Day Of Shock In Beersheba

Posted on: September 2nd, 2009

Professor Rivka Carmi, president of Ben-Gurion University (BGU), says she’s “shocked” by the call to boycott Israel made in a Los Angeles Times op-ed written by Dr. Neve Gordon, the chairman of her Department of Politics and Government.

The American Voter Is Israel’s Only Hope

Posted on: September 2nd, 2009

As reported last week, President Obama has now linked forcing Israeli concessions on a two-state solution to American help with Iran and its nuclear ambitions. The Obama administration is prepared to offer Israel tougher action against Iran’s nuclear program if the Netanyahu government agrees to stop building in East Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.

Israel Will Never Be Small Enough

Posted on: September 2nd, 2009

A view from the year 2016:As we know, a unique new peace program was proposed six years ago, in 2010, and implemented in 2012. The plan was based on the principle of Two States for Two Peoples and it received near-unanimous support from the Israeli Left. Among those celebrating the breakthrough and endorsing the plan were Peace Now, Physicians for Human Rights, Meretz, Yesh Gvul and many other like-minded organizations.

Travels With Mike

Posted on: August 26th, 2009

When I received the invitation from Shani Hikind at the Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Reclamation Project to accompany 2008 Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on a mission to Israel, I immediately accepted.

Mature Singles Have Their Own Shidduch Crisis

Posted on: August 26th, 2009

If you think the shidduch crisis can lead to heartache when we deal with our children, try going through it yourself. As someone newly involved in this scene, I can share that it is a sad one – comprised of scores of formerly married people mixed with never-been-married singles all trying unsuccessfully to connect.

Hebron Then And Now

Posted on: August 26th, 2009

Jews have been marking the 80th anniversary of the Hebron massacre that began on August 23, 1929. It is one of the most horrible pogroms in all of history. With a new American administration seeking to portray Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria as obstacles to peace, one wonders what would happen – what would be the reaction – were such an attack to be perpetrated against the Jews of Hebron today.

Fighting A British Court’s Evil Decree

Posted on: August 26th, 2009

On July 2 the UK Orthodox Jewish community was hit with a legal bombshell that has the potential, at its most extreme, to make organized Orthodox Jewish life in Britain all but impossible.

‘I Saw The American Planes Flying Near Auschwitz’

Posted on: August 26th, 2009

On a hot August morning in 1944, the Jews imprisoned in the Nazi slave labor camp known as Hasag Pelcery, less than fifty miles from Auschwitz, suddenly heard a roaring sound in the sky above.

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George Soros’s Big Push For ObamaCare

Posted on: August 19th, 2009

A rising chorus of discontent shows Middle America’s deep suspicion of President Obama’s health care reform proposal. In a burst of passion-envy, MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews recently asked, “Where … are the people who want health care, the poor people out there…the union people? Where are they? I haven’t seen one placard, let alone one protest demonstration, for health care.”

Obama Outreach Fails To Move Intransigent Arabs

Posted on: August 19th, 2009

I was most privileged on July 13 to be invited along with 16 other Jewish leaders to meet with President Obama at the White House. Much has been written about this historic meeting; it's hard to believe there have been so many commentaries on a one-hour session.

Time To Look In The Mirror

Posted on: August 19th, 2009

Elul is here, the month of teshuvah, of repentance. I had the privilege recently of visiting the gadol Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch in Yerushalayim. He said the following: “What is in the newspapers is of no importance, and what is of importance is not in the newspapers. We have nothing to fear from the president of Iran; God watches over His children. The only matter of importance, the only thing that affects us, is the relationship between the Ribbono Shel Olam and the children of Israel.”

Hidden Hypocrisy: The Origins Of Christian Anti-Zionism

Posted on: August 19th, 2009

While most American Christians, especially evangelicals, support Israel, there has for some time now been a trend among European churches and their liberal counterparts in the U.S. such as the World Council of Churches, to criticize Israel, pass divestment motions and support Palestinian extremism.

Riots Fail To Spoil Our Annual Pilgrimage

Posted on: August 19th, 2009

We were in Jerusalem on our annual visit to Israel when ugly street demonstrations erupted in the wake of charges that a haredi mother had nearly starved her child to death. Those demonstrations, which turned into full-blown riots, constitute a brand new chapter in the annals of chillul Hashem.

Mere PR Will Not Make A Successful Mideast Policy

Posted on: August 12th, 2009

After running into a dead-end in its efforts to jump-start Middle East peace talks, the Obama administration has signaled that it has evaluated the situation and understands that all is not well. But instead of a course correction, senior administration officials have decided what they need to do is deploy their most effective weapon – the rhetorical brilliance of the president himself – on a recalcitrant state of Israel.

Obama’s Troubling Obeisance To Tutu, Robinson

Posted on: August 12th, 2009

When radio host Don Imus crudely insulted the young African-American ladies on the Rutgers women’s basketball team, then-Senator Barack Obama called for Imus to be fired.

‘Crisis’ In Orthodoxy?

Posted on: August 12th, 2009

The recent arrests of several New Jersey rabbis, coming on the heels of a variety of other scandals in Jewish life that also resulted in prominent arrests, have led many to conclude that Orthodoxy is in crisis and its entire worldview under siege and perhaps unsustainable.

Obama’s Apartheid Plan For Jerusalem

Posted on: August 12th, 2009

When Barack Obama was elected president, many around the world saw it as the culmination of decades of successful efforts by the American civil rights movement. How ironic, then, that the Obama administration has been conducting a campaign against Jews who wish to live in certain Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Don’t Bring The Kids

Posted on: August 5th, 2009

Walk into any shul in almost any neighborhood on Shabbos and you can be forgiven for thinking you have mistakenly stepped into a nursery. The same goes for almost any Jewish wedding hall, where it takes as much skill to navigate the obstacle course of baby strollers as it does to look good on the dance floor.

Time For Haredim To Stand Up To Hooliganism

Posted on: August 5th, 2009

Do we ever learn from our past? We have just lived through the saddest time of the Jewish year, when our collective thoughts turned to the destruction of our Holy Temple, and the root causes for that destruction.

Shabbat In Shiloh

Posted on: August 5th, 2009

Two of my four children live in places defined as “settlements” and are therefore characterized by most of the secular press as “obstacles to peace.” But if the journalists who use such terminology ever spent time there, among those idealistic and brave Jews, they might have to rethink their definition.