Tag: Jerusalem

The first time I met Irene Klass, of blessed memory, was in Israel. I was an olah hadasha (new immigrant) in 1971, and she had come to visit her daughter Naomi, who at that time lived near me in the Jerusalem suburb of Kiryat Moshe. "What do you do?" she asked me. "Well, I'm a writer, but haven't found much work in Israel. In Australia, I was helping my husband in his pharmacy as a Revlon Beauty Consultant."

Nearly two decades into the 20th century, Jews were suffering the horrors of pogroms, mass expulsions, starvation and disease in Eastern Europe while Jewish soldiers in various armies were enduring the carnage of the battlefield. Amid the horrors, however, a glimmer of hope appeared.

Allow us to introduce you to young Kochav Segal Halevi. The 26-year-old Israeli is receiving death threats. In fact, he had to go into hiding. His offense? He purchased an apartment in the Arab town of Ibillin, not far from Haifa.

After the recent U.S. election, President Barack Obama unhappily conceded that he had suffered a "shellacking." For the most part, the president was referring to an obviously firm and far-reaching rejection of his domestic policies. Nonetheless, his personal influence has now been weakened generally, including in many areas of U.S. foreign policy. It is fair to ask, therefore, whether his oft-stated preferences for a "Road Map to Peace in the Middle East" (that is, creation of a Palestinian state out of the still-living body of Israel), and also for "a world free of nuclear weapons (that is, a world in which Israel would no longer be able to deter existential attacks) are still a matter of reasonable concern.

The Alternative, by Rabbi Yehuda Schwartz, outspoken "Inside View" columnist, is his first book since retiring from The Jewish Press more than 20 years ago. In it, he describes the cosmological connection between Israel and the nations and looks into the future on the subject of Messianism.

The Alternative, by Rabbi Yehuda Schwartz, outspoken "Inside View" columnist, is his first book since retiring from The Jewish Press more than 20 years ago. In it, he describes the cosmological connection between Israel and the nations and looks into the future on the subject of Messianism.

e Jewish world was rocked last week by still another scandal, one so twisted and nefarious that it simply defies belief.

"This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations," President Obama saidlast week at a press conference in Indonesia. He was referring to the approval issued in Israel for building 1,300 homes in two East Jerusalem neighborhoods.

Israel's radical left is obsessed with the word "fascist." Israel is the only country in the Middle East where people vote and enjoy free speech, a free press, due process and habeas corpus, but none of that makes any impression on an increasing number of Israeli left-wingers whose definition of fascist seems to be any government that doesn't adopt left-wing policies.

Even as political commentators speculate that the power of the Obama presidency has been severely curtailed as a result of the Republican victories in the House along with increased GOP representation in the Senate, the Obama/State Department juggernaut continues to grind away at Israel's security and sovereignty.

In case you didn't notice, olive trees in Judea and Samaria are under attack. The alleged culprits are Jews living there. UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry called it "terrorism."

It was 1 a.m. when my daughter Shani and her friend Tehilla took a wrong turn and found themselves traveling along a dark, isolated stretch of road outside Jerusalem. A few moments later, they noticed a young bearded man dressed in a suit and black hat flagging them down. Tehilla was surprised when Shani abruptly stopped the car. Tehilla tried to dissuade Shani from giving the young man a ride, given the late hour.

In what country were you born? If you are a U.S. citizen born in Jerusalem, you'd better not look for the answer on your passport. That line is always left blank.

Sometimes the truth can be found in the oddest of places, if one knows where to look. Even in poll results. A new study by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research bears this out. Released last week, it raises three difficult questions for all those who continue to believe that Israel must make concessions to win peace with the Palestinians.

Israel On Alert For Hizbullah Attack    Israel is on heightened alert for possible attacks by the Iranian-backed Hizbullah organization in Lebanon, according to a...

State Dept. Appointee Tied To Radicals    A recent State Department appointee is wife of the founder of a radical organization whose leaders include communists,...

Is The Building Freeze Really Over?    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.S. he will implement a de facto freeze on Jewish construction in...

David Ha'ivri lives with his wife and children in the world's most hotly contested territory and works daily to defend it. As director of Israel's Shomron Liaison Office, Ha'ivri operates within the Shomron Regional Council, promoting public relations for the Shomron and serving as the English-speaking point man for the international media stationed in Israel.

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.

This year, one of America's leading newsmagazines decided to send a memorable Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews all over the world. On the cover of its latest issue, Time magazine placed a large Star of David made of white Gerbera daisies, in the middle of which was superimposed large black text triumphantly declaring: "Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace."

Last week I felt the whisper of a "close call" on my skin. Four Jews - two men and two women, one of whom was nine months pregnant - were shot to death in a terrorist attack on Highway 60, just as darkness fell upon the junction near the village of Bani Nayim.

It seems like almost yesterday when, after the Camp David accords initiated by President Carter, former Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin, a"h, told me, "Rebbetzin, I have just returned from an American concentration camp. The pressure that President Carter exerted upon me was greater than anyone can imagine. And then, to top it off, he wanted to put Jerusalem on the bargaining table as well. When I vehemently objected, he tried to reassure me by telling me that we would not be negotiating, but merely 'discussing' Jerusalem." After all, the president added, 'There's no harm in discussing.'

Ten years ago on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, which fell on Friday, Sept. 29, something occurred in Jerusalem that would reverberate far beyond the Middle East and the usual hours-long news cycle.

MK Nissim Zeev (sometimes spelled Ze'ev) established the Shas Party in 1983 as a response to the discrimination faced by Israel's Sephardic population. He served as deputy mayor of Jerusalem from 1983-1998 and has been a Member of Knesset since 1999.

Faced with the daunting prospect of seemingly endless terrorism, and with staggering global opposition to any of its essential and altogether permissible forms of self-defense, Israel now requires a complex and capable counter-terrorism strategy merely to survive. Simultaneously, the major threats to Israel's physical survival lie in certain mass-destruction (biological and/or nuclear) attacks by enemy states. Ultimately, therefore, the Jewish State's actual continuance rests upon even more than successful counter-terrorism. It rests also upon the inherently fragile and unpredictable foundations of nuclear deterrence.

The early months of 1948 did not bode well for the Yishuv. Arab marauders roved the countryside seeking out soft, isolated targets and attacked with ruthless barbarity. The situation was particularly acute in Jerusalem, where supply convoys on the roads leading to the ancient Jewish city were subjected to daily ambush.

JERUSALEM - Doron Sheffer, 37, one of Israel's greatest basketball players, shared his story of return to religious observance with a group of Jewish educators.

Shabbat The Right Way: Resolving Halachic Dilemma is the latest book of Rabbi J. Simcha Cohen, a Jewish Press columnist and recognized posek, as well as the author, previously, of How Does Jewish Law Work, vol. 1-2 and The 613th Commandment.

Shabbat The Right Way: Resolving Halachic Dilemma is the latest book of Rabbi J. Simcha Cohen, a Jewish Press columnist and recognized posek, as well as the author, previously, of How Does Jewish Law Work, vol. 1-2 and The 613th Commandment.

Way back in the "good old days" in Jerusalem, before the Jews were exiled, singles looked forward to the 15th day of Av, known as Tu B'Av. On this day, unmarried girls and boys had the opportunity to pair off and become couples. The girls, all dressed in white and in a way that none could tell who came from wealth or poverty, would dance in front of the young men, who would then choose the one who caught his eye and marry her.