Good Fences do not Neccesarily Make Good Neighbors: Jews and Judaism in Canada’s Schools and Universities
In the post-World War II years, strict separation of church and state, especially with regard to education, has been viewed as an essential ingredient of social comity
in the United States. In Canada, however, that has not been so. In fact, there, religion and education have been intimately connected since colonial times, and the role of religion in the schools has constitutional sanction. In the years before World War II, the outsider status of Jews and Judaism in schools and universities was demeaning to
them. Ultimately it served to reinforce group loyalty, but Jewish educational institutions did not emerge.
Jewish NGOs, Human Rights, and Public Advocacy: A Comparative Inquiry
This article is being written at a critical juncture in the struggle for human rights, in general, and religious human rights, in particular. At this, a defining moment in the role of human rights
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), generally, and Jewish NGOs, in particular, in that struggle, a discussion including the contrasting principles and perspectives that underpin the differing advocacy roles of Jewish NGOs in the U.S. and Canada appears most opportune.
The Emergent Morality
If a new sect have not two properties, fear it not, for it will not spread. The one is the supplanting or the opposing of authority established, for nothing is more popular than that. The other is the giving license to pleasures and a voluptuous life.
Francis Bacon, Essays, “Of Vicissitude of Things”
Neo-Paganism in the Public Square and its Relevance to Judaism
In today’s fragmented society a large number of religious and secular neo-pagan expressions have emerged and are gathering strength. An increased interest in nature is a central element in many of its manifestations. Expressions of this attitude are found among neo-pagan believers, neo-Nazis and some extreme environmentalist currents.
Introduction: Religion in the Public Square: Jews Among the Nations
The question of dealing with religion in the public square may not be Jewish in the same way that it is a modern or contemporary question because of the differences between Judaism, certainly in its classical form, and Christianity. Dealing with the issue in Israel requires an understanding of this and of the fact that Israelis and others have been misled for years in thinking that there are only two categories of Jews in the country, a secular majority and a religious minority, when in fact, in terms of actual belief and practice, the majority of the Israeli population is traditional and only minorities on either end of the spectrum are Orthodox or secular.
The Islamic Movement in Israel
On the eve of the High Holidays in Israel in September 1999, just days after the Sharm al-Sheikh accord was signed by Israel and the Palestinians to relaunch the peace process between them, two car-bombs exploded in the northern cities of Haifa and Tiberias, injuring innocent passers-by. Within days, the Israeli security authorities had arrested six Israeli Arabs, all affiliated with the northern faction of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
The Ultra-Orthodox Community and Environmental Issues
Classical Jewish texts refer to a substantial number of the dispersed issues which in recent decades have been consolidated within the framework of the environmental discipline. If one were now to group all "environmental halakhot" in existence at the beginning of the nineteenth century — before Jewish emancipation fragmented observance — they would add up to a sizable codex.
The Role of Politics in Contemporary Russian Antisemitism
In recent months, since shortly after the collapse of the Russian ruble in August 1998, an upsurge of antisemitism in Russia has generated a startling increase in emigration of Russian Jewry. Among Jews in Israel and many diaspora countries, concern has grown about the fate of those Jews remaining in Russia, the largest of the post-Soviet states.
Israel-Arab Peace Negotiations: A Long and Winding Road
A discussion of advances and stalemates between the end of the British Mandate and today.
Wartime and Postwar Dutch Attitudes Toward the Jews: Myth and Truth
The myth that the great majority of the Dutch people had a highly positive attitude toward the Jews during World War II, identified with their suffering, and took risks to help them has gradually been unmasked in The Netherlands itself over the past decades.
From Sword into Ploughshare – Regional Arrangements for Israel and the Palestinians?
The reality of globalization and the beginning of cooperative arrangements between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Partnership 2000: A New Model for Diaspora – Israel Relations
Israel reaching out to non-traditional partners in Diaspora and looking to a changing future.
Barak’s Complex Foreign Policy Agenda
Prime Minister Ehud Barak will not get a period of grace or a post-election honeymoon. Immediately upon taking office, he faces a number of pressing issues. Many of these are domestic – including religious-secular relations and economic concerns. However, the most urgent items are in the realm of security and foreign relations.
The Jews of Miami
Miami Beach today, and one of the largest and strongest Jewish communities in the world.
Re-Thinking Jewish – Latino Relations in Los Angeles
Changing dimensions of inter-group relations and the future of the Los Angeles community are presented.
