Copyright 2010 Jewish Media Resources Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:35:31 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Jewish Media Resources :: Writings http://www.jewishmediaresources.com (Jewish Media Resources) webmaster@jewishmediaresources.com en-us http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1355/washington-throws-a-tantrum Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST Vice-President Joseph Biden's visit to Israel last week was touted in advance as an effort by the Obama administration to reassure Israelis of its warm feelings for Israel. Things did not quite work out that way. Indeed Israel's ambassador to the United... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1353/first-the-facts-then-the-solutions Fri, 5 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky once told someone who came to consult him, "Daas Torah ahin, daas Torah aher, der "facts" muz min hubben" – which might be loosely translated, "Daas Torah or not, one needs the facts." Those facts, unfortunately, are too often... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1352/elite-arrogance-again Fri, 5 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST All of us tend to read and listen to those who reinforce are own opinions. It calms us. But research suggests that exposure to opposing views not only prevents our own from settling into rigid orthodoxy, but may be good for our minds. A recent New York... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1354/the-gedolim-declare-war-on-the-internet Wed, 3 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST After the evening minyan on a recent trip to the United States, a forty-something man beseeched me to write about a website called GuardYourEyes, which provides tools for those who have become addicted to the worst sort of Internet sites. He did not... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1350/free-speech-follies Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST Fast and furious was the reaction to the recent accusation by Im Tirzu, a Zionist student group, that 92% of the Goldstone Commission's citations of Israeli organizations came from 16 NGOs funded by the New Israel Fund. David Newman described Im Tirzu's... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1349/dr-bernard-lander-ztl-visionary Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST About ten years ago, I escorted Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, then a first term MK, on a week-long visit to the Torah community in America. He toured Ner Israel in Baltimore with Rabbi Naftoli Neuberger, zt"l, spent Shabbos in Lawrence,... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1346/tapping-into-their-idealism Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST I once interviewed a great-grandmother about the early days of Zeirei Agudath Israel of America. She was one of those involved in obtaining visas for desperate Jews seeking any way out of doomed Europe. And after the War, she joined other young Jews... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1348/an-immoral-enemy-receives-its-comeuppance Sun, 7 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST The late Saul Alinsky, author of Reveille for Radicals, is the patron saint of community organizers, such as President Obama in his early days. J Street, the lobbying group that describes itself as pro-Israel, but has never been able to identify any... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1347/why-the-massachusetts-election-matters-for-israel Fri, 5 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST The rapid decline of President Barack Obama's popularity – the most precipitous in recent history – will delight those in Israel put off by his approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict and/or his lack of seriousness with regard to Iran. That rejoicing is... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1351/president-obamas-first-year-and-israel Thu, 4 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST Well, President Barack Obama has passed his first year in office, and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is not the only one wondering whether American Jews might be experiencing "buyers' remorse." (For the Jews of Israel, the matter was long ago settled. The... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1345/the-power-of-a-communal-rav Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST In the middle of the Shabbos night meal last week, I asked my host, Rabbi Moshe Hauer of Baltimore's Beth Jacob Shaarei Zion shul whether his contract made provision for a sabbatical year. He answered simply, "I'm doing what I most want to do." I... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1343/all-in-this-together Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST All in this Together The Iranian nuclear threat serves as a handy reminder to the Jews of Israel that we are bound by a common fate. For those of us willing to live without that particular reminder, there are plenty of others – the water shortage for... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1344/are-we-asking-the-right-questions Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST Rabbi Chaim Shmulewitz in his classic Sichos Mussar develops a fascinating insight of his great teacher Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz: Stories don't teach about the person, the person reveals the story. The Gemara in Yoma (23a-b) serves as Reb Chaim's... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1342/not-a-zero-sum-game Wed, 6 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST There is a tendency in the Israeli Torah community to view the world as a zero-sum game, in which that which benefits the secular population is at our expense and vice versa. An intelligent friend of mine once argued with a straight face that the... http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/1341/one-more-worry Fri, 1 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST Life in Israel never lacks for things to worry about: Iranian nukes, tens of thousands of missiles in the hands of Hamas and Hizbullah, a critical water shortage, the religious-secular divide. But at least the Israeli economy is strong – or so I thought....