Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement Love Yehuda Lave | | In Trump vs. 'the Squad,' American Jews have picked the wrong target by MELANIE PHILLIPS In the showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and "the Squad" of four far-left minority congresswomen, Jewish organizations in America have overwhelmingly condemned Trump's remarks. Trump tweeted that certain "progressive congresswomen," widely assumed to be Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), should go back to the "totally broken" countries they had come from and sort them out before telling America how to run its own affairs. Jewish organizations, which are overwhelmingly liberal and anti-Trump, reacted viscerally, accusing the president of "echoing the racist talking points of white nationalists" and of being America's "Racist in Chief." Only the Republican Jewish Coalition demurred, agreeing with Sen. Lindsey Graham that the Squad were "a bunch of Communists" who "hate Israel. They hate our own country." The anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudices repeatedly expressed by certain members of the Squad have disquieted many American Jews. Yet the Democratic Party, which still attracts unquestioning support from some three-quarters of Jewish voters, has failed to discipline these women—not just for their Jew-baiting, but also for their deep-dyed anti-Americanism and anti-white racism. Worse still, the broader party is itself enmeshed with extremism through its attacks on the enforcement of immigration law and its reluctance to condemn the supposedly antifascist but violent and nihilistic Antifa protest group. Last weekend, Willem Van Spronsen, an Antifa member who was armed with a rifle and home-made bombs, attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Tacoma, Wash. and was shot dead by police officers. Yet while hysteria erupted against Trump over his tweets, there was minimal coverage of this attack. That was because the Antifa terrorist was a leftist, whose incoherent "manifesto" parroted the Democrat and liberal mantra about the supposed atrocities in these detention centers. Only a week ago, Omar denounced the border-control agencies and called for "a conversation about eliminating their existence." And by an amazing coincidence, the terrorist's "manifesto" called the ICE centers "concentration camps," the wildly offensive and inappropriate term for them coined by Ocasio-Cortez. Outrageously, she also complained about American flags flying over ICE centers. Hours later, the "Stars and Stripes" flying over a Colorado ICE facility was torn down and replaced by a Mexican flag. Yet there was no condemnation from the Democrats of this contempt for the US flag and the country it represents—a silence described by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as "disgusting." Even more troubling is the party's support for breaking American law. A number of high-profile Democrats have publicly advised how to avoid arrest by an ICE agent. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, said during her regular press conference last week that illegal aliens should simply not open the door if an agent came knocking. The Democrats governing "sanctuary cities" are actually providing sanctuary from the law. They are actively thwarting due process against individuals whose removal has been ordered in court by an immigration judge. The latest ICE report details how, over the course of two years, the "sanctuary state" of California refused to turn over 5,600 criminal illegal aliens to ICE agents for deportation. Of these, more than 3,400 had been charged with crimes, including homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, drugs and fraud. Shamefully, American Jews have been in the forefront of campaigning against the enforcement of immigration law. Over the past week, thousands have taken to the streets of U.S. cities to demonstrate against Trump's immigration policies. Dozens of synagogues across the country have offered illegal immigrants protection during ICE raids. For obvious historical reasons, Jews are instinctively sympathetic to immigrants. But all nations are entitled to limit the numbers entering the country. Without border controls, there can be no nation. Since when did Jews believe it right to display such contempt for both the rule of law and the very concept of citizenship? Now the Democratic Party has displayed further contempt for the rules of Congress. After the majority leader Steny Hoyer ruled that Speaker Pelosi was out of order in referring to Trump's "racist tweets," he was promptly overruled by his fellow Democrats. And so the House deemed Trump "racist." This will rebound on the Democrats because fair-minded people will see it as false and unconstitutional. Trump's "go back" tweet was certainly offensive and stupid, since three of the Squad were born in the United States and all are U.S. citizens. However, he wasn't attacking their color or ethnicity. He was attacking their disloyalty to America. Racism is picking on people for who they are; Trump attacked the Squad for what they do and say. The four of them constantly use their ethnic backgrounds to present themselves as different from other Americans. Tlaib literally wrapped herself in the Palestinian flag on the day she was elected to Congress. They emphasize these differences in order to pose as victims of white America. Far from Trump being racist in differentiating them from other Americans, they themselves weaponize those differences against America and its core values. Trump's language was unpleasant and phrased with stupid carelessness. But it's not racist to tell such people that if they hate America so much they can leave. The crowd roaring "send her back!" at Trump's rally this week weren't racist either. They were roaring support for Trump because they understood that he had finally drawn a line in the sand, albeit rhetorical, against those who want to destroy America, Israel and civilized values, but who are generally indulged. Most American Jews, though, appear to think that it is indeed racist. Downplaying or ignoring the Jew-baiting now tolerated by the Democratic Party, liberal Jews are so blinded by hatred of Trump that they actually attack him for supporting the Jewish people. Thus the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, objected to Trump's attacks on the Squad's Jew-hatred with the Orwellian claim that "politicizing the widespread, bipartisan support for Israel and throwing around accusations of anti-Semitism is damaging to the security of Israel and the Jewish community." Hatred of Trump seems to have caused a number of Jews to lose their reason altogether. In The Los Angeles Times this week, Michael Hiltzik wrote: "What's most striking about current administration practice is how it resembles the pre-Final Solution treatment of Jews in Germany and Nazi-controlled portions of Europe." This obscenely false analogy unforgivably trivializes the genocide of the Jews of Europe. Yet one after the other, liberal Jews are abusing the memory of the Holocaust and its victims by claiming that Trump is paving the way for Nazism. Heaven only knows, Trump has his faults—many of them unattractive, egregious or alarming. But those who so hysterically anathematize him and have falsely made him into a figure of mythic malice, while themselves nodding along to bigotry, violence and seditiousness on their own side, are saying much more about themselves. And none of it is good. It is the Democrats who are embracing anti-Americanism, anti-white racism, Jew-baiting, witch-hunting and contempt for the rule of law. It is Trump who is standing up for the defense of America and its values, for legality and due process and for the Jewish people. By displaying Democrat and liberal partisanship that is shallow to such a horrifying degree, American Jews are disgracing their cultural heritage and destroying their own moral standing. Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for "The Times of London," her personal and political memoir, "Guardian Angel," has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, "The Legacy," in 2018. Her work can be found at: w | | Tai chi with tefillin: Inside New York's quirkiest yeshiva 'Mindfulness is endemic to Jewish spiritual work' Romemu Yeshiva seeks to show American Jews that Eastern concepts, such as meditation, mindfulness and mystical philosophy, are part of Jewish tradition By Ben Sales NEW YORK (JTA) — If you walked into Romemu Yeshiva on a weekday morning, you would be forgiven for thinking it's an urban ashram. Students sit on cushions, in rows, on a faded Persian rug, backs erect, legs crossed, eyes closed, hands resting loosely on their knees. Soft grins cross a few of their faces. Many are wearing prayer shawls. A few are wearing tefillin. The AC is turned to 65 degrees. Usually these 20 or so students meditate silently for up to 45 minutes at the beginning of each day. On Tuesday, because they were hosting guests, meditation — or "sitting," as they call it — was abbreviated to 10 minutes. Still, for Jews, 10 minutes of sitting silently feels like a long time. In one way Romemu Yeshiva, launched by the Manhattan congregation of the same name, is the latest of several initiatives to provide an inclusive, egalitarian space for adults to study Jewish text at a high level. It has 22 students, mostly in their 20s and 30s. The yeshiva began meeting in June and will run until August. Other schools of that kind — like Yeshivat Hadar, the Pardes Institute and Svara — generally emphasize the study of Talmud and Jewish law that has long dominated the yeshiva world. But Romemu Yeshiva is the vanguard of a larger project to infuse American Judaism with concepts traditionally considered Eastern, like meditation, mindfulness and mystical philosophy. It wants to show American Jews that those concepts are authentic to Judaism, even if they've been de-emphasized in favor of mainstream prayer and study. Rabbi David Ingber, Romemu's founder, called it "fully neo-Hasidic." "This yeshiva is the culmination of a revolution in the West of mindfulness and contemplative practice," he said. "It's not foreign to Jewish life. Endemic to Jewish spiritual work is intentionality, mindfulness, cultivating states of awareness and cultivating the kind of person who is full of love and compassion and those types of things." Sarah Hurwitz (left), a former speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama, does a 'gazing exercise' with rabbinical student Lily Solochek at Romemu Yeshiva in New York, NY on July 16, 2019. (Ben Sales) At most yeshivas, or advanced schools for adult Jewish study, prayer follows a nearly identical daily routine, with set liturgy that is mostly murmured semi-quietly, occasionally sung. Romemu turns that custom on its head. The morning prayer consisted of a series of six chants — most of them a line or two from the prayer book repeated over and over rhythmically with rising volume and three-part harmonies. A rabbi introduced each chant with a series of softly spoken instructions, and each was followed by another minute or so of meditation. But even that routine was broken. Before saying the Shema prayer, the group broke off into pairs to do a "gazing exercise" in which they stood opposite each other, made eye contact and said to each other, "You are made in the image of God" or "You are made in the image of Shechina," the traditional Hebrew feminine form of God's spirit. Some riffed on that. "You are made in the image of love, care, service, kindness and joy," one student said to his partner. "You are made in the image of the strength, power, kind words spoken from the heart." The goal of integrating mindfulness and Judaism is not new. The late Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan offered a traditional Jewish alternative to Eastern practices in his 1985 guide "Jewish Meditation." The Jewish Renewal movement, founded in the 1970s by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, has the same ethos and counts Romemu as one of its congregations. This yeshiva, however, aims for an expansion of Renewal's mission to more mainstream spaces. Ingber envisions shorter-term seminars for Jewish clergy and other leaders of all denominations, as well as a greater range of classes to be offered to the public. The yeshiva already has weekly public events. Rabbi David Ingber, the founder of Romemu, teaches a class on Hasidism at Romemu Yeshiva in New York, NY on July 16, 2019. (Ben Sales) "It's a kind of place where you can have this kind of amazing laboratory," said Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels, the head of the yeshiva. "You come together, you do intensive practice together, you create the kind of model for what Jewish life might look like. People want their religious lives to speak to their basic human needs." The yeshiva's students do learn Jewish law and Talmud, which Romemu styles as "contemplative rabbinics." But they also have time cut out for Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism, and Hasidism. A class this week studied the Torah commentary of Menachem Nachum Twersky of Chernobyl, an 18th-century Hasidic rabbi. "It was exciting to be able to do meditation in my own tradition to not step into someone else's tradition as a guest," said Sarah Hurwitz, a former speechwriter for Michelle Obama and now a student at Romemu. She says her favorite class is Hasidism because "it's so infused with love, it's so infused with joy, it's so infused with this real yearning for connection with the divine. There's a real sense of emotion behind it that can sometimes feel like it's missing in Jewish spaces." The curriculum also aims to merge study with spiritual practice. Before studying Jewish texts about loving God, students meditated one day on what it feels like to give and receive love from people in their lives. A teacher of qigong, a movement system similar to tai chi, is onsite. The students will hold a weekend silent retreat at the yeshiva this week. "Parts of it feels radically different," said Lily Solochek, a rabbinical student who began studying at the Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary and is now a student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. They are at Romemu Yeshiva for the summer. "It's not solely about 'can we learn it and learn out a rule,' 'can we learn it and learn out some truth about the world around us,' but 'can we learn it in a way that it can really touch us on a deep spiritual level and then put that into practice,'" they said. The yeshiva's daily schedule is demanding, beginning at 7:30 a.m. and lasting as late as 9 p.m. Some students pay a tuition of up to $5,000, while others get a living stipend. Almost three hours in total are set aside for prayer, including an hour for the afternoon service after lunch — a kind of spiritual siesta. But Romemu's faculty doesn't expect the students to be able to sustain the yeshiva's rigorous lifestyle when the program ends in August. "We want them now to start to be able to translate and help other people see how this can be accessible to them as well," Jacobson-Maisels said of the students. "To help people see, oh, this is a possibility. I can find a really deeply meaningful Judaism, a deep connection to my roots [that] makes me operate in this contemporary world in a way that feels much more open to me." | | Students meditate as part of the morning prayer at Romemu Yeshiva in New York, July 16, 2019. The yeshiva combines intensive study of Jewish text with mindfulness and mysticism. (Ben Sales) Students meditate as part of the morning prayer at Romemu Yeshiva in New York, July 16, 2019. The yeshiva combines intensive study of Jewish text with mindfulness and mysticism. (Ben Sales) | | 'Little' Western Wall vandalized with graffiti-Slaughter the Jews The vandals spray-painted the ancient stones of the Holy Temple with Arabic graffiti curses that urged the reader to "Slaughter the Jews." Jerusalem City Council member Aryeh King has called for an immediate investigation into the incident. "I call on Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to demand that police conduct a comprehensive, thorough investigation, since access to the Western Wall is covered by the security cameras of the Jerusalem District Police," King said. According to a Facebook post Saturday night by Rabbi Ben Packer of the Heritage House, an Arab girl was arrested in connection to the desecration of the Jewish holy site. The sanctity of the "small Western Wall" equals that of the regular Western Wall, and in fact this section is considered to be the second closest possible place to the Holy of Holies in the Holy Temple that is accessible to the public 24/7. The closest section of the Western Wall to the Holy of Holies is within the Western Wall Tunnels. | | PA warns the most dangerous season of Judaization' has begun PA cautions that three-week period culminating in "anniversary of what is called 'the destruction of the alleged Temple'" has commenced Three days ago, on the Jewish fast day 17th of Tammuz, which sets off a three-week-period of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem and the two Temples, the Palestinian Authority warned that "the most dangerous season of Judaization" has begun: "Among the extremist Jews, today is a Talmudic holiday considered the beginning of the most dangerous season of Judaization, and it is what is called 'the fast of Tammuz,' and is a prelude to the anniversary of what is called 'the destruction of the alleged Temple.'" [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 21, 2019] The PA characterizes the visit of any Jew to the Temple Mount - the holiest place in Judaism - as "an invasion" and "a break in." They claim the Muslims have the sole right to the entire Temple Mount, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque and all its buildings and plazas, and even the Western Wall, which they refer to as the Al-Buraq Wall. Despite historical evidence, the PA claims that there never was a Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount and they deny any Jewish historical connection to the land of Israel in general and to Jerusalem and the Western Wall in particular.
As Palestinian Media Watch has shown, the PA refers to the Jewish Temple exclusively with the term "the alleged Temple" and to all Jews who want to exercise their right to visit the Jewish holy place as "extremist Jews." Any visit by a Jew to the Temple Mount is referred to as a "desecration" and any reference to Jewish history or discovery of Jewish artifacts are referred to by the PA as "Judaization."
Rooted in this narrative, the PA "Ministry of Religious Affairs" "condemned" the visits by Jews to the Temple Mount on Sunday as "break-ins to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque" and called the Jewish day of mourning the Temple one of the "Judaizing Talmudic holidays." Knowing that a three-week-period of mourning the Temples' destructions from the 17 of Tammuz until Tisha B'Av had started and that many Jews would be visiting Jerusalem's holy places at this time, the official PA daily warned of the "most dangerous Judaization season." In addition, the Deputy PA "Minister of Religious Affairs" Husam Abu Al-Rub threatened that the so-called "break-ins" by "extremist Jews" "herald a great danger that will cast its shadow over the entire region," unless the international community and the Arab and Islamic nations "work to stop" them.
PA Chairman Abbas himself and his "presidential office" have said that Jews "desecrate" and "defile" them when they visit what the PA claims are exclusively Islamic holy sites. Even official PA radio has broadcast a song with the lyrics: "The Zionist" has "defiled the mosques and churches" in the cities of "Haifa, Ramallah, Gaza, Jaffa, Ramle, Acre, and occupied Jerusalem." [Official PA radio station The Voice of Palestine, Dec. 19, 2018] | | V-E-N-G-E-A-N-C-E Kahane on the Parsha The desecration of the name of the L-rd is the very cardinal of sins. It strikes at the very existence and reality of the G-d of Israel. It is intolerable that it be allowed, and impossible that it not be erased. When Pinchas beheld the open Chillul Hashem that took place at Shittim, he burned with zealousness over the desecration of G-d's Name. And he looked about to see who, burning with similar indignation, would leap to put a stop to it. At that moment, Pinchas said: "Is there no man here who will kill Zimri?...When he saw that all were silent, he arose himself from the Sanhedrin and killed Zimri" (Sifri, Balak 131) Note: Pinchas was in the midst of Moses and all the elders of Israel. He waited for them to act, and they did not. And so he, not one of the elders, leaped to end the desecration and put a stop to the plague that was raging in the camp through G-d's wrath. And so, "Pinchas the son of Elazar saw..." (Numbers 25:7). The Tanna Shmuel said, "He saw [and remembered] the verse in Proverbs (21:30): 'There is neither wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the L-rd.' Any time that there exists Chillul Hashem, we don't give respect to the scholar" (Sanhedrin 82a). And Rashi explains, "Therefore, Pinchas did not wait to receive permission from Moses [who hesitated and was subsequently punished as a result, as stated in the Tanchuma] but acted on his own lest the elders, out of fear, not act according to the Law." And he killed the head of a tribe. And when the angels sought to punish him for acting as he did, and without permission, the Almighty said, "Leave him alone. He is a zealot, the son of zealots; he turned away My wrath and is the son of those who turned away My wrath" [i.e., he comes from the tribe of Levi who turned away G-d's wrath from Israel by killing those who had bowed down to the Golden Calf] (ibid. 82b). This was the response that the Almighty demanded from the people of Israel, from the leaders of Israel, from someone in Israel. And because Pinchas acted, of him is it said, "Who caused the Holy One Blessed Be He to turn away His wrath and not destroy all Israel? Pinchas" (Tanchuma, Balak 21). And thus speaks the Law: "Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, turned away My wrath from the Children of Israel when he was zealous for My zealousness in their midst, so I did not consume Israel in My zealousness" (Numbers 25:11) And thus says the Ibn Ezra: "For he was zealous just as his Maker, of who it is said: 'A G-d of jealousy' (Exodus 20:5). And had he not acted with zealousness, I, G-d, would have destroyed all of Israel." And the Sforno: "He took My revenge before the eyes of all Israel, so that they were forgiven for not acting to protest the sinners." And the Ramban: "He was worthy of great honor, for he killed a chief of Israel and the daughter of a gentile king and feared not, because he was zealous for his G-d." And Rashi: "'When he was zealous for My zealousness,' meaning: when he avenged My vengeance, when he was angry for the wrath that I would have shown. Every expression 'zealous' means one who is anxious to avenge something." Vengeance is the inability to abide the act of abomination and injustice. It is the need to erase from the land the free perpetration of an act of evil, done without punishment. It is the need to show that in the world of the Almighty one who pollutes and defiles the world by an act contrary to its precepts will be punished. The Jewish Press, 1980 | | The Jewish Artist in Iran's Royal Palace A talented artist, Raphael Nouril became close to the Shah of Iran. Painting the Lubavitcher Rebbe changed the course of his life. | | The Rebbe on the Lunar Landing and Human Prowess It's never the answer you would expect. By Tzvi Freeman July 18, 2019 1:54 PM https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4440118/jewish/The-Rebbe-on-the-Lunar-Landing-and-Human-Prowess.htm#utm_medium=email&utm_source=14_news_en&utm_campaign=en&utm_content=content | | Mike Wallace Is Here - Official Trailer
MIKE WALLACE IS HERE offers an unflinching look at the legendary reporter, who interrogated the 20th century's biggest figures in his over fifty years on air, and his aggressive reporting style and showmanship that redefined what America came to expect from broadcasters. Unearthing decades of never-before-seen footage from the 60 Minutes vault, the film explores what drove and plagued Wallace, whose storied career was entwined with the evolution of journalism itself.
Directed by Avi Belkin. | | American Jews are on the wrong side of history By Robbie Michaelson, TOI blogs At this point in time it could be noted that many American Jews are appear to be on the wrong side of history. Events speak for themselves. American Jews have been at the forefront of the battle for so-called "immigrant rights". Americans were all immigrants once; just ask the Native Americans. America was built by immigrants; true enough. So why the controversy? Because, today, there is an immigration crisis on America's southern border that has been caused by a broken immigration system and is being fuelled by partisan politics. The crisis on the border could be ameliorated by reforming America's antiquated decades-old immigration system. It is a policy that allows for immigrants to cross over into the U.S. illegally and then claim sanctuary under the existing right to claim "Asylum". However, upon an asylum hearing examination, which because the system is so overwhelmed usually takes months, most migrants have been found to not qualify for asylum and have had their applications denied. The problem arises from the fact that from the time most migrants claiming asylum enter the U.S. they are released into the country to await their hearing – for which the majority of the migrants never show up; and they remain in the U.S. illegally.
What makes this whole process a farce are two points: 1) most of the migrants originate in Central America and could have claimed asylum in Mexico – but choose to cross through Mexico in order to claim asylum in the more wealthy United States and 2) many of these migrants have been held in substandard detention centres that have been unfairly labeled "Concentration Camps". American Jews tend to side with the would be immigrants because they support the globalisation of much of American foreign policy and because they support anything that is opposed by President Trump. Their hatred for President Trump therefore extends to their opposition to funding a physical barrier that would seal America's south border; their being okay with people forcing their way into the U.S. illegally; and their ignoring the fact that the vast majority of these asylum claims are bogus. They are okay with letting in millions of mostly uneducated, unilingual, unskilled people into America to overwhelm the medical, security and social services networks at the expense of the American citizens. And if you choose to hold a different opinion you are labeled a "Racist`'. Another major problem confronting America Jewry is the growing power of the radical left within the Democratic Party. The so-called squad of 4 have become media darlings and have created a scenario where the tail is wagging the dog. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seem to delight in questioning America's bipartisan support for Israel. They criticise Israel at every opportunity and talk about Jews having too much power and holding a dual allegiance with a foreign power. They voice support for the BDS movement and are working to get more "progressives" to run and get elected to future congresses. The American Jewish community continues to support and vote overwhelming for the Democratic Party. This support continues despite the fact the Democratic leadership could not even bring forth a resolution to condemn the growing anti-semitism in the U.S. and censure Congresswoman Omar for some of her anti-Jewish statements. Historically American Jews have always been at the forefront of the American civil rights movement. Nonetheless that support hasn't stopped many within the "Black Lives Matter" Organization from attacking Israel and supporting the Palestinians. It is hasn't stopped the "Woman's March Movement"s" leadership from discriminating against Jewish supporters and preventing "Jewish dykes" joining an LGBT parade in Chicago. For some reason American Jews forgive these "transgressions" but when it comes to President Trump most American Jewish Organizations call his statements "racist". You can't find anti-semitism with racism says the "Jewish Journal" and apparently allowing Muslim Congresswomen to single out the State of Israel for criticism is considered "kosher" because they are only exercising their "First Amendment Rights". American Jews have been strong supporters of the so-called "Two State Solution" and many of them have been vocal in their criticism of the Israeli Government and our handling of our Palestinian neighbours. Most do not have any "skin in the game" and have bought into the narrative that only a "Two State Solution" will settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately there is little attention being paid to the facts underlying the current impasse in the "peace process". Inconvenient truths about the Palestinians and their uncompromising positions are continually glossed over by many Jewish Americans in their utopian desire to help create a peaceful Palestinian State – if only Israel would be more accommodating. History obviously counts for nothing and to many American Jews it has been Israel's desire to hold onto Judea and Samaria that has prevented peace with the Palestinians. And then there is the problem that is Iran. Most American Jews support the JCPOA agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most Israelis do not. The reasons why this plan was wrong from the beginning are myriad. It is an arrangement where it is easy to cheat inspections; where not all sites covered; where a fast break to assembling a nuclear bomb can be easily attained; where billions of frozen Iranian assets were released to the Ayatollahs to do with as they wish; where the missile development to deliver nuclear weapons continues outside of the agreement; and where continuing aggressive moves by Iran in the region were not addressed, etc., etc. Recently traces of radioactive material have been discovered at the Fordow facility. Iran's often-repeated threats to wipe the State of Israel off of the map has not been condemned in any International forum. Nevertheless American Jews continue to support the JCPOA Agreement and oppose the U.S. withdrawal from the Agreement. As a point in fact most of the Democratic candidates for President would return the U.S. to the agreement and blame the current Administration for provoking the crisis with Iran. One wonders if they would still feel the same way if Iranian Military Forces were stationed 50 kilometres from their Northern border and Iran was threatening to wipe out the United States? | | See you Sunday bli-neder Shabbat Shalom Love Yehuda Lavee | | | |
