Free Republic

Flag found when Iran's chief rabbi arrived with members of the Jewish community to observe the Fast of Esther and pray at the traditional site.

The gravesite of Mordechai and Esther An exchange of letters dating back to the year 1968, on display now in the National Library in honor of the upcoming festival of Purim, shows that representatives of Iranian Jewry sought to purchase the gravesite of Mordechai and Esther in the city of Hamedan, in western Iran, and that the Shah was amenable to their request. The letters, quoted by Israel Hayom, reveal the negotiations between representatives of the Jewish community in Iran and the Shah, who ruled the country until the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The representatives sought to purchase the...

At the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in 1946, Julius Streicher was sentenced to death for Crimes against Humanity. The editor of the Nazi newspaper, Der Sturmer, Streicher’s constant incitement against the Jews helped whip Germany into a genocidal frenzy. A Nazi until his last breath, Streicher entered the death chamber in a fury, loudly shouting “Heil Hitler.” According to the Associated Press report, in his final moments “Streicher was swung around to face the witnesses. With burning hatred in his eyes, he looked down at them and shouted: “Purimfest 1946.” It might seem odd that a Nazi war criminal...

One of the many remarkable heroes who helped the Jewish people during World War II is also hardly known. Mordechai Schlein, known as “Motele”, was just a 12-year-old child when he became a hero of the resistance, fighting Nazis with incredible courage and resolve. In the 1930s Belarus was home to many vibrant Jewish communities. A heavily wooded country in Eastern Europe, Belarus today is a prosperous nation of nearly 10 million. Even today, Yiddish is one of the country’s recognized minority languages. Motele Schlein was born in 1930 in a small Belarussian town called Karmanovka. There were only two...

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, chief rabbi of Efrat, on Saturday night compared US President Barack Obama to Haman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Mordechai. Speaking at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, the American-born Riskin said that he could not understand what was going through Obama’s mind. “The president of the United States is lashing out at Israel just like Haman lashed out at the Jews,” he said. “I’m not making a political statement,” he clarified, “I’m making a Jewish statement.” When a woman in the audience shouted out that he was being disrespectful to the US president, she was booed by...

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, over Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. Earlier, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart and apologized for the deaths of nine Turks in a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. In response, Lieberman said in a statement, “Anyone who saw the photos taken on the Mavi Marmara understands beyond any doubt that IDF soldiers acted in self-defense against the activists of the IHH organization, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Europe. "Such an apology harms IDF soldiers' motivation and their willingness...

A few months ago, the normally hostile Iranian regime took the rather unusual step of adding a Jewish holy site to its National Heritage List. On December 9, 2008, Iranian news outlets reported that the tomb of Mordechai and Esther, the heroes of the Purim saga, would now be under official government protection and responsibility. The purported tomb of Mordechai and Esther in Iran. Photo: Courtesy The move cast a brief spotlight on the site, which is well-known to Iranian Jews but largely unfamiliar to those outside the country. And with Purim being celebrated this week, it is worth taking...

What is the significance of the name "Jew"? Where does the word come from and what does it mean? The word Jew (Yehudi in the Hebrew) is a derivative of the name Judah (Yehudah), Jacob's fourth son; hence calling someone by this name would seemingly imply that the person is a descendant of that particular tribe. However, as is well known, Jacob had twelve sons, progenitors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, all of whom comprise our great nation. Why, then, is the entire Israelite nation known as "Jews"? (The conventional answer to this question is that the majority of...

Codenamed Moked, the plan called for hitting 11 Egyptian airfields in the first wave. The planes were to take off at 7am on a carefully staggered schedule that would bring them simultaneously over airfields deep in Egypt, 45 minutes' flying time, and in nearby Sinai, 20 minutes' flying time. Total radio silence was to be maintained, even if a plane crashed en route. Only 12 planes were to be left behind to provide air defense for Israel. Within three hours, the first-wave planes were to rearm and strike again. These two blows would hopefully eliminate the Egyptian air force. "Everything...