Michael Steinhardt, the former Wall Street hedge fund manager and co-founder of Birthright, has been removed from the Hillel International board of governors after being accused by two female staff members of sexual harassment. Hillel also announced it would not apply for a Steinhardt Foundation $50,000 grant this year. Hillel knew about these charges … [Read more...]
Stealing the Birthright
.@MiddleEastEye @richards1052 The original biblical Birthright was sold by Esau to his younger brother Jacob for some red lentil stew... — Mira Bar-Hillel (@mirabarhillel) July 12, 2018 I've just published a new piece at Middle East Eye. It offers a historical context to the rise of Birthright in the American Jewish community. A few stray thoughts … [Read more...]
Israeli Anti-BDS Ministry Pays for Best ‘Journalism’ Money Can Buy
Gilad Erdan's ministry for strategic affairs has become a third intelligence branch (let's call it "the third eye") of the Israeli state alongside the Shin Bet and Mossad, It's brief is to fight an existential battle against the world-wide campaign to destroy Israel, aka "delegitimization." This primarily takes the form of a war to the death against BDS, a … [Read more...]
Yom Kippur: Losing My Religion
No, I'm not abandoning Judaism or my Jewish identity. But in the spirit of Michael Stipe's seminal REM song of the same title, I thought a provocative statement would dramatize my ambivalent feelings about key aspects of contemporary Jewish identity. I spent a few hours today in shul pondering the prayer liturgy and Torah reading. There is always a … [Read more...]
