Israeli Election

Israel will have an election in a few days. The news reports tell us that at this moment the center-left Zionist Union Party of Herzog and Livni seems to have lined up more votes than Netanyahu's Likud or any other party. That should give them the opportunity to try to form a coalition government. Netanyahu as always stands for doing as little as possible towards finding an agreement with the Palestinians and appeasing the extremists on the right including support for West Bank settlement expansion and giving the impression of looking tough. A potential coalition of parties that are amenable to moving forward on coming to terms with the Palestinians actually represents the majority in Israel. The problem is that a number of those smaller parties have interests other than the security needs of Israel that conflict with each other. But at this point in time, those parties need to at least temporarily reach compromises on those issues for the sake of the larger issue on which they agree, namely the time is ripe to move forward on offering the Palestinians a path to a fair arrangement. The surrounding Arab countries that invaded Israel in 1948 because they saw it in their interests to do so at that time, now see that cooperation with Israel is in their greater interest at this time. But the problem between Israel and the Palestinians keeps this new cooperation under the table. Movement toward accommodation will give the Arab nations the opportunity to move cooperation to the top of the table and would also take the wind out of Iran's sails in regard to Israel. A Zionist Union victory would immediately repair the difficulties between Israel and the USA created by Netanyahu. It would also repair Israel's relations with the American Jewish community. Netanyahu's speech in the US Congress put us in an awkward position by intruding in our politics. We will not abandon our support of our fellow Jews in Israel because of Netanyahu, but we might do it with less enthusiasm. So let us hope that the politicians in Israel will put things into perspective and make the painful compromises needed to promote the security of their constituents.

Isaac Herzog

Isaac Herzog was interviewed by Farid Zakaria on CNN this morning. If I were an Israeli, I would vote for Herzog. He seems to have a reasonable approach to Israel's relations with the world around it. It is safer for Israel to be part of the coalition of sane nations. It is not in Israel's interest to side with one US party over another. It is foolhardy for Netanyahu to put Israel's security at risk for his political ends before the upcoming Israeli elections. Herzog, Netanyahu, and Obama (also most Arab leaders) agree that Iran should not develop a nuclear bomb. It could lead to a nuclear arms race that would threaten all the countries in the region. But Netanyahu makes off like he is the only one who cares and has the right path to make it happen. It's not true. Israel needs to continue negotiating with the Palestinians toward resolving their problems, and Israel needs to be as inclusive as possible toward the 25% of its population that is not Jewish. But the Arabs also need to discourage hatred toward Jews among their population to give the Israeli people the confidence to make concessions. It has to start in schools, both Jewish and Moslem, in Israel, the West Bank, and the surrounding Arab countries, to teach the advantages of friendship and discourage hatred toward each other. Israel and its neighbors have common interests that potentially are greater than their differences.

Keywords: Religion and Science

I think there are 3 keywords in reconciling religion and science: search, what, and why. Science is the search for what. Religion is the search for why.

Religion and Reality

There is a view of things that considers only hard material realities and there there is a view that considers only the meaning of things without regard for hard realities. Religion began as an attempt to give meaning to an ultimately tragic reality. Religion and reality are not necessarily incompatible, but they are when one uses religion to justify a material gain. The most extreme examples today are seen when ISIS and Al Qaeda commit murder and mayhem and use religion to justify it.

Netanyahu and the Republicans

I read that Netanyahu was invited by Boehner to speak to the Congress about greater sanctions on Iran without discussing it with the White House. It is no secret that there is a personal dislike between Netanyahu and President Obama. The move is political by Boehner and Netanyahu. Netanyahu thinks appearing tough will give him points with his base in the Radical Right in Israel. Boehner thinks putting Netanyahu on a pedestal might help the Republicans win over some of the Jewish votes. Mr. Boehner, we American Jews think for ourselves and are not so easily swayed. Mr. Netanyahu, you do not represent us American Jews, and your policies seem to benefit your political interests more than the safety and welfare of Israel. As to how to approach the problem of Iran developing nuclear weapons, there is no sure fire iron clad cure for the problem. Bluster and swagger won't do it. Contrary to what the Radical Right has been claiming, President Obama has been applying pressure on Iran. At some point an intelligent leader has to close the deal, unless we want to be in a constant state of turmoil.
Technology is and will be continually advancing, both for good and evil. The human race will have to figure out how to deal with it before some screwball pushes the wrong button and we all go up in smoke.

Are We Chosen?

Are we Jews the Chosen People? This is something that seems to occupy the thoughts of gentiles more than our own. Whoever wrote the dialogue of Fiddler on the Roof stated best our attitude toward the idea when Tevye says to God, "I know we are supposed to be the Chosen People, but next time maybe you could choose someone else." Chosen is not a gift but an obligation. If we are chosen, what are we chosen for? The simple answer is chosen to bring the idea of monotheism to the world. If that is all there is to it, then we did our job a few thousand years ago. Most of the people in the world today follow one of the monotheistic religions. So why can't the world leave us alone? Why are we still scrutinized like goldfish in a bowl.
Somehow we have been given among us a pool of people who stand out. We have more than our share of scholars, of physicians, of lawyers. We have more than our share of people who stand up for the rights of others.
Israel, the one nation with a Jewish majority, has built itself from a poor country into a financially successful country with a number of first rate universities. Israel  certainly could do better in many of the things it does and many people in its Jewish majority are challenged in how they interact with the Israeli Arabs and the Arabs in the Palestinian territories, as I have repeatedly said in many of my previous blog entries, but what nation is perfect? Certainly hypocritical Europeans who lay blame on Israel are the same Europeans who drove most of us out of Europe. Somehow we Jews are held to a higher standard to which we often do not adhere. If only God or the world could answer Tevye's question and choose someone else.

Terror in Paris

We hear today of an attack by terrorists on freedom of speech. I have not previously heard of Charlie Hebdo. Now "I am Charlie." I don't know when it will happen, but let us hope that one day reason will prevail over stupidity. True belief in God is to search for meaning in life. These fundamentalist terrorists pervert religion and have no real purpose other than terrorism for its own sake.