The sixth annual observance of anti-Israel activism, “Israeli Apartheid Week,” is in full swing in cities across the United States and around the world. The events, which actually take place over two weeks, are intended to further the movement pressuring governments and other institutions to boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) Israel. In Minnesota, a schedule [...]
The potholes in Twin Cities streets will get deeper and wider in the coming years. This was one conclusion reached by a lobbyist for municipal governments, after Gov. Tim Pawlenty unveiled his proposal on Monday to deal with a $1.2 billion state budget deficit.
In addition to $250 million in LGA (Local Government Assistance) cuts, which [...]
I was somewhat surprised to read recently about a new psychological malady, which goes under the rough title of “post-Avatar depression.” Some viewers of James Cameron’s brilliant science fiction/fantasy epic reportedly are experiencing confusion and depression — a few folks are having suicidal thoughts.
A recent CNN.com story on this phenomenon quoted Philippe Baghdassarian, the administrator [...]
Do not stand by the blood of your fellow. — Leviticus 19:16
We know that the people of Haiti are suffering greatly in the aftermath of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake last week that devastated their impoverished country. There is something that AJW readers can do in the face of this immense human tragedy: donate money to the [...]
In the Feb. 1, 2008, edition of the American Jewish World, I wrote about a teleconference with then-Sen. Barack Obama, who was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. The candidate participated in a teleconference with Jewish newspaper editors, just before appearing on a stage at American University in Washington, D.C., where he received the coveted [...]
The American Jewish World occasionally publishes articles about the environmental crisis and what is being done to repair our battered planet. Recent visitors from Israel — from the Arava Institute and the Center for Creative Ecology, both located in the Arava Desert — have filled us in on innovative programs in alternative sources of energy [...]
The Hanuka story we tell the kids is about the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle-of-the-oil. However, the Maccabee revolt against the Hellenist Syrian regime was essentially a Jewish civil war, which brought to power a ruling clique, the Hasmoneans, which became as brutal and corrupt as the one they overthrew.
During the [...]
Discourse about Israel occasionally elicits heated responses from some American Jews. Although we are thousands of miles from the conflict zone, a number of self-appointed guardians of Israel in the U.S. are quick to heap invective on their coreligionists who stray from what they see as the party line, so to speak, on Israel.
With the [...]
It’s getting strange out there. Opponents of the Obama administration continue to rally, at the Capitol and in the hinterlands, and call for revolution or secession — or quote Psalm 109:8: “May his days be few; may another take over his position.”
Succeeding verses from the psalm, which Obama’s detractors seem to love, become more [...]
President Obama told some 15,000 people gathered for a memorial service at the Ft. Hood army base on Tuesday that the mass killing of soldiers was “incomprehensible.” Indeed, as we mourn the loss of the soldiers at Ft. Hood, and feel sympathy for their grieving families and friends, it is hard to piece together an [...]
