By Rabbi Shalom Schwartz
Being in Jerusalem is the fulfillment of the hopes and prayers of millions of Jews over the generations.
Jerusalem is referred to as the Holy City. The Torah says that there's a special relationship that the Almighty has with this particular point in space. For most people who live in Jerusalem, and even most visitors, that translates to some sense of a special feeling or a special consciousness. What is this uniqueness all about?
Sometimes it expresses itself in the most unexpected ways. One day I was taking a taxi, and as soon as the ride began, the driver turned to me and said, "Teach me some Torah."
"Is this the cost of the fare?" I asked.
"No, it's the tip."
I shared a few words of Torah with him. "Now it's your turn," I said. "We have a long trip left."
And he proceeded to weave together a web of beautiful Torah, drawing from Kabbalah and other esoteric sources. He was really getting into it, and I started to worry about whether his attention was on the road. When he finally finished, I was in awe.
"Where do you get this stuff from?" I asked ...   more »

By Nathan Sheva  
Tags: shekel, Israel, dollar, euro 
Even the powerful euro has had a hard time competing with what has become probably the strongest currency in the world since the beginning of 2008: the Israeli shekel.
Since the beginning of 2008 the shekel has made some serious gains against nearly all the major world currencies. The shekel has gained 15% against the dollar, slightly more against the British pound and the Canadian dollar, as well as 8% versus the Swedish kroner and 24% against the South African rand.
Even the solid euro has had a hard time competing with the shekel, and has fallen from NIS 5.74 at the beginning of April by 12% to NIS 5.00 - its lowest rate in five years. Since the start of the year, the shekel has strengthened against the euro by 9%.
A week ago the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Triche, praised the euro to the Wall Street Journal, saying the European currency would provide price stability in the medium-term.
Even compared to the currencies of countries rich in natural resources and raw materials, such as Australia and Canada, it has done well.
One opinion is that the shekel ...   more »

Joshua Mitnick
TEL AVIV | A rare exchange of prisoners - living and dead - between Israel and Hezbollah at the Lebanese border boosted hopes yesterday that the two enemies are headed toward a deal that would free two Israeli soldiers whose abduction sparked a war in 2006.
With the Red Cross and U.N. peacekeeping soldiers as go-betweens, Hezbollah returned what it is says are the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the monthlong war two summers ago.
Israel released Nissim Nasser, who was convicted of spying for the militant Shi'ite group in 2002. The exchange took place at the seaside border crossing of Rosh Hanikrah.
The Ha'aretz newspaper quoted Israeli and Red Cross officials who said the Hezbollah gesture was a surprise and denied there was any agreement on a humanitarian swap. A spokesman from the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declined to comment.
The Israeli army released a statement confirming that it had received a coffin from Hezbollah and that it would check the claims that it contained the remains of soldiers.
"I hope this is a step in the direction of a prisoner exchange," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country is trying to mediate ...   more »

Prime minister to leave for week-long US visit Monday night to facilitate latest F-35 fighter jets purchase; relay more intelligence concerning developments in Iran's nuclear program. Also on itinerary meetings with Bush, Rice; Democratic, Republican presidential hopefuls
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will leave for Washington Monday night, in order to facilitate the Israeli Air Force purchase of new F-35 fighter jets. Olmert is said to also further several other arm deals for various long-range radars, which will compliment Israel's multi-layered rocket defense systems.
The purchase of the F-35 is expected to upgrade the IAF's strategic capabilities. A Lockheed Martin Aeronautics jet, the F-35 – or F-35 Lightning II, as it is officially called – is a single-seat, single-engine stealth-fighter jet; meant to eventually take over for the F-16. Under Pressure 
Israel intends to install sever Israeli-made systems in its F-35s, which are expected to become operational in four years.
Olmert is also expected to address several sensitive intelligence issues during his US visit, with Iran topping the list. Israel has been providing the US with intelligence regarding the Iranian nuclear program, in an effort to demonstrate that the Islamic Republic is making progress in its pursuit of a viable nuclear ...   more »

Here's a bit of a new angle on Sen. John McCain's policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of a hands-back approach preferred by President Bush, McCain pledges, in an interview with my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg, to be the "chief negotiator" between the two sides from day one. (You'll recall that it took President Bush roughly six years before he decided to become fully engaged -- what ex- U.S. ambassador Martin Indyk has called the "legacy syndrome" that afflicts presidents in their late hours.)
JG: Tell me how engaged you would be as President in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and give me a couple of names of plausible Middle East envoys.
JM: I would have a hands-on approach. I would be the chief negotiator. I have been there for thirty years. I know the leaders, I know them extremely well. Ehud Barak and I have gone back thirty years. I knew Olmert when he was mayor of Jerusalem. I’ve met many times with Netanyahu. I’ve met with Mahmoud Abbas.
In terms of envoys, there are a large number of people who could be extremely effective, and I apologize for ducking the question, but it would have to be dictated by the state of ...   more »

Honoré: Catastrophes that were once exceptional events are happening more often
Disaster readiness is the responsibility of every part of our society, he says
He urges governments to work with private industries to make them part of the plan
He says good first step is "ready box" filled with food, clothes and disaster materials
By Retired Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré
As the Atlantic hurricane season begins, Honoré, who was commanding general First Army and leader of Joint Task Force Katrina before retiring, offers his views on why the United States needs to develop a culture of preparedness for natural disasters.
(CNN) -- The recent series of disasters in the United States and around the world have resulted in the forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and have again demonstrated with startlin clarity that we are living in a new normal.
In this new normal, international interdependencies and instantaneous communications combine to constantly remind us of disaster and terrorism, and disasters that once were considered exceptional now occur more frequently. The recent earthquakes in China and the Myanmar cyclone are but two reminders of such disasters.
The reminders are beamed into our homes and workplaces ...   more »

 By Robin Pomeroy
ROME, June 2 (Reuters) - Soaring food prices could trigger a global catastrophe, with the world's poor unable to feed their families, human rights activists said on Monday.
The warning came as world leaders arrived in Rome for a U.N. summit to tackle the food crisis which is pushing 100 million people into hunger, provoking food protests and could aggravate violence in war zones.
"The current food crisis amounts to a gross violation of human rights and could fuel a global catastrophe, as many of the world's poorest countries, particularly those forced into import dependency, struggle to feed their people," said Johannesburg-based poverty campaign group ActionAid.
"It is an outrage that poor people are paying for decades of policy mistakes such as the lack of investment in agriculture and the dismantling of support for smallholder farmers," said ActionAid analyst Magdalena Kropiwnicka.
Forty-four world leaders are expected at the three-day meeting, which kicks off a round of diplomatic talks on poverty, hunger and development in the coming months, including a G8 Summit, a U.N. General Assembly and potentially conclusive talks on new world trade rules.
"This is a multi-faceted issue that calls for a multi-faceted response and considerations," ...   more »

MEXICO CITY - A majority of Mexicans believe violent drug gangs are winning a war with President Felipe Calderon's government after one of the worst months on record for killings, Reforma newspaper reported on Sunday.
According to a poll by the newspaper, 53 percent of Mexicans think that drug traffickers hold the upper hand against government forces which are trying to clamp down on cartels that ship drugs to the United States.
Only 24 percent said they believed the government was winning the battle. The remaining 23 percent gave no opinion.
May was one of the most violent months on record for drug killings, both between gangs and targeting federal forces. Calderon has sent thousands of troops onto the streets in a bid to stop cartels from operating.
Close to 500 people were slain in May -- including a wave against police chiefs -- the highest number of killings since Calderon took office in December 2006, according to a tally kept by Milenio newspaper.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said last month that 4,152 drug-related killings have been registered in Calderon's administration, 450 of them police, military or government officials.
Calderon, however, kept up his approval rating in the Reforma ...   more »

George Soros, 'the man who broke the Bank of England', tells Edmund Conway of his fears for the economy
'This is a period of wealth destruction. The people who make money will be few and far between. There will be a lot more money lost than made." When George Soros - the phenomenally successful hedge fund manager - says this, you know something is wrong, very wrong. And indeed it is. The 77-year-old billionaire sinks back into the sofa in his Chelsea townhouse and exhales.
He has managed to make money almost consistently for over half a century - from his early days as one of the world's first major hedge fund traders to his involvement in Black Wednesday as the man who "broke the Bank of England", and in the latter years generating multi-billion-dollar annual profits throughout the 1990s. The conditions today are almost uniquely dismal, however.
Telegraph TV: George Soros on the Bank of England
"I think this is probably more serious than anything in our lifetime," he says. In short, his feeling is that the United States and Britain are facing a recession of a scale greater than the early-1990s, greater even than the 1970s.
"I think ...   more »

Judy Bart Kancigor
Jewish cooks are very territorial about their kugels. You bind noodles with eggs, enrich them with fat (butter, margarine, chicken fat, or oil), pepper the mixture with an endless variety of colorful and tasty additions, such as vegetables, fruit, and/or cheese – and, to quote my mother, “What could be bad?”
Often you find a hostess serving the same kugel year in year out, with so much oo-ing and ah-ing, for years, so why change kugels in midstream? Oh, the hostess will look at your recipe, but then comes that knowing smirk as she says, “But I have mine.”
Nothing prepared me for the lengths to which a kugel-maker would go to defend his or her own kugel until I wrote my family cookbook. Dozens were submitted; only a fraction of them could be printed. Choosing amongst them was a task better left to King Solomon. I called it “The Kugel Wars.” My editor thought she was cutting recipes – to me she was cutting cousins!
“Take mine!” “No, mine!” they all pleaded. It got ugly. Otherwise perfectly agreeable cousins practically came to blows extolling the virtues of …what? We’re talking a noodle concoction here.
According to ...   more »

Warning: 'Any action that offends holy site will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims'
By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – Jerusalem and the Temple Mount belong to the Muslims and any Israeli action that "offends" the Mount will be answered by 1.5 billion Muslims, declared the chief of staff for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. 
"Jerusalem is Muslim. The blessed Al Aqsa mosque and Harem Al Sharif (Temple Mount) is 100 percent Muslim. The Israelis are playing with fire when they threaten Al Aqsa with digging that is taking place," said Abbas' chief of staff Rafiq Al Husseini.
Temple Mount in Jerusalem  
The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site.   
Husseini was referring to Israeli plans to construct a new bridge from the Western Wall area to the Temple Mount.   
The old bridge was damaged two years ago. When Israeli workers tried to repair it, Palestinian leaders claimed the work was threatening the Al Aqsa Mosque, even though the mosque is located hundreds of feet away, the work did not tunnel under any Mount foundation or touch any structure connected to the mosque, and the repair work – which had been pre-approved by Jordan and the Mount's Muslim custodians ...   more »

By Yael Pollak, Nathan Sheva and Yuval Maoz,
The United States Dollar continued to depreciate against the New Israeli Shekel Friday, pushing the representative currency exchange rate down another 0.88 percent to NIS 3.233 per U.S. Dollar. This is an over 11-year low - the last time the greenback saw these levels was January 1997.
The Euro also lost ground against the Shekel, and the European currency's representative rate fell a steep 1.356 percent Friday to NIS 5.0048 per Euro, dropping it to a 5-year low against the shekel - its lowest level since January 2003.
Since the begining of 2008, the Shekel has gained 15% against the U.S. Dollar, and slightly more against the British pound and the Canadian Dollar.  
It is up 8% versus the Swedish Kroner and has picked up 24% against the South African Rand.
A week ago the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Triche, praised the euro to the Wall Street Journal, saying the European currency would provide price stability in the medium-term.
The Euro is certainly a strong and important currency, and has been flexing its muscles against the Dollar in recent years.
But even the powerful Euro has had a ...   more »

In honor of Jerusalem Day, Housing Minister to announce bids for homes to be constructed in neighborhoods beyond Green Line
Roni Sofer
On Sunday Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim is scheduled to announce more bids for construction in Jerusalem, in honor of the 41st annual Jerusalem Day, to be celebrated on Monday.  
The bids have already been approved by the government. 121 housing units are planned for Har Homa neighborhood, to be sold at a "tenant's price", and 763 are planned for Pisgat Zeev neighborhood, of which 95 will be sold at a "tenant's price". Both neighborhoods are beyond the 1967 borders.  
According to the "tenant's price" system, the contractor who wins the bid is responsible for selling the housing units to the buyers at the lowest price possible, thus allowing buyers to purchase housing at a cost that is 15%-25% lower than the market price.  
In addition, Boim is set to appropriate additional territory on Givat Hatachmoshet for the Defense Ministry and the site's association, in order to establish a center for courses for IDF officers.  
Yariv Oppenheimer, general secretary of Peace Now, responded to reports of the announcement to be made by Boim and said ...   more »

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert struck back at Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday, accusing them of being motivated by politics and not by the country's best interests.
In his first public reaction to Livni's and Barak's calls last week for him to leave office, Olmert defiantly vowed to continue running the government and making key decisions on diplomatic, security and socioeconomic issues.
"I know the political events of the last few days have put pressure on people from outside and from inside [Kadima]," Olmert said at the party's faction meeting symbolically held on the eve of Jerusalem Day at the capital's Ammunition Hill.
"I recommend against acting under pressure. The people who are stressed should relax and continue to act as a united and strong party so we can continue to be the ruling party for many years to come."
Olmert added an additional message to Labor's Barak that "no one from outside can dictate our schedule."
He pleaded with members of his faction and the public not to decide his fate before he is given a chance in court to respond to the testimony of New York financier Morris Talansky.
"Regarding myself, I have ...   more »

Christians face arrest for preaching gospel
Two American-born pastors handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham, England, were threatened with arrest and warned of being beaten for committing what an officer called a "hate crime."
Arthur Cunningham, 48, and Joseph Abraham, 65, were handing out the leaflets and talking with local youths when they were approached and questioned by a police community support officer, or PCSO.
When the officer discovered the two Birmingham pastors were born in the U.S., he began a heated criticism of President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cunningham explained that the gospel message was not linked to American foreign policy, but the officer reportedly became belligerent.
"He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message," Cunningham told the London Telegraph. "He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station."
In England a PCSO is a full-time employee of the police charged with community peacekeeping, but the officers do not have the power of arrest without a constable. In this case, the pastors ...   more »