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 […]

A team of ex-religious young Jewish people are [rightfully] suing the State of Israel for failing to educate them while there were younger. The State of Israel has long surrendered to the political pressure of the ultra-orthodox Jewish parties in the parliament, to avoid giving proper education in ultra-orthodox religious schools. Those religious rabbis and […]

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 […]

It’s the little things that piss you off. The government may use your tax money to finance anti-education, to pump huge money into close associates’ bank accounts, even to spend it on luxury trips abroad. But you’re used to all that. It’s the little things that can really annoy. One of them being the Ministry […]

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 […]

In February 1999 there was a big ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstration against the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) people demonstrated against the court’s recent decisions, which they seemed to dislike. In a nearby park, a much smaller demonstration was spontaneously formed, of non-religious people who protested against this mass […]

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 situation: A weekly meeting, in which employees of a certain Israeli company help small children – sons and daughters of Ethiopian Jews who recently immigrated to Israel – in preparing their school homework. Innocent kids. Still do not know Hebrew properly. They certainly do not know biology or astronomy. Even don’t know the difference […]

Egyptian el-Sisi and Turkish Erdogan represent two completely opposite models: The former “sort of” took leadership by force, but seems to impose democracy and relative secularism. The latter reached power democratically, but seems to impose a religious theocracy. The built-in weakness of democracy is the option to eliminate it from within, using democratic tools. This […]

Last Saturday, while walking in some known Israeli town, I couldn’t help noticing the renowned pattern of an El Al plane passing above in the sky. An El Al airplane? On Saturday? For a moment I thought the Messiah was already here, and then I remembered the old airline trick of “On Tuesday my name […]