There is a good article by Danny Ayalon in the Wall Street Journal called “Israel’s Right in the ‘Disputed’ Territories“: The recent statements by the European Union’s new foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton criticizing Israel have once again brought international attention to Jerusalem and the settlements. However, little appears to be truly understood about Israel’s [...]

“סיפורי הבלהות של הליכוד מוכרים. הרי הבטיחו לנו גם קטיושות מעזה… כבר שנה רצועת עזה נתונה בעיקרה למרות הרשות הפלשתינאית; לא הייתה עוד אף קטיושה ולא תהיה קטיושה. וכו` וכו` וכו`. כל הדיבורים… הליכוד פוחד פחד מוות משלום. פחדני השלום. זהו הליכוד של היום.” “The terrifying stories of the Likud are well known. They have [...]

I just finished watching a 40 minute show (which is currently available on YouTube) by Glenn Beck called Exposed: The Extemist Agenda (originally aired on CNN). Its focus is to publicize the threats that are being posed to the world by extremist Islam. He takes care to make it clear that this is not representative [...]

On September 23rd, an article was published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv. The original, entitled And the World was Silent (hebrew) is here. It was translated into English by a blogger named Imshin (intro, page 1, page 2, page 3). Here is a quote from the first page of the article, giving a synopsis of [...]

Israel is in turmoil (what�s new?). On the one hand, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has just completed a tour of Europe in which he sought (and failed to receive) support for his long-announced plans for �convergence� � a unilateral withdrawal from most of the West Bank. After European and American leaders failed to back this [...]

Check out this very good article on Lag B’Omer from Aish and the OU. It talks about Lag B’Omer, Bar Kochba, Rabbi Akiva and his students, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Mashiach. Very worthwhile read.

The modern State of Israel, founded in the 1948, was characterized by a contradiction from its outset: it claimed to be both a Jewish state and a Democratic state. The Israeli Declaration of Independence is rife with references to the intended Jewish nature of the state. It was founded a short time after the holocaust. [...]

Beautiful day here…around 70 degrees and Sunny. Our first full Shabbat guests in Israel (ie: sleeping here and eating all meals here) are coming in an hour…who also happen to be my parents and sister…so things are a little bit hectic great (food is mostly cooked, chulent up, dishes clean and floor kind of sponge’ad). [...]

If you don’t know what happened in Amona last week, please refer to any news source that covers the goings-on in Israel. Many bloggers in the Jewish blogging world have been commenting on this. I haven’t written anything so far because I am still going through my own thoughts on the issue. Here is what [...]

Read how Bec found herself in Israel and ultimately decided to make aliyah (though there is a lot left out from the whole process). Most people who want to make aliyah or who have made aliyah have some main driving force motivating them. For me part of it has always been Torah/Halacha. But I can [...]