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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 August 1, 2007 / 17 Menachem-Av 5767

For some vets, battles never end

By Clarence Page


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | When Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey returned from his tour of duty Iraq, he looked like a kid who lucked out. No visible wounds. But looks aren't everything.


He had nightmares and nausea, drank heavily and showed other signs of depression. He threw his dog tags at his sister and called himself a "murderer." He told his sister he had "a rope and tree picked out" behind the family home.


Then in June 2004, a few months after his return, he went to the basement of his parents' home in Belchertown, Mass., arranged photos of his family and his platoon on the floor, and hanged himself with a garden hose. He was 23 years old.


His parents, Kevin and Joyce Lucey, filed suit last week (July 26), charging that the Department of Veterans Affairs denied help for their son's mental problems, beyond three and a half days of involuntary commitment at a local Veteran Affairs hospital.


The parents, who joined the anti-war group Military Families Speak Out after their son's death, are not seeking money damages. They only hope that their lawsuit will force the Bush administration to take swift action to overhaul the VA, they say.


I wish them luck with that. If it weren't for bad news, the Department of Veterans Affairs wouldn't have much news at all.


A few days before the Lucey lawsuit, a group called Veterans for Common Sense accused the VA of unlawfully denying disability pay and mental health treatment to injured Iraq war vets.


Both lawsuits name as defendants the U.S. government and Jim Nicholson, secretary of Veterans Affairs, who abruptly announced in mid-July that he is leaving his job soon. Few tears were shed by major veterans groups. The biggest rap against Nicholson, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, is that he didn't fight hard enough to get more money and attention from Congress for a department that has been overwhelmed by unanticipated casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan.


Those casualties include post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The VA denied its existence for years, until it became official in 1980. Today there's a new charge, that many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who might have PTSD have been urged to settle for a "personality disorder" diagnosis, which makes it more difficult for them to claim treatment or disability benefits for PTSD later.


Yet it may take years for symptoms to show up. Lucey's case sounds painfully familiar to John Erby, president of the Cincinnati chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. Before he became one of the first black coaches in the PAC-8 conference at the University of California-Berkeley in 1968, he was a platoon leader in Vietnam, where he lost one of his legs in battle.


After years of waking up in the middle of the night, reliving his nights of "walking the perimeter" of his unit's outposts in the 'Nam, he learned he had PTSD. He goes to weekly counseling sessions and counsels other veterans from all wars.


"PTSD isn't new," the former Army first lieutenant told me after we met at the VVA's recent convention in Springfield, Ill. "In past wars, they called it shell shock or battle fatigue or something else. But those previous war veterans came home to beautiful parades. That was their medicine. There was no medicine when we came home. So we had to have doctors come up with these studies to tell us we had a problem we didn't know about."


After years of working with fellow veterans and their various disorders, Lucey's case sounds painfully familiar to Erby. The young marine had to be involuntarily committed, the parents say, because he was too embarrassed to seek help himself for fear of being labeled weak and letting down his buddies.


"Ah, that marine pride," Erby groaned. "You see it in other services, too. They're afraid they won't be allowed to go back and rejoin their unit if they admit to any weakness. I remember a sergeant in Texas who would stop the car for a string across the road. That's why I'm happy to talk to any of these young people who have doubts. They need to know when they need help and get it."


The good news about the bad news from the VA is that, at least, somebody's paying attention. The department is chronically under-funded and under-staffed. But new legislation is being debated on Capitol Hill to improve counseling and care of returning veterans, and reduce a backlog of VA claims that has grown to almost 400,000.


Veterans' groups a slogan: "Leave No Vets Behind." That's an order we Americans need to follow. It's your best way to thank a veteran.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in 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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