by Rabbi Ari Kahn
In an apartment in Jerusalem, there reside two Scrolls of Esther that tell a story of exile and escape, hope and failure.
For as long as I can remember my parents have had two Megilot Esther in their home. Neither was new, but one was far older than the other. Of course, the newer one was easier to use and read; it was beautiful with large clear letters. It was the one we used almost every year to follow the reading of the Megila in Shul. The other one was older with some letters a bit blurred. The old parchment didn't always obey the reader and tried to roll up of its own accord. But aside from the words written on it, this Megila had another fascinating story to tell: It was the Megila of my great grandfather - my father's father's father.
My grandfather left Europe during World War I. He spent some time in Germany and eventually made his way to the U.S. where he was married in 1923. He married the daughter of a great Rabbi, the former Rabbi of Riminov, who had emigrated to the lower Eastside of Manhattan. My grandparents had ...   more »

Sderot is a ghost town. The streets are empty; the parks are barren; the stores are closed, and for sale signs are on some of the homes. Only ‘some’ of the homes because many residents are resigned to the notion expressed to them by representatives of the government of Israel, that in the near future there is no solution to the constant barrage of Kassams which have plagued the city for the past six years. So why bother putting up a for sale sign? Who’s going to buy? Those who couldn’t stand it and managed to sell did so with a loss of 30-40 percent of what they paid. Sderot is in trouble.
Sderot is a beautiful city, with lots of trees, parks, and some magnificent homes; it was created as a peaceful alternative to the cities of Beer Sheva and Ashkelon, with the air of small town permeating the roads and market places. People who came there had high hopes, big dreams. Now, those dreams have turned into nightmares, as families are paralyzed by their socioeconomic condition and their feelings of abandonment from those who should have been with them on the front lines.
A city of 25,000, it ...   more »

TEL AVIV – Israel this week conducted military training exercises in a Palestinian city for a possible war scenario against Syria or Iran, top Palestinian intelligence officials claimed to WND.
The Israeli government denied the claim.
The Israel Defense Forces today completed a week-long, large-scale operation in Nablus, the largest West Bank Arab city. The operation, codenamed "Hot Winter," utilized four IDF battalions, reservists and border police guards and purportedly was aimed at arresting top wanted terror leaders in the city.
Nablus is a stronghold of several major Palestinian terror organizations, most notably the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The Brigades and Islamic Jihad are responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel the past two years.
During the large operation, the IDF did not arrest any top terror suspects, but the army said it found three weapons factories as well as an arms cache.
One top Palestinian intelligence official said he found the operation "unusual" in that it involved a rotation of Israeli forces and "didn't achieve anything militarily as far as fighting terrorism."
"On the ground you had a massive number of soldiers ...   more »

   more »

By Caroline B. Glick      
| With the Bush administration now happily basking in the glory of positive coverage in The New York Times and enjoying the warm embrace of the James Baker/Brent Scowcroft wing of the Republican Party, it is hard to imagine that it will reconsider its decision to abandon the Bush Doctrine. That doctrine, named after President George W. Bush and most forcefully enunciated by him, eschewed appeasement of terror supporting, weapons of mass destruction proliferating enemies of the free world.
Today, what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refers to as a "diplomatic initiative" aimed at appeasing terror supporting, and weapons of mass destruction proliferating Iran, and its terror supporting, and weapons of mass destruction proliferating Syrian colony is about to take off in Baghdad. So too, this week the US began normalizing its relations with the terror supporting, weapons of mass destruction proliferating Stalinist dictatorship in Pyongyang.
Bush's traditional opponents are beside themselves with glee.
With regard to North Korea, these opponents are quick to note that there has always been great uncertainty about the level to which Kim Jung Il has advanced in his illicit uranium enrichment program. With regard to Iran, in an interview ...   more »