Galilee Blog Goes Live - Jews and Arabs Write Together

by Charles Lenchner · 2008-10-22 11:41:00 UTC
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Rabbi Marc Rosenstein files the "Live from Israel" reports for the URJ, the Union for Reform Judaism. I don't always agree with him, but his reports are thoughtful and do paint a picture of life in Israel from the perspective of a staunch Zionist liberal Jew. He reports that Dugri-Net is now live. Dugri means straight, direct, or honest in Arabic (originally) and the word has been adopted by Hebrew speakers. It's a lively site in Hebrew and Arabic that brings Jewish and Arab voices together.

Sadly, you really do need to know Hebrew or Arabic to enjoy it. I appreciated two things: the presence of advertising from local businesses, and the fact that the front page seems to have identical content in both languages.

The Galilee is the one region in Israel where Palestinian-Israelis are a majority, and this presents particular challenges for both sides, as the recent riots in Acre demonstrated. Rabbi Rosenstein had this to say about the absence of rabbinic voices after Yom Kippur:

It seems reasonable to assume that if the rabbis - on the local level or the national leadership - had spoken out in condemnation of the Jews' behavior, they could have contributed to calming the waters and preventing future outbursts. Since they have not done so, it is hard to explain their silence other than as tacit support of the behavior of the rioters. And if the behavior of the rioters is a hillul Hashem - how much the more so is the silence of the rabbis.

As a simple Jew, it pains me to ask: could it be that on Yom Kippur, in the renewed Jewish state, Judaism has filed for moral bankruptcy?

See his ongoing diary here, and hope that the URJ is keeping it current....

Charles Lenchner
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