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US Charity to Israel Reconsidered
Originally published 2 Apr 2008 in inFocus

Jewish institutional efforts must now undergo a period of reform and greater accountability. Some charitable efforts should be privatized. Individuals or groups of donors must take personal responsibility for specific projects, to ensure that funds are dispensed in a responsible and cost effective manner.

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It’s capitalism’s fault - again
Originally published 17 Aug 2006 in The Jerusalem Post

Since it was advanced by Ari Shavit, Haaretz’s leading columnist, the capitalist guilt argument cannot be dismissed as yet another mindless expression of the anti-capitalist mentality so prevalent among Israel’s left-leaning elites. By discarding Israel’s nationalist and collectivist ethos and replacing it with an individualist anti-patriotic lore, he says, Israel’s elites robbed the nation of its ability to survive in the Middle Eastern jungle.

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Belated stock taking
Originally published 9 Nov 2005 in The Jerusalem Post

In Israel, the notion that government is the citizens’ benevolent parent is deeply rooted. It was therefore remarkable to read recently in Makor Rishon an essay written by one Yaakov Schatz: “It Is For Our Sins That We Were Exiled From Our Land.” Schatz not only claims that “Halacha [Jewish Law] prefers a state with a small bureaucracy that intervenes only minimally in the citizen’s life,” but supports this claim with many halachic references. He accuses the religious camp of ignoring halacha by advocating a strong state.

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Danger in ignorance
Originally published 9 Jun 2005 in The Jerusalem Post

	Source: Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf

The American people, thank God, are not likely to be bamboozled by their intellectuals, and thank God again, Israel is defended by good fundamentalist Christians. Still, one must not underestimate the potential danger that an erosion in Israel’s moral position poses for Israel and for the American Jewish community. This danger must be met by mounting a massive educational effort.

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Do we share values with America?
Originally published 26 May 2005 in The Jerusalem Post

Without wealth, our sages considered a person for all intents and purposes dead ( “Mashul Lemet”) because he is a slave to his needs, with little time or energy left to develop the “superfluity that is man” (“motar ha’adam”), the divine spark that elevates him above other living creatures. The American ethos, sanctifying property, is closer to this traditional, Halachic Judaism than the Israeli ethos, which reflects a Christian viewpoint, adopted by Socialism.

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