Commentaries have a field day trying to pinpoint what was Moshe’s sin that sealed his fate not to bring the people to the Promised Land. Even the language of the Torah is inconclusive, because when the episode of Mei Merivah (Bamidbar Chapter 20 – the “Rock incident”) took place, Moshe and Aharon are informed they will not “bring” the people to the land. It is only later that they are told they, too, will not “enter” the land (Bamidbar 20:24, Devarim 4:21 (referring to Bamidbar 14:30?), Devarim 32:52). more

Thank G-d for Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Hank Johnson. Everybody knows that the sequester is the worst thing to happen to this country since My Mother The Car was cancelled by NBC in 1966, but there are horrible things about the sequester the federal government is hiding from the people. more

It must be August, because everyone is off on their last hurrah vacation trips before the kids come home from camp and the Yomim Tovim start. This past Shabbat, my husband Jerry regaled us with his travel plans that took place in 1975 during the summer after his sophomore year at YU. more

t was the great sage Hillel who said (Avot 2:5), “In a place where there are no men, try to be a man.” The sentiment of the phrase doesn’t lend itself to be reformulated to gender-neutral terminology, so I apologize in advance to those who find it offensive. Nonetheless, I think an understated message from this phrase can help us understand the first real episode in the life of Moshe, when he controls his own destiny. more

Achiezer wants good megilah readers! more

Fifty-one prisoners released in the 2011 deal that secured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s freedom were re-arrested Wednesday among a group of more than 65 Palestinians detained by Israel Defense Forces in their search for three Jewish teens believed to have been abducted by Hamas, the IDF said. more

Knesset member Rabbi Dov Lipman told his aliyah story to the Young Israel of Woodmere last week, reflecting on his life in the Knesset and in Israel. “I would like to inspire people to make … more

The problem with being an intellectual is that you rarely have your ideas tested in the real world. But sitting on the sidelines enables you to use extreme rhetoric to advance crackpot notions … more

Two political operatives told a Jewish political gathering in North Woodmere on Sunday that Jews should move past a traditional communal allegiance to the Democratic Party and its liberal … more

The reports keep coming, and from different sources; Hezbollah is gearing up for war against the State of Israel. In a report released by the Begin Center for Strategic Studies in January, former … more