Mass shootings indicate USA becoming more dysfunctional

 By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Starting with Abraham’s expulsion of Ishmael, the Torah’s patriarchal stories reflect a multi-generational family in distress. Each generation transmits its dysfunction to the next, where it continues to do damage before propagating forward. Abraham expelled his son, Ishmael, in favor of Isaac, only to end up traumatizing him

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Jewish Religion

JNS news briefs: December 21, 2012

  Magazine names head of anti-Semitic Ukrainian political party its ‘Personality of the Year’ (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Ukrainian politician Oleh Tyahnybok—whose politics have been compared to those of the Nazi party—has been chosen as “Personality of the Year” by the Korrespondent magazine.   Korrespondent is one of the most influential weekly news magazines in

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International

If you had one piece of advice for Israel’s next P.M….

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –At the end of an all-day symposium in Jerusalem today under the cumbersome title, “Changing in Israeli Public Opinion on Critical Regional Issues on the Diplomatic Agenda,” panelists were asked to identify a single piece of advice they’d give to the next Prime Minister of Israel (who almost certainly will

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Middle East

Columnist’s inbox the target of gun-control debate

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–According to the über-encyclopedia that teaches all of us everything,     “defense mechanisms are psychological strategies brought into play by the unconscious mind to manipulate, deny, or distort reality (through processes including, but not limited to, Repression, Identification, or Rationalization), and to maintain a socially acceptable self-image or self-schema.” Defense mechanisms abound

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Ira Sharkansky, USA

JNS news briefs: December 20, 2012

Israel defends construction plans amid EU, UN pressure (JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday defended his government’s approval of 2,600 new housing units in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, while the European Union and United Nations continued to pressure the Jewish state over that issue. “We are going to build in

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International

Hagel is the wrong choice to lead the Department of Defense

   By James Colbert WASHINGTON, D.C. — Even during difficult economic times, most Americans still want our nation to maintain a credible national defense, support the welfare of its troops, and assume a leadership role for America in an increasingly chaotic world including by continuing close cooperation with democratic allies. That is why the President’s

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USA

Peace with Palestinians possible, but neither side may want it

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — It’s difficult not to see the authorization of the erection of another 1500 homes for Jews in East Jerusalem as a provocation, largely in response to the United Nations acknowledgement of the Palestinian Authority as (almost) a state, even if it seems to irritate even friendly governments, including the

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Middle East

JNS news briefs: December 18, 2012

  Report: British primary schools removing Hebrew as officially recognized language (JNS.org) Hebrew will be removed as an officially recognized foreign language in the British primary school system, potentially preventing even some Jewish schools from teaching the language, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported. For many Jewish primary schools in the UK who offer Hebrew as

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International