But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

“But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

There is a struggle going on for the very soul of Israel, and of Judaism itself. Only one side, however, appears to be fully engaged in this struggle, while the other appears to be largely unaware that the struggle is even taking place (still less what the stakes are).

On the one side are ranged all the forces of ultra-Orthodoxy, fundamentalism, theocracy, backwardness, pseudo-Halacha, ultra-nationalism and xenophobia, corruption and the sternest notions of what constitutes Judaism. This “Black Hat Judaism” would like to see an Israel encompassing the entire Land of Israel, ruled by those who claim to speak in the name of God, at war with the entire world for a brief while; until it vanishes for the same reasons as did the 2nd Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine. It is determined to reverse the revolutions in Jewish life brought about by the Emancipation, Enlightenment and Zionism, and appears intent on turning the Jewish world into a grim Kehilla or Shtetl writ large, without dissent or diversity.

On the other side we find openness, pluralism, tolerance, acceptance, learning, scholarship and science and the idea that Judaism is there to sanctify life, not replace it. This “White Hat Judaism” sees Israel as a full member of the family of nations; a state that is both Jewish and democratic. A state that upholds ideals of social justice and that allows all faiths - and all branches of the Jewish faith - to flourish.

This monumental struggle closely resembles that between the democratic and totalitarian worlds, which dominated much of the 20th Century. Let’s hope that the democratic Jewish world wakes up, before it’s too late!

In the context of this struggle, the distinctions between Conservative/Masorti, Liberal, Progressive, Reconstructionist, Reform and Secular Humanist Judaism no longer count. All that matters is for everyone who sees themselves as part of the Jewish democratic camp to support the individuals and organisations (such as Hiddush (Freedom Of Religion for Israel), IRAC and the New Israel Fund (NIF) that are in the vanguard of the struggle against the black tide sweeping through the Jewish world today.

Only 44 percent of Israelis define themselves as secular, as opposed to 64 percent of Swedes who define themselves as atheists;

The logic behind this article is so flawed that the article doesn’t warrant a detailed critique. I do want to make a couple of comments however:
1. Gideon Levy is confusing the idea of religiosity and that of a theocracy. Even if 100% of the Israeli (Jewish) population was religious (in whatever sense), this still does not imply or require that Israel be a theocracy. Neither is a necessary precondition for the other. While I stipulate that Israel has too many theocratic features to qualify as a true democracy, it doesn’t have to be this way. Stripping out the theocratic baggage from the Israeli system will not prevent or even affect anyone’s religiosity.
2. “Only 44 percent of Israelis define themselves as secular, as opposed to 64 percent of Swedes who define themselves as atheists…” Secular(ism) has more to do with requiring a separation between religion and state than with religious beliefs as such. A secularist and an atheist are not one and the same. Someone who is religious (or observant, to use Orthodox terminoloy) can still be secular, i.e. favour a separation between religion and state.
3. Israel is something of an aberration regarding the Jewish attitude to secularism. Everywhere in the Diaspora, Jews tend to favour countries and political parties which oppose theocratic trends. Only in Israel are they neutral, in favour of (or at least not strongly opposed to) theocratic ideals. This simply demonstrates that the much-vaunted Jewish attachment to justice and equality has more to do with circumstances and less to do with an innate drive for prophetic values.

Barak says that the phenomenon does not exist at all hesder yeshivas, but only at a few isolated ones where extremist rabbis incite the soldiers, and so the IDF should continue the hesder system. But the hesder idea is invalid in principle. There is no reason in the world for religious young men to serve in the army for only a year and a half, instead of the three years served by their secular brothers. Why doesn’t the IDF afford such conditions to those who go on to study engineering or computers? Are they less important than Talmud? We should know that in all hesder yeshivas, and not only those of “extremist rabbis,” the students undergo brainwashing against yielding any piece of holy land in the territories, and they listen to their rabbis before they obey their commanders.

There are entire battalions in the army today comprised solely of hesder yeshiva soldiers, who are likely to change sides and fight against the evacuation of settlements. The very fact that they belong to a large, strong and united community, broadly backed by a supportive population, by rabbis and politicians, arouses the suspicion of a mutiny. And so all the hesder yeshivas should be dismantled, and all religious young men sent to a full, three-year tour of duty, just like their secular friends. After their mandatory service, they can go and study whatever their hearts desire. It is true that the Kfir battalion’s signs of protest do not yet constitute a mutiny, but we must not underestimate them. They teach us what is liable to happen, and the wisest course is to take preventive steps. But in order to do so, we need a different defense minister, one who puts the interests of the State of Israel before any other considerations.

With Israeli society as fractured as it is (and with the growing rift between Israel and Judea (or Little Israel and Greater Israel)), it’s time to completely disband the entire hesder yeshiva system, along with any other ideologically homogeneous units in the IDF. As Nehemia Shtrasler correctly points out, there is no longer any good or sufficient reason that those studying Talmud should serve only 18 months instead of 2 years. IDF leadership needs to ensure that there are no homogeneous units within the IDF, even down to the level of section or platoon. The continued existence of these militias or private armies is a far greater threat to the unity and effectiveness of the IDF than anything it has faced since the sinking of the Altalena. Act now, and let there be only one law and one defence force for all of Israel.
In many countries (even today), a group of soldiers announcing their intention to defy orders or mutiny in this manner would earn some a place in front of a firing squad. We’re not there yet, but the danger to the integrity of the IDF and the State of Israel itself should not be underestimated.

The Internet Archive and founding companies announce today the launch of 301Works.org, a service to archive shortened Universal Resource Locators (URLs).  This will enable redirect services to incorporate these shortened URLs when a member company ceases business activities.

The use of shortened URLs has grown dramatically due to the popularity of Twitter and similar micro-streaming services where posts are limited to a small number of characters.  Millions of shortened URLs are generated for users every day by a wide variety of companies.

But when a URL shortening service shuts down, the shortened URLs people put in their blogs, tweets, emails and web sites break.  Unless users have kept a record of each shortened URL and where it was supposed to redirect to, it’s not possible to fix them.

A group of URL shortening companies and other interested parties realized the potential for harm to the user community and formed the 301Works.org organization to provide more security for the people who use these services every day.   Currently more than 20 URL shortening organizations have participated in an earlier form of this collaboration, and an industry leader, Bit.ly, has already begun donating archives of their URL mappings (pairs of long URLs and the generated shortened URLs).

This is a really worthwhile initiative that should be supported by all URL shortening services. Check whether the service/s you routinely utilise are on the list below (maintained on the 301Works.org blog) or not. If not, perhaps it would be a good idea to log a feedback or support ticket and ask if/whether they intend to support the initiative. If they don’t plan to, perhaps it’s time to look around for a new service.

* abbrr.com
* Adjix.com
* AppsFire.com
* awe.sm
* bit.ly
* buk.me
* Cli.gs
* Delivr.com
* ham.org
* idek.net
* Jdem.cz
* Lin.cr
* u.mavrev.com
* trcb.us
* Twurl.nl
* ur1.ca
* URLizer
* urlShort.com
* Xrl.us
* youific.com
* Zip.li

Major players such as bit.ly are already way ahead of the game. I’m nervous that I don’t see my personal favourites (ow.ly and Digg.com) on the list.

The toll for the Americans was 18 dead and several dozen wounded. The figure usually given for deaths among the Somalis is 500. The most disturbing feature of the book is the account of the casual killing of civilians.

Since the objective of capturing the Habr Gidr notables was achieved, the Rangers insist to this day that the mission was a success. By most accounts, Mohamed Farrah Aidid was indeed deeply shaken. After the dispatch of an aircraft carrier and some diplomatically phrased threats from Admiral Howe, the captured pilot was released. However, such support as remained in the US for the Somalia intervention collapsed. The raids by Task Force Ranger ceased. The US withdrew entirely a few months later. Aidid was back in the diplomatic loop until his assassination in 1996. (His son, oddly enough, is a veteran of the US Marine Corps Reserve.) Somalia in the year 2000 remains a legal fiction.

We are used to the idea that the Battle of Mogadishu (sometimes called “the Battle of the Black Sea”), i.e. the events on which Black Hawk Down was based, was a military blunder and/or defeat for the US. This review gives at least some weight to the nation that, while it may have been a diplomatic/strategic blunder (and PR disaster), and while some mistakes were made in execution, it should be considered a military success (albeit not a resounding victory). I always used to think I was missing something when watching the movie. I’m glad to see that perhaps I wasn’t.