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July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

June 13, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine

Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends

JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 12, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

June 11, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?

Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'

JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination

June 6, 2008

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem

Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs

JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 5, 2008

David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'

Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread

JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 4, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'

Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus

JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler

June 3, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East

Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel

JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?

He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Feb. 5, 2008 / 29 Shevat 5768

A Republican victory this year could do more long-term damage to the party than a loss

By Rod Dreher


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Here's a chipper question for my fellow conservatives as we stumble drunkenly into Super Tuesday: Would it be more depressing to wake up in the morning to learn that our next president will be a Democrat or a Republican?


Me, I don't know, but it's hard to shake the sense that four more years of GOP rule from the White House might just about kill off conservatism as a viable governing philosophy. Given the exhausted and brain-addled state of the right at the end of the Reagan Era, it's arguably better for both the country and conservatism for our side to retreat to the woods for some hard thinking and meaningful reform.


Here's the most despairing thought: that in the grand scheme of things, it's not going to matter much who wins the presidency. Why? Because it's quite possible that the economic crisis now breaking upon us is going to be beyond any politician's ability to manage, so severe that the fallout will dwarf any other issue that has preoccupied American political debate of late.


Come what may, we do seem destined to reap what we have been sowing for a very long time. We — both individuals and the government — have paid for our long consumption binge on credit.


The federal deficit is exploding as our politicians mortgage our liberty to overseas lenders. The national savings rate is zero percent. The average American household owes $8,000 to credit card lenders. People who took on far more debt than they should have to buy houses far bigger than they needed or could afford now face the possibility of losing them. Personal bankruptcy filings increased 40 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, with many more forecast for 2008.


The current crisis was caused chiefly by foolish, greedy lenders and foolish, greedy borrowers thinking we could get something for nothing, and the party could last forever — and by a government that stood by and did nothing because it has no more common sense or moral backbone than the rest of us.


Now, to avoid a recession caused by excessive indebtedness, Republicans and Democrats propose that we — or rather, our children — go further into debt with a $150 billion stimulus package. The president has instructed Americans to spend the free money to keep the economy going.


Mike Huckabee put this logic in perspective: "What we're about to do is borrow $150 billion from the Chinese" and "give it to people who will turn around and buy Chinese imports."


A credit economy depends on the confidence that money borrowed will be paid back. And that, in turn, depends on a shared moral sense, one that entails mutual obligation, a duty to be true to one's word and the self-restraint not to promise more than you can reasonably deliver.


Last Sunday's 60 Minutes gave viewers an idea of the moral collapse behind the looming economic collapse. Steve Kroft detailed the corporate greed and growth-at-any-cost pathology that led financiers to throw money at bad credit risks.


He also interviewed Matt and Stephanie Valdez, a California couple who took out a mortgage on their house, which, owing to the subsequent bursting of the housing bubble, is worth a lot less than they owe on it. Even though they can pay their monthly mortgage, they're going to walk away from it. Just like that.


Why should they feel ashamed? It's just business — as corporate elites continually remind us when they abrogate moral relationships to their employees and pensioners. Honor and fidelity get in the way of profit and personal satisfaction. Confides a Texas mortgage broker who has seen reckless irresponsibility from lenders and borrowers both: " Everyone in this cycle is implicated in this mess. It's greed, and entitlement. It's all about to come crashing down, and hard."


That has been the ideology that governs our consumerist society: The costs of living as we want to live in the present moment — economic, environmental, military, social and moral — ultimately are something we push off on other people. Usually, our children. What will they think of us one day when the full bill of what we've done to them comes due?


We don't need to look to Washington for rescue. We need to look at ourselves. We need to return to an older ethic that rewards self-restraint and good stewardship of our resources, financial and otherwise. As it stands now, there is little in American popular culture, including politics, to counter the powerful idea that if we want it, we should have it, and now.


Religious leaders should stop pandering to our most decadent instincts with therapeutic bromides that distract us from the consequences of living beyond our means — or, worse, proclaiming a so-called prosperity gospel that makes a golden calf of consumerism.


And it would help if we actually had a conservative party in this country. Rush Limbaugh said not long ago that the purpose of applied conservatism is to enable capitalism to provide for the material desires of the masses. That's what many people who identify themselves as conservatives believe, but it's exactly wrong.


Traditionalist conservatism supports the free market but is acutely aware that unfettered capitalism undermines institutions and practices that conservatives consider crucial to a life whose quality is measured not by individual autonomy or material gain, but by virtue. All the McMansions and plasma TVs and SUVs in the world could be — and in many cases is — evidence of decadence.


No politician has been elected by scolding the American people, telling us that we have to live within our means or that the glittering idea of limitless material growth and personal freedom conceals severe consequences. But it happens to be true.


Reality, as we are learning, is a harsh teacher.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


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Rod Dreher is assistant editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum).

PREVIOUSLY

01/22/08: Putting faith in Obama: Do GOPers tempted by him know what they're supporting? 11/20/07: We can't fix the world with The Care Bear Stare
10/17/07: Every father should read this book to his son
10/03/07: Not even our parks are safe … And I lay at least part of the blame on the cultural revolution and our obsession with the individual
08/22/07: The Decalogue, dangerous? Advice for a society that cringes at commandments
08/15/07: Playing the anti-science card
08/01/07: How the U.S. can avoid its own version of the fall of the Roman empire
07/24/07: Conservative author: Big business can be as dangerous a threat as big government
07/09/07: All quiet but the doleful pleas of a father who knows
06/28/07: When we let conspiracy theory masquerade as news, we fall prey to much more than deception
06/20/07: Stranded on Delta: They may love to fly, but it certainly doesn't show
06/13/07: When did conservatism start to mean never having to say you're sorry?
05/08/07: PBS darling gets abused by PC police
05/02/07: Impervious to beauty and deadened to depravity
04/20/07: What I know about being a loner
10/28/05: How the conservatives crumble

© 2007, The Dallas Morning News, Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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