Miriam Shaviv
By Miriam Shaviv
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Opinion Few Religious Jews Join Israeli Cost-of-Living Protests
As protesters against the high cost of living in Israel flood the country’s streets, one demographic is noticeably absent: the religious sector. While, to be sure, individual yarmulkes can be seen here and there — including on the evening of July 30, when up to 150,000 people demonstrated in multiple locations — the general disinterest…
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Opinion France’s Ban, and Israel’s Burka Problem
Israel, and particularly its rabbis, could learn from France’s ban on face veils. With this new law France has made a powerful statement about the level of integration it expects from Muslim citizens, and about the status of women in its society. Israel’s religious sector needs to make similar statements. The target would not be…
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Opinion Britain’s Next Top Rabbi
The announcement last month that the British chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, will retire in 2013 immediately set off a flurry of speculation about potential successors. For Anglo-Jewry, this is a crucial moment. The chief rabbi is considered the leader of the community, setting its tone and priorities, and is its most prominent face to the…
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Opinion With Friends Like These…
Israel needs friends in Europe, but there are some friends that it could do without. In June, the English Defence League, a thuggish anti-Muslim group known for its raucous (and sometimes violent) street protests, launched a Jewish division, attracting at least a handful of Jews among the 500 fans on its “Jewish Division” Facebook page….
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Opinion Why Anglo-Israeli Ties Will Survive Dubai
It has become conventional wisdom that Israel cannot get a fair hearing in Britain. There is strong hostility toward Israel in British academia and trade unions. There have been mounting efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to push boycotts, divestment and sanctions efforts against the Jewish state. And British public opinion as a whole reacted strongly against…
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Opinion War on Internet Is a Fight the Rabbis Can’t Win
Are Israel’s Haredi religious authorities losing control of their followers? In December, leading Israeli rabbis launched a new push to curtail Internet use among ultra-Orthodox Jews, emphasizing that their longstanding ban on Web surfing applied to sites geared toward the Haredi community as well. They threatened stricter penalties than ever before for those who disobeyed….
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News British Jewry?s Self-Inflicted Wound
The opening of Britain?s brand-new Supreme Court last month was an occasion for celebration. But for some sections of Britain?s Jewish community, it was accompanied by trepidation. In a society with only partial separation between church and state, one of the first cases heard by the new court concerned the right of the Jewish community…
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News Non-Jewish Husbands, More Jewish Kids
Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America By Keren R. McGinity New York University Press, 305 pages. Freelance writer Beth Levine intended to marry a Jewish man and raise “nominally Jewish children,” although she could not define what being a Jew meant. But, after marrying Bill Squire, a gentile, in 1991, she…
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