“Funny, she doesn’t look Jewish” was the intriguing opening sentence of a recent story in the New York Post about presidential candidate Rep. Michelle Bachmann. The report asserted that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,...
This coming week is an explosively dangerous one for Israel. While many of us are very much aware of the possible consequences of the Palestinian statehood vote at the United Nations, it was not...
The sixtieth birthday is a big one Jews for it means that one has avoided at least one of the definitions of karet – premature death. And with it one is officially welcomed into...
The Zionist Organization of America issued a press release last week noting some curious omissions from the Obama administration’s communications. Candidate Obama omitted any Israeli city from an enumeration of cities victimized by terrorism...
I rode the brake and we descended the single-lane dirt path slowly, feeling the vibration of pebbles under our tires turn into the audible crunch of good-sized stones. My wife and I had embarked...
In September 1998, a two-room school opened up in Tzoran, a residential community of 1,500 young families, nestled among the agricultural settlements east of Netanya, for 25 six and seven-year-olds. When they arrived at...
My shul, my entire neighborhood really, hardly acknowledges legal holidays. We very deliberately do not start Shacharis an hour later, as we do on Sunday. There is no slight intended to anyone. The feeling,...
By: Etana Hecht As many of you know, this past week in Bet Shemesh has not been a pleasant one. For those of you who have been hearing bits here and there, or reading...
Shortly before Rosh Chodesh, I solicited reader feedback on seforim that helped people prepare in Elul for the approaching Yemei ha-Din. The results have made this perhaps the finest hour for Cross-Currents. The suggestions...
Kids of Courage (KOC), the chesed organization that provides year-round programming for children, teens and young adults with serious and chronic medical challenges, accepted its most daunting challenge with its San Francisco trip in...