An old Southern black song cries out: "God gave Noah the rainbow sign; No more water, the fire next time." Long before that, the ancient rabbis spoke of a mabul eysh -- a "flood of fire." In their days, they were fantasies. But in our generation, the flood of fire has come upon us in the form of global scorching...
As a naturalist who has spent decades sharing nature's wonders, I am trembling in trepidation of our upcoming Torah readings. For me, the juxtaposition between text and reality is just too jarring. As we cycle back on Simchat Torah to the opening words of Bereshit this Saturday night, the Bible begins with a bang--"let there be light"-- and Creation unfolds...
On May 20, at 9:30 a.m., I became a citizen of Israel, the first sovereign Jewish state in more than 2,000 years. And, as I walked around Jerusalem on that first day, what struck me most was the feeling of responsibility -- that I wasn't just a supporter anymore. This was now my country, and the responsibilities of citizenship weighed...
Israel has committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity. That is the conclusion of the report issued last week by a U.N. fact-finding mission investigating the three-week war in Gaza last winter. The response of Israel and its media allies to this latest calumny against the Jewish state has been the predictable one: mustering facts and logic to counter...
Is J Street really a pro-Israel group? The lobbying organization never tires of claiming it is. Yet what pro-Israel group would invite a man to speak at its upcoming conference who's called for Israel's destruction, stating that "the establishment by force, violence and terrorism of a Jewish state in Palestine in 1948" was "a crime," and has vowed to "work...
Sivan 11, 5773
