Free Republic

As the world rightly focuses on the recent terror attacks in Paris on Charlie Hedbo and a kosher grocery store, it should be noted that the second attack is part of a larger problem: the ongoing vitriol toward the French Jewish community. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders invited French Jews to move to Israel. That’s a nice gesture, but it’s not enough. The United States should join Israel and offer to also open up its shores as a refuge to the endangered Jews of France. This past summer, I traveled to Paris with a...

EWTN Global Catholic Television Network: EWTN Live - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. - Sr. Margherita Marchione - Pope Pius XII

NPR’s bold headline reads that after 522 years, Spain is inviting me home. It feels good; it feels like something is being done to right a historic wrong. About 15 years ago, we discovered that my maternal grandfather’s family fled Spain during the Inquisition to Meppen, a small town in northern Germany, a few miles across of the boarder with The Netherlands. He chose to buy a Sephardic burial plot and his family heirlooms include allusions of a Spanish heritage. Beyond this loose collection of genealogical evidence, I have no claim to the Sephardic tradition but in this news I...

I know, I know, Hanukkah just ended, and it’s not even new years. So why am I bringing up Passover a full three months early? Maybe it has something to do with the news that you (yes, you!) could be spending your holiday of unleavened bread with none other than Tea Party golden-boy/crazy person, Senator Ted Cruz. Reports Politico: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a likely Republican presidential candidate and a vocal pro-Israel hawk, is being advertised as a featured attraction at a string of ritzy resort vacation getaways catering to religious Jews. Cruz, along with several rabbis, is listed as...

In my fifth and final column on the greatest guide ever devised for a good world — the Ten Commandments — I offer my readers what may well be the best single thing you can do (that you are probably not doing now) to improve the quality of your life, your family’s life, and ultimately the life of our society. Many people, even among those who revere the Ten Commandments, do not think that the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Day, is particularly important, let alone binding. Once you understand it, however, you will recognize how both life-changing and world-changing it...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a likely Republican presidential candidate and a vocal pro-Israel hawk, is being advertised as a featured attraction at a string of ritzy resort vacation getaways catering to religious Jews. Cruz, along with several rabbis, is listed as a speaker at four different vacation spots, including Aspen, over Passover, the spring holiday that honors the freeing of enslaved Jews in Egypt. The Prime Hospitality Group is the company behind the offers, according to an email solicitation shared with POLITICO. “4 Questions. 4 Cups of Wine. 4 Sons. And 4 Luxurious Prime Passover Programs,” the invitation reads. “All...

Since 2009, archaeologists have been slowly excavating the ancient town of Magdala—thought to be the home of Mary Magdalene—near the Sea of Galilee. Among their finds has been a first-century synagogue where, experts say, Jesus likely preached. Image: Israel Antiquities Authority Although Jerusalem and Bethlehem are the sites most commonly associated with Jesus, Father Eamon Kelly—vice president of Israel's Magdala Center and vice chargé of the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center—points out that Jesus spent almost his entire life in what is now northern Israel. "Eighty percent of Jesus' public life was here," he tells the Israeli...

A few weeks ago, I wrote an op-ed in The New York Observer entitled “B’nai Jeshurun: Do Jewish Lives Also Matter?” I noted that “high-profile Upper West Side Jewish temple B’nai Jeshurun led a protest after the tragic death of Eric Garner at the hands of the New York Police Department. Then, there was a pre-scheduled event at BJ honoring Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, and the attendees included such luminaries as Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Congressman Jerry Nadler and others.” Multiple rabbis and liberal Jewish communal leaders were arrested in acts of civil disobedience during...

How the story of the Magi sheds plenty of light on the historical soundness of the Gospel of Matthew and how early Christians viewed paganism. center;">"The Adoration of the Magi" by Matthias Stom (c.1600-c.1652) [http://commons.wikimedia.org/] As we saw last time in this space, the notion that Christianity is "really" warmed-over paganism is contradicted by the fact—abundantly in evidence not only in the New Testament but in the writings of the Fathers and the liturgy of the Church—that, well, early Christians just don't care much about pagan things, while both the New Testament and the Fathers are positively drowning in the...

"And so we encounter another oddity of Hanukkah: Jews know the fuller history of the holiday because Christians preserved the books that the Jews themselves lost. In a further twist, Jews in the Middle Ages encountered the story of the martyred mother and her seven sons anew in Christian literature and once again placed it in the time of the Maccabees."

Sorry, senator -- it's not happening. To the surprise of approximately nobody, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is proceeding full steam ahead with plans to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. The Tea Party icon has already settled on a location for his campaign headquarters (Houston), made the requisite appeals to GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson, and decided on a campaign strategy. That strategy, National Review’s Eliana Johnson reports, centers on energizing the GOP base, not wooing moderates and independents to the Republican fold. Of course, the hard demographic truth is that a Republican can’t win the presidency by relying on...

On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus' birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods - these all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 become associated with Jesus' birthday? The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus' nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts; the date is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when the hear the news of Jesus' birth (Luke 2:8)...

In the middle of the cavernous and ornate Al Aqsa Mosque on top of Judaism’s holiest site – the Temple Mount – an Islamic cleric began drawing a crowd as he delivered an impromptu sermon warning the Jewish people that they are about to be “slaughtered without mercy.”

Hollywood, still wet from the soaking it took from Noah, has headed for the desert with Moses in the new movie Exodus: Gods and Kings. Surely this time we have a foolproof crowd pleaser filled only with milk and honey? Or, instead, is it going to be a lot of grumbling at bitter herbs?The movie, which opens today, stars Christian Bale, best known for his Batman portrayal, and is directed by Ridley Scott, no stranger to big screen extravaganzas like his film Gladiator. In 3D, and costing an estimated $140, 000,000, this must have appeared a formidable proposition. I mean,...

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview, his first to the Israeli media, Pope Francis expresses his sadness at the Jerusalem synagogue attack and the lack of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, voices his hatred for anti-Semitism and talks of his fears for the Christian communities persecuted by the Islamic State. The spiritual father of 1.2 billion people lives in a two-room apartment in Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City's guesthouse. With its outdated furniture, a 1970s-style sofa, papers scattered on the floor in a work corner, and piles of books that no one dares to tidy, the small and modest abode...

Have you noticed that nobody loves modern churches? Nobody. I mean NOBODY.Seriously. Have you ever met anyone who sees a church like this and and heard them whisper, “I just love that church! It is so inspiring!”.No. Never.Have you ever gone into a “worship space” like this and heard someone say how awed they were to be in the presence of God? I doubt it.  That’s because these buildings were not designed to inspire awe or to remind you about the presence of God. They are people centered, not God centered. They are auditoria not temples.There is a gut level...

A light unto nations. In the spirit of the recent Dennis Prager posts on the Ten Commandments, an audio class on Jewish impact on the World. A fascinating anthropological-like contrasting of world history against Jewish History. It's long-ish but highly informative on how the good old (ancient) days weren't so good without the Ten Commandments. Hate the civil society? Blame the Joooooooooossssss!

Pacifists use a mistranslation of the Sixth Commandment in the King James Bible to justify their cause. Ask almost anyone to recite the commandment in the Ten Commandments that prohibits taking a life, and you will be told, “Thou shalt not kill.” That is the King James translation of the Sixth Commandment. Overall, it is a magnificent translation. But this one has led to much moral confusion. Yesterday, PragerUniversity.com, which has had more than 20 million views this year, released eleven courses (each five minutes long) — the Ten Commandments and an introduction. The reason we made these video courses...

A humorous (if you understand Jewish ritual law--halacha) take on "the halacha" of Christmas trees-- Know that Jews have myriad laws governing daily life... For example, Chanukah candles must be kindles at a certain time, and last a certain duration...and oy vey what happens in a million after-the-fact cases where one did NOT meet the requirements, etc. All the funny quirky things you positively love about us Jews. What if they were transposed onto Christmas... the results might be something like this: (key: "Mitzvah" means commandment:) 1. PREPARATIONS FOR XMAS MUST NOT BEGIN(1) BEFORE THANKSGIVING.(2) THIS APPLIES TO PREPARATIONS WHICH...

A brief (8 minute) talk about the connection between Thanksgiving, its acknowledgement of G-d, America's religious freedom/founding, and Chanukah (spreading light.) Note: This is subtitled (the Rebbe, Rabbi Schneerson speaks in Yiddish) but it's worth listening, reading, and watching. He highlights our REAL American values so poignantly and perfectly-- and blesses Reagan to boot... a great end of the Holiday!