Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Ron Kronish

Pursuing Tikkun Olam in Israel

Ron Kronish — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:16:31 +0000

I recently had the privilege of hearing an old friend give an inspiring speech about “Lessons Learned” from decades as a human rights lawyer, professor and social activist. Prof Irwin Cotler – Member of Parliament in Canada, and former Canadian Minister of Justice, a Canadian who lives in Montreal and Jerusalem – is one of [...]

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Envisioning Israel Based on Freedom, Justice and Peace for All

Ron Kronish — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:45:08 +0000

We will celebrate Israel’s Independence Monday night and all day Tuesday this week in Israel as a national and religious holiday. For many of us, it is “the beginning of the flowering of our redemption” (as stated in one of the versions of the prayer for the state of Israel recited every Shabbat in synagogues [...]

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On ‘loving thy neighbors’ only if they’re Jewish

Ron Kronish — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 06:16:31 +0000

A few weeks ago, I led a text study session at the first meeting of a new dialogue group of Jews and Muslims that I now co-lead with my friend and colleague, Kadi Iyad Zahalka, in a school in his village of Kufr Kara, in central Israel. Our new group brings together Jewish and Muslim [...]

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Even in Israel, we are not yet fully free

Ron Kronish — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 18:54:17 +0000

On his recent historic visit to Israel, President Obama noted that the holiday of Passover is coming very soon, and that this holiday has special meaning to him and his family, as it tells the story of moving from slavery to freedom, which is so integral to the experience of Afro-Americans in the United States. [...]

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Forgiveness and interreligious dialogue

Ron Kronish — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:13:28 +0000

Where else can one spend 5 intensive days in profound interreligious learning with leading Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars and practitioners from Europe, North America and Israel than at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Annual Theology conference on their beautiful campus in the heart of Jerusalem! This year’s conference was dedicated to the memory of Rabbi [...]

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A pope with a message of peace and reconciliation

Ron Kronish — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:01:54 +0000

The announcement this week of the retirement of Pope Benedict – which has shocked the Catholic world and the international community – reawakened memories for me of his visit to Jerusalem in May of 2009. In advance of his historic visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, there was a storm of criticism about him [...]

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Can we teach a dual narrative?

Ron Kronish — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:51:55 +0000

The report of a new study of Israeli and Palestinian textbooks commissioned by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land is causing quite a stir, especially in Israel (the government of Israel is already rejecting it as biased). Apparently, the authors of this report – Professor Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University and [...]

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Religious leaders as peacemakers

Ron Kronish — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 09:56:08 +0000

Where can one spend two days engaging in open, honest, genuine dialogue and discussion over breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee with: a Saudi scholar of Muslim jurisprudence, a moderate Muslim diplomat from Turkey, a dynamic sophisticated young Muslim deputy foreign minister from the new state of Kosovo (where 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanians who are [...]

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Imagining coexistence: A Muslim-Jewish journey

Ron Kronish — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:39:31 +0000

Can young Jews and young Muslims engage in fruitful dialogue, despite the differences in their religions and in the face of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict? The answer is yes, as was demonstrated by a wonderful group of young adult Muslims and Jews who spent a week together doing exactly this in Israel last week. I [...]

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The Genesis of reconciliation

Ron Kronish — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:34:14 +0000

We are completing the reading of the book of Genesis on this coming Shabbat in our synagogues in Israel and throughout the world. During the reading of Genesis this year, I was mindful of three great stories of reconciliation between brothers. In the first (Genesis 27:10), the sons of Abraham – Isaac and Ishmael – are reunited at [...]

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Time for a miracle

Ron Kronish — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:32:44 +0000

As Hanukkah draws to an end in Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, we remember the miracle of the oil lamp lasting for 8 days every night as we light our Hanukkah candles. It’s a time of hope and thinking about the miraculous. This reminds me of a conversation I was involved in several years ago [...]

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The other peace process – as told by a rabbi and a kadi

Ron Kronish — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:14:21 +0000

Iyad Zahalka, the kadi (judge) of the Jerusalem Muslim Shariya court of the State of Israel, and I were grateful for the opportunity to be able to present our ideas about “the other peace process” to Jewish, Christian, Muslim and interreligious audiences in several cities in the USA during a 16 day speaking tour to the USA [...]

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Responsible voices for ending the war are growing

Ron Kronish — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:23:31 +0000

After six days of intensive air raids by the Israeli Air Force on Gaza, in an effort to stop the missile attacks against Israel from terrorist groups in Gaza, more and more voices are being raised in Israel to accept a cease-fire and enter into negotiations to end the violence. As of this writing, it [...]

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Muslim moderates — another voice from Israel

Ron Kronish — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:35:10 +0000

At the end of May, I was pleased to host Kadi Iyad Zahalka, the new kadi of Jerusalem, for a public lecture in the education center at my place of work, the Interreligious Coordinating Council of Israel. Kadi Zahalka is part of a new generation of kadis (Muslim judges) in Israel who are intelligent, effective [...]

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Fighting darkness with light

Ron Kronish — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:30:27 +0000

On Thursday this past week, I joined a delegation of Jews from “Tag Meir” (a “Sign of Light”) in a demonstration of solidarity with the Franciscan community in Jerusalem, whose church was desecrated by vandals from the “Tag Mechir” (Price Tag) group of extremist hooligans who have been making a bad habit of desecrating mosques [...]

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