Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood by a sleek tablet-like touchscreen of a big meat-producing machine, chose the percentage of fat he wanted in his steak, and pressed “Print.” A few minutes later, his order was ready. Printing…
Following the wave of terror attacks, the ongoing demonstrations against (and for) the judicial reform, and the barrage of interviews in the media warning that Israel is on a precipice, there has been a sharp increase in calls to emergency…
Yesterday was Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices during World War II. Today, April 19, is the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the…
It is common in Israel to disrespect people of status, such as state officials. The reason for this is that we—the people of Israel, the Jews—are a free people in our roots. We originated as a nation of members who…
There are different kinds of divisions in every society and nation, but in the Israeli nation, the division is much stronger. This is because, as it is written, we are “a stiff-necked people.” It means that we are incredibly stubborn,…
Passover is the most festive of all the Jewish holidays. It is a celebration of freedom, when the people of Israel became liberated from the yoke of slavery in Egypt. Back then, the Hebrews united around Moses, and despite internal…
In order to unite, we need to annul our egos toward each other. What are our egos? They are our self-aimed inclinations that make each of us consider ourselves the greatest, that there is no one like us. Such an…
In the early 1970s, when I first asked for permission to immigrate to Israel, the Soviet authorities denied my request. In those days, I was not alone. Many soviet Jews who sought to leave the Soviet Union were refused and…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to pause the judicial reform in order to give time for negotiation with its opposers will achieve nothing. The struggle is not about this or that law, or about how to appoint judges to Israel’s…
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the state of slavery in Egypt means that we are under the complete control of the desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone, or in other words, the human ego. From such a state, we…
Amid the painful rifts in Israeli society, in a period of mass protests, strikes and sharp divisions, today my student asked me: What prayer can we raise in such a situation? We can only raise a prayer for unity above division. It…
There was once a hefty dispute between David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharet. Sharet said, “What will the nations say?” And Ben-Gurion answered: “It doesn’t matter what the nations will say. What’s important is what will the Jews do.” I agree…