A Long Hot Summer in Israel

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Guest blogger and honorary hedgehog Ralph Kostant's latest observations:

Gay Pride in Jerusalem

Reading this JTA story about a planned gay pride parade in Jerusalem is like watching a train wreck waiting to happen. We may see the ecumenical phenomenon of Orthodox Jews, conservative Christians and observant Moslems rioting together on the streets of the Holy City, in protest of the provocative event. Around the same time, the Israeli Army will be forcibly removing Jewish settlements in Gaza and Yehuda-Shomron. It is going to be a long hot summer in Israel.

This story also amply demonstrates the alienation of United Jewish Communities, the organizational umbrella for Jewish Federations across North America, from the values of traditional Judaism, as expounded in the JTA article linked above by Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi and Rishon L’Tzion of Israel; Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the Orthodox Union; and Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition; and as elaborated further in this article from Arutz Sheva - Israel National News.

Abortion Rights In Israel

The pro-abortion movement in Israel may be even more radical than their American counterparts, as illustrated by this column by Jerusalem Post writer Jonathan Rosenblum. A little background information is necessary to understand the full import of the case that Rabbi. Rosenblum describes. Israel has compulsory military service for both men and women, but a religious exemption is available for religious young women, who can do non-military national service with social welfare organizations as an alternative to the army. One national service alternative has been volunteer work for Efrat, an organization dedicated to reducing abortions among Jewish women by offering counseling and financial support. Incredibly, the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal arm of Reform Judaism, has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to terminate the eligibility of Efrat to receive assistance from national service volunteers, on the grounds that “"involvement in preventing abortions in the Jewish sector cannot be recognized as an appropriate welfare issue." Is that more properly described as a “pro-choice” or a “pro-abortion” position? Rabbi Rosenblum, a Yale law school graduate as well as an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, articulately describes how left-wing advocacy of “rights” worldwide has become an advocacy of death, citing not only the abortion rights movement, but also the legalization of euthanasia in the Netherlands and the Terry Schiavo case. Published on the eve of the funeral of a great champion of life, Pope John Paul II, this column evidences the Biblically-based “bias for life” shared by Torah-observant Jews and conservative Christians.

Thanks, Ralph, and good Shabbos!