Baseless Hatred, Tisha B’Av, and the Gaza War

By Jonathan Katz August 5, 2014

During the Nine Days preceding Tisha B’Av, the 25-hour fast commemorating the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem,we reflect on baseless hatred (sinat chinam). The Talmud teaches us that it was the baseless hatred among the people Israel that partially brought about the destruction of the Second Temple. (Along with, you know, high-level political drama…

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Presbyterian Divestment Works, Israel Stands Down, Palestine Goes Free

By Derek M. Kwait July 9, 2014

July 6, 2014: The recent decision of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to divest from three companies, Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola, it sees as playing an instrumental role in Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, has succeeded beyond the church’s wildest expectations, ending the occupation and bringing about peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians mere weeks…

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Challenging “The J Street Challenge” (or, Why I Didn’t Go To AIPAC This Year)

By Amram Altzman March 17, 2014

I am an American. I am neither an Israeli, nor am I a Palestinian. However, I am a Jew, and a pro-Israel American, who lives in a country which has strong, positive relations with Israel. As a Zionist, I see it as my job to defend Israel as a Jewish State, and that means protecting…

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Israel Aid Mission: First-Responders in Terror Zone

By Stacey R. Hamman December 3, 2012

Jerusalem, ISRAEL — Life-threatening terror ripped into Israeli skies two weeks ago, sweeping sleep from the eyes of an elderly resident of Moshav Even Shmuel and paralyzing his heart. A 2 a.m. siren wail and the nearby explosion of a Hamas-fired grad missile triggered a heart attack that might have listed Mordechai among the fatalities…

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Not a Normal Day

By Eliana Glogauer November 19, 2012

“Beep… beep… beep… beep.” It is 9.00 am on a Sunday morning, and apparently my week is about to start the same way that any other week starts – with a mad dash to get out the door and to campus on time for my first class of the week at IDC Herzliya. Forty minutes…

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15 seconds in Sderot [MASA]

By awasserman March 14, 2012

What can you do in 15 seconds? You can listen to the intro of a song, or take a sip of your soda. You can scan the morning headlines, kiss your loved ones good bye. Or, you could live in Sderot, and in 15 seconds you can watch your whole world fall apart. Sderot is…

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