Haim Watzman Israelis often wail that the country lacks unity. But when most Israelis say “We need more unity,” what they really mean is “More people should agree with me.” Dissent can be a pain, but it’s essential—as is recognized by the Sages of the Talmud in the Horayot Tractate (4b). The Beit Midrash run [...]
Advice to Dissent
June 28th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Judaism and Religion
Tags: democracy·dissent·Horayot·Judaism·Talmud
Rabbi Lau’s Religion Problem
April 1st, 2010 · 9 Comments · Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman When Rabbi Benny Lau began his Shabbat HaGadol talk at south Jerusalem’s Ramban synagogue last Saturday afternoon, he said his lesson originated in anger and frustration. The climax came when he said, “If I were a young person today, I would abandon religion.” Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Sabbath that precedes Pesach, is traditionally [...]
Tags: fundamentalism·Israel·Judaism·pesach
The Oration Vocation–”Necessary Stories” column from The Jerusalem Report
October 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Culture and Ideas, Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman “I don’t like him already,” Leo Shocken barked to Inga, his svelte, silver-blonde assistant, who had just led me into his office. Large-jowled Shocken lounged behind a large desk strewn with files, calendars, and banana peels. He held a half-filled tumbler of bourbon in his hand and both his stocking feet were propped [...]
Tags: humor·Jewish community centers·Judaism·oratory·public speaking·synagogues
Mendelssohn And Monotheism–”Necessary Stories” Column from The Jerusalem Report
May 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Culture and Ideas, Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman Hazily, I notice that the kid working on his biceps is staring at me, and I suddenly realize that my mouth is hanging open and that my eyes are gaping. He’s in the gym, but I’m having a revelation on the shore of the Red Sea, thanks to the son of a Jewish [...]
Tags: Felix Mendelssohn·Italian Symphony·Judaism·Omer·Shavu'ot
Remembering Slavery
April 6th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman Jews who grew up in the Diaspora and have raised children in Israel face a challenge at the Pesach Seder every year. The text of the Hagadah, and the spirit of the holiday, call on us to remember that we were slaves in Egypt, strangers in a strange land, outsiders. I grew up [...]
Tags: Adi Nes·Judaism·passover·pesach·Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv·seder·slavery
Protesting the Settlers in Shul
December 12th, 2008 · No Comments · Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman I went to a rally against Jewish settler violence at shul yesterday. Kehilat Yedidya is one of only a handful of Orthodox synagogues whose members can make a statement like that. And perhaps the only one in which opposition to the gathering came from the left rather than the right. My friend Daniel [...]
Tags: Hebron·Israel·Judaism·Kehilat Yedidya·Settlements·West Bank
Reading Maimonides Through Islamic Glasses
December 4th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman In his introduction to the Mishna, Maimonides (known as “the Rambam” in Jewish tradition) tells a story about the revelation and transmission of the Torah. Reading this story in light of Islamic doctrines about sacred revelation and transmission reveals that Maimonides, who lived in an Islamic society, sought to ground the written and [...]
Tags: hadith·Islam·Jewish philosophy·Judaism·Maimonides·Torah
Serious Pluralism, Serious Judaism, Serious Democracy: Aryeh Geiger z”l
November 28th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Culture and Ideas
Haim Watzman South Jerusalem lost another of its pillars this week. Aryeh Geiger, a religious educator for whom the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin signaled the need for a complete revision of religious education in Jerusalem, passed away this week after a four-year battle with cancer. I, and my daughter Misgav, were among the many hundreds [...]
Tags: Aryeh Geiger·Israel·Jewish education·Judaism·pluralism·Religion
Son Sacrifice: Humility and the Significance of the Akeda
November 13th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Judaism and Religion
Haim Watzman Many years ago, when I lived at Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, a storm erupted in synagogue on Shabbat Vayare—the Shabbat, like this coming one, on which we read the story of Akedat Yitzhak, the binding of Isaac. The shouts of anger and dismay were occasioned by one of the plethora of pamphlets that appear [...]
Tags: IDF·Israel·Judaism·kibbutz·Torah
Intimate Mourning–”Shiv’a”
October 29th, 2008 · No Comments · Culture and Ideas
Haim Watzman I’m a Jew provincial enough to have only the vaguest notion about what gentiles do when a loved one dies. Non-Jews, and assimilated Jews, may be surprised, intrigued, or revolted by Shiv‘a , an award-winning Israeli/French film by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz. The film chronicles the traditional week of mourning observed by the [...]
Tags: film·Haifa·Israel·Judaism·mourning
Sharon Dolin and the Music of Nature
October 26th, 2008 · No Comments · Culture and Ideas
Haim Watzman One of my favorite poets, Sharon Dolin, has four poems up at Nextbook. The first, “Let Me Thrum (6 a.m.)” is a wonderful fresh and new version of “Nishmat Kol Hai,” the poem of nature extolling God that we read every Shabbat morning. What makes Dolin’s work stand out for me is her [...]
Tags: Judaism·poetry·Sharon Dolin
Not Getting Married Today–When Should Young Modern Orthodox Jews Get Hitched?
October 22nd, 2008 · 7 Comments · Culture and Ideas
Haim Watzman One of the problems with the liberal Orthodox Jewish Zionism that we live by here on this blog is that it delays young people’s entry into adulthood and marriage. When I graduated from a public high school in the U.S. in the 1970s, the path before me was four years of college and [...]
Tags: Israel·Judaism·love·marriage·modern Orthodox

