Melissa's Musings(My opinionated view of life)

Is Flag Day a Jewish holiday? | The Archive Blog | JTA - Jewish & Israel News : "Beyond perhaps identifying the date, June 14, few Americans today could identify any characteristics or traditions that surround Flag Day. Fewer still know that a Jewish philanthropist from St. Louis has been called 'the father of Flag Day.'"

Caroline B. Glick: Yale, Jews, and Double Standards Jewish World Review June 10, 2011 / 8 Sivan, 5771 Yale, Jews, and Double Standards By Caroline B. Glick http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Last week Yale University announced its decision to close down its institute for the study of anti-Semitism. The move has been widely criticized as politically motivated. For its part, the university claims that the move was the result of purely academic considerations. While not clear-cut, an analysis of the story lends to the conclusion that politics were in all likelihood the decisive factor in the decision. And the implications of Yale's move for the scholarly inquiry into anti-Semitism are deeply troubling. The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism (YIISA) was founded in 2006. Its purpose was to provide a scholarly approach to the study of contemporary and historical an...

Shh, Obama adopts the Bush Doctrine - chicagotribune.com Charles Krauthammer May 23, 2011 ...

It's time to revise the game plan to reflect the coming reality http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | On Tuesday US voters are set to repudiate US President Barak Obama's agenda for their country. Unfortunately, based on his behavior in the face of a similar repudiation last January, it is safe to assume that Obama will not abandon his course. Last year, in an attempt to block Obama's plan to nationalize healthcare, Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to the Senate. Brown was elected because he pledged to block Obamacare in the US Senate. Rather than heed the voters' message and abandon his plans, Obama abandoned the voters. Instead of accepting his defeat, Obama changed the rules of the game and bypassed the Senate. So it is safe to assume that for the next two years, Obama will do everything he can to bypass the Congress and govern by executive orders and regulations. Although much can be done in this fashion, Congress...

Halloween Is Not Our Holiday bgcolor='0xe5e9f2' allowscriptaccess='always' allowfullscreen='true' flashvars='&backcolor=0xe5e9f2&file=http://videocloud.aish.com/lori/20101011223925.mp4&icons=false&image=http://media.aish.com/designimages/MoviePreview-LORI-500x376.jpg&screencolor=0x000000'/>

The undeniable Jewish state - The Boston Globe Jeff Jacoby The undeniable Jewish state By Jeff Jacoby Globe Columnist / October 17, 2010 IS ISRAEL a Jewish state? Is the pope Catholic? Nothing about Israel could be more self-evident than its Jewishness. As Poland is the national state of the Polish people and Japan is the national state of the Japanese people, so Israel is the national state of the Jewish people. The UN’s 1947 resolution on partitioning Palestine contains no fewer than 30 references to the “Jewish state’’ whose creation it was authorizing; 25 years earlier, the League of Nations had been similarly straightforward in mandating “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.’’ When Israel came into existence on May 15, 1948, its Jewish identity was the first detail reported. The New York Times’...

David Harris: Letter from a Forgotten Jew 121 12 views 951 Get World Alerts Email Comments 951 I am a forgotten Jew. My roots are nearly 2,600 years old, my ancestors made landmark contributions to world civilization, and my presence was felt from North Africa to the Fertile Crescent -- but I barely exist today. You see, I am a Jew from the Arab world. No, that's not entirely accurate. I've fallen into a semantic trap. I predated the Arab conquest in just about every country in which I lived. When Arab invaders conquered North Africa, for example, I had already been present there for more than six centuries. Today, you cannot find a trace of me in most of this vast region. Try seeking me out...

YouTube - Rahm Emanuel -the Musical

YouTube - Yerushalayim ( english version )

YouTube - Let Me Introduce Myself, My Name Is Israel

I have been so busy lately I have neglected this blog.  Thank you for still following me!

Ambassador Oren: Why Israelis Care about Peace | IsraelPolitik Imagine that you’re a parent who sends her children off to school in the morning worrying whether their bus will become a target of suicide bombers. Imagine that, instead of going off to college, your children become soldiers at age 18, serve for three years and remain in the active reserves into their 40s. Imagine that you have fought in several wars, as have your parents and even your grandparents, that you’ve seen rockets raining down on your neighborhood and have lost close family and friends to terrorist attacks. Picture all of that and you’ll begin to understand what it is to be an Israeli. And you’ll know why all Israelis desperately want peace. Recent media reports, in Time magazine and elsewhere, have alleged that Israelis — who are currently experiencing economic growth and a relative lull in terrorism — may not care about peace. According to a poll cited, Israelis are more concerned about education, c...

Michael B. Oren: Reason for optimism in Mideast talks By Michael B. Oren http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT) Israeli and Palestinian leaders are in Washington in an attempt to make peace — again. This summit marks the latest chapter in a story that began on the White House lawn 17 years ago when Israelis and Palestinians committed themselves to ending the conflict once and for all. Since then, every round has failed and bloodshed has continued. Against the backdrop of Tuesday's Palestinian terrorist attack that left four Israeli civilians dead, including a pregnant Israeli woman, why should these negotiations be different? Is there any reason for optimism? Indeed, there is. For the first time in history, most Arab leaders view a Middle Eastern state other than Israel — Iran — as their major enemy. The Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is strong, stable and deeply committed to ...

Op-Ed Columnist - Oy Vey, Obama - NYTimes.com Is President Obama good for the Jews? For more and more Jewish-Americans, the answer is no. Earl Wilson/The New York Times Charles M. Blow Go to Columnist Page » Related Times Topic: Barack Obama Readers' Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (261) » In a Pew Research Center report issued on Thursday and entitled “Growing Number of Americans Say Obama Is a Muslim” (tragic in its own right), there was another bit of bad news for Obama: the number of Jews who identify as Republican or as independents who lean Republican has increased by more than half since the year he was elected. At 33 percent it now stands at the highest level since the data have been kept. In 2008, the ratio of Democratic Jews to Republican Jews was far more than three to one. Now it’s less than two to one. Entir...