“Until now, Orthodox synagogues in Israel have only appointed women to serve in positions of spiritual leadership alongside male rabbis, never by themselves”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
1st ever woman spiritual leader of Orthodox synagogue appointed in Israel
by Jeremy Sharon
April 28, 2021

The Shirat Tamar Synagogue in Efrat has appointed Rabbanit Shira Marili Mirvis as its sole spiritual leader and halachic [Jewish law] authority, the first woman ever to serve in such a role in Israel. Until this week, Orthodox women have been appointed as spiritual leaders in Orthodox synagogues and in other communal positions of spiritual leadership, but always alongside a male rabbi. The appointment of Mirvis therefore represents a significant landmark for Orthodoxy in Israel. The role of women in positions of spiritual and halachic leadership has been advancing for many years but has stopped short of full communal leadership until now. READ MORE

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Despite Israel’s astonishing success against coronavirus, US State Department warns citizens against visiting the country due to a “high level of COVID-19”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

WORLD ISRAEL NEWS
Israel fights back as State Department issues travel warning despite Covid success
by Paul Shindman
April 28, 2021

Israel is fighting back and telling Americans it’s safe to visit Israel, a Tourism Ministry official told World Israel News Wednesday, after the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory about “a high level of COVID-19” in Israel, a warning that appeared detached from reality. On Tuesday, the State Department actually lowered its travel alert for Israel from level 4 to level 3, but at the same time advised Americans to “reconsider travel” due to “a high level of COVID-19 in the country” – even though Israel has been gaining accolades for its national vaccination campaign that has dropped infections to record low levels and allowed the economy to reopen. READ MORE

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“Mr. Biden seems to believe that his diplomatic ambitions in respect of Iran ought to trump — forgive the expression — Israel’s interests”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK SUN
The Blame Israel First Policy
Editorial Board
April 26, 2021

Must Israel hold its fire against Iran in order to make it easier for President Biden to rejoin a nuclear deal that the Jewish state opposes? That is the question that is coming into focus in the wake of the explosion at the Natanz nuclear site and of what the Times is calling “shadowy naval skirmishes” in Mideast seas. Mr. Biden seems to think Israel is obligated to stand down while he pursues his appeasement of the ayatollahs. That question also confronts an Israeli security delegation that is due in Washington today to air its objections to an entente with Iran, with whom we’re in what are called “indirect talks” at Vienna. On Friday the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, was asked whether the delegation — led by the director of Israel’s legendary Mossad — is likely to change the administration’s position. “No,” she answered. READ MORE

MELANIE PHILLIPS Being played for suckers by Tehran Neither the Biden administration nor the British government yet grasps the imbecility of appeasement

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“Sadly, our Jewish students have no response because no one has shared Israel’s legal and historical rights to the land of Israel, and Judea and Samaria, with them”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Why it’s crucial to educate about Israel’s rights to the land
by Diane Bederman
April 26, 2021

…Let’s begin with these questions: Why do so many people and nations question Israel’s borders and the borders of no other country? Why is the Jewish state the only state whose right to exist is questioned? There is only one possible answer: It is the monumental failure of education. The time has come – in fact, it is long overdue – to educate students of high school and university age, starting in Israel, and eventually Jewish and non-Jewish youth, and the public at large, about Israel’s legal rights. The danger facing world youth is the toxic atmosphere on university campuses, including those of the highest reputation, which of late has changed from the marketplace of ideas to the marketplace of venomous, destructive incitement of hate and lies. READ MORE

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“Kerry has previously been accused of colluding with Iranian leaders to undermine Trump administration”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
Iran foreign minister reveals John Kerry kept in touch about Israeli covert operations
by Mark Moore
Apri 26, 2021

Iran’s foreign minister claimed in a leaked recording that former US Secretary of State John Kerry told him about over 200 covert Israeli attacks on Iranian interests in Syria during former President Donald Trump’s administration. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in the leaked recording obtained by the New York Times and Iran International that the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s supreme leader kept him in the dark about government negotiations and military operations, and that he was receiving intel from Kerry. “It was former US Foreign Secretary John Kerry who told me Israel had launched more than 200 attacks on Iranian forces in Syria,” he said. READ MORE

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“Eli Rozen was walking his dog when dozens of rioters assaulted him with fists, rocks and clubs; he says he’s lucky to be alive; attack one of several on Jewish civilians”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Jerusalem man beaten by Palestinian mob on Friday says city in ‘Third Intifada’
by Staff and Agencies
April 25, 2021

An Israeli man who was badly beaten by a Palestinian mob Friday night during rioting in Jerusalem, and who was subsequently hospitalized, believes he was “a hair’s breadth from death” and described the events in the city as “a Third Intifada.” Eli Rozen, 27, was the second person in as many nights whose beating by rioters was caught on camera and caused outrage in the country. Rozen was out walking his dog around 1 a.m. in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood in the capital when he was accosted by dozens of angry Palestinians amid confrontations with police in the city. Video shared on social media shows Rozen getting kicked, beaten with a club and hit with rocks. READ MORE

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Watchdog group #NGOMonitor: #HRW publication “merely part of a much wider assault on Israel and its identity as a Jewish state”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Watchdog Group Slams New Human Rights Watch Publication Attacking Israel as an ‘Apartheid’ State
by Benjamin Kerstein
April 25, 2021

A top watchdog group on Sunday slammed an upcoming publication by the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) that accuses Israel of apartheid and demands an international legal campaign against it. The publication — called “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution,” and scheduled for release on April 27 — is written by Omar Shakir, who has been denied entry to Israel due to his collaboration with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. It attacks Israel on several counts, in particular Israel’s “Law of Return,” which allows Jews from around the world to immediately claim Israeli citizenship and establish residence in the country. READ MORE

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“As the Marvel superhero and the ancient rabbis both knew, grief is just love persevering”

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
In ‘WandaVision,’ Timely Jewish Wisdom About Coping With Loss
by Shmuel Hain
April 21, 2021

We don’t often turn to TV shows about superheroes for profound meditations on trauma, grief, and coping with loss, yet WandaVision, a miniseries that completed its run last month, did just that….After watching the show, I understood why psychologists have observed that WandaVision provides an unexpected and profound exploration of the challenges related to coping with loss, and why critics have noted how the conceit of the series, a trauma-induced bubble where all the characters are quarantined, is an apt metaphor for life during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the show’s themes are particularly relevant for observant Jews struggling to process grief amid a plague that has wreaked havoc with traditional Jewish mourning practices. READ MORE

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Critical race theory is set to face a spate of lawsuits alleging it spurs discrimination and other illegal policies targeting whites, males, and Christians

Posted on April 25, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

THE FEDERALIST
Critical Race Theory Is Finally About To Face The Music In Court
by John Murawski
April 28, 2021

…Now critical race theory is about to face a major real-world test: a spate of lawsuits alleging that it encourages discrimination and other illegal policies targeting whites, males, and Christians…The common thread of these legal challenges is the inescapable logic that making accommodations for critical race theory will erode the nation’s anti-discrimination law as it has developed since the 1960s. This would mean replacing the colorblind ideal of treating all people equally, which has been widely viewed as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement, with a contrary strategy: implementing race-based policies, which can range from affirmative action to reparations for compensating African Americans for the injustices of the past…READ MORE

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“It is important to understand that this timeline is similar to how tensions grew in 2014 and other cycles that led to tensions in Gaza and Jerusalem”

Posted on April 22, 2021 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Escalation over Jerusalem is how wars start
by Seth J. Frantzman
April 24, 2021

The recent string of events leading to greater clashes in Jerusalem and rocket fire from Gaza is part of the cycle that has led to conflicts in the past. The recent Jerusalem escalation coincided with Ramadan and TikTok videos of Orthodox Jews being attacked. Numerous arrests were made, but that didn’t calm tensions. A massive far-right rally this past Thursday then led to further tensions, including early-Saturday morning rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Hamas and Palestinian groups in Gaza have vowed solidarity with Jerusalem.… READ MORE

ISRAEL HAYOM Dozens injured as violent clashes in Jerusalem continue overnight Arab protesters confront a group of some 300 far-right Jewish activists who marched in protest of recent attacks by Arabs on Jews.

FREE BEACON Anti-Semitic TikTok Trend Fuels Violence in Jerusalem Videos depicting anti-Semitic violence are trending on TikTok in Israel, encouraging Arab assaults on Jews amid ongoing violent protests in Jerusalem. The videos, which show Arab teens assaulting unsuspecting Jews, have stoked violent conflicts in the Old City of Jerusalem. Tensions came to a head Thursday night as the far-right Jewish group Lehava organized a street march in protest, chanting “death to Arabs.”

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