The real cringe of Jewish Matchmaking * Israel gave Hamas a reason not to fight * My prayer for the peace of Jerusalem * Shawarma in pita – hold the pita

[Times of Israel]( [The Blogs Weekly]( Thursday, May 18, 2023 [My prayer for the peace of Jerusalem]( By Peta Jones Pellach When we come here, our tribal identities should melt away. Instead of looking sideways to see how we differ, we should look upwards Michael Oren [When Israel gave Hamas something worth not fighting for]( The latest clash showed that what’s good for Gaza can be good for us – it’s time to implement game-changing humanitarian plans for the Strip Raoul Wootliff [The Arnona Fund: A calculated assault on Israeli democracy]( This anti-democratic strategy ripped straight from Orban’s playbook will undermine local autonomy and consolidate control [The unbearable lightness of discarding Lag BaOmer bonfires]( By Shlomo Fischer The smell, the mess, the inconvenience – is that all leftists see in this unique, culturally deep Israeli tradition? Adele Raemer [Evacuation diary: Fear of driving]( [The earth is a rich, dark brown, and clumpy, like the batter when I make sweet chocolate balls. White Queen Anne’s Lace and purple thistle weeds push up from the earth together with the partially dried green and tan empty field. The sky is full of clouds and instead of the flat, plowed wheat fields ending in the skyline of the Abasan Kabir with the turquoise mosque jutting out, I see a ridge of mountains still partially nestling in the clouds, like a blanket that doesn’t want to be...]( Rivka Herzfeld [A waste of an outfit]( Having a key to an elevator somewhere in the synagogue building does not make the building handicapped accessible Shai Adler [The challenges of being an ultra-Orthodox combat soldier]( Israel wants Haredi soldiers, but is it prepared to ease their way out of the IDF, post-service, and into society and employment? [Standing up to Big Pita in the holy land]( By Zev Farber In search of a good explanation for why my local shawarma place won’t plate my meat with veg and hold the bread Tehilla Katz [To all the apartments I’ve seen before]( Seeking a rental flat in Jerusalem? Adjust expectations and whatever you do, don’t ask the landlord why there are no doors Analysis Tzipora Lifchitz [Mic drop at the ‘Jewish Matchmaking’ premier]( I worried that Netflix would get Orthodox Jewish dating wrong – until I realized that they aren’t the ones in the wrong [My sweet baby girl is in Paris, and I don’t know how she got there]( By Sarah Tuttle-Singer She’s the one doing the changing; I’m the one have the growing pains more choice voices Naomi Chazan [Passports, protests, and politics]( The massive backlog in providing basic services to citizens is a quintessential lack of governance Jody Hirsh [A soldier’s love song, a country’s innocence]( Crooning in 1968 from the peak of newly-captured Mt Hermon, a soldier offers his love a kingdom dipped in a sea of gold Meir Ben Shabbat [Israel can nullify the threat of Palestinian Islamic Jihad]( Israel must act to continue the success of Operation Shield and Arrow, including deterring Hamas from joining PIJ’s attacks Josh Shron [‘Small Gifts’: About a place where Judaism is in the air]( Rami Kleinstein’s song welcoming Sabbath represents my Israel – that beautiful fusion of religious and secular [The Blogs Weekly]( [facebook]( [twitter]( [instagram]( [View in browser]( [Contact support](mailto:support@timesofisrael.com) [Advertise with us](mailto:advertise@timesofisrael.com) Were you forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]( [Unsubscribe]( from this List © 2023 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved