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Israel Matters!

Israel Matters! – October 2021

From Citrus to Cyberspace

When was the last time you had a Jaffa Orange? As children we gushed with pride and boasted that the very best oranges in the supermarket were from Israel! The Jaffa Orange was a tangible (and tasty!) reminder of the miracle of Israel. The ability to irrigate and re-engineer agriculture produced results (and produce!) Out of the desert … oranges! Israel produced as much as 1.8 million tons of caitrus in the 1980’s. I’m telling you, that fruit has appeal! But times have changed. Annual Israeli citrus production has dropped about 75% since those years. More broadly as shown in the chart below, while agriculture was responsible for over 40% of the value of Israel’s exports in the late 1950’s, these days agriculture only amounts to about 2% of the value of everything Israel sends to the world. What happened? (more…)

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Israel Matters!

Israel Matters! – September 2021

Israel and the Delta Variant: Lessons for US

In the July/August issue of Israel Matters, you were promised in-person reporting from Israel. Well, as you might have guessed, Covid had other plans in the form of an Israeli Delta Variant outbreak. So, in place of an in-person story, here is a one-person-removed accounting of what is going on in Israel.
To set the context, recall that in October 2020, all of us were isolated from each other and sad at the situation into which the pandemic had forced us. I decided to do something that always makes me happy and booked a trip to Israel, convincing my NYC friend Shari to join me. We made reservations for July 2021, at which time we assumed this mess would be over.
Obviously, we were wrong. (more…)

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Odds & Ends

Are the Taliban descendants of Israel?

 

Pashtun practices include circumcision on the eighth day and refraining from mixing meat and milk — Is there a connection to ancient Hebrews?

 By MICHAEL FREUND –  SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

 

TALIBAN FORCES patrol in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2 (photo credit: STRINGER/ REUTERS)

TALIBAN FORCES patrol in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2
(photo credit: STRINGER/ REUTERS)
With the fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban just shy of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the world’s attention has once again turned to Afghanistan.
Tucked away in south-central Asia, with unsavory neighbors such as Iran to the west and Pakistan to the east, the landlocked country, which once served as a base of operations for al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, is as beguiling as it is complex.
And yet amid its turbulent past, in which it has served as a flashpoint for the British Empire, the Soviet Union and now the United States, Afghanistan has long been home to one of the more intriguing unsolved mysteries of Jewish history: the fate of some of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. (more…)

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Rabbi's Corner

Rosh Hashanah

“Let the old year end and the new year and its blessings begin!” Certainly, this year, these words resonate for us.

In the last year, some of us suffered and recovered from COVID, while others sadly lost loved ones. Many of us have stayed physically well but have had to deal with anxiety or depression. Some of us have lost jobs or economic security. Others were worried about their kids, their young adult children or the elders they could not even visit in person. There is a sense of collective grief over all that has been and may be lost, as well as anxiety over the divisions in our society. (more…)

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President's Message

July 2021: President’s Message

As we come upon the new year, we should reflect on what we have learned from the unusual nature of this past year. We look forward to a positive new year, with all its promise and possibilities. (more…)

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Odds & Ends

Does obsession with disproportionality compromise responsible warfare?

If Israelis are unable to perceive the paradigm shift in discourse, they will never be able to challenge it.

Samson and Delilah by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (photo credit: DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Samson and Delilah by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni
(photo credit: DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

To some, power is all that matters. It is not simply something to be obtained, but a lens through which to see the world. During the recent  Gaza conflict , such a worldview began to dominate discussions of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel has power. And to some, this is wrong. (more…)

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Rabbi's Corner

Turn On The Lights

I would be willing to bet that most people, when asked what the symbol of the state of Israel is, would respond “the Magen David – the Star of David.” But while the Star of David adorns the flag of Israel, the fact is, it is not the symbol of the state of Israel! The symbol is found in the Book of Numbers, in the Torah portion, Behaalotecha – “to kindle,” kindling the menorah in the Tabernacle. (more…)

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Odds & Ends

What does archaeology tell us about the origins of Judaism?

“I’ve looked for a period of time when we know that something called Judaism exists, when we have clear evidence that ancient Judeans knew about the Torah and were keeping the laws of the Torah.”
By ROSSELLA TERCATIN JUNE 10, 2021

Dr. Yonatan Adler, senior lecturer at Ariel University, speaks to The Jerusalem Post
When did ancient Jews start keeping mitzvot? What kind of evidence do we have of observance of dietary and purity laws, or practices like wrapping tefillin? The Origins of Judaism Archaeological Project, a new project directed by Dr. Yonatan Adler, a senior lecturer at Ariel University, aims to shed light on some of these questions. (more…)

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