Israel

bookcover-contested_utopia

Contested Utopia: Jewish Dreams and Israeli Realities

Rabbi Robert Orkand
Growing up in the years following the founding of the State of Israel, I, like so many of my generation, was taught that the new Jewish state was the fulfillment of a utopian dream: a Jewish homeland after almost 2000 years of exile. It would be a refuge for persecuted diaspora Jews and its governance guided by Jewish values.
Knesset building against a blue sky with statue of a menorah out front
Israeli History

The Israeli Government: Who Aren’t You Sitting With?

Rabbi Josh Weinberg
With just a few days left until Israel’s fourth general election in two years, we might ask: Is there a clever coalition calculus that will allow for regime change? Is there a way to avoid sinking into a repetitive Groundhog Day-esque cycle of do-over elections?