What scares Idit Silman? * Who cares about a 3,300-year-old piece of rock? * I could never cover my wild hair * Why Orban matters * Conversion reform * Ukrainian refugees

[Times of Israel]( [The Blogs Weekly]( Thursday, April 7, 2022 [Why does a 3,300 year-old piece of rock from Mount Ebal matter?]( By [Shawn Zelig Aster]( [For starters, it may help connect several other texts used to reconstruct history, though archaeology largely reflects messy events, and not neat narratives]( [Gadeer Kamal-Mreeh]( [Israel is Yazan Falah and Amir Khoury]( [Today, the diverse peoples of Israel’s maturing society can disagree, find fault, work together to improve, and stand united against the terror of extremists]( [John L. Rosove]( [Ukrainian refugees and Israel’s ‘Jewish’ character]( [The religious right opposes welcoming those fleeing the conflict, the middle-left supports it – stances that reveal how each group defines a Jewish state]( [Olexiy Minakov]( [The problem has always been Russia]( [Even the fall of Putin would only halt Russia’s aggression temporarily; for real regional change, the regime must undergo the slow process of demilitarization]( [Idit Silman, what are you afraid of?]( By [Zev Farber]( [It’s soft coercion, to be sure, but it is counterproductive; Judaism and the Jewish character of the State of Israel will suffer for it]( [CRM]( [Minister Kahana, we American Orthodox rabbis can’t support your reform]( By [Leonard Matanky]( [Decentralizing the authority for conversion to local rabbinic courts means potentially contradictory standards that we in the US are glad to be rid of]( [David Stav]( [Why Diaspora Jewish leaders should support the conversion bill in Israel]( [Empowering local rabbis will actually strengthen the Chief Rabbinate, introduce transparency, and help stem a looming halachic and demographic catastrophe]( [Why Orban matters]( By [Paul Gross]( [Hungary’s re-elected prime minister is now the role model for illiberal nationalists and wannabe authoritarians across the globe, including in Israel]( [Naomi Chazan]( [A special effort to calm tempers and quell violence]( [The horrendous recent assaults by Palestinian religious extremists in Beersheba, Hadera, and Bnei Brak have touched upon already raw nerves, raising a combination of anxiety, fear, anger, and even hatred not only among Jews, but also among Palestinians in the entire area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. For all involved, these events have appeared at first glance to be a latter-day recurrence of the dreadful days of the Second Intifada now marking its 20th anniversary — although the consequences have been quite different for each community. The present...]( [I could never cover my wild hair]( By [Aileen Weintraub]( [I was becoming Orthodox, but when I realized that I needed my curls to stay free, I lost my best friend – and gained a husband]( Top Ops [Butan Amedi]( [Where’s the apartheid?]( [In Jerusalem, I was surprised to see a Muslim man praying in Machane Yehuda market. How could Amnesty International accuse Israel of apartheid?]( [Konstanty Gebert]( [For a Polish Jew like me, the war on Ukraine is about our shared futures]( [Given the history of antisemitism, it is legitimate to be skeptical, but it’s clear to me that resistance to Russia is a shared fight for freedom]( [Asaf Malchi]( [Are Haredi Israelis destroying the workplace for their secular colleagues?]( [Integrating the ultra-Orthodox into the workforce is essential for the well-being of Israeli society, the labor market, and the ultra-Orthodox community itself]( [Adam Etzion]( [Breaking up a government over sandwiches]( [Just because Israel is a Jewish country doesn’t mean strict Passover observance wins over non-observant people’s right to eat what they want – except when it does]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? [View in browser]( © 2022 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved