Ovadias Wahl

„Rabbi Ovadia‎“‏,‎ ‏wie ihn alle nannten,‭ ‬der in dieser Woche im Alter von‭ ‬93‭ ‬Jahren starb,‭ ‬wurde in Bagdad geboren,‭ ‬kam als‭ ‬4Jähriger Junge nach Palästina und gewann als‭ ‬ religiöser Gelehrter hohe Achtung.‭ ‬Während des‭ ‬48er Krieges‭ ‬ war er der Oberrabbiner von‭ ‬Ägypten,‭ ‬später der sephardische Oberrabbiner von Israel.‭ ‬Als seine Ernennung‭ ‬wegen einer obskuren politischen Intrige‭ ‬nicht wiederholt wurde,‭ ‬gründete er eine neue politische Partei,‭ ‬die Shas,‭ ‬die schnell eine Kraft in der israelischen Politik wurde.‭

The Jewish Ayatollahs

THE ARCHBISHOP of New York announces that any Catholic who rents out an apartment to a Jew commits a mortal sin and runs the risk of excommunication.

A protestant priest in Berlin decrees that a Christian who employs a Jew will be banished from his parish.

Impossible? Indeed. Except in Israel – in reverse, of course.

Categorized as: english news

Tahrir Square, Tel Aviv

AMRAM MITZNA is a nice guy. He is modest and radiates credibility. He reminds one of the late Lova Eliav, the Secretary General of the Labor party who quit the party in disgust. Like Eliav, he has a lot of practical achievements to his credit – Eliav built the Lakhish area villages in South-Central Israel, Mitzna volunteered to administer the remote town of Yerucham deep in the Negev. “Buji” Hertzog is also a good guy. He is a scion of a genuine Jewish aristocratic family, in the positive sense of the word; his grandfather was a Chief Rabbi, his father the President of Israel. A person whose deeds as Minister for Welfare speak for themselves – even though he has an unfortunate habit of running – after every action – to tell his (American) friends, as the Wikileak papers disclose. (This is an allusion to a classic Israeli joke: “Why do Israeli men finish so quickly? Because they can‘t wait to run and tell their friends.”)

Categorized as: english news

A General Overhaul

THE JUDGE: “You are accused of murdering your wife and two children. How do you plead: Guilty or not guilty?” The accused: “Your honor, I do not deal with the past. I think about the future!”

Categorized as: english news