Rabbi Leiby Burnham
What is unique about sheep? They play a prominent role in the Pesach story and its commemorative commandments. Starting back in Egypt, G-d tells Moshe that each Jewish family should take a sheep and keep it in their care for four days before offering it as a sacrifice on the night of the Exodus. The blood of that sheep was what delineated a Jewish home from an Egyptian home, and was the symbol that G-d should “Pass over” that home while exacting vengeance on the Egyptian tormentors. That sheep’s blood indicated a difference between the house of a Jew and the house of his neighbor.
Throughout the periods of the Temple, every Jewish family traveled to Jerusalem and brought animals from the sheep family (artiodactyla bovidae in case you were wondering) as a Pesach offering, reliving the experience of our forefathers in Egypt. Even in 2008, while we sit at our seders, the roasted shank-bone on the seder plate is there to remind us of the sheep that were used as Pesach offerings. What is it about the sheep that is so central to the Pesach experience?
Even before the sheep was brought by the Jews as ...   more »

Justice in Israel
Important Legal Victory
In a landmark decision today, the Supreme Court of Israel ratified a settlement between twelve Messianic Jewish believers and the State of Israel, which states that being a Messianic Jew does not prevent one from receiving citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return or the Law of Citizenship, if one is a descendent of Jews on one's father's side (and thus not Jewish according to halacha).
This Supreme Court decision brought an end to a legal battle that has carried on for two and a half years. The applicants were represented by Yuval Grayevsky and Calev Myers from the offices of Yehuda Raveh & Co., and their legal costs were subsidized by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.
All twelve of the applicants were denied citizenship solely based on grounds that they belong to the Messianic Jewish community. Most of them received letters stating that they would not receive citizenship because they "commit missionary activity". One of the applicants was told by a clerk at the Ministry of Interior that because she "committed missionary activity", she is "acting against the interests of the State of Israel and against the Jewish people". These allegations are ...   more »

Hon. Harry S. Truman                                                                                          Fort Worth, Texas        
                                                                                                                               Oct. 2, 1947      
                                                                                                                      
President United States
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. President:
Mr. Matthew J. Connelly wired me New York October 1st and suggested that I write you certain matters of my trip to Palestine.
First, I want to thank you for your very kind personal letter of August 5th, which was of invaluable assistance in all my travels.
I have given extensive study to the Jewish Palestinian question. The issue is whether we will take the authority of the Bible of our mothers or the Koran with the sword and flame.
In that whole controversy the big issue is who owns the land, who has the title to that land? If that question is settled there is no other question.
The Lord God Almighty in Genesis the 17th chapter, specifically states that the title to Palestine is given not to Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arabs, but to Isaac and his seed for ever.
“And God said, Sarah thy wife ...   more »

Eli Yishai
For millions of people, Jerusalem is the ID card of the Jewish people, and renouncing parts of it means blurring this ID. I regret to see people who fail to grasp Jerusalem’s value. I ask them: Why do you think that those who are engaged in diplomatic negotiations with us, either as dialogue partners or as mediators, are pressing us to renounce it? Are we dealing with territorial distress on the other side in this respect? The answer is of course no.  
The growing pressure on Israeli negotiators in all matters pertaining to the Jerusalem question attest to the declarative value attributed by the Palestinians to getting it. Our public conduct in relation to the diplomatic negotiations is what gives rise to this pressure on us. The Palestinian demand for Jerusalem shows us the added value of the Jewish people’s eternal capital.  
Every time I attempt to find logic in perceptions that in one way or another espouse the division of Jerusalem, I become agitated. The Shas movement backs peace, on condition that it will be genuine peace. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef even ruled more than 30 years ago that when we are engaged in a genuine ...   more »

Original Source Israeli scientists have germinated a sapling from a date palm seed that is nearly 2,000 years old! “We are interested in preserving very valuable species in the Middle East,” Dr. Sarah Sallon, who heads the project, told israel today.
“Some of them are extinct but may be able to be resurrected.” Sallon, who works at the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Research Center in Jerusalem, said it is the oldest seed ever brought back to life. Until now, the oldest specie to be revived came from a 1,200-year-old lotus seed that was germinated in China.
The palm seed was found at the historic fortress of Masada near the Dead Sea, where 960 Jewish zealots chose suicide over capture by the Romans in 73 A.D. “We managed to get a few of these seeds, and we planted them, and some six or seven weeks later a bud appeared,” said Sallon.
The sapling is now about 14 inches (36 centimeters) tall. If it survives, the team hopes to revive the Judean date palm praised in the Bible. “In antiquity, there was a very famous date of ancient Israel,” Sallon said. “It was one of the most important exports of ancient Israel, ...   more »

Syria sees war with Israel as a real possibility, and is preparing for such an event, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Wednesday to Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar. Nevertheless, he said that the likelihood of war with Israel breaking out is low under the current circumstances.
Speaking to a group of Arab intellectuals, the Syrian president added that whilst war was not a preferable option, "if Israel declares war on Lebanon and Syria or if America declares war on Iran," Damascus will be prepared.
"We must keep American interest in mind," continued Assad. "In the last Lebanon war it was evident that Israel wanted to pull out at a specific time, however the American government forced them to continue."
He added that "we know there is someone in the American government who is interested in this war, and we are preparing for it."
In contrast, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that Israel and Syria have been exchanging messages to clarify expectations of any future peace treaty. "They know what we want from them, and I know full well what they want from us," he told Ma'ariv.
Olmert did not disclose the content of the messages or provide other details about the ...   more »

Syrian president says that while he believes chances for armed conflict with Israel are low, his country is preparing for worst. 'We know that there are those in the US administration that want this war,' he states Roee Nahmias
Syria is preparing for a possible war with Israel, but believes that the prospects for such a conflict are slim, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Wednesday, according to Syrian news agency SANA.  
War Looming?    
Syria has recently boosted its forces on the border with Israel, fearing that a Hizbullah retaliatory attack against Israeli targets for Imad Mugniyah's death may lead to a military escalation in the region.  Speaking at a conference in Damascus, Assad said that the recent war with Lebanon has made Israel less assured of its existence in the Middle East.  
"None of us can rule out the option of war, but it is arguable whether Israel will launch war against Lebanon or Syria, or whether the United States will launch a war against Iran.  
"We should analyze the situation from the perspective of American interests, because the last war in Lebanon has shown that at some point Israel wanted to stop the fighting, but ...   more »