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Sam Lehman-Wilzig

Aug 21, 2026, 8:38 AM

What’s Missing in Policymaking and News Production: Complexity

Everyone knows (sort of) that we live in a “complex world.” But what does that demand of us? This is a double “us”: regarding political policymakers as well as individual citizens. Let’s start with legislators, bureaucrats and the like. Given...

Aug 20, 2026, 3:02 PM

Book review – Between Torah and Derech Eretz

A few months ago, a collector from Israel went around with the attached tzedakah card. The card described an impoverished family whose children were sleeping on the floor. It then explained that the father learns Torah all day, resulting...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Aug 13, 2026, 3:11 PM

All the king’s horses

In Parshat Shoftim, Dvarim 17:14-16 we learn about the rules for having a king: When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, should you say,...

Aug 13, 2026, 3:09 PM

7 questions to Haredi leaders on not drafting to the Israeli army

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis, including Degel HaTorah party spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando, attend a rally against the arrest of draft-dodging yeshiva students outside of the military prison at Beit Lid, August 14, 2025. (Sam Sokol/The Times of Israel)

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis relate to the IDF and to the possibility of their own drafting in ways that seem to undermine the very Torah they say they are protecting

Aug 6, 2026, 3:05 PM

Israel’s secular ethos is unraveling – with surprising results

IDF Reserve soldiers and Orthodox Jews take part in prayer and the weekly reading of a Torah Scroll at dawn just before a military exercise on the Golan Heights, April 1, 2024. (Michael Giladi/ Flash90)

Once Torah study is enshrined in the country's basic laws, it must belong equally to all citizens

Aug 4, 2026, 2:39 PM

As Religious Zionism moves to the fringe, one politician stands to gain

Minister of Finance and Head of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich attends the Religious Zionism party primaries ahead of the upcoming Israeli general elections, in Jerusalem, July 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

The party's narrowing appeal could reshape the battle for Israel's religious-nationalist voters

Sam Lehman-Wilzig

Jul 31, 2026, 8:16 AM

Who’s (Not) a Zionist: RAAM or the Haredim?

Although the Israeli polls over the last two years have consistently shown that the Opposition is well ahead of the governing Coalition, the former are not at all guaranteed an absolute majority in the elections. The general trend: around...

Jul 29, 2026, 9:10 PM

The market solution to the Haredi draft crisis

Troops watch as ultra-Orthodox men protest against the draft outside the IDF Recruitment Center at Tel Hashomer, July 15, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Instead of fighting a losing battle over conscription, the IDF should pay fair wages to professional soldiers and let incentives do what coercion has not

Jul 29, 2026, 1:18 PM

Why This Reservist Is Voting for Avigdor Liberman

I am 42 years old. Since October 7, I have served hundreds of days as a combat reservist. Although I have reached the age of exemption, I recently volunteered for another year because serving Israel is a privilege, not a...

Jul 26, 2026, 5:56 AM

Drafting the ultra-Orthodox isn’t a magic bullet

(courtesy)

Yes, Haredim must serve, but that means making room for them, training them and changing the culture they come from. It's no quick fix for exhausted reservists

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