If I was to be confronted by a Charedi individual espousing an anti-Zionist world view, I would have plenty to say. Religious Zionist thought is firmly founded in sources ranging from the Bible, through Talmudic literature, to late authorities. However, in one important area I would be seriously challenged: Do we, in the Religious Zionist world, recognize Hashem`s great present to us and reflect that through constant efforts towards spiritual growth and commitment? more

William Faulkner was a master of writing single sentences that span an entire page. Though they run on and on, the sentences could not be marked as “run-on” by a grammar teacher. It is a unique skill possessed by the loquacious, which marvels readers. The longest sentence I am aware of in the Torah has 34 words in it (Shmot 32:1). more

Apr 21 Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans Five Towns 5K run/walk North Woodmere Park, NY, in support of disabled Israeli veterans and victims of terror The race is on Sunday April 21, 2013 and starts at 10 AM from North Woodmere Park. Be at the park no later then 9:30 AM. Number pick up for pre registered participants and day of race registration will be from 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM. The race will begin promptly at 10 AM. Warning, after 9:30 access to North Woodmere Park parking lot may be limited. Arrive early! North Woodmere Park is located on the corner of Branch Blvd and Hungry Harbor Road. For more information go to: www.5towns5k.org more

My late father was a survivor of Auschwitz. He arrived there as a young Hassid from a Jewish village in Poland, and he left as he had arrived, with his faith intact, and with an awareness that following the Holocaust, he must not be tempted by the offers of the JDC and HIAS to travel to America. As he put it one of the few times he broke the long silence that characterized his life: “The time had come to go home.” more

Our underlined phrase, “you shall judge your fellow with righteousness,” is found in the second of the two parshiot we read this Shabbat. As noted in Talmud Bavli, Shevuot 30a, one of the interpretations of this expression is the obligation to judge our fellow Jews in a favorable fashion: “Our Rabbis taught: ‘You shall judge your fellow with righteousness’ - judge your neighbor to the side of merit (Hevay dan et chaverchah l’kaf zechut).” more

The Hempstead Town Board members present at Town Hall on April 9 voted 5-1 in favor of a new redistricting map, which drew the ire of some residents there for the vote. The one dissenting vote on the plan was Councilman James Darcy’s, whose district lost part of the Five Towns area. more

Comments by two friends of mine concerning the link between the recently deceased former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher and the Jewish people prompts this week’s review; this time, a review of essays, not of books. more

Dear Friends: This is an open letter which concludes with a notice of cancellation of Sunday’s event at the Great Neck Synagogue. The synagogue, and particularly Rabbi Polakoff, merit a debt from American Jewry for an instinctive understanding of the need to awaken us all to a gathering storm. In the end, the pressure from left-wing Jews, deliberate media ignorance, “shtetl” mentality which informs that a problem goes away if you ignore / do not discuss it; and the resulting enormous cost burden for security and the fear engendered in our school kids’ parents - was simply too great a cost for the synagogue to bear. more

News of the approaching Gosnell trial began to appear on conservative websites in January, but as the gruesome proceedings entered its fourth week, much of the liberal media was ignoring the proceedings. more

Two soldiers, sporting sfira beards, standing guard at the Kotel on Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day in Israel. more