The two greatest Jewish inventions of the 20th century are, to my mind at least, Hollywood and Israel. Jews founded Hollywood to help the world escape reality; they founded Israel to help Jews escape the world.
The success of Zionism requires a revisiting of values and priorities. Negation of Diaspora may not only be irrelevant, but counterproductive. We need a new vision.
Exactly four months after assuming Israel\’s top office amid tragedy, Ehud Olmert has been confirmed as prime minister
Who is responsible for Israel\’s settlements in the territories? Gershom Gorenberg\’s just released history, \”The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977,\” explores in gripping narrative the original interweave of political ambition, religious entitlement and military strategy that led to today\’s continuing conflicts with both the settlers and the Palestinians.
This week marks the shloshim, the 30th day following the death of Ilan Halimi, murdered by French anti-Semites in a Paris suburb.
Christian Zionists see the existence of modern Israel as a precondition for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which they believe will be marked by the violent death of millions, including the ingathered Jews. Those who survive the Apocolypse will embrace Jesus.
\”We\’re so busy fighting over the form of where women sit in shul that I think we\’ve lost the substance. There was a time that women were the pillars of the Orthodox community,\” Luchins said. \”We\’ve lost on that issue, big.\”
In recent days, several pundits have criticized \”Munich,\” the new film by director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner, for drawing a \”moral equivalency between the Israeli assassins and their targets — both explicitly … and implicitly.\” Furthermore, they argue that it has inaccurately portrayed the Israeli avengers as morally conflicted about their mission to eliminate the perpetrators of the Munich massacre.
As clear-minded and direct today as she was in her youth, Nussbaum these days embodies the history of an era that is quickly slipping away. She is the widow of Rabbi Max Nussbaum, who led this same congregation from 1942 until his death in 1974.
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