Free Republic

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has announced that it will donate $25,000 toward the reconstruction of Holy Family Church in Gaza in the wake of the July 17 missile attack that left three dead and 15 wounded, including the parish priest, in addition to structural damage to the only Catholic church in the area.“We are deeply saddened by the deaths, injuries, and structural damage at the Holy Family Church in Gaza and stand in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters,” group CEO Ted Deutch said in a press release.“We pray for the full recovery of the injured and the...

TABYEHThe Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theopolis III-visiting the Christian town of Tabyeh with other Jerusalem -based clerics-said settlers had started a fire near a cemetery and a 5th century church there last week. "These actions are a direct and intentional threat to our local community...but also to the historic and religious heritage," the patriarch told diplomats and journalists at a press conference in Tabyeh. Settlers had also attacked homes in the area, he said...

A tell-all describes how the war in Gaza loomed over the 2024 campaign and strained Biden’s reelection bidJosh Shapiro’s Judaism was not a factor in Kamala Harris passing him over as a running mate, according to a 2024 election tell-all, contradicting a narrative Republicans eagerly peddled. If anything, Harris rejected Shapiro because they had too much in common — both were former attorneys general who hoped to be president. That and poor chemistry knocked Shapiro out of the running, according to How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, by political reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and...

Although Jews comprised a small part of the population of colonial America, the country’s Founding Fathers realized the importance of freedom of worship for even this small minority. George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island affirms the American commitment that bigotry would have no place in the US and that Jews would not be a tolerated minority but would “possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.” That commitment has withstood the test of time. While American Jews have always admired the nation’s Founding Fathers for their genius and vision, they tend to ignore that...

Who exactly was the Biblical Esau, and how did he become “Edom”? What are the true origins of Amalek, the “eternal enemy” of Israel? Why is Edom associated with Rome and the Western world? And what is the role of Edom in the End of Days and the Messianic Age? Find out in this thrilling class as we begin a new series on the complex and controversial world of Esau and Edom. Also discussed: Baphomet and pagan symbolism in Hollywood and the music industry, a possible hidden Scriptural reference to Elon Musk, and Biblical blueprints for today’s conflict in the...

The phrase “Judeo-Christian” has been around since the 1930s but US President Donald Trump recently resurrected it in a deeply problematic speech on October 13, 2017 in which he said: “We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values … We’re saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again.” It might seem neighbourly, even pluralistic, to include Judaism in a declaration of purported Western values. But in reality this isn’t how the term has functioned, either historically or more recently. Instead, the phrase is used to exclude rather than include. Despite implying that Jews are part of this resurrection of Judeo-Christian values, Trump in...

What have I done to be placed on the sanctions list of the Russian Foreign Ministry, alongside several distinguished historians of eastern Europe? My normal hunting ground (not the right word for a maritime historian) is the Mediterranean and the oceans beyond. But maybe Russia’s mandarins know that I am now writing about the Black Sea. Since the reign of Peter the Great in the 18th century, Russia has seen the Black Sea as a vital gateway to the wider world. The Ottoman sultans blocked Russian attempts to reach warmer waters via Istanbul. Russian ships bound for intended conquests had...

Special prayer and call for unity held to mark the end of Tisha B'av begin at the Western Wall, with thousands in attendance and broadcast live to viewers in Israel and around the world. Watch. Israel National News Aug 13, 2024, 7:06 PM On Tuesday evening at 7:00p.m., towards the end of the Tisha B'av fast, the people of Israel will unite at the Western Wall Plaza for prayer and a call for the unity of Israel. Tisha B'av, the day which marks the destruction of both Holy Temples in Jerusalem thousands of years ago, today marks a day of...

Bob Ayala there an example of "Contemporary Christian Music" from the 1970's a beautiful song. Wow folks we had that "Come to Jesus" meeting last weekend the kind where Jesus is in the room... What Is Going Out There A New January 6th On Steroids? I am still a Zionist people. But I believe the next Holocaust isn't stopped by turning the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution into toilet paper... These events keep popping up at the college campuses a masked mob attack a protest the police allowing it to happen... That violent Tuesday night attack by the...

The attorney of an anonymous Jewish Columbia student who is suing the university for allegedly not providing “a safe educational environment” says his client is having to deal with calls for genocide while attending school. “There are straight-out calls for the genocide of Jews. This has happened because of complacency and appeasement by our academic institutions,” Jay Edelson, who is representing the student, told NewNation’s Leland Vittert on “On Balance.” Edelson said it’s “fine” to debate how Israel should have responded to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and other aspects of the war, but “what’s...

The Persian conquest of Palestine in 614 CE is described in historical sources as a most violent military raid that dramatically affected the political and administrative stability of Byzantine Palestine, involving large scale damage to churches and a mass killing of the local Christian population. Common view has it that the conquest marked a turning point in the history of the Near East and was one of the causes for the rapid Early Islamic conquests, twenty years later. Although the Persian domination - lasting only 14 years (614-628), was a very brief episode in the long historical sequence of Palestine,...

While some depict the Bible’s Passover meal and Jews’ Exodus from Egypt as a fable, archeological and other evidence squares with the Bible’s account.Tonight begins Passover, or Pasach, celebrated worldwide by Jews. As recounted in Exodus 13:3-10, this ritual meal marks their ancestors’ escape from Egyptian captivity.About three weeks earlier, Christians celebrated Easter to commemorate Jesus’ Resurrection. Judaism and Christianity share not merely monotheism, but also recount their miraculous foundations as history.Together they form the moral foundation for Western culture, a foundation that is collapsing, in part due to post-Enlightenment critiques of the historicity of these religions. But, as a...

AP) – The Vatican has issued a new document rejecting the concept of changing one’s biological sex – a setback for transgender people who had hoped Pope Francis might be setting the stage for a more welcoming approach from the Catholic Church. Around the world, major religions have diverse approaches to gender identity, and the inclusion or exclusion of transgender people. Some examples: Christianity The Catholic Church’s disapproving stance toward gender transition is shared by some other denominations. For example, the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest Protestant denomination in the United States – adopted a resolution in 2014 stating...

For generations we have hoped, prayed, and yearned for the coming of Moshiach. The Gemara in Sanhedrin sets forth various preconditions for the coming of Moshiach. What are we to make of all these conditions? Are they to be taken literally? How are these teachings meant to help us in our avodah to bring Moshiach? “[Moshiach] Ben-Dovid will not come until fish is sought out for an ill person, and yet none is found.”1 The Gemara states that Moshiach will come in a generation that is either entirely righteous, or entirely transgressors. The Jewish nation will either be on an...

Since the time of Moses, only nine red heifers have been sacrificed. Now, a “massive altar” for the tenth red heifer sacrifice has been built in Israel, and there is a tremendous amount of speculation that it could happen soon. In September 2022, five red heifers were flown from the state of Texas to the land of Israel. Since that time, one of them has been disqualified, but the other four continue to be candidates for a red heifer sacrifice. As I discussed last week, there was “a practice run of the purification ceremony” in 2023. But an official ceremony...

(JTA)-A U.S. government delegation tasked with monitoring religious freedom around the world cut a visit to Saudi Arabia short after Saudi officials demanded that a prominent rabbi on the trip remove his kippah. Saudi officials told Rabbi Abraham Cooper, co-chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, to remove his kippah while in public, the commission said in a statement on Monday. Cooper, an Orthodox rabbi and the director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center advocacy group, "politely" refused the request with the backing of US embassy staff, the statement said. Saudi officials then escorted...

In this conversation, Mossab, the son of a Hamas leader, discusses the safety of Jewish people outside of Israel, the deep-rooted hatred of Hamas towards Israel, and the fundamental differences between Ishmael and Isaac. In this podcast, Mosab emphasizes the importance of education in the Jewish community and the need for Palestinians to disassociate themselves from Hamas. Mossab also addresses the misconception of Islamophobia and the need for critical thinking. He encourages Jewish people to be proud of their identity and confront hatred with strength. Mossab concludes by discussing the importance of building bridges and seeing Israel as a friend....

Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been slammed for her Christmas post that called Israel a violent occupying force and likened Jesus to the Palestinians. Posting on Instagram on Christmas Eve, AOC shared a photo of a child lying on a pile of rubble surrounded by wooden nativity scene icons. Accompanying the photo, the New Yorker wrote: 'In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents.' She went on to compare Jesus being hunted by King Herod to the 'right-wing forces' currently 'violently occupying Bethlehem.' Her post...

As a child, the thing I found most startling about attending majority-black public schools was the fact that most of my fellow students had no idea what a “Jew” is. To them, I was just a white kid. A few of my schoolmates who had churchgoing parents had heard terms like “Hebrews” and “Israelites,” but there was little understanding of how those words applied to living people in the modern world. I recall one black classmate telling me she’d finally “figured out” what this Jew thing is all about: “You guys just wear the cross, but without the little man...

Bomb threats targeting synagogues and symbols of hate along Hawaii’s busiest roadway — the messages appear to be connected to a war 9,000 miles away. HONOLULU (Hawaii 7News Now) -- Bomb threats targeting synagogues and symbols of hate along Hawaii’s busiest roadway — the messages appear to be connected to a war 9,000 miles away. Along the H-1 highway by the Barber’s Point exit, one of the many places that have a swastika along with the star of David graffitied onto signs. Those symbols can be seen for about 10 miles along the H-1 heading into town. “We think of...