Tisha B’Av and Eid el-Adha on the Temple Mount

This year Eid el Adha and Tisha B’Av fell on the same day. In any other place in the world, this need not be relevant. But Israel makes the spiritual, material. Our return to the Land of Israel has reasserted the place of Place in our worship. How can we better negotiate time and space, memories and place, people and land?

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Can anyone say Never Again? Depends what it means…

How are we to prevent further genocides without making comparisons from history? Does “Never Again” mean nothing? And here, it seems, lies the rub. “Never Again” means different things to different people. Meir Kahane, widely credited with popularizing the phrase, meant Never Again to Jews – not Never Again to All. 

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Long-term planning is a Jewish value. How about in Israel?

Israel has gone the way of Esau. Every news item must be fresh, every piece of information must be distributed immediately, both Peace and Messiah must arrive NOW. Dan Ben David calls for Israel to look beyond Esau’s short-termism, and think more like Jacob about the deeper issues waiting beyond the corner.

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So do you really have no influence over Israel’s elections?

Haredim will abandon any government that “gives away” the Kotel to “the Reform”. Put another way – any government that distances itself from the Kotel Agreement could receive Haredi support on other issues, such as the Palestinians. See how you have an influence?

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