On Practicing Realism In An Unreal World: A Jewish Imperative (Second Of Two Parts)

Posted on: May 4th, 2005

It is not just our enemies who show us no mercy and who "love death" who bring us death. The triumph of the absurd (the world of Chelm or the world of Kafka?) can be found also in sober actions of the United Nations.

On Practicing Realism In An Unreal World: A Jewish Imperative (First of Two Parts)

Posted on: April 27th, 2005

The story goes something like this. During World War I, a Jew loses his way along the Austro-Hungarian frontier. Wandering through the woods late at night, he is abruptly stopped in his tracks by the screaming challenge of a nervous border-guard: "Halt, or I'll shoot." The Jew blinks uncomfortably into the beam of the searchlight and retorts with obvious annoyance: "What's the matter with you? Are you meshugga (crazy)? Can't you see that this is a flesh-and-blood human being?"

Israel, ‘Palestine’ And ‘Correlation Of Forces’ In The Middle East

Posted on: April 20th, 2005

War is never far from the minds of prudent Israelis, and prudent operational planning must always look closely at the regional "correlation of forces." Drawn from the military lexicon of the former Soviet Union, this concept is usefully applied as a particular measure of armed forces, from the subunit level to major formations.

True Role Models (Part Nineteen)

Posted on: April 13th, 2005

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).

Facing An Explosive Future: Israel Iran And Anticipatory Self-Defense

Posted on: April 13th, 2005

Israel now faces grave dangers from Iran, a hostile Islamic state deeply involved in production of nuclear and certain other weapons of mass destruction. In essence, the Jewish State will soon have only two options vis-a-vis Iran: 1) sit tight, do nothing militarily, and hope that deterrence, political agreemeents and/or economic sanctions will prevent Iranian mega-aggression; or 2) strike preemptively against pertinent military targets, thereby expressing what international law calls "anticipatory self-defense."

True Role Models (Part Eighteen)

Posted on: April 6th, 2005

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.

Israel, Palestine And The ‘Samson Option’

Posted on: April 6th, 2005

Taken in isolation, the emerging Palestinian state - a state that is now being forged with the open support of U.S. President George W. Bush - will have no direct bearing on Israel's nuclear posture. Yet, although obviously non-nuclear itself, Palestine could substantially diminish Israel's capacity to wage certain forms of conventional war and could thereby enlarge the Jewish State's incentive to rely on unconventional weapons in particular circumstances.

France, Jews And The Absence Of Memory

Posted on: March 30th, 2005

Truly, there can never be any virtue without memory, and France - it would seem - displays a persistent penchant for forgetting. Now unambiguously aligned with the Arab/Islamic states in global geopolitics, France's staunchly oppositional posture toward Israel is a predictable continuation of official French policy toward the Jews during and immediately after World War II.

True Role Models (Part Seventeen)

Posted on: March 30th, 2005

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

True Role Models (Part Sixteen)

Posted on: March 23rd, 2005

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.

Understanding The Religious War Against Israel And America: Barbarism As Sacrifice

Posted on: March 23rd, 2005

How shall we truly understand what happened on the last day of March one year ago, when an Iraqi mob burned, desecrated and hanged four American contractors from a bridge in Fallujah?

True Role Models (Part Fifteen)

Posted on: March 16th, 2005

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.

Cowardice And Desecration: The Deeper Jewish Meanings Of ‘Disengagement’

Posted on: March 16th, 2005

Bettelheim, like the Greek poet Homer, understands that the force that does not kill - that does not kill just yet - can turn a human being into stone, into a thing, while it is still alive.

On ‘Disengagement’ And Disobedience (Second Of Two Parts)

Posted on: March 9th, 2005

Can the Sharon government protect Israel's citizens? Clearly, "disengagement" will open the door widely to "Palestine." In consequence, once deprived of its remaining strategic depth, Israel will become an irresistibly tempting object for aggression by certain enemy states.

True Role Models (Part Fourteen)

Posted on: March 9th, 2005

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.

True Role Models (Part Thirteen)

Posted on: March 2nd, 2005

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.

Israel Freeing Arab Terrorists And Surrendering Jewish Land Living Precariously In The Delirium Of Expectation

Posted on: February 23rd, 2005

Writing of the Jews as a "people of solitaries," E.M. Cioran, the most dazzling French philosophical voice since Paul Valery, observes of the Jewish "nation" that this people, "...unsuited to the complacencies of despair, bypassing its age-old fatigue and the conclusions imposed by fate, lives in the delirium of expectation, determined not to learn a lesson from its humiliations...."

True Role Models (Part Twelve)

Posted on: February 23rd, 2005

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

True Role Models (Part Eleven)

Posted on: February 16th, 2005

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

Israel Releasing Arab Terrorists – Again

Posted on: February 16th, 2005

It is a familiar story. Israel, with nary a hint of meaningful reciprocity (reinforcing standing government policy of "Land For Nothing"), releases Palestinian terrorist prisoners. This time, in fact, Prime Minister Sharon even threw in amnesty for terrorists not yet apprehended.