Barbara Bensoussan
When Shakespeare wrote that April is the cruelest month, he sure knew what he was talking about.
In New York, where I live, April showers have less to do with rain than with showers of bills. To begin with, April is the month the IRS expects us to battle with our tax forms (or at least make sure the accountant struggles through them), and then—even worse—grit our teeth and shell out what’s due. On top of that, around April the children’s yeshivas send out letters demanding a few hundred dollars’ worth of registration fees per kid for the coming year—but until you pay up that back tuition, don’t even think about next year!
The summer camps then send letters asking for fat deposits to hold slots for your precious darlings (the grim alternative being to keep them home with you all summer). Your children’s shoes have been destroyed by the winter’s snow and salt and they’ll be needing warm-weather clothing any moment. And Pesach is just around the corner with matzoh at fifteen dollars a pound, and your husband reminding you that last year twenty-five pounds were not enough and you had to go borrow from the neighbors....   more »

By Ran Shapira, Haaretz Correspondent   
Tags: Joseph, Archaeology  
The remains of a burnt beetle found in a grain of wheat about 3,500 years old provided a group of researchers from Bar-Ilan University with a key to a question the Bible left without a definite answer: How did Joseph the Dreamer, who became the viceroy to the king of Egypt, succeed in preserving the grain during the seven lean years and prevent Egypt's population from starving?
According to the description in the book of Genesis, during the seven years of plenty in Egypt, Joseph had all the wheat collected in silos. "And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; the food of
the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number" (Genesis 41, 48-49).   
The stores of wheat and barley served the inhabitants of Egypt during the period of drought and hunger that followed. But how did Joseph and the people of Egypt ...   more »

By SARAH EL DEEB 
JERUSALEM (AP) - Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers exchanged blows at one of Christianity's holiest shrines on Orthodox Palm Sunday, and used palm fronds to pummel police who tried to break up the brawl.
The fight came amid growing rivalry over religious rights at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site in Jerusalem where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected.
It erupted when Armenian clergy kicked out a Greek priest from their midst, pushed him to the ground and kicked him, according to witnesses.
When police intervened, some worshippers hit them with the palm fronds they were holding for the religious holiday. The Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Armenians and Greek Orthodox, follow a different calendar from Western Christians and celebrate Easter next Sunday.
Two Armenian worshippers who attacked the Greek Orthodox clergy were briefly detained by Israeli police. Scores of Armenian supporters then protested outside the police station during the questioning of the two, beating drums and chanting.
The Holy Sepulcher is shared by several Christian denominations according to a centuries-old arrangement known as the "status quo."
Each denomination jealously guards its share of the basilica, and fights ...   more »

New museum with Temple replica to be erected opposite Western Wall. Project’s sponsors include actors Kirk, Michael Douglas
Ofer Petersburg
A grandiose museum featuring an elaborated massive replica of the Temple is currently being erected opposite the Western Wall.  
The three-storey museum, whose construction is valued at nearly $20 million will be erected in the Aish HaTorah ("Fire of the Torah") Yeshiva complex. The museum will feature a journey through Jewish history, from the days of Abraham to the present, emphasizing the message and significance of the Jewish people’s presence in the Land of Israel and their degree of accomplishment in world improvement.
Time to Renew  
Western Wall stones crumbling  / Nissan Straukler
Stones added to top of wall in 19th century show concerning signs of disintegration. 'Renovations will be done with cooperation of Israel Antiquities Authority, in accordance to Jewish law,' says Western Wall rabbi     
Rabbi Yehuda Weinberg, in charge of the project’s establishment, told Yedioth Ahronoth Wednesday: "We are not taking a political stance," and added that the museum is also being sponsored by Canadian tycoon, Leslie Dan, a shareholder in Teva pharmaceutical Industries.  
In addition to the great lavish interior, the museum’s crowning ...   more »

Jordan's King Abdullah is expected to advise US President George W. Bush to postpone or cancel his upcoming visit to the Middle East, diplomatic sources in Amman told the London-based daily Al-Hayat on Tuesday.
According to the report, Abdullah is expected to meet with Bush in Washington before his upcoming visit to the Middle East and to deliver a message from the moderate Arab states. He will ask the US president to cancel his visit to the region "if there is not an agreement of principles between Israel and the Palestinians on the horizon." A source from the king's bureau told Al-Hayat that Abdullah's one-day visit to Washington comes in the framework of Arab countries' efforts to advance the peace process in the area.
The king will ask Bush to confirm, before he arrives in the Middle East, whether or not Israel is ready to sign a peace agreement before the end of the year, to do away with the Gaza blockage and to cease settlement expansion, the report said.
Original Source
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Says she would respond if Tehran
attacks Israel with nuclear weapons
Sen. Hillary Clinton
As Pennsylvania voters go to the polls in a primary widely regarded as do-or-die for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the New York Democrat apparently is positioning herself to the right of some Republicans, vowing that if Iran attacks Israel with nuclear weapons, she would respond in kind against Tehran, with the ability to "totally obliterate them."
Clinton's remarks came during an interview airing tomorrow morning on the ABC News show, "Good Morning America."
ABC's Chris Cuomo asked Clinton what she would do if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons, according to the network.
"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."
On the floor of the Senate on Feb. 14, 2007, Clinton stated, "If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary, the president must come to Congress to seek that authority."
As WND reported, Clinton offered a new defense doctrine during the Democratic presidential debate in ...   more »

By Caroline B. Glick      
| Speaking in February of the man she knows better than anyone else does, Michelle Obama said that her husband, Illinois Senator and candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination Barack Obama, is the only candidate for president who understands that before America can solve its problems, Americans have to fix their "broken souls."
She also said that her husband's unique understanding of the state of souls of the American people makes him uniquely qualified to be President. Obama can do what his opponent in the Democratic race Senator Hillary Clinton, and Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, cannot do. He can heal his countrymen's broken souls. He will redeem them.
But then, saving souls is hard work, and Mrs. Obama won't place the whole burden on her husband. He'll make the Americans work for him. As she put it, "Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zone. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you ...   more »