For months now, the Israeli government has been maintaining that the Palestinians must accept Israel as a Jewish state. In his recent policy speech at Bar Ilan University, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Therefore, a fundamental prerequisite for ending the conflict is a public, binding and unequivocal Palestinian recognition of Israel as the...
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(picture taken from the balcony of my apartment in Tehran, February 10, 1979) As Yogi Berra said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” I lived in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79. I have the distinction of having been on the first official evacuation flight to leave Tehran in February of 1979. Following the...
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"And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand. And Aaron did so; he lighted its lamps to give light in front of the lampstand, as the Lord commanded Moses." …Numbers 8:1-3 What's...
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The kabbahlists say there are no coincidences: everything happens because God planned it that way. I was thinking about this teaching today. Every week I try and do one of the tours in Eyal Meiron's excellent book "Jerusalem: A Walk Through Time." Totally coincidentally (?) I picked a tour today that included Ammunition Hill. I...
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Many of my fellow Jews are prone to "shrei gevalt," to "cry out woe." President Obama gave a speech in a country that likes to fancy itself the leader of the Arab world in which he said the Jews have a right to be a nation in their homeland, he denounced Holocaust denial, he...
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