By Evelyn Gordon WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last month, Victor Davis Hanson published a fascinating article on why Iran might nevertheless decide to start a war it can’t win. In it, he analyzed several cases in which countries did exactly that, including the Korean War in 1950, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the 1982 Falklands War and [...]
By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO– Overall, I consider myself one lucky gal. How many of us can boast of seeing endless hours of theatre; some good, some bad and some ugly and then having the privilege of sharing that experience by writing about it? And just to carry that theme a bit further, how lucky [...]
By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — The usual complaints about the inadequacy of democratic governance are about the majority that disenfranchises a minority. InIsrael, it seems to be the other way around. Often it’s relatively small groups that hold the rest to ransom – democratically. Today’s examples: two minority groups, the settlers (probably around 5% [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Kingston, Ontario was once a quiet peaceful community. That all changed when Mohammad Shafia, his wife, and son decided to murder the girls of their family. When he discovered his daughters sending pictures of themselves posing in bras and panties to their boyfriends, he said, [...]
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The headlines are about a couple of issues roiling close to the Prime Minister. They do not concern the big stuff that will attract people around the world who look to Israel for the excitement of threat, promise, personal or collective salvation. Insofar as the Prime Minister is the Prime Minister, however, [...]
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — In the play Brooklyn Boy, novelist Eric “Ricky” Weiss (Cris O’Bryon) should feel as if he’s on top of the world. His roman-a-clef, also bearing the title Brooklyn Boy, has made it to Number 11 on the New York Times best seller list. Katie Couric has interviewed him [...]
By J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, Florida– My father, Jacob “Yankel” Lurie and my mother, Ida “Hayele” Lurie, made aliya from Brooklyn to Haifa in 1929 a few months before the crash on Wall Street. My father, the owner of several ready-to-wear women’s fashion stores, was 54. My mother at 50 had brought up six sons and [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California–After reading Neil N. Winkler’s new book, Bringing the Prophets to Life: A Timely Look at a Timeless Story (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2011), I felt elated. Somebody in the Orthodox world has finally written a book on the Prophets! The study of the Tanakh remains one of the most [...]
Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult’s Guide to Building a Jewish Life, 2nd Edition by Rabbi Edward Feinstein, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2012, 140 pages, ISBN 978-1-58023-454-2-51599, U.S. cover price: $15.99. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Some years ago I interviewed a spokesperson for the Home Instruction for the Parents of Pre-School Youngsters program (or [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO – Moshe accomplished his great mission. He liberated the Jews from the bondage of Mitzrayim (Egypt). One could feel that his accomplishment was offset by the fact that most of the Jews in Egypt never made it to the promised land. Most of them perished along the way. The [...]
