Weekly Highlights: The next Knesset * Aid to Israel — and Palestinians * Safer driving for all (including women) * When you’re not an activist — or a do-nothing

[The Blogs]( [The Marketplace of Ideas]( Weekly Highlights Friday, August 9, 2019 [Too many guns and too little respect for human life]( By [Sherwin Pomerantz]( [When a society takes no action in the face of the kinds of the current statistics of gun violence, its leadership is as guilty as those who pull a trigger]( [Naomi Chazan]( [These curious non-elections]( [With a clearly apparent outcome, the campaign is tiresome, superfluous, and inevitable — but the vote isn’t over, after all, and the results may yet surprise us]( [Ofer Kenig]( [What will the new Knesset look like?]( [Now that the candidate lists for the September elections are closed, we can sketch the profile of Israel’s new team of parliamentarians]( [Alon Tal]( [The lost moral compass of Israeli politics]( [Back in 1984, the Knesset rejected Meir Kahane’s racist views; now, we’re at risk of a government that will welcome them, for a few thousand votes]( [Yoseif Bloch]( [Flattery will get you]( [Flattery will get you some bad places, the Talmud states, listing no fewer than seven calamities to befall an individual or community that engages in flattery/ hypocrisy/ cover-ups. R. Eleazar said: Anyone in whom is flattery brings anger upon the world: as it is said: "But they that are flatterers at heart lay up anger." Not only that, but their prayer remains unheard; as it continues, "They cannot cry for help when He chastens them." R. Eleazar also said: Anyone in whom is flattery, even the embryos in their mothers' wombs...]( [Jack Rosen]( [Bernie Sanders is wrong about leveraging aid to Israel]( [If the Senator supports Israelis’ right to live in peace, how can he jeopardize the funding that makes this possible?]( [Avi Benlolo]( [UNRWA: Canada’s $110 Million Problem]( [We need a new strategy that will lift the Palestinians out of ’refugee status,’ align them with Israeli standards, and promote science, trades, and industry]( [Crash test dummies teach Torah]( By [David Sedley]( [Who is held responsible for a preventable death caused by negligence? The blame goes all the way to the top (Parshat Masai)]( [Rachel Gould]( [Driving ourselves to environmental disaster]( [When everyone has a self-driving car, the roads will be much safer, but whatever will we do with all our current vehicles?]( [Sorelle Weinstein]( [Israeli parents should be proud]( [By kids for kids, this dusty summer camp in northern Israel is no manicured glamping experience. It is also a whopping success]( [Sally Abrams]( [Before you head to campus, read this]( [When it comes to Israel, if you don’t want to be an activist and you don’t want to say nothing, you can engage with nuance and sophistication. Here’s how]( [Malka Himelhoch]( [Will this chained woman be freed on Monday?]( [When a couple approaches the rabbinical court to divorce, and the rabbis let years pass instead of expediting proceedings, they are not doing their jobs]( [Rock and sun]( By [Eytan Pol]( [In this time of constant addictive stimuli from screens and sounds, there is no better place than the desert to stand still and live in the moment]( more Choice voices [Joshua Z. Rokach]( [A justice who guarded US Judaism]( [US Supreme Court Justice Stevens knew that entangling the state in religion causes trouble for the former and corrupts the latter]( [Eduardo Eurnekian and Baruch Tenembaum]( [Raoul Wallenberg — remembering a hero on his 107th birthday]( [To save tens of thousands of Jews, Swedish diplomat bribed, cajoled, persuaded and even threatened German and Hungarian officials; what happened to him remains unclear]( [Adam Levick]( [Against Jewish conversion therapy]( [Non-Jews should not have the right to define how Jews should be Jews, which is what Labour activists do when they advocate for anti-Zionism]( [Michelle Blumenthal]( [Blessing dates & bananas, I found Jewish community in India]( [From Mumbai to Cochin, we may have prayed a little differently, but we were no less members of the same holy community]( [Chavie N. Kahn]( [A moment of revelation at Ben Gurion airport]( [Fate was not kind to Maimonides, but he didn’t let that stop him; could I create my own meaningful life too? Did I want to?]( [Jerome M. Epstein]( [Ethiopian Jewish kids in summer camp dream of aliyah]( [To PM Benjamin Netanyahu: You say you want every Jew to feel at home in Israel, but you have turned your back on those in Gondar and Addis Ababa]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2019 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved