Pope Embodies Historic Shift In Jewish-Catholic Relations

Posted on: May 27th, 2009

On May 12 I was privileged to be a witness to history when Pope Benedict XVI visited the Kotel. Earlier, while standing on Mount Nebo, Jordan, the spot from which Moses viewed the Holy Land, Benedict spoke of the “inseparable bond” between Catholics and Jews.

Eyeless In Antwerp

Posted on: May 20th, 2009

The impact of opera on contemporary politics is fairly limited these days. Unlike the 19th century when new operas by composers like Giuseppe Verdi would often be seen as important political statements, the contemporary lyric theater is usually the preserve of an elite that most people don’t care about. But every once in a while something can happen at an opera house that makes its way onto the news pages.

Accountability Of Leadership

Posted on: May 20th, 2009

During the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot we are commanded to count every day and make a daily blessing. This mitzvah of counting the Omer illustrates the process of advancing up the ladder of freedom which began by God redeeming us from Egypt and came to its culmination at Mount Sinai where the Torah was given.

Palestine 2.0: A Gun Aimed At Every Jew

Posted on: May 20th, 2009

The first Palestinian state, commonly called Jordan, was carved out of the Palestine Mandate and equipped with a refugee Saudi royal family. Today Jordan exists mainly under the protection of the U.S. and Israel, and the majority of its population of Palestinian Arabs supports Osama bin Laden at a higher percentage than do the citizens of Pakistan.

Nachmanides And The Rebuilding Of Jerusalem

Posted on: May 20th, 2009

Seven hundred years before Israeli paratroopers restored the Old City of Jerusalem to Jewish hands, a great sage was rejuvenating Jewish life in the holy city, building the cornerstone for many generations to follow.

Anti-Semitism With A Human Face

Posted on: May 20th, 2009

There is no question in my mind that so-called anti-Zionism serves as a fig leaf for Jew-hatred. There is no other explanation. I know of no other country whose legitimacy is as relentlessly questioned and undermined as is Israel’s. You would think that those who espouse the love of human rights and rejection of violence and government oppression would attack, with proper fury, countries like Congo, Sudan, Jordan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cuba, Libya, Dubai, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Venezuela, and of course the most repressive country on the planet, North Korea.

Playing With Fire

Posted on: May 13th, 2009

With renewed urgency, the Obama administration seeks to resolve the states of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and neighboring Muslim states on one hand, and America and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other.

An Illusion Built On Sand

Posted on: May 13th, 2009

Today, under the Obama administration – as yesterday under the Bush administration – U.S. policy toward the Arab war on Israel is largely based on the notion that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction are genuine moderates who reject terrorism and accept Israel’s right to exist, and are therefore committed to building a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel.

Opposing The Redefinition Of Marriage

Posted on: May 13th, 2009

The Orthodox community should voice its strong opposition to the new proposals by the mayor of York City and the governor of New York State to legally redefine marriage.

Spain To Israel: Do As We Say, Not As We Do

Posted on: May 13th, 2009

The anti-terror campaign made a mockery out of any concern for human rights. Collateral damage and injury to innocent bystanders were regular and common features of the campaign. Anti-terror paramilitary fighters and forces routinely engaged in torture of captured terrorists.

Boxing’s Invisible Jew

Posted on: May 6th, 2009

He did a photo-op with former president Bush – twice. He made the cover of New York magazine. He was the subject of the well-received documentary “Orthodox Stance.” He boasts an unblemished record of 29-0 and is currently the number-one ranked World Boxing Association contender for the junior welterweight championship of the world.

Joan Clark: A 20th Century Life

Posted on: May 6th, 2009

Every American, obviously, has heard of Ronald Reagan, and Reagan historians have heard of Bill Clark. Clark was Reagan’s close aide, who, more than any other, laid the foundation for Cold War victory.

Walking The Dog Backwards: Why I’m Opposed to the Markey Bill

Posted on: May 6th, 2009

If you were to attend a convention of mental health professionals who specialize in treating abuse victims, and if you were to ask the attendees what steps or initiatives they would like to see implemented to protect children from predators and to assist those who have already been victimized, you would probably get responses like:

My Gaza Roots

Posted on: May 6th, 2009

January's Operation Cast Lead, launched against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, was made necessary by the earlier unilateral withdrawal from Gaza when the entire Jewish community there was forcibly evicted by the Kadima government of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert.

Sic Transit Britannia

Posted on: April 29th, 2009

Nearly every day I walk past the large new building in the heart of Jewish Golders Green being constructed for Jewish Care, a mainstream Anglo-Jewish charity. It always reminds me of the large Jewish Community Center the Conservative movement erected in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia in the early 1960s – that neighborhood then being one of the larger Jewish communities in the city. Within a few years the building was on the market because the area had rapidly changed from being nearly all Jewish to nearly all black. I always wonder if this new building is an omen of changes to come in England.

A Post-Pesach Dayenu: Enough!

Posted on: April 29th, 2009

Had President Obama only been a member of Jeremiah Wright’s church for twenty years – dayenu. Had he only befriended Bill Ayers – dayenu.

Saving Jewish Children After The Holocaust

Posted on: April 29th, 2009

My father, Chaskel Tydor, was among the Jewish prisoners liberated in the Nazi camp of Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. Born to a chassidic family in Bochnia, Poland in 1903, the year Orville Wright first successfully flew an aircraft at Kitty Hawk, he had grown up in Germany where his family had fled at the outbreak of the First World War, marrying and raising a family.

We’ve Crossed The Red Sea. Now What?

Posted on: April 22nd, 2009

We have made the blessing on the sun. We have left Egypt. We have crossed the Red Sea. Now what?

Pierre Rehov: Lion In Exile

Posted on: April 22nd, 2009

Pierre Rehov, a nom de guerre, is indeed a resistance fighter; he resists the Islamist propaganda wars against Israel, the Jews, and the West by making films that document the truth.

Bringing Zionism Back To Israeli Universities

Posted on: April 22nd, 2009

Hamas, go ahead and bomb Sderot! With might and blood, we’ll redeem you, O Palestine! The words above were recently chanted by hundreds of pro-Palestinian supporters outside a university as they waved Palestinian flags and pictures of suicide bombers in response to a defensive Israeli military operation.