By Garry Fabian CAPE TOWN, South Africa — While the Jewish population in South Africa has diminished over the last decade as many have emigrated to the US, Australia, Israel and other parts of the world, there is still a substantial number living in the country. We recently spent a week in Cape Town, where
A tourist’s impressions of Jewish Cape Town Read More »
International, Jewish Religion, Travel and FoodBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — This week’s headlines have featured two separate quarrels of the kind that fascinate policy mavens, even while they cause us simpletons to scratch our heads and wonder who, if anyone, is right. One of them–or actually two separate but closely related quarrels–is of the kind that stirs interest and concern
Red lines and tourist lines Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastEchoes of Eden: Sefer Vayikra by Rabbi Ari Kahn; Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2013; ISBN-10: 9652295922, 256 pages; $20.95 By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Rabbi Ari Kahn is one of the most imaginative scholars I have encountered in the Orthodox world. His new commentary on the Book of Leviticus is yet
Rabbi Kahn illuminates mysteries of Leviticus Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBen Gurion Airport guards may inspect email accounts (JNS.org) Foreign citizens visiting Israel may be asked to open their email accounts for airport security when they land at Ben Gurion Airport, the Israeli Attorney-General’s Office stated Wednesday in response to a petition by a leading Israeli civil rights group. “The threat of using foreign citizens
JNS news briefs: April 24, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, Florida — Salam Fayyad was 55 years old when they found him six years ago. “They” are the secretary of state and the European donors who wanted to help the Palestine Authority in its hour of trial but did not want to see their contributions diverted by corrupt Fatah
Fayyad resigned, or did he? Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK –The custom is fairly prevalent nowadays, but it was not a common practice thirty years ago when my friend raised his sons. He would seek out especially pious rabbis, generally quite elderly ones, to request that they bless his children. In keeping with tradition, these rabbis would place
Blessing for a boy to grow up like other boys Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Michael Hayutin SAN DIEGO — I have immense admiration for the first responders and bystanders who ignored personal safety to aid the victims of the Boston Marathon horror show. I pray I would have similar courage. Now the task before every American official is to fully understand who nurtured two young jihadists and how
Misguided ‘political correctness’ hampers terrorism fight Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The Internet has become our principal media of communication. Print newspapers are struggling to find their niche, or caving in and going digital. Skype has become a costless way to talk across the world. It is free enterprise and its best and worst. Best because it provides absolute freedom of
Fact-checking a lost art with the Internet Read More »
Ira SharkanskyBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C — The discovery that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lived in the United States for a decade produced a spate of theorizing over “homegrown” terrorism and terrorists. Baseball, Google and iPhones are homegrown. There is nothing “homegrown” about Islamic terrorism, which is taught, bought and paid for by international sponsors, primarily
Boston terrorism not ‘homegrown’ Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USA
By Gil Lavie King Goodwill Zwelithini, leader of the Zulu nation in South Africa, marked Israeli Independence day along with his wife Queen Thandi at a Yom Ha’atzma’ut ceremony held on Thursday at the Israeli embassy in Pretoria. The King, 64, is the ceremonial leader of the country’s Zulu population, SA’s largest black ethnic
Zulu king celebrates Israel Independence Read More »
Middle EastIDF intelligence: Assad used lethal sarin gas against Syrian rebels (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used lethal chemical weapons, mostly sarin gas, against armed rebels several times in the past few weeks, and is continuing to do so, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Research Branch,
JNS news briefs: April 23, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Almost lost in the terrible events in Boston is the Obama administration’s dire warning last week that the window for diplomatic success in the Middle East is closing — not on Iran’s quest for nuclear capability; not on the Syrian war; not on sectarian violence in Iraq; not on
Enough with the ‘window of opportunity’ rhetoric Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO — The Psalms’ language is unabashedly picturesque; it full of nature imagery—as is the Siddur itself. One way to think of the metaphor is to see it as a moving image; it is not static. This thought is the simple premise behind the Nehahel Siddur: Nature serves to
New Orthodox siddur is intellectually attractive Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Eva Trieger SAN DIEGO — It is the generally accepted modus operandi of stand up comedians to react to hecklers with quick jabs and caustic barbs. Well, Steve Hofstetter was at the top of his game at Riley’s Bar and Grill in the Point Loma neighborhood last Saturday, April 20. On a small stage,
Putting down hecklers is Hofstetter specialty Read More »
Eva Trieger