Learning to Value the Lives of Children

Yet the one thing I have always known, amid the hills and valleys of life: whether or not you succeed in your public endeavors, you cannot fail at your private commitments.

Is Christianity’s Notion of Abortion Based on Mistranslated Text?

What is lost in the discussion are the Biblical underpinnings of abortion and how this is not primarily a legal issue but a religious one.

Rice’s Failure in Rwanda Precludes her from Becoming Secretary of State

Rice was part of Bill Clinton’s National Security Team whom in 1994 refused any intervention whatsoever in the Rwanda genocide that left 800,000 dead.

David Petraeus and the Biblical Lessons of Why Men Want Two Women

When Jacob is fooled into marrying Leah, he accepts her as a partner and eventually the mother of his children. But his yearning is for Rachel.

This Time It’s Personal

When my daughter first made aliyah she was a student at Hebrew University. After a year she called me and told me she was enlisting.

Will My Muslim Brothers Condemn Hamas?

If the targeting of innocent civilians by terrorist organizations is not wrong, then morality has no meaning.

Jewish Values are the Salvation of the Republican Party

So long as we obsess over abortion, gay marriage, and contraception to the exclusion of any other values, we cannot fix our problems.

The City that has Problems with Synagogues

If only my city were to treat me with the same courtesy they accorded Kaddafi.

Petraeus: Did a Great Man Have to Fall?

Petraeus seems to have resigned over marital infidelity. And if so, did he have to leave his position? Why, because he displayed personal weakness? But this was a public, as opposed to a private, position. And years of counseling unfaithful husbands and wives has taught me that private failings do not necessarily indicate public faithlessness.

How in Losing a Congressional Race I Found More of Myself

A few hours ago I lost my bid to unseat Congressman Bill Pascrell in New Jersey’s Ninth District. But thank G-d, I’m in a good place and miraculously in a good frame of mind. I’m writing this late at night to capture my thoughts and feelings after investing approximately seven months of my life in this endeavor.

Why Has New Jersey Been Forsaken?

Aren’t we the nation that rebuilt Iraq and have done tons of nation-building in Afghanistan? Can’t we put the lights and heat back on New Jersey? Is it asking too much to bring a bunch of fuel tankers here and end the 100 vehicle long lines that are growing larger by the day? Just getting from point A to point B has been like navigating an labyrinth since the gas lines have cut off so many of the streets. President Obama declared this area to be a Federal Disaster Area. But where is FEMA? Where are the troops? Where are the gas tankers?

Where was God When Hurricane Sandy Struck?

What was G-d thinking when he sent Hurricane Sandy and what could have been its purpose? In truth, I don’t much care, because our role as humans is not to understand G-d’s plan in the face of horror and tragedy, but to challenge God and demand that human life always be protected and preserved. Did I say demand? Yes, humanity has rights before God. We are His children. He commanded us to preserve and promote life always. “Choose life,” Moses orders the Israelite nation in God’s name, on the last day of His life. And the Creator must abide by the same dictates He expects His creatures to.

The Storm that United a Divided Nation

Just yesterday I was fully engaged in my campaign for the United States Congress. Winning, elections, and victory were on my mind. Boy, what a difference a day can make. Today, I just want my family and the 50 million people in the storm’s path to be safe.

Cory Booker & Shmuley Boteach: The Rabbi and the Rhodes Scholar (Video)

Twenty years, countless conversations, and hundreds of Friday night Shabbat dinners later, Cory today is a much-loved honorary member of the American Jewish community, regularly lecturing at Synagogues and Jewish conferences across the country. More significant, Cory has challenged the Jewish community to live up to its Biblical calling to serve as ‘a light unto the nations.’ In many of the speeches we deliver together he asks the Jewish participants if they study the weekly Parsha, if they honor the commandments, and cherish the Sabbath. What allows an African-American Christian Mayor to challenge Jewish leaders to deepen their Jewish commitment? Because those same leaders are amazed at Cory’s knowledge of Judaism and appreciation of the Jewish contribution to civilization. (Watch video)

A Hitler Wannabe Visits New York

Every September Ahmadinejad accomplishes the unique feat of calling for a new holocaust while simultaneously denying the original ever took place. And do you know what the Jews do about it? Nothing.

What is More Virtuous: Paying Taxes or Giving Charity?

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.

Haim Saban’s NY Times Op-Ed Sanitizes Obama’s Record on Israel

Haim Saban, a proud Jew, staunch supporter of Israel, and noted philanthropist, nevertheless parses President Obama’s record on Israel in The New York Times to deliver a sanitized rendition of a President whose relationship with the Jewish state is unreliable at best and troubling at worst, writes Congressional candidate Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

A Democratic Chorus of ‘No’ Rejects Mention of Jerusalem in Platform

The shocking video of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa trying to push through Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in the Democratic platform highlights the strong reservations that many American Jews are feeling toward the Democratic party.

Germany’s Circumcision Police

Does the German government really want to get into a public battle over whether they are better guardians of the health and welfare of Jewish (and Muslim) children than their parents?

A Response to Senator Lautenberg’s Attack on the Republican Position on Israel

Senator Lautenberg, how exactly has our President demonstrated his friendship to Israel? He declared Israel's settlements to be illegitimate, put near-unilateral pressure on Israel to make peace without any expectations from the Palestinian side, declared that Israel should return to the arbitrary 1967 borders, and treated Prime Minister Netanyahu shamefully at a March 2010 meeting where he refused even a photo op with the elected leader of the Middle East's only democracy.

Why I’m Traveling to Rwanda in the Middle of My Congressional Campaign

I call upon President Obama to honor his campaign pledge of 2008 to recognize the Armenian slaughter of 1918 by the Ottoman Turks for what it was - a genocide. I also ask my political opponent Bill Pascrell, to join me in a press conference and call upon the U.S. to put a $25 million bounty on the head of Bashar Assad for his arrest for crimes against humanity, and for the removal of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia so long as President Putin continues to protect Assad.

Aref Assaf and the Scandal of Arab Leaders Silent on Syria’s Slaughter

While Aref Assaf, President of the Arab American Forum in Paterson, New Jersey, might be forgiven for condemning my daughter’s service in the Israeli army, nothing can explain his defense of Congressman Bill Pascrell’s silence on the mass slaughter of Arabs in Syria.

Being a Critic of Israel Does Not Make You Pro-Arab, Congressman Pascrell

I can forgive Congressman Pascrell for his continued contempt toward me by refusing to address me directly or even mention me by name, even in his letter written in response to mine. But his attack against Israel cannot be similarly overlooked.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Why a Jewish Democratic Leader Attacked Sheldon Adelson

Ordinarily, an attack by the political hack of one party about a mega-contributor to another party would not merit attention or comment. But what made Harris’s vitriol most unfortunate was that it was one Jew deriding the two foremost private supporters of Jewish identity and the State of Israel in the entire world.

An Open Letter to Congressman Pascrell on School Choice and Vouchers

There are few choices as personal and important as the educational environment in which our children are immersed for most of their waking hours. Yet in the United States, unless parents want to risk bankruptcy just to afford tuition, they are given no choice.

Yitzchak Shamir – Israel’s Least Appreciated Prime Minister

I came to know Mr. Shamir quite well when I hosted him at the University of Oxford in the mid-90’s. He seemed all but forgotten even then and told me that his dramatic drop in popularity in Israel had been due to the euphoria over the premiership of Yitzchak Rabin and his dramatic overtures for peace. He told me this with a touch of resignation. It seemed he did feel underappreciated. More importantly, he seemed to divine the coming catastrophe.

America’s $2 Billion a Year to Egypt Hinges on Its Peace with Israel

Democracy without a legitimate constitution and a Bill of rights, especially protecting the rights of minorities, can become a very scary thing. What you get is a tyranny of the majority. So the United States, as the world’s foremost democracy and sole superpower, must insist that elected regimes be restrained by a constitution that safeguards against a gravitation toward tyranny.

The Speech President Obama Must Give on Syria

I call on the President of the United States to employ his considerable mastery of words to take up the mantle of Martin Luther King and be a drum major for justice, a beacon for freedom. Sound the clarion call for liberty, Mr. President. Get off the damn fence and stand up for Arab life and liberty. Stop the slaughter in Syria.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Congressman Pascrell, Repudiate the Gaza 54 Letter

I am mystified as why you broke with close to 90% of Congress, voting to condemn Israel for imposing a blockade on Gaza. Surely you do not want to see Israeli children with their limbs blown off. Surely you do not want to see Hamas possessing the instruments to execute suspected Palestinian “collaborators” without trial. But without Israel stopping war materials from entering Gaza, more innocent Israelis and Palestinians will be murdered in the most gruesome way.

Headlines

Latest News Stories


Recommended Today

Sponsored Posts


Printed from: https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/columns/america-rabbi-shmuley-boteach/where-was-god-when-sandy-hooks-children-died/2012/12/20/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online: