Sorrow and Hope

Current Issues

In Crisis, Israel Rises Above

There is a saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Israel has learned a lot from its history and has overcome many tests and trials so that they aren’t repeated. While the coronavirus pandemic has created unprecedented challenges, Israel tragically has lots of experience in dealing with unimaginable

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Beauty from Destruction: Repurposing Rocket Shrapnel

Although the phrase, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” has not been credited to a rabbi but rather to an American philosopher of the early 1900s, it could have been. The idea of taking something bitter, an adversity or difficult circumstance and bringing good out of it is a very Jewish way to look

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“Hidden” Jews Come Out of the Shadows

There are Jews in the Diaspora (the Jewish population outside Israel) that have remained virtually hidden for over 500 years, some secretly preserving their Jewish traditions through the generations, and some having never known their roots were Jewish. Now, these Sephardic Jews are emerging from the shadows and into the light. Jews in the Iberian

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The Stones Cry Out: Archaeology and the Jewish Connection to the Land

The Jewish connection to the Land has ancient roots, first birthed when Abraham came to the place where God led him, and then thoroughly established the moment Joshua and the Children of Israel set foot on Canaan’s soil. God placed His name upon the Land and marked it as His own. Then He gave it

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The Prequel to the “Deal of the Century”

How the Revised View on Judea and Samaria Set the Stage On January 28, 2020, the United States under President Donald Trump formally announced a Middle East peace plan in which they acknowledged that the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria—which some call “settlements”—would remain part of Israel. While some elements of President Trump’s “Deal

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The Lone Soldiers Guarding Israel

Since its rebirth 72 years ago, Israel has navigated a grim reality. “If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed up the situation. For this reason, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) exists. At any given time, tens of thousands of Israelis form part of

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The Fight Must Go On

When work began on the Fifth World Holocaust Forum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz–Birkenau death camp, organizers planned for 10 world leaders to be in attendance, 15 if the heavens smiled down on the event. Yet on January 23, 2020, delegations from 49 countries converged on Jerusalem for the

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Reclaiming Nazi Plunder

In 2006, an exquisite painting by Gustav Klimt sold for the staggering sum of US $135 million. The painting was owned by Maria Altmann, a Holocaust survivor who was born in Vienna and escaped to Los Angeles during the war. It was a portrait of Altmann’s aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, decorated in gold and silver leaf,

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The Real Bad Guys in Tehran

As tensions between Iran and the United States simmer, the Islamic Republic continues proclaiming its goals to wipe Israel off the map and punish the US for standing with the Jewish state against Iranian aggression. The friction culminated in clashes in December and January that led to multiple Iranian strikes on American targets in Iraq

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Abundant Rainfall: The Sea of Galilee Fills Up

Bible readers all know about the Sea of Galilee. In modern Hebrew it is called the Kinneret because it has the shape of a harp (kinnor). Much of Jesus’ (Yeshua’s) ministry happened around her shores. We read of Jesus walking on the water (Matt. 14:22–33), calming the sea (Mark 4:35–41), advising the disciples how to

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