As the saying goes, I have some good news and some bad news. First, the bad. I unfortunately did not get in to the City Council. Our party needed 3 seats for me to get on the Council, and we only got 2. But there is also good news. First, while the overall non-Haredi voter turnout was significantly down, Anglos made their presence felt, and as a result, our party is no less interested than before in representing our interests and values. For example, I was just asked to play

When asked by the head of our טב list for City Council -- Deputy Mayor Chagit Moshe - what I wanted to work on as a City Councilor, one answer I offered was to focus on sustainability in Jerusalem. Sustainable building, increased green spaces, more bike lanes, innovative environmental initiatives (maybe helping Synagogues interested in going green do so with training/subsidies/incentives). Part of my motivation behind this concern will be read in Synagogues across the country

In honor of Tu B'Shevat: Here’s a thought I had while studying the Talmudic tractate Bava Kama (the laws of damages).  The discussion focused primarily on the obligations a private individual has to the public vis-a-vis the disposal of his property.  For example, he is not allowed to toss rocks or other dangerous items from his private domain into the public domain as it might cause damage to a passer by.  For if he did, and a passer by was injured – let’s say by tripping ove

Today's Political Principle (#3) is something I learned from my grandfather and appears in a campaign poster of his from 62 years ago as he ran for public office in a rural (read: very non-Jewish) part of Connecticut. In his words: "My Mission is to have the opportunity to serve all the people honestly, fairly, aggressively without fear or favor." Sounds like a pretty good principle to me.

As you may have heard, we Jews like to argue. Especially about politics. One of the things I hope to address if fortunate enough to be elected to the Jerusalem City Council is the tone of such debates. Towards that end, I want to share something known as a 'Call In'. We're all familiar with the 'Call Out' -- that's when someone says something inappropriate and we call them out on their statement/position. Maybe we even cancel them, letting them - and others - know that they h

From time to time I hope to share what kind of representative I’d like to be if fortunate enough to be elected. Rather than focusing on promises, though – in politics, not everything is in one’s control and I’d prefer not to say something that I cannot guarantee – I’ll detail some of the principles that will guide me whatever comes our way. The first principle is: Whenever possible, I won’t react. I will act. What I mean by this statement is as follows: Much of political life

I've decided to throw my kipa into the political ring. About half a year ago I started working with Chagit Moshe, a Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, on matters relating to my Shir Hadash community. I was incredibly impressed by her responsiveness, effectiveness and concern for not only our community, but the English speaking Jerusalem population in general. As a result of the positive working relationship we developed, Chagit asked if I would be interested in joining her list for t