Category: Current Events
Golda, Indira, and Margaret…
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan History has produced a few outstanding and successful female leaders: Golda Meier, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher… to name a few. Great women have impacted the world. And the world has shown it is open to the defining leadership of females.
William F. Buckley and the Jews
William F. Buckley Jr. once said, “In my own experience anti-Semitism is not a communicable disease.” John B. Judis in his biography William F. Buckley Jr.: Patron Saint of the Conservatives states that Buckley grew up with attitudes of Jewish hatred in his home. Later in life, Buckley learned that “anti-Semitism is not a communicable disease” through his own…
Finding the Quiet Center
I quell many thoughts competing for my attention as I sit in the temple. I have come to worship, not to mull over the mundane of life. The morning sun reflects pink and gold tones upon the white Jerusalem stone, as the rabbis remove the Scroll from the Ark, their prayer tassels sway as they bend and lift with tender…
Anti-Semitism in Europe
“Conversation” by Yoram Raanan Anti-Semitism is growing in Europe. It has a new face. Now it is called “an exercise in freedom of speech.” Take a peek here.
Political Straight Talk
Although I don’t recall the actual inaugural speech of JFK on January 20, 1961, I do remember growing up hearing his famous words: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for you country.” The seeds of those words went deep into my heart as a young American patriot. They…
The Juice and Justice
Why am I writing about OJ Simpson? Because he is in the news again. Who cares? I do. Because I am profoundly interested in justice and the ramification of injustice in our society. And I believe the American culture shapes our views of justice–some of them are correct, almost innate, and others are incorrect–the result of a society…
‘They Trembled and Stood at a Distance’
It is growing. It is out of control. The California fire rages. As the title of this post suggests, “trembling and standing at a distance,” is a natural way to react to raging fire. I can’t imagine what it would be like to evacuate my home, fill my car with a few things, and later see my world go up in flames via…
Jewish Rebirth in Germany
One of the few Jewish institutes to survive the shattering, “Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnact) in 1938, Germany’s largest synagogue has been refurbished and opened her doors today. It is a sign of Jewish rebirth in Germany. Rabbi Leo Trepp, who preached in the synagogue in the 1930s and attended the opening ceremony in Berlin today, calls the opening…
Contentment–A Bridge Over Troubled Water
I was saddened this morning to hear of the interstate bridge in Minnesota, filled with rush hour traffic, that collapsed into the Mississippi River, plunging dozens of cars into the deep and killing at least seven. About twenty families gathered at a near-by information center, anxious to hear if their loved-ones were injured or killed. Contentment should…
Bonnie Saul Wilks 