Why do we apologize? * Merav Michaeli’s baby blunder * The Afghan pullout and Israel * Reform Judaism has no future without Israel * Can philosophy cure anti-vaxxers?

[Times of Israel]( [The Blogs Weekly]( Thursday, August 26, 2021 [Merav Michaeli should have been up front about the surrogate baby]( By [Naomi Chazan]( [The minister, an outspoken champion of women’s right to opt-out of motherhood, could have averted a backlash with more transparency about her plans]( [Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch sees no future for Reform Judaism without Israel ties]( By [Zvika Klein]( [With rabbinical students accusing Israel of apartheid, this top New York rabbi fears a split over whether or not Jewish peoplehood is a central priority]( [What Afghanistan taught us about Israel-Palestine]( By [Hen Mazzig]( [The progressive US Democrats who slammed the Jewish state over a Jerusalem real estate dispute stayed mum for days when the Taliban crushed Kabul]( From the blogs [When stupidity isn’t behind vaccine denial, philosophy may be the cure]( By [Steven Nadler and Lawrence Shapiro]( [OPINION: The crisis of ‘epistemically stubborn’ people who base their decisions on irrational beliefs can be solved through instruction in philosophy – a discipline of reason over passion]( [CRM]( [Daniel Statman]( [What’s the point of an apology?]( [Saying sorry does a lot more than convey regret – it’s a ritual of self-humiliation that’s needed to correct the imbalance caused by the offense]( [Tuvia Book]( [When will Israel reopen for incoming tourism?]( [If Greece and Italy can figure out how to let tourists visit safely, why can’t the startup nation? Israel’s tour guides are suffering]( [Amichai Cohen]( [The return of the international arena]( [In recent years, Israel behaved as if it could disregard world opinion and rely on blanket US support. With Biden now at the helm, that era is over.]( [Jailed 5 years without a fair trial: My questions for Mohammed Halabi’s prosecutor]( By [Daoud Kuttab]( [The former World Vision director in Gaza has maintained he’s innocent of funneling millions to Hamas. Where is Israel’s evidence against him?]( [Eli Cohen]( [3 days of rioting shattered Crown Heights. 30 years of peacemaking helped put it back together.]( [We have found a way to come together and have conversations about difficult issues. Sometimes we even discover we share the same concerns]( more choice voices [David Bernstein]( [You may be supporting an ideology that fuels antisemitism]( [It’s time for Progressive Zionists who align themselves with proponents of critical social justice theory to face reality: they just aren’t that into you]( [Allen S. Maller]( [On Women’s Equality Day, let’s highlight the awesome holiness of Jewish women]( [While so many stories are lost to history, husbands and sons preserved moving tales of the love, generosity, bravery and devotion of their mothers and wives]( [Lili Eylon]( [The night of ‘fraternal assistance’ sowed the seeds]( [When Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, few knew yet that it was the beginning of the end of the Soviet regime]( [Howard Lovy]( [When I faced antisemitism on campus in 1985, I felt alone. I’m glad today’s college students have each other.]( [At the age of 19, I lacked the words to explain to anybody that I was being targeted for harassment specifically because I was a Jew]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? [View in browser]( © 2021 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved