SHABBAT READING
The Limits of Love: Family Edition, KI TEITSE • 5783: The Rabbi Sacks Legacy — This week’s parsha contains the law that if a man has two wives, each giving him a son, and he loves one more than the other, he is not allowed to choose which son to give the double inheritance of the firstborn. He must give it to the actual firstborn, “for he is the first of his father’s strength.”
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WHO ARE WE?
WATCH: Michael Oren: Israel Must Face Its Identity Crisis to Survive | Top Story: JNS TV, Aug. 24, 2023 — Is Israel ignoring its existential problems? Has Israel swept its problems under the rug for the political needs of the here and now?
The Sources and Size of Israeli Polarization: Rafi Demogge, Mosaic Magazine, Aug. 3, 2023
Among the Protesters: Antonio García Martínez, Tablet, Aug. 23, 2023
The Mess in Israel: John Podhoretz, Commentary Magazine, April 2023
The Government Is Alienating Israelis from Judaism – Opinion: Daniel Goldman, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 20, 2023
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:
Admit It: You Hate Religious Jews: Liel Leibovitz, Tablet, Aug. 22, 2023 — Late last week, a 29-year-old Israeli reporter boarded a United Airlines flight from New York to Tel Aviv. A short while later, she tweeted a photo of several Orthodox Jewish men, with the following caption: “Haredis on my flight right now are trying to move me around from one seat to another.
Who Is the Real Israeli Elite?: Fiamma Nirenstein, JNS, Aug. 22, 2023 — Many people define the current controversy over judicial reforms that is roiling Israeli society as a clash between an oppressed majority and a ruling minority.
Want to Support Israeli Democracy? Then Respect Democratic Elections: Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS, Aug. 21, 2023 — There is nothing new about the notion of Israelis calling upon Americans to save their country from itself.
Israel Turns Seventy-five as a Nation Divided: Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, Apr. 26, 2023 — Israel turns seventy-five this week: the ritualized celebrations of patriotic solidarity are, this year, unusually self-conscious and forced.