Telling The Story Of A New Shoah

Posted on: November 24th, 2010

The ongoing war against Israel is most visible at precisely the point where the effects of terrorism are concealed. If that sounds paradoxical, think of the bodies hurled into the void from the World Trade Center - only to immediately disappear from the television screens and the front pages of newspapers.

Conquering the Shoah: Reflections on the 70th Anniversary of My Father’s Deportation

Posted on: November 17th, 2010

Seventy years ago this autumn, the Nazis rounded up my father, grandparents and some 6,000 other Jews, shipping them from southwest Germany to the Gurs internment camp in southern France.

The Media’s Madoff Moment

Posted on: November 10th, 2010

On the evening of December 11, 1995, businessman Aaron Feuerstein was with family and friends at a restaurant in Boston. It was his seventieth birthday, and a group of well-wishers had gathered to throw him a surprise party.

The Best Thing JFK Ever Did For Israel

Posted on: November 3rd, 2010

I have written about John F. Kennedy in several Media Monitor columns over the years, focusing primarily on the media myth of Camelot that attached itself to the man and his administration almost immediately following his assassination (the term "Camelot" was never once used to describe the Kennedy presidency while Kennedy was still alive).

Time To Kick The One-Party Habit

Posted on: October 27th, 2010

For Jewish-Americans, the December date that lives in infamy is December 17. For on that day in 1862, Major-General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order 11.

Measuring Your Net Worth

Posted on: October 20th, 2010

In our quest to be spiritual entities it is incumbent on us to learn Judaism's definition of a spiritual person.

A Question Of Identity

Posted on: October 13th, 2010

My first visit to Israel in the summer of 1959 coincided to an extent with the trip by Rabbi Aharon Kotler, the great rosh yeshiva of Lakewood, who came to give shiurim at Yeshiva Eitz Chaim in Jerusalem and to campaign for Agudath Israel in the Knesset elections, as he had done previously in the decade.

After the Mendacity Came the Aggression

Posted on: October 6th, 2010

On Oct. 8, 1973, two days after the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban delivered the following address to the UN General Assembly. Of particular interest are the references to Anwar Sadat, whose image had not as yet been transformed into that of a peace-seeking visionary, and to the foresight of Israeli leaders in refusing to relinquish any territory in the absence of a workable and sustainable peace treaty.

Blaming the Victim: The Truth About Palestinian Anti-Semitism

Posted on: September 28th, 2010

In August, the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA) brought together some 110 scholars to present papers and share ideas relevant to the theme of "Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity." The conference had as its seemingly straightforward, and productive, objective to further the initiative's primary role of identifying and seeking to explain current manifestations of the world's oldest hatred.

Sin Of The Grasshoppers

Posted on: September 21st, 2010

With Israel surrounded, as ever, by implacable enemies and forced to endure withering assaults of negative international opinion, we can take needed comfort and learn an important lesson from the Torah context of some key phrases in the Yom Kippur liturgy we recited just days ago.

The Hidden and The Unseen

Posted on: September 15th, 2010

It was no ordinary walk home on Yom Kippur night a year ago. The clear air was the kind lungs get high on. The moon's bright essence in a star-studded sky lit my path along the familiar yet now deserted winding country road. Even the crickets' rhythmic chirping seemed muted in the surrounding stillness.

Crowning Our King

Posted on: September 7th, 2010

"I want a new me. But every year after Yom Kippur it seems the 'old' me is still here. After all those heartfelt prayers! The shofar blowing! Fasting! Crying! What happened to all my good intentions?"

When Naivet? Becomes Sedition

Posted on: August 18th, 2010

The most dramatic and important political change in Israel over the past 20 years has been the transformation of the Israeli Left from a movement of political naivet? to one of, in an increasing number of instances, political sedition.

Ani Yisraeli: I Am An Israeli

Posted on: August 11th, 2010

Our world is divided into two groups: those who support Israel and those who do not. There is no middle ground.

Needed: A Jewish Tea Party

Posted on: August 4th, 2010

Among the bitterest aspects of the ancient tragedies commemorated during our recent national period of mourning was the crushing disappointment felt by the Jewish people when we were betrayed by our erstwhile allies: "I called for my friends [those who had professed love for me] but they deceived me" (Eicha 1:19).

Southern Jews and the Confederacy

Posted on: July 28th, 2010

Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell's recent proclamation of Confederate History Month provoked a firestorm of criticism, with many accusing him and those who commemorate their Southern ancestors' bravery of ignoring or even defending slavery.

Israel and the Liberal Dilemma

Posted on: July 21st, 2010

"It's been a long time since American Jewry has been [so] shaken," declared the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in its July 9 Magazine cover story. Judging from the volume of chatter thundering across the upper firmament of the media heavens, this is no exaggeration.

A Nation’s Tears… and Redemption

Posted on: July 14th, 2010

"Ani ma'amin I believe with complete faith in the coming of Mashiach and wait each day for him to come."

Mourning in the Morning

Posted on: July 7th, 2010

Regarding the positive Torah commandment to pray, Rambam writes, "This commandment obligates each person to offer supplication and prayer every day and utter praises of the Holy One, blessed be He; then petition for all his needs with requests and supplications; and finally, give praise and thanks to God for the goodness that He has bestowed upon him - each one according to his own ability" (Mishneh Torah 1:2).

Ready! Set! Go! : A New Paradigm for Shidduch Dating

Posted on: June 16th, 2010

One Jew. One lonely Jew. Our brother. Our sister. Our neighbor. Our friend. Frustrated. Bewildered. Alone.