http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php en plevin@jewishtimes.com Copyright 2008 2008-11-21T12:35:48-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/grateful_living/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/grateful_living/#When:03:00:05Z Our rabbis of blessed memory teach that when the Messiah eventually comes, all prayers will be abolished, in that they will be unnecessary, save one: the prayer of Thanksgiving. The HoDa’ah is a prayer of gratitude that is recited three times a day as part of the Amidah. One of the concluding lines of this prayer states, “For… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-11-21T03:00:05-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/when_things_fall_apart/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/when_things_fall_apart/#When:03:00:04Z “Pogrom!” roared the old man. “Do you know what a pogrom is?!” We were standing in front of a makolet — a neighborhood grocery — on Ben-Shushan Street in Akko (also known as Acre). This was in the eastern part of the city, not the scenic old town by the sea where tourists visit Crusader ruins. It’s a… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-11-14T03:00:04-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/new_mideast_agenda/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/new_mideast_agenda/#When:03:00:00Z When the new U.S. administration takes office on Jan. 20, 2009, it will face four Middle Eastern challenges: • preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; • restoring U.S. credibility in the Arab-Israeli conflict; • actively engaging Syria in the Syrian-Israeli peace process; • and diminishing U.S. dependence on energy imports from the volatile Middle East, and other uncertain… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-11-07T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/taking_stock_of_violence/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/taking_stock_of_violence/#When:03:00:00Z As we enter the final stretch before this historic election, the economy and the war in Iraq are at the forefront of our minds, and for good reason. The seriousness of these issues for all Americans cannot be overstated, but I’d like to focus on those for whom our current crisis literally will hit too close to home.… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-10-31T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/behind_irans_threat/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/behind_irans_threat/#When:03:00:00Z WASHINGTON There are at least two problems with the increasing calls for the United States to engage Iran. Asserting that the United States should “talk to Iran” assumes that we don’t — but we do. Asserting that America’s president should talk to Iran’s president misunderstands who wields power in Iran and what Iran wants; it is not President… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-10-24T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/sukkot_joy_or_oy/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/sukkot_joy_or_oy/#When:03:00:00Z Sukkot is perhaps the most important Jewish holiday of the entire year. Sukkot is both the culmination of the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as well as the seasonal pilgrimage festivals of Passover and Shavuot. Sukkot is a weeklong joyous yom tov that concludes with the holiday of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. Being that this is… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-10-17T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/a_thousand_shofars/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/a_thousand_shofars/#When:03:00:00Z One week before Rosh Hashanah, in the midst of Ramadan, as jittery bloggers probed the psyche of American voters and the front pages featured the frightening spectacle of the Wall Street meltdown, a teenage citizen of Jerusalem named Qassem al-Mughrabi plowed a black BMW sedan into a group of IDF soldiers near the Jaffa Gate, injuring 19. The… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-10-10T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/livnis_challenges/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/livnis_challenges/#When:03:00:00Z As Israeli Prime Minister Designate Tzippy Livni seeks to establish a governing coalition, numerous challenges, both internal and external await her. If she can form a government and it lasts until the scheduled elections in 2010, stability will return to Israeli politics after a long period of uncertainty caused by the many corruption allegations against Ehud Olmert.… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-10-03T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/faith_in_rosh_hashanah/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/faith_in_rosh_hashanah/#When:03:00:00Z We are approaching the start of a new year, during which America will elect a new leader. As we use this time to reflect on our lives and how we lead them, I feel it would also be most appropriate to reflect on religion in general — and Judaism in particular — and how we lead our lives… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-09-26T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/repentance_and_computers/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/repentance_and_computers/#When:03:00:00Z A newspaper article entitled “Ctrl+Z Defies Reality” caught my eye this past year. It points out that, in our high-tech world, we have become accustomed to erasing errors by pushing a button. Make a mistake on the computer? Hit “Ctrl+Z” or “undo.” TiVo allows us to pause and rewind a show, as one would do with a DVD.… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-09-19T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/the_other_elections/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/the_other_elections/#When:03:00:01Z The usual roles for Israelis and tourists were reversed a few weeks back when I attended a big warm Jewish wedding in Cartagena, Colombia. Is it safe? I wanted to know up front. One hears so much about drug wars, Marxist guerrillas, kidnapping, street crime. You take precautions, my friends told me, which is what I tell people… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-09-12T03:00:01-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/strike_iran_sooner/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/strike_iran_sooner/#When:03:00:00Z In recent months, a growing gap has become evident between the United States and Israel on policy toward Iran. While the Bush administration seems increasingly reluctant to use force to stop the rapidly expanding Iranian nuclear program, the vast majority of Israelis — who see a mortal threat — increasingly support such an attack, especially on the centrifuge… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-09-05T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/iowa_immigration_and_jews/ http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/op_ed/iowa_immigration_and_jews/#When:03:00:00Z The immigration raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, the largest kosher plant in the country, caught most American Jews completely off-guard. Since the raid in May, which resulted in the arrest of nearly 400 illegal workers, additional serious allegations have emerged against the plant owned by the Brooklyn-based Rubashkin family, including inhumane working conditions, egregious… Opinion - Op/Ed 2008-08-29T03:00:00-05:00