill that would allow local rabbis to oversee conversions will be introduced to the parliament after passing a Knesset committee. Under the measure advanced Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, a city rabbi could convene a beit din, or rabbinical court, for conversions under his jurisdiction. Conversions are handled in Israel by the…
The Knesset returned to work today, after its exceedingly long summer break, and all indications are that we’re in for a session full of passion, arguments, and anger. The key issues on the table divide Israel along its various social and electoral cleavages: religious, ethnic, dove-hawk, and left-right on domestic matters. And of course, this…
Last June, Jane Eisner participated in a private roundtable discussion at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem about Israel’s Jewish identity. What came out of the talks was the sense that Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora face a similar challenge — how to be a modern people in a modern world while holding…
Our old friend Ofer Shelah, former Maariv military and sports reporter, former Forward Israel correspondent and currently Yesh Atid Knesset caucus whip, has come out against the phenomenon of “nationality laws” that seek to define the relationship between Israel’s Jewish and democratic qualities or assign preferential standing in law to one over the other (usually…
Knesset Chairman Yuli Edelstein is not pleased with the sex appeal of some its members. In a letter sent out to all the MKs, Edelstein rebuked them all over a series of embarassing events, which he said “cheapen” the Knesset, Haaretz reported. Though nothing specific was mentioned, the timing led Senior MKs to believe that…
When one is a politician, one can usually count on losing sleep in favor of debating important public issues. But one such public servant, Yesh Atid first-time MK Boaz Toporovsky, took this to a whole new level. On Monday night (Israeli time), during a heated debate about women’s right to a say in the appointment…
The guessing game continues: Will he or won’t he? Will Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to open peace negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative — meaning, in effect, agreeing to start from the pre-1967 armistice lines as the basis for negotiating future borders? Netanyahu is under pressure. He…
Speaking of intelligence leaks, Israel had one last week that speaks volumes about the prospects for Secretary of State Kerry’s Middle East peace mission. Consider how a June 4 classified briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee was described the next day in Maariv’s lead headline: “Shin Bet chief: Abu Mazen Doesn’t Believe…
צוליב דעם וואָס ס׳רובֿ פּאַריזער אַשכּנזים שטאַמען פֿון פּוילן, קומט די ליטוויש־ייִדישע קולטור נישט אָפֿט צו רייד
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