by Daniel Eisenberg, M.D.
Do we own our bodies, or are they only on loan?
Question: How does Judaism approach the relationship of the individual to his/her body? How much control does one have and what are one's obligations?
Answer: While the culture in the United States has swung toward patient autonomy over the past few decades, Judaism retains a markedly paternalistic view of medicine. The Torah states that the human body was created Bi'tzelem Elokim, in the image of God, and is the property of the Creator. Man is given custodial rights to his body, and has no more right to harm or destroy his body than the superintendent has to ransack the building he is hired to maintain.
This simple concept has applications in all facets of medicine. The Torah forbids tattooing because it permanently mars the body, akin to graffiti on a magnificent building (Leviticus, 19:28). Piercing of earlobes is permitted because it is not a permanent change and will heal if the posts are not continuously kept in place. Aesthetics aside, presumably any other body part may be pierced if the effects are not permanent. We see in the Torah that Rivka wore a nose-ring!
Suicide ...   more »

 by Ed Lasky
The ascent of Barack Obama from state senator in Illinois to a leading contender for the Presidential nomination in the span of just a few years is remarkable. Especially, in light of a noticeably unremarkable record -- a near-blank slate of few accomplishments and numerous missed votes.
However, in one area of foreign policy that concerns millions of Americans, he does have a record and it is a particularly troubling one. For all supporters of the America-Israel relationship there is enough information beyond the glare of the klieg lights to give one pause. In contrast to his canned speeches filled with "poetry" and uplifting aphorisms and delivered in a commanding way, behind the campaign façade lies a disquieting pattern of behavior.
One seemingly consistent theme running throughout Barack Obama's career is his comfort with aligning himself with people who are anti-Israel advocates. This ease around Israel animus has taken various forms. As Obama has continued his political ascent, he has moved up the prestige scale in terms of his associates. Early on in his career he chose a church headed by a former Black Muslim who is a harsh anti-Israel advocate and who may be seen as ...   more »

'I'm not aware of the president having been asked that question'
The Bush administration apparently hasn't given consideration to the Jewish refugees who were displaced from Arab nations when Israel was launched as a nation six decades ago, according to a White House spokesman.
The question came up as a result of Bush's trip to the Middle East, and a Washington Post report that the president was lobbying for compensation for the Palestinian refugees who lost homes or property.
Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House, raised the issue.
"The top of page one of The Washington Post reported from Jerusalem the president saying that Palestinian refugees in 1948 should receive compensation for loss of homes, when they fled or were forced to flee during the establishment of the state of the Israel. And my question: Is there any record of anyone asking the president about the 870,000 Jews who at that time were forcibly expelled from their homes in  "I'm not aware of the president having been asked that question," answered spokesman Tony Fratto.
"And do you have an answer to it, since I'm raising it?" Kinsolving continued.
"I'm not aware of the – you asked if I ...   more »

By Jonathan Tobin      
Bush and Rice are deluded, but the decision to push ahead on talks remains Israel's
If you believe the opinion polls — and there's no reason not to — George W. Bush doesn't have many fans. And last week, the dwindling number of Bush loyalists got a bit smaller.
For the majority of American Jews who are Democrats, nothing — not even Bush's first visit as president to Israel — was bound to win him much applause.
Despite the opposition to the Iraq war and bitterness that dates back to the 2000 election, the president has still been able to fall back on his reputation as the best friend Israel has had in the White House, a tag that was earned via steadfast support for the Jewish State during the worst of the second intifada and the 2005 fight against Hezbollah along the country's northern border.
But the Bush trip to Jerusalem last week did not result in general hosannas from the pro-Israel community. Indeed, for many of his most steadfast backers in this sector, the rhetoric coming out of the presidential party was nothing short of a disaster.
THE OLD RULEBOOK
The decision to press ...   more »

It is difficult to understand the caldron of the Middle East without first studying the remarkable prophecies found in the book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was among the captives with King Jehoiachin in the second of three deportations under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He mentions Daniel three times, who had been in Babylon nine years before Ezekiel arrived. Ezekiel ministered, as did Jeremiah, to a nation experiencing judgment for their sins. In his captivity he lived at the River Chebar, which was the great ship canal branching off from the Euphrates above Babylon and turning through Nippur to the Tigris. This was the primary settlement location of the Jewish captives.
Ezekiel was born in approximately 627 B.C. and lived in a time of moral decline, distress and uprooting. His messages were not well received at first, but did ultimately result in the nation being purged of idolatrous practices. He was married and owned his home. His wife died during his ministry, and he was forbidden to mourn her.
We also learn that God intended his life to be a series of signs to Israel; therefore, he does all kinds of strange things. He shuts himself up in his home. He binds ...   more »

The now-infamous National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear intentions has prompted some to write off the Iranian threat. The NIE report appears to represent a surprising about-face in the US intelligence community's interpretation of the facts. However in reality the portion of the report that is available to the public (only about 4 pages of analysis, the remaining 140 pages are still classified) is so narrow in scope that its conclusions are fundamentally flawed. So much so that even the IAEA (which is no friend of the Bush administration) has contradicted its findings. It disregards many important facts and prompts more questions than it provides answers. The report represents the lowest common denominator in the combined opinions of 16 different government agencies, as a result it is too watered-down and bureaucratic to be of any real value. Furthermore, most of what the public has heard has been taken out of context and distorted by the press.
While the NIE report has confused some, embarrassed others, undermined negotiations, and caused a something of a furor in the press, it seems Israel is unfazed. There is no doubt in the minds of Israel's leaders that Iran poses a serious threat to the ...   more »

By Mark Drajem
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese exporters, facing a U.S. backlash over tainted food products, are turning to an unlikely group of inspectors to help clean up their act: Jewish rabbis.
Kosher certifications by rabbis have doubled to more than 300 in China in the past two years, according to the Orthodox Union, a New York-based organization that does inspections. The group expects thousands more plants to get certified in the next few years, covering everything from spices and chemical additives to frozen berries, sliced garlic and beef.
Chinese exporters, eager to gain access to the $11.5 billion U.S. kosher market, had already begun seeking the certifications before the uproar over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and pet food began last year. Now, after a rush of recalls, the rabbis say the companies are paying for the inspections to ease growing concern among U.S. consumers about imports from China.
``When we certify a product, consumers know there is another pair of eyes'' on it, said Mordechai Grunberg, an American rabbi whose seven-member team examines Chinese factories, scans company books, and even drops in for surprise inspections to ensure the biblical dietary laws are followed.
The surge of kosher certifications hasn't ...   more »

When it comes to politics, pastors and churches should just shut up.
That's the message many liberal watchdog groups hope will resonate with churches during this election season.
In fact, in Iowa a few weeks ago, pastors who were supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential bid received two ominous warning letters asserting that their involvement in the state primary could jeopardize the tax-exempt status of their churches.
One of the letters actually stated that pastors could be prosecuted and thrown in the "slammer" for supporting Huckabee, while the other letter alleged that the IRS was searching for churches that were illegally backing candidates.
These letters were completely groundless and simply designed to intimidate pastors into unnecessary silence.
And while such threats are "baseless," says Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law, "they do illustrate the increasing role that pastors play in politics and the attempts by some to silence them."
Liberty Counsel has, for years, been working to instruct pastors of their rights in terms of political action and outreach.
Mr. Staver says that history does not support the baseless threats often hurled against pastors and churches.
Since 1934, he notes ...   more »

Gun owners warn White House opinion
paves way for 'reasonable' firearm ban  
WEAPONS OF CHOICE
National firearms ban 'reasonable'?
Gun owners warn arguments endanger Second Amendment
By Bob Unruh 
A Second Amendment advocacy organization is asking the Bush administration to withdraw a legal brief that leaders fear could be used to support "any gun ban – no matter how sweeping," as long as some court somewhere determines it is "reasonable."
The concern comes from Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, whose group is pleading with the Bush administration to withdraw an anti-gun brief filed by the U.S. Solicitor General in a Supreme Court case regarding a District of Columbia ban on handguns.
Paul Clement
The document from U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement noted since "unrestricted" private ownership of guns clearly threatens the public safety, the Second Amendment can be interpreted to allow a variety of gun restrictions.
His brief suggests gun rights are limited and since they are subject to "reasonable regulation," all gun limits imposed by the federal government should be affirmed as constitutional.
"Given the unquestionable threat to public safety that unrestricted private firearm possession would entail, various categories of firearm-related regulation are ...   more »

By Patrick J. Buchanan
Since it began to give credit ratings to nations in 1917, Moody's has
rated the United States triple-A. U.S. Treasury bonds have been seen as
the most secure investment on earth. When crises erupt, nervous money seeks out the world's great safe harbor, the United States. That
reputation is now in peril.
Last week, Moody's warned that if the United States fails to rein in the
soaring cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the nation's
credit rating will be down-graded within a decade.
Our political parties seem oblivious. Republicans, save Ron Paul, are
all promising to expand the U.S. military and maintain all of our
worldwide commitments to defend and subsidize scores of nations.
Democrats, with entitlement costs drowning the federal budget in red
ink, are proposing a new entitlement - universal health coverage for the
near 50 million who do not have it - another magnet for illegal aliens.
Moody's is telling America it needs a time of austerity, while the U.S.
government is behaving like the governments we used to bail out.
California has already hit the wall. With an economy as large as a G-8
nation, the Golden State is looking at ...   more »

The headlines are kind of alarming these days.
Old forgotten diseases are suddenly making a comeback. And new strains of old plagues are deadlier than anything previously seen.
You've heard of AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Is America's immune system under attack?
The latest news out of San Francisco is not good.
A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among homosexual men during sex.
Does this sound familiar? Shades of the 1980s?
Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.
According to a study done at the University of California, San Francisco, homosexual men are 13 times more likely to contract the disease, which is documented to spread in skin-to-skin contact.
(Column continues below)
That means it could easily spread to the general population. When it does, the results could be cataclysmic.
"Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable," explains Binh Diep, the researcher who led the study.
While AIDS disproportionately affected intravenous drug users, hemophiliacs and, of course, homosexual men practicing their own special brand of risky and unnatural acts, it ...   more »

"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." – Matthew 26:41 KJV
If God is everywhere, why do so few people seem to be able to find Him?
By "find Him," I don't mean just clinging to a vague notion that God exists, but rather, experiencing an intimate, moment-to-moment flow of understanding, guidance, and the special energy called "grace," coming directly from Him to us.
After all, not only is God omnipresent, but we're told His greatest desire is to have a personal relationship with each of us, whom He created in His image – to direct our paths and become our ultimate destiny. In other words, to be our God.
Why then are so many of us so lost?
Jesus made this mysterious imbalance painfully clear when he stated, "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)
That's pretty tough talk for a soft generation like ours, where comfort is king and instant gratification – including "drive-through salvation" – is everywhere. It grates on our psyches to ...   more »

by Sharon Hughes
"Darwin Day", a celebration of "the life of Charles Darwin as the symbol for a global celebration of science and humanity" is coming to a school near you on February 12, 2008.
Sponsored by the Institute for Humanist Studies, their website encourages that Darwin Day be celebrated in many different ways: "civic ceremonies with official proclamations, educational symposia, birthday parties, art shows, book discussions, lobby days, games, protests, and dinner parties. Organizers may include: academic societies, science organizations, free thought groups, religious congregations, libraries, museums, galleries, teachers and students, families and friends."
Since Charles Darwin was both the 'father' of evolution and an atheist, a brief look at a few of the views of today's atheist evolutionists reveals some of the 'fruit' of his theory:
Richard Dawkins, a devotee of Charles Darwin, said that everyone believed in evolution except "the ignorant, stupid or wicked."
There are some atheists who believe in 'intelligent design,' but not by a Creator. They believe an alien life force is a possible option for explaining creation, and they are serious.
Many may be surprised to know that Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner and one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA, ...   more »

Claim they were threatened by his protest tying organization to Hamas
A counter-terrorism activist has been sued for protesting an amusement park event sponsored by a Muslim group accused of helping finance the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Joe Kaufman of Florida-based Americans Against Hate says he was at the Six Flags Over Texas park in Arlington Oct. 14 to demonstrate against the Islamic Circle of North America, or ICNA.
Kaufman, writing in FrontPageMagazine, said his purpose was to expose ICNA's alleged ties to the financing of Hamas.
ICNA was the top donor to the Pakistan-based charity Al-Khidmat Foundation, Kaufman pointed out, which gave $99,000 to the head of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal.
"I believed that the public had a right to know about it," he explained.  
Kaufman has been sued by the Dallas chapter of the Muslim American Society, three Islamic institutions owned by the North American Islamic Trust, the Dallas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Legal Fund of America.
Kaufman argues the Muslim American Society "uses the Internet to spread violent hatred against Jews and Christians" and notes the North American Islamic Trust was named an "unindicted co-conspirator" by the U.S. government for a ...   more »