The New Israel Fund has let me know that its webcast - "Religion and State: Fundamentalism or Freedom?" can still be viewed, at your covenience, here . I participated in the panel discussion, along with Naomi Chazan, Uri Regev, and Jafar Farah. It’s a good introduction to the issues of religion and state in Israel.

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I’ll be participating in a special New Israel Fund webcast on Sunday:
 
Religion and State: Fundamentalism or Freedom?
With Naomi Chazan, Frances Raday, Jafar Farah and Gershom Gorenberg
Sunday May 18
8 pm Israel time, 1pm EST, 10am PST
www.nif.org/webcast
Please join us then.

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Prof. Yedidia Stern came to my shul yesterday to give a lecture in honor of Independence Day on creating a constitution for Israel. Stern teaches law at Bar-Ilan University and is a fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a think-tank that has been assiduously pushing the idea that Israel needs a written constitution. Stern is [...]

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“Obama Converts to Judaism” says a headline on Huffington Post, which I found via the eternally alert Laura Rozen at War and Piece.
Buffeted by criticism of his controversial Christian pastor while continuing to quell rumors that he is a Muslim, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) took a bold step today to settle questions about his religious [...]

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