by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
Do we appreciate the loss of the Temple to the extent that it brings us to tears?
If I forget you Jerusalem
May I forget my right hand
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
If I ever don't think of you
If I don't raise up Jerusalem above my highest joy
- Psalms 137:5,6 The first historic tragedy to occur on Tisha B'Av was when the Jews in the generation of Moses accepted the Spies' slanderous report, thereby squandering the chance to fulfill their destiny in Israel.
Upon hearing the negative report about Israel, the people sat down to cry. The land had been promised, but their fears prevented them from going forward. At which point God responds: "Today you cried for nothing; in the future I'll give you a real reason to cry." (Talmud - Ta'anit 29a)And we've been crying ever since. Both tears of sadness and tears of hope. The Western Wall in Jerusalem is also called the "Wailing Wall," because of all the tears Jews have shed there over the centuries. During the 1900-year exile, Jews would travel to Jerusalem at great expense and danger, just to have the ...   more »

By Aaron Klein
GOLAN HEIGHTS – Israel has visibly beefed up its military presence here in the Golan Heights while neighboring Syria reportedly has placed its army on high alert and – for the first time in 30 years – has opened a strategic border road to civilian traffic in a move some Israeli security officials worry could help facilitate guerilla attacks against Golani Jewish communities.
The escalating military moves on both sides come as a top official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party warned in an interview if Israel doesn't vacate the strategic Golan Heights by August or September, Syrian guerrillas will launch "resistance operations" against the Golan's Jewish communities.
The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory looking down on Israeli population centers captured by Israel after Syria twice used the territory to attack the Jewish state.
A tour of the Golan Heights yesterday found multiple Israeli army positions local residents and soldiers stationed here say were established within the past few weeks. More tanks have been patrolling the area, with several tanks setting up shop in strategic positions looking down on Syria. Makeshift military outposts have been erected and Golan checkpoints fortified.
Several old Israeli Defense Forces ...   more »

Tisha Be’Av is a time of fasting and mourning for the loss of both Jewish temples. It is a time of reflection and personal, as well as collective, introspection. Tisha Be’ Av is the time to open ourselves to constructive criticism, to consider how to correct our wrongs and to change our ways. Our prime minister and government were given a prime opportunity to do this last week when the state comptroller released his much anticipated report on the government’s performance during the second Lebanon war.
In it, the state comptroller gave an in-depth description of the failure of government, police, fire department, medical services and social service functions during the war. Rather than receiving the comptroller’s criticism and considering his suggestions, Prime Minister Olmert lashed out and publicly attacked the comptroller for his report.
Prime Minister Olmert’s official response to the state comptroller’s report clearly expressed his lack of accountability to the Israeli public. In a booklet entitled “Comments of the Prime Minister to the State Comptroller”, Prime Minister Olmert stated, “The Comptroller marks attractive targets and shoots in all directions in order to achieve headlines and to create public opinion.”
This reaction makes it clear that Prime Minister ...   more »

For most of his professional life, Tel Aviv University professor Michael Ovadia focused on snakes and the medicinal properties of their venom. But seven years ago, after meditating on a biblical passage, Ovadia's career focus began to take a twist... a cinnamon twist to be exact.
Today the spiritual scientist from TAU's Department of Zoology is commercializing a unique cinnamon extract that is touted to quell viral infections from HIV to the Avian flu.
A research and license deal on his patent-pending cinnamon extract was signed last week between TAU's technology transfer company Ramot and Frutarom, a multinational nutraceutical company based in Israel. Frutarom is expected to use the extract in a whole host of applications from disinfecting the air as a spray against Avian flu in airports; to a daily supplement that protects people against the common flu.
Those researching in the field of natural medicine know that snake venom, especially the notorious poisonous kind, has unique anti-viral and analgesic properties that can help fight human illness and disease. For the past 40 years, Ovadia had been working with natural antidotes and found that certain kinds of venom can deactivate Parainfluenza (Sendai) virus - a virus similar to the ...   more »

In intelligence parlance it’s called “chatter” – communication by known or suspected terrorists among themselves. When monitoring agents detect intensification in the level of communication, or certain variations in the pattern of interaction – they increase the alert level and brace for a possible attack. Western intelligence agencies are also consistently monitoring hostile nations for the likelihood of war. In the Middle East, falling down on this job could lead – and has led – to surprise attacks that have threatened the very existence of the State of Israel.
Here in Israel, “ordinary” folk don’t generally have access to this type of “chatter.” Because of the prevailing tensions in our world, however, our “antennae” are probably more sensitive to conditions - and our spirits more quickly alerted – than if we were living elsewhere.
Jerusalem has been my home for nearly 20 years. At some point in almost every one of those years, conjecture has circulated about the possibility of war. In the early 1990s, conflicts seemed to always be anticipated in the autumn. More recent years have seen that time frame shift to the summer.
Of course, there is good reason for the speculation:  Israel has fought or endured ...   more »

By Richard Baehr
An American Thinker Classic
For decades, most American Jews have believed there were far greater threats from the fringe right than the fringe left in this country. While this view may have been reasonable in the past, it is certainly not so today. The fringe right still exists— the neo—Nazis in Northwest Idaho, Matthew Hale, and David Duke, and the remnants of the KKK. But the views of the fringe right have been marginalized by their repudiation by virtually all mainstream elements on the political right.
The fringe left, on the other hand, has evolved into a broader left, and become more mainstream. The political perspective of this new left is vehemently anti—Israel, and the power and reach of this movement represent a real threat to Israel, and by extension to Jews who support Israel.
What is the Left?
The left does not mean the Democratic Party in Congress.  When pro—Israel resolutions come before the Congress, due in part to the extraordinary efforts of AIPAC [America Israel Public Affairs Committee], a very high percentage of both Democrats and Republicans vote a solidly pro—Israel agenda. There are some small differences between the parties, however, especially in the House. ...   more »

JEFF KOSSEFF The Oregonian Staff
WASHINGTON -- Oregonians called Peter DeFazio's office, worried there was a conspiracy buried in the classified portion of a White House plan for operating the government after a terrorist attack.
As a member of the U.S. House on the Homeland Security Committee, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure "bubbleroom" in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents.
On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED.   
"I just can't believe they're going to deny a member of Congress the right of reviewing how they plan to conduct the government of the United States after a significant terrorist attack," DeFazio says.
Homeland Security Committee staffers told his office that the White House initially approved his request, but it was later quashed. DeFazio doesn't know who did it or why.
"We're talking about the continuity of the government of the United States of America," DeFazio says. "I would think that would be relevant to any member of Congress, let alone a member of the Homeland Security Committee."
Bush administration spokesman Trey Bohn declined to say why DeFazio was denied access: "We do not comment through the ...   more »

ANNANDALE, Va. — The first hour at the Chinmaya Mission day camp unfolds as at any other camp. Children shriek through tag, while a few others play Uno.
Reaching the Children But by 9 a.m., the grammar-school-age campers are sitting down, their attention focused on a long-haired Indian man in the front of the room, Swami Dheerananda, the mission’s Hindu teacher, or acharya. Together, they chant prayers in Sanskrit. Many recite passages they have memorized from the Bhagavad Gita, a holy Hindu text.
Like American Jews before them, Hindu parents, most of whom are recent immigrants to the United States, are turning to well-established institutions like summer camp and weekend school, and to decidedly more contemporary Internet sites, to teach their American-born children ancient religious traditions and help maintain their Indian identity.
“I would venture to say that it is children’s programming and education that has become a primary, if not the primary, focus of Hindu-American leaders and institutions,” Shana Sippy, a candidate for a doctoral degree in religion from Columbia University, wrote in a recent paper. “In California alone, over 10,000 children attend some sort of Hindu or Indian instruction on the weekend.”
But explaining Hinduism to Americans is ...   more »