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Shaiya Rothberg
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Shaiya Rothberg
The Blogs

Shaiya Rothberg

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Jul 18, 2023, 12:23 PM
The Sub Laban Eviction was a Crime Against Humanity – אדם
Noura Ghaith-Sub Laban, center, is comforted by family as she reacts to their eviction from their home. (Mahmoud Illean/AP)
When the Jewish state becomes a tool for persecuting an ethnic-national population, Torah requires that we resist it. On Tuesday, July 11th, the State of Israel forcibly evicted the Ghaith-Sub Laban family from their home and replaced them with Jewish...
Sep 20, 2019, 3:25 AM
Religious Zionist Anti-Nationalism
Portrait of Martin Buber (via Wikipedia)
In 1948, on the eve of the War of Independence, Martin Buber wrote in an essay entitled Zionism and "Zionism," that he feared that a Jewish victory in the war would spell the downfall of authentic Zionism. The "Jewish" nation-state which...
Sep 18, 2019, 2:02 PM
Why It’s Wrong to Evict Arab Families in East Jerusalem
Mohamed Sabbagh - together with 32 members of his family - face eviction from their home of sixty years. If evicted, God forbid, the Palestinian residents will be replaced by "Judaification" activists associated with private NGOs. [Photo by Free Jerusalem]
We all know that the international scene is marred with bigoted hatred of Israel. And Jews are often subject to racism and violence. In such times, it's hard to hear Israel criticized. But when that criticism is morally justified,...
Apr 5, 2019, 8:56 AM
We must not evict the Sabbagh family
Mohamed Sabbagh - together with 32 members of his family - face eviction from their home of sixty years. If evicted, God forbid, the Palestinian residents will be replaced by "Judaification" activists associated with private NGOs. [Photo by Free Jerusalem]
The Sabbagh family are our neighbors in Jerusalem. And they are members of an ethnic-national minority. Their fate is our test: Can we still remember that we were strangers in Mitsrayim?   I often hear the claim that interpreting Pesach...
Feb 21, 2019, 4:03 PM
The Dark Side of Judaism in Jerusalem
Members of the Abu Assab family seen after being evicted from their home by Israeli police in Jerusalem’s Old City, February 17, 2019. (Activestills.org). Published in 972mag.com (Feb. 18, 2019)
Our generation has witnessed a Renaissance of Judaism in Jerusalem; There is much that is holy, beautiful and inspiring. But ongoing state violence against Palestinian residents because of their ethnic-national identity is also an expression of contemporary Jewish identity....
Nov 20, 2018, 8:34 PM
Featured Post
The lost Jews of Umm Zuka
A little-known branch of Judaism touts violent Jewish supremacism; it is the true face of Israeli state policy over the green line
Oct 14, 2018, 6:39 AM
We must not destroy Khan al-Ahmar
The looming destruction of the Palestinian village Khan al-Ahmar by the State of Israel exposes Israeli policy on the West Bank for what it is: The systematic domination and dispossession of Palestinians in order to settle Israeli Jews. The blatant...
Sep 9, 2018, 12:20 AM
Shalom Kita Aleph! It’s Expel-Our-Neighbors Time!
This Shabbat morning in shul I suffered from acute cognitive dissonance. I daven in an egalitarian havura-style minyan in Jerusalem, and today's davening was particularly beautiful. First, it was the Torah reading. Every once in a while it happens,...
Apr 8, 2018, 1:23 PM
Featured Post
If you lived in Gaza, you would march on the fence
Palestinian workers wait to cross the checkpoint from the West Bank town of Ramallah to work in Israel on June 4, 2013. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
The suffering and indignities of life under Israeli occupation understandably foment a simmering rage
Nov 22, 2016, 10:21 AM
Will You Stand Up For Justice In Israel?
The destruction of the village of Umm al-Hiran (planned to begin this morning) is a betrayal of the noble values of Israel's Declaration of Independence.   Umm al-Hiran is a Bedouin village in the Negev of roughly 1,000 people. The village...
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About Me
Shaiya Rothberg lives with his wife in Jerusalem Al-Quds. He is a teacher of Jewish Thought and a human rights activist. Shaiya holds a PhD from Hebrew University in Jewish Thought and a B.A. in Jewish Philosophy and Talmud from Bar-Ilan University. He made aliyah in 1988 and served as a soldier and officer in the I.D.F. Shaiya's writing and teaching focus on the transformative potential of Jewish tradition.