With Purim only a week away, Rabbis are coming out of the woodwork with rulings on a whole variety of issues relating to the full and proper observance of the day. But none have made the news as prominently as Israel’s (the world’s?) leading Sephardic jurist/halakhist, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. When this sage, commonly known as…

Anyone concerned about the coercive use of religion should find these two stories interesting – upsetting but interesting. And anyone not concerned about the coercive use of religion in the world today, should read a paper. Both the United States Supreme Court and that of Israel have ruled in two cases one in each country,…

The Obama administration has repeatedly commented on its desire to engage Iran more constructively. And while the possibility of success can be debated, it seems that failing to try would only guarantee the current unacceptable status quo. The New York Times’ Roger Cohen returned from a trip to Iran and reaches similar conclusions, but for…

75% of those surveyed said that they opposed the sale of land in Jerusalem to Christian organizations that would build churches there, according to a just released survey conducted by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies and the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. The survey studied Israeli Jewish Views of Christians and Christianity and got…

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