Rosner’s Domain | Litvaks Without Leadership
Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the leader of the Litvak ultra-Orthodox community who died May 30th, was little more than a hundred.
Shmuel Rosner is an Israeli columnist, editor, and researcher. He is the editor of the research and data-journalism website themadad.com, and is the political editor of the Jewish Journal.
Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the leader of the Litvak ultra-Orthodox community who died May 30th, was little more than a hundred.
In March, a strange act was exercised by Israel’s government: it raises the possibility of canceling past events by making decisions in the present time.
In Tel Aviv, which was indeed always open to everyone, new winds are blowing.
For a week of fighting in Gaza, it was easy to forget about all the other urgent challenges that Israel faces.
Sometimes even a bad government makes the right decisions.
The Ottomans instituted the Millet system, which binds marriages and divorces to religious communities, each according to its tradition. The State of Israel had a short debate, then also decided to keep it intact.
Last Saturday, April 21, was exactly 41 years since the final evacuation of the city of Yamit.
The Israeli government wishes to lower the age of exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox men.
Maybe it’s time for the government to cut its long string of provocations (from religious legislation to the legal reform) and move to dealing with security, cost of living, transportation, crime – the boring stuff for which a government is usually elected.
It could have been a night to remember. It could have been a nightmare. It would have been both.