Explainer | Will Israel Draft ‘Those Who Toil in Torah’?
For the first time in Israeli history, Haredi parties may no longer be able to act as kingmaker for whoever is willing to exempt them from the draft and fund their yeshivot.
Israel’s Internal War
Hundreds killed, kidnapped, tortured and mutilated. Thousands displaced. An entire country at war, almost every family with someone at the front. And yet, it would...
Abortion Rights: Where Jewish Ultra-Orthodox and Christian Conservatives Meet
Moment Institute Fellow Nathan Guttman examines the beliefs and practices of the Haredim, specifically in regards to abortion rights.
Opinion | What Will It Take to Get the Haredim to Enlist?
For Israelis, bringing teenage sons and daughters barely out of high school to the army induction center to begin their compulsory military service is one of the most fraught and difficult realities of life. Underlying the cheerful, almost celebratory sendoff is the terrifying possibility of one day being forced to join the crowds at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery, part of the growing “family” who have paid the ultimate price for living in the world’s only Jewish country.
Is Israel Choosing the Devout Over the Diaspora?
“The Orthodox monopoly on Israel treats Reform and Conservative denominations as second-class Jews, which is another reason why the American Jewish community is feeling less and less connected to Israel.”
If There Were One Thing You Could Change About The Israeli Rabbinate
A Moment Symposium // Interviews With Assaf Benmelech, Aaron Leibowitz, Rachel Levmore, Shlomo Riskin, Bambi Sheleg, David Stav, Adin Steinsaltz, Yedidia Stern, Diana Villa, Avi Weiss, Moshe Weiss, Dov Zakheim. Plus a comment by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau
Jewish Word // Haredi
The term haredi comes from the Hebrew root meaning “to tremble” (hared) and a verse in Isaiah, in which God says, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word.” “Haredi really means those who are in awe, or who tremble or quake,” says Samuel Heilman, professor of sociology at Queens College of the City University of New York.
Opinion // “I Want To Serve, But…”
Naomi Ragen
Fear of ostracism—not lack of conviction—prevents some haredi men from enlisting.
A day before the haredi “million man march” called to protest the new drafting...
Opinion | Shmarya Rosenberg
Some New York politicians bend over backwards to accommodate Hasidic demands.
Aluf Benn: Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Drift Further Apart
How can the next Israeli government bridge the growing secular-religious divide?
Beit Shemesh Rhapsody
Does Freddie Mercury have the power to heal religious and sociopolitical tensions? A group of 250 women and girls in Beit Shemesh tested the premise...
The Black Bus
By Symi Rom-Rymer
Anat Zuria has made her career exploring the stories of religious women on the margins of their world. Her latest work, The Black...