The Sensible Jew

Habad, Leadership, and Abdicating Responsibility

Yaron Gottlieb — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:07:22 +0000

I have a confession to make – I am not Habad*. The reason for this is that I do not believe in certain elements of their ideology, and that is fine. They would say the same about me and that is the reason that they are Habad and not religious-Zionists. However, I have over the years [...] No related posts.

Hanging on to Hope for the Hung Parliament

Yaron Gottlieb — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:51:07 +0000

The elections have come and gone, and now we’re launched into the great unknown. So what have we learned about the politics of Australia in the past few weeks? 1) The Greens have gained the status of a genuine third party and now hold the balance of power in the Senate, and possible in the House of [...] No related posts.

Elections 2010 – The Ugly

Yaron Gottlieb — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:50:49 +0000

The ugly get very ugly. These are the groups that – given any power – would do considerable damage to the country. Beware: there be monsters here. Senator On-line: D This party has no policies. This may sound strange, unless you take the populism that exists in the campaign to the extreme. The party plans to be merely a bum [...] No related posts.

Elections 2010 – The Bad

Yaron Gottlieb — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:13:54 +0000

This group of parties and individuals – “the bad” – actually comprise the middle band of candidates: they’re not great but shouldn’t wreak too much damage on the country. As before, marks are assigned from A (the best) to F (the worst) The Greens: D The Greens are very lucky to have Bob Brown. Brown presents well and [...] No related posts.

Election 2010: The Good…

Yaron Gottlieb — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:57:40 +0000

Continuing the series on the Australian Federal elections I have done a quick analysis of many of the minor parties contesting these elections, giving them a mark from A to F. In this section I have listed what I believe are the best of them. These are mostly parties and individuals who are focused on good, [...] No related posts.

Election 2010

Yaron Gottlieb — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:17:19 +0000

Alex Fein writes: When this election was first called, I was worried that Yaron might spontaneously combust from sheer excitement. Instead, he has simply written a comprehensive guide to every political party – major, minor, and batshit crazy – that will contest the Senate election. We’ll present them here as a series. Yaron Gottlieb writes: Ok, I will admit [...] No related posts.

Yaron Gottlieb — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:43:48 +0000

In an unprecedented move the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria (COSV) has come out against the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, demanding transparency in the Rabbi Meir Rabi kashrut debate. The Galus Australis blog provides a copy of the COSV letter here. Rabbi Rabi, a Melbourne rabbi, has started his own authority to certify products as kosher [...] No related posts.

Bad Ideas, Bad for the Jews, and Bad for Democracy

Yaron Gottlieb — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:16:30 +0000

Recently the Federal Government re-affirmed their commitment to setting up an internet filter to censor what Australians can view online. They then decided that this might not be a great policy to spruik right before an election, so they decided to delay it for a year – but they have not scrapped it. Such a filter would [...] No related posts.

Kicking ‘Em Whether They’re Up or Down – What Israel Folau and Al Gore Have in Common

Yaron Gottlieb — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:45:52 +0000

In the past week, while reading the papers online, a couple of articles jumped out at me. The first was a story in the Daily Telegraph about NRL footballer, Israel Folau. It seems that the big news is that he is a decent person (and in the NRL that is big news). He is a devout Mormon and [...] No related posts.

The flotilla and the downward spiral to Godwin’s law

Yaron Gottlieb — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:05:05 +0000

Over the past week there has been a storm in the media over the incident in which Israeli commandos clashed with activists aboard a flotilla that attempted to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. For the genuinely disinterested observer, sifting between fact and fiction in this instance would seem a near impossible feat. There are, [...] No related posts.