Kol Nidrei, one of the most awe-inspiring and misunderstood parts of Jewish liturgy, dramatizes the power of repentance

Posted on September 23, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

AISH
Three Ways to Make Yom Kippur Meaningful
Slovie Jungreis-Wolff
September 28, 2022

Yom Kippur is a day unlike any other. The energy of the day is the power of teshuvah – returning to become the person you were created to be. One of the most painful moments a human being can have is the realization that “I’ve messed up my life. I haven’t changed. The same things trigger me. I still lose it with the people I love. I haven’t grown spiritually. What’s my life about? Why am I here? What defines me?” Think about it. After you strip away all the externals – your home, your favorite possessions, your bank account – who are you? READ MORE

WALL STREET JOURNAL Meir Soloveichik: The Meaning of a Yom Kippur Prayer For this rea­son, Kol Nidrei speaks pro­foundly to our own time. In the age of the in­ter­net, every im­petu­ous post­ing, every mis­guided tweet, every re­gret­ted ut­ter­ance sur­vives for­ever, and of­ten no amount of re­gret is suf­fi­cient to undo the stain on some­one’s rep­u­ta­tion. Kol Nidrei re­minds us to can­cel mis­takes, rather than peo­ple, ac­cept­ing gen­uine re­gret and em­brac­ing the pos­si­bil­ity of change and growth. Af­ter cen­turies of de­bate, the fu­ture of Kol Nidrei in Jew­ish liturgy is se­cure, but its lessons need to be learned once again.

BON APPETIT How Are You Breaking Your Fast for Yom Kippur? We Asked 16 Jewish Cooks and Writers “Yom Kippur break fast is one of the most delicious and satisfying meals of the Jewish calendar,” says Shannon Sarna, editor of Jewish food website The Nosher and author of Modern Jewish Comfort Food. “You have been fasting for 25 hours, you are tired, it’s nighttime, and all of a sudden you are shoveling bagels, lox, kugel, and mimosas into your face.”

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“In the message, Putin noted that while it was important for Russian Jews to remain close to their customs, he emphasized they had a duty to contribute to Russia”

Posted on September 23, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Putin tells Russian Jews he expects ‘hefty contribution’ in New Year’s message
September 25, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Russian Jews to make a “hefty contribution” to the country’s multiethnic identity Sunday, in a Rosh Hashanah greeting overshadowed by tensions between the Kremlin and the country’s Jewish community amid the invasion of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of Jews have left Russia since the onslaught began in February, and thousands more are expected to flee to Israel and elsewhere as Moscow plans a partial call-up of reservists to contribute to the war effort. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Antisemitism seen seeping into Russian media landscape as Ukraine invasion slows Recent incidents include talk show host listing the names of Jews faulted for lacking patriotism, veteran columnist compiling list of known Jews, branding them ‘foreign agents’

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“The fact that Abbas and entourage don’t even bother to rein in or denounce the terrorists is apparently seen by many Palestinians as a green light to continue the attacks”

Posted on September 23, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
Israel’s ‘Peace Partner’ Is Slaughtering Israelis
Khaled Abu Toameh
September 26, 2022

In the past few months, there has been a rise in the number of terrorist attacks against Israelis carried out by gunmen belonging to, or associated with, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its ruling faction, Fatah. These two bodies are headed by one man: Mahmoud Abbas, who has zero compunction about his loyalists murdering and wounding Israelis. On the contrary, he encourages it and pays generously for it — with money from Europe and the United States…Fatah, however, has proved over the years that its actions and rhetoric are actually no different from those of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the terror groups that openly call for the elimination of Israel. READ MORE

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#SarahIdan Miss Iraq: I posted a selfie with Miss Israel. Here’s what happened.

Posted on September 23, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

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“The leadership of New York’s West End Synagogue is too committed to the ever-changing progressive party line to suffer a radical feminist like me”

Posted on September 23, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

TABLET MAG
Disinvited
Phyllis Chesler
September 14, 2022

As we know, a virulent, often vicious and increasingly intolerant “cancel culture” has permeated our campuses and much of the media—but it has also infested some of our synagogues. I now have firsthand experience of what this means. Being disinvited is not a new experience for me. I’ve been disinvited from engagements before because my radically feminist views were not politically correct; because I dared to expose feminist hypocrisy among the sisterhood; and because I defended the truth, and thus defended Jews, Judaism, Israel, and post-Enlightenment values. READ MORE

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“It’s manyfold harder for a white medical student who has average grades to get accepted into medical school, maybe 30 or 40 times harder than a minority student with the same grades”

Posted on September 23, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

NEW YORK POST
UPenn doctor: ‘Anti-racist’ policies are wrecking American medicine
Dana Kennedy
September 29, 2022

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school, is giving members of his profession heart palpitations. Goldfarb, 78, says new “anti-racism” med school policies are lowering standards, reducing students to the color of their skin and corrupting medicine in general — much to the outrage of his fellow faculty members…Goldfarb said this new push for diversity and equity has meant that some high-performing white — and often Asian — students can’t get into medical school because those slots are being given to black and Hispanic students who don’t have to show such high grades or test scores. READ MORE

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Many Iranians, particularly the young, have come to see Amini’s death as part of the Islamic Republic’s heavy-handed policing of dissent and the morality police’s increasingly violent treatment of young women

Posted on September 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
Will Iran’s clerics survive the latest wave of unrest?
AP and ILH Staff
September 21, 2022

Under President Raisi, a hard-liner elected last year, agents of the morality police appear to have been unleashed. Despite the recent crackdown, some demonstrators still chant “death to the dictator,” targeting both Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s rule and Iran’s theocracy, despite the threat of arrest, imprisonment and even the possibility of a death sentence…Protests have erupted across Iran in recent days after a 22-year-old woman died while being held by the morality police for violating the country’s strictly enforced Islamic dress code. The death of Mahsa Amini, who had been picked up by Iran’s morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab, has triggered daring displays of defiance, in the face of beatings and possible arrest… READ MORE

JEWISH INSIDER Masih Alinejad saw this coming The Iranian dissident has attracted the regime’s ire for her passionate criticism of the country’s modesty laws. Now, she watches women march in the streets in Tehran while in hiding in the U.S.

VOICE OF AMERICA Elon Musk Seeks to Bring Starlink Internet Service to Iran SpaceX chief Elon Musk says he will seek to bring his Starlink satellite internet service to Iran. The billionaire businessman suggested his plans in a message on Twitter.

TIMES OF ISRAEL Biden hails ‘brave’ Iranian women in UN speech as protests continue US president says he stands with women fighting for their rights; protests across country continue after 22-year-old killed by morality police for wearing hijab too loose

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“Lapid’s embrace of the two state solution at the UN is a break with his immediate predecessor Naftali Bennett and contrasts sharply with his political rival Benjamin Netanyahu”

Posted on September 22, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

ALGEMEINER
Lapid Calls for Two State Solution to Conflict With Palestinians in UN General Assembly Address
Andrew Bernard
September 22, 2022

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Thursday called for a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly. “An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s security, for Israel’s economy and for the future of our children,” Lapid said. “Despite all the obstacles, still today a large majority of Israelis support the vision of this two state solution. I am one of them. We have only one condition: That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being, and the very existence of Israel...READ MORE

JNS UK prime minister considering moving embassy to Jerusalem British Prime Minister Liz Truss told Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid on Wednesday that she is considering moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

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With Hezbollah ensconced in Lebanon and Syria, Hamas controlling Gaza, and a weak Hashemite monarchy in Jordan, the West Bank is the final remaining outpost for Iran

Posted on September 16, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

THE NATIONAL INTEREST
Will Iran Soon Control the West Bank?
Sean Durns
September 18, 2022

The Islamic Republic of Iran, Henry Kissinger once remarked, must decide whether it is a nation or a cause. But the regime’s choice has been clear since its founding four decades ago: it is a revolutionary project—and an imperial one at that. And Tehran now aims to spread its empire to Israel’s doorstep. Violence is rising in the Palestinian Authority-controlled (PA) West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria. But many members of the press and policymakers are failing to ask why. READ MORE

FDD Hezbollah Emerging as Winner from Israel-Lebanon Maritime Talks Israel and Lebanon are apparently close to a final agreement delineating their maritime border after a Lebanese government delegation met with the Biden administration’s energy envoy, Amos Hochstein, this week in New York. If the deal goes through, the Biden administration will have turned Hezbollah into a significant player in the Eastern Mediterranean energy industry, a development that will both enrich the terrorist group and expand its regional influence.

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Primarily in response to PMW’s exposing the PA’s #PayToSlay policy in 2011, the PA’s income from foreign aid has plummeted by 90%

Posted on September 16, 2022 by ArchitectGuy

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
Why is the PA not paying its employees their full wages?
Maurice Hirsch
September 18, 2022

The Palestinian Authority is once again complaining about its alleged financial crisis. As a consequence of the alleged crisis, for months the PA has only paid its employees 70% – 80% of the salaries due to them. As usual, the PA is deflecting any responsibility for its situation and is merely blaming Israel. This approach was summed up in a statement of PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh following the July 31, 2022 decision of Israel’s Security Cabinet to implement Israel’s Anti-Pay-for-Slay Law that withholds tax money from the PA by the amount the PA pays in salaries to terrorists. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Lee Zeldin: Antisemitism ‘has to be found, confronted and crushed’ “I don’t believe that a dollar of US tax dollars should go to the Palestinian Authority if they continue rewarding terrorism.”

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