SHABBAT READING
Holy Times: Emor, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy — The parsha of Emor contains a chapter dedicated to the festivals of the Jewish year. There are five such passages in the Torah. Two, both in the book of Exodus (Ex. 23:14-17; Ex. 34:18, 22-23), are very brief. They refer only to the three pilgrimage festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot. They do not specify their dates, merely their rough position in the agricultural year. Nor do they mention the specific commands related to the festivals.
KEEPING A CLOSE EYE
Earthquake Barely Shakes Erdoğan’s Support Weeks Before Key Turkish Elections: Sonnet Frisbie, Morning Consult, May 2, 2023 –Investors are keeping a close eye on Turkey’s hotly contested May 14 elections. Many observers expect voters to show President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the door after two decades in office — even more so after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook southern Turkey less than four months before the elections, killing more than 45,000 Turks and revealing gross mismanagement of construction permitting that worsened the toll. Commentators have described the earthquake as a watershed political event.
_______________________________________________________
Turkey’s Elections and Foreign Policy Options: Onur Isci and Samuel J. Hirst, War on the Rocks, May 1, 2023
Could Erdogan Be Ousted in Turkey’s Coming Election?: The Economist, May 4, 2023
What If Erdogan Wins Next Month’s Turkish Elections?: Sinan Ciddi, National Interest, Apr. 28, 2023
Transactional Rapprochement: How Turkish-Israeli Renewed Cooperation Took Shape and Will Arguably Evolve: Pietro Baldelli, Trends, Apr. 29, 2023
Turkey’s Erdogan says IS Leader Killed in Syria: Reuters, YouTube, May 1, 2023 — Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish intelligence forces killed Islamic State leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi in Syria.
Turkey’s Kilicdaroglu Pulls Ahead Of Erdogan In Latest Polls As Campaign Heats Up: Nazlan Ertan, Al-Monitor, May 1, 2023 — The latest polls released in Turkey over the weekend give the opposition’s presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu a slight edge over incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as they held dueling rallies in the opposition stronghold of Izmir with only 13 days to go till elections.
Turkey Will Not Return to the Western Fold: Asli Aydintasbas, Foreign Affairs, May 19, 2021 — Samuel Huntington’s 1993 Foreign Affairs essay “The Clash of Civilizations?” has been picked apart endlessly over the past three decades.
The Mosque, the Dam, and Erdogan’s Widening Culture War: Nick Danforth, Foreign Affairs, July 31, 2020 — In recent weeks, the Turkish government has courted international condemnation for its handling of the country’s unique cultural heritage.