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Obama: Walking on Israel in Chamberlain’s Shoes?
Neville Chamberlain’s three years (1937-1940) as British Prime Minister earned him infamy in Jewish history... As tension now grows over Iran’s race to develop nuclear weapons, President Obama seeks rapprochement with the Muslim world, including Iran. Can we ask if there are similarities between Obama and Chamberlain? Read more »
The Book of Life: Life and death during the High Holidays
I have looked at the High Holidays very differently the past few years. I have been wondering what has shaped this new outlook and keep coming back to one word: Death. Read more »
Fighting Nazism Outside the Movies
This story describes some of my experiences as a teenager in confronting anti-Semitism. With the Quentin Tarrantino movie, "Inglorious Basterds" apparently indulging many adult Jews to relish in fictional vengence or justice upon the Nazis. I however am not moved. Anti-Semitism and Nazism are not fiction, they are quite real. Having fought against anti-Semitism and Nazism, I am embarrassed by those, who in this case take pride in a historical revisionist account of Jewish vengence/justice. Read more »
Opinion: Israel as a Jewish State
Lawrence J. Epstein asks whether Israel can retain its identity as both a democracy and a Jewish state: In 1896 Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat, his national plan for the Jewish people. The pamphlet has often been mistranslated as The Jewish State. The word “Juden” was used by those who hated and persecuted Jews. Herzl’s point in calling the pamphlet The Jews’ State was to hurl back the epithet by asserting that those very Jews were proud and able enough to form their own nation... Read more »
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Nothing Will Hurt Me: Coping with the loss of a neighbor and IDF soldier
Jonathan Feldstein on coping with the loss of a young neighbor, Uriel Liwerant, who died in a training accident in the Israeli Defense Forces this week. "My wife called in the middle of a meeting the other day. I usually take her call in case it’s important. Perhaps, I thought, she needed me to run another errand on the way home. She shared with me the news of a soldier who was killed in a training accident. Uriel Liwerant was a neighbor of ours. As I listened to the news on the way home, I hoped that the report would be different, that my wife had been wrong. That perhaps nobody had died. My heart sunk to hear the news confirming her report...But in Israel, this is too often a fact of life." Read more »
Happy Anniversary to Us: Five years after making aliyah to Israel
This week I [Jonathan Feldstein] celebrate the anniversary of making aliyah in 2004... What I found was that actually picking up and doing it, getting on that plane and settling in Israel, was one of the most moving and emotional experiences in my life...Yet, in spite of this relatively simple process, there were (and are) still challenges to overcome. After five years as a veteran oleh, its worth looking back, and to offer guidance for the thousands of other Anglo olim who will arrive this summer. Read more »
Opinion: Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld and The Vaad Of Queens V. The Soloveichik Family?
I recently read the widely circulated article concerning the Streits matzo controversy. Although I am completely an unbiased reader (I have never met any of the individuals the article gravitates around), I am nevertheless bothered by the glaring fact that there are many deafening, yet completely unanswered questions... Read more »
Opinion: Obama’s Threat to the Middle East Balance of Power
Opinion: As commentator Jonathan Tobin recently stated, President Obama’s Cairo speech was “morally unserious.” Read more »
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