Bibi’s Historic Surrender To Terrorism

Posted on: October 18th, 2011

In March 1978, at the conclusion of the Litani Operation in South Lebanon, five Israeli soldiers and a civilian jumped into a car and decided to go on an outing. The group took to the road in defiance of army regulations and somehow got waived through a forward checkpoint. Moments later they found themselves surrounded by heavily armed Palestinians. Four of the five soldiers were killed instantly, while the civilian miraculously made it back to Israeli lines the next day.

Shield of Abraham

Posted on: October 12th, 2011

One night, a man was shot as he tried to break into the settlement from a nearby Arab city. His family did not say, "We are so sorry that our son tried to break into your community and commit violence." Quite the opposite. There was a prolonged, noisy demonstration in his city against the Israel Defense Forces.

Atonement: Getting It Right

Posted on: October 5th, 2011

The newborn is far from shy about letting its feelings be known as it is thrust, against its will, into a frigid and foreign world. With flailing hands and pitiful wails, its displeasure is made amply clear. Which raises the question: Since the soul does not choose to spend time on this planet, is it fair that it is held accountable for the way it goes about living its life here on earth?

Our Mother’s Lessons

Posted on: August 17th, 2011

All societies survive through the retention of customs and traditions. If ritual law, halacha and Torah observance are the keystones of Jewish existence, the customs and traditions of Israel are the chain that has kept Israel bound to the Torah and its laws and values. The rabbis called the customs and traditions of Israel "the lessons of your mother" - in contrast and at the same time complementing "the teachings and disciplines of your father."

Inventing ‘Palestine’

Posted on: August 10th, 2011

If the UN should decide to recognize a "State of Palestine" in the biblical homeland of the Jewish people it would endorse a bizarre irony. Why?

Lost To Orthodoxy: The Fate of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation

Posted on: July 20th, 2011

Not many Jews lived in Baltimore during the eighteenth century; by 1796 the entire Jewish population of the city consisted of about 15 families. As late as 1825, Solomon Etting, one of the first Jewish residents of Baltimore, estimated the Jewish population of Baltimore to be about 150.

Legends And Fantasies In Jewish Life

Posted on: July 7th, 2011

Legends are necessary for nation building and community cohesiveness. Legends of holy and pious people and legends about villains and the wicked are often subject to fabrication and gross exaggeration, but they leave no doubt in the minds of later generations as to who was the holy and pious person and who was the villain.

‘Apartheid,’ You Say?

Posted on: June 22nd, 2011

It is late at night. There are four of us on the hospital ward. Two are young men, a religious Ethiopian Jew and a young Arab computer "techie" who spends his days working on his laptop. I am one of the two elders in the room. The other is an Arab from a village in the Galilee. The two younger men complain about the horrific snoring coming from us geezers, but they're not sure who is the worst offender. The nurses offer them sympathy and sleeping pills, to no avail.

Fire From The Skies

Posted on: June 1st, 2011

Thirty years ago next week - shortly after 5:30 p.m. on June 7, 1981 - Israeli fighter jets flew undetected through hundreds of miles of Arab air space and rained fire from the skies over Baghdad, laying waste an atomic reactor and depriving a brutish dictator the potential for mass destruction.

Embracing The Enemy’s Narrative

Posted on: May 4th, 2011

Reportedly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been preparing to unveil new Israeli diplomatic initiatives - including the possibility of further territorial withdrawals from Judea and Samaria and even the recognition of a provisional Palestinian state - before last week's bombshell announcement of a Hamas-Fatah rapprochement.

The Maltese Yad

Posted on: April 28th, 2011

It was the last slave prison and slave market in Europe. The United States was already an independent country and France was in the tumult of revolution. The Mediterranean island of Malta was the destination for the slaves snatched off of merchant ships by an order of Crusader Knights that had first been set up in Jerusalem in the 12th century.

Talking With Radio Star John Batchelor

Posted on: March 2nd, 2011

Listening to "The John Batchelor Show" on WABC is like taking a graduate course in current events. Batchelor covers the news nightly from domestic to foreign affairs, politics to the economy, China to the Middle East, election campaigns to planetary exploration. His insightful take on the day's stories is delivered with an elegance and punctuated wit rarely heard on today's airwaves.

The Grand ‘End Of Conflict’ Delusion

Posted on: February 16th, 2011

For the past twenty years the quest for a Middle East peace and for resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict has rested largely upon one specific strategy. We'll call it the "End of Conflict Proclamation."

Herbert Zweibon, Zion’s Champion

Posted on: February 2nd, 2011

Herbert Zweibon, founder and chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel/AFSI, died on Jan. 19 at the age of 84. It was Tu B'Shevat, holiday of the trees, which only seems fitting because Herb was someone who spread his branches wide, sheltering not only his beloved family but an array of people and causes, planting seeds of wisdom and truth.

The Holocaust’s Most Vicious Killers

Posted on: January 19th, 2011

During the Holocaust, one group of killers stood out as more vicious, murderous, and bloodthirsty than all others.

A Tale of Two Letters

Posted on: January 12th, 2011

Twenty rebbetzins in Israel recently issued a public call to Jewish women "not to engage in romantic connections with Arabs." The declaration followed in the wake of a number of cases where Jewish women either inadvertently or intentionally became involved with Arab men and suffered grievously as a result.

Death of the Blue-Hat Jew?

Posted on: December 22nd, 2010

Once upon a time, there were Orthodox Jews who wore blue hats. Blue hats! Some wore brown, or shades of gray. In the summer, they wore white, or amber hats of straw.

Confessions Of a Jewish Bride

Posted on: December 15th, 2010

I try to make it a point to work things into my life - including insane schedules, impossible goals and conflicting priorities - in the most upbeat way I can. OK, so it doesn't always work. What surprises me is how shocked people are when I tell them I just can't handle everything.

The Arab Lobby In America

Posted on: December 8th, 2010

U.S. policy is not controlled by an omnipotent Israeli lobby but rather heavily influenced by an equally potent - yet much less visible - Arab lobby that is driven by ideology, oil, and arms to support Middle Eastern regimes that often oppose American values and interests.

Golden Hues

Posted on: December 1st, 2010

Gazing wistfully through my window at the remaining leaves still clinging to the young maple tree on our lawn, I am reminded of the golden hues that come to warm the stark cold nights in the dead of winter - those of the Chanukah flames. Just when we desperately yearn for an infusion of warmth, Chanukah comes around to reassure us that our light is never extinguished, that the flame in our soul is eternal, and that from darkness comes light.