Traditionally, Passover (‘Pesach’ in Hebrew) represents the holiday of freedom. According to the legend (perceived as history by many), it was the time the ancient Hebrews escaped slavery. In Passover many Jews read the ‘Haggadah’, which tells all these ancient stories. Yet, Passover is identified by one distinct famous tradition: The avoidance of bread. Actually, […]

It’s that time of the year again… when the number changes and people celebrate. Progress has taken its toll, and terms like “Christmas”, “New Year’s Eve” and “Silvester” have all mixed up worldwide into something vague, often called “the holiday season”. This may include vacations, Christmas trees and pictures or dolls of the imaginary Santa […]

Apparently, it’s very hard to leave an ultra-Orthodox Jewish environment not only in Israel, but also in the U.S.A. Netflix has released a wonderful new peace, describing the extreme difficulties of people trying to leave the “Hasidic” New-York community. The latter does its best to make life miserable for those who want to break free, […]

The State of Israel is committed — according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — to enable every “men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, [to] have the right to marry and to found a family”. Commitment is nice, but reality is more complex. The Jewish […]

“Woman is the nigger of the world”— John Lennon There’s a lot going on in currently the land of milk and honey. Much of it has to do with the special attitude of religion towards women. Women are allowed to sing… as long as men don’t hear them. That is the up-to-date twist of the […]

Israelis were shocked to hear that the new candidate for the “IDF Rabbi” position referred to homosexuals as “perverts”, but they were soon calmed by the explanation that this was only an academic biblical discussion. What’s this nonsense – ‘only an academic discussion’ – or in its Jewish flavor – ‘only a halachic commentary’? As […]

What business do politicians have with religious verdicts? Since when do parliament members determine the exact hour of the ‘Sabbath’, or whether the original circumcision process of a new immigrant to Israel was religiously correct? Alas, in Israel 2016 – religion (Orthodox Jewish, of course) has invaded most of our disciplines. The chair-thirsty politicians have […]

It doesn’t matter if you make my country more “Jewish” or more “democratic”, even if you promote lots of “heritage” lessons in your schools or you don’t, even if your judges base their verdicts on ancient Biblical ruling or ignore it completely, even so you “mark” some organizations but not others, no matter how much […]

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 Wailing Wall is considered as one of the most sacred Jewish places. Historically it is said to be the western wall of the ancient Jewish temple, known also as the Western Wall “It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple’s courtyard, and is arguably the most sacred site recognized […]