Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: What If Government Recognized Civil Unions, Left Marriage to Religion?

Posted on: May 14th, 2012

What business does the government have entering a church, synagogue, or mosque to legitimize or define the spiritual nature of a person's marriage? We are supposed to have separation of church and state in America. Far from harming religion, this change would encourage non-religious people to entertain the concept of how religion can enhance and enrich one’s life, and be an invitation to engage in further religious learning, traditions, communities, and beliefs.

Mordechai Kedar: The Frustrated Intellectual – Tariq Hagi

Posted on: May 14th, 2012

Egyptian intellectual Tariq Hagi speaks frankly and openly about the many deep flaws that exist in Arab cultures. His message is different from that of most Arab spokesmen, because most Arab spokesmen strive to cover up the flaws in their societies, to conceal them and repress them - mainly because of the shame and the feeling of inferiority that these flaws arouse in them.

Who Will Suffer As A Result of Euro Policies? The Jews.

Posted on: May 14th, 2012

The extreme-left Greek Syriza party became the second biggest party in the country on May 6, surpassing the socialist Pasok party. Syriza has a party platform which includes "disengagement from NATO" and "termination of the military cooperation with Israel."

Rubin Reports: Obama Gov’t Backs Atrocity-Producing Forces; How Will it Stop Them?

Posted on: May 14th, 2012

In his recent speech in Afghanistan Obama made the deadly error of claiming that, in effect, al-Qaida is America's only real enemy in the world. Even the Taliban is redeemable, though it answered him with a suicide attack in Kabul. As for Obama's other claims, he can't even get Pakistan to stop supporting the Taliban and concealing al-Qaida leaders. And India has been treated by Obama in a manner reminiscent of his policy toward Israel.

The Vishnitzer Rebbe, ZT”L

Posted on: March 21st, 2012

The Jewish Press joins Klal Yisrael in mourning the death of Rav Moshe Yehoshua Hager, the Vishnitzer Rebbe in Bnei Brak since 1972 and a major Torah personality for more than sixty years.

The EU’s Top Diplomat And Toulouse

Posted on: March 21st, 2012

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s condemnation of the murders in Toulouse, France, on Monday was symptomatic of the problem facing Israel in the international community.

The Rose Nomination

Posted on: March 21st, 2012

It has largely passed under the radar screen, but Stephanie Rose, who was the deputy chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in northern Iowa at the time of the Agriprocessors immigration and Rubashkin prosecutions, has been nominated by President Obama to be a federal judge.

New Focus On Obama And Israel

Posted on: March 21st, 2012

A new book by foreign policy pundit Peter Beinart, The Crisis of Zionism, seems certain to reignite the debate over President Obama’s feelings toward Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the focus will be a little different this time around. It will be not on his exposure to the likes of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayres or Rashid Khalidi but rather on the prominent members of the Chicago Jewish community who took him under their wing.

Jews And The Democratic Treadmill

Posted on: July 27th, 2011

Two weeks ago, in a column on Jewish voting patterns, the Monitor pointed to the 1984 electionas evidence "that a Republican presidential candidate, whether incumbent or challenger and no matter how strong his record on Israel, will always lose among Jewish voters when the alternative is a liberal Democrat without any pronounced or well-known hostility to Israel."

Obama, Jews And 2012

Posted on: July 13th, 2011

A Gallup poll released last week showed Barack Obama maintaining a strong level of Jewish support. The poll sparked yet another round of newspaper stories and web articles on whether the Republicans have any hope of even a respectable showing among Jews in the 2012 presidential election.

Israel’s Demented Leftist Icon Raves On

Posted on: June 29th, 2011

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on America, Uri Avnery, the ancient icon of the Israeli Left, a bitter old fool who serves as living refutation of the belief that wisdom is an inevitable byproduct of old age, placed the blame squarely on the U.S. and its support of Israel.

Revising The Six-Day War

Posted on: June 15th, 2011

Every few years at around this time the Monitor reflects on how perceptions have changed so drastically regarding Israel's massive victory in the 1967 Six-Day War.

‘I Never Expected To Win’: An Interview With Rhodes Scholar Miriam Rosenbaum

Posted on: December 4th, 2011

On Shabbos, November 19, Princeton University’s Miriam Rosenbaum made history by becoming the first Orthodox Jewish woman to win a Rhodes Scholarship. Roughly 1,500 Americans apply for the prestigious award each year, but only 32 ultimately receive it.

‘Ultimately, Scientists Always Realize The Torah Is Correct’: An Interview with Rabbi Moshe Meiselman

Posted on: November 23rd, 2011

A nephew of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, Rabbi Meiselman learned Torah on a daily basis with his uncle for more than a decade. Rabbi Meiselman has just finished writing a book (as yet untitled) on Torah and science due to be published in the next few months.

1,000 Jews Vs. The British Empire: The Story Of Lehi: An Interview with Historian Zev Golan

Posted on: November 17th, 2011

The Irgun is famous; Lehi – the other Jewish underground that fought the British in the 1940s – less so. With only 1,000 fighters, as opposed to the Irgun’s 5,000, Lehi is sometimes thought of as the Irgun’s “kid brother.”

Leo Schreiber… From the Ashes of the Holocaust to a Beautiful, Loving, Life.

Posted on: November 14th, 2011

Cousin Leo Schreiber was the son of my grandfather's brother David. He came from a family of Rabbinic giants of Europe; the Europe that does not exist anymore. His family was loving and righteous and they were destroyed by Hitler, yimach shemo. But Leo survived.

Nationalist Camp Grows to 76 seats in Recent Poll, Likud Opens Big Lead with 39 Seats

Posted on: February 19th, 2012

According to the poll, PM Netanyahu could form a coalition of 62 seats with Yisrael Beitenu, National Union and Jewish Home without the need for any ultra-orthodox or center-left parties.

Likud Tops Poll Again, Labor and Lapid Chip Away at Kadima

Posted on: February 14th, 2012

Dahaf conducted two telephone polls for newspaper Yediot Ahronot on 10 February 2012 with a sample of 500 respondents and a sampling error of 4.5%.

A New Party With An Old Platform For An Old-New Land

Posted on: February 8th, 2012

Chaim Amsalem, a current member of Knesset and former member of Shas, is in the midst of establishing yet another Israeli political party, called Am Shalem.

Kadima MK Breakdown: Who Supports Livni vs. Mofaz?

Posted on: January 29th, 2012

The battle lines in the Kadima primaries in March have been drawn: Livni-Mofaz, Round II

Thanking The NYPD Is The Least We Can Do

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

The recent shooting of four police officers in the normally tranquil Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn (bringing the total to eight cops shot so far this year) has confirmed a dangerous double standard that threatens the safety of police officers and all New Yorkers throughout New York. It must be confronted.

The Moral Disgrace Of America’s Aristocracy

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

This year, Holocaust Remembrance Day is the anniversary of two starkly contrasting events of April 19, 1943 – the first day of the gallant but doomed Warsaw Ghetto uprising and of the ignominious Anglo-American Bermuda Conference on the Refugee Problem, which State Department diplomats organized to deflect pressure to rescue Jews from the Nazi death machine.

Truth, Lies, and Saving Lives

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

In recent months, I’ve been contacted repeatedly regarding news reports that Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical response and national blood service, is removing its logo from ambulances in Judea and Samaria, or ending all operations there entirely. It’s been a frustrating time because the reports haven’t been accurate, and the misrepresentations have created a backlash that’s bad for Israel – and for all Israelis. As an Israeli living in the Judean mountain region of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, I want to set the record straight.

Ed Koch: Tom Friedman’s Skewed Vision Of Non-Violence

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

In his April 4th New York Times column, Thomas Friedman endorsed what he designated to be “non-violent resistance by Palestinians” against Israel. He added that Palestinians need to “accompany every boycott, hunger strike or rock they throw at Israel with a detailed map” delineating their territorial demands.

War, Truth, And The Shadows Of Meaning

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

It is time to look behind the news. Operation Iraqi Freedom is officially concluded; U.S. operations in Afghanistan are reportedly moving in a similar direction. More generically, however, debate about combat operations, strategy and tactics remains ongoing.

Yamit: The Original Sin Of Expulsion

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

It was thirty years ago, in April 1982, that uniformed soldiers pledged to defend Israel and its citizens were given the order to uproot and destroy the Jewish community of Yamit in northern Sinai. And while it may have brought us three decades of a cold peace with Egypt, conceding the Sinai will likely prove to have been a colossal mistake.

Moshe Feiglin: Afraid Of Their Own Message

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

At the end of his column, “The Feiglin Bang” (published in Makor Rishon on March 23), editor Amnon Lord predicts one of two possibilities: Either I will lead the Likud with approximately 35 mandates or I will turn into the Uri Avnery (the radical leftist writer and media figure) of the Right.

Quick Takes: New You May Have Missed

Posted on: April 18th, 2012

Dershowitz Not Done With Media Matters Action Network...The Congressional Progressive Caucus is a shill for the Democratic Socialists of America

“The People Shall Rise Up Like a Lion!”

Posted on: May 9th, 2012

Not only are the streets of Jerusalem inundated with the smoke of burning embers; but hillsides and streets all over the country are lit up with the fiery love of Torah which kindles in every heart. Not only the streets, but the smoke of these holy bonfires penetrates into every single apartment and house, like the aroma of incense on the Temple’s altar, penetrating through windows and concrete walls to reveal the inner spirit of every Israeli soul, of every Israeli home.

Tibbi’s Roundup: Bibi, Terrorist Lady, Rabbis, Parents, Children, and the Stuff In-Between

Posted on: May 9th, 2012

Our roundup today concludes with parental anxieties, which all of us with and without children share. It reminded me of the joke about a father and his son who go into a restaurant and order soup. The soup arrives boiling hot, but the steam was trapped below the grease. The son drank a spoonful and [...]

Hugo Stiglitz VS the Canaanites

Posted on: May 9th, 2012

My considerable experience with bad people is: showing weakness to them never, ever works. Not ever. Never. As evidenced by the entire arc of human, and Jewish, history.

Why A Jew?

Posted on: May 8th, 2012

The secularists and atheists in my life don’t know enough about Judaism to know how big of deal this is, so they tend to look at my journey as a mildly exotic lifestyle choice – like a phase Madonna might go through – before they focus on the real issue at hand: circumcision.

What We Can Learn From Trees

Posted on: February 1st, 2012

Tu B’Shevat is not just “another day.” It’s the Rosh Hashanah for trees, one of four roshei hashanah that occur in the Jewish calendar year (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1).

Politics, Israel, the Economy: A Chat With Rep. Bob Turner

Posted on: January 25th, 2012

New York’s 9th Congressional District will forever be remembered not only for the departure of disgraced veteran Congressman Anthony Weiner but also for who replaced him. Bob Turner’s victory marked the first Republican win in that district since 1923, and his September 2011 election stunned the Democratic Party.

70 Years Ago This Week: Turning Point Of The Holocaust

Posted on: January 19th, 2012

Barely five weeks after the Wehrmacht’s onslaught against Russia, Reich Marshal Hermann Goering issued the following directive on July 31, 1941 to Chief of Gestapo Reinhard Heydrich:

A Haunting Visit To The Gush Katif Museum

Posted on: January 11th, 2012

“Tens of thousands visit here – ordinary Jews, educators and their students, Knesset members and government ministers, soldiers and their officers, members of European parliaments, and U.S. congressmen. And after their visits, something happens in the minds of all of them. Even left-wing Knesset members, with tears in their eyes, have written in the visitors’ book, ‘Never again!’ ”

Letters To The Editor

Posted on: January 4th, 2012

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Letters To The Editor

Posted on: December 29th, 2011

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Letters To The Editor

Posted on: December 21st, 2011

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Letters To The Editor

Posted on: December 14th, 2011

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