Nathan Jeffay
By Nathan Jeffay
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Opinion Should I Die for Passover?
Photo credit: Getty Images This week is prime time for Passover shopping and cleaning. But in Jerusalem, hundreds of people will be engaged in a very different type of preparation for the festival — witnessing the slaughter of a lamb, just like in the olden days. The Seder has its origins in ancient times, when…
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Israel News Israeli Jews Who Aren’t Jewish in Eyes of Rabbis Face Kafkaesque Conversion Plight
They live as part of Jewish society in the Jewish state, but the state itself does not consider them Jewish. For Israel, some 330,000 immigrants, mostly from the former Soviet Union, represent a big assimilation problem and a big political problem, made worse by the fact that the only solution for this largely non-religious group…
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Opinion Israel’s Missed Energy Opportunity
The Tamar drilling natural gas production platform near Israel / Getty Images It’s now a week since the scheduled start of one of the most important energy deals in Israeli history. But the signing was called off, hasn’t been rescheduled since, and now, uncertainty hangs over the future of the deal. Australia-based Woodside Petroleum was…
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Opinion What Olmert’s Conviction Means for Peace
Getty Images The Israeli legal system just got its teeth back. Much has been written about the conviction this week of Israel’s Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a bribery trial. The reverberations of the ruling are felt far and wide. In the political sphere, this seems to be the end of the dream which…
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Israel News Jewish Students Find Global Connections — and Schisms — in Israel Program
Thousands of students from around the world head to Israel every year to discover the country and its culture. And what do they learn? “In general, Israel education is about falafel, geography and one directional learning about Israelis,” quipped Shana Zionts, director of student life at Columbia/Barnard Hillel. This winter, a delegation of young adults,…
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Opinion Did Israeli Conversions Just Get a Lot Easier?
Immigrants from the former Soviet Union arrive in Israel. / Getty Images Did you hear about the latest coup for the Reform and Conservative movements in the Knesset? A new piece of legislation that passed the Law Committee today and is ready for voting in a few weeks will apparently bring closer a day when…
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Opinion Will Settlers and Arabs Unite To Tank Peace?
John Kerry / Getty Images As Jerusalem and Ramallah wait anxiously to see the framework peace agreement that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is drafting, large numbers of Israelis are ready to take matters into their own hands if they don’t like what they see. A survey by the Israel Democracy Institute just asked…
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Opinion Game Over for Religious Balance in Beit Shemesh?
Getty Images In a rerun of a scandal-ridden poll in the fall, Beit Shemesh has reelected its ultra-Orthodox mayor. Rarely has a political campaign pitted Haredim and others against each other to the extent seen in this Israeli city. The original election in October was fought as a battle between two rival visions for the…
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