Thank God, Gilad Shalit is finally home. He has transformed Israel into a different country: more holy and united, but also more pained. Pained for those who lost their loved ones in many wars and terrorist attacks and whose murderers have now been freed in a deal to return Gilad to his parents. For more […]
I stand at the Kotel, the Wailing Wall. Seeing her frozen tears and eternal smile, Her clouds passing with mournful sighs Her pitiful laughter at those who wanted to destroy her But did not succeed. � I read holy books, And hundreds of thousands of names,� Those from Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Spain, Hungary, �America […]
Throughout the centuries, historians, philosophers and anthropologists have struggled with the notion called
The anti-Semitic world has a hard time with us Jews and we should feel pity for all those who work relentlessly to give us a bad name. They want to boycott us in academia, journalism, European governments, the market place, and even just in the streets of daily life. Indeed, we must admit that we are a real nuisance. It is not easy to live with us Jews; we are troublemakers and annoyingly irritating. There is no way of escaping this fact.
In Israel & Zionism and The Jewish Year
I stand at the Kotel, the Wailing Wall.
I see the Wall with her frozen tears
And her passing clouds with many sighs.
I read secret books and hundreds of thousands of names.
Names from Egypt, Babylon, Rome, Poland, Spain, Hungary, America and South Africa.
Names from Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau.
According to Israeli media, Gilad Shalit is soon to be released from his long and inhuman captivity in the hands of Hamas. This gang of murderers has managed to terrorize all of us using one young Jewish boy.
Judge Goldstone must be a frustrated man. If not, he really has a problem. By now it has become abundantly clear that the Goldstone Report is not merely filled with inaccuracies. It is replete with procedural and substantive injustices and is a terrible disgrace for all those who believe in integrity, the supremacy of law and moral standards. It is the ultimate blunder for a respectable judge of international standing. Tens of articles penned by famous legislators and men of intellectual integrity, together with experts in other fields of jurisprudence and military knowledge, have demonstrated that this report is not worth the paper on which it is written. Judge Goldstone not only deviated from the truth, playing into the hands of Israel's worst enemies, but he willingly contributed to an international climate which gives credibility to the worst forms of terrorism and in which legitimate countries can no longer defend themselves. In fact, this report lays the ground for great human suffering, far beyond the borders of
I am a Jew standing at the Western Wall. How long do I stand here? Nearly 4000 years, since the days of my grandfather Abraham, when he nearly sacrificed his son at I see the Wall, its tears frozen. Passing clouds with many sighs. I read millions of Jewish names, born in
Jewish history consists of many epoch-making events. However, not all of these events have made an inroad into the consciousness of the Jewish people. For this to happen, the event must become, as the Jewish philosopher Emile Fackenheim calls it, a root-experience, a moment in which the hand of God becomes most apparent through His active participation in Jewish history. Still, this alone is not sufficient to transform an event into a root experience of enduring value. It is also necessary that the experience takes place in front of the multitude, as in the case of the splitting of the Red Sea, when even the maidservants saw what the prophet Yechezkel ben Buzi could not see. It is not the opening of the heaven but rather the transformation of the earth that is decisive in affecting all future Jewish generations.
I don't know whether or not the Israeli government made the right decision when it agreed to receive the lifeless bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in exchange for Samir Kuntar, the child murderer who returned to
One of the most remarkable maxims in the Talmud is the concept of "Elu Ve-elu Divrei Elo-him Chayim", "These and those are the words of the living God." (See for example Eruvin 13b) This is a halachic-philosophical concept which states that, even when there are opposing views among the Sages of Israel concerning Jewish law, all these views, being rooted in the divine word, are considered to be authentic and treated as if they come from God Himself. Just as light emanates from one source and separates into a spectrum of colors once it enters our space, so it is with the word of God. This is the great secret behind the vitality of Halacha. There are no final halachic conclusions. Everything is open to debate.
As we watch the Israeli government's handling of the most sensitive issues, such as security, its dealings and negotiations with our enemies, and the freeing of arch terrorists, we realize that the State is run by people who are thoroughly confused about the most fundamental issues which confront the Jewish people in