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Peta Jones Pellach

Teacher and activist in Jerusalem

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Apr 7, 2024, 6:36 PM

The Education of our Young Women

Four months ago, I wrote about “the deadly cost of boys’-club governance,” asking whether after this war, will we learn to honor and value the contribution of women to the country's security, homefront, and recovery. We don’t have to wait....

Mar 20, 2024, 5:49 PM

Together, ununified, we can succeed

People walk by a large billboard reading "Together we will win" at Azrieli, in Tel Aviv. December 19, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Except for being united in shock and grief, we were never really united – and that might not be such a bad thing

Feb 27, 2024, 12:10 AM

He agreed to vote

I had been trying to write a piece explaining why it is so important to vote in the municipal elections. It sounds so simple that I was beginning to feel it was not worth writing. However, after talking to an acquaintance,...

Feb 8, 2024, 3:01 PM

Alternative Truth

I am struck by how relevant the weekly Torah reading always is for our lives today. I never fail to find a message and a challenge. This week, we read the instruction to the judges to “distance yourself from a false...

Jan 24, 2024, 8:07 PM

Our Burden and Our Hope

A few days ago, I was listening to the radio when I heard the song Habaita (Homeward) in its original version, sung by Yardena Arazi, and my eyes swelled with tears. The song was originally composed to speak of soldiers...

Nov 21, 2023, 12:33 AM

The deadly cost of boys’-club governance

Women run for the release of Israelis held kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Katsrin, on November 17, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

After this war, will we learn to honor and value the contribution of women to the country's security, homefront, and recovery?

Nov 6, 2023, 12:34 AM

On the Brink of Tears

This is such a rare feeling for me. I feel on the brink of tears almost all the time. My barely-restrained tears are mostly for the victims and their families of the Hamas massacre and mass kidnapping. I want to...

Oct 9, 2023, 4:38 PM

Who’s counting?

1 cousin killed in battle; 3 acquaintances taken captive; 36, the number of hours before the attack that I prayed with Muslims

Sep 13, 2023, 6:51 AM

A Great Man and Proud Jew – My Little Brother

Australian Jewry lost one of its greatest leaders this past week. I lost a brother. Jeremy Jones, former President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and community stalwart, father, husband and brother, passed away on Wednesday after a two...

Jul 28, 2023, 11:40 AM

That’s not what I meant by ‘peace’

A peace mural in Jerusalem’s Nahalat Shiv’a neighborhood. (zeevveez/Flickr Commons)

We've lost sight of the values of justice and freedom that the prophets upheld. To get it back, we must dream of our own potential

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About Me

A fifth generation Australian, Peta made Aliyah in 2010. She is Senior Fellow of the Kiverstein Institute, Director of Educational Activities for the Elijah Interfaith Institute, secretary of the Jerusalem Rainbow Group for Jewish-Christian Encounter and Dialogue, a co-founder of Praying Together in Jerusalem and a teacher of Torah and Jewish History. She has visited places as exotic as Indonesia and Iceland to participate in and teach inter-religious dialogue. She also broadcasts weekly on SBS radio (Australia) with the latest news from Israel. Her other passions are Scrabble and Israeli folk-dancing.