by Rabbi Noah Weinberg
When the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai, the entire nation was unified. The lesson is clear for us today.
Throughout the Torah, the Jewish people are always referred to in the plural form. This is evident in Exodus 19:2, which says the Jews "journeyed (vayi'su)... arrived (vaya'vo'u)... encamped (vaya'chanu)" -- all references are in the plural.
But then this verse ends with a surprise: Vayichan sham Yisrael neged ha'har -- "and the Jews encamped (singular) opposite the mountain."
In coming to Sinai, the Jewish people are referred to in the singular form. Rashi says this emphasizes how the entire nation encamped "with a single goal, and a singular desire."
Unity was a prerequisite for Sinai. An event with such earthshaking consequences could only be possible with unity.
UNDER ATTACK
How were the Jews able to achieve such unity at Sinai?
In Exodus chapters 15-17, the Jews are having a hard time. There's no water -- and they complain. Then there's no meat -- and they complain. They're so upset that Moses is afraid they'll kill him! Then again no water. The Jews are fighting and bickering terribly.
Then Amalek came and battled Israel. An outside ...   more »

Haviv Rettig
A new government strategy to redefine ties with the Diaspora to be "less patronizing and more humble" will be unveiled on June 22 in a policy report being developed jointly by Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel and Alan Hoffman, director-general of the Jewish Agency's Education Department, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The report will mark a real change in Israel-Diaspora relations, Yehezkel told the Post.
"The Diaspora and Israel can't continue in the patronizing model of the past, which was okay when we had a new state with an ancient dream to fulfill," but amounts to a "tragic" misunderstanding of the situation today.
"Israel is a reality, and a very strong country. While we rely on the Diaspora, we have to understand that they also rely on us," he said.
The first step, Yehezkel said, was "humility."
"Israel doesn't have the means, experience, knowledge or ability to tell a Jew in Michigan or St. Petersburg how to be a Jew. We just don't know. We have to accept as a fact that there are Jews here and Jews there, and it's legitimate."
While "aliya is an important Zionist goal that remains important in our value system," Yehezkel said, "we ...   more »

(Video) Olmert's second day in Washington includes meeting with Secretary Rice, attending AIPCA gala event. Turkish FM's parallel visit to US sparks unconfirmed rumors two may meet to further budding Israeli-Syrian peace process
Roni Sofer
WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was not the only statesman to arrive in Washington on Monday. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan arrived in DC as well, but according to a source in Olmert's entourage, the two have not scheduled any meetings during their overlapping stays.
Olmert's Tuesday itinerary includes meetings with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) officials.  
Wednesday will see the prime minister meet with US President George W. Bush and dine with Vice President Richard Cheney. He also has meetings with the Democratic presidential hopefuls - the senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Babacan, whose country acts as mediator in the recently revealed peace talks between Israel and Syria, is said to have arrived in Washington on matters of his own state. Babacan is also scheduled to meet with Rice, but the majority of his scheduled has been kept under wraps; and he has no official meetings scheduled with Olmert or any of his ...   more »

Courts ban representatives from traveling to rocket-battered town, citing life-threatening danger posed to them there. Delivery of subpoenas to its residents now falls on shoulders of local police
Matan Zuri
When Sderot’s residents protest they are treated like second-class citizens and claim the government has deserted them - there alarmingly seems to be more to their cry than what detractors call hyperbolic hysteria.     
For the town where thousands of families grimly face daily rocket and mortar barrages from neighboring Gaza has been declared too dangerous a destination for court officials tasked with delivering subpoenas to Sderot residents, at least by the chief justice overseeing the Magistrates' courts in southern Israel.  
Israel's subpoena delivery procedures dictate a messenger or court official must personally serve papers informing citizens of an indictment filed against them or a summon to testify in court and have the recipient sign for them.
But this is no longer the case in Sderot and other Gaza-vicinity communities. Yedioth Ahronoth has learned that Justice Moshe Machlis has recently issued a new guideline forbidding court employees from traveling to Sderot to serve residents with subpoenas for fear they may be wounded or killed by a Qassam, or alternatively ...   more »

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
MOSCOW — On a talk show last fall, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail G. Delyagin had some tart words about Vladimir V. Putin. When the program was later televised, Mr. Delyagin was not.
Not only were his remarks cut — he was also digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo. (The technicians may have worked a bit hastily, leaving his disembodied legs in one shot.)
Mr. Delyagin, it turned out, has for some time resided on the so-called stop list, a roster of political opponents and other critics of the government who have been barred from TV news and political talk shows by the Kremlin.
The stop list is, as Mr. Delyagin put it, “an excellent way to stifle dissent.”
It is also a striking indication of how Mr. Putin has increasingly relied on the Kremlin-controlled TV networks to consolidate power, especially in recent elections.
Opponents who were on TV a year or two ago all but vanished during the campaigns, as Mr. Putin won a parliamentary landslide for his party and then installed his protégé, Dmitri A. Medvedev, as his successor. Mr. Putin is now prime ...   more »

Hours before rally planned against Iranian leader, Roman Jewish community takes to streets carrying Israeli flags, crying out against Iranian leader's visit to Italian capital
News agencies
The Jewish community in Rome conducted a spontaneous march on Tuesday, in protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the Italian capital, where he is participating in the United Nations summit on global food security.  
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Jewish women, children, and youths marched from the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood to the palace in the city's center, where the convention was held.   The demonstrators waved Israeli flags and cried "Israel, Israel," in protest of the Iranian leader, who had announced that Israel would "vanish soon," and that the State had damaged the European Union.  
"After the dictator's most recent declarations against Israel, we decided to gather here to express our feelings against Ahmadinejad's presence at the convention," the event's spokesman said.  
Agenda Man  
Ahmadinejad: Europe suffering because of Zionists / Dudi Cohen  
Iranian president drops by Rome for UN summit, tells EU Israel a political, economical burden to it. He later says Israel is a 'fabricated regime' which will disappear with or without ...   more »

Hilary Leila Kreiger,
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disparaged the idea that talking to Iran or Hamas would change those entities, while calling for tougher international action against the Islamic Republic Tuesday.
"Diplomacy is not a synonym for talking," she told the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, pushing back against those who are calling for such engagement. "True diplomacy means structuring a set of incentives and disincentives to produce change in behavior."
Here she called for more action by the Europeans and other members of the international community to isolate the Iranian regime as it proceeds with its nuclear program: "Our partners in Europe and beyond need to exploit Iran's vulnerabilities more vigorously and impose greater costs on the regime, economically, financially, politically and diplomatically."
She also criticized Teheran for not answering questions raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency and others about its nuclear program, saying, "It's just hard to imagine that there are innocent answers to these questions."
Rice emphasized that when it came to American strategy on Iran, the United States "will continue to improve the capabilities of our friends, including through missile defense cooperation with Israel."
Such increased ...   more »

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday his country would continue with its controversial nuclear program, but rejected nuclear weapons.
Khamenei, who has final say in all matters in Iran, spoke at a ceremony honoring the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"Iran is after the peaceful use of nuclear energy and we will strongly pursue and reach it despite the envy of our enemies," he said. "No wise nation is interested in making a nuclear weapon since it is not logical and cannot be used," he added.
Khamenei also warned against nuclear terrorism, saying that one day "world terrorists could attain nuclear weapons and take peace away from all the people in the world." The Iranian leader also accused the US of using nuclear energy to maintain its dominance over other nations in the world.
"Americans, who are leading the opposition to Iran's nuclear energy, are signing nuclear agreements with less advanced countries," which results in their dependency on the US, Khamenei said. He did not elaborate, but the United States has concluded bilateral nuclear cooperation deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The country's supreme leader also said US President George W. ...   more »