Daniel Landes, at The Blogs

Jan 2, 2024, 6:53 PM

Former Chief Justice Esther Hayut, (credit: The Judicial Authority of Israel)

Israel's High Court, in striking down the Basic Law amendment abolishing the reasonableness standard in judicial review, certainly scored a tremendous victory for secular democracy. It also acted in the best tradition of Jewish legal wisdom. Israel's democratic spirit...

Nov 22, 2023, 6:14 PM

Hanging by a thread

מצורפות בזו תמונות מהפינוי בתכנית ההתנתקות. בתמונה: הפינוי בישוב בדולח היום. כמו כן, ניתן לצפות בתמונות ובקטעי וידאו נבחרים בארכיון התמונות של דובר צה”ל באמצעות שרת ה-FTP שכתובתו: ftp://147.237.73.203. Attached are photographs from the ongoing disengagement plan. Seen in the photo : The evacuation of the Israeli community of Bedolach. In addition, it is possible to view select stills and video clips from the image archives of the IDF Spokesperson's Bureau via FTP Server: ftp://147.237.73.203.
שם משתמש וסיסמא: User Name & Password: pressguest

On a recent visit to a small bookstore in Mea Shearim, I got lost. Tracing my way back, now completely lost, I came across a small yeshiva's courtyard wherein a few Karlin-Stolin Chasidim were intently but quickly tying the...

Nov 9, 2023, 8:53 PM

The war we are waging

In order to emerge from the fear and mourning that signify our personal and national trauma, we need to consider the nature of the war that our soldiers and civilians are waging against Hamas. The vicious assault was specifically...

Oct 17, 2023, 6:01 PM

A Twisted Ideology Reveals Itself

The shock of Hamas' extreme homicide of children, burning of Holocaust survivors, beheadings of babies, and public rape parades jars well-established theologies and political ideologies of center, right, and left. This jolting also forces open some particularly ugly political...

Oct 10, 2023, 1:01 PM

Getting our heads straight: A letter to my students

Israeli soldiers patrol on a road near the Gaza border, October 9, 2023 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

October 8, 2023 – 23 Tishrei 5784 Dear Talmidim/ot, How do we get our heads straight? I'm not sure we can, but we must for the sake of our children, families, communities, nation, people, and for Judaism itself. What – I...

Mar 1, 2023, 9:27 PM

Purim perils and pogroms

When Adar enters, we increase… Well, in my Jerusalem neighborhood, mimicking our nation's descent… we increase in violence with break-ins, vandalism, robberies: the house up the street owned by a death camp child survivor; the apartment in our building of...

Jan 24, 2023, 1:28 PM

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The original sin of ‘Judicial Reform’ returns

Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest of Judaea. Woodcut designed by Guillaume Rouillé. From Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553 (PD in its source country)

'The king neither judges nor is to be judged,' says the Mishnah. But that doesn't mean what you might think it means

Jul 27, 2022, 12:40 AM

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Twenty years after Ben and Marla and the Hebrew University bombing

I dream of them every year, remembering his rough veneer and heart of gold, her brilliance and generosity – and how I called their parents with the terrible news

Jul 12, 2022, 3:50 PM

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Rabbi, get thy head out of their tents

A blanket abortion policy flies in the face of Jewish law, which is rarely 'one size fits all'; rather, rabbis must address each individual's need, with dignity

Jun 14, 2021, 11:42 AM

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A time for shame

When rabbis and political hacks unabashedly and loudly proclaim that the new government is illegal, un-Jewish and evil, we know what they mean

About Me

Rabbi Daniel Landes is founder and director of Yashrut, building civil discourse through a theology of integrity, justice, and tolerance. Yashrut includes a semikhah initiative as well as programs for rabbinic leaders.