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Poland paused this week to pay tribute to Irena Sendler -- a Catholic social worker who risked her life during World War II to smuggle 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto, saving them from the ravages of the Holocaust. Sendler died Monday at 98, and after a large crowd flocked to her funeral at a Warsaw church yesterday, Poland's Orthodox chief rabbi offered prayers at her graveside. Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said: "Irena Sendler's courageous activities rescuing Jews during the Holocaust serve as a beacon of light to the world, inspiring hope and restoring faith in the innate...

Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday. The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954. As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people". "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of...

(IsraelNN.com) A new study carried out at Brandeis University finds that as the liberal Jewish community empowers its women, its men appear to be losing interest in their Jewishness. According to a report in JTA, which publishes parts of the study, "outside the Orthodox world, men are becoming less and less engaged in every aspect of Jewish life, from the home to the synagogue to communal organizations. Numerous studies show that fewer boys than girls go to non-Orthodox youth groups, religious schools or summer camps, fewer go into the rabbinate and cantorate, and fewer serve on synagogue or federation committees....

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 5/12 and 5/15Kohen--Leviticus 25:1-3Levi--vs. 4-7Yisra'el--vs. 8-13 Strday 5/17--Shabbat Parashat BeHarMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 25:1-13Levi--25:14-18Shelishi--25:19-24Revi`i--25:25-28Chamishi--25:29-38Shishi--25:39-46Shevi`i--25:47-26:2Maftir--25:55-26:2Haftarah--Jeremiah 32:6-27 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 26:3-5Levi--vs. 6-9Yisra'el--vs. 10-13

May 11 In 1189 Emperor Frederik I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders left Regensburg in southern Germany for the Holy Land. In 1421, Jews were expelled from Styria in Austria. In 1610, Italian Matteo Ricci, a renowned Christian missionary in China, died. In 1676, beggars were told that they needed permission from priests to beg in Montreal and Quebec City. In 1816, the American Bible Society was founded in New York. In 1921, Tel Aviv was declared the first all-Jewish municipality. In 1949, Israel was admitted to the United Nations as the world body's 59th member. In 1960, Israeli security forces...

Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews, Delivered at the Tabernacle, N. Y., Oct. 28, and Dec. 2, ­1844, by M. M. Noah. New York, 1845, 8vo. pp. 55. The address of Judge Noah on the Restoration of the Jews, has excited a good deal of attention among our Christian fellow­citizens, more so at least than among ourselves; and the subject has also been noticed by the conversion paper in England, as well as the Voice of Jacob. We are not aware as yet whether other European papers have spoken of it, which however, is, likely enough, as Judge Noah...

LONG BEACH - It's been more than 60 years but the memories of the Holocaust are etched in the minds of those like Hank Snapper who survived it. Hundreds gathered Sunday at The Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach for "Yom Ha'Shoah, Day of Remembrance 2008/5768, Remember the Holocaust and Honor the Righteous." Each year, the Jewish community - and other faiths - comes together to remember the estimated 6 million Jews whose lives were lost during the Holocaust, which began under the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party in 1933. "It's important for human beings to...

Monday 5/5--First Day Ro'sh Chodesh 'IyyarKohen--Numbers 28:1-3Levi--vs. 3-5Shelishi--vs. 6-10Revi`i--vs. 11-15 Tusday 5/6--Second Day Ro'sh Chodesh 'IyyarKohen--Numbers 28:1-3Levi--vs. 3-5Shelishi--vs. 6-10Revi`i--vs. 11-15 Thrsday morning 5/8Kohen--Leviticus 21:1-6Levi--vs. 7-12Yisra'el--vs. 13-15 Strday 5/10--Shabbat Parashat 'EmorMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 21:1-15Levi--21:16-22:16Shelishi--22:17-33Revi`i--23:1-22Chamishi--23:23-32Shishi--23:33-44Shevi`i--24:1-23Maftir24:21-23Haftarah--Ezekiel 44:15-31 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 25:1-3Levi--vs. 4-7Yisra'el--vs. 8-13

(IsraelNN.com) There is a strong possibility that at least some rabbis and Orthodox candidates will skip the International Bible Quiz, which takes place on Israel Independence Day, this Thursday. Several Rabbis, including Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Bet El, have called for a boycott of the event because of the inclusion of a candidate whose family is said to have close ties to the Christian missionaries. Other rabbis who have called for a boycott of the event include Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed and son of former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, and Rabbi Ya'acov Yosef, son of former Chief...

New York, NY, April 29, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement regarding the controversial film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed misappropriates the Holocaust and its imagery as a part of its political effort to discredit the scientific community which rejects so-called intelligent design theory. Hitler did not need Darwin to devise his heinous plan to exterminate the Jewish people and Darwin and evolutionary theory cannot explain Hitler's genocidal madness. Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors...

A group of religious Zionist rabbis have called for a boycott of this year's International Bible Quiz after discovering that one of the four finalists from Israel is a Messianic Jew who believes Jesus is the true Messiah. "Messianics are missionaries who proselytize in very sophisticated ways," said Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, one of the rabbis calling to boycott the quiz. "It is forbidden to give them legitimacy by allowing them to take part in the quiz." Other rabbis that have called to boycott the quiz include Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, Ya'acov Yosef, son of Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia...

For the first time, an American rabbi will be traveling to Iran Tuesday on a mission of interfaith dialogue and understanding. Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the early forces behind the Jewish Renewal movement in America, will co-lead a delegation of 21 peace activists to the Islamic Republic on a mission "to humanize the face of Iran, lest we end up with a disaster of global proportions we cannot imagine," she told The Jerusalem Post by phone on Monday. Gottlieb, a longtime peace activist and recent cofounder of the Shomer Shalom Institute for Jewish Non-Violence, said her participation in the...

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 4/28 and 5/1Kohen--Leviticus 19:1-4Levi--vs. 5-10Yisra'el--vs. 11-14 Strday 5/3--Shabbat Parashat QedoshimMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 19:1-14Levi--19:15-22Shelishi--19:23-32Revi`i--19:33-37Chamishi--20:1-7Shishi--20:8-22Shevi`i--20:23-27Maftir--20:25-27Haftarah--Amos 9:7-15 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 21:1-6Levi--vs. 7-12Yisra'el--vs. 13-15

Short Passover video from Israel. This was really well done. Worth a look. Click on link.

The relationship between the Old and New Covenants has been a hot topic for 2000 years. Not long ago, Ann Coulter caused a media row by announcing that Christians are “perfected Jews”. A few years before that, a document called Reflections on Covenant and Mission made headlines by apparently saying that Jews did not need Jesus. What do we make of it all?The Reflections document is as good a place to start as any, since so many people still think it is “what the Church teaches”. In fact, it was released without episcopal permission, had no magisterial authority and was...

Scholars have often wondered how the practice of Christian Eucharist could have arisen from the Lord’s Supper, which occurred in the context of the Jewish Passover. Since Passover occurs only once a year, how is it that the Christians got the notion that they could celebrate Jesus’ sacrificial meal weekly, if not daily? The Last SupperGustave Dore The answer is found in the ancient Israelite sacrifice called the todah. While most people have heard of Old Testament sacrifices such as the holocaust offering or burnt offering, those who have heard of the todah sacrifice are as rare as lotto winners....

According to the sages of the Talmud, there are 70 families with 70 paths within the great Family of Man. And each individual has his or her path within a path. Yet, there is one universal basis for us all. At the dawn of human history, G-d gave man seven rules to follow in order that His world be sustained. So it is recounted in the Book of Genesis as interpreted by our tradition in the Talmud. There will come a time, our sages told us, that the children of Noah will be prepared to return to this path. That...

Happy and Kosher Passover to all FReepers from Alouette & family. May Israel enjoy a blessed and peaceful holiday. Please post your holiday greetings here.

Strday 4/19--Shabbat HaGadol/Shabbat Parashat 'Acharei-Mot/`Erev PesachMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 16:1-17Levi--16:18-24Shelishi--16:25-34Revi`i--17:1-7Chamishi--17:8-18:5Shishi--18:6-21Shevi`i--18:22-30Maftir--18:28-30Haftarah--Malachi 3:4-24; v. 23 repeated (In KJV Malachi 3:4-4:6; 4:5 repeated) EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 19:1-4Levi--vs. 5-10Yisra'el--vs. 11-14 Sunday 4/20--First Day of PesachKohen--Exodus 12:21-24Levi--vs. 25-28Shelishi--vs. 29-36Revi`i--vs. 37-42Chamishi--vs. 43-51Maftir--Numbers 28:16-25Haftarah--Joshua 3:5-7; 5:2-6:1; 6:27 Monday 4/21--Second Day of PesachKohen--Leviticus 22:26-23:3Levi--23:4-14Shelishi--23:15-22Revi`i--23:23-32Chamishi--23:33-44Maftir--Numbers 28:16-25Haftarah--II Kings 23:1-9; 21-25 Tusday 4/22--First Day Chol HaMo`ed PesachKohen--Exodus 13:1-4Levi--vs. 5-10Shelishi--vs. 11-16Revi`i--Numbers 28:19-25 Wdnsday 4/23--Second Day Chol HaMo`ed PesachKohen--Exodus 22:24-26Levi--22:27-23:5Shelishi--23:6-19Revi`i--Numbers 28:19-25 Thrsday 4/24--Third Day Chol HaMo`ed PesachKohen--Exodus 34:1-3Levi--vs. 4-17Shelishi--vs. 18-26Revi`i--Numbers 28:19-25 Frday 4/25--Fourth Day Chol HaMo`ed PesachKohen--Numbers 9:1-5Levi--vs. 6-8Shelishi--vs. 9-14Revi`i--Numbers 28:19-25 Strday 4/26--Shabbat/Seventh Day of PesachMORNING Megillah--Shir HaShirim (The Song of Solomon)Kohen--Exodus 13:17-19Levi--13:20-22Shelishi--14:1-4Revi`i--14:5-8Chamishi--14:9-14Shishi--14:15-25Shevi`i--14:26-15:26Maftir--Numbers 28:19-25Haftarah--II Samuel 22:1-51...

Workers rebuilding a sports stadium on the site of an 18th century Jewish cemetery in Belarus say they have no choice but to consign the bones to city dumps... Before the war, about 1 million Jews lived in Belarus and 800,000 of them died in the Holocaust. Today they number 27,000 in the country of 10 million.... Belarus' president, Alexander Lukashenko, has shown little respect for Jewish culture. In a radio broadcast in October ..."You know how Jews treat the place where they live. Look at Israel; I was there," he said.

MOSCOW, Russia – In the lead-up to Passover, the recently-opened 'Shaarei Tsedek' Charity Center is teeming with activity. "It was only just a month ago that we last got a call, telling us that we have the opportunity to pick up another care package," explained one the Center's beneficiaries contentedly. "These are really good packages. We each received one for Purim and thank G-d we got the call again". This holiday campaign aims to distribute 15,000 packages to Moscow Jews, each of which bears a special mark indicating that the food products are 'kosher for Passover'. All items have been...

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 4/14 and 4/17Kohen--Leviticus 16:1-6Levi--vs. 7-11Yisra'el--vs. 12-17 Strday 4/19--Shabbat HaGadol/Shabbat Parashat 'Acharei-Mot/`Erev PesachMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 16:1-17Levi--16:18-24Shelishi--16:25-34Revi`i--17:1-7Chamishi--17:8-18:5Shishi--18:6-21Shevi`i--18:22-30Maftir--18:28-30Haftarah--Malachi 3:4-24; v. 23 repeated (In KJV Malachi 3:4-4:6; 4:5 repeated) EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 19:1-4Levi--vs. 5-10Yisra'el--vs. 11-14

Despite withering criticism from the leader of the Reform movement, there is growing evidence that America’s leading Christian Zionist, Pastor John Hagee, is winning acceptance in pro-Israel circles. And some politicians are taking note. While nervously distancing himself from the controversial Hagee’s endorsement when addressing other audiences, Sen. John McCain last week raised the Hagee connection in an interview with a Jewish newspaper. Those are only two elements in an increasingly tangled controversy that reflects bitter divisions among Jewish groups about Middle East peace — and that is colored by Hagee’s fundraising for Israel. This week the San Antonio pastor...

Epicenter Conference was held today in Jerusalem. Many speakers including author Joel Rosenberg, Skip Heitzig, Pastor David Ortiz, Pastor Chuck Smith, Porter Goss, Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin... See website for details.

Cardinal Kasper, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity published an article at the end of March in Germany that has now been translated into English. This article follows all the hubbub that followed the change in the prayer for the Jews. The gist of the article, while composed in very diplomatic language, seems rather clear. Dual covenant theology, I don't think so! While he makes clear that Catholics must be sensitive to the Jews and that Catholics have no 'targeted or institutionalized mission to the Jews', we still need to pray for them and witness to...

On Sunday, Likud opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu described Christian Zionists as Israel’s best friends: This is a friendship of the heart, a friendship of common roots, and a friendship of common civilization. The comments came at an Evangelical event in Jerusalem organized by the San Antonio, Texas-based Christians United for Israel and led by evangelical Pastor John Hagee. There’s always a lot of grumbling about the Jewish-Evangelical alliance in support of Israel.

Sunday 4/6--Ro'sh Chodesh NisanKohen--Numbers 28:1-3Levi--vs. 3-5Shelishi--vs. 6-10Revi`i--vs. 11-15 Monday and Thrsday mornings, 4/7 and 4/10Kohen--Leviticus 14:1-5Levi--vs. 6-9Yisra'el--vs. 10-12 Strday 4/12--Shabbat Parashat Metzora`MORNING Kohen--Leviticus 14:1-12Levi--14:13-20Shelishi--14:21-32Revi`i--14:33-53Chamishi--14:54-15:15Shishi--15:16-28Shevi`i--15:29-33Maftir--15:31-33Haftarah--II Kings 7:3-20 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 16:1-6Levi--vs. 7-11Yisra'el--vs. 12-17

NEW YORK (AP) - The leader of the largest branch of American Judaism said Wednesday that synagogues in the movement shouldn't work with the Rev. John Hagee, a Christian Zionist, calling him an "extremist" on Israeli policy who disparages other faiths. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, said Hagee and his group, Christians United For Israel, reject any Israeli land concessions to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Reform Judaism supports creating a Palestinian state; Hagee sees a biblical mandate for the territory so End Times prophecy can be fulfilled.

Concluding the Passover Seder half an hour after it began was almost a family tradition for the Sifens. Larry and Pam Sifen, together with their children and parents, would sit around the table in their Norfolk, Va., home as the aroma of holiday foods warming in the neighboring kitchen competed with the text of the Haggadah for attention. In recent years, however, the Sifens have taken a new approach to the annual Passover ceremony and feast, ditching the house altogether to embark on an inspirational holiday learning experience away from home. The experiences of other families suggest the Sifens are...

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 3/31 and 4/3Kohen--Leviticus 12:1-4Levi--12:5-8Yisra'el--13:1-5 Strday 4/5--Shabbat HaChodesh/Shabbat Parashat Tazri`a/Shabbat Machar ChodeshMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 12:1-13:5Levi--13:6-17Shelishi--13:18-23Revi`i--13:24-28Chamishi--13:29-39Shishi--13:40-54Shevi`i--13:55-59Maftir--Exodus 12:1-20Haftarah--Ezekiel 45:16-46:18; I Samuel 20:18, 42 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 14:1-5Levi--vs. 6-9Yisra'el--vs. 10-12

March 30 In 1135, Moses Maimonides, the renowned medieval Jewish scholar, was born. Considered the foremost Talmudist of the Middle Ages, his most important writing was Guide to the Perplexed (1190), in which he tried to harmonize Rabbinic Judaism with the increasingly popular Aristotelianism of his day. In 1917, all imperial lands as well as lands belonging to monasteries were confiscated by the Russian provisional government. March 31 In 1492, Spain issued a royal edict advising Jews to either become Catholics, leave the country or be executed. In 1732, composer Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Austria. One of his...

An extraordinary amount of energy, copy, and commentary has been expended over the past few weeks to determine the extent to which the venomous, grotesque, and hateful speech emanating out the mouth of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and from his pulpit in Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ represents the views of one of his most famous congregants, Sen. Barack Obama. There remains undiscussed a fundamental sociological aspect of this entire contretemps. What precisely is the role that churches, synagogues, and their clergy play in the life of Americans who attend houses of worship? Last week in Philadelphia, Obama addressed...

A fringe sect of Jewish women with a Taliban-like dress code will be overcome by a major spiritual crisis after the arrest of the group's leader on charges of child abuse, haredi sources in Beit Shemesh predicted Wednesday. According to haredi media and a well-informed source in Beit Shemesh, the 54-year-old mother of 12 who is suspected of serious child abuse and failing to report multiple cases of incest among her children, is none other than the head of a sect of women who adhere to a dress code more stringent than that of the most extreme Muslim sects and...

In an incident that underlines the tension between the US and Israeli branches of the Conservative Movement over ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis, the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem clashed this week with a group of visiting American rabbinic students. Schechter's administration refused to allow a group of about 35 students to mark on Wednesday the one-year anniversary of the groundbreaking decision by the Jewish Theological Seminary, the movement's flagship rabbinic school in New York, to accept gay and lesbian rabbinical and cantorial students. According to a press release put out by Schechter, Rabbi Dr. Einat Ramon, dean of...

Israeli police are still trying to determine the origin of a barbarous attack on 15-year-old Ami Ortiz, the son of an Ariel-based pastor who was wounded last Thursday when a pipe bomb disguised as a Purim candy package blew up in his face.

(IsraelNN.com) A coin from the Second Temple, used in the half-shekel census, was found in excavations in the City of David, just below and east of Jerusalem’s Old City. The upcoming Purim festival features the half-shekel prominently in its observance. The ancient silver coin was discovered in an archaeological excavation that is being conducted in the main Second Temple-era drainage channel of Jerusalem. The foreign coin is of the denomination used during the turbulent Second Temple period to pay the Biblical half-shekel head-tax. This coming Thursday night (Saturday night for Jerusalemites), before reading the Megillah (Scroll) of Esther, Jews worldwide...

Dear Friend of Israel, Tomorrow an important Jewish holiday and an important Christian holiday coincide. As Christians solemnly observe Good Friday - and anticipate Easter, the most joyous day in the Christian year - Jews will be celebrating Purim, which begins tonight at sundown.

ewish groups around the world have condemned Pope Benedict XVI's new version of a Catholic Good Friday prayer. SPIEGEL ONLINE talks to prominent German rabbi Walter Homolka about why the prayer is insulting to Jews and discusses alleged anti-Semitic tendencies within the Catholic Church. Rabbi Walter Homolka: "The Catholic Church does not have its anti-Semitic tendencies under control." Around the world, millions of Catholics are celebrating Good Friday, when they commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But for many Jews, this year's ceremonies leave a bitter aftertaste, due to a controversial new version of a prayer that many claim is...

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 3/24 and 3/27Kohen--Leviticus 9:1-6Levi--vs. 7-10Yisra'el--vs. 11-16 Strday 3/29--Shabbat Parah/Shabbat Parashat SheminiMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 9:1-16Levi--9:17-23Shelishi--9:24-10:11Revi`i--10:12-15Chamishi--10:16-20Shishi--11:1-32Shevi`i--11:33-47Maftir--Numbers 19:1-22Haftarah--Ezekiel 36:16-38 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 12:1-4Levi--12:5-8Yisra'el--13:1-5

At 7 p.m. on a cold Thursday night, two SUVs with Maryland plates pull into a CVS parking lot at Florida Avenue and 7th Street NW. Half a dozen men in brightly colored robes emerge and begin to assemble a makeshift pulpit around a black wooden platform. Across the street, the go-go music blasting from a cell-phone store suddenly goes silent. Someone flips the switch on a little generator and two industrial lights flash on, casting a blinding halo around the men gathered by the stage. A tall man in red and gold steps to the mic. His voice booms...

The story of Purim as related in Megillat Esther is the bridge between the destruction of the First Temple and the building of the Second Temple. Interestingly, the eastern gate to the Temple Mount is called the Shushan Gate, as if to symbolize that the path to the future Temple goes through Shushan. The feast of Ahashverosh in Shushan was a low point in Jewish history. The Jews of Ahashverosh's kingdom were so deep in exile mentality that they actually reveled and feasted at the Persian mega-party despite the fact that the (kosher) food was served on the holy Temple...

It's every aspiring actor's dream -- the big break. So 25-year-old Abraham Karpen was the envy of every Shia Lebouf wannabe when he was cast as Natalie Portman's husband in the film "New York I Love You." But Karpen isn't going to be on the red-eye to La-la-land any time soon because last week the Hasidic Jew from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said goodbye to his budding acting career and quit the film. "He really didn't grasp that this was a movie and that Natalie Portman was a star. He thought it was more of a commercial, a short thing," said Isaac...

In a solution to a decidedly postmodern Jewish dilemma, a group of pluralistic, secular rabbis ruled this week that when standing under the huppa in a same-sex marriage ceremony, both partners can be given the honor of "breaking the glass." "The breaking of the glass, a staple of every Jewish wedding, is used to remember the egregious hatred that led to the destruction of the Second Temple," said Ofer Korenfeld, chairman of Havayah, an organization that arranges "Jewish-inspired" lifecycle events. "This message is particularly pertinent to the homo-lesbian community, which is the target of so much hatred," added Kornfeld. Havayah's...

In the United States, the two groups that most ardently support Israel are Jews and evangelical and fundamentalist Christians. Jewish support is easy to explain, but why should certain Christians, most of them politically quite conservative, be so devoted to Israel? There is a second puzzle: despite their support for a Jewish state, evangelical and fundamentalist Christians are disliked by many Jews. And a third: a large fraction of African-Americans are hostile to Israel and critical of Jews, yet Jewish voters regard blacks as their natural allies. The evidence about evangelical attitudes is clear. In 2006, a Pew survey found...

In the thriving Jewish community of Odessa, Ukraine, ritual circumcisions happen about one a week; weddings occur one a month. But the bris of young Alexander Gorvitz two weeks ago nevertheless made history for being the first time that more than 80 years that a Ukraine mayor hosted a public celebration on occasion of his son’s circumcision. Edward Gorvitz, the father, is currently in his second term as mayor of the Black Sea port. He and his wife, Olga, have one other son, 21-year-old Shmuel. According to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Avraham Wolff, who organized the ceremony with the Brit Yosef Yitzchak...

Monday morning 3/17Kohen--Leviticus 6:1-3Levi--vs. 4-6Yisra'el--vs.7-11 Thrsday 3/20--Ta`anit 'EsterMORNING Kohen--Exodus 32:11-14Levi--Exodus 34:1-3Yisra'el--Exodus 34:4-10 EVENING Kohen--Exodus 32:11-14Levi--Exodus 34:1-3Yisra'el/Maftir--Exodus 34:4-10Haftarah--Isaiah 55:6-56:8 Thrsday night 3/20--Leyl PurimMegillat 'Ester (The Book of Esther) Frday 3/21--PurimKohen--Exodus 17:8-10Levi--vs. 11-13Yisra'el--vs. 14-16Megillat 'Ester (The Book of Esther) Strday 3/22--Shabbat Parashat TzavMORNING Kohen--Leviticus 6:1-11Levi--6:12-7:10Shelishi--7:11-38Revi`i--8:1-13Chamishi--8:14-21Shishi--8:22-29Shevi`i--8:30-36Maftir--8:33-36Haftarah--Jeremiah 7:21-8:3; 9:22, 23 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 9:1-6Levi--vs. 7-10Yisra'el--vs. 11-16

30 Adar I, 5768 March 7, ‘08 This Shabbat, Jews throughout the world will read the Torah portion, Zachor, in which we are commanded to remember Amalek and his evil schemes to obliterate the Nation of Israel. But currently, Israel is in the throes of a desperate attempt to erase its history. In doing so, it has lost its internal reference point, leaving it completely dependant on its enemies. Without Judaism, we have no right to be here. We are nothing more than foreigners occupying the land of the Hamas, who are simply fighting a war of independence. Those who...

BERLIN (AFP)---Pope Benedict XVI will not change a Latin prayer which calls for the conversion of Jews because it is theologically proper, a top German cardinal said Saturday. The pope "will leave the prayer as it is. From our point of view, it is entirely correct from a theological point of view," Cardinal Walter Kasper told German television channel ARD.    Kasper, chairman of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, announced on Tuesday that a delegation of top rabbis would visit the Vatican this week for talks on the...

Monday and Thrsday mornings, 3/10 and 3/13Kohen--Leviticus 1:1-4Levi--vs. 5-9Yisra'el--vs. 10-13 Strday 3/15--Shabbat Zakhor/Shabbat Parashat VaYiqra'MORNING Kohen--Leviticus 1:1-13Levi--1:14-2:6Shelishi--2:7-16Revi`i--3:1-17Chamishi--4:1-26Shishi--4:27-5:10Shevi`i--5:11-26Maftir--Deuteronomy 25:17-19Haftarah--I Samuel 15:2-34 EVENING Kohen--Leviticus 6:1-3Levi--vs. 4-6Yisra'el--vs.7-11

VATICAN CITY (AFP-EJP)---A "Jewish delegation from Israel" will visit the Vatican next week for talks on the controversial "Prayer for the Jews" contained in the Latin mass for Good Friday, a cardinal said Tuesday.  Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican number two, will make a statement following the meeting, the cardinal in charge of dialogue with Judaism, Walter Kasper told reporters, without giving a precise date.    "After the statement by Cardinal Bertone, I hope that things will be clearer, maybe not resolved but clearer, and I think we can overcome this irritation in the Jewish world," Kasper said.    Kasper,...