Israeli domestic politics, society, and economy, plus Jewish religion and identity. Israel's wars go to geopolitics; general topics merely set in Israel go to their topic category.
#6509: How a Knesset Government Can Form with Under 61 Votes
Under Israeli Basic Law, a new government can be sworn in with just 49 votes in favor, needing only a simple majority of those present.
#6436: Why Karaite Jews Rejected the Talmud
Once ten percent of world Jewry, forty thousand Karaites still reject the Talmud and follow only the written Tanakh.
#6435: Why the Talmud Denies Daniel Was a Prophet
According to Tractate Megillah, Daniel saw visions hidden from actual prophets standing right beside him, yet he wasn't considered a prophet.
#6434: How the Talmud Eclipsed the Hebrew Bible
After Rome destroyed the Second Temple, an emergency effort to protect the Torah transformed the Oral Law into the center of Jewish intellectual life.
#6417: Expecting Gidi: An Original Audio Drama
A two-act tragicomedy places two voters at a shuttered café after an election, waiting for an imaginary political saviour.
#6406: Arab Parties and Coalition Math in the Knesset
With Arab parties securing 19 seats in the Knesset, neither bloc can hit the 61-seat majority without deciding whether to answer their call.
#6400: Where Pedestrian Zones End and Car-Free Cities Begin
While historic cities like Venice cover over seven square kilometers without cars, retrofitted city centers like Brussels peak around fifty hectares.
#6361: Why the Kibbutz Had to Unbundle Security
In 1985, runaway inflation and real interest rates overwhelmed Israeli kibbutzim that had financed collective life with external debt.
#6357: Why Viral Campaign Videos Fail to Build Coalitions
Despite dominating social media with spoof videos, Netanyahu's bloc secured only 53 seats, falling well short of a 61-seat Knesset majority.
#6356: Mapping Hasidic Dynasties and Their Modern Centers
A 2016 census of Hasidic communities identified about 129,000 households worldwide, with over 115,000 concentrated in Israel and the United States.
#6336: Why Election Thresholds Discard Valid Ballots
Over 210,000 valid votes went to parties falling short of the threshold, discarding roughly six seats' worth of parliamentary representation.
#6335: Why Israeli Election Turnout Means Opposing Things
Arab-majority parties won a record nineteen seats, yet major opposition leaders continue to rule out forming a governing coalition with them.
#6325: Can Diplomacy Repair Economic Isolation?
The Jewish People Policy Institute has documented 139 separate restrictive measures against Israel since 2023.
#6324: Why Israeli Youth Moved Right
Up to three-quarters of first-time Israeli voters now identify with the right, upending the Western norm that youth skew liberal.
#6323: Why Early Israeli Election Tallies Skew Right
With over 51% of Israeli ballots counted, the tally represents finished polling stations, not half of every ballot box.
#6301: Building an AI Rubric to Rank Israeli Parties
A customized AI rubric ranked Israeli political parties by prioritizing tenant rights over the headline national issues dominating the campaign.
#6291: Surplus Vote Math in the Knesset
Under the Bader-Ofer method, party surplus agreements distribute marginal Knesset seats without transferring votes across rival candidate pools.
#6290: Polymarket's Final Odds for Israel's 2026 Vote
Prediction markets put Eisenkot at 55.9 percent for prime minister while giving an outright majority only a 16.5 percent chance.
#6226: Sarah Tuttle-Singer: The Writer Who Lives Inside the Story
A Venice Beach kid who moved inside Jerusalem's Old City walls — and writes herself into every story she tells.
#6224: Marcus James: Jerusalem's Spiritual Mayor
He hitchhiked with Kerouac, followed the Grateful Dead, and now cleans windows near the Old City. Meet Jerusalem's spiritual mayor.