We Have A Lot To Learn From The Soviet Jewry Movement

Posted on: September 21st, 2012

The greatest Jewish success story in a quarter century has become unknown to many in less than a generation. On Dec. 6, 1987, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in Washington, more than a quarter-million American Jews – Democrats and Republicans, observant and secular, and individuals representing the entire spectrum of Israeli politics – gathered on the National Mall with a single unified message as old as the Exodus story: “Let our people go!”

Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Posted on: September 21st, 2012

The current clash between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu over U.S. policy regarding Iran’s efforts to secure a nuclear capacity calls to mind the contretemps between President Lyndon Johnson and Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in 1967.

Rosh Hashanah: A National, Not Personal, Holiday

Posted on: September 21st, 2012

We are used to assuming that Rosh Hashanah is a holiday of repentance and atonement, a holiday of judgment, and the holiday when our fate for the coming year is determined. The Selichot prayers before and after Rosh Hashanah add to the sense of personal days of judgment, an obvious truth.

Despite Media Pile-On, Romney Isn’t Toast

Posted on: September 21st, 2012

So while some of us were celebrating the Jewish New Year and taking the last couple of days off from politics, it appears a video has more or less decided the election. That’s the assumption of much of the mainstream media about the impact of the release of the video of Mitt Romney speaking back in May at a private fundraiser about the 47 percent of the country that doesn’t pay taxes. They think this means it’s time to put a fork in the Republican candidate.

What If Israel’s ‘Peace Partners’ Actually Prefer War?

Posted on: September 21st, 2012

At this point in Israel’s problematic diplomatic agenda, there is really only one overriding policy question: Can any form of negotiation with the Palestinians, Fatah and/or Hamas, ever prove reasonable and productive? From the very beginning, even before formal statehood in 1948, Israel has sought courageously and reasonably to negotiate with its many unreasonable enemies. [...]

Five Reasons Jews Shouldn’t Vote For Obama

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

In six weeks, Americans will be going to the polls in what could prove to be one of the most fateful elections in decades.

The End Of An Era

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

Let’s face it: this is not going to be an ordinary year. We are praying very seriously this year because we are praying for our lives. Yes, I know: every year we pray for our lives. But how many feel it? This year, whether we want to or not, I think we are beginning to feel it.

The Price We Pay For Contempt

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

A monastery in Israel is desecrated, almost certainly by nationalist extremists. The desecration was condemned by the prime minister and others in the government. Chief Rabbi Metzger called it a “heinous deed.” The Internal Security minister did not hesitate to use the word “terror” and announced the formation of a special police unit to combat it. Many people traveled to the monastery to personally apologize, including Rabbi Dov Lipman of Beit Shemesh, who took brush in hand to help scrub the offensive words from the walls.

The Holocaust Then And Now

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

One of my searing early memories from Israel is a visit nearly four decades ago to the Ghetto Fighters Museum in the Beit Lohamei Hagetaot kibbutz. The world’s first Holocaust museum, it was built soon after the Independence War by survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

America’s Ambivalent Iran Doctrine

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

Ironically, the less credible the threat of military force is, the more likely it is that military force will eventually have to be used.

Letters To The Editor

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

.

Behind the Palestinian Protests: A Renewed Fatah Bid to Remove PM Fayyad

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

It is no secret that Fatah has long been trying to get rid of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad who, its representatives argue, had been imposed on the Palestinians by the Americans and Europeans.

Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

Last year the governor of the Punjab, Salman Taseer, was shot dead for merely suggesting the blasphemy laws should be changed.

Behind The Name On The Cover: Jerome Schottenstein And His Sponsorship Of The ArtScroll Talmud

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

With memories of the Siyum HaShas still fresh in people’s minds, many Jews around the world have been purchasing a Tractate Berachot in order to take part in the 13th cycle of Daf Yomi, the daily study of one daf of Talmud Bavli.

Assad’s Grandfather’s 1936 Letter Predicts Muslim Slaughter of Minorities, Praises Zionists

Posted on: September 20th, 2012

Many of the problems of the Middle Eastern states can be traced to the mistakes of the European state charged with developing them between the World Wars. The fierceness with which the Alawite minority - led by Bashir al Assad - will fight to retain control can be explained by their fear of Sunni Muslims. Way back in 1936, Assad's grandfather, Suleiman Assad warned France, which was then the power in charge of Syria, of the dangers of a Sunni Muslim takeover of Syria in 1936. He also spoke warmly about Jewish accomplishments in then Palestine and the injustice of Arab-Muslim violence towards Zionism.

Romney Tells the Key Truth Needed to Comprehend the Israel-Palestinian Conflict

Posted on: September 19th, 2012

Of course, Romney was correct in what he said. Indeed, he was merely stating the obvious. In the current upside-down era, telling the truth is heresy, or at least there are powerful establishment figures who try to make it seem so.

From the US to the UK, the Left Delegitimizes any Criticism

Posted on: September 19th, 2012

When the full-tide of left-wing smear and innuendo are arraigned against them conservatives have developed a tendency not of standing up for, or explaining, their principles, but running for the left-wing foot-hills.

What is More Virtuous: Paying Taxes or Giving Charity?

Posted on: September 19th, 2012

Being forced to pay taxes does not make us more virtuous people. If it did, our founding fathers would have thanked George III for his coercion.

The Man Who Engineered the Muhammad Movie Rage

Posted on: September 19th, 2012

Sheikh Khalid Abdullah, an Egyptian Salafist and TV personality, aired a show more than a week ago about a film called "The Innocence of Muslims," which reportedly slanders Islam's prophet Muhammad. Although the video has been online since July with not much attention, Abdullah, after airing clips from the online video, called for its maker to be executed. Abdullah’s popular talk show on Al-Nas satellite TV which has been described as having “long prided itself on baiting liberals, Christians and Jews.”

The Truth About the Wave of Anti-American Demonstrations

Posted on: September 19th, 2012

These waves of demonstrations are relatively small ways of advancing the ideological readiness of the masses to accept the radical Islamist groups’ program.