From IsraelVideoNetwork
Mosab Hassan Yousef is an
incredible example of someone who was able to break away from a
destructive, venomous society which had created its own set of truths
and norms, and look at reality from a different perspective. There are
very few people in the world that capable of doing that. Yet Yousef,
known by his cover name, “The Green Prince”, found himself reexamining
all of the axioms he had been taught by his father, Sheikh Hassan
Yousef, one of the founders of the Hamas. What makes Yousef unique is
that is he able and willing to come forward and state that he does not
oppose individual people, but he feels that Muslim society needs to
rethink its value system. That is what he did individually. “I’ve seen
death and I came from hell,” he explains. It is an incredibly courageous
thing to stand up against your own society’s basic beliefs, and a
equally as courageous to speak about it.
Yousef’s hope and
optimism for the Muslim People is utopian, but, having lived in that
world and gone through that exact journey himself, he is the one person
that can give us all the faith that things can change, and the desire to
work to make that hope a reality.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Thursday, May 26, 2016
What Is Lag Ba’Omer?
The 33rd day of the Omer is an occasion for happiness during an otherwise mournful period.
By Francine Klagsbrun for MyJewishLearning.com
Lag Ba’Omer is a minor holiday that occurs on the 33rd day of the Omer, the 49-day period between Passover and Shavuot. A break from the semi-mourning of the Omer, key aspects of Lag Ba’Omer include holding Jewish weddings (it’s the one day during the Omer when Jewish law permits them), lighting bonfires and haircuts.
Why We Celebrate
There are a few explanations why we celebrate Lag Ba’Omer, but none is definitive.
Continue reading.
Follow us on
Friday, May 20, 2016
White House screens ‘Rosenwald’ for Jewish American Heritage Month
The White House screened the documentary “Rosenwald,” about the Jewish philanthropist who worked with blacks to build schools throughout the South, to mark Jewish American Heritage Month.
More than a hundred invitees attended the screening Monday of the documentary about Julius Rosenwald at the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. Aviva Kempner, the Washington, D.C., documentarian who made a film about Jewish baseball Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, directed “Rosenwald.”
Speaking at the event was Valerie Jarrett, a top aide to President Barack Obama whose great-grandfather, Robert Robinson Taylor, designed the schools.
Continue reading.
Follow us on
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
An unexpected tale of unity and hope on Independence Day
When a stranger collapsed with heart failure at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, two Israelis rushed to help, one an Israeli Arab, the other an Israeli Jew – my husband.
By Nicky Blackburn, Israel21c
As Israelis took the lids off their foam sprays and silly string, and adorned themselves in blue and white to celebrate Independence Day, we stepped off a plane at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and began making our way towards baggage control for a four-day trip to the French capital.
Just a few hundred meters into the terminal, a woman came running down the ramp shrieking in panicked French. We had no idea what she was saying, but a moment later spotted a middle-aged man collapsed on the floor, with a small crowd of anxious people around him.
Continue reading.
Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on our
page.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Why Is the Left Silent About Gaza Tunnels?
The recent discovery of yet another Hamas tunnel from Gaza into Israel elicited shock and condemnation throughout the Jewish world.
Not.
Actually, though widely reported in Israel, and sporadically here in the United States, you could hear a pin drop in much of the progressive world, especially among those organizations pressing Israel to pursue peace with Palestine.
This deafening silence is a moral and political mistake.
Continue reading.
Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on our
page.
Friday, May 13, 2016
68 Reasons To Respect, If Not Love, Israel On Its 68th Birthday
This week, as Israel celebrates the 68th anniversary of its hard-won independence, it’s worth celebrating the unlikely success story of this embattled little country, amid all its imperfections.
Like other countries, Israel is a work in progress. Blemishes abound and Israelis are the first to criticize and question their own shortcomings: political corruption, a dysfunctional electoral system, the extortion and blackmail of the ultra-Orthodox parties, the rampant economic iniquities, the status of Israeli Arabs, the treatment of Ethiopian immigrants, the situation of Palestinians in the West Bank, the plight of African refugees. The problems are longstanding and a searing indictment of Israeli leadership.
But show me another country on the planet that, within such a relatively short time and against such daunting odds, has done what Israel has achieved since its inception in 1948. So, in honor of its birthday, here are 68 reasons to respect, if not always love, the world’s one and only Jewish country.
Continue reading.
Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on our
page.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
6 ways Israel is counting its blessings on Independence Day
By Ben Sales for MyJewishLearning.com
When Israel entered its 1948 War of Independence, the coastal city of Rishon Lezion was a hardscrabble settlement with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.
As waves of immigrants inundated Israel in its founding years, many were settled in temporary camps on Rishon Lezion’s sandy outskirts. The arrivals braved rainy winters in tents and subsisted on the national food rationing program, which limited Israeli consumption of eggs and meat.
Not seven decades later, Rishon Lezion is Israel’s fourth largest city, a bustling hub of nearly 250,000 freckled with malls.
Continue reading.
Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on our page.
A growing population, an even faster-growing economy, more cellphones per capita than the US, as well as more women in its parliament – plenty to celebrate at 68
When Israel entered its 1948 War of Independence, the coastal city of Rishon Lezion was a hardscrabble settlement with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.
As waves of immigrants inundated Israel in its founding years, many were settled in temporary camps on Rishon Lezion’s sandy outskirts. The arrivals braved rainy winters in tents and subsisted on the national food rationing program, which limited Israeli consumption of eggs and meat.
Not seven decades later, Rishon Lezion is Israel’s fourth largest city, a bustling hub of nearly 250,000 freckled with malls.
Continue reading.
Love Israel? We do too. Follow our Israel board on our
page.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Newly Unearthed Version of Elie Wiesel's Seminal Work Is a Scathing Indictment of God, Jewish World
Ofer Aderet for Haaretz
The 150-page work that historian Dr. Joel Rappel pulls off the shelves of his vast library is a difficult document to read. It’s not the handwriting that makes the task hard – it’s actually quite legible. The content – a searing indictment against God and anyone who believed in him during the Holocaust – is what causes the reader to shudder.
Continue reading.
Follow us on
In Wiesel’s uncensored Hebrew 'Night' manuscript, unveiled here for the first time, the author expresses desire to take revenge on the Hungarians, lashes out at fellow Jews and describes sexual scenes from the train to Auschwitz.
The 150-page work that historian Dr. Joel Rappel pulls off the shelves of his vast library is a difficult document to read. It’s not the handwriting that makes the task hard – it’s actually quite legible. The content – a searing indictment against God and anyone who believed in him during the Holocaust – is what causes the reader to shudder.
Continue reading.
Follow us on
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
The truth perfectly articulated by Melanie Phillips
Melanie Phillips is a British journalist, author and public commentator. She started on the left of the political spectrum, writing for The Guardian and New Statesman. During the 1990s she moved to the right, and currently writes for The Times, Jerusalem Post and Jewish Chronicle, covering political and social issues from a social conservative perspective. Phillips defines herself as a liberal who has "been mugged by reality."
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
On Israel, Springsteen’s guitarist outriffs Ken Livingstone
By David Horovitz for The Times of Israel
As someone who has loved Bruce Springsteen’s music for most of my life, whose soul is lifted by the passion and ambition in his songs, who has played his second, third and fourth albums more than any others and inflicted them upon my long-suffering children… and as a Zionist, I have always wondered what Bruce makes, if anything, of Israel. And I still do wonder.
As someone who has loved Bruce Springsteen’s music for most of my life, whose soul is lifted by the passion and ambition in his songs, who has played his second, third and fourth albums more than any others and inflicted them upon my long-suffering children… and as a Zionist, I have always wondered what Bruce makes, if anything, of Israel. And I still do wonder.
Continue reading.
Op-ed: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Labour’s ex-London mayor would have you believe it’s all Israel’s fault. But as Steven Van Zandt insists on Twitter, it’s complicated
As someone who has loved Bruce Springsteen’s music for most of my life, whose soul is lifted by the passion and ambition in his songs, who has played his second, third and fourth albums more than any others and inflicted them upon my long-suffering children… and as a Zionist, I have always wondered what Bruce makes, if anything, of Israel. And I still do wonder.
As someone who has loved Bruce Springsteen’s music for most of my life, whose soul is lifted by the passion and ambition in his songs, who has played his second, third and fourth albums more than any others and inflicted them upon my long-suffering children… and as a Zionist, I have always wondered what Bruce makes, if anything, of Israel. And I still do wonder.
Continue reading.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Rock legend Phil Lesh gathers musician friends for a Grateful Dead Passover
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (JTA) – “Why can’t we eat veggie burritos tonight? Will I be miracled? Will they play ‘The Wheel?’ Will Phil sing?”
These four additional questions were asked at a Passover seder this week that’s quickly becoming a new Bay Area tradition.
Fans of the legendary psychedelic band the Grateful Dead celebrated Passover for the third year in a row Wednesday night at Terrapin Crossroads, the Marin County club owned by the band’s bassist, Phil Lesh.
This was the first year that seders were held on consecutive nights, Tuesday and Wednesday. Tickets for both sold out within minutes; 150 guests attended each night.
Continue reading.
Follow us on
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)