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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 8, 2007 / 22 Sivan, 5767

Stem cells and moral preening

By Mona Charen


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Usually when I learn that someone is the parent of a child with diabetes, I feel an instant rapport. Even if the person is a stranger, I know so much about what his or her daily life is like: the constant monitoring, the shots, the worry. But one cannot respond with such natural fellow feeling when that person has chosen to treat everyone on the other side of the stem cell debate with contempt.


In a short profile that ran in The Washington Post, Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., shares her personal struggle with the disease. Her daughter was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 1999 at the age of 4. This "jolt" propelled Rep. DeGette to become an activist on diabetes research. She co-chairs the Congressional Diabetes Caucus. Fine, as far as it goes. But like so many activist types, she seems to confuse conviction with revelation. Her daughter lives with a serious condition, and therefore, anyone who does not assent to using embryonic stem cells for research is, what? Well, here are Rep. DeGette's words:


"If a candidate says 'I support stem cells and my opponent does not,' it immediately classifies your opponent as an extremist." Moreover, she continues, "We think people who vote on the wrong side of this are voting against science and health."


It does not seem to cross her mind, as it so rarely seems to occur to any of the activists on this issue, that other people suffer, too, and that indifference may not be the reason they take another view of embryonic stem cell research. They are extremists. They are opposed to science — even to good health.


What a nice fairy tale to tell yourself. How comforting it must be to avoid confronting the tough questions. How grossly unfair that people of conscience, who feel the pain of illness and death no less than anyone else, are dismissed as thoughtless when it is actually they who have done the hard thinking. I have met many people — particularly when I speak to pro-life audiences, who are raising children with severe disabilities; children who would have been aborted by other less morally sensitive couples. Their lives look so painful and difficult (though they often insist that their children are a great blessing) whether they are pushing a physically handicapped child in a wheelchair or caring for a mentally handicapped adult child. These parents chose not to abort their handicapped children not because they were "extremists" but because they could not have lived with themselves if they had done anything else. They believe that life is a gift, that each human being, no matter how disabled, has worth because he or she is made in the image of God. Such "extremists" staff our charities, care for the sick and dying, find homes for abandoned babies, and fill the ranks of special education teachers, nurses, doctors and therapists.


People who oppose embryonic stem cell research are loath to cross the moral line of sacrificing one human being's life to help another. Yes, an embryo is just a small cluster of cells. It takes imagination to view it as human. But each of us began life that way. As former Rep. Henry Hyde used to say, a human embryo is not going to grow up to be a giraffe.


It's actually ironic that the Post chose to puff Rep. DeGette in today's paper, since the front page brings news of a medical breakthrough. It seems that three teams of scientists have been able to coax ordinary mice skin cells into becoming stem cells that may have all of the pluripotent potential so prized in embryonic stem cells. It may be that science will leapfrog the moral difficulties of the stem cell debate by developing techniques like this that do not require living embryos to be destroyed. It would be nice if Rep. DeGette and I could celebrate this news together in the proper spirit. But she has made it clear that she thinks people who are opposed to embryonic stem cell research are extremists.


When the day comes, as it probably will, when I am old and decrepit and disabled and in need of compassion and assistance from someone, I only hope I will be lucky enough to come under the care of some extremist, who believes that I have value just because I am human and for no other reason.

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