What Did We Learn?

Posted on: July 29th, 2009

“What did we learn?” is the question posed at the end of “The Accomplices,” Bernard Weinraub’s play about the mission to America of Peter Bergson, who, in 1940, was sent by Vladimir Jabotinsky to rouse the Roosevelt administration to save the Jews of Europe.

A Jewish Call For Social Justice

Posted on: July 29th, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI recently called on the Catholic community to promote human rights and bring an end to poverty. The pope’s directive, laden with biblical charges and humanistic principles, spurns deregulation and freedom from taxes and instead focuses on addressing the root causes of poverty and ensuring universal access to basic human needs such as clean water, sustenance, health, education and employment.

The Coming Light

Posted on: July 29th, 2009

What’s so important about the Fifteenth of Av? It’s a day like any other day, right? Our sages tell us that on that day, some 3,300 years ago, in the Moabite Desert opposite Jericho, a miracle occurred. After the incident of the spies, God told our ancestors that the generation that had left Egypt would not enter the Land of Israel. Instead, their children would inherit the Land.

The Invitation’s In The Mail

Posted on: July 29th, 2009

The Orthodox Jewish wedding season commences each year after Lag B’Omer and again after Tisha B'Av. In the weeks prior to those dates we watch the mail for the wedding invitations we receive – and notice the ones we do not. Sometimes we receive invitations to weddings and cannot figure out why we were invited; other times we wonder why a friend or acquaintance has not invited us to a simcha.

What If Gates Were An Unrenowned Jewish Black Woman?

Posted on: July 29th, 2009

Soon after Cambridge police arrested and handcuffed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on a disorderly conduct charge, they realized the black man they wanted to prosecute was a renowned academic. As a result, he was released and the charges against him were dropped.

Loving Books, Fearing For Their Future

Posted on: July 22nd, 2009

I love books. I love our sacred Jewish texts and the many splendid commentaries that accompany them, but in truth all leather-bound, gold-embossed books call out to me. Verily, I am a person of the book. I read books, I write them, I consume them.

Orthodox Women Clergy?

Posted on: July 22nd, 2009

You may applaud the idea of ordaining women rabbis, or you may recoil in horror at the prospect, but the simple fact remains that women already serve the Orthodox world in clergy-like positions.

Two States For Two Peoples: A Futuristic Guest Lecture

Posted on: July 15th, 2009

Date: November 2, 2068Place: Edward Said University, Paris, Islamic Republic of Northern Gaul.Subject: Notes from the Special Guest Lecture today in the course "History of the Middle East," by visiting professor Osama bin Levy.

From Panacea To Dangerous Delusion

Posted on: July 15th, 2009

The other week, responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech that envisaged creating a demilitarized Palestinian state, perennial Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said, “I told President Obama that solving the crises of the Arab and Muslim worlds goes through Jerusalem.”

Fighting Islamists: The Challenges Facing Israel And The West

Posted on: July 15th, 2009

Soldiers from all Western armies, including Israel's and Britain's, are educated in the laws of war. Commanders are educated to a higher level so that they can enforce the laws among their men, and take them into account during their planning.

Soon … With Our Own Eyes

Posted on: July 8th, 2009

Now the pain intensifies. On the Seventeenth of Tammuz the Temple walls were breached and the unthinkable began to unfold in the Holy City of Jerusalem. This was the countdown to the unbearable events of Tisha B’Av.

The Jewish Agency’s 21st-Century Challenge

Posted on: July 8th, 2009

Many years ago in Moscow, when we were ordinary loyal Soviet Jews – which meant we were deprived of our freedom and our identity and were powerless and helpless – we discovered there was a state of Israel, a state that fights for its right to exist and also for our dignity, a state that was waiting for us.

Let The System Work

Posted on: July 8th, 2009

There is an important “take-away” lesson to be learned from the case of a frum storeowner in Queens who pleaded guilty in Criminal Court to molesting a young boy several years ago – namely, that the legal system works.

When Selfishness Is Healthy

Posted on: July 8th, 2009

In an age plagued by narcissism, it is no wonder that “selfishness” has become a derogatory word. Too many leading figures have burned us with their greed and self-centeredness. The Bernie Madoffs of the world have compelled many of us to place more of a stress on altruism, philanthropy, and a rededication to the welfare of the world and its inhabitants.

A Memorable Visit To A Very Different Hospital

Posted on: July 1st, 2009

As a congregational rabbi, I often see people in hospitals and other health care facilities. While each building may look different, the actual differences are rather minute. It was my privilege recently to visit a hospital that is a definite exception to that rule.

How Israeli Settlements Became ‘Illegal’

Posted on: July 1st, 2009

Adopted in 1945, the UN Charter (Article 80) states: "… nothing in this Chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the United Nations may respectively be parties."

Remembering Entebbe

Posted on: July 1st, 2009

Thirty-three years ago this week in Entebbe, Uganda, it took Israeli commandos mere minutes to conduct one of the greatest and most daring rescue missions in modern history.

Eye Of The Beholder: An Open Letter to Sen. Robert Menendez

Posted on: July 1st, 2009

Dear Senator Menendez, As a politically conservative Jew with a strong attachment to Israel, I commend you, a liberal non-Jewish Democrat, for your strong public stance in favor of the Jewish state. Your recent speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, widely circulated on YouTube, directly contradicts the sentiments of our president vis-à-vis Israel as expressed in his June 4 Cairo speech and in other contexts.

Gary Ackerman: The Jew And The Politician

Posted on: July 1st, 2009

In January 2001, as President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barak begged Yasir Arafat to take a break from killing Jews to accept the Old City of Jerusalem, hundreds of thousands of Israelis rallied in Jerusalem to oppose the city’s division. Simultaneously, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun hosted an event in solidarity.

Consolation In A Difficult Season

Posted on: June 24th, 2009

We have arrived at a very serious moment in the year. We have climbed the ladder through the events of Purim, Passover, Sefira and Shavuos; now the summer begins. With God’s help we will continue to climb upward toward higher levels of sanctity, but the summer is difficult for Klal Yisrael.