My Wife, the Suicide Bomber

Arab-Israeli conflict. Three words that are charged with so much emotion and meaning. Everyone has an opinion (a staunch one at that), everyone has taken a side, and everyone thinks they’re correct. Will there ever be a solution that completely satisfies both sides? It’s doubtful. But filmmaker Ziad Doueiri certainly is able to present both sides, with equal parts criticism and empathy, through the eyes of Amin Jafaari in The Attack. The Attack, directed and co-written by Lebanese-born Doueiri, follows Amin Jafaari, an award-winning Arab-Israeli surgeon living in Tel Aviv. Amin and his wife, Siham, are completely integrated into Israeli society; Amin is a surgeon at a highly regarded medical center in Tel Aviv, working amiably alongside Israeli doctors and nurses. The recipient of a prestigious award, Amin is fully embraced by the Israeli medical community. But when disaster...

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Women of the Wall: More Harm Than Good?

My alarm clock rang at 3am. Time to head to the Kotel for the crack of dawn vatikin minyan. My friend had told me that every Rosh Chodesh, two yeshivas come together to form one big minyan. She promised me lots of singing and ruchaniyut, or spirituality. I was hesitant to agree to go; I’d have to wake up so early, and worried I’d be too tired to focus. What if I wasn’t “feeling” the spirituality? I’d have missed out on precious minutes of sleep, which I could never seem to get enough of. My friend reassured me that it was worth going. So that morning, I rolled out of bed at 3 in the morning, grabbed a sweatshirt and shuffled downstairs to wait for my friend. It was dark and chilly as we passed through...

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