No other major movement in American Jewish life has been as dependent on one person as Modern Orthodoxy was on Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. He bestrode that world like a colossus for almost half a century before illness forced his withdrawal from public life in the mid-1980s. He passed away in 1993, at the age of 90. Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/141791/#ixzz1W8faYfQYhttp://www.jidaily.com/S93/e Read more

Few American public figures equal Glenn Beck in his ability to inspire loathing from his enemies and affection from his admirers. Beck was in Israel this past week for a series of public events—in effect, revival meetings. He called the tour “Restoring Courage.” The first event, which took place in the amphitheater at Caesaria, brought out a crowd of some 3000, mostly Americans Christians but some Israelis as well. Christians, Beck told his enthused audience, “not only love Israel, but... Read more

The protesters who led Egypt’s revolt last January were young, liberal, and linked-in. They were the bloggers who first proposed the demonstrations against Hosni Mubarak on Twitter; the Facebook-based activists who invited their “friends” to protest; and Wael Ghonim, the 30-year-old Google executive who, after Egypt’s state security agency detained him for 12 days, rallied the crowds to hold Tahrir Square. Far from emulating Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, they channeled Thomas Paine, calling for civil liberties, religious equality, and an end... Read more

Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, the eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews–something no blacks could do in South Africa. Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres. http://www.israelifrontline.com/2011/08/scottish-professor-responds-to-boycott.html Read more

More than one commentator criticizing Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating has accused the agency of chutzpah; a Supreme Court justice wrote a recent dissent describing the petitioners’ argument in a public finance case as an instance of the same quality, and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination finds so much chutzpah in the incumbent’s behavior that she is impelled to use the word before she’s even learned to pronounce it. The past few months... Read more

By JONATHAN SACKS It was the same city but it might have been a different planet. At the end of April, the eyes of the world were on London as a dashing prince and a radiant princess, William and Kate, rode in a horse-drawn carriage through streets lined with cheering crowds sharing a mood of joyous celebration. Less than four months later, the world was watching London again as hooded youths ran riot down high streets, smashing windows, looting shops,... Read more

Gerald R. McDermott Lutheran CORE Conference, Columbus OH August 10-11, 2011 Several weeks ago two rising seniors came to my office. One is at the Naval Academy, and the other at one of the big public universities in Virginia. Both had taken religious studies courses that suggested Jesus is just one of many saviors in the history of the religions, no better than any other. And that they would be arrogant to think that Jesus is superior to the Buddha... Read more

There are signs of a reversal of the massive emigration that has been caused by war and economic hardship. Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/christians-moving-back-to-the-holy-land/#ixzz1V6HmJb9Ihttp://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/christians-moving-back-to-the-holy-land/ Read more

Why do Jews observe the Torah’s commandments? Answers differ from person to person but generally include some or all of the following reasons: 1) God commanded us to, 2) we will reap reward and/or punishment in the next world, 3) doing so is good for us spiritually, 4) it is good for us materially, 5) that is what Jews do. A recent trend in Orthodox Jewish outreach — the proselytism of Orthodoxy to non-Orthodox brethren — focuses particularly on the... Read more

David Roberts (1796–1864) was a Scottish painter who in the late 1830’s traveled extensively in the Levant and Egypt documenting “Orientalist” sites in drawings and watercolors. Together with the lithographer Louis Haghe, he marketed his work to a public eager for exotic scenes. Queen Victoria was one of his first customers. Among Roberts’s paintings was a massive 1849 work, The Destruction of Jerusalem. While the original has mysteriously disappeared from public view since a 1961 auction, a rare large lithograph... Read more