Thursday, October 27, 2016 — The chairman of the Knesset’s financial committee, Mr. Moshe Gafni, rejected the request of a local Christian organization for certain tax benefits. Its members were said to be observed performing “missionary” activities. Rightfully so. You can easily guess I have nothing to do with hallucinatory Christian groups, but look what […]

The word ‘Jewish’ is open to more than one interpretation. I remember once staying at the Scots Hotel, Tiberias, Israel (great restaurant, by the way). One of the features they offer visitors is a lecture about the hotel, its history and guidelines. They emphasize the fact that one third of the employees are “Christians”, another […]

New Year’s Eve is named “Sylvester’s Day” in some countries, Israel included. The reason has to do with Pope Sylvester I who presumably died in December 31, almost two millennia ago. According to one legend, it appears that Mr. Sylvester was not so kind to the Jews. The contemporary outcome is a major ban by […]

Yesterday I saw a movie about Ireland in the beginning of the previous century (“Jimmy’s Hall”, recommended). True it had also some political contents, left-right and all that, but lots of religious stuff. You’re “evil” if you’re “anti-Christ”. You’re banned from society if you don’t believe Jesus is the son of God. The beginning of […]

The argument can go both ways, and indeed it does, very often. What’s more, there is lots of criticism heard from religious people, of things associated with secularity. Have you heard that schools of the secular sector introduce more violence? Do you know that secular people as a whole are blamed for maintaining weaker relationships […]

“Us, and them. And after all we’re only ordinary men.” – ‘Us and Them’, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters Using passive voice is a great thing, a must for skillful politicians and salesmen. “Promised Land” and “Chosen People” are both amazing expressions without needing to explain who promised and who chose. So, who are God’s chosen […]

“England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” – George Bernard Shaw Religion deserves a dictionary of its own, and indeed there are already quite a few. However, they typically use a very serious approach. How about something lighter, but one that still carries the correct meaning of things? So here it […]

“In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of “respect”.” – Salman Rushdie “Where one burns books, one will soon burn people.” – Heinrich Heine […]

In the movie “Annie Hall”, Woody Allen plays the character Alvy Singer. In one scene he is standing in line near a guy who is pontificating about the media. The screenplay goes like this: Man: It’s the influence of television. Yeah, now Marshall McLuhan deals with it in terms of it being a-a high, uh, […]

“Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them.” – Samuel Palmer How do we know God wants us to refrain from stealing from others? How can we be so sure the Almighty is against adultery? After all, it’s kind of difficult to pinpoint any individual meeting with him (her? them?) recently. Yet, millions of people […]