Natan Slifkin's Blog, page 23

The "Antisemitic" Cartoon

On Friday, everyone in Israel was talking about a cartoon that was published in Mekor Rishon, a right-wing, national-religious newspaper. In case you haven’t seen it, here it is:

It depicts are four soldiers carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher. Atop him is sitting a charedi yeshiva student, saying “Guys, don’t worry, my learning is dedicated to his healing and to your success.” In a searing way, the cartoon makes four points:

Charedim do not serve in the IDF;

They excuse themselves with the c...

America and Israel

Having grown up in the rather antisemitic city of Manchester, I’m always a little self-conscious about my Jewishness when I’m outside of Israel. And this is all the more so with this year’s global explosion of antisemitism. On Tuesday I was in a store in New Jersey, and the assistant was of the pierced purple-haired type that I don’t encounter in Beit Shemesh but which I have seen in videos of anti-Israel college protests. When she stared at my large kippah, I was a little uncomfortable and prep...

Two Different Torahs

Amazingly, some charedi polemicists claim that my posts about charedi society reflect “personal” issues that I have, rather than reflecting views held by millions of people, including religious Jews and rabbis and roshei yeshiva. I’m not sure if they really believe that, or if it’s just something that they tell themselves in order not to have to confront the issues that I raise.

Meanwhile, in the last few days, the following things happened:

The government revived an old bill initiated before Octo...

"The IDF Doesn't Want Charedim"

Various people were triumphantly crowing about a report by the Knesset’s Research and Information center at the behest of a Likud MK. The report stated that since Oct. 7th, 4000 charedim had submitted requests to enlist in the IDF, and the IDF rejected 3,120 for a wide range of reasons, mainly “medical unsuitability”. Of those 880 found to be fit for conscription, only 540 were actually absorbed by the IDF - representing just 13.5% of those seeking to enlist.

This report is presented by supporter...

Effective Tzedaka

Since the war started, many people have wanted to help. Not everyone is in a position to fight, but there are many other ways to support the soldiers, and their families, and Israel in general.

At the beginning of the war, I gave a list of organizations to support. While the organizations I named do good work, new information which reached me about some of them means that I now advise contributing to different organizations.

There are many wonderful causes to give to. At my own museum, donor supp...

Hamas, Haredim, and Hayalim

Rav Dov Landau, the “Gadol HaDor” of the Ashkenazi Charedi Lithuanian world, published a letter calling upon his community to perform special prayers for mercy on erev Rosh Chodesh. And what does he give as the reason? “The heavy yoke of exile affecting every aspect of our lives from the evil nations of the world, and the evil plans of the authorities in the Holy Land to uproot yeshiva and kollel students from learning Torah.”

According to Rav Landau, the desire of the Court and the vast majority...

Charedism on Trial

A significant High Court hearing took place yesterday in Israel. Nine justices heard the case for the charedi avoidance of army service for those registered as studying in yeshiva and the funding that such institutions and people receive, in light of the expiry of any legal basis for such an exemption.

Incredibly, the attorney arguing the charedi case was a private counsel hired by the government. And the government is advocating for this view despite the fact that the majority of the government ...

Golden Eagles and Goldfinches

(Note - If you are, or would like to become, a museum supporter, and would like to attend a parlor meeting in Teaneck next Sunday at which I am giving a presentation, please write to Ellen at advancement@biblicalnaturalhistory.org. There might also be one in the Five Towns on the following Sunday.)

In Part I of this series, I began to address extensive anti-Israel claims relating to the animal kingdom made by Irus Braverman, a professor of law at the University at Buffalo, in her article “Wild Le...

When Torah is Poison

The Talmud makes a surprising statement: “If one merits, Torah can be an elixir of life; if one does not merit, Torah can be a deadly poison” (Yoma 72b).

Those of us blessed to live in a healthy religious Jewish community with good rabbinic leadership can easily understand how Torah can be an elixir of life. But how can the Sages describe Torah as potentially being a poison - a deadly poison, no less? Alas, it’s all too easy to understand in light of the response of the charedi community to the w...

Wild Asses and Camel Clashes

In Part I of this series, I began to address extensive anti-Israel claims relating to the animal kingdom made by Irus Braverman, a professor of law at the University at Buffalo, in her article “Wild Legalities: Animals and Settler Colonialism in Palestine/Israel” from Political and Legal Anthropology Review, subsequently incorporated into her book Settling Nature: The Conservation Regime in Palestine-Israel. In Part II and Part III, I addressed her claims about Israel’s reintroduction of Mesopot...