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Jul 19, 2026, 4:52 PM

Haredi ingratitude

In this new Ayin Tova cartoon, we see an Ultra-Orthodox Haredi rabbi deliberately spitting into the water source of the Jewish nation. Why would someone spit into a well that they, and others, drink from? This malicious act of pollution...

Jul 3, 2026, 12:23 PM

Shabbat Returns to the US Supreme Court

Three days before the Republic marks its 250th birthday, the United States Supreme Court agreed to answer a question that would have troubled the sleep of American Jews as far back as colonial Newport and Charleston: whether a government...

Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Jul 2, 2026, 9:25 AM

Seyag LaTorah, Lo Magen Sheker

סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה, לֹא מָגֵן שֶׁקֶר Seyag LaTorah, Lo Magen Sheker A Fence for the Torah, Not a False Shield Torah is not a private shield against the burden of the people. A true fence around Torah protects the sacred not from responsibility,...

Jul 1, 2026, 10:02 AM

How reading ‘Besheva’ reminded me of the old joke about Jewish power

The widely distributed free weekly Besheva, identified with Israel's so-called Hardal (Haredi-nationalist) community, reminds me of the joke about the Jew who made a point of reading antisemitic publications describing our immense power, so he could reassure himself that...

Richard Diamond

Jun 24, 2026, 8:54 PM

The Deterioration of American Jewry’s Unconditional Solidarity with Israel

image by Google Notebook

The Grief of Estrangement There is a particular kind of grief that has no clean name — the grief of loving something so completely that you never thought to examine the conditions of that love, until the day you realize...

Emanuela Barasch Rubinstein

Jun 23, 2026, 6:41 PM

The Unfinished Journey of Secular Israel

These days, Israeli liberals look around them with profound despair. Values that stood at the heart of Israeli society only a few decades ago are now under fierce attack. Far-right religious Israelis ridicule them, the current destructive government seeks...

Chava (Patricia) Kadoche

Jun 22, 2026, 11:57 PM

Not Everything Is Black and White

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself thinking about the growing tensions between different segments of Israeli society, particularly between the Haredi and Hiloni communities. The louder the debate becomes, the easier it is to view people as...

Jun 15, 2026, 11:12 AM

5 Reasons I Love the Rivon Harevii

Rivon Harevii ("The Fourth Quarter"), the grassroots movement dedicated (in my own words) to taking the sting out of Israel’s public discourse, announced a decision last night to run as a political party in the upcoming elections. I'm deeply...

Jun 14, 2026, 5:05 PM

(Tom Issachar via Wikimedia Commons)

We need Trumpian negotiations – say, open streets for cash flow and we'll address army service later. But only if you accept that you too are Israeli citizens

Jun 14, 2026, 2:58 PM

A reckoning for the Reform movement

Campaigners for and against a BDS referendum at the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York City, May 26, 2026. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The balance of universalism with the particularism of religious thought and Zionism is Judaism's distinctive genius. Stripping away those Jewish parts spells disaster

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