by Rabbi Dov Heller, M.A.
It starts with getting rid of the entitlement attitude, which puts one's ",rights", ahead of everything else.
What in life do you feel is coming to you? Health? A good job? Children? A peaceful retirement? Check yourself out.
If you're like me, you probably have a whole list of things you feel entitled to, and if you don't get them, you feel cheated. If you are unable to take a vacation or buy the home you've dreamed of, then life has robbed you of something you are entitled to!
We live in a society that feeds an entitlement attitude. Compare the Bill of Rights, which focuses on our entitlements, to the Torah, which focuses on our responsibilities and obligations.
LIFE OWES US NOTHING
The entitlement attitude says, "life owes me something," or "people owe me something," or "God owes me something."
You know if you're into entitlement because the result leaves you constantly feeling angry, resentful, or frustrated. If you believe that someone owes you something and that person doesn't come through, you feel angry. You feel you've been ripped-off and cheated out of what I rightly deserve.
But entitlement is a lie. It's a ...   more »

By HAVIV RETTIG
Yonatan Stern, the "Sgan Mefaked Hakita" (deputy squad commander) of Kitat Konenut New York, insists his "paramilitary emergency armed response team" is no "group of vigilantes or a JDL [Jewish Defense League]."
"The goal of the organization is to have a competent and professional group of armed volunteers ready to respond to a threat at a moment's notice in any area where Jews reside," explains the Israeli combat veteran.
"We do not carry out demonstrations or political activity of any kind as we have no political agenda. Our agenda is to protect Jews wherever and whenever necessary and by any means needed."
On Friday, the third session of the group's training camp will begin in the Catskills woodlands of upstate New York, on land belonging to a Jewish supporter of the organization. With tuition at $400, the group expects 15 participants and five instructors for the 10 days of training. Participation has doubled since the group began three years ago.
Kitat Konenut New York is modeled on the rapid response teams in the West Bank settlements that are often the first to act when terrorist attacks or other emergencies take place. The group bills itself as religious-Zionist ...   more »

Gil Hoffman
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is seriously considering quitting the premiership following the mid-September Kadima leadership race if the winner can form a new government, Channel 1 diplomatic correspondent Ayala Hasson reported Friday.
Olmert told Hebrew newspapers in stories published Friday that he had not even started thinking about whether he should run in the primary, let alone about what to do if someone else won. But in the interviews, in which he lashed out at law enforcement authorities, he made clear that he understood that his political fate had already been decided in the court of public opinion.
Kadima's election committee, headed by retired judge Dan Arbel, will meet this week to choose a date for the primary between September 14 and 18. The committee will also set a deadline a month before that for candidates to join the race.
Should Olmert decide not to run, he would already be considered a lame duck, even though he could remain prime minister until after a spring 2009 general election if the winner of the Kadima race in September is unable to form a new government.
Original Source
   more »

Herb Keinon
The government needs to take a hard look at the situation in the Gaza Strip, because if it doesn't, it will have to ask itself five years from now how it allowed the situation there to get out of hand, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet Sunday.
Olmert's comments came during a discussion about the calm in the Gaza Strip, whether it was holding, and how Israeli should respond to Palestinian infractions.
Olmert said he would hold a security cabinet meeting on the situation in Gaza, because the calm was enabling Hamas to build itself up and creating a "problematic" reality.
Just as the situation in the North was not as bad as some people believed it was, Olmert said, so the situation in the South was not as good as some would have the ministers believe.
He told the ministers that the arms-smuggling from Sinai into the Gaza Strip continued, and that Palestinians had fired on Israeli communities in the western Negev since the calm went into effect last month. The security cabinet needed to meet and discuss how to deal with the situation, he said.
Original Source
   more »

Transportation minister warns of new trend of attacks in capital, recommends change in policy including demolition of homes, deportation of terrorists' families. Vice Premier Ramon contradicts him, says solution is placing Arab villages east of fence
Attila Somfalvi
Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said during Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting that Jerusalem was fast becoming "a terror hub".  
His remarks referred to the second bulldozer attack that had taken place in the capital, and he said the increasing terror would require "a change in policies".  
Bulldozer Attack  
Bulldozer driver a relative of Hamas lawmaker  / Ali Waked   
Man who carried out Jerusalem attack named as Ghasan Abu-Tir of east Jerusalem. His relative, Palestinian Parliament member Muhammad Abu-Tir, is jailed in Israel  
Original Source
   more »