Forward reader Leon Chameides has been, so he writes, “troubled since Passover,” which is indeed a long time to be troubled. What is bothering him is “the grammatical construction of the tenth plague.” Why, Mr. Chameides wishes to know, is this plague known in Jewish tradition as makat bekhorot, “the plague of the first-born sons…
Forget about chess, with its ordered rules, as a simulation for war. Israel’s current crisis in Lebanon and Gaza shows that the closest model is poker — a high-stakes version with no limits on bets and no certainty even about who is sitting at the table. In fact, the very meaning of winning is likely…
SAFED, Israel — Since Hezbollah began firing rockets on northern Israel a week ago, no guests have shown up at Aya Peretz’s bed-and-breakfast cabins. It may be the year’s busiest tourism period in the rural north, but Peretz is huddling in a bomb shelter with her husband and three children instead of hosting couples seeking…
When Amy Markon set out to find a cheaper source of kosher meat for her family, the mother of four had no idea what she was in for. Since moving to St. Paul, Minn., seven years ago, Markon had grown increasingly bothered by her limited choices when it came to buying kosher beef. The woman,…
As Democrats debate the proper role of faith in public life, liberal religious activists and organizations in Massachusetts are mobilizing to ensure that a new state health plan is offered to residents at a low cost. From Seventh-day Adventists praying in a former Jewish synagogue in Roxbury to members of Boston’s gleaming Temple Israel, the…
WASHINGTON — Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and several Jewish organizations locked horns last week over his country’s relations with Hamas. During what participants described as an otherwise friendly meeting, Gul told a small group of foreign-policy experts with American Jewish groups that Turkey was disappointed over the Jewish community’s failure to support Ankara’s efforts…
WASHINGTON – After essentially sitting on the sidelines as it observed the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the Bush administration this week moved to contain the deterioration, sending two of its top diplomats to the region and receiving assurances from Israel that its aim is not to bring about the collapse of the Palestinian…
Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a prominent lay leader in Jewish communal life who had recently gotten to know Seymour Fox, arguably the most important visionary in Jewish education during the past half century. I mentioned that I had had dinner in Fox’s apartment in Jerusalem a few weeks prior. She…
Katsav: I Was Blackmailed Israel’s attorney general opened a probe into an alleged attempt to blackmail President Moshe Katsav. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz made the decision Tuesday. Details of the case are in dispute, but it apparently involves a former employee’s attempt to extort money from Katsav. Israel’s Channel 2 reported Saturday that Katsav summoned…
The latest chapter in an ongoing saga pitting an Orthodox rabbi from Monsey, N.Y., against female former congregants who have accused him of sexual harassment is raising broad legal questions about the right of free speech in cyberspace. Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, who was accused of sexually propositioning women who came to him seeking spiritual guidance,…
As he battles from behind in the polls, Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum is calling on his Jewish friends to help catapult him to a third term in the United States Senate. Next week, he will host a “Jewish Leadership Summit” in Washington for prominent Republican invitees, including White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Senate…
