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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 June 13, 2006 / 17 Sivan, 5766

Religious schools must discriminate

By Kathryn Lopez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | As the academic year winds down, there's cause for mourning in some neighborhoods in New York City, where some schools will be closing their doors for good. They're not just any schools — and I'm not just saying that because the school where I spent my first eight years was nearly among them. They're Catholic schools that have achieved miracles.


Besides doing easily quantifiable things — teaching disadvantaged students at half the cost of public schools — they often distinguish themselves from nearby public schools in another important way.


As one principal explained to Manhattan Institute education expert Sol Stern (for Stern's book "Breaking Free"): "We are here to educate and empower these kids, to do two things with them. One is to make sure that they learn how to read, write and do math — every day. The other is to form the character. We believe in the divinity of being; we believe in the holiness of our existence. That infuses the culture we're in." But next fall, the Big Apple is going to come up nine schools short. Stern calls it a "tragedy," but there's far more peril afoot.


Just as some of these schools were beginning to close up shop for good, "People" magazine ran an article on a Catholic school teacher in Appleton, Wis., who was fired for artificially conceiving her twins. Immediately, you're outraged: At a Catholic school? Aren't they pro-life? Don't they want to encourage pregnancies and discourage abortions?


Well, perhaps. But the teacher was reportedly fired for using in vitro fertilization to conceive. That's a tough one; your heart breaks for a couple who want to conceive but just can't on their own. But IVF, as it is regularly practiced, involves, however unintentionally, the destruction of embryos, and for that reason, among others, it's not something the Catholic Church wants to encourage. A Catholic school teacher plays a unique role in being both a role model and a living embodiment of what the Church teaches. And, as high an order as that may be, it's a role a teacher signs up for when she agrees to teach in a Catholic school.


About two years ago, The New York Times Magazine ran a piece by a young woman who found herself pregnant. Upon learning that she was having triplets, she opted to selectively reduce — get rid of two of them. The words "selective reduction" were new to a lot of readers that Sunday. And if reactions I heard were any indication, people wondered how far we had come toward a "Brave New World," embracing a sterile phrase to describe this practice. Does this mean that it's too late to turn back?


Maybe. Maybe not. One way you can reverse a culture's direction is by teaching children differently. At religious schools, where morals-training is part of the package, educators have a unique and powerful opportunity — and with that comes great responsibility. As Vatican official Archbishop J. Michael Miller, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, recently explained: "To fulfill their responsibility ... educators in Catholic schools, with very few exceptions, should be practicing Catholics who are committed to the Church and living her sacramental life. Despite the difficulties sometimes involved, those responsible for hiring teachers must see to it that these criteria are met."

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The case in Wisconsin isn't the first of its kind, or the first to make headlines. Earlier this year, a single female teacher in New York City found herself pregnant and, before long, the center of controversy. She accused the school of sex discrimination for firing her because of her pregnancy. Anyone who values the protection of human life must hesitate to do or support anything that would discourage anyone with child from having the child — so the first thing I want to know is whether that teacher was offered any help she needed, by friends, family and church. But the school also has the right to say: We can't have you teaching here if you are having a child out of wedlock. It's not what's we're about.


Catholic schools have the right to be Catholic and — considering what they contribute — Americans should want them to be. As Anthony Picarello of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty puts it to me, "Religious schools are where religious groups transmit their message from one generation to the next. And whoever controls hiring controls the message. So keeping the government out of those teacher-hiring decisions is separation of church and state in the best sense."

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