Our system of Western values teaches that if we sit down and negotiate, we can find a solution that is best for everyone. We will compromise if necessary and resolve our differences. That’s the idea behind the United Nations, of course: Providing a forum for reasoned, calm discussion to solve the problems of a region […]
A few years ago, a woman from Switzerland sent us a request for prayer because her dog was lost. It was an unusual request, but I understood that people love their pets. I am sure we prayed the woman would find her dog. She had put up posters in her neighborhood. I also remember a […]
On a Saturday morning in 1983 during a European lecture tour, my father and I visited the large synagogue at Reichenbach Strasse 27 in Munich. The Haftarah passage from the prophets, which was read in synagogues worldwide on that Shabbat (Sabbath), included the following verses: “For a brief moment have I forsaken you, but with […]
When current US Vice President Kamala Harris met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington in July, the meeting did not go well. Trying to rebrand herself as a strident candidate, Harris berated Netanyahu about Israel’s harsh military campaign in Gaza, the high casualty rate, and the widespread hunger. She is wrong on each point, […]
“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man” (Ps. 118:8). If, by the grace of God, you have lived nearly 100 years (94 to be exact), despite having survived Holocaust murders in your family, you have, unsurprisingly, experienced many important events. Some people will say, “That’s how it was […]
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isai. 5:20). In the spectrum of claims, counterclaims and outright lies regarding the war in Gaza, truth has become the first victim. Some things, however, we can […]
It’s ironic. The news media in general portray Israel, its leaders and occasionally even its population as intransigent, unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve peace between Israel and its neighbors, the Palestinian Arabs. Some world leaders have dared to suggest Israelis should elect other leadership, implying all Israelis share responsibility for the alleged […]
On the night of April 13-14, Iran attacked Israel directly for the first time, assisted by Houthi terrorists in Yemen, Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon, and accomplices in Iraq and Syria. It fired 120 drones, 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles timed to arrive in Israel at the same time in order to overwhelm Israel’s […]
Whiling away interminably long hours lying in a hospital bed will drive anyone stir-crazy. The chatter of hospital staff becomes a blur and, even when there’s a television present in the room, it all becomes tedious. Recently, I visited someone during their week-long hospital stay here in Jerusalem. While there, I saw something wonderful which […]
The Psalmist David wrote, “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord” (144:15). It’s rather strange, isn’t it? Israel is a tiny nation half the size of Switzerland with a population smaller than London, England, or Tehran, Iran. It is surrounded by enemies who are threatening its extermination “from the river to the sea.” […]