In a closed door meeting with the Senate Banking Committee last Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry, Vice President Joe Biden, and officials from the State and Treasury departments provided a briefing on the talks to halt the Iranian nuclear program and to urge the committee to back away from any discussion of new sanctions. more

One of the painful postscripts of the Holocaust was the saga of the many Jewish children hidden during the war, especially in churches and monasteries across Europe, but whose parents did not survive to find them when the war was over. Some of these children were six or seven years old, and though Jewish by birth, had for all intents and purposes grown up as Christian children with little recollection of their parents or their Jewish roots. more

Yosef is sent by his father to Shechem with a few tasks. Rabbi Mordechai Breuer divided Yosef’s mission to his brothers: See how they are, how the sheep are, and return to me with the update. As his brothers are no longer in Shechem, only the first is partially achieved, and Yosef never returns after he is sold to Egypt. more

Two years ago Rabbi Moshe Sokolow of Yeshiva University penned an essay entitled, “Thanksgiving: A Jewish Holiday After All,” wherein he cited the following historical item that was recently highlighted in an excellent expository essay by Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik of Congregation Shearith Israel entitled, “G-d’s Providence and the United States: A Thanksgiving Reader on Judaism and the American Idea” [Torah To-Go, Nov. 2013, YU ]. more

It was a different era, a time that revered idealism yet tolerated a diversity that at times defied reality. Nevertheless, with all that was tolerated, respect for diverse opinion was laced with respect, a respect that was saturated throughout society’s opinion makers’ creed. The legacy of the brief presidency of John F. Kennedy was highlighted by image, personality, ideology and most important of all to this writer, the element of eloquence and elegance in both language and style. more

As usual I was stumped for a topic for this week’s article. Upon awakening to snow on Monday, I remembered the time I was “forced” to go white water rafting. It was 1984 and our good friend Shimmy Stein put together a white water rafting expedition to Lehigh. He had his chevra from Forest Hills (us) and his friends from everywhere else. All my friends said it would be a great experience and that I had to try it at least once. The Webers and Maels were also going and talked me into it as well. As we got close to our destination, I started to panic. I knew I was going to hate it. more

In March 2012, President Obama had a bit of an open mike gaffe. At a Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, he whispered to then Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense after the 2012 elections. At the time many wondered if that would also apply to other issues, such as his dealings with Israel. In the past week we learned the answer. more

One of the most challenging experiences I had in the Israeli army had nothing to do with combat or being in the field, but transpired during a moment of relative calm, when things were looking pretty good. We were at the tail-end of a harrowing month of reserve duty in the Gaza strip in the midst of the intifada. It was my first stint as an officer in the reserves. more

Yaakov is on his return journey, homeward bound for the first time in either 22 or 36 years. His mother is dead (though he does not yet know that), and he is unsure of his status with his brother. Has he been forgiven? He sends one group of messengers to Eisav with a warm greeting, “I’ve been away for awhile. I have made a decent living. I’m coming home — I hope I’ve found favor in your eyes.” The response is that Eisav is approaching with 400 men. more

Judy Joszef is off this week, so we’re rerunning one of our many favorite Joszef columns. We were heading out to a wedding dear friends were making and I wanted to leave enough time to get there since we always get lost somehow or stuck in horrendous traffic. I hadn’t eaten all day and was looking forward to the shmorg. Lucky for me there was no traffic and we got off the highway in record time. Only problem was, the road we were supposed to merge onto was nowhere in sight. Jerry assured me it must be up ahead.“ more