Israel's new 'faithful left' is making itself felt

TEL AVIV (JTA) — “Everyone who answers, ‘Thank God’ when asked, ‘How are you,’ raise your hand,” Brit Yakobi asked the crowd of 700 people gathered in an Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem.

The overwhelming majority of hands shot up.

“Everyone who is mortified with our current government, raise your hand,” continued Yakobi, the director of religious freedom and gender at Shatil, an Israeli social justice organization founded by the New Israel Fund.

Once again, almost every hand went up.

The display took place at a Jan. 25 conference billing itself as for Israel’s “faithful left” — a demographic t...