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Jun 8, 2021, 12:29 PM

With Apologies to Naftali Bennett

I was repelled by Naftali Bennett’s Mafsikim L’hitnatzel (we are not apologizing anymore) 2014-2015 campaign slogan. I could understand and even appreciate the message to some extent. Many in Israel had absorbed so deeply the critique of Israel’s detractors...

May 28, 2021, 3:07 AM

A perspective on Sheikh Jarrah

Before Corona I guided groups fairly frequently on dual narrative tours of Jerusalem where I provided my Jewish Zionist narrative, and an Arab Palestinian guide provided a counter narrative. Typically, the Palestinian guide would point out buildings in the...

Oct 7, 2020, 12:00 AM

Getting Over Ourselves to Get Over Covid: Looking through the Lulav

Many of us are familiar with Rabbinic homily that associates each of the four species of the holiday of Succot with four archetypes of people. The Etrog (citron) which has both a fragrant smell and can be eaten represents...

Jul 8, 2020, 2:47 PM

Before we abandon Jerusalem for Yavne: A response to Peter Beinart

Peter Beinart and I agree that Israel’s protracted military rule over Palestinians in the territories it conquered in 1967 should end. We agree that Palestinians should have political rights. We even agree that to achieve these goals, we will...

Jun 10, 2020, 11:44 AM

Annexation without Representation

As a tour guide, I have shared and explored Israel with Orthodox right wing Jews, Palestinian activists, fundamentalist Christians, liberal politically active young American Jews, Israelis of all sorts and many others. Even before I started guiding for these...

May 21, 2020, 8:01 PM

Talking Occupation and Ethics with R. Berkovits

Last year, while reading and processing Faith and Freedom, the recently published haggadah based on Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits’ writings, I was struck anew by the deep ambivalence towards political power at the heart of his theology. On the backdrop...

Apr 20, 2020, 3:41 PM

Reunion 70 years after the Shoah

I learned about the Search Bureau for Missing Relatives’ broadcasts on Israeli radio from David Grossman’s novella Momik. Survivors gathered around a radio, listening for details of the family that they had been separated from during the horrors of...

May 1, 2019, 1:27 AM

R’ Bigman’s Zionism: Admiration and Reservation

Rabbi Bigman and me

'I think Palestinian aspirations for a state are a good thing -- I think the violent means they have used are abhorrent'

Oct 8, 2018, 12:35 PM

My Arab Colleague from Mayor to Persona Non Grata?

Some of the most satisfying and challenging work I do as a tour guide is for Aziz Abu Sarah’s Mejdi tours. Aziz’s recent aborted run for mayor of Jerusalem and his subsequent troubles with the ministry of Interior have...

Aug 15, 2018, 6:50 PM

Enemies, morality, and our new Chief of Staff

Despite efforts to discredit Yair Golan for Chief of Staff, Jews have always considered morality an issue in fighting wars

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About Me

Ross Singer lives on Kibbutz Maale Gilboa and works as a tour guide, educator, and translator.

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