Makom Engaging Israel

Moving home

Tue, 1 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
It is with mixed feelings of sadness and excitement that we prepare to leave the Haaretz home, and ship off to our own house on www.makomisrael.org We've had a great time collaborating with Haaretz, but now is the time for us to consolidate all our work into one place. Our >>
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Tears for Gilad Shalit and Israel

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Jonathan Boyd
First appeared in Jewish People, Jewish Texts, Jewish Homeland. Jonathan Boyd is the Executive Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research Sometimes it is just too hard to hold back the tears. Like during the unetaneh tokef of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when contemplating the simple words >>

Not every tragedy has a hero

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary) Redemption of captives comes before other forms of tzedakah... and one who ignores the plight of the captive violates the commandment, "Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow." [Leviticus 19:16]. But we must not redeem the >>
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This is a crazy inexplicable country

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
We were driving home from Amirim when we saw them. Silhouetted against a dusky sky, two helicopters were climbing their way over the hills with the Mediterranean behind them. Who would have thought the sight of two ugly military helicopters flying north could make us whoop with delight and almost >>
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The release of Gilad Shalit

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
I write this while watching the live coverage of Gilad Shalit’s return home. It took me a long while to finally realise that the release of Gilad Shalit is not about security, it is about solidarity. Unfortunately the release of Gilad Shalit is not about saving lives. Quite >>
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Delegitimation and Dissent

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Michael Walzer
Delivered by Professor Michael Walzer at the Global Jewish Forum – a Makōm seminar for the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, Jerusalem, June 2011/Sivan 5771 Michael Walzer is Professor Emeritus at the School of Social Science of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the editor of Dissent >>
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A View from the Galilee - the UN bid

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
My wife had to go to the shop yesterday with the manager of our local store. The store had been given instructions to stock up on basics – water, rice, and other staples. Why? In case there are ‘repercussions’ following the Palestinian bid for State recognition at the UN this >>
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What would Ben Gurion have said and done?

Mon, 5 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Arieh Issar
Arieh S. Issar is Professor Emeritus of Ben Gurion University of the Negev As a Jerusalemite, 1928 model, it’s difficult for me to identify with the protest of the youth in the tents on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. Does my difficulty emerge from the city >>
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Reflections on media coverage and your truth

Mon, 5 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
I didn’t really care all that much about Daphne Leef. I knew that she’d been the person to plant the first tent on Rothschild Boulevard, and I knew that she was one of the people identified as a ‘leader’ of this amorphous yet ever-growing protest movement. My understanding >>
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Daphne Leef's speech translated

Sun, 4 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
This is a rush translation of the speech Daphne Leef gave at Kikar HaMedina - The State Square - at the 300,000-strong demonstration on Saturday night. Apologies for rough bits, and all credit to Daphne Leef and Dror Feuer her speech-writer. Yediot has an edited video of the speech here. >>
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The Protests - Zionism Reborn

Fri, 2 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
With the planned March of the Million approaching tomorrow, here are my thoughts - mainly aimed at friends outside of Israel. This is Zionism Apologies for using the Z word, but let's get back to basics. Zionism encompassed the idea that the Jewish People are a nation, and should have >>

The top 5 tent protest songs

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
First appeared in www.forward.com What is the theme song for Israel’s Tent Protests? Although there are some brand new candidates (Mosh Ben Ari’s Look Me In The Eyes, and the unplugged version of a new song The Good Guys Will Win, that HaDag Nachash wrote specially for the Tent >>

Facing Tisha B'Av

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Reuven Greenvald
If the weather forecasts hold true, the nine days leading up to Tisha B’Av (9th of Av) will be unpleasantly hot. If not for air conditioning, the heat would be oppressive; appropriate conditions for the discomfort that is liturgically required. Tisha B’Av marks the destruction of >>
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Tisha B'Av and the Protests

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Ehud Banai
Ehud Banai is a leading Israeli singer-songwriter. This piece first appeared in Hebrew on http://www.ehudbanai.co.il/ Sometimes I ask myself why the sages determined that the days commemorating the destruction of the Temples should be days of mourning and fasting. After all, it was the Babylonians and the Romans after >>
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Complex lessons from the Altalena

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Anton Goodman
Anton Goodman is the israel Engager Shaliach to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington A few weeks ago we marked the 63rd anniversary of the sinking of the Altalena . A complicated event, which culminated in the newly formed IDF receiving a direct order from Ben-Gurion to open fire >>
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No Representation without Taxation

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Anton Goodman
Anton Goodman is the israel Engager Shaliach to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington The recently passed Boycott Bill has inspired shockwaves that are reverberating across the Jewish world. Inside Israel there are many questions that have been raised. Here is another example of a private member’s >>
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A new Star is Born

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
Hagit Yaso won A Star is Born last night. I don’t think even she was all that surprised. While tens of thousands demonstrated in the streets of Tel Aviv for fair housing prices, and others mourned the loss of Norway’s security and Amy Winehouse, the rest of us were watching >>
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Tent or Tank?

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
Israel’s complexity, and the nature of the world’s response to it, is in danger of defeating us as a community. How can we say when a fiery piece of theater is “anti-Semitic”, and when it is simply “courageous and challenging”? How do we know when a documentary film is >>
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Encouraging not scoffing

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Robbie Gringras
I’ve been getting really wound up by a series of articles that my friend Rabbi Daniel Gordis has been writing about trainee North American Rabbis and their connection to Israel. His latest one in Commentary just wouldn’t let me rest. While acknowledging that aspects of his problem analysis are sharp >>

Boycotting Whisky?

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Anton Goodman
Before we begin, I need to divulge my divested interests. I love Scotch. I only drink Whiskey on Shabbat; and on Shabbat I only drink Whiskey. The whiskey table at shul is as important to me as much of the service that whets your appetite for it. And my wife >>
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