Alon Goshen-Gottstein, at The Blogs

Alon Goshen-Gottstein

Mar 28, 2024, 2:17 PM

Military Exemption: Fake Rabbinic Reasoning

The present flash-point in state-religion tensions is the draft exemption for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. A well-publicized speech by a leading Lithuanian rabbinic authority, Rabbi Yehoshua Eichenstein, focuses the Haredi arguments on two points, that are voiced time and again...

Feb 4, 2024, 1:50 PM

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Sex, rabbis and the downfall of Judaism

Rabbi Arthur Green in 2020. (Hebrew College, via JTA, via The Times of Israel)

As Jewish leaders pick and choose practices that align with their social norms, venerable traditionalists are shunted aside. To wit: Rabbi Art Green

Jan 26, 2024, 2:13 AM

As we Await the Verdict from the Hague

In a matter of hours we will receive initial indication from the Hague. Will we be declared as potentially having committed genocide? Will the outrageous narrative of South Africa carry the day and will Israel have succeeded in providing...

Jan 24, 2024, 1:07 PM

Modi is god: A Jewish perspective

Yesterday was a day of great festivities and celebration in India. In Ayodhya, a city in Northern India, a temple was consecrated to the god Ram at the ostensible site of his birth. The site had been a mosque...

Nov 21, 2023, 12:55 PM

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What does war do to our hearts and souls?

A soldier prays. (via Facebook, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

After praying for the well-being of the kidnapped, the soldiers, and Israel itself, I pray that suffering has not hardened our hearts to the suffering of others

Oct 13, 2023, 12:53 AM

Repairing the breach: An invitation to reflection

The Challenge It is part of human nature to account for events and to make sense of them. We cannot remain without reason. Perhaps it would be better to postpone all attempts at making sense of the horror of these...

Oct 4, 2023, 10:04 AM

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Spitting on Christians: Extracting the DNA of hatred

When Jews spit in contempt, it is likely a symptom of deeper ills, especially ignorance and a refusal to learn about the other

May 7, 2023, 8:23 PM

The Haredi boycott of Angel Bakery violates the Haredi ethos

Former Supreme Court justice Aharon Barak (left) and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein (right). (Source: Channel 13 screenshot / Flash90)

The latest expression of an internal war between factions of Israeli society has taken the form of a boycott of a Jerusalem Bakery, Angel. The cause is the participation of its newly appointed chair of the board, former police...

Apr 2, 2023, 4:10 PM

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No, Ishay Ribo, you can’t say that anymore

Singer Ishay Ribo performs live in Gush Etzion, on August 24, 2022. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

The beloved musician's new Passover song says only Israel knows God and all others worship only idols. That's terrible theology

Oct 6, 2022, 9:32 PM

The Jewish People 2022 – A People with No Message

The Jerusalem Post published, in honor of Rosh Hashana, a list of what they consider to be the 50 most influential Jewish personalities. Granting the subjectivity of the process, the need to balance different sectors of society and different...

About Me

Alon Goshen-Gottstein is the founder and director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. He is acknowledged as one of the world’s leading figures in interreligious dialogue, specializing in bridging the theological and academic dimension with a variety of practical initiatives, especially involving world religious leadership.