THE REFORMATION ROLLS ON:

In Israel, a rabbi who argues that anti-Arab measures are un-Jewish: Arik Ascherman, a Harvard grad who helped found Rabbis for Human Rights, is struggling to present an alternative voice amid rising anti-Arab and anti-foreigner sentiment in Israel. (Ben Lynfield, Correspondent / December 17, 2010, CS Monitor)

[T]he American-born rabbi[, Arik Ascherman,] is embroiled in two of Israel’s main conflicts today: the struggle with Palestinians over the West Bank and, within Israel, a rising tide of anti-Arab and anti-foreigner sentiment. The latter is starkly illustrated by an unprecedented rabbinical edict calling on Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews.

Both conflicts are at the heart of a debate over whether Israel can be live up to its ideal of being democratic as well as Jewish.

Not if Judaism is race, rather than a religion.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 18, 2010 6:47 AM