Tag: Jerusalem

Anyone who thought Israel was immune to the kind of divisive "culture wars" that have beset America in recent years was in for a rude awakening this past week.

Anyone who thought Israel was immune to the kind of divisive "culture wars" that have beset America in recent years was in for a rude awakening this past week.

More than half a century has passed since the Holocaust. As the number of survivors dwindles, even as the amount of documentation grows, there has been a shift in focus from recording the facts to working out how we can relate to these facts. As the generation of eyewitnesses passes, we are entering an era that must deal with the problem of memory without access to direct experience. Yad VaShem's recent refurbishment is a manifestation of this shift, and the new focus can be felt across the spectrum.

      The Obama administration in recent weeks has stepped up its monitoring of Jewish construction projects in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, this column...

Jerusalem, as it has so many times in the past, is today occupying center stage in the world theater. Once again the City of David is under siege. Not by an invading army, but by pressure exerted by nations to relinquish Israeli sovereignty over Jewry's eternal capital.

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      A radical who served as an adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign recently keynoted an environmental activist festival whose satellite event was addressed...

Dear Mr. President,In recent days you have called for a freeze on all construction activities in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. It is your opinion that this is "occupied territory" because it lies outside the 1949 ceasefire lines that separated Israel from the Kingdom of Jordan while the latter illegally held East Jerusalem until 1967.

      A former U.S. diplomat slated to become the No. 2 Iran official at the State Department serves on the board of a controversial...

      This week's riots on the Temple Mount were directly incited by the Palestinian Authority, whose official media outlets and institutions have been stoking...

In the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel’s military strategy and tactics displayed some notable strengths, but also some considerable weaknesses. Of course, in the years ahead, Israel is apt to find itself confronted with a far greater threat of belligerency. This is the unrelieved prospect of a nuclear Iran – a possibly irremediable enemy state, and one with well-established ties both to Hezbollah and to an already nuclear North Korea. It follows, at every level of possible threat confrontation, that Israel’s military doctrine will now need to be informed by an improved and appropriately expanded body of pertinent understanding. This, in turn, will require a more refined and updated intellectual orientation to national strategic studies.

Seeing Israel is one thing. Seeing Israel through the eyes of a 12-year-old is another, especially when the child is your grandson or granddaughter.

Special Note: The author of the following letter is well- known to me. He is a trustworthy young man who had an impressive secular education in the States and gave it all up when he became a ba'al teshuvah and decided to pursue a life of Torah learning in Jerusalem. His wife, who comes from a fine American family that made aliyah many years ago, is equally committed. I know them and can vouch for them. I also know for a fact that this young man is a serious, sincere "learner" whose parents experienced tremendous financial reversals and are not in a position to help in any way, shape or form.

For a nation that swore an undying oath of loyalty to Jerusalem more than two millennia ago, we Jews sure have a funny way of showing it.

      Senior Palestinian Authority officials told this column that the Obama administration guaranteed the PA that it would pressure Israel over a Palestinian state...

"Happenings" are not every-day events. There are classes, programs, seminars and lectures - but happenings that leave an indelible mark on the mind, heart and soul are rare. During this past Aseret Y'mei Teshuvah (the 10 preparatory days before Yom Kippur), we of Hineni were "zocheh" - had the merit - to experience a happening that was nothing short of a Kiddush Hashem - Sanctification of G-d's Holy Name, and for that I would like to publicly proclaim my total gratitude and indebtedness to the Almighty G-d.

      Did President Obama adopt UN and Palestinian phraseology last week when calling on Israel to give up the West Bank and eastern sections...

There is no denying that Dan Brown has become one of the most successful contemporary writers on religious art. The Lost Symbol recently sold a million copies on its first day of release, and it would only take 81 such days to surpass total sales of The Da Vinci Code. Perhaps because of his success, many are less than impressed with Brown's writings. "Usually we read the script, but in this case it wasn't necessary," a spokesman for the Roman archdiocese told The Telegraph (UK), explaining why a permit was denied for filming "Angels and Demons" at one of its churches. "Just the name Dan Brown was enough."

   President Obama can make a "headache" for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli leader does not conduct negotiations leading to the formation...

      The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, is deliberately suppressing information indicating that Iran is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons, according to a...

There is a very special place in Jerusalem many people have heard of - but how many really know the magnitude of its work? In fact, Aleh is often confused with another facility with a similar sounding name. But Aleh stands alone in its class. Unlike other places, Aleh accepts children who have no chance of rehabilitation, and all the children receive the same loving care.

Israel's leftist media is happy with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And as Israelis have learned repeatedly in recent years, when the media are happy with a political leader, trouble is our doorstep.

      Palestinian Authority security forces directed traffic several times this month in the eastern sections of Jerusalem, according to multiple witnesses speaking to this...

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a 2008 Republican presidential candidate, completed a three-day tour of some of Israel's holiest and most contentious sites last week with leaders of Ateret Cohanim.

Recently, Aish HaTorah inaugurated a beautiful and unique model of the Beis Hamikdash in its world headquarters overlooking the Temple Mount and the Western Wall plaza. The model will be on permanent display on the roof of the highly anticipated interactive museum, called the Exploratorium.

      For the first time since coming into office, President Obama is under serious pressure to study the possibility of an Israeli military strike...

Like medical doctors, every therapist is tormented at times with the question of the hopelessness or hopefulness of a marriage or any other relationship. Everyone is anxious to know if the "broken" spouse/child/parent/sibling can be fixed. With desperation in their voices, they ask, "Can medication, therapy or other interventions turn him/her around and stop him/her from being so depressed, anxious, addicted or angry?" How can a therapist say, "There is no hope."?

The recent arrests of several New Jersey rabbis, coming on the heels of a variety of other scandals in Jewish life that also resulted in prominent arrests, have led many to conclude that Orthodoxy is in crisis and its entire worldview under siege and perhaps unsustainable.

When Barack Obama was elected president, many around the world saw it as the culmination of decades of successful efforts by the American civil rights movement. How ironic, then, that the Obama administration has been conducting a campaign against Jews who wish to live in certain Jerusalem neighborhoods.

      The website for the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem ignores Jews and the state of Israel while providing news and services geared primarily toward...