Two Weeks Left For Americans To Learn Spanish

Posted on: October 25th, 2006

In March 2004 Al Qaeda won its first parliamentary election in Europe. It installed the trailing candidate José Luis Zapatero as prime minister of Spain. It clinched this victory just three days before the election by exploding 10 bombs causing the death of 191 people and the wounding of 1,700 others.

FDR Was A Hero, Not A Villian – Why I Wrote “Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust”

Posted on: October 25th, 2006

In April 2001, I visited my daughter Ali, then a fifteen-year-old student at Phillips Academy in Andover, near Boston. We went to the Holocaust Memorial near Quincy Market in downtown Boston, and I was taken aback by a seemingly innocuous but in fact outrageous statement engraved in stone: "By late 1942, the United States and its Allies were aware of the death camps but did nothing to destroy them."

The Coming Middle East War

Posted on: October 25th, 2006

The warning signs are everywhere, yet no one wishes to see them. Israel's foes are gearing up for war, and it's time we opened our eyes to the danger that confronts us.

Republicans, Democrats, And U.S. Support For Israel

Posted on: October 18th, 2006

The loudest debate going on in the American Jewish world the last couple of months seems to revolve, believe it or not, around ads in Jewish weekly newspapers.

Fred Lebow And Pol 101

Posted on: October 18th, 2006

Thanks to Fred Lebow, founder of the New York City Marathon, some 500,000 Americans will run in marathons this year. In my book Anything for a T-Shirt: Fred Lebow and the New York City Marathon, the World's Greatest Footrace (Syracuse University Press, 2004), I show how Lebow, a Holocaust survivor, changed the notion of this 26.2 mile race, which this year will be held on Sunday, Nov. 5, from a grueling, sweaty showcase for elite runners into a people's competition.

The State Of Scholarship At Columbia – And Of Book Reviewing At The New York Times

Posted on: October 18th, 2006

Professor Rashid Khalidi, who directs the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, is currently on a multi-city book tour for his new book The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (Beacon Press) - aided by a favorable New York Times review from an unlikely book reviewer.

Friends And Foes – Within And Without

Posted on: October 18th, 2006

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech at the American Task Force for Palestine's inaugural dinner in Washington last week was but the latest sign that America's alliance with Israel is weakening.

People Of The Book

Posted on: October 18th, 2006

A constant theme of Rabbi Berel Wein's writings and lectures is that the Torah is about people, not events. The Torah was never intended to sit on a shelf somewhere as so many books do. In fact, its laws and traditions were intended to be transmitted orally, evidence of the fact that it is people to whom and for whom the Torah was given.

Open Letter To Abu Mazen

Posted on: October 11th, 2006

Honorable Mr. President, We are shocked, speechless, alarmed.

A Giant Of Faith And Intellect

Posted on: October 11th, 2006

When I moved to Israel fourteen years ago, I was very keen on meeting Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, zt"l. He had taught Gemara to my father in Yeshivas Dvar Yerushalayim many years earlier, but what excited me was his role as editor of Challenge, the first of the Torah/science genre. I visited him one Shabbos, and he was glad to answer my questions.

Their Jewish Heritage

Posted on: October 11th, 2006

"I still had a ham sandwich for lunch, and my mother made great pork chops" - U.S. Senator George Allen (R-Virginia), after discovering recently that his mother was Jewish.

The Democrats’ War Against The War

Posted on: October 11th, 2006

Two recent news items speak volumes about the Democratic Party's priorities on national security. First, Democratic majorities in the House and Senate - including all the presidential aspirants - voted against the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which authorized military tribunals to try terrorist suspects and established guidelines for their aggressive interrogation. Then 177 House Democrats voted to thwart the passage of the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act, which expanded electronic surveillance of terrorists on foreign soil.

The Trillion Dollar Question

Posted on: October 11th, 2006

Imagine for a moment that all of Israel's enemies - both declared and tacit - form an alliance and appoint a single governing body to represent them. They then declare publicly and unequivocally that they are prepared to make a genuine, everlasting peace agreement with Israel. Further imagine that the authenticity of this declaration can somehow be proven beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Ahmadinejad And The Liberalism Of Fools

Posted on: October 4th, 2006

Last month the impotence of the world Jewish community was on display for all to see.

In The Quiet Brownstone Near The Danube

Posted on: October 4th, 2006

At first glance it looks like an ordinary brownstone.

Republicans Should Consider Goldwater’s Libertarianism

Posted on: October 4th, 2006

The late liberal activist Allard Lowenstein was fond of recalling the time he bucked a boycott of French President Georges Pompidou's address to a joint session of Congress in March 1970.

The Implications For Israel If Democrats Recapture The House

Posted on: October 4th, 2006

Many pundits have been predicting that the House of Representatives will have a Democrat majority after the mid-term elections in November. This would hold perils that are unappreciated by many.

Larsen’s Perfect Game Earned Me A Slap From My Rebbe

Posted on: October 4th, 2006

October 8, 1956. Fifty years ago. During a break from our studies at Detroit's Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, a couple of my ninth-grade classmates raced with me to a nearby gas station where we knew the radio would be on and the volume turned high.

Not Home For The Holidays

Posted on: September 27th, 2006

What else could I do? This past summer, former Israeli chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu instructed Jews around the world to recite Psalm 102 for the release of captured Israeli soldiers Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. So every day, rain or shine, tired or not, with time to spare or in a big rush, I read Psalm 102 without fail.

Unexpected Motif Of A Solemn Season

Posted on: September 27th, 2006

The Jewish High Holy Days began last Friday evening with two days of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and will end next week with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Jewish wisdom teaches that what God thinks of us is far more important than what we think of God. Thus it follows that Rosh Hashanah, literally the head of the year, is the time when God judges all humans. Rosh Hashanah's solemn role of affirming that God does judge us makes one of its central themes - laughter - difficult to understand.