Natan Slifkin's Blog, page 8

Bubble Jews

Since dipping my toes into the LinkedIn network, I’ve encountered a large number of Jews of a particular type. They are from a yeshivish background, but they work for a living rather than being in kollel. Some of them live outside of Israel, some of them have emigrated to Israel. But they all started off in the US, and like most religious Jews from there, they support Israel, including the IDF.

Yet their view of life in Israel comes from people in their own rather narrow social circles, along wi...

No Prison For Charedim

An announcement was recently made that the Military Police was stepping up arrests of people who evade conscription. This was met with howls of rage from the charedi parties, who threatened to bring down the government (because this issue is infinitely more important to them than any national security issue).

In fact, the arrests were not targeting charedim specifically, but rather people from every sector. Though of course there are many, many more draft-dodgers in the charedi community than in...

Ten² for Ten

This is a very special year for me. One reason is that the Biblical Museum of Natural History has reached its ten year anniversary. In the first twelve months of operation, we received 7000 visitors; in the last twelve months, despite the steep drop in international tourism due to the war, we’ve received over 45,000!

We also reach a wider range of people than any other institution. It spans the spectrum from schools so secular that they refuse to step foot in our Hall of Kosher Classification, t...

Gaza: Morality and Logic

As two months passes since Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza, with Hamas refusing to even enter talks, controversy rages as to whether it should be allowed in. The government approved a proposal to allow a limited amound of supplies, with controls to attempt to prevent it being stolen by Hamas, while Ben Gvir voted against allowing anything in.

There’s lots of people weighing in on this, with very firm views on the topic either one way or the other. In this post I’d like to point out thr...

Holy Criminals?

Is it conceivable that the Jewish State could fine yeshiva students or send them to prison for learning Torah?

Many years ago, Mishpacha magazine printed a feature story with this very description: “Can a Jewish state deem Torah study a crime?” That’s what some people would have you believe is at stake with the army issue, which is currently being deliberated by the government. At present, there is no exemption for yeshiva students, though there is also no real enforcement of this. Some people (...

The Gedolim Deal With a Crisis

The following announcement appeared in the charedi press:

It describes an urgent meeting held with charedi rabbinic leaders (which for the charedi world means the roshei yeshiva). The cause is the “gezeyros,” the threat of decrees to draft charedim into the IDF, along with the cessation of financial support and benefits for those who illegally avoid enlisting, which are designed to “decrease Torah.” The 95-year-old Rabbi Dov Landau, who recently came out of hospital, will be making a very challen...

The Other Sharks Out There

Last week I received a disturbing lawyer’s letter. Attorney James Harris from Citi Legal Services wrote to me that in the sample chapter of The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom hosted on my website, there was a picture of a snow leopard which appeared without attribution. And he said that it belonged to his clients, who run a website about big cats, for which he provided a link. He warned me that I have five days to correctly attribute the picture. He said that I had to provide a link to...

Lies Spreading Like Wildfire

As what may turn out to be the largest fire in Israel’s history still rages, there are an astonishing amount of lies, distortions and evasions being spread by people on all sides. For those interested in facts and truths, even if they are uncomfortable, rather than feel-good polemics that make your side look good, here are the corrections to the lies and distortions:

“The JNF planted forests of flammable invasive foreign species.”

This lie seems to have originated with notorious anti-Israeli Israe...

Reishit Tzmichat Geulateinu?

Back in my charedi days, my objection to the prayer for the State of Israel was that it describes the state as reishit tzmichat ge’ulateinu, the first sprouting of redemption. As my mentors taught me, how on earth can such a claim be asserted? After all, the state was founded by secularists!

Later, as I started to learn more about Jewish theology and history, and realized that events of profound religious significance do not necessarily have to involve people of impeccable religious credentials, ...

The Disconnect

Yom HaZikaron is a very emotional day for most of the Jews in Israel, who are thinking about the unbelievable sacrifice that so many thousands of people have made in order for us to live here. It was therefore extremely depressing that yesterday, the following video emerged of what transpired when one charedi young man decided to buck the trend and rabbinic leadership and go with his father and enlist in the IDF to fulfill the mitzvah of protecting the Jewish People:

Horrifying, and only two peop...