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The Annexation Endgame

י"ז באלול ה'תש"ע (27 August 2010)

IHTG asked what I thought about this article. He wrote: My feeling is that the settlers with their sense of community and extremely high birthrates find it easier to imagine surviving in a multi-ethnic society along with Arabs, in a sort of mini-Austro-Hungary, with themselves as the Austrians. For the rest of us, it could [...]

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What is a Jew?

י"ד באב ה'תש"ע (25 July 2010)

In response to my post on 9 Av, Will S. asked why non-religious Jews choose to remain Jewish by choice: Is it just shared experience, and/or sense of high degree of persecution by outsiders, that inculcates the sense of “we’re a people” in secularist Jews, making them want to live amongst their own rather than [...]

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Israel is a Police State

י' באב ה'תש"ע (21 July 2010)

Israeli propaganda would have you believe that Israel is a liberal western democracy. Though it’s true that Israel is a democracy – much to our detriment – this society is not western, and there is very little about life here that’s liberal. Israeli citizens are required to carry identification and explain who they are and [...]

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9 Av

ח' באב ה'תש"ע (19 July 2010)

Today is a calamitous day in Jewish history, when we observe the destruction of both Temples, by the Babylonians and Romans respectively. It’s not a holiday the observance of which is mandated in the Torah, so I consider it entirely optional to participate in the public mourning. Nevertheless, I am always surprised and disappointed how [...]

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Helen Thomas

כ"ז בסיון ה'תש"ע (9 June 2010)

I’m a Jew and a Zionist (in some sense of the term), but that doesn’t mean I can’t get along with people who dislike Jews and Zionists. In my experience, a person’s feelings and opinions about Jews and Israel don’t correlate strongly to any positive or negative character traits, and they don’t tend to indicate [...]

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Circumcision and Intactivism

כ"ו בסיון ה'תש"ע (8 June 2010)

Ferdinand wrote what he thinks about “‘intactivism,’ opposition to circumcising boys when they’re too young to decide for themselves.” I was circumcised when I was eight days old and I’m glad it was done, not for religious reasons but because in my experience more girls appreciate when it’s been done. It caused me no trauma, [...]

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