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Tears don't protect against murder. They don't stop killers from killing. They don't prevent the authorities from looking the other way when the killings happen because there is something in it for them. They don't bring the terrorists to justice. They don't even ensure that the truth will be told, rather than the lie that rationalizes the crimes.

The short history of the state of Israel is paved with mistakes, some of them understandable, some difficult to comprehend. But, in my opinion, no mistake even comes close to the signing of the Camp David Accords.

The selection of Paul Ryan, with his proposals for a trimmed-down federal budget, may not bode well for the Republican ticket among Jewish voters. And since Florida is the largest of the swing states, its Jewish voters will have a huge impact on the presidential election. On the other hand, the "Israel first" Jewish voters, after three years of constant conflict between Obama and Netanyahu, are not likely to stick with the president. Finally, what does it mean when Romney concedes the independents at the center and pick a VP to the right of him politically?

I wonder if anyone in the Olympics has thought of the reality that people in Israel's south live with every day.

As currently defined, an Orthoprax Jew tends to follow Halacha, but may question the existence of God or whether the Torah was given to us at Sinai .

This is too delicious for words. On Friday, Bruce Bartlett of the Fiscal Times published a column under this very headline. It should obviously be filed under the "Dewey Beats Truman" category.

On Saturday, Mitt Romney introduced his running mate, Paul Ryan, as "the next president of the United States."

After finishing a meal in which we ate bread, we are to thank God for the food and for the Land which He has given us, as we say, “Blessed are Thou, O Lord, for the Land and the sustenance,” and even if a Jewish astronaut were to eat a pastrami sandwich on the moon, or on Mars, he would still thank God for the pastrami sandwich and the Land of Israel.

There is one great truth that all Israelis know; that all Jews have accepted. Today's modern Jew, at least in Israel, is different than the Jew of yesteryear.

Numerous Americans in Israel have received their $1000 tax credits per child. Now Uncle Sam wants to make sure you deserved to get it.

These days, it’s pretty hard to know who really is Jewish. Let’s take the example of the singles-bar scene in New York. A lot of times a Jewish guy will start talking to girl (call her Debbie) and during the conversation, he’ll ask if she’s Jewish, and she says, “Sure,” when she isn’t Jewish at all. So I have devised an almost foolproof test to determine if a person is really a Jew.

She told an Israeli reporter about her plans: "I get on the surfboard, say 'Shma Israel, Hashem Elokeino Hashem Echad' and I go to war."

I read an article today. My emotions went up and down as I read it, ending with the thought that the man in the story was about to embark on a journey of a thousand steps and that somewhere along that journey, his grandparents would smile.

How does one reconcile greatness with evil? Is it possible that one can be a great contributor to society and have a dark side? And how are we to look at such a person? Does abusing someone sexually - even only one or two times to one person - negate all the good he has done?

Yesterday, Gaza supporters began tweeting that Israeli helicopters were randomly firing... I saw the video. It does not look random to me.

Liberal Jews like to talk about Jewish values rather than Jewish interests, because their values are incompatible with Jewish interests-- even as a matter of simple survival. The usual liberal grab bag of values that are represented by the Jewish hand puppets of liberalism, like Wasserman-Schultz, aren't just alien, they threaten the basic survival of the Jewish People.

If Moshe were alive today, I’m certain he would prefer living in the Land of Israel rather than living in Brooklyn. What do you think?

A couple of years ago as I was walking down Williamsburg’s famous shopping district of Lee Street, I recall seeing a sign in one of the stores that had a message written in both Yiddish (Hebrew characters) and English. The English sign said “Closed”. The Yiddish sign said “Offen” – which is Yiddish for “Open”.

When JTA reports on a Jewish wedding with one of the participants probably not a Jew, shouldn't that merit a comment?

Russia's government mafia isn't cutting back, it's redoubling its aggressiveness. With less money coming in, it's relying more and more on wholesale confiscation. Confiscation was how the regime built up its original fortune, but the problem is that it's eating up the business ecosystem and running out of money to confiscate. Every 6th businessman in Russia has been prosecuted in the last decade. Three million have been sentenced in that time.

According to the Israeli government, the quick actions last night of Israel's soldiers prevented a greater tragedy from happening. According to those who support the Palestinians cause...well, they're stuck. They have to lie because they can't possibly work with the truth. So, here's how it goes, according to the twisted logic of the other side.

What seems to be happening here goes far beyond understanding and tolerance. It goes far beyond treating our fellow man with love and compassion - regardless of the human condition that causes man to sin against God. Is there alive a man today that has not sinned? But the agenda of some gay rights activists is not about respecting human dignity. It is about celebrating homosexuality!

We learn from Moshe that the true meaning of Haredi is someone whose fear and reverence of God so fills his being that he rushes to do every mitzvah as speedily and completely as he can. We also find this Haredi quality in Moshe’s great desire to live in the Land of Israel. Moshe wanted to make aliyah more than anything else. This is a sign of a true Haredi Jew – a towering love for the Land of Israel and a passionate desire to live there.

A few months ago the CEO of Chick Fil A would have done nothing worse than echo a consensus so mainstream that it was adopted as a campaign position by the leftiest Democrat to sit in the White House. A few months later that same position is so outrageous that it leads to mass boycotts, threats of violence and mayors of dysfunctional urban centers threatening to drive the reactionary chicken franchise out of their cities.

Last night, an Israeli bus was pelted by stones thrown by Arabs as Jews traveled to the Western Wall. No, the Temple Mount itself is not enough for the Arabs and so they attack Jews who are even close by.

If you read the newspaper, watch the telly or turn the radio dial to something besides the greatest hits of the 70's and 80's, then you know that Romney's international trip was a disaster. How do you know that? Well, the same way that Soviet citizens knew that their economy was booming and it would only be a matter of time before the slaves of capitalism threw off their shackles and bowed their arrogant heads to the hammer and sickle. They read it in the paper.

The highlight of the evening was a brief but inspiring video of the history of Daf Yomi from its inception at the first Agudah convention via until the present. Over all, The Siyum was a job well done I thought. At least here in Chicago.

Terrorists inside cars, frequently young men with explosives stuffed into their clothing, are a fixture in streets controlled by Hamas and other like-minded terrorist groups. There's an understandable reticence on the part of the Palestinian Arab terror organizations to own up to the way they place their own communities and neighbours at mortal risk, using them in effect as human shields.

And so it was, every 9th of Av, the men would enter the mass grave for the night and another 15,000 would perish by the morning. The night of the living zombies. 15,000 men for 40 years. In the 40th year, the remaining men entered the mass grave but nothing happened. They remained there through the 15th of Av, when they realized that nothing was going to happen. The decree of the plague had ended! So they climbed joyously out of the grave. This was on Tu B’Av.

A few years ago, Rabbi Michael Broyde wrote an analysis of the Halacha requiring married women to cover their hair. Although he in no way said that a married woman may uncover her hair he suggested that it is possible to say that there were Halachic sources that may have permitted it in certain social circumstances.