Remember Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, The Wall Street journalist beheaded by terrorists? Well Dad is back in the news. The recipient of multiple awards including the prestigious Turing Award (that’s like the Nobel Prize in Computing), Judea has just renounced his status as a distinguished alumnus of New York University, after the institution conferred […]
In response to the many who have asked me for my thoughts Federal law does not mandate vaccination. Nonetheless, all 50 states require certain vaccinations for children to enter public schools, with exemptions for medical and religious reasons. Proponents say that vaccination is one of the greatest health developments of the 20th century. Prior to […]
“When a woman conceives and gives birth…” is the opening line in this week’s Biblical reading. Be assured however, it is not the opening line in the larger story. In the Bible, women having babies were usually Chapter Two. First they got married. That is no longer necessarily true. The rise in women having […]
President Trump never plays it safe or conventional. Fully aware that his proclamation recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights would shock the world, he still did not hesitate. To further complicate matters, this foreign policy about-face makes things awkward even for Washington’s other Middle East allies; Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United […]
Amongt the 166 verses of the Megillah, there is this little gem: “There was a Jewish man in Shushan…Modechai…a Benjamite.” Here we are introduced to the Persia’s Chief Rabbi, Mordechai. For some reason, His genealogy doing back three generations – “the son of Yair, son of Shimi, son of Kish” – is insufficient. The author […]
The 44th mayor of Chicago has spoken. You may better remember him as Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Jewish Chief of Staff. Here is an excerpt from his most recent article. “Representative Ilhan Omar [Muslim Congresswoman from Minnesota] has attracted much news coverage…for promoting some ugly tropes about Jews…Questioning congressional support for Israel, she blamed the […]
I did not watch this year’s Oscars. No surprise, I didn’t watch last year’s. In fact, I’ve never watched it. But in 2012, on the short list for best Foreign Language Film were movies from the very two countries that the world worries about most, Israel and Iran. As it turned out, Hollywood passed on […]
In October 2001, the nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, Prince Al Waleed toured the ruins of Ground Zero with New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The Prince, the world’s sixth-wealthiest person, gave the mayor a $10,000,000 donation followed by this statement: Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of the Israelis while […]
Public schools in Dayton, Ohio were just closed for three days due to snow and below-zero winds. What’s interesting with snow days is that schools are often the first public institutions to close. Other government establishments like post offices remain open. The same is true for banks, offices and malls. Perhaps one explanation is that […]
