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U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was apparently unmoved Thursday by Meghan McCain's tearful remarks about her on "The View." McCain had become emotional during the ABC talk show, discussing Omar's recent criticisms of Israel and its supporters. She said Omar's remarks were hurtful to many of her Jewish friends. “It is very dangerous, very dangerous," McCain added, "and I think we collectively as Americans on both sides, what Ilhan Omar is saying is very scary to me. It’s very scary to a lot of people and I don’t think you have to be Jewish to recognize that.”

"Draw Me; We Will Run After You" In the Song of Songs (1:4), there is a verse, "Draw me, we will run after you; the king has brought me into his chambers." The Kabbalists see these three phrases as references to the three stages of the departure from Egypt. "Draw me" is the Exodus. "We will run after you" is the counting of the omer. "The king has brought me into his chambers" is the giving of the Torah. "Draw me" is passive -- it refers to the Israelites being taken out by G-d. Also it is singular. Whereas "We...

Amen Ahmed Ali of Bakersfield pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally exporting military equipment, possession of stolen U.S. property and conspiracy to act as an illegal agent for a foreign country.

Overtures of My love are coming your way , This day I have set it before you and in my will you obey , So prepare for your blessings are about to shower down , Much more in obedience shall be required of you but now you wear my crown , For my fullness you now walk in and I AM completed in you , My desires now are yours for you have broken through , So watch as I complete all your dreams and requests , For just as Joshua I have dressed you in my very best ,...

Note: The following text is a quote: Terror Charges Unsealed in Minnesota Against Eight Defendants, Justice Department Announces The Justice Department announced that terrorism charges have been unsealed today in the District of Minnesota against eight defendants. According to the charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab. Thus far, 14 defendants have been charged in the District of Minnesota in indictments or criminal complaints that have been unsealed and...

SNIPPET: "Aleem N. is then accused of then having transported the equipment and money to al-Qaida contacts in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Sermet I. visited Aleem N. many times at his apartment in the town of Germersheim in western Germany, prosecutors said. The German of Pakistani heritage, who has been identified by his family as Aleem Nasir, went on trial in December in Koblenz, also charged with membership in Al Qaeda. A verdict is expected next Monday. In another linked case, prosecutors in March charged 31-year-old Omer O. with membership in Al Qaeda on allegations he was collecting money and...

The period between Passover and Shavuot, the festivals of liberation and the giving of the Torah, is marked by the Counting of the Omer.1 In a sense the festival of Shavuot is a fulfillment, a climax, of Passover. In terms of the Jewish people, the significance is obvious -- Israel was not a nation by virtue of freedom alone but by virtue of the Torah. What does this mean to the individual? Torah gives life a purpose, a pattern that gives significance to the commonplace. The mitzvot impart spiritual importance even to the ordinaries of living; they make the Jew...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - One is believed to be a chemical weapons expert, another allegedly plotted assassinations. A third planned attacks targeting U.S. troops, while a son-in-law publicized their exploits in the name of al-Qaida and recruited new militants. Now this top group is believed to have been wiped out by a U.S. missile strike. If true, it's far from a death blow to al-Qaida, but analysts say it could weaken the terror group's operations in Afghanistan, which has seen an alarming rise in suicide attacks. The strike apparently missed al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri. And an audiotape aired Thursday, the first...

Pakistani intelligence sources on Thursday identified three of four al Qaeda members believed to have been killed by a U.S. airstrike last week, though they have yet to recover the bodies. One of the dead was said to be Abdul Rehman Al-Misri al Maghribi, a son-in-law of al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri. Another was Midhat Murfi al Sayid Omer, an expert in explosives and poisons who carried a $5 million U.S. reward on his head. The third man named was Abu Obaidah al Misri, al Qaeda's chief of operations

Holiness is objective. Narrowly, holiness is the cessation from 39 acts of creative labor on the Sabbath and the three festivals. Broadly, holiness is the restraint prescribed by any "thou shalt not" of the Torah. Still more broadly, holiness is an all encompassing aspiration. Perhaps most objectively, holiness is the Holy Land, but holiness is more than objective.The three festivals nurture individual tonalities of holiness that illuminate the sacred spaces of the human soul. By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg Most people "get" Passover. Fewer "get" Shavous (seven weeks later), but very few "get" the period in between — the "counting of...