Rabbis With a Mission
May 2, 2002
The mission\’s organizer, Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive director of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, called the journey a \”rabbinic version of the March of Living.\”
David Margolis
From Their Lips to Our Ears
January 17, 2002
Writing about the breakdown of the Oslo process in the October issue of Commentary, Norman Podhoretz was able to quote liberally from Egyptian and Palestinian newspapers.
Sticks, Stones and Incendiary Words
April 26, 2001
Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian legislator and spokeswoman, a few weeks ago publicized an open letter from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon informing all Palestinians, \”You are my target; you will be made to suffer, and you shall pay for the original crime of being a Palestinian.\”
Preparing for War
April 5, 2001
A time for peace and a time for war. Most talk, for years, has been about peace, but there\’s war talk in Israel now. At least one independent intelligence agency is predicting a regional war this spring, and nobody is offering credible deniability. The Palestinians have been smuggling weapons into the country — mortars, anti-tank weapons, heavy machine guns, who knows what else. The stuff comes into Gaza through tunnels from Egypt or sneaked past Israeli naval patrols along the coast. It\’s not Jordan they\’re gunning for, at least not to start.
Letter from Israel:On the Road
March 1, 2001
As you might imagine, living in Israel right now feels schizophrenic. We continue with our regular lives — going to work, eating dinner, shopping, praying, catching a movie — and meanwhile, not far away, our soldiers are at war. The newspapers appear, the soccer games go on, people chat over coffee in the cafes, and the war goes on and threatens to get bigger. The most abnormal thing about it may be that one begins to accept it as normal.
The Muslim Zionist
February 22, 2001
Does Islam deserve its title as "one of the world\’s great religions"?
Am I Really Going to Vote for Ariel Sharon?
February 1, 2001
Not happily, not comfortably, but in a word, yes, I am going to vote for Sharon. I know about Sabra and Shatila, but Ehud Barak has so completely betrayed the hopeful vote I cast for him in 1999 that by now even most of my ambivalence is gone, replaced by an urgency to oust Barak and his band of professional delusionaries.
Teaching Pluralism Jerusalem’s Re’ut School aims to expose students to cultural diversity
September 28, 2000
In Israel, Re\’ut School is unique: a religious school that\’s part of the nonreligious school system, and committed to halachic practice and a completely pluralistic curriculum at the same time.
A Strong Bridge
June 15, 2000
Visiting California for the first time since he took over following his father\’s 47-year reign last year, King Abdullah II of Jordan attended a Beverly Hilton Hotel luncheon Monday and told his audience that prospects of Middle East peace in the near future look good.Speaking before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Abdullah said, \”We can have peace in the Middle East and have it quickly.\”
Remembering Terrorism’s Victims
September 23, 1999
On this bright September afternoon, Zion Square, at the bottom of Jerusalem\’s downtown Ben Yehuda outdoor mall, is the usual confusion of pedestrian traffic — shoppers, students, soldiers, tourists, all hurrying about their business in every direction. A few minutes after 1 p.m., a small group of men and women joins the throng, bringing a little flock of children and strollers into the middle of the square. One of the men somewhat uncertainly unrolls a hand-lettered sign that says, in Hebrew, \”Prayer Vigil,\” and the group stands in a tight circle, reading psalms from prayer books in low voices.
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