Wednesday night and Thursday are Tisha B’Av – the day that marks many catastrophes that have befallen the Jewish people, most significantly the destruction of our Temples. It is a time of mourning. Tisha B’Av calls for contemplation, and this year is particularly difficult.  Not only for us, as a …

That was the title of a Broadway musical which first made it to the stage almost sixty years ago. This provocative title came into my mind now because of the current state of the world. I don’t really want to get off, my friends. I’m too much of a fighter …

What I am referring to – amongst the myriad of matters that might go “bust” – are the plans to apply Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judaea & Samaria now (emphasis added): “Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s plan to apply sovereignty over parts of Judaea and Samaria has been frozen …

So much, so much to deal with! Prime Minister Netanyahu had indicated on July 1 – the first date on which he would have been able to bring decisions about application of sovereignty in Judaea & Samaria to the Cabinet – that there would likely be news next week. But …

Today is the day on which Israel was to begin application of sovereignty. That is not going to happen today, and I will get to that below. ~~~~~~~~~~ But I have been tracking more than one unmitigated mess, and I want to first circle back briefly to that other enormous …

I am certain that many of you remember, earlier in June, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and some of her progressive fellow Democratic members of the House (notably including Chuck Schumer) knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds to protest the murder of George Floyd. What was particularly notable about …

I wrote last about my broken crystal ball, which makes it impossible for me to predict with reasonable accuracy what is likely to happen regarding application of sovereignty. My crystal ball is functioning no better today. But I’m not going to write here about what might happen, rather what should …

Actually, there are a terrifying number of things broken in this world right now. But what I have in mind at the moment is my crystal ball. Once upon a time I used to be able to predict how political matters were likely to play out here in Israel with …

My head is spinning, my friends, and it is likely that yours is as well. There is so much to address — yet we need to do triage, focusing on what is most important. In my last posting I wrote about the deplorable and frightening situation in the US and …

“This is a war against America… “Civilizations have to protect themselves…We are in a crisis in our country and have to decide if American civilization is worth protecting. If it is, we must do whatever it takes to put down the people who would destroy our country.” (Emphasis added) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdUNi6dnajY …

There is fog on two continents, actually. And unless we penetrate it, we are not able to comprehend what is going on. We begin with what is happening in the US. As an American citizen, born and raised in the US, I suffer with my American friends as reports come …

Anyone who reads my material regularly knows that I see God’s hand in the inception of the modern State of Israel and in her astounding development. It defies rational explanation. I mention this now because ‒ in spite of all our manifold blessings, and fantastic achievements, and the possibility of …

With all of the political angst and tension that we are struggling with these days, it’s easy to lose track of what is not only good but very special. Friday is Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day).  Coronavirus restrictions, although greatly modified now, are still in effect with respect to crowds. And …

It’s official. Israel’s 35th government was sworn in on Sunday after a full 500 days of angst that included three elections and the problems of an interim government. The Knesset approved the new government by a vote of 73 to 46. People are celebrating the fact that a fourth election …

In the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday, a unit from the elite Golani Brigade had gone into the village of Ya’abad in the northwestern Shomron, to secure the arrest of members of a terror cell. The mission had been accomplished and the unit was preparing to leave. Staff Sergeant Amit Ben …

It appears that we are a “go” for the unity government.  For now: I have yet to speak with anyone who believes that the new government will last anything near its full term. —– Last Thursday, the High Court – in a unanimous vote by the expanded panel of 11 …

The “mess” I am referring to is the electoral situation, and, quite frankly, I do not see the possibility of unscrambling it and making reasonable sense of the situation. This comes as an interim report, setting out the relevant parameters; final resolution is expected by the end of this week. …

How strange this time is for us here in Israel. Along with a good deal of the world, we’ve coped with the restrictions required because of coronavirus: the social distancing and isolation, the avoidance of public gatherings. And we have coped quite well. Ah, but now it is quite a …

Today we mark a momentous historical event that is not sufficiently recognized: Following WWI, the victorious Allied powers met to determine the allocation of territory that had been captured from a defeated Ottoman Empire. The first meeting, held in London in February 1920, established, among other matters, that Palestine would …

The number of issues calling for our attention has been overwhelming and so little offers clarity. Yesterday was Yom Hashoah Ve’HaGevurah – Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and the Heroism. This date was picked because it marks the anniversary of the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, an historic interval …