David Margolis

How Can Right, Left Each Be So Sure?

Published on July 28, 2005

Some months ago, at a kind of evening salon in a settlement just south of Jerusalem, I read a short story I'd written to a group of friends and acquaintances.

A Settler in Favor of Disengagement

Published on July 1, 2004

Politically -- for the first time in the history of the Jewish people -- the State of Israel is apparently working toward establishing foreign sovereignty over a part of our land.

A Settler in Favor of Disengagement

Published on June 24, 2004

This is a soul-wrenching time for all of us who love the Land of Israel.

Educators ForgeTel Aviv-L.A. Link

Published on January 30, 2003

How do you incorporate Jewish identity and Israeli life issues into the curriculum of Israeli and Los Angeles day schools?

From L.A. to Tel Aviv—

Published on January 2, 2003

The scope and effect of projects in Israel funded by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles have always been broad. But the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership, with its specialization in hands-on, people-to-people programming seeks to transcend mere philanthropy in order to change the attitudes of Jews in both cities and create a mutual stake in each other's Jewish life.

Eulogies: Dr. Robert W. Brooks

Published on September 26, 2002

Dr. Robert W. Brooks, an interna-tionally renowned mathematician who made aliyah with his family from Los Angeles in 1995, died of a heart attack on Sept. 5, at the age of 49.

The Shared Initiative

Published on September 26, 2002

Since I live beyond the Green Line and am therefore a war criminal in the view of much of the left, I was surprised to be invited to an all-day meeting at the Tantur Ecumenical Center in Jerusalem that brought together about 50 Jewish and Palestinian peace activists -- organizational professionals and concerned laypeople, all of them wanting an end to conflict, many of them deeply discouraged now, of course. The aim of the discussion, the first of a proposed series sponsored by the Dutch Foreign ministry, was to create a grass-roots initiative that would, by taking "shared responsibility" for the current situation, somehow affect it.

Singles Fall in Love With Israel

Published on September 12, 2002

Luckily, the lure was Israel, not pairing up.

Place of Balance

Published on September 5, 2002

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana ("Head of the Year" in Hebrew), is an occasion for celebration and feasting but also for introspection and reflection.

Married to Israel

Published on August 8, 2002

Call it a shopping trip. Lou and Trudy Kestenbaum came to Israel last month on a Jewish National Fund (JNF) mission to spend money, as well as to follow up on how the money they've already spent in the Jewish state is doing.

Students Prepare for War of Words organizations.

Published on June 27, 2002

The long-term forecast predicts a very hot autumn on American college campuses, as Israel advocates challenge a well-organized, well-financed anti-Israel campaign by pro-Palestinian activists.

Rabbis With a Mission

Published on May 2, 2002

The mission's organizer, Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, called the journey a "rabbinic version of the March of Living."

From Their Lips to Our Ears

Published on January 17, 2002

Writing about the breakdown of the Oslo process in the October issue of Commentary, Norman Podhoretz was able to quote liberally from Egyptian and Palestinian newspapers.

Sticks, Stones and Incendiary Words

Published on April 26, 2001

Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian legislator and spokeswoman, a few weeks ago publicized an open letter from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon informing all Palestinians, "You are my target; you will be made to suffer, and you shall pay for the original crime of being a Palestinian."

Preparing for War

Published on April 5, 2001

A time for peace and a time for war. Most talk, for years, has been about peace, but there's war talk in Israel now. At least one independent intelligence agency is predicting a regional war this spring, and nobody is offering credible deniability. The Palestinians have been smuggling weapons into the country -- mortars, anti-tank weapons, heavy machine guns, who knows what else. The stuff comes into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt or sneaked past Israeli naval patrols along the coast. It's not Jordan they're gunning for, at least not to start.

Letter from Israel:On the Road

Published on March 1, 2001

As you might imagine, living in Israel right now feels schizophrenic. We continue with our regular lives -- going to work, eating dinner, shopping, praying, catching a movie -- and meanwhile, not far away, our soldiers are at war. The newspapers appear, the soccer games go on, people chat over coffee in the cafes, and the war goes on and threatens to get bigger. The most abnormal thing about it may be that one begins to accept it as normal.

The Muslim Zionist

Published on February 22, 2001

Does Islam deserve its title as "one of the world's great religions"?

Am I Really Going to Vote for Ariel Sharon?

Published on February 1, 2001

Not happily, not comfortably, but in a word, yes, I am going to vote for Sharon. I know about Sabra and Shatila, but Ehud Barak has so completely betrayed the hopeful vote I cast for him in 1999 that by now even most of my ambivalence is gone, replaced by an urgency to oust Barak and his band of professional delusionaries.

teaching_pluralism_jerusalems_reut_school_aims_to_expose_students_to_cultural_diversity

Published on September 28, 2000

In Israel, Re'ut School is unique: a religious school that's part of the nonreligious school system, and committed to halachic practice and a completely pluralistic curriculum at the same time.

A Strong Bridge

Published on June 15, 2000

Visiting California for the first time since he took over following his father's 47-year reign last year, King Abdullah II of Jordan attended a Beverly Hilton Hotel luncheon Monday and told his audience that prospects of Middle East peace in the near future look good.Speaking before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Abdullah said, "We can have peace in the Middle East and have it quickly."

Remembering Terrorism’s Victims

Published on September 23, 1999

On this bright September afternoon, Zion Square, at the bottom of Jerusalem's downtown Ben Yehuda outdoor mall, is the usual confusion of pedestrian traffic -- shoppers, students, soldiers, tourists, all hurrying about their business in every direction. A few minutes after 1 p.m., a small group of men and women joins the throng, bringing a little flock of children and strollers into the middle of the square. One of the men somewhat uncertainly unrolls a hand-lettered sign that says, in Hebrew, "Prayer Vigil," and the group stands in a tight circle, reading psalms from prayer books in low voices.

The Master Class

Published on September 9, 1999

Not all of them were Jewish, but they were definitely the chosen people -- five Los Angeles and 33 Israeli film students brought together for a two-week "master class" in screenwriting at Tel Aviv University. Held under the auspices of the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles partnership, the class was designed to give a boost to Israel's film industry by improving the capabilities of Israel's future scriptwriters. A further aim -- a subtext, to use the screenwriting term -- was to strengthen sympathy for Israel among American film professionals.

Israel On Broadway

Published on May 13, 1999

Rabbi David J. Forman, who has lived in Jerusalem for more than 25 years, goes on to claim that his message, while it may seem an all-out attack on liberal Judaism, represents the views of "a vast number" of Reform professionals in America.

Focus on Forensics

Published on March 18, 1999

Barry Fisher, director of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department crime laboratory, showed up in Jerusalem this week, invited by the Israeli Police Department to give a couple of lectures and the benefit of his 30 years' experience to the forensics people of the Jewish state. In a wood-paneled room at National Police Headquarters, along with about 25 Israeli police officers, I caught his second lecture, "Forensic Science After O.J. Simpson." (I will assume that, despite so many breathlessly absorbing high-profile murders and sex scandals since then, you still vaguely remember O.J. Simpson.)

On Guard in the West Bank

Published on January 7, 1999

Is this me? Eight o'clock on a Tuesday evening, I'm strolling down the ordinary street of my town, carrying an M-16 rifle. Tonight, it's my turn again to do shmirah, guard duty, a chore required about once a month of every male resident here at Beit Yattir, the West Bank village where I live part time.

The Young Leaders

Published on December 10, 1998

Israel is on its way to becoming a back-burner issue in much of the American Jewish community. Studies show that the younger the Jew, the less connection he or she feels to what is, let's try to remember, the Jewish homeland. The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, which used to give Israel 50 percent of the funds it raised, has cut that figure by nearly half. One of the Federation's "old leaders" pointed out to me that Israel isn't even mentioned any more in Federation advertising -- it's bad for business. Israel has become a wormy apple for many American Jews -- all this unpleasantness with the Palestinians and, on top of that, a hot, fuming plateful of disrespect for Conservative and Reform rabbis and the Judaism they practice.

Making the Miracle

Published on November 5, 1998

I heard the following anecdote from Menachem Perlmutter, who was there when it happened. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founding father and first prime minister, was visiting a settlement in the Negev. As he was being shown around, he pointed in one direction and said, "I would like to see orchards here;" further along, he gestured again and said, "Here I would like to see vegetables."

Mideast

Published on July 16, 1998

A couple of months ago, Dov Dribben, age 28, was clubbed and shot to death by Palestinian Arabs on a tract of Israeli "government land" attached to the West Bank settlement of Maon, about 40 miles south of Jerusalem.

Getting Stoned

Published on January 4, 1998

I was in the back seat looking in theother direction, so I did not actually see the young Palestinian who,from an elevation at the side of the road, lofted a block of concreteabout 10 inches in diameter in our direction. He made an almostperfect hit, near midpoint on the front windshield. Thunk!

Missing America

Published on January 4, 1998

And why, oh why, entreat the Americans, did weever leave a country full of discount stores to move to one withbadly made goods at high prices, a 17 percent sales tax, a separateannual tax on your television, and fees for the "free" publiceducation of your children?