by Rebbetzin Tzipporah Heller

How Jewish women can unleash the holiness of bread. There is something about making dough that can only be described with the old cliche, "real." I find that the rhythm of kneading and the fragrance of the loaves is as close as one can get to "experiencing" music. In homes where Shabbat is the soul of the week, bread-making becomes something more, something part and parcel of the way Shabbat bonds the two worlds -- spiritual and physical -- in which we all live. Most of us are familiar with the braided Shabbat loaves and call them "challah." Literally, challah is a mitzvah in the Torah (Numbers 15:17-21), which enjoins us to set aside one piece of dough from each batch we make, as it says: "...It shall be that when you eat the bread of the land, you shall set aside a portion [of dough] for God." Actually, the word "challah" doesn't mean bread, dough, or any of the other words that seem to describe the aromatic loaves. The root of the word is chol which means ordinary or secularIs Anything Really Ordinary?When I went to camp as a child one of my ...   more »

by Ross Hirschmann

My father and I had nothing in common besides the long silences that would pass between us. Then a miracle happenedMy father and I have never shared much in our lives. In fact, almost nothing. We're so different that we marvel at the fact that we're related. Over the years we've agreed on one thing and one thing only: baseball. We can talk for hours about baseball, but only a few seconds on any other subject such as work, politics or (God forbid!) religion. That's the way it's always been and I always figured that, barring a miracle, that's the way it would always be. Maybe it was a miracle that occurred five years ago one winter night.My wife had just given birth to our first daughter and I wanted my parents, who are in their late 70's, to come to Los Angeles for the baby naming. But I knew this would be an issue. My father has never forgiven me for two things: becoming a Republican and becoming an observant Jew. And I'm not sure which one irks him more.Still, I wanted him and my mom to be a part of our children's lives as ...   more »

by Joel Padowitz

Mitzvah Recycling! An item used for one mitzvah can be used for another. After the Sukkot holiday has ended, we are left with a variety of items that we used for mitzvot, but which no longer seem to serve any function. For example, the four species (Lulav, Etrog, etc.), the willow branches from Hoshana Rabba, and the s'chach which formed the roof of our Sukkah. But we mustn't simply throw these mitzvah items out. Why not? The Torah says that after Abraham purchased a field for Sarah's burial, "the field rose up" (Genesis 23:17). In what way can a field ascend? Rashi explains that when a material object is used for a mitzvah, that object becomes elevated spiritually. The same applies to our elevated mitzvah objects which served to raise us up during the festival.Items such as a used Lulav, torn Tzitzit, or broken Shofar -- though they no longer retain any intrinsic holiness -- must not be treated disrespectfully by discarding them in a filthy place such as a garbage bin (Mishna Brura 21:6). However it is permissible, according to the letter of the law, to leave the object in a clean place with full knowledge ...   more »

By Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV -- It was the United States that coordinated the transfer of weapons last week by Israel to Force 17, the presidential guard units of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, WorldNetDaily has learned. The transfer consisted of American-made weapons, Palestinian officials said. Abu Yousuf, a senior member of Force 17, told WND in an exclusive interview last week the weapons will be shared with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and utilized for attacks against Jews. He hinted the weapons already were used in two shooting attacks the past few days that killed one Israeli civilian and wounded another. Many Force 17 gunmen are well known to also be members of the Al Aqsa Brigades, an offshoot of Abbas' Fatah party that is responsible for scores of recent suicide bombings, shooting attacks and rocket firings at Israel. The weapons cache included 3,000 American-made M-16 assault rifles and over one million rounds of ammunition, Palestinian officials involved in the transfer told WND. Media reports had stated the transfer, which was credited to Israel, consisted of 370 assault rifles and an unspecified amount of bullets.Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced last week he had approved the shipment of ...   more »

Any attempt to build a synagogue on Jerusalem's Temple Mount would immediate plunge Israel into horrible bloodbath, warned Tuesday MK Ibrahim Sarsur, head of the southern wing of the Islamic Movement.
"Muslims and Arabs will not stand idly by while representatives of Satan on earth such as MK Uri Ariel and his lunatic friends from the Yesha Rabbinic Council try to launch their insane plots," said Sarsur.
"We will resort to violence if need be, which I believe is legitimate under such circumstances."
Sarsur was reacting to an announcement by Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) Tuesday that he intended to revive an old idea to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount and reverse a cabinet decision that prohibits Jewish prayer on the mount.
Ariel stressed in his announcement that his proposal would maintain the status quo and would not infringe Muslims' right to full access to the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is situated on the ruins of the destroyed Second Temple.
"Muslims now have the opportunity to prove they are tolerant enough to accommodate faiths that different from their own," said Ariel.
"[Building this synagogue] will rectify an historic injustice, much more than the re-interment of [Theodore] Herzl's children ...   more »

Recent events in Russia and Iran are raising eyebrows
by Joel C. Rosenberg
posted December 14, 2005
(CAIRO, EGYPT, December 15, 2005)—Six months have passed since The Ezekiel Option was first published in hardcover. During this time, I have done 130 radio, television, and print interviews; done Q&A sessions in 21 cities on 3 continents; and have been asked about the novel and the Scriptures upon which it is based in private conversations with scores of business executives, military commanders, high-ranking government officials, and religious clerics across North America, North Africa, and the Middle East.
By far, the number one question I am asked is whether I believe The Ezekiel Option is actually beginning to come true. It is an interesting question to ask the author of a work of fiction. But it is a question fueled by people's sense that the novel is anticipating actual events now unfolding in Russia, Iran, and Israel.
Iran Threatens Israel
On page 333 of The Ezekiel Option, for example, a fictional Iranian leader calls for the annihilation of Israel, saying, "The world must understand—the Zionists must be humbled. Death to Israel. … This cancerous Jewish tumor is the most dangerous threat on the ...   more »

The Ezekiel Option is based on the prophecies found in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39. Remarkably, the Hebrew Prophet Ezekiel, writing more than 2,500 years ago, was able to look down the corridors of time and see nations not yet born, and alliances not yet formed. In doing so, he foretold the rise of a Russian military alliance with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to annihilate Israel during the earth's "last days." This is known by many Bible scholars as the "War of Gog and Magog." In this war, Ezekiel says the world will see a supernatural judgment of these enemies of Israel, and a spiritual awakening unparalleled in human history.
Few, however, are familiar with these important end times prophecies. Fewer still can imagine such events ever occurring. I wrote The Ezekiel Option to help people learn more about these dramatic coming events, and to help people understand what such events might look like if they were to play out in our lifetime.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
In a moment, I will walk you through the prophecies step-by-step. But first thing, let me note that the predictions found in Ezekiel chapters 36 ...   more »

Reuters
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; 6:28 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea, the United States, Bahrain and other states will hold their first naval exercise in the Gulf this month to practice interdicting ships carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The exercise is taking place as the United States and other major powers are considering sanctions including possible interdiction of ships on North Korea, following a reported nuclear test, and on Iran, which has defied a U.N. Security Council mandate to stop enriching uranium.
The exercise, set for October 31, is the 25th to be organized under the U.S.-led 66-member Proliferation Security Initiative and the first to be based in the Gulf near Bahrain, across from Iran, the officials said.
A senior U.S. official insisted the exercise is not aimed specifically at Iran, although it reinforces a U.S. strategy aimed at strengthening America's ties with states in the Gulf, where Tehran and Washington are competing for influence.
"It's an effort to bring a lot of Gulf states together to demonstrate resolve and readiness to act against proliferation," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Proliferation Security ...   more »

By Dan Bilefsky and Ian Fisher International Herald Tribune, The New York Times 
BRUSSELS Europe appears to be crossing an invisible line regarding its Muslim minorities: More people in the political mainstream are arguing that Islam cannot be reconciled with European values. 
"You saw what happened with the pope," said Patrick Goeman, 43, the owner of Raga, a funky wine bar in central Antwerp, half an hour outside Brussels. "He said Islam is an aggressive religion. And the next day they kill a nun somewhere and make his point. 
"Rationality is gone." 
Goeman is hardly an extremist. In fact, he organized a protest last week in which 20 bars and restaurants closed on the night when a far-right party with an anti-Muslim message held a rally nearby. 
His worry is shared by centrists across Europe disturbed that any criticism of Islam or Muslim immigration provokes threats of violence. 
For years, those who raised their voices were mostly on the far right. Now those normally seen as moderates - ordinary people as well as politicians - are asking whether once unquestioned values of tolerance and multiculturalism should have limits. 
Jack Straw, the former British foreign secretary and prominent Labour Party politician, ...   more »

By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM -- Members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Force 17 security detail are "praying to Allah" the insurgency against U.S. troops in Iraq continues and that American soldiers are returned to their homes in body bags, according to an officer of Force 17, which the U.S. is reportedly training and arming.
The militant, Abu Yousuf, speaking in an exclusive interview with WND, hinted new weapons reportedly being provided by the U.S. to his group could be shared with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party.
Abu Yousuf, like several Force 17 members, is also a member of the Brigades.
"The U.S. is in trouble in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and we are very glad for that. We pray for Allah that this situation will go on and the Mujahedeen will keep fighting the Americans and causing them more and more damages so that the taxes that the American people pay are used for transporting the bodies of American soldiers who got killed in Iraq and in Afghanistan," Abu Yousuf said.
The Force 17 officer earlier this week told WND weapons and aid the U.S. may provide to his ...   more »

by Chana (Jenny) Weisberg It doesn't take a war for a country to unite and feel like family. There's always Sukkot. By the time I woke up, the snow was already piled high above my head. Because of the blizzard, Baltimore city snowplows would not arrive for a few days. So early in the morning, my father started shoveling the street on his own. Over the course of that morning, all of our neighbors came out with their shovels. There were the parents of my third grade classmates, the Levys, the Blumners, and the Hymans. There were also the neighbors that I had never seen before, a gray-haired man from the house behind the high bushes, a middle-aged couple from the house with the blue shutters, a man with a woolen hat from the house with the beautiful garden.Early that afternoon, the road cleared of snow, the couple from the house with the blue shutters opened their doors, and all of the residents of Arden Road celebrated the clearing of the snow with a feast of rice with chicken and gravy. While my childhood was marked by dozens of Thanksgiving dinners, and birthday lunches, and Passover seders, the excitement that ...   more »