Israel is our home. It was in the Torah, and it is now. It sure isn’t perfect, and it might not be around forever, but that’s exactly why we need to come.
In the 1980s and '90s, Israel committed to helping Ethiopian Jews make aliyah and become Israeli citizens. To this day, though, a small group of Jews remain in Ethiopia and have been unable to immigrate.
It has been almost 50 years since I met my wife Judy in Jerusalem. She came into my life like the Sabbath queen about to enter the synagogue, with everyone rising and turning toward the door to welcome her in.
For the first time, a Reform rabbi has a realistic chance to be elected to the Knesset. After the Labor primaries, Rabbi Gilad Kariv – who ran on the Labor ticket in past elections – rose to number four on the list, which puts him in real contention to be a Member of Knesset.
Everyone has an opinion on what we should have done – but as this crisis has exposed weaknesses in social solidarity, in leadership, in democratic processes here, it has also demonstrated clearly the strength of the Israeli health care system.
In Hebrew, two terms describe two different aspects of nationalism. Leumiut directly translates to “nationalism"; leumanut carries a jingoistic, chauvinistic, supremacist, and extremist brand of nationalism.
An Israeli man and his wife, stuck abroad in the pandemic, noticed their daughter was showing signs of a neurological disorder, so they decided to return home as soon as possible. But coming home wasn’t so easy.
This past year was filled with worries about health – our physical health, and the health of democracy. But we at the Israel Religious Action Center are steady on our feet, and keeping our instruments in tune.
Mark Werner is a retired attorney in Raleigh, N.C., who for the past 18 years has devoted two or three weeks every summer to volunteering on Israeli military bases through Volunteers For Israel, the U.S. partner of Israeli organization Sar-el.