Focus on Israel/Dov Gilor

In 2002, Israel surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to restrain a group of 39 Arab terrorist gunmen who were firing at them from inside the church.

We recently returned to Israel after a short visit to the United States.

A visit to the United States, while pleasant, often restores for us the excitement of living in Israel and reminds us of why we went to live there in the first place - especially around this time of year.

I am often amazed by the reaction of world governments to the bullying tactics of the Muslim world.

Thank G-d Netanyahu is not the prime minister. We live in a strange environment, where the Left can make war and the Right can make peace.

I am not sure if many readers understand the severity of a young soldier's life during periods of conflict.

The new Sanhedrin first met in Tiberius because it was foretold that it would be renewed there and would be relocated to Jerusalem.

Part I of this article discussed the background and early days of the new Sanhedrin.

Part I of this article discussed the background and early days of the new Sanhedrin.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a meeting of the "Lishka" of the renewed Sanhedrin in Israel.

Last week Israel remembered the Holocaust but received a rude reminder that its immigration policy admits many non-Jews into Israel.

Renana and Jay (Yaakov) Wolff made Aliyah in 1993 from Oak Park, Michigan, where they were serving as the Bnei Akiva internal emissaries (young couples who, prior to leaving to live in Israel, serve in towns that do not have a large Jewish college presence).

Myrna Frankel was born and raised in New York City which, she feels, is such a fantastic place to live that she would still be there if Israel had not been beckoning to her all the days of her life.

Many Israelis are dreading the march of time as the days of "disengagement" approach.

Mordechai and Barbara Goldman came on Aliyah in 1975 from Toronto, Canada. Barbara grew up in Toronto and was active in Bnei Akiva (madricha and rosh snif) and NCSY.

As Israelis suffer the stress of disengagement and the beginning of the dismemberment of the Jewish homeland, it is still important for American religious Jewish families to come on Aliyah.

Unfortunately, the question as to where to raise your children and where you and they should live is not a hot topic in the American Jewish community.

I once thought that my study of logic would prepare me to understand how the world behaves. Living in Israel these past months has cured me of this assumption.

Purim, which is not too far away, reminds us that people often can wear masks to hide their true identity.

The entire world is in turmoil and yet people ask, "When will peace come to Israel?"

It is often hard to understand the attitude of American Orthodox Jews to Israel.

Few countries in the world have the concern for its citizens that Israel has.

Israel is center of the universe. What scientific evidence is there of this fact?

One of the unexpected dividends of our coming on aliya 20 and 30 years ago is the practically 0% rate of intermarriage of our grandchildren.

There seems to be a whole group of people who have little or no knowledge of early aliyah from America, but who insist on making ridiculous statements about us.

In the 1940's and 1950's, many young American Jews were brought up with the twin goals of living in Eretz Yisrael and replacing the lost Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

I remember my first visit to Israel in 1956. I was attending the first American Bnei Akiva Hachshara training program in Israel.

It is hard for modern day visitors to Israel to imagine some of the situations that immigrants to Israel found 20 and 30 years ago.

Olim in those days left behind all their friends and much of their family, and, unlike today, found it expensive and difficult to be in contact with them.

For the first time in its history, the Orthodox Union held its annual convention in Israel.