The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for our blog! Click here to see the complete report. This quarter, we had readers in countries as distant as Libya, Rwanda, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, India,…
RCA repudiates position on reparative therapy for queer Jews
Rabbinical Council of America president Rabbi Schmuel Goldin issued a statement on Monday dispelling allegations that the RCA has taken a stand on reparative therapy for Jews with unwanted same-sex attraction. The RCA website has previously listed an organization called…
Environmental Christmas Tree Lights and Unites in Haifa
Haifa Last year, on the same day the forest fires began ravaging the Carmel region of northern Israel, the Haifa municipality erected a Christmas tree sculpture comprised of over 5,000 recycled water bottles in honor of the Christian holiday. The tree, designed…
Looking for Christmas in the Holy Land
Gaza Last week, The Guardian told the story of the Qubrsi brothers — two of approximately 1,400 Christians residing in Gaza today. Brothers Karam and Peter are currently the only members of their family still in Gaza. Their sisters Rani…
The Day the Buses Stood Still
Israel needs America – financially, diplomatically, and militarily. It’s a fact. So when U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton makes an observation, even about a relatively minor point of domestic policy, Israelis tend to sit up and listen. That is…
Rabbinic Authorities Flex Muscles in Response to “Gay Orthodox Wedding”
Last week, over 100 Orthodox rabbis around the world added their signatures to a declaration condemning a recent event that the media identified as an “same-sex Orthodox wedding.” On November 6, Yeshiva University-ordained Rabbi Steven Greenberg, known to many as the…
Fear & Loathing in Washington Heights
The winds of scandal were blowing in full force across the Jewish world last week. An article printed in an online publication run by Yeshiva University students became the centre of controversy, and the school demanded that the article be removed.…
Rabbi Rupp answers a common question about Judaism and science
Question: “Rabbi, I’m a cultural Jew; I support the US-Israel relationship, and I am proud to be Jewish. But let’s be honest, I believe that by now we can rely on science as the best way to explain our world.”…
The Libel Law: a threat to Israeli democracy?
by Joshua Friedlander “Democracy Under Attack” screamed the webpage of Ha’aretz – a popular, left-leaning Israeli broadsheet last week. The event prompting the headline was a proposed alteration to the wording of the Libel Law, submitted this month to the Knesset…
Bil’in Celebrates “Friday of Loyalty to the Martyrs”
For the past six years, villagers and international activists have convened in the village of Bil’in to protest the presence of Israel’s security barrier. The inhabitants of Bil’in, which lies just west of Ramallah and about ofur kilometers east of…