Ira Sharkansky

By Ira Sharkansky   JERUSALEM — Two issues from the extremes of Judaism are disturbing the peace of Israel, and raising yet again the hoary queries about what is Judaism, and who are the Jews. One of the current issues is the hot button issue of drafting the Haredim. Another is the much quieter issue […]

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — This column is about smoke and mirrors. In other words, it’s an effort to understand what may really be happening in the fog of Israeli politics. It’s not something that I usually do. I generally scoff at stories of conspiracy, hidden meanings, the secret Torah within the Torah, gematria or

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Chaos in Syria and now in Egypt, with instability in Lebanon increasing as Hezbollah is deeply involved in Syria. Hamas in Gaza is most likely planning its response to the problems of its patron in Egypt. Jordan’s king may be even more worried than usual about threats to his regime,

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–A political analyst should never say never. Things change. Politicians generally mask their intentions, and occasionally surprise constituents with their flexibility. Remember Nixon’s opening to China. John Kerry may be hoping for something like that from Benyamin Netanyahu, and maybe even from Mahmoud Abbas. It may happen, but unlikely is a legitimate

By Ira Sharkansky We’ve been traveling between relatives in the land that has been home to several generations of wandering Sharkanskys. Family members and others we are encountering look on Israel with a combination of admiration and disappointment. Some of those disappointed want it to be more aggressive in solving its problems, while some want

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Israel is experiencing what may be a painful maturation of its gay and lesbian community. It comes with the unfolding of a long running police investigation into the shooting deaths of two and the wounding of 11, one of whom was seriously disabled, four years ago at a gay and

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Several items in Friday’s newspaper explain as well as anything where we are, and that we ain’t going anywhere else. The issue is Palestine, high on the international agenda since the 20’s of the last century. Prominent markers, after the Balfour Declaration, were the Peel Commission of 1936-37, various UN

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Among the unpleasantness that Israeli Jews experience is the awareness that Jews along with Arabs and others are demonstrating against Israel. Noam Chomsky’s involvement in persuading Stephen Hawking to cancel his appearance at an Israeli conference was a prominent example, consistent with Chomsky’s record and perhaps reinforced by his own

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Some years ago I published Rituals of Conflict. It described the repeated ceremonies by which the ultra-Orthodox and Israeli authorities deal with disputes that erupt periodically whenever a rabbi wants to make an issue about the violation of Sabbath, ancient graves unearthed in the course of construction, or whatever else could make a

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Things have never been better for many of us. Europeans are quarreling rather than killing one another. Jews are capable of reaching the top of virtually all professions, with decent housing and no worry about gentlemen’s agreements or restrictive covenants, and safe from plunder and pogroms. Life expectancy and other good stuff

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM– Jews have been arguing among themselves since before they were called Jews, or had decided what Judaism was supposed to be. Jews make their arguments the subject of comedy. Anti-Semites take them as one more reason to hate the Jews. Remember that Abraham left home. We can assume that he had