June 2010
5 posts
1 tag
The moral and spiritual bankruptcy of Orthodoxy in...
A remark by Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy that the court’s decisions are not subject to rabbinical approval went straight to the heart of the matter, with irate haredi demonstrators declaring that if they had to choose between the court and their rabbis, the rabbis always would come first. via jta.org Just when we thought Orthodoxy/ultra-Orthodoxy (there is now very little...
1 tag
Losing interest in defending Israel
Probably like an increasing number of Israel’s supporters, I’m starting to have a problem defending what I don’t understand.Also (coming back to the impact of the proposed changes to the conversion laws on Reform converts and Patrilineal descent), if there’s to be no place in the Israeli scheme of things for my daughter and me, I’m not even sure I’m interested in helping to make Israel’s case. ...
Trying to be rational about the Settlements
What we’re seeing in Israel is a massive shift or redirection of population and resources from Israel proper (i.e. within the cease-fire lines) to the occupied territories (mainly the West Bank), in defiance of logic (and apparently of international law). Thus, population, infrastructure and investment that is sorely needed within Israel itself, and that should be directed to the Galilee, Negev...
1 tag
On losing a war
Conventional wisdom in Israel has it that she cannot afford to lose a single war. Losing a war to its Arab (or Iranian!) neighbours would not result in an unfavourable peace treaty, but rather in the extinction of Israel. And yet, Israel hasn’t won (or at least convincingly won) a single one of its wars or campaigns since the victory in June 1967. It is probably also true to say that Israel’s...
2 tags
The world’s IT infrastructure provider
Companies such as Google and its competitors (but especially and specifically Google) are fast becoming the IT infrastructure or service provider to the entire world. Just about everyone you know has at least a Gmail or Hotmail account (or AOL, Yahoo!, whatever). Some of us use multiple services from multiple providers. Many of us are entirely reliant on one or more of these services, in both...