Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis

My wife and I have close friends in Toronto, so (pre-Covid), a combination of Shalem College work and visits to friends used to get me to Canada pretty regularly. And over the years, I’d come to know David Matlow, a respected attorney at Goodmans LLP, who, I was told, owed the world’s largest collection of Herzl memorabilia . But somehow, I’d never gotten around to seeing the collection. Until one...

Here’s the question I get asked these days more than any other: Let’s assume that the protest movement succeeds, and Bibi somehow manages to put the proposed judicial reforms in the drawer, lock the drawer and throw away the key. Eventually, with Israel’s demographics shifting to the right, to the Mizrahim, to the Haredim—the liberal values at the heart of the country simply have to give way one d...

A long, long time ago, in a land before judicial reform, we used to speak about other things, too. Several months ago, in January, we interviewed Tomer Swisa, a graduate of Shalem College, about a fascinating new project in which he is involved. Alas, judicial reform took over the airwaves, and our conversation with Tomer has been waiting for a respite in the news for us to share it with you. Tome...

EconTalk, a podcast with Russel Roberts, is one of the most popular podcasts out there, and not long ago, Russ invited me to record a conversation with him on my new book, Impossible Takes Longer, for EconTalk. Russ, as you will quickly discover if you listen to the episode, is a fabulous interlocutor. Professor Russ Roberts is the President of Shalem College. He is an economist, writer and teache...

With Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) now behind us, Israel will move next week into the second and third of what are commonly called the National Holidays , or by some, the National High Holidays . Next week, Israel will mark Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror) and then Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day). How might one take in the full power of these day...

This past Sunday, I shared with two congregations in the Northeast some thoughts about the situation in Israel, with today’s commemoration of Yom HaShoah very much in mind. One of the themes I focused on was the notion of me-churban le-binyan (“from destruction to rebuilding”), which has become a central theme of the story of the Jewish people that many of us tell ourselves and each other, in the...

Still to come later this week, as promised when we sent our our last column, “ What you just witnessed was one of the greatest weeks in Israel's history ” … the continuation of that column. Does everyone agree it was a great moment for Israel? Why are people on both sides disappointed? And what was averted? That will follow soon for paid subscribers to Israel from the Inside . And now, for today’s...

A few months ago I had the pleasure of speaking with Danny Hakim, a passionate philanthropist who doesn’t just talk the talk, but actually walks the walk. Danny moved to Israel more than 20 years ago and has since devoted his life to bettering Israeli society. Danny is the founder of Budo for Peace , a non-profit which uses sports to foster meaningful encounters between all members of Israeli soci...

This week, we continue our conversation with Professor Moshe Koppel, Chairman of the Kohelet Policy Forum, which has been one of the primary forces shaping the proposed judicial overhaul legislation and pushing for its passage. A number of weeks ago, we hosted Professor Yaniv Roznai of Reichman University, who explained in great detail why he believes that the proposed Judicial Reform will end Isr...

We have already had the pleasure of hearing Professor Moshe Koppel, the Chairman of the Kohelet Policy Forum , on our podcast about a year and a half ago when he discussed the Nation-State Law , which he helped write. The Kohelet Policy Forum is widely seen—consider Haaretz on the left and JNS on the right —as one of the primary forces advocating the Judicial Reform (or Judicial Revolution dependi...

About a month ago, I had the privilege of speaking with Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a man so devoted to human rights that he’s prepared to put his safety on the line. Rabbi Ascherman has been assaulted, beaten, attacked by a knife-wielding man, and nearly crashed his car after the wheels had been intentionally unbolted. What is this rabbi doing to be on the receiving end of such brutal hatred? As you wi...

It is difficult, in these turbulent times, to focus on almost anything Israel-related that is not somehow connected to the current explosive political situation. But we have to. After all, preserving Israel is not about preserving a Jewish state for its own sake, but because a Jewish state makes certain kinds of Jewish life, certain forms of Jewish richness, possible. If it didn’t do that, it woul...

A couple months ago, I had the privilege to sit with Michal Cotler-Wunsh, a jurist and former member of Knesset. We split our conversation into two parts. Part one we already ran and you can listen to it here , and the second part we’re running today. In the meantime, a lot has changed on the ground. Among other things, Yossi Klein Halevi, Matti Friedman and I wrote a piece asking American Jews to...

With the political / constitutional / judicial tensions in Israel still running high, we will naturally continue to cover the proposed judicial reform as the issue unfolds. But in recent weeks, it has struck me that one of the saddest dimensions of the timing of this crisis is that it could well overshadow what should be a full-throated celebration of a truly miraculous moment in Jewish history—th...

The current tumult in Israeli life is largely political, focused to a degree on the coalition that Prime Minister Netanyahu has assembled, and to a much greater degree, the judicial reform being pushed by Justice Minister Yariv Levin. But just underneath the surface, there are also seismic shifts taking place with religious identity in Israel, and those are our subject today. In today’s episode, w...

In the first part of our conversation with Professor Yaniv Roznai, we discussed two of the four components of the proposed Judicial Reform: (1) the selection of judges in all of Israel’s courts, not just the Supreme Court, and (2) the “override clause,” or Judicial Review. This part of our conversation was posted on Monday and made available to all subscribers. In Israel, even the names that one u...

Ordinarily, we try to ensure that Israel from the Inside covers many different dimensions of the mosaic known as Israeli life. We do politics and security, but art and literature, poetry and music, NGOs begun by fascinating and devoted people. And much more. We’ll continue doing that. These days, though, with Israel in one of its greatest internally divisive moments in history, and without a doubt...

Israel is embroiled in a political upheaval, perhaps the most profound in its history (though there have been others that at least came close), a seismic tremor that is shaking the country to its very foundations. There are many issues, some of which we have covered in recent weeks. Beyond the Cabinet and the Judicial Reform issues (among others), though, what is being shaken is Israel’s soul. Som...

In our podcast this week, we aim to help everyone understand better what is really at stake in the battle of the judiciary. We speak with the Times of Israel' s senior analyst, Haviv Rettig Gur about his recent op-ed and ask him to explain the following: * Why the right (correctly) considers Israel’s Supreme Court too powerful and a runaway court? How, for example, has the threat of a Supreme Cour...

With Netanyahu’s government finally formed and protestors taking to the streets in Tel Aviv, we turn this week to a conversation I had with Michal Cotler-Wunsh, a jurist and former member of Knesset, and hear her take on Israeli society, the judiciary and Israeli democracy. Our conversation turned to the opening words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and the responsibility of the Israeli pu...

According to a report issued this week by the Israeli Democracy Institute, by 2030, the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel will comprise 16% of the population. Add to that the likely continuing 20% who are Israeli Arabs, and we quickly see that more than a third of Israel’s population will be agnostic, at best, and more likely opposed to the idea of a Jewish state. How long is that sustainable? An...

The audio link above is to a brief excerpt of our conversation with Rabbi Seth Farber, a visionary, courageous Orthodox rabbi who has taken on the Chief Rabbinate in myriad ways. Listen to Rabbi Farber for a vision of what Judaism in the Jewish state could look like, about why the Chief Rabbis are not Zionists, and much more. This week’s written column follows below. On a wind-swept, mostly barren...

In this week’s episode, we speak with Matan Yaffe, the co-founder of Desert Stars . About nine years ago, Matan was ambushed by four young Bedouins while motorbiking in the Negev desert. Yaffe tried to reason with the would-be thieves. But when they pulled out a metal bar, Yaffe pulled out his gun. The gang fled, leaving the 25-year-old former IDF officer physically unharmed but furious and frustr...

In several columns since Israel’s election, we’ve pointed to the chaos and lawlessness that has overtaken the Negev and the ways in which that contributed to some of the election results. In this week’s episode, we speak with Naomi Linder Kahn, Director of the International Division at an NGO called Regavim , which “acts to prevent illegal seizure of state land, and to protect the rule of law and...

Abi Dauber Sterne is a Jewish educator, organizational leader and the co-author, with Robbie Gringras, of Stories for the Sake of Argument . Their new book is a compilation of 24 short stories that are designed to get people arguing, but also engaging with, the tough issues that face Israel and the Jewish world. In the words of the book’s website, “ Stories for the Sake of Argument is designed to...