Latest News & Views

"Not by Might, Nor by Force" — Signed, the Rabbis of Religious Zionism

The senior rabbinic leadership of the Religious Zionist world — headed by its elder posek, Rav Yaakov Ariel, and including the Rosh Yeshiva of Merkaz HaRav itself — has published a letter firmly rejecting the arrests of yeshiva students.

Not Even for a Minute

At the hearing on its fate, nine justices sat before a courtroom in which — remarkably — no one at all defended the law: the government sent nobody, and the Knesset's own legal adviser argued to strike it down.

"There Is No Greater Lie"

They are the words of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — leader of the Religious Zionist party, standing at the Katif Conference and saying it aloud: "There is no greater lie than saying that the burden on those serving depends on drafting Chareidim."

We Were Just Following Orders

Outside Prison 10 this week, before thousands of Sanzer chassidim gathered in tefillah, the Rebbe shared something the askanim had heard from the police officers themselves

White Paper: Sharing The Burden - How Israel's Most Powerful Slogan Was Built to Break the Torah World

Sharing the Burden is a complete, sourced, honest answer to the accusation — assembled in one place, so it can be read, forwarded, and relied upon.

אנחנו חייבים לך תשובה, ח"כ דוידסון

סרטון דוהר ברשתות: ח"כ סימון דוידסון מ"יש עתיד" עומד בכנסת ומתפרץ על שורת בחורי ישיבה ביציע — "שמעתם על דבר כזה להתגייס?

We'll Give You an Answer, MK Davidson

A video is racing across the networks: MK Simon Davidson of Yesh Atid, standing in the Knesset, erupting at a row of yeshiva bochurim in the gallery — "Have you heard of this thing called enlisting?

Afraid of a Pair of Tefillin

For three days, a Jewish boy sat in a Jewish state's prison, unable to fulfill the mitzvah of tefillin — while, in the civilian prisons a few kilometers away, the religious rights of convicted terrorists are protected by law.

The Fire Didn't Start With the Law — How the Torah is really being burned today in the daily slander of those who learn it.

I've seen so many laments over the burning of the Torah by Apostomus on the 17th of Tammuz, and the tying of that event to current affairs and to the Basic Law on Torah study that was passed in the Knesset.

One Law for the Yeshiva, Another for Everyone Else

The campaign marching under the banner of "equal burden" is neither equal, nor about the burden.

Asked and Answered, Rabbi Dunner

Rabbi Dunner has published a lengthy response to his critics. He writes that his letter to the Prime Minister sparked a firestorm, that his challengers keep missing the point, and that almost no one has engaged what he calls the central question of the entire debate.

With Friends Like These - A response to Rabbi Pini Dunner's letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu

Rabbi Pini Dunner has published an open letter to Prime

יישר כוח, הרב לוינשטיין

מדי פעם, בעיצומו של מאבק מר ומתיש, עולה קול ממקום בלתי צפוי ופשוט אומר את האמת. השבוע היה זה קולו של ראש מכינה מן הציונות־הדתית — והעולם החרדי חב לו הכרת הטוב ויישר כוח גדול, ללא בושה.

This Is How You Build a Bridge - Yashar Koach, Rabbi Levinstein

Every so often, in the middle of a bitter and exhausting fight, a voice rises from an unexpected place and simply tells the truth. This week that voice belonged to Rabbi Yigal Levinstein.

How We Win

The judiciary has declared war on the Torah world; the budgets have been cut; bnei yeshiva are being summoned, hunted, and in some cases dragged from their homes in the middle of the night. Against all of that — what is our path to victory?

Their Most Devoted Soldiers Just Found Out the Truth

The Chief of Staff says the army faithfully honors the order that is supposed to protect its observant soldiers. The rabbis who actually send their sons to serve say they do not believe a word of it.

He's Prepared to Die for You, Too - How we look at soldiers

We need also to carry ourselves with a little humility and gratitude toward those who are out there in the army.

"Side by Side, Not Apart": What the Chief of Staff Just Told Us About the Draft

It is unfathomable to speak of drafting the Charedi community while the religious soldiers already inside the army cannot serve in accordance with halacha.

מידה כנגד מידה: כך מסבירים גדולי ישראל מדוע אפילו טראמפ הפנה עורף לישראל

השבוע הֵקֵר את יחסו אותו בעל-ברית שמדינת ישראל נשענה עליו יותר מכל. הנשיא הידידותי ביותר לישראל בזיכרון החי נוזף כעת במדינה היהודית לעיני כל העולם

Israel Declared War on the Torah. Now Even Trump Has Turned!

The most pro-Israel president in living memory now scolds the Jewish state before the world, says Syria should fight its wars, and defends a deal with Iran that Israel rejects.

Our response to Rabbi Pini Dunner's critique of our article "Why Don't Charedi Rabbanim Come Out Publicly Against Extremists?"

Rabbi Pini Dunner has written a sharp and serious response to our article on why Charedi Gedolim do not hold press-conference condemnations of extremists. We thank him for it.

"Exterminate the Charedim": A Newspaper Editor Calls for Pogroms — and Then Doubles Down

A Religious-Zionist editor wrote in a journalists' group that he has "long advocated" running over religious Jews and exterminating the Charedim.

To Our Dati Leumi Brothers, With Love: If the Torah Truly Matters, This Is the Moment to Stand With Us

For Decades You Have Given the State Your Finest Sons — Your Best and Bravest, Filling the Combat Units and the Officer Corps Far Beyond Your Share of the Population, Bleeding and Dying for Klal Yisrael While Asking Only That Your Torah Be Respected.

האם נעם סולברג באמת כל כך חף מפשע?

השמשות המנופצות אינן חילול השם. האיש שחתם על פסקי הדין

Is Noam Sohlberg Really So Innocent?

The people now rushing to canonize Justice Sohlberg as a pure and blameless victim are telling only half a story, and the half they are leaving out is the half that matters.

The Yevsektsiya: When Jews Wage War on Torah — A Pattern We Have Seen Before

From the Soviet Jewish Anti-Religious Body to the Zionist State's Current Campaign Against Charedim: The Documented Pattern of Institutional Jewish Persecution of Torah Life — And the Historical Verdict on Every Iteration of It

הנה רעיון. אולי תפסיקו לחטוף את ילדינו.

ברחבי מרכז הארץ היום, הרחובות בוערים. בני ברק משותקת. כביש 4 חסום. המשטרה עוצרת בחורים צעירים בעשרות

Here's a Thought. Maybe Stop Kidnapping Our Children.

Across central Israel today, the streets are burning. Bnei Brak is shut down. Highway 4 is blocked. Police are arresting young men by the dozens. Tires are on fire. Charedi protesters are facing off against riot units.

The Greatest Spiritual Test of Our Generation - We See the Miracles. No, That Doesn't Make the State of Israel Holy.

The Greatest Spiritual Test of Our Generation Is Distinguishing the Source From the Vessel — Acknowledging Hashem's Hand Without Granting Kedushah to the Framework Through Which It Operates

State of Israel, Want the World to Respect You? To Stop Spreading the Lies of Genocide? Start by Respecting Your Own Bnei Torah!

Israel Protests Being Branded a Criminal on the World Stage — While Branding Its Own Torah Scholars Criminals at Home. The Torah Has a Word for This: Midah K'Neged Midah.