Erdogan says Gaza blockade must be lifted before full normalization with Israel (JNS.org) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Israel to compensate flotilla victims and end its blockade of Gaza before full normalization of relations can be restored. On Friday, as U.S. President Barack Obama was about to depart Israel, Israeli Prime […]
JNS news briefs: March 24, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy Ira Shakansky Jerusalem and Athens. Two cities, two cultures, both at the roots of defining elements in Western civilization. In the vast writing on each, we can rest with the summary that Jerusalem is a source of much that is spiritual, and Athens much that is philosophical, rational, and ultimately scientific. Each affected the
Lessons to be drawn from Athens, Jerusalem Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky
In One Era, Out the Other: A Memoir of a 20th-21st Century Jewish Life by Michael Kaufman, Mekor Press of Menucha Publishers, 2012, 564 pages including glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms, and endnotes; ISBN 978-1-61465-060-7; Price unlisted on cover. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — There is much in this book that
Book extols Orthodoxy over other forms of Judaism Read More »
Donald H. HarrisonBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Turkey’s response to Israel’s apology over the Mavi Marmara incident some three years ago was swift and remarkably enthusiastic. Israel is likely to be less pleased, but apparently Prime Minister Netanyahu realized that President Obama deserved a parting gift, and so he made the call to Prime Minister Erdogan.
Turkey and Israel effect a rapprochement Read More »
Middle EastThe Passover story, told to the songs of Les Miserables, by the Maccabeats:
‘Les Miserables’ of Passover Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — It’s not just television and movies that often portray women in a poor light. Print newspapers and magazines are part of the problem, too. Many of the important feminist leaders of the 20th century, from Gloria Steinem to Betty Friedan, were Jewish , and this is no coincidence,
Print media should curtail ‘sexy women’ photos Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — For most of Jewish history, we have been getting what we did not deserve. The people who gave the world the God-concept and the scriptural tradition, which inspired old tribes to cease sacrificing human beings in order to gratify their spooky deities, have been reviled. The Jews, who
President Obama’s intellectual visit to Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama’s visit to Israel, and particularly his speech to 500 university students, was a winner at many levels including one he probably had not even considered. In how many countries can the President of the United States call forth the passions of the local people and have confidence
President Obama’s call for peaceful protest in Israel Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Isaac Yetiv, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — In my previous writings, I repeatedly denounced the mainstream media “dereliction of duty,” their blind unconditional support for the president and his party, their selective reporting of the news, their self-imposed silence and even coverups of Obama’s deficiencies, failures, and scandals. This silence, much akin to the “omerta” en
Obama’s week: Sequester con game, fence-mending in Israel Read More »
USASAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Hillel of San Diego and the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego have announced that Sandra and Arthur Levinson have established the “Lori Bolotin Development Director for Hillel of San Diego Endowment Fund” at the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego. The position of Development Director will be named, in
Fund names Hillel directorship for Lori Bolotin Read More »
San Diego CountyBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — After receiving last week’s D’var Torah about hamantaschen, my son, Rabbi Adam Rosenthal, emailed me noting that I was already avoiding dealing with the text of Leviticus, which is primarily concerned with the laws of animal sacrifices, in my weekly column. Since I am on a streak, why
Better a rebellious child than an indifferent one Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — What would be the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian Authority today, had Obama made the speech he now made in Jerusalem at the beginning of his first four-year term as president rather than at the beginning of the second? Not only would much of the allegedly toxic atmosphere
If Obama’s speech had come four years ago Read More »
Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — The visit to Israel of US President Obama caused great excitement for a variety of reasons. The first was why had he come? Was it to reach an agreement regarding dealing with Iran’s steady progress towards a nuclear bomb or to exert pressure towards a solution of the
Some impressions of Obama’s Israel visit Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEG0 — The local baker was plotting to poison the Jews of Prague. His fiendish plan was to use our own holiday against us. He knew that the Jews did not eat bread during that holiday of Pesach, and that the day after the holiday, they came in droves to
An 18th century Passover plot in Prague Read More »
Jewish Religion