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Can the Abraham Accords be this century’s Magna Carta?

 As appeared in Arutz Sheva/Israel National News  and my Times of Israel blog.   The Magna Carta, signed in 1215 by the King of England, limited the powers of the King and was the ancestor of modern European thoughts on human rights and constitutional law.   Today, when parties sign contracts, agreements, or treaties, it is understood and expected that all parties understand, accept, and will adhere to the terms and conventions under which they are signed. A look at Western international conventions versus Islamic law exposes some important foundational contradictions.  Since now there is a new push to add additional Arab countries to the Abraham Accords after the cease fire in Gaza, (shared thanks going to the U.S. Trump Administration and the Israel Government’s military resolve) the terms of the original Accords do warrant a thorough review. More Than One Version. The need for this review is that, in fact, there is not one unique agreement that all parti...
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Can we talk about kitniyot?

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 Originally appeared in Arutz Sheva/Israel National News Without the kitniyot issues, we would be one more step closer to being simply “Jews of Israel”, instead of being Ashkenazi or Sephardi Jews, or Jews from Morocco, Ethiopia, or India.   Sukkot (Sukos) wasn’t even over, and I saw ads for Pesach (Passover) trips. So, I guess it is ok to bring up the topic of kitniyot now. Even though, it can be said that kitniyot is just a minor topic demonstrating how different groups practice Judaism, why won’t anybody talk about it?   Let’s start with defining what is kitniyot . It is an Ashkenazic minhag (custom) developed in the Middle Ages to not eat certain foods known collectively as legumes (“ kitniyot ”). There are three reasons for the minhag : (a) kitniyot  is harvested and processed in the same manner as chametz (leaven or food mixed with leaven); (b) it is ground into flour and baked just like chametz [so people may mistakenly believe that if they can...
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