Op-Eds

The riots and violence in Afghanistan over some accidentally burned Korans followed a script that by now is all too drearily familiar.

It wasn't a biggie, really, I've been called worse. When my wife heard what Rush had been calling me, she said she wasn't surprised. So maybe it wasn't even such a bad thing that Rush did, maybe he even meant it as a caution, so I would go ahead and mend my loose morals. But here's the funny thing, as soon as news came out that Rush insulted me, people started empathizing with me and writing Rush's advertisers to stop sponsoring him because of what he said about Yanover.

This past weekend Harvard hosted a One-State Solution Conference, designed to promote the dissolution of Israel. It is only the latest example of that university’s longstanding practice of facilitating the spread of anti-Semitism.

And after helping so many groups of people, after absorbing so many sets of refugees, after solving so many of the world's problems, there were no longer any wise leaders to govern the adorable little state. Because it had humanitarian-ized itself into oblivion.

Equating terrorism with criminality is ridiculous. They have no relationship to one another. Criminality is generally for the purpose of enrichment of oneself by breaking the law. Modern day terrorism seeks to achieve political or military goals by the use of indiscriminate terror directed primarily at innocent civilians.

For those who have claimed that Obama is anti-Israel and/or weak on Iran, his forceful statements in a recent interview should make them reconsider. I was not surprised by President Obama's strong words, because he said similar things to me in private conversation. And I, for one, am satisfied with the President's words. Now I want to hear them repeated by Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, by Joint Chief of Staff Martin Dempsey and by others in the Obama Administration.

Those who are subjected to emotional suffering tend to be kept out of society's line of sight. All the more so when society is either the cause of the suffering or can alleviate it and does not do so.

Dear Deborah, Your book, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of my Hasidic Roots, has touched a lot of nerves and unsettled a lot of hearts in the Orthodox Jewish community. It is not every day that a Satmar woman divorces her husband, moves to Manhattan and writes a tell-all book about the experience. It is not every day that a Satmar woman writes about her chassidic experience with derision and her intimate relations without inhibition.

Why is Purim eternal? I would suggest that Purim is the prototype of the End of Exile, and as such will remain forever linked to the Era of Mashiach that will occur after the Final Redemption. Therefore, Purim will be part of that entire period at the culmination of history.

The news that a Mormon temple in the Dominican Republic recently conducted a posthumous proxy baptism of Anne Frank, the most famous diarist of the Holocaust, undoubtedly will cause some offense in the Jewish community. Evidently the baptizers believe they were saving Anne's soul. Of greater significance, however, is what Mormons tried to do to save Anne's life.

Yaron London is spelling stuff out, having moved, like many secular Israelis, from bemused disliking of the Ultra Orthodox to outright loathing anyone wearing a black hat and a beard. Now he's out for blood. His op-ed piece in Y'net Tuesday recalls earlier solutions to "the Jewish problem."

Returning Jewish life to Jerusalem is normal. Jews and Arabs living together is normal. Grave desecration is not normal and throwing rocks at tour groups is not normal. But that desecration and those rocks are futile because they will neither scare nor deter the Jewish people from reclaiming our rights and continuing the process of normalization in eastern Jerusalem and throughout the land.

The Iranians are picking up BBC operatives and throwing them in jail, which is awful, except that it's difficult to read a story about a government getting back at those pesky radio lads with their perfect British accents and preconceived notions about life, the universe and everything. Maybe it takes the Iranian regime to shut them up? We're only kidding, of course. Half kidding.

What if you had $25 billion and no mortgage and the kids were already out of college – would you give Newt Gingrich $100 million so he could go out and play candidate again?

A young teacher described this episode that occurred early in her teaching career: “One beautiful spring morning when I arrived at school, I was surprised to see a youngster waiting at the door. ‘It’s locked,’ he said sadly. His expression brightened as I began to fumble for my keys. ‘You’re a teacher!” he exclaimed in obvious delight.

Wikipedia says it this way: In 2009, Guiness World Records cited her as the most-awarded female act of all time. Her list of awards includes two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston was also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. So, didn’t she almost have it all?

Incoming New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren has been exhibiting not only questionable judgment but also an overt bias against Israel even before she’s landed in the country.

We are all aware of the terrible divisions among Israel’s Jewish population. My friends and colleagues in Israel tell me they cannot remember a time in recent years where so much fragmentation existed. All this when the external threats facing Israel grow greater by the day.

There are two kinds of Arabs in this world. Those who hate Jews, and those who don’t. And in my life, I have met more of the former than the latter.

The New York Times’ newly-appointed Bureau Chief Jodi Rodoren came under fire this week from pro-Israel bloggers who noticed that she sent a friendly tweet to a very obnoxious anti-Israel propagandist based in Chicago. Rodoren, an American Jew, was asked by one blogger whether she was a Zionist. Her response was that the only "ist" she would call herself is “journalist.” Well, that is really what is expected of her.

Cat Stevens he ain't, which may be the reason why the conversion to Islam of "JFK" maker's son has not been causing much of a splash. Also – the dude is all pleasant and non-aggressive about it, despite the potential for provocation in his choice of location – Iran.

Rabbi Avraham Ginzberg, who passed away earlier this month, will be remembered by many for his fifty-plus years as executive director of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens, New York. He will be remembered by his congregants as “our rabbi” – the spiritual leader of our small shul attached to the yeshiva.

Over the past several weeks, protests have spread throughout Israel calling for a response to racism targeting the country's Ethiopian community. Sparked by a Channel 2 story on discrimination in Kiryat Malachi, citizens have taken to the streets to show their outrage at the status quo.

The real heroes of our age are pencil-protector geeks. They sit at home, behind their keyboards, determining the rules of the game that you and I live by – and we trust them to do so. They love toys. They love games. They enjoy battle. They are at the forefront of the cyber war that is enveloping the world.

Read the first five books of the Bible and the Book of Joshua. In them, God clearly specified what was expected of Israel: obedience, righteousness and faith being the gist of it. God blessed Israel when it obeyed, and when Israel faltered, God unleashed abundant wrath.

Moshe Feiglin's custom of going up to the top of Temple Mount once a month brought back memories of my own climb, eight years ago.

While thousands of U.S. soldiers recently returned home from the Middle East, their redeployment to the area may be imminent due to the ongoing developments on the Iranian nuclear front.

Aside from the obvious looming dangers associated with a nuclear-armed Iran as well as attendant regional menaces, there exists an equally explosive strategic threat to Israel emanating from the country’s post-Zionist and anti-Zionist circles.

Our blinding attraction to drama has captivated so many of us. We love to live it, watch it, or even worse, create it.

A few weeks ago I was asked by a friend in Likud to offer my services as a non-partisan ballot member for the upcoming Likud elections. I was a perfect fit since I have never been a Likud member and have never endorsed a candidate in any Likud primary election. So I stepped up and got the job.