Truth and Peace

The press is reporting the story worldwide that Mayor Moshe Abutbol said, "There are no gays in Beit Shemesh," and that gays need to be dealt with by the Ministry of Health and the police. So the first thing to do, if you haven't, is to watch the actual clip from "Shai b'Shishi" - specifically from 2:55 to 3:44. In Stern’s interview with Moshe Abutbul, he claims “there are no gays in this pure and holy city” and that if there were, “they would be dealt with by the ministry of health and police.” Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/tzedek-tzedek/mayor-abutbul-and-the-awkward-issue-of-beit-shemesh-child-abuse/2013/11/12/ “there are no gays in this pure and holy city” Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/tzedek-tzedek/mayor-abutbul-and-the-awkward-issue-of-beit-shemesh-child-abuse/2013/11/12/ “there are no gays in this pure and holy city” Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/tzedek-tzedek/mayor-abutbul-and-the-a...

Last month, the Board of Directors of Women of the Wall (WoW) voted to accept a compromise solution, whereby WoW would move its Rosh Chodesh prayer service to a new egalitarian section of the Kotel to be built in the area known as Robinson's Arch. A minority of WoW remains opposed to this compromise, seeing it not as a "compromise" but rather a surrender to Orthodox demands and a renouncement of WoW's very raison d'être . They thus want to continue praying in the women's section, in accordance with their legal right. Honestly, I can understand both sides. Original photo by Gil Yohanan / Ynet As I said in my previous post , we are dealing with a clash of two distinct visions for Israel as a society. And if all we do is push at one another, each side vying unyieldingly for its own self-interests without concern for the other, we will decrease the quality of life for everyone. Compromise is vital if we wish to be a strong Jewish people and a strong Isra...

Continuing from the previous post , I posed a question about what kind of society we want to build in Israel. This wasn't a rhetorical question - it's something we need to put careful thought into. Because there are, as I see it, two distinct visions operating here. Let's call them "V1" and "V2." Sometimes they're spoken out explicitly, and other times they're implicit, operating beneath the surface. In either case, these visions motivate the way people think and act in relation to important issues, and I would say we'd be well-served to keep this in mind as we make our way forward. V1 - One vision is of Israel as a traditionally religious Jewish society, based on the belief that this is what God wants for us, and indeed expects of us. It's a vision where the society is predominantly Jewish, both in terms of the population and in terms of Jewish commitment - i.e. observance of the mitzvot (commandments). It is an ideal which sees the...

I'd like to follow up a piece I wrote in support of Women of the Wall (WoW), and try to think through aspects of this complex issue over the course of several posts. And I hope people will offer their comments to help add further depth, and to bring to light sides of the issue I haven't addressed. Photo by Emil Salman / Ha'aretz It seems to me that what's really at the heart of the WoW issue is the question of equality in the public sphere. Part of it relates to religious equality, and part to gender equality. First let's define what we mean when we say "public sphere." I assume we're talking both about matters of the State (the national government and regional/local municipalities) as well as parts of the private sector which are open to the public (e.g. matters of employment and consumer access). And regarding "equality," we're talking about equal access - to services, employment, and government representation. Again, not equal...

Welcome one and all! Let's kick things off with a quote from the Talmud: משה היה אומר יקוב הדין את ההר אבל אהרן אוהב שלום ורודף שלום "Moshe used to say, 'Let the judgment/law pierce the mountain,' whereas Aharon loves peace and pursues peace." (Sanhedrin 6b) Moshe is identified in the tradition with אמת ("truth") and his brother Aharon with שלום ("peace"). Two brothers, both working together, both a part of our "soul" as a people, yet coming from two very different orientations. Truth and peace are both vital, but they're often difficult to fully express at the same time. Sometimes the desire to do what's "right" comes at the expense of peace. And sometimes the desire to keep the peace comes at the expense of what we ideally believe to be right and true. The question is, how do we know when to do which? We know that neither is expendable, and yet it seems like we're frequently having to sacrifice one t...