Orit Arfa

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Oct 30, 2014, 2:13 PM

Yehuda Glick, Humanitarian

I met Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick when a friend recommended I contact him to film a music video on the Temple Mount, a parody of Carly Simon’s hit, “Let the River Run,” in which she sings about Jerusalem....

Jul 29, 2014, 12:29 AM

Open Letter to Madonna

Dear Madonna/Esther, I must have been nine when I saw your “Borderline” music video and became an instant fan. Whatever you oozed attracted millions like me. In my innocence, I saw qualities I came to admire as an adult: Assertiveness....

Jul 6, 2014, 9:30 PM

Dissolve the Jewish People

After the Israelites worshiped the Golden Calf, God pleads with Moses to let him destroy the people and start a new nation from him--from scratch, without all the scars and neuroses that slavery produced. But Moses defends the Israelites and...

Jul 2, 2014, 11:36 PM

Revenge Against the Settlers

I didn't think the fear of the loss and the eventual heartbreaking loss of Eyal, Gilad and Naftali would become a national tragedy. After all, they studied in Gush Etsion of Judea. No matter that Gush Etsion is a historically...

May 16, 2014, 5:09 PM

I expected to learn something from writing a book. The surprise was that I would learn even more after the book came out. When Dan Senor and I wrote “Start-Up Nation,” we were thinking of an American audience. We had...

May 15, 2014, 6:47 PM

Who will protect us? [VIDEO]

An Israel family sits in a bomb shelter -- it could be anywhere in Israel -- as the "bad guys" pound them with rocket fire. A father called up to IDF reserve duty promises his daughter he's leaving to...

May 9, 2014, 10:55 AM

Hollywood, the new idol worship

Avodah zara, or “strange worship” in Hebrew, is Judaism’s cardinal sin, arguably even more so than Shabbat or kashrut, judging from the pleas of the prophets. Traditionally, “strange worship” is the worship of many gods, who are brought to earth...

Apr 8, 2014, 9:03 PM

Adoring God and Miley Cyrus

In the music video "Adore You," Miley Cyrus gave her best effort at provocation, writhing between white sheets, on the verge of masturbation, as she films herself for the future husband she “adores.” Despite the overtly suggestive content, “Adore...

Mar 30, 2014, 4:41 PM

The Neo-Settler

I'd like to introduce a new Jewish "prototype." Of course, referring to human beings as "prototypes" is denigrating, but with the press and pundits trafficking in labels, particularly when it comes to the Jews living in Judea and Samaria,...

Mar 24, 2014, 9:45 PM

The “J Street Challenge” challenge

Last week, an “exposé” documentary on the American Jewish phenomenon of “J Street” made its way to the funky “Na L’Ga’at” Theater at the Jaffa Port, courtesy Tel Aviv International Salon, StandWithUs and CAMERA. J Street is a self-described...

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About Me

Orit Arfa is a journalist and author of "The Settler," a novel following the journey of a young woman into Tel Aviv nightlife following her eviction from her home in Gaza in 2005. Like her heroine, Orit is a good girl gone bad...to better.