May 9, 2008 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Reverence, Yes; Worship, No Mona Charen: Did Israel Drive Out the Arabs 60 Years Ago? JWisdom: Ultimate opportunities by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky May 8, 2008 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Israel at 3,500+ Jonathan Tobin: Still Fighting the Same War Steven Plaut: How ‘nakba’ proves the fiction of a Palestinian Nation JWisdom: Taking Israel for Granted? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher May 7, 2008 Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Israel is irrelevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Dion Nissenbaum: Latest Olmert scandal could derail efforts to force Israel's compromises JWisdom: My Inner Ventriloquist by Sara Yoheved Rigler May 6, 2008 Caroline B. Glick: Anti-Zionism at 60 The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: In honor of Israel's 60th anniversary, the former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with a smorgasbord featuring the taste and essence of the Jewish homeland JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Jewish Deer in Nazi Headlights May 5, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Busy work Jonathan Mark: Remarkable half-century old Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban puts current anti-Israel sentiment into perspective May 2, 2008 Rabbi Berel Wein: Rote religiosity Caroline B. Glick: Whitewashing Hamas JWisdom: Parent trap? May 1, 2008 David Zwiebel: Faith communities can learn from Orthodox Jews in stimulating private philanthropy for religious education George Friedman and Peter Zeihan of Stratfor: The Shift Toward an Israeli-Syrian Agreement JWisdom: It's time to wake up by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis April 30, 2008 Jonathan Tobin: Pennsylvania's Democratic slugfest may leave some Jewish votes up for grabs The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Fresh herbs, sauteed veal and tiny creamer potatoes makes a light spring dinner JWisdom: How to Build a Mentch by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 29, 2008 Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama's Muslim Childhood Joel Brinkley: On human rights, the U.N. once again strikes out JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: When The Truth is Unbelievable April 28, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I'm often stuck in the doctor's waiting room for hours! Doesn't he owe me something for my wasted time? Steven Emerson: New U.S. government policy advises agencies to avoid using some of the very same words that make up terror groups' names JWisdom: Why You & I Never Die: A Jewish View of Immortality, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron April 25, 2008 Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg: Schadenfreude isn't kosher for Passover --- or at any other time Rabbi Berel Wein: The secret of how the data bank of memory is transferred from one generation to the next JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part III April 24, 2008 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The successful failure Fred Burton and Scott Stewart of Stratfor: Placing the terrorist threat to the food supply in perspective JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part II April 23, 2008 Connie Ogle: An intricate game of a novel Jonathan Tobin: Making Sense of the 'J Street' Jive JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen April 22, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: Why Israel's 'Leaven law' matters Caroline B. Glick: Obama the Savior April 18, 2008 Rabbi Harvey Belovski: Multimedia tool of antiquity Caroline B. Glick: Revealed Truths vs. revealed lies JWisdom: More than miracles by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky April 17, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Deconstructing Dayeinu Rabbi Elazar Meisels: Is innovation at the Seder a slap at tradition? JWisdom: Discovering Your Divine Mission, Part III by Rabbi David Aaron April 16, 2008 Jonathan Tobin: A Prayer for Sderot's Children Ethel G. Hofman: Sumptuous Seder JWisdom: The Divine is in the details by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 15, 2008 Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Let Charlton Heston Go! Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Jimma, tyranny's enabler JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part IV by Dr. Lisa Aiken April 14, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: The Snitching Supervisor Jonathan Tobin: Forget the Fun and Games! JWisdom: Sincerity is Valued Most by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. April 11, 2008 Rabbi David Gutterman: A Mystery in the Middle East Caroline B. Glick: Why Ahmadinejad smiles JWisdom: Elevated illness by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky April 10, 2008 Stratfor Intelligence Briefing by George Friedman: A Mystery in the Middle East The Kosher Gourmet By Steve Petusevsky: The spring elegance of asparagus JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: The Power of Rational Lies April 9, 2008 Michael Feldberg: An all but forgotten Colonial doctor who put his Jewish values before his life Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's "Everything's Relative" gets philosophical JWisdom: Four Rabbis in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 8, 2008 Caroline Glick: Covering for the enemy Elliot B. Gertel: 'House' goes Hasidic JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part III by Dr. Lisa Aiken April 7, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I have a translating business. Recently someone asked me to translate some financial documents that are clearly forged. Should I agree? Jonathan Rosenblum : Israel is unwittingly helping to fuel the international campaign of delegitimization against it JWisdom: Matzah and leaven as a life philosophy by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. April 4, 2008 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The Mystery of Suffering Caroline B. Glick: Fear of democracy JWisdom: Dirty Jews by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky April 3, 2008 Rabbi Y. Y. Rubinstein: Parents --- and the children who would be them The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: Tempted by restaurant dressings? Don't be. Here are recipes that can be made at home, healthier! JWisdom: The importance of retaining a 'slave mentality' by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 2, 2008 Mitch Albom: Child abuse, disguised as faith Jonathan Tobin: Unreasonable Accommodations JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith with Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Eliminating Jewish Influence over Germans 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 April 26, 2007 / 8 Iyar, 5767 Choosing allies over principles By Jonathan Tobin Congressional fight over Turkish genocide of Armenians puts Jews in a difficult spot http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If you had the choice between telling the truth about 20th-century genocide - and thereby alienating a contemporary strategic ally of the United States and Israel - or ignoring or downplaying the genocide and keeping the ally happy, which would you do? Is this just an interesting hypothetical for grad students in ethics or philosophy to chew on? No. It is a real-life question that must be answered not only by American lawmakers, but by Jewish organizations that are simultaneously pledged to promote both the strategic interests of both the the U.S.-Israel alliance, as well as speak out on issues of human rights. A FAITHFUL ALLY The dilemma concerns the history of Turkey, a nation that has in recent decades assumed tremendous importance in the Middle East. Turkey is a NATO ally that faithfully stood by the United States during the Cold War, even sending troops to fight alongside ours in Korea. It was also the first Islamic country in the region to recognize the State of Israel. More than that, its defense establishment has ties with the Israel Defense Force, and the two nations form an informal, loose-alliance of non-Arab states with a mutual interest in resisting the rise not only of Islamist terror, but the malevolent influence of rogue states like Syria and Iran. That's due primarily to the influence of Kemal Attaturk, who led the Turkish state that emerged from the ruin of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Attaturk created a modern Turkish nationalism based on strict secularism. Relations between Israel and Turkey have cooled a bit in recent years due to the election triumphs of Turkish Islamists who sought to distance Ankara from Jerusalem. And in the aftermath of the country's refusal to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and their embrace last year of a Palestinian Authority run by Hamas terrorists, they can no longer be termed reliable. But even pessimists about the future of Turkey understand its crucial role as a firewall against jihadists. Turkey's military - the most powerful force in its society - is still an effective check on the Islamists, and has participated in joint military exercises with the Israelis. But it does have one sensitive point that poses a problem. It refuses to own up to the crimes committed by Ottoman forces against ethnic Armenians during World War I. Though the Turks like to act as if this episode is a great historical mystery that defies explanation, the truth is relatively simple. During the First World War, the Ottoman Turks fought not only Britain (whose forces ultimately wrested Palestine, Syria and Iraq from them) but also the Russians. Caught in the middle were Christian Armenians, who were despised as dhimmi sympathizers with the foreign enemy. After a series of military reverses, the so-called "Young Turk" government in Istanbul ordered mass deportations of Armenians from parts of Anatolia. From 1915-17, as many as 1 million Armenians died as result of the attending hardships, as well as atrocities on the part of Turkish troops. It was the first modern genocide, and the fact that the perpetrators were never held accountable is often cited as a reason why the Nazis thought they could get away with trying to exterminate the Jews. But since their modern state came into being fighting for the hegemony of Turkish ethnicity over the large non-Turkish enclaves inside their country, the notion of owning up to the truth about that era has always been anathema to the Turks. To this day, their government denies that the deaths of Armenians were the result of a concerted plan, and claim that it should only be understood in the context of a war in which casualties were experienced by both sides. The Turks would do better to acknowledge what happened and move on. But living as they do with ongoing conflicts over land and identity with Cypriot Greeks and Kurds, they cling to their policy of stonewalling the Armenians and demand that their allies back them up. For almost a century, Armenians have sought to keep the memory of their suffering alive. That's the point of a congressional resolution on the question set to be passed by the House of Representatives that will recognize the atrocities against the Armenians as "genocide." You would think that a Jewish community that has expended so much effort not only to enshrine the memory of the Holocaust but to ensure that it serve as an example to warn against crimes against others would be aligned with the Armenians, but that's not entirely correct. TRUTH OR SURVIVAL? Though many Jews support the genocide resolution, some of the biggest Jewish communal players, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs (which has worked for years to build support for the Israel-Turkey alliance), are not. ADL head Abe Foxman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that "the Jewish community shouldn't be the arbiter of that history, nor should the U.S. Congress." How do we balance the need to support historical truth against the strategic imperative of the present? The answer is that we can't. No one should expect Jews, of all people, to lie about mass murder. The Turkish policy of official historical revisionism is as absurd as it is counterproductive. The Turks' stand on the Armenians only harms their international standing and efforts to integrate with the West. But their realpolitik apologists have one point worth considering. Given the current state of the Middle East and the West's ongoing battle against the jihadists, is this really the best moment for us to be pressing the Turks about their past? In theory, a victory for historic truth ought to serve as insurance for Jews and any other people who have faced annihilation and may yet again. Moralists may be right to pose this question as one of absolutes, but in wartime, you can't always pick and choose your allies. Would it be worth it to damage an alliance with Turkey just to make a point about the truth of Armenian suffering? That might makes us feel righteous, but if it leads to more deaths in the future, would it be right? Will an Armenian genocide resolution help us defend Israel against the threat of, say, an Iranian attempt at nuclear genocide better than a friendly Turkey? Some might believe that to be true. But can anyone who cares about the possibility of another mass murder of a non-Muslim population in the Middle East be indifferent to the possibility that it won't? Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Let him know what you think by clicking here. Jonathan Tobin Archives © 2005, Jonathan Tobin