Israel
Israelis fear new limits on Supreme Court will bolster Orthodox establishment’s sway
By Michele Chabin — July 27, 2023
(RNS) — Rights advocates in the country say legislation giving the Knesset more power to overturn Supreme Court decisions will have ‘a devastating impact’ on everything from gender equality, religious freedom and pluralism to the rights of Israel’s Arab minority.
Yeshiva University adds a master’s program in Jewish studies for Christians
By Yonat Shimron — July 24, 2023
(RNS) — The program comes at a time when many seminaries and graduate schools are courting students of different faiths.
Netanyahu’s heart problem is worse than you think
By Jeffrey Salkin — July 24, 2023
It’s not medical. It’s biblical. And that is far worse.
Appealing to Orthodox Jews, Israeli media remove women from view
By Michele Chabin — July 21, 2023
JERUSALEM (RNS) — Determined to return women’s images to the public sphere, a feminist Orthodox Israeli has created a unique photo bank of religious Jewish women and their families. It has become a resource for positive images of religious Jewish women.
When in Rome, try the gelato (with a side of Jewish history)
By Jeffrey Salkin — July 19, 2023
It was a hot, sweaty day in Rome. I stood face to face with an ancient enemy.
Why Israelis are in the streets
By Jeffrey Salkin — July 11, 2023
What is at stake? The existential meaning of Jewish history. It’s that crucial.
Report finds a growing exodus of Jews from Russia and Ukraine
By Yonat Shimron — July 7, 2023
(RNS) — If trends continue, both Russia and Ukraine could lose a majority of their Jewish populations in the years ahead, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research reports.
The note that I put into the Western Wall
By Jeffrey Salkin — July 5, 2023
(RNS) — Do I believe God lives in the Western Wall? No. Do I not believe it? Also, no. It’s complicated.
“And in the end, the love you take”
By Jeffrey Salkin — June 28, 2023
My final sermon -- a mix tape with Sinatra, the Monotones, Rav Kook, and Cynthia Ozick. More than four decades of striving for the holy.
Book: The world is losing its religion. Revival is unlikely.
By Yonat Shimron — June 6, 2023
(RNS) — In ‘Beyond Doubt: The Secularization of Society,’ three sociologists lay out a theory that can be summed up in a simple phrase: Modernization creates problems for religion.
We asked hard questions about Reform Judaism
By Jeffrey Salkin — June 6, 2023
(RNS) — Three hundred Reform Jews; three hundred fifty Reform Jewish opinions. It worked.
Israeli protesters fear for the future of their country’s precarious LGBTQ rights revolution
By Orit Avishai — June 1, 2023
(The Conversation) — LGBTQ rights are not the main issue bringing Israeli protesters to the streets, but they do symbolize the country’s stark divide.
Survey: Drop in Eastern European antisemitism may be due to Zelenskyy effect
By Yonat Shimron — May 31, 2023
(RNS) — As arguably the world’s most famous Jew, he may also be contributing to a decline in antisemitic attitudes not only in Ukraine but also in neighboring Poland to the west and Russia to the east.
Why can’t Israel be better?
By Jeffrey Salkin — May 18, 2023
When it comes to Israel: "relationship complicated." The case against perfectionism.
Six dead after gunman attacks Jewish pilgrimage site in Tunisia
By David I. Klein — May 10, 2023
(RNS) — The attack came as thousands of Jews had traveled to the island of Djerba for an annual pilgrimage to El Ghriba synagogue, the oldest in Africa.
