Partners for Progressive Israel (formerly Meretz USA) is delighted to co-sponsor the following event:
Gershom Gorenberg: The Unmaking of Israel - book reading and discussion
Thursday, November 10th, 7:30 PM Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn Cost: $10
Location: 274 Garfield Place (corner of Garfield & 8th Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn For directions by mass transit or car, and a map, click here.
Israeli journalist and
historian Gershom Gorenberg has just released his new book, The Unmaking of Israel, which offers a penetrating and provocative
argument on how the balance of power in Israel has shifted toward
extremism, threatening the prospects for peace and democracy as the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensifies. Informing his examination
using interviews in Israel and the West Bank and with access to
previously classified Israeli documents, Gorenberg delivers an incisive
discussion of the causes and trends of extremism in Israel’s government
and society. Join us for a book reading and discussion.
Presented byCongregation Beth Elohim. Additional co-sponors: J Street NYC and Americans for Peace Now.
Saturday, January 15th, 12:30 PM Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), and Director of Women of the Wall, on:
"The Search for Cracks in the City of Stone: An Anatomy of the Struggles for
Pluralism in Modern Jerusalem"
Jerusalem is a harsh city to live in. It is a city in struggle, a struggle
between narrow-minded Judaism and pluralistic Judaism, a battle for appropriate
representation for all city inhabitants, a struggle to make it a better place
for all to live in.
Anat Hoffman's talk will touch on several issues that pertain to
these struggles and to the contribution of IRAC to advance a pluralistic living
environment in Israel's capital.
Presented by Congregation Beth Elohim and co-sponsored by Meretz USA.
Please note: This is a Shabbat luncheon and discussion. Preregistration will be possible on the Congregation Beth Elohim website; $10
contribution requested. Payment will not be collected on the day of the event.
Location: Congregation Beth Elohim, 274 Garfield Place (corner of Garfield & 8th Avenue), Park Slope, Brooklyn (Near the #2, #3, #4 Grand Army Plaza subway station)
For directions by mass transit or car, plus a map, click here.
Additional co-sponsors: Americans for Peace Now, New Israel Fund
From Edie Joseph, Meretz USA “Intern in Israel” scholarship recipient and summer 2010 intern at the Israel Religious Action Center of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
New Movement-Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz has presented a new bill that would amend the "Holy Places Law" and allow for tolerance and pluralism at the Kotel, the Western Wall, among all streams of Jewish practice.
The tragically divisive "conversion bill", now making its way through the Knesset, rightfully has American Jews up in arms. If passed, the bill would reinforce the State-sanctioned religious monopoly already held in Israel by the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox (haredi) minority and further distance the country from the "freedom of religion" guaranteed by its Declaration of Independence.
But the blistering response to the bill issued this week by the Reform and Conservative movements, as well as the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the American Jewish Committee, also demonstrates a curious irony in the American Jewish-Israel relationship: It's apparently acceptable to slam the Israeli government, as long as it's about policy within the Green Line, not beyond it.
When I was studying Earth science back in the 10th grade, learning to identify the characteristics of various rocks and minerals, I never imagined that, one day, this seemingly bland branch of scientific inquiry could become the generator of political controversy.
The Sukkot holiday has a charming, but relatively unassuming place in the rhythm of American Jewish life. Arriving on the heels of the much more commanding Days of Awe, and lacking the powerful seasonal connotations that accompany it in Israel (where the holiday portends, for example, the much-awaited first rains of the New Year - the "Yoreh"), America's "Feast of Booths" is typically an undramatic affair.
In Israel, Sukkot is different. On top of the Sukkot week's central role in the Israeli calendar (including national school vacation and a myriad of top-notch cultural events, such as the acclaimed Akko Fringe Theater Festival), the holiday has also become, over the last two decades, quite a seismic political time of year - with the ever-sensitive city of Jerusalem at its epicenter.
This year has been no exception, with tensions flaring dangerously on and around the disputed Temple Mount area (Har HaBayit, a.k.a. Al-Haram al-Sharif, "the Noble Sanctuary"), and elsewhere in the city, between Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers.
Two weeks ago, on Shabbat, over 1,000 secular Jerusalemites gathered together at the city's Safra Square to stand up for their right ... to park.
No, this is not the premise for a satiric comedic sketch - a la Monty Python's classic "Ministry of Silly Walks". Nor was this secular rally part of a trivial, local zoning dispute.
In reality, the "parking wars" that have swept up Jerusalem over the last five weeks are just the latest manifestation of the ongoing "clash of civilizations" between different segments of Israel's Jewish population.
On Wednesday, October 22, the Young Meretz and Meretz Students divisions of the Meretz party sent volunteers to the West Bank to help with the Palestinian olive harvest.
Violence erupted on Wednesday night, erev Yom Kippur, between Jewish and Arab residents of Israel's mixed northern city of Acre (Akko). (For the latest news, click here.) Meretz chair Haim Oron, and MKs Yossi Beilin and Zehava Galon have spoken out on the situation:
discussion
New Movement-Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz has presented a new bill that would amend the "
The Sukkot holiday has a charming, but relatively unassuming place in the rhythm of American Jewish life. Arriving on the heels of the much more commanding Days of Awe, and lacking the powerful seasonal connotations that accompany it in Israel (where the holiday portends, for example, the much-awaited first rains of the New Year - the "Yoreh"), America's "Feast of Booths" is typically an undramatic affair.
On Wednesday, October 22, the Young Meretz and Meretz Students divisions of the Meretz party sent volunteers to the West Bank to help with the Palestinian olive harvest. 
