December 2010 Israeli Rabbi Letter Controversy
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December 2010 Israeli Rabbi Letter Controversy
The December 2010 Israeli rabbi letter controversy was a scandal that erupted surrounding the appearance of two open letters, signed by a number of Israeli rabbis, that were discriminatory towards non-Jews in Israel. Although the letters sparked considerable outrage, evoking condemnation from prominent Israeli and American Jews and others, a poll showed that 44 percent of Israeli society supported the letters' messages. Letters Rabbis' letter The rabbis' letter was a psak din ( religious ruling) signed by an estimated 50 rabbis, that urged Israeli landowners not to rent apartments to Arabs, or any other non-Jews. The letter was initiated by the chief rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu. On January 2, 2011, Eliyahu was summoned to an Israeli police interrogation on suspicion of incitement to racism, which is a crime in Israel, but he refused to answer the summons. Many of the rabbis who signed the letter were municipal rabbis, state employees in charge of religious services, who re ...
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Open Letter
An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (message), letter addressed to an individual but provided to the public through newspapers and other media, such as a letter to the editor or blog. Especially common are critical open letters addressed to political leaders. Letters patent are another form of open letter in which a legal document is both mailed to a person by the government and publicized so that all are made aware of it. Open letters can also be addressed directly to a group rather than any individual. Two of the most famous and influential open letters are ''J'accuse...!'' by Émile Zola to the President of France, accusing the French government of wrongfully convicting Alfred Dreyfus for alleged espionage, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s ''Letter from Birmingham Jail'', inclu ...
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Ramat HaSharon
Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon to the east, and Herzliya and Kibbutz Glil Yam to the north. It is part of the Tel Aviv District, within the Gush Dan metropolitan area. In it had a population of . History Ramat HaSharon, originally Ir Shalom ( he, עִיר שָׁלוֹם, ''lit.'' City of Peace), was a moshava established in 1923 by olim from Poland. It was built on 2,000 dunams () of land purchased for 5 Egyptian pounds per dunam. In the 1931 census, the village had a population of 312. In 1932, the community was renamed Kfar Ramat HaSharon (Heights of Sharon Village). By 1950, the population was up to 900. Rapid population growth in the 1960s and 70s led to construction of many new roadways, schools and parks. Several distinct neighborhood evolved in the 1970s, i ...
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Likud
Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing parties. Likud's landslide victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had lost power. In addition, it was the first time in Israel that a right-wing party won the plurality of the votes. After ruling the country for most of the 1980s, the party lost the Knesset election in 1992. Likud's candidate Benjamin Netanyahu won the vote for Prime Minister in 1996 and was given the task of forming a government after the 1996 elections. Netanyahu's government fell apart after a vote of no confidence, which led to elections being called in 1999 and Likud losing power to the One Israel coalition led by Ehud Barak. In 2001, Liku ...
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Prime Minister Of Israel
The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the State of Israel. Israel is a republic with a president as head of state. However, the president's powers are largely ceremonial; the prime minister holds the executive power. The official residence of the prime minister, ''Beit Aghion,'' is in Jerusalem. Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, became the fourteenth prime minister (excluding caretakers) on 1 July 2022. Following an election, the president nominates a member of the Knesset to become prime minister after asking party leaders whom they support for the position. The first candidate the president nominates has 28 days to put together a viable coalition. He then presents a government platform and must receive a vote of confidence from the Knesset to become prime minister. In prac ...
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Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of Likud – National Liberal Movement. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history, having served for a total of 15 years. He was also the first prime minister to be born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence. Born in Tel Aviv to secular Jewish parents, Netanyahu was raised both in Jerusalem, and for a time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. He returned to Israel in 1967 to join the Israel Defense Forces. He became a team leader in the Sayeret Matkal special forces and took part in several missions, achieving the rank of captain before being honorably discharged. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Netanyahu became an economic consultant for the Boston C ...
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Rebbetzin
Rebbetzin ( yi, רביצין) or Rabbanit ( he, רַבָּנִית) is the title used for the wife of a rabbi—typically among Orthodox, Haredi, and Hasidic Jews—or for a female Torah scholar or teacher. Etymology The Yiddish word has a trilingual etymology: Hebrew, ''rebbə'' ("master"); the Slavic feminine suffix, ''-itsa''; and the Yiddish feminine suffix, ''-in.'' A male or female rabbi may have a male spouse but, as women and openly gay men were prohibited from the rabbinate for most of Jewish history, there has historically been no specific term for the male spouse of a rabbi. In a 2020 piece, Rob Eshman, the national editor of ''The Forward'' and the husband of a female rabbi, wrote: "Nobody knew what to call me" because "there wasn't a word for what I was." Some contemporary male spouses of rabbis have chosen to call themselves "rebbetzers." Community roles In many Orthodox communities, rebbetzins have the role of spiritual counselors. In circles such as the ...
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Lehava
Lehava ( "Flame," he, למניעת התבוללות בארץ הקודש ''LiMniat Hitbolelut B'eretz HaKodesh''; Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land) is a far-right and Jewish supremacist organization based in Israel that strictly opposes Jewish assimilation, objecting to most personal relationships between Jews and non-Jews. It is opposed to the Christian presence in Israel. It has an anti-miscegenation focus, denouncing marriages between Jews and non-Jews forbidden by Orthodox Jewish law. The group has over 10,000 members. Etymology Lehava () is an acronym for the Hebrew phrase ''LiMniat Hitbolelut B'eretz HaKodesh'' (For the Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land). It is also the Hebrew word for "flame", implying a keeping of the flame or faith, giving the phrase a double meaning. Prominent members and supporters Lehava's CEO is Bentzi Gopstein, a disciple of Meir Kahane, a U.S.-born rabbi who promoted the forced expulsion of most Palestinians and Arab Israel ...
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The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper was bought by Mirkaei Tikshoret, a diversified Israeli media firm controlled by investor Eli Azur. In April 2014, Azur acquired the newspaper ''Maariv''. The newspaper is published in English and previously also printed a French edition. Originally a left-wing newspaper, it underwent a noticeable shift to the political right in the late 1980s. From 2004 editor David Horovitz moved the paper to the center, and his successor in 2011, Steve Linde, pledged to provide balanced coverage of the news along with views from across the political spectrum. In April 2016, Linde stepped down as editor-in-chief and was replaced by Yaakov Katz, a former military reporter for the paper who previously served as an adviser to former Prime Minister Naftali ...
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Haaretz
''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the ''International New York Times''. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the internet. In North America, it is published as a weekly newspaper, combining articles from the Friday edition with a roundup from the rest of the week. It is considered Israel's newspaper of record. It is known for its left-wing and liberal stances on domestic and foreign issues. As of 2022, ''Haaretz'' has the third-largest circulation in Israel. It is widely read by international observers, especially in its English edition, and discussed in the international press. According to the Center for Research Libraries, among Israel's daily newspapers, "''Haaretz'' is considered the most infl ...
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Hebrew University Of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened in April 1925. It is the second-oldest Israeli university, having been founded 30 years before the establishment of the State of Israel but six years after the older Technion university. The HUJI has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest library for Jewish studies—the National Library of Israel—is located on its Edmond J. Safra campus in the Givat Ram neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The university has five affiliated teaching hospitals (including the Hadassah Medical Center), seven faculties, more than 100 research centers, and 315 academic departments. , one-third of all the doctoral candidates in Israel were studying at the HUJI. Among its first ...
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Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. is a city in Western Asia. Situated on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, it is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world and is considered to be a holy city for the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their Capital city, capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Because of this dispute, Status of Jerusalem, neither claim is widely recognized internationally. Throughout History of Jerusalem, its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, Sie ...
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Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli coastal plain, Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a population of , it is the Economy of Israel, economic and Technology of Israel, technological center of the country. If East Jerusalem is considered part of Israel, Tel Aviv is the country's second most populous city after Jerusalem; if not, Tel Aviv is the most populous city ahead of West Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Mayor Ron Huldai, and is home to many List of diplomatic missions in Israel, foreign embassies. It is a Global city, beta+ world city and is ranked 57th in the 2022 Global Financial Centres Index. Tel Aviv has the List of cities by GDP, third- or fourth-largest e ...
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