יום רביעי, ה׳ תשרי תשפ״זWednesday, September 16, 2026
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We recently observed the 10th of Teves, which, historically, represents the beginning of the siege of Yerushalayim by Nebuchadnezzar. It was this siege that began a string of calamities that resulted in the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash.
The Muslim Brotherhood did not initiate the current upheavals in the Middle East, but the Islamist parties in Egypt, as in Tunisia and Libya, have been the chief beneficiaries of the collapse of longstanding authoritarian repressive regimes across North Africa.
It’s not often that I get to speak to a rabbi about to celebrate his 99th birthday.
Yishai and Malkah share stories of liberation in a week when the Torah portion (Vaeira) describes the beginnings of the Jewish people’s fight against Egyptian slavery three and a half thousand years ago.
The new initiatives come on the heels of the European Union's plan to invest in infrastructure in the Arab areas of Area C. According to the E.U.'s numbers only 5.8% of Judea and Samaria's Arabs live in Area C, which comprises 62% of Judea and Samaria.
The negotiations Abbas is conducting with Hamas are intended to create a joint Palestinian strategy in the aftermath of the failure of the peace process with Israel.
Barely five weeks after the Wehrmacht’s onslaught against Russia, Reich Marshal Hermann Goering issued the following directive on July 31, 1941 to Chief of Gestapo Reinhard Heydrich:
There is a sweetness like no other when people who have been friends for more than sixty years have a chance to get together for a couple of hours and just schmooze and catch up on life.
We already know what happens when the Arabs control our holy sites. The Jordanians, who should never have been awarded part of Jerusalem in the first place, did not allow access to Har Hazeisim or for that matter the Kosel despite signing the Armistice Agreement of 1948 which explicitly provided access to Jews.
Yishai uncovers vastly different tastes in everything from Jewish comfort food (with help from Malkah) to Knesset candidates to peace policy in this episode. Colorful culture, deep ideas, and a few tempers running high are all part of the mix as we search for new solutions to age old problems and end with inspiration from the Torah.
Is Islam the solution for hunger? Unemployment? Ignorance? Violence? Poverty? Illness? Neglect? The leaders of the Islamist movements, like the leaders of the nationalist movements, shout one thing and mean the opposite.
Now, because of our efforts, the police have committed to arrest anyone who merely screams at a girl. Success for our present! The national government now wants to work with us to build future neighborhoods for all populations. Success for our future!
We too cannot be so capricious of nature, so weary of our national responsibility, as to give away what is, in truth, not ours alone to barter... We cannot be so selfish as to sacrifice a holy heritage for what is, at best, transitory expediency.
"They arrived in the middle of the night. It was brutal. I woke up after they broke down the door and were already in the living room."
The hoax in question has been developed over the past 40 years or so and is calibrated to be effective on people like you. Its objective is to make you believe that in a particular context, black is white, evil is good, lies are truth and genocide is justice.
According to ancient Jewish tradition, one that certain Talmudists trace back to the time of Isaiah, the world rests upon thirty-six just men, the Lamed-Vav tzaddikim.
It is wrong to throw rocks at IDF soldiers. We must do all that we can to uproot this phenomenon. But the mad witch-hunt that raged recently has nothing to do with concern for and loyalty to the IDF.
By Dov Gilor
After a good meal in Houston Thursday night, we spent the evening at the Quality Inn near the Space Center. Early Friday morning we left for the Space Center so that we could get an early start before Shabbat.
Back in September 2011, in an editorial titled "Magen David Adom: No Time to Blink," we expressed our dismay over reports in several Israeli newspapers that Israel's national ambulance service – its version of the American Red Cross – was in the process of removing the display of the Magen David symbol on its ambulances operating over the Green Line as a sop to the International Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent, which are averse to the display of the Jewish symbol there.
We do not mean to denigrate the impressive military support and cooperation the Obama administration has directed toward Israel.
We applaud the passage by the New York State Legislature of the Iran Divestment Act of 2012.
By Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Hey Yankel, how are you doing? Thanks for the pics you sent me. You and your son really look well fed and robust. However, since you asked me how I am doing, I have no choice but to be honest.
When the disproportion of terrorist acts committed by Muslims – and the resulting hordes cheering the carnage on the Arab street – lead clear-minded observers to conclude that jihadism is the dominant strain in the Islamic world, we are accused of painting with an unfairly broad brush, discounting the silent (and invisible) majority of Muslims who oppose violence and crave peace.
It will take a major change of mindset in the religious world before we are able to face down the extremists and not merely be silent in the face of such desecration of the Torah and God’s holy name.
There was a time when no one living in Israel needed a reminder of what was at stake when the Jewish state was created in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II and the Nazi Holocaust.
A new poll finds that two-thirds of the Dutch people are opposed to their prime minister apologizing to the Jewish community for the misconduct of the wartime government in exile in London.
By Aaron Klein
A mysteriously funded, highly organized effort to secure the ballot for a third party candidate in this year’s election has ties to President Obama and top Democrats, KleinOnline has learned.
“Tens of thousands visit here – ordinary Jews, educators and their students, Knesset members and government ministers, soldiers and their officers, members of European parliaments, and U.S. congressmen. And after their visits, something happens in the minds of all of them. Even left-wing Knesset members, with tears in their eyes, have written in the visitors’ book, ‘Never again!’ ”
Until recently, most of the Arab countries had boycotted Hamas. But now many Arab leaders are competing who will embrace Hamas stronger than the other.
By Edward Villa
“One night before I went to sleep I spoke to G-d and asked him out loud the following request: “Please – give me one hug from Dvir so that I will know that it was not all in vain.”
This year six Arab countries experienced severe shocks that brought about the fall of some rulers or serious threat to their rule. The process began at the end of 2010, and continues until today.
By David Wilder, Tazpit News Agency
Rav Dov Lior is not only a Torah scholar; he is quintessential Jewish patriot, whose allegiance is pledged fully to God, Torah, the People and the Land. His courage in speaking the truth is undeniably tangible, without regard for any public controversy or dispute.
“I believe that there are still 60,000 more graves that have to be rehabilitated,” he says. If he is correct, it would mean that the Jordanians destroyed 75,000 graves, a number impossible to imagine and probably unprecedented in history, including the Nazi period.
Following imposition of new sanctions regime, Islamic Republic threatens American navy.
By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein / KeepJerusalem.org
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, elected three years ago on a strong "Jerusalem will never be divided!" platform, has changed colors.
There we, Manhigut Yehudit’s strategy team, sat for our first strategy meeting ahead of the upcoming primaries. “According to Likud law, primaries for the party chairmanship will be held in about a year,” I said, “and we have to prepare now.”
We thought the outrageous incident involving an eight-year-old child being spat on by a haredi man because he didn't think she was modestly dressed was about as over the top as one could get.
It is hard to make much sense out of the recent military threats Iran has been aiming at the West and the U.S. in particular.
It would appear that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vocal support for the Ground Zero mosque – not only did he come out in favor of it, he labeled opponents as un-American – is coming back to haunt him. Some leaders of New York's Muslim community apparently believe he will bend over backward to accommodate their concerns, however wrongheaded.
All responsible leaders in our community have roundly condemned the recent violence in Beit Shemesh and Meah Shearim.
I have always been proud of the Jewish people, even when I wasn’t Jewish. I’m a convert. I looked up to the Jews, to their strength in times of trial, to their faith when giving up all hope would have been more practical.
By Steven Plaut
So Hillary Clinton thinks Israel does not treat its women nicely or respectfully enough. This is the same Hillary Clinton who never had much to say about the treatment of women in the Clinton White House.
Should Israel treat pro-Palestinian news manipulators as if they were serious journalists?
In recent months a new theme has replaced the media’s past obsession with Israel’s alleged mistreatment of the Palestinians.
By Aaron Klein
“You don’t need to hit only the immediate, direct nuclear infrastructure of theirs. You can achieve this goal by going after some other targets, without being more specific,” said Shabtai Shavit, who served as Mossad director from 1989 to 1996.
If the stars are aligned in his favor, attorney David Storobin will become the first immigrant from the former Soviet Union to serve as a New York state senator.
“Most Syrians see Assad as a greater enemy than Israel. Israel treats Arabs much better than Assad, especially in jail – they do not torture and mutilate like Assad does."
The Islamic Revolution in Iran has failed to achieve its goals, whether in the domestic, regional or global sphere. Their last chance for salvation is the nuclear project, which still wins support from China and Russia.
Is the German government going to consider 0.5% of Germany’s exports more important than solidarity with the West and the special relationship with Israel?
September 11, 2026 
