Posted on: October 20th, 2010

Everything we experience in life serves as a hands-on lesson concerning our purpose on earth. Consider this: Thirty-three miners plunge into two months of darkness 2,000 feet below the surface, disconnected from their source. After 69 days of eternity, the moment they were praying for arrived. Their dream became a reality. They would finally see the light of day, the joy of freedom, the hug of loved ones, and the tears of their children.

Posted on: October 13th, 2010

Even a one- or two-month extension of Israel's ten-month settlement moratorium, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has announced, won't suffice. Nothing less than a total freeze throughout the duration of Israeli-Palestinian talks would be acceptable.

Posted on: October 13th, 2010

If one makes his way beyond the outskirts of Kiev and continues deep into the forests of the neighboring village of Radomyshl, he soon enters an unmarked clearing.

Posted on: October 13th, 2010

Anyone who thinks Prime Minister Netanyahu, in order to improve relations with the U.S., should succumb to American pressure in return for a U.S. incentives package and extend the freeze of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria is either mistaken or misguided.

Posted on: October 13th, 2010

Even before his eyes open in the morning, the kollel student has in his head the rapid-fire flow of verses, laws and teachings from the prior day's learning. The words of Modeh Ani exit his lips while he reaches to shut the alarm before it wakes his family. Soon he will be on his way, confronted with many topics of halacha and hashkafa.

Posted on: October 6th, 2010

Israel is a magical country, but to experience one of its greatest wonders you have to travel out to what the world calls the West Bank and the Bible calls Judea and Samaria.

Posted on: October 6th, 2010

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires that colleges and universities redress racial and ethnic discrimination or risk losing their federal funding. Thus, if African American or Hispanic students are harassed on campus, they can complain to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), which is mandated to enforce Title VI and ensure that their schools fix the problem.

Posted on: October 6th, 2010

Now that we've suffered, yet again, through the annual United Nations circus, has it occurred to anyone (other than New York City police officers) to question why we continue to tolerate the hypocrisy and waste of it all?

Posted on: October 6th, 2010

An exciting newcomer has arrived in the turbulent arena of Israeli politics. In her fiery speech during the recent countdown ceremony in the Revava settlement that marked the end of the ten-month moratorium on construction in Judea and Samaria, Tzipi Hotovely seized the moment. She eloquently encouraged the synthesis, so long deferred, between Judaism and Zionism. Even in her first term in the Knesset, at the age of 31 and its youngest member, her future impact already seems assured.

Posted on: October 6th, 2010

We are winning the war on child abuse. We shall fight this war until we win. We shall fight the abusers in the yeshivas, the synagogues, the mikvehs. We shall fight them in the hills, the valleys, on the land and on the beaches. We shall fight with every ounce of our strength, until we win.

Posted on: September 28th, 2010

The Torah is defined as flint, a hard stone that is sturdy and unbreakable. It is therefore ironic that the year 5770 saw the Torah stretched as a rubber band - with the extremes causing the fraying of the bonds of Torah and Klal Yisrael and with no respite in sight.

Posted on: September 28th, 2010

ABC News decided to put the overtly biased and under-informed Christiane Amanpour in the host chair for "This Week." The result is a weekly display of journalistic malpractice. This past Sunday was no different. Questioning David Axelrod, Amanpour assumed the blame for the blow-up of the peace talks will lie in Israel's hands:

Posted on: September 28th, 2010

Former president Jimmy Carter told NBC News last week that his work at home and abroad has been "superior" to other presidents. "I feel that my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other presidents," Carter assessed. "Primarily because of [my] activism and the injection of working at the Carter Center and in international affairs, and, to some degree, domestic affairs."

Posted on: September 28th, 2010

Let's not be fooled. The opening weeks of the United Nations General Assembly feature numerous side meetings between Jewish organizations and dozens of visiting dignitaries. Many of the Europeans, and possibly some Arab delegates as well, will be expressing sympathy if not encouragement for Israel's potential need to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Posted on: September 22nd, 2010

America is engaged in an intense debate regarding the plan to build a mosque and Muslim community center near Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 attack on New York. A wave of criticism has been growing against establishing a mosque at this site, the very idea of which elicits overwhelming pain as the horrible crime was committed by followers of extremist Islam via the manipulation of its symbols and the belief that they were acting as messengers of God.

Posted on: September 21st, 2010

The latest headliner in the campaign to silence critics of Israel's radical Left is Prof. Zvi Hacohen, the new rector at Ben Gurion University. A professor in chemistry and "desert research," Hacohen was cited at length in Haaretz (Sept. 15) denouncing people, especially students of the Zionist Im Tirtzu movement, who dare criticize leftist sedition.

Posted on: September 21st, 2010

Supporters of the planned mosque and Islamic center near Manhattan's Ground Zero have focused on the issue of religious freedom. But as thousands of mosques have already been built throughout America, this is false - a straw man if ever there was one.

Posted on: September 21st, 2010

"You're going where?! That sounds interesting. What is it?" This response we received from friends when we mentioned our plan to attend the Orthodox Union's Marriage Enrichment Retreat this past July reflected the very same questions we were thinking. And it was with those thoughts that we went to the retreat - interested but unsure of what exactly we were getting into. A nice hotel, no kids, good food and maybe some interesting workshops.

Posted on: September 21st, 2010

One of the timeless truths and permanent principles of ancient Jewish wisdom is what I call the Severed Flower. This means that when I cut a beautiful fragrant flower off its plant in my garden and bring it indoors, I seem to have done a clever and good thing. No longer do I have to step outside and brave the weather in order to be able to enjoy the bright colors and intoxicating fragrance of my flower - it is right there in a vase on my desk.

Posted on: September 21st, 2010

The decision by President Obama to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia is wrong. It was leaked last week that the Obama administration was preparing to notify Congress of its intent to sell $60 billion in high tech arms, including F-15's and military helicopters, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.