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May 24, 2013

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'

Caroline B. Glick: Thank you, Hafez al-Assad

Diana West: From the Brooklyn Bridge to London
Morgan Housel: Why spotting bubbles is so much harder than you think

Environmental Nutrition editors: NuVal labeling to the rescue?

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Memorial Day: Jews Serving and KIA in War on Terror; Liberace Bio-Pic; Jew Wins "Survivor"; Shalom, Dr. Brothers; More

The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen: HIDE THESE FROZEN TREATS FROM THE KIDDIES!: Sangria pops; Irish cream pudding pops; mango Lassi pops

May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review January 3, 2008 / 25 Teves, 5768

A life lived in service to life

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Years ago I used to make a point of visiting a little shop that specialized in repairing small electrical appliances. It was located on Main Street in a small Southern town, and was run — well, tended — by two elderly sisters who could have stepped out of a short story by Eudora Welty or Flannery O'Connor. It was that kind of town: a Southern Gothic place full of types and anecdotes you seldom find any more, even in these storied latitudes.


The repair shop was crammed from floor to ceiling with assorted radios, clocks, electric irons and other gadgets in various states of disrepair. The place could have served as a museum of mid-20th century household appliances, some of which were so old their purpose wasn't easy to recall.


Needing an excuse to visit the shop, I might bring in some antiquated appliance to be fixed, not sure whether I would ever see it again — for things had a way of disappearing among all the shop's mechanical, electrical or just hand-powered detritus. It was as if they melted into another dimension, namely the past. But that scarcely mattered. If the ladies couldn't locate your radio or clock or record player (younger readers will need that last item defined), they'd give you somebody else's. You usually came out with something better than whatever you'd brought in, which only added to the satisfactions of the visit.


The little shop wasn't exactly a model of efficiency, but whatever it lacked in speed or organization, it more than made up for in charm. In those cramped precincts, time slowed to a leisurely pace, and the South I'd known as a child still lived and loitered.


My favorite moment in the shop — there were many to choose from — came one day in what must have been some time in 1980s, known as the Roaring Eighties elsewhere in the country. I'd dropped by to pick up some useless artifact I'd left there months before. While waiting for it not to be found, I picked up an old electric iron on one of the crowded tables, blew off the dust, and looked at the long since faded tag that someone had conscientiously affixed to the cracked handle. All it said was: RUSH!


All of which is by way of long introduction to my own version of that old shop, which consists of a carton of newspaper clippings over in the corner of the office full of yellowing items I've been meaning to comment on for some time but never got around to. Every one of them could have been marked RUSH!


As another year hurtles to its close, conscience compelled me to pick out one clipping in particular, an obituary, for something more than an editorial lick-and-a-promise.


It's hard to believe I've never got around to paying my last respects in this column to the late great Henry Hyde on his passing — a congressman whose ballast and bulk, stentorian voice and rhetorical flourishes, and general pomp and circumstance made him almost a caricature of the kind of politico who once dominated Congress.


Henry Hyde's fustian manner is very much out of style now — as it was even during his heyday. In some ways he might have stepped out of an "Illustrated History of Late 19th Century American Political Leaders." One almost expects to find his portrait alongside those of forgotten but once powerful figures like James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling.


By the time of his death at 83, Henry Hyde had long been something of a curio. He was a man out of his time in many ways, which may have been just what made him great. He was a living antique. For on the critical issues of his day and ours, The Honorable Henry Hyde proved honorable indeed, unwavering in his devotion to principles that have grown decidedly unfashionable. He stood very much apart from his more sophisticated, flexible, blow-dried contemporaries — the smooth Mitt Romneys of an earlier time. Trimmers and triangulators all, they knew how to shift with the wind. Why pick a side before it was clear which would be the popular one? They were Clintonesque even before Bill Clinton.


Not that Henry Hyde didn't have his faults (who doesn't?) but, when a crisis arose, he took his stand on principle, even if he might have to take it with precious little company. As when he took evidence of perjury and obstruction of justice seriously, and wound up manager of a presidential impeachment that was bound to fail in these cynical times. ("They all do it, don't they?") It didn't seem to matter to Henry Hyde whether his side would prevail, only that he do his duty by his own, old-fashioned — some would say outmoded — lights.


What touched Henry Hyde's years in Congress with greatness was the monotonous regularity, no matter how quixotic it seemed at first, with which he introduced what came to be called the Hyde Amendment, which forbade the use of federal funds for abortions. When he first introduced it in 1976, shortly after Roe v. Wade was decided, he himself was surprised when it actually passed, for in those years many assumed that the question had been permanently, definitively, unquestionably settled by the Supreme Court. A gadfly like Henry Hyde was not welcome. To borrow a line from Ring Lardner: Shut up, they explained.


He wouldn't. Session after congressional session through the '70s and '80s and '90s, Henry Hyde came back with his pro-life amendment. The man would not give up, just as later he would take the lead against the semi-infanticide known as partial-birth abortion. How many lives his unswerving stand may have saved over the years must remain a matter of speculation — a million, two million? — but you got the idea he would have done the same if it had been only one.


In the few years before the Hyde Amendment took effect, there had been 300,000 federally funded abortions annually. The Clinton Administration once complained that the amendment had prevented 325,000 to 675,000 such abortions every year. An ancient sage once said that he who saves a single life saves a whole world. In that case, Henry Hyde saved worlds.


Some politicians are remembered not for their high office or electoral successes but because of the improbable cause they embraced. One thinks of John Quincy Adams, who, long after he had been secretary of state and president of the United States, and had garnered many another honor, returned to Congress to present anti-slavery petitions — year after year, congressional session after session, only to see them routinely rejected. What a bore and bother he must have seemed. Yet those were his greatest years because they saw his greatest service to his country and to the cause of freedom — not because he won his fight but because he fought.


So it was with Henry Hyde, who was willing to go against the rushing current of his time no matter how long it took to reverse it. That is why I hasten to express my gratitude for a life lived in service to life.

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.

JWR contributor Paul Greenberg, editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, has won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Send your comments by clicking here.

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