Though Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach has been dead for nearly as long as I’ve been alive, his music and ethos still echo throughout American Jewish communal life and liturgy. Carlebach’s music is almost childishly simple, often utilizing only a few easy chords and repeating a few short verses in Hebrew. In the right environment, it can…
This Saturday marks an important anniversary in Israeli history: 30 years since the First Intifada. For years leading up to the Intifada, which literally means dustup or uprising in Arabic, Israel had maintained Gaza as a pool of cheap labor. Tension had been building since 1985, when Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s “iron fist” policy resulted…
Updated, 4:35 p.m. Addressing his audience on the daily “700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, veteran televangelist Pat Robertson celebrated President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Israel as the capital of Israel. “In the Six Day War Jews finally took sovereignty over Jerusalem and its absolutely crucial in terms of biblical prophecy that they…
It is American Hanukkah’s perennial irony that this so-called “Festival of Lights” is both literally and figuratively outshone by the myriad Christmas lights that blanket trees and yards from well before Hanukkah begins to well after it concludes. Though observant viewers might glimpse a handful of candles by the window during the brief time that…
President Trump this week has a number of big decisions to make that will impact the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. What he does will affect not only his soon-to-be unveiled peace initiative, but also the trajectory of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, more widely. Trump’s moves this week should be judged based on whether he…
In the days after his election, President Donald Trump bragged that he would achieve “the ultimate deal” for Israelis and Palestinians. But on the ground, his Administration has been supporting an ultimate war on the peace process. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has been charged with overseeing Middle East peace, has been unforthcoming with details….
Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia took a surprising turn on Friday — to Israel. Anonymous White House sources claimed that Jared Kushner was the unnamed Trump transition member who sent the former national security adviser Michael Flynn to talk to the Russian ambassador and other foreign diplomats about a…
Orthodox Jews and evangelicals have a lot in common. Large majorities of both communities say that religion is very important to their lives — 83% of Orthodox Jews and 86% of white evangelicals. Both groups report attending religious services at much higher margins than their less fundamentalist brethren. And roughly the same number of Orthodox…
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