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May 14, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Snitching to the IRS

The Kosher Gourmet by Jill Wendholt Silva: Spring greens with fennel and herbs

JWisdom: A Righteous Gentile by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

May 13, 2008

Jonathan Mark: For pro-Israel voters, Obama's middle name should be the least of their concerns

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Leaker Shield Act

JWisdom: Why You & I Never Die: A Jewish View of Immortality, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

May 12, 2008

Chosen Words: A newsletter for personal and spiritual growth gleaned from classic biblical and other sources that will help you enhance your day to day life. Likely the most constructive three minutes you will spend today

Mark Steyn: Israel's 'doom' could also be Europe's

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: When Faith Meets Fate, Part One

May 9, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Reverence, Yes; Worship, No

Mona Charen: Did Israel Drive Out the Arabs 60 Years Ago?

JWisdom: Ultimate opportunities by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

May 8, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Israel at 3,500+

Jonathan Tobin: Still Fighting the Same War

Steven Plaut: How ‘nakba’ proves the fiction of a Palestinian Nation

JWisdom: Taking Israel for Granted? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

May 7, 2008

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Israel is irrelevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Dion Nissenbaum: Latest Olmert scandal could derail efforts to force Israel's compromises

JWisdom: My Inner Ventriloquist by Sara Yoheved Rigler

May 6, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: Anti-Zionism at 60

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: In honor of Israel's 60th anniversary, the former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with a smorgasbord featuring the taste and essence of the Jewish homeland

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Jewish Deer in Nazi Headlights

May 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Busy work

Jonathan Mark: Remarkable half-century old Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban puts current anti-Israel sentiment into perspective

May 2, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Rote religiosity

Caroline B. Glick: Whitewashing Hamas

JWisdom: Parent trap?

May 1, 2008

David Zwiebel: Faith communities can learn from Orthodox Jews in stimulating private philanthropy for religious education

George Friedman and Peter Zeihan of Stratfor: The Shift Toward an Israeli-Syrian Agreement

JWisdom: It's time to wake up by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

April 30, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Pennsylvania's Democratic slugfest may leave some Jewish votes up for grabs

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Fresh herbs, sauteed veal and tiny creamer potatoes makes a light spring dinner

JWisdom: How to Build a Mentch by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 29, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama's Muslim Childhood

Joel Brinkley: On human rights, the U.N. once again strikes out

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: When The Truth is Unbelievable

April 28, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I'm often stuck in the doctor's waiting room for hours! Doesn't he owe me something for my wasted time?

Steven Emerson: New U.S. government policy advises agencies to avoid using some of the very same words that make up terror groups' names

JWisdom: Why You & I Never Die: A Jewish View of Immortality, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

April 25, 2008

Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg: Schadenfreude isn't kosher for Passover --- or at any other time

Rabbi Berel Wein: The secret of how the data bank of memory is transferred from one generation to the next

JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part III

April 24, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The successful failure

Fred Burton and Scott Stewart of Stratfor: Placing the terrorist threat to the food supply in perspective

JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part II

April 23, 2008

Connie Ogle: An intricate game of a novel

Jonathan Tobin: Making Sense of the 'J Street' Jive

JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen

April 22, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Why Israel's 'Leaven law' matters

Caroline B. Glick: Obama the Savior

April 18, 2008

Rabbi Harvey Belovski: Multimedia tool of antiquity

Caroline B. Glick: Revealed Truths vs. revealed lies

JWisdom: More than miracles by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

April 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Deconstructing Dayeinu

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: Is innovation at the Seder a slap at tradition?

JWisdom: Discovering Your Divine Mission, Part III by Rabbi David Aaron

April 16, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: A Prayer for Sderot's Children

Ethel G. Hofman: Sumptuous Seder

JWisdom: The Divine is in the details by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 15, 2008

Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Let Charlton Heston Go!

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Jimma, tyranny's enabler

JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part IV by Dr. Lisa Aiken

April 14, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: The Snitching Supervisor

Jonathan Tobin: Forget the Fun and Games!

JWisdom: Sincerity is Valued Most by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D.

April 11, 2008

Rabbi David Gutterman: A Mystery in the Middle East

Caroline B. Glick: Why Ahmadinejad smiles

JWisdom: Elevated illness by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

April 10, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing by George Friedman: A Mystery in the Middle East

The Kosher Gourmet By Steve Petusevsky: The spring elegance of asparagus

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: The Power of Rational Lies

April 9, 2008

Michael Feldberg: An all but forgotten Colonial doctor who put his Jewish values before his life

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's "Everything's Relative" gets philosophical

JWisdom: Four Rabbis in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 8, 2008

Caroline Glick: Covering for the enemy

Elliot B. Gertel: 'House' goes Hasidic

JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part III by Dr. Lisa Aiken

April 7, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I have a translating business. Recently someone asked me to translate some financial documents that are clearly forged. Should I agree?

Jonathan Rosenblum : Israel is unwittingly helping to fuel the international campaign of delegitimization against it

JWisdom: Matzah and leaven as a life philosophy by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D.

April 4, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The Mystery of Suffering

Caroline B. Glick: Fear of democracy

JWisdom: Dirty Jews by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

April 3, 2008

Rabbi Y. Y. Rubinstein: Parents --- and the children who would be them

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: Tempted by restaurant dressings? Don't be. Here are recipes that can be made at home, healthier!

JWisdom: The importance of retaining a 'slave mentality' by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 2, 2008

Mitch Albom: Child abuse, disguised as faith

Jonathan Tobin: Unreasonable Accommodations

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith with Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Eliminating Jewish Influence over Germans

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 March 10, 2008 / 3 Adar II 5768

The test of a candidate

By Paul Greenberg


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | While the race for the Democratic presidential nomination could go on till the convention or just mutual exhaustion, the Republicans now have their candidate. Tuesday night, John McCain finally went from his party's expected to presumptive nominee.


On such occasions, the speeches of both victor and vanquished exert an irresistible fascination for fans of American rhetoric, an art form that has seen much better days. Like baseball, which can no longer be called the national pastime except as a courtesy, American eloquence continues its slow fade. But if the speeches of candidates at such pivotal moments no longer merit attention for what they say about the state of the Union, they remain deeply revealing when it comes to the character of the candidates. By their words we can still know them.


John McCain's victory speech had been scheduled for weeks. It was no longer a question of whether he would pass the magic number of delegates required for the nomination (1,191) but when. Tuesday night, he did. Sometimes it just takes a while for the inevitable to arrive, especially when one's Honorable Opponent refuses to accept it. Mike Huckabee finally did, just as he promised he would once that decisive 1,191st delegate was chosen.


Like the senator's victory Tuesday night, John McCain's speech lacked drama. The drama had been played out some time ago, when he came back from the politically dead just last summer. Even his top staff had given up and fled, but he soldiered on. Strangely enough in politics, he won by sticking to principle. The principle? That in war, to quote an American general named MacArthur, there is no substitute for victory.


Not long ago, John McCain's emerging as his party's presidential nominee in 2008 seemed as improbable as The Surge's proving successful in Iraq. Indeed, the senator's fortunes and those of American arms are linked, and what a remarkable turnaround the country has seen in both. Who would have thought it? The whole saga restores one's faith — not just in a presidential candidate but in America.


Yet there was no braggadocio in Sen. McCain's speech Tuesday night — no vainglory, no hollow cheerleading but an almost severe dignity, a subdued acceptance of responsibility rather than an exuberant cry of victory. ("Now we begin the most important part of our campaign: to make a respectful, determined and convincing case to the American people that our campaign and my election as president, given the alternatives presented by our friends in the other party, are in the best interests of the country we love….") Goodness. How old-fashioned. How courteous.


Shades of Adlai Stevenson! It was as if the Republican standard-bearer was addressing thinking citizens of a republic rather than an exultant crowd of partisans.


In this old republic that became a mass democracy some time ago, John McCain's restrained tone was a step back in time, and up. I may be the only one to think so, but his rhetoric, antique as it sounded, was refreshing — as if he were conscious of the grave challenge ahead rather than the heady victory he'd just sealed.


As for Mike Huckabee's concession, I confess to having looked forward to it — not because I'd wanted Arkansas' native son to lose, quite the contrary, but because I knew his well-earned reputation for eloquence. Those of us in Arkansas have been lifted up by his words on more than one occasion.


For example: There was his speech from the state Capitol at the end of his first, long, grueling day as governor of still frontier Arkansas in 1995, when his disgraced predecessor had refused to budge from office hour after embarrassing hour. He emerged from that test not only triumphant but gracious and forgiving.


Some of us in this state had first heard him in the pulpit of Immanuel Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, Ark.; others will never forget his inspiring words on the steps of Central High School in Little Rock on the redemptive 40th anniversary of The Crisis of '57, when the ghost of Orval Faubus was finally, definitively exorcised from that historic site.


Now surely Brother Huckabee would meet this test, too, I thought Tuesday night, for nothing tests a politician, or anyone, like defeat. Sad to report, I was disappointed. Yes, he did meet one test — he finally conceded — but without the elevation, the full quotient of grace many of us had come to expect from the man and preacher.


But this night he made the mistake of so many campaigners at the end of a campaign: He more or less repeated his stump speech instead of plowing new ground. Only in comparison to the other candidates Tuesday night was he eloquent. Which says a depressing lot about the current state of American rhetoric.


Mike Huckabee's concession proved a long, uneven mix of the sublime and strange as he went from citing Scripture and Col. Travis at the Alamo — you can't hardly beat those choices — to plugging a national sales tax, an exaction so unfair that naturally it's been renamed the Fair Tax in keeping with the deceptive times.


Ah, well, even Demosthenes must have had an off night, and surely the country will hear from Mike Huckabee many another time, especially in light of the surprisingly effective presidential campaign he finally wrapped up. Who beyond his immediate family and a few of his more loyal congregants would have guessed that the ol' boy and bass guitarist would have done as well as he did in a national race, reviving us again from coast to coast? The moral of this story: Never underestimate an Arkie. Especially one who clearly loves what he's doing.


It was fitting somehow that the last two candidates standing in the GOP column should have been a maverick senator and a Baptist minister. The warrior and the preacher. Achilles and Paul of Tarsus. As types, John McCain and Mike Huckabee represent the twin sources of their party's and country's — even their civilization's — strength: Athens and Jerusalem.

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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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