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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 Dec. 13, 2007 / 4 Teves 5768

Pick your paranoia

By Clarence Page


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Andrew Young, a civil rights veteran and former United Nations ambassador, should stay away from microphones.


In videotaped comments that have taken the Internet by storm, he says this: "I want Barack Obama to be president … in 2016!"


Obama, the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential hopeful, is too young and too lacking in a support network to be pursing the White House this time around, says Young.


In the video interview posted on NewsMakersLive.com based in Atlanta, where he used to be mayor, Young praises Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Young says that her husband, Bill, the former president, is "every bit as black as Barack."


As the audience whoops and laughs, he quips, "He's probably gone with more black women than Barack."


Young quickly adds, "I'm clowning." I'm sure he was. In case you couldn't guess, Young supports Sen. Clinton. He's even hosted a fundraiser for her. But with supporters like Young bringing up her least favorite part of her husband's presidency, Sen. Clinton doesn't need critics.


And, please, Mr. Ambassador. The line about Bill Clinton's being our first black president is wearing a little thin, especially when his wife is running against someone whose African side is more visibly apparent.


It is worth noting that Young's remarks were taped in early September. They predate Obama's recent surge in the polls in the three early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The remarks did not draw much attention until this past weekend, just as Oprah Winfrey led rallies for Obama in those three states. The two crossover stars in front of cheering crowds made Young's remarks sound like the grumpiness of an aging crusader whose mind is still stuck in the '60s.


Nevertheless, Young's quips have a serious side. His ominous outlook for Obama appeals to a gloomy view that I find remarkably common in black conversations.


It is a surprisingly grim, willfully pessimistic view that endures despite Obama's recent surge in the polls.


It is a view that says Obama can't win because "they" won't let him.


Who is "they"? Take your pick. The Republican smear machine. The FBI. The CIA. Crackpot assassins. Or maybe just "The Man." There's always that old standby devil, institutional racism. In this view, popular with barbershop philosophers and the academic intellectual set, America is too saturated with white supremacy to ever give a black presidential candidate an even break.


Or, if any actually does make it, well, he or, someday, she must be a sell-out. An Uncle Tom. An Oreo. Black on the outside and you-know-what on the inside.


Pick your paranoia, it will show up as a very real presence in somebody's mind. After all of the hard-won opportunities that the civil rights movement opened up, I am disappointed by this gloomy outlook, but not surprised.


Neither is Michelle Obama, the senator's wife. She attributed the hesitancy she hears in some African Americans to "the natural fear of possibility."


Such fear is a natural byproduct of our historical memory as an oppressed people whose hopes too often have been dashed.


I'm old enough to have heard the same pessimism expressed by my Roman Catholic friends about John F. Kennedy's chances in 1960. I heard similar pessimism expressed by some of my Jewish friends when Sen. Joe Lieberman ran in 2000. I hear it from countless women about Hillary Clinton's chances now. If you expect the worst, many figure, you won't be disappointed.


"I freed thousands of slaves," Harriet Tubman, the great conductor on the Underground Railroad, is quoted as saying. "I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves." Many of us today are slaves to the past and don't know it.


That presents a special challenge to Obama. Like other racial pioneers, he finds that he must run more than an ordinary campaign. He has to build a movement across racial lines that can tap into the same spirit of possibility that energized the civil rights movement.


I don't know if Obama can win any more than anyone else does. My crystal ball isn't that good. But, with help from spiritual revivalists like Oprah, he can build that new movement, especially if leaders of old movements get out of his way.

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