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David Hartman. ‘God is pressuring me not to give up’  Photo: Alex Kolomoisky. This interview with Rabbi David Hartman   recently appeared on YNET . At age 80 his dedication to Jewish education within the frame work of the Hartman Institute bears witness to his love and dedication to the people of the land. His voice must be heard and so we cross posted with this point in mind.

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By Alex Joffe .repost from Jewish Ideas Daily Few events in contemporary American Jewish life generate as much passion as the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), held in Washington this year on May 22-24. Some negative varieties of that passion were evident outside the gigantic convention hall, where a small crowd of protestors, ranging from CodePink on the Left to Neturei Karta on the Right, was kept at bay by the police. Their cries, banging drums, and banners made their sentiments clear, but the overall effect was as shambling and unkempt as the contrast between pink t-shirts and black kaftans was jarring.

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Presidential Agenda

By Y. Hayut-Man & Moshe Dror

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The Baal Shem Tov on Pirkey Avos Rabbi Isaiah Aryeh and Rabbi Joshua Dvorkes. BEN ZOMA SAYS: WHO IS WISE? – HE WHO LEARNS FROM EVERY MAN; AS SCRIPTURE SAYS FROM ALL MY TEACHERS HAVE I ACQUIRED WISDOM (Tehillim 119:99). WHO IS STRONG? -  HE WHO SUBDUES HIS EVIL INCLINATION; AS SCRIPTURE SAYS HE THAT IS SLOW TO ANGER IS BETTER THAN THE STRONG MAN; AND HE RULES HIS SPIRIT IS BETTER THAT ONE WHO CONQUERS A CITY (Tehillim 16:32).

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Ami  Isseroff once again puts together a concise summary of the “Jewish” Diaspora and Jewish Identity.

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by Matisyahu and Ephraim Rosenstein 1. The real weapon is not ammunition but ideas. Ideas win wars. The Chanukah uprising was brought about because the Seleucid Hellenist empire (an offshoot of an empire left behind by Alexander of Macedonia) was imposing its civilization of Hellenism on a nation that believed in one God. Hellenists offered pleasures and a good life — a sensual, body-oriented civilization inhabited with many gods and deities. It sounds quite tempting. But with all its temptation, it negates the deepest recesses of the human search. Human beings search for ideas, for inspiration, for one great redeeming hope that will make us one. This is represented by the belief in one God, as opposed to the many infighting, quarreling deities of the Greek Olympus. True, many gods, with their politics and failings, reflect pretty well human society. Continue Reading »