Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Jeffrey Woolf

The Price of Rabbinic Myopia

Jeffrey Woolf — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 12:57:02 +0000

I am haunted by Rabbi Zekhariah ben Avqulos. R. Zekharia is not a very well known figure in the Talmud. His name hardly appears in all of rabbinic literature. Nevertheless, his impact upon Jewish history was massive. R. Zekharia is best known for his role in the finale of the (in)famous tale of Qamtza and [...]

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Haredi Leaders are Only Half Right (and Therefore Wrong)

Jeffrey Woolf — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:42:24 +0000

Parshat Naso, which will be read in synagogues tomorrow, deals extensively with the status of the Levites. The Levites (and their priestly cousins) were sanctified by the Torah, and were to be specifically devoted to the service of God in the Tabernacle, and after that, in the Temple. As a result, they received no portion [...]

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Jerusalem’s Heart: For Yom Yerushalyim

Jeffrey Woolf — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:54:09 +0000

Every so often one has an experience that transcends most of what has gone before in one’s life. Every so often, if we’re lucky, God provides us with a moment that is nothing less than ineffable. Today, for the second time, I was privileged with just such an experience, when I ascended Har HaBayit, in [...]

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Kosher Siren

Jeffrey Woolf — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 09:34:37 +0000

With Pesach behind us, we again enter the period of national mourning and remembrance limned by Yom HaShoah and Yom ha-Zikkaron. Amidst the somber and painful recollections of both the darkest period in our history, and our grief over the price we have paid to be a free people in our ancestral homeland, there is [...]

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Mr Prime Minister, listen to the people!

Jeffrey Woolf — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:33:05 +0000

On this morning after…I see a lot of reason for hope. I pray to God that our newly elected representatives will have the foresight, courage and selflessness to seize the opportunity and make it a reality. Three weeks later, it appears that the newly elected Knesset members upon whom I (along with so many others) [...]

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Outing Mordechai- A Different Take on the Purim Story

Jeffrey Woolf — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:32:11 +0000

What really happened in the Book of Esther? The question, of course, is not new. From Talmudic times to the present, commentators and close readers have grappled with the evasive, topsy-turvy nature of the story (and of the holiday that embodies so many of the major motifs of the Megillah). A common (perhaps, the most [...]

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Hartman: A passion for truth

Jeffrey Woolf — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:07:24 +0000

When I first heard this morning of the passing of Rabbi Professor David Hartman ז”ל, I thought of a work by Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Passion for Truth. The connection must seem somewhat ironic. Heschel, scion of a long and distinguished Hasidic dynasty, wrote his book largely on the teachings of another Hasidic master, the [...]

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We have a great opportunity here

Jeffrey Woolf — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:05:10 +0000

This morning, the fabled ‘morning after,’ the media is awash in speculation as to the implications of yesterday’s elections. Most observers are focusing on the meteoric rise of Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party, the less than impressive showing of Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party, possible coalitions that PM Netanyahu can cobble together, or the return [...]

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Election Farce (by Avi Woolf)

Jeffrey Woolf — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:57:55 +0000

[The following was written by my son, Avi Woolf, a very cogent observer and analyst on contemporary Israeli Life. I added a few points here and there.] I have lived in Israel since the year 1993. I have witnessed elections as a child, a teenager, and an adult and during corresponding phases of my political [...]

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Understand conversion – Israel’s survival is at stake

Jeffrey Woolf — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:50:17 +0000

It was announced Wednesday that the Elections Board has strongly recommended the removal of Shas’ insidious video that viciously questions the entire government (and army) conversion authorities, characterizing them as cheap fictions. Shas, happily, has agreed to comply with Justice Elyakim Rubenstein’s suggestion. In addition, removing the video also removes a striking irony. The message conveyed by [...]

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Israel’s Secret Weapon: It’s Not Personal

Jeffrey Woolf — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 08:34:30 +0000

For those in the know, last night the Times of Israel hosted a get together of its resident bloggers at a discreet Jerusalem location. The ambiance and the instant camaraderie were quite striking. However, as I walked toward my car, I realized that the occasion embodied a deeper truth about Israel and its amazing staying [...]

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Asarah b’Tevet: The Power of Disbelief

Jeffrey Woolf — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:39:21 +0000

As we know, while the Jews were still in exile in Babylonia, four dates were set in the Jewish calendar to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. This is attested by the prophet Zechariah (7:1-5): In the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day [...]

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The kippa controversy: heat but no light on Hanukkah

Jeffrey Woolf — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:32:05 +0000

A colleague of mine, one of the most mild-mannered and likeable people I know, finds himself this morning in the midst of a raging controversy because he ejected a student from his Talmud class, because the latter stridently refused to cover his head. The reactions have been, more or less, as one might expect. The [...]

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The Law is in Accordance with Beit Hillel

Jeffrey Woolf — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:12:24 +0000

They were two, very different, men. Each was an outstanding scholar of impeccable integrity and deep piety. One man’s name was Shammai. The other scholar’s name was Hillel. Both Shammai and Hillel founded schools, known as Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, that left a profound impression upon Jewish Law and Jewish History. One point upon [...]

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The Dark Side of the Ceasefire (Co-Author: Yitzhak Sokoloff )

Jeffrey Woolf — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 06:40:10 +0000

The circumstance is seemingly surreal. After eight days of pounding each other from the air, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was declared today in Cairo. The streets of Gaza are full of people celebrating. Yet 70% of Israelis polled have expressed their (often virulent) opposition to the agreement. Why? Hasn’t Israel pulled off a [...]

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