
Archive
2003
Recent
Investments in Israel
by
Yoram Ettinger
Illinois
Teachers Pension Fund ($25MN), California Institute of Technology
(Cal Tech) Pension Fund, Ontario State Employees Pension Fund,
Bank of America, Harbor West and Japan’s NIF and Nippon have
participated in the closing of $140MN by Israel’s Evergreen
VC Fund. Evergreen’s success is due to the track record of
the Israeli VC funds and in defiance of security concerns.
Astute investors have noticed that the presence of the Dot.Com
companies in Israel has been much slimmer than in the US,
and that most Israeli technologies are solid engineering (production/export
oriented) in nature (Globes, Sept. 15, 2003, The Marker, Sept.
14). (Full
Report)
The
Lessons Learned Upon the
Tenth Anniversary of Oslo
by
Yoram Ettinger
RESTRAINT
AND LOW-INTENSITY WAR have been the wet dream of terrorists
and the nightmare of democratic societies. Israel’s restraint
has generated more terrorism, while eroding Israel’s posture
of deterrence and – unnecessarily – undermining the confidence
of Israelis – and of Israel’s friends – in Israel’s just cause
as well as in Israel’s capabilities to overcome terrorism.
(Full Commentary)
The
Silence That Was a Thunderbolt
by
Yehuda Avner
Jimmy
Carter, the peanut farmer, ran an austere White House. Consonant
with his innate Calvinistic intuitions, he cast himself in the
role of citizen-president. He banned Hail to the Chief, slashed
the entertainment budget, sold the presidential yacht, pruned
the limousine fleet, and generally rid his mansion of foppery,
artifice, and pretentiousness. He even carried his own bag.
(Full Commentary)
Road
Map-Induced Homicide Bombing
by
Yoram Ettinger
The
HORRIFIC HOMICIDE BOMBING has been induced by well-meaning policy-makers
in the US and Israel, who have chosen to sacrifice reality on
the altar of wishful thinking.
The
Palestinian homicide bomber has taken advantage of the relaxed
security measures, imposed on Israel by the US Administration.
This is not the time for condemnation and complaining about terrorism;
this is the time for the destruction of the infrastructure of
terrorism. (Full
Commentary)
Investing
in Israel
by
Yoram Ettinger
According
to JOSEPH HOGAN, GE-MEDICAL’S CEO AND PRESIDENT, "Security
has had little impact on our decision to sustain investment in
Israel. The track record of the last 4-5 years’ investment in
Israel has been positive, and we look forward to the next 5 years…
(Full Report)
Shavuos:
Sssssh-vuos,
the Undated Anniversary
by
Joe Bobker
Shavuos
is a late-Spring, early-Summer yomtov, and our only festival with
no well-defined date, despite its association with a singularly
imposing theophany, Sinai; a time when "no bird put forth
their song, no bird took wing, no ox gave bawl, no angel moved
a feather…the sea did not roar
no creature said a word."
In
Torah vocabulary God is only "heard" via an echo, known
as a bat kol, literally "the daughter of a voice;"
and only "appears" via indirect anthropomorphic images
such as a dream or vision. (Full
Story)
Remembrance
Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Israel Independence Day
6-7
May 2003 – 4-5 Iyar 5763
Israel
Independence Day is celebrated annually, according to the Hebrew
calendar, on 5 Iyar, the anniversary of the establishment of the
State of Israel. This year it will be celebrated on Wednesday,
May 7. The day preceding this celebration is devoted to the memory
of those who gave their lives for the achievement of the country’s
independence and its continued existence. (Full
Story)
Securing
a Jewish Future in the FSU
By
Robert J. Meth M.D. and Joel M. Schindler Ph.D.
The
story of post-Soviet Jewry is told through the many people who work
every day with survivors of the Shoah, with young adults who are
transforming life in Ukraine, and with the children who represent
the future of the Jewish community. Rabbi Yakov Bleich, Chief Rabbi
of Ukraine, has lived in Kyiv for 13 years. Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki,
Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk, has lived there for ten. They have
built new lives and are raising their children there. Elsewhere,
representatives of the Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish
Agency and the Israeli government, some of whom grew up in the FSU
and made aliyah, have returned to Ukraine – frequently bringing
Israeli-born family members with them – so life will be better for
Jews in the 21st century than it was in the last. (Full
Story)
The REFORMulation
of Judaism
By
Howard L. Winkler
In
response to the frequently asked question “Why could he or
she do things that you canât do? Arenât you both Jewish?”
This
is the Jewish year 5763. We received the Torah
at Mount Sinai approximately 3300 years ago. The Torah is our “Bible”,
the “Word of G-D”, and our “Law”. Traditional
Judaism continues until now but not without its detractors and reformers.
(Full Story)
Purim:
Un
Peuple d’Elite
By
Joe Bobker
A
sophisticated man slanders Jews for keeping Jewish holidays. He
then rolls the dice of hate so badly that he becomes responsible
for adding another Jewish festival to the very calendar that he
so despises; in fact, he single-handedly creates Purim, the zaniest
festival of them all, a lively and boisterous day of prayer and
parody, law and levity. (Full
Story)
Pesach:
Passing on Heritage
by Joe Bobker
The
peak of Egyptian oppression occurred under the 67 year reign of
Rameses 11. The Jews rejoiced at his death, prematurely it seems.
For it was under the tyranny of his successor, Mernephtah, that
"they cried to God," in an agonizing period of
serfdom that lasted from 1522 to 1312 BC. This Pharaoh was a phony
Pharaoh: according to the Midrash he would study the times of the
tides of the Nile, and enter the water precisely the moment that
the water began to rise, so that it should appear to be rising to
honor him. (Full Story)
The
Red Sea Revisited
The following
article is an excerpt from the book The Signature of God
by author Jeffrey Grant. In combining historical evidence of the
Red Sea crossing with the Torah, it offers secular readers a greater
understanding of this monumental event. (Full
Story)
Passover
Reflections
By
Yoram Ettinger
THOMAS
JEFFERSON’s PROPOSAL FOR THE DESIGN OF THE OFFICIAL SEAL OF THE
UNITED STATES FEATURED THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT: The parting of the
sea, with Pharaoh’s chariots in pursuit and the motto "Rebellion
to tyrants is obedience to God." Jefferson considered Americans
as the modern day Hebrews fleeing State controlled religion of 1600s
England, and America as the modern day Promised Land. Just like
many other Founding Fathers, Jefferson followed John Lock’s appreciation
of the Old Testament (Lock read Hebrew!), as a key legal guideline
for democratic societies. In fact, many colonists expressed their
high regard for Judaism by teaching Hebrew (e.g. Harvard). (Full
Story)
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