American Appointed Member of Knesset, First Time in Decades

Summary: Dov Lipman, an American who made aliyah (moved to Israel) only 8 years ago, has just been appointed to Israel's parliament, the Knesset. Click here for article.

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Discussion Outline:

• Dov Lipman moved to Israel 8 years ago. What are some reasons people make aliyah? 
• He has been a teacher in a yeshiva in Israel for the last few years. He was not planning on becoming a politician. He became famous during an incident in his city, Beit Shemmesh, last year when some rabbis yelled and spit on an 8 year old girl, saying she was not dressed modestly, even though she thought she was. What do you think of this? 
• Dov Lipman immediately began saying that the rabbis were wrong for acting this way. Click here for article. Yair Lapid, an Israeli politician, noticed, and asked Lipman to join his party, Yesh Atid. 
• Yesh Atid was just announced the second biggest winner in Israel's elections last week. Because of this, Dov Lipman is now a member of Knesset. 
• If you were suddenly an important person in politics when you had never even been in politics before, how would you feel? What would you be nervous about? If you now had the power to make big changes, what changes would you want to make to your country? 
• Lipman says one of the things he wants to do is help other people who have made aliyah to Israel, like himself. How are ways he could help?