יום רביעי, כ״ג תמוז תשפ״וWednesday, July 8, 2026
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By Yair Lapid
Last week, a few minutes after my stormy exchange with haredi members of Knesset, I went to what we in the Knesset call the "back cafeteria." It is not exactly a cafeteria but rather a lounge area behind the plenum where members of Knesset alone can enter.
The record number of kipa-wearing Jews in the new Knesset surely shows that secular Jews do not really hate religious Jews.
If Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid has any hopes of gaining one or even two Haredim as his fans, his deputy Finance Minister blew it “on air” when he called Haredim “parasites” on a Haredi radio program.
A lack of patriotism is not a cause for punitive measures.
It is always easiest to blame the rest of the world and not to make an accounting of your own ideology.
They can say all day long that they are not protesting Israel. The fact that they will be out there in the middle of Manhattan talking about 'gezeirot' says otherwise.
IDF Chief of Benny Gantz said that the military lacks manpower and that he would be happy if Haredim youth serve in the army. He told the Hebrew-language Yediot Acharonot newspaper that Haredim soldiers have “brought good results wherever they have served to date, and they will learn that army service benefits them as well.… […]
By Batya Medad
Ben-Gurion would do anything to make sure that Menachem Begin's Herut Party would stay out of power.
Public protests of the expansion of the Robinson's Arch area for egalitarian prayer would only generate more enmity.
As long as rabbinic leaders live in the past and insist on calling the idea of ‘sharing the burden’ a 'shas haShmad,' antagonism toward Haredim will not change.
Divinity exemptions are designed to produce clergy that will serve the populace, not so that every single member of it becomes a member of the clergy.
An annual quota of approximately 7,000 Haredim would be paid while learning in yeshiva for three years before serving in the IDF or doing national service, under a plan by Industry and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party. He also proposed that 1,800 of them would be exempt from service and […]
Pst! Heard the latest “humras” for Passover. A group of Haredi rabbis put their seal of approval for Kosher for Passover cigarettes. Israeli’s chief rabbis respond: Poison is not kosher at any time.
Williamsburg, New York Haredim have finally convinced Columbia Pictures to halt filming of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" in order not to cause parking problems during the Passover holiday. "We expressed the importance for Spider-Man to pass-over filming during Passover and they have answered our call," City Councilman Stephen Levin wrote on his blog. "Reducing the […]
There is no reason why Haredim should continue to be the single biggest and fastest growing welfare demographic in all of Israel.
By Batya Medad
Drastic changes must be done gradually and with the cooperation of the affected sector of society.
By JTA
Israeli military officers and religious students are objecting to the selection of supermodel Bar Refaeli as part of an ad campaign to raise Israel's public image. Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, wrote the Foreign Ministry a critical letter of its choice of Refaeli, pointing out that she did not […]
Most of us know right from wrong and live as though it matters because it does. This is what David Brooks reported.
Once again we see a great rabbinic figure who apparently does not understand what it is that really upsets the non-Haredi public, including many observant Jews.
The draft is but one area Haredi leaders badly stumble over.
A political tsunami is approaching, and the Jews in the land of Israel are fighting over total non-issues. If it weren’t so sad, it would be comical.
By Batya Medad
Bennett's pact with Yair Lapid, is not good for the country and is leading to fraternal hatred.
By JoeSettler
Israel might need to roll the proverbial dice again and go for new elections, because this atmosphere is simply too poisoned.
By Batya Medad
One thing that Netanyahu does understand is that a Prime Minister should have as broad a coalition as possible to represent all sectors in Israeli society.
Civil rights has become a mechanism by which the government tramples on property rights to further assorted ideological ends.
There has been much reluctance by rabbinic groups such as Agudah to be more forceful in their approach to abusers. They find the allegations hard to believe.
By Meir Indor
This is Torah. This is its rightful place in all our lives, both private and public.
By Batya Medad
Now, the NRP is getting nervous. They should have looked more carefully before signing the Ketuba, marriage contract with Bennett.
Purim is an upside-down holiday, but Women of the Wall Rabbi Silverman takes the cake. She calls the Knesset Achasverous, a wicked goy, and suffers “tragedy” for her regarding them as enemies.
There ought to be a process of exempting yeshiva students via bechinos (tests).
It is to Jonathan Rosenblum’s great credit that he has written this critical essay in a Haredi publication.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not discounted the possibility of calling new elections, Likud sources say, according to the Israeli publication, Ma'ariv.
My proposal to solve the contentious issue of Israel’s universal draft.
With this comment Rabbi Schneierson wiped out of Orthodoxy most of observant Jewry including many Haredim.
Metzizah b'peh is not even required by many Orthododx poskim. In fact it is actually discouraged by some.
Lapid is a patriot who is both honest and who has a clear vision for the future. A vision that is inclusive of all!
Lapid's election success is a reflection of the widespread view among Israelis that external threats do not mean that the country's house should not be put in better order.
When Jews are attacked in broad daylight in the world's holiest city, something is horrifically wrong in Israel.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, formerly the chief rabbi of Israel and currently chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, visited the United States recently to address the Siyum HaShas at MetLife Stadium and to appear at a Chabad Shabbos retreat in Fort Lauderdale.
If it weren’t so sad, the draft brouhaha in Israel would be the greatest show in town. It is a masquerade ball, a tragicomedy whereby each actor says the complete opposite of what he really wants.
The Plesner Committee, tasked with crafting an alternative to the Tal Law for haredi service in Israel, is reportedly drafting a proposal which would defer the enlistment of haredi men till age 22, offer financial incentives to yeshivot that have younger enlistment rates, and begin to levy economic sanctions on haredim who don't enlist by age 23.
The Knesset factions are pursuing legislation that will institute an equal draft into the IDF – but something is fishy. The New Israel Fund’s propaganda has made inroads, and it looks like the upcoming elections will focus on haredi-bashing.
This past summer, Israel made headlines for something other than the peace process or fighting terrorism when hundreds of thousands of its citizens took to the streets to protest social inequality and rising living costs.
Feiglin: I know that religious Zionists think that their army service will pave their way into the heart of Israeli legitimacy. But that is not the case. Army service is a very important value. But those holding the reins will never let go in exchange for religious Zionist cannon-fodder.
The most dreaded status in Israeli society is to be considered a frier – a sucker, a boob, stupid and unable to withstand being taken advantage of.
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, Chairman and Founder of ZAKA, made his comments in an extended opinion his Facebook page.
By Sam Ser
Dozens of haredim stoned the car of a woman as she hung posters for a lottery; similar incidents have sparked debate over the treatment of women in haredi society
Rabbi Amsalem admonishes UTJ MK Gafni for recent comments that Haredim should not serve in the IDF.
When the disproportion of terrorist acts committed by Muslims – and the resulting hordes cheering the carnage on the Arab street – lead clear-minded observers to conclude that jihadism is the dominant strain in the Islamic world, we are accused of painting with an unfairly broad brush, discounting the silent (and invisible) majority of Muslims who oppose violence and crave peace.
July 3, 2026 
