Free Republic

A U.S. filmmaker who has a Jewish father and Christian mother today decided to convert to Islam in Iran, where he is making a documentary. But Sean Stone, 27, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, insisted the switch did not signal him abandoning the faiths of his parents. He became a Shiite Muslim on Tuesday and has reportedly chosen to be known by the first name of 'Ali', but will not reveal why he converted. ‘The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with,’ Mr Stone told news agency Agence France-Presse. ‘It means I...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has apologized for "a serious breach of protocol" in which the parents of the late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized as Mormons.

Three Republicans, including an Englewood rabbi, are seeking the GOP nomination to run in the new 9th Congressional District. The three are vying for a chance to compete against Rep. Steve Rothman or Rep. Bill Pascrell, both Democrats, are engaged in a primary fight for the redrawn 9th District. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a talk show host and author of books including “Kosher Jesus” and “Kosher Sex,” told Bergen’s Republican Organization he wants to be the nominee, according to a report on politickernj.com. The congressional run is Boteach’s first bid for public office. Boteach and Rothman, a former Englewood mayor, were...

The racism bluff By GUSTAVO D. PEREDNIK 12/21/2011 21:46 Judaism brought anti-racism to the world via the idea that all mankind was derived from Adam, the first man. Haitian anthropologist Antenor Firmin pioneered in 1885 the rebuttal of racist theories; since then there has been a constant endeavor to defeat racism through education and legislation. These efforts are undermined by those who deliberately exaggerate the problem of racism in present times in order to avoid criticisms of the many other evils in their societies. In a world in which Barack Obama was elected president of America, and that put a...

Group considered close to Obama administration concedes bias against Israel in e-mail. A senior employee of the US think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) appears to have admitted in an e-mail sent from his CAP account that a blogger for the policy organization used anti-Semitic language to attack supporters of the Jewish state. CAP advises the Democratic Party on Middle East policy and is an important source of ideas for the Obama administration.

On a sun-drenched day during the week before Christmas, Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre was crowded with pilgrims from Nigeria. They were taking turns kneeling and praying at a marker on the spot where, sacred history has it, Jesus was crucified, entombed, and resurrected. (Other Christians consider the holy place to be the nearby Garden Tomb.) Back in Nigeria on Christmas Day, a wave of murderous bombings by Muslim extremists hit several churches. Plainly, the Christian faith is at once thriving and struggling. Global Christianity, a new report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, describes and...

A coalition of over 150 Orthodox rabbis, respected mental health professionals, community leaders, and others from across America and several foreign countries have released a statement that strongly refutes and repudiates the liberal Jewish political correctness and misinformation regarding homosexuality. The document, entitled "Declaration on the Torah Approach to Homosexuality,"clarifies the timeless theological understanding of the Biblically mandated prohibition. That position is that no one is "born gay" — and that same-sex attractions can be modified and healed. The document's list of signers includes well-known figures in the mental health field as well as a pantheon of major figures in...

Thousands of Israelis have rallied in the town of Beit Shemesh against ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremism. The protest follows two days of clashes after an eight-year-old girl said she had been harassed on her way to school. Some ultra-Orthodox in Beit Shemesh are seeking to segregate men and women. President Shimon Peres backed the protest. "The entire nation must be recruited in order to save the majority from the hands of a small minority," Mr Peres said hours before the rally.

What can they say about Paul? What happens to Jewish Republicans, or to Jews who might consider voting Republican if Ron Paul takes Iowa - not an impossible scenario according to current polling. What happens to the Obama-bad-for-Israel Republican theme if Paul becomes the leading voice of their party - even for a week (until the New Hampshire vote). What chances do GOP Jews have to finally break the unending chain of broken Jewish-shift promises. How can Jewish GOPers withstand the ensuing Democratic attack on the “isolationist”, “anti foreign aid”, “anti-Israel” party – how can they defend a party that...

What is the miracle of Hanukkah really about? One days' worth of olive oil lasting for 8 days, was indeed, miraculous.... but there is so much more to this holiday than meets the eye. Hanukkah is the miraculous story of the Jewish People, and as you will see -the story never ended. It lives today in our times, through the miracle of the State of Israel, and the modern day Maccabees who stand alongside her. Watch this short and powerful video from Jerusalem, for illuminating insights and fascinating perspectives into the holiday of Hanukkah. Watch the video: Hanukkah - In...

There is no end to the conundrums involved in defining what it means to be a Jew. Must a Jew be someone who believes in the Jewish religion, in the way a Christian believes in Christianity or a Muslim in Islam? That can't be the case, since many devoted Jews are atheists. Is a Jew necessarily someone who acknowledges membership in a Jewish ethnic group, people, or nation? That definition would exclude people who believe in Judaism but feel little kinship with other believers, and it would read out Jews who are anti-Zionist. Should "Jewish" be seen as a cultural...

President George Washington proclaimed Thursday November 26, 1789 as a day of national thanksgiving to God "for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degreee of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;...

Israel's chief rabbi is bringing home the bacon. Yona Metzger's office says it is primed to allow import of an organic goose grown in Spain that tastes like pork. Metzger says three non-Jewish chefs confirm its swinish flavor. Jewish dietary law strictly forbids eating pork. Metzger's office says there is no Jewish injunction against eating goose, no matter what it tastes like, as long as it is slaughtered according to Jewish ritual.

In January 1981 the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit meeting in Mecca declared that, "Palestine should be viewed as the paramount issue of Muslim nations." Since then Europe hastened to adopt this path as well and has provided for the Palestinization of the cultural, social and above all political life of Europe. For three decades, Europe obeyed the OIC in a servile manner. The EU has effectively created a major problem for itself that is eating away and destroying it. The EU made Palestine the hub of its international policy, transforming it into a symbol of peace and...

Is Judaism, long championed as a great lifestyle for thinkers and questioners, actually collectivist? Abandoning Eden wrote a post recently about "Holocaust-shaming", a term I had never heard of before she mentioned it. The phenomenon exists, though, and I wonder why no one else (that I can tell) has discussed it much. Like other tragedies that have befallen the Jews, the Holocaust is used as an emotional tool to manipulate non-believers, rebels and even mild skeptics into practicing the religion. Many of us have heard arguments such as, "Your great-grandparents were gassed/enslaved/shot because they were Jews, so you'd better stay...

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, P.J. O’Rourke described the mass murder as “an act of idealism.” Not idealism as we colloquially use the term to refer to the ability to place other values over one’s immediate self-interest, but rather “the concept that mankind and society could and should be perfected.” That vision of a perfected society causes O’Rourke’s idealists to ignore the human costs of the coercion required to create their ideal society. The 9/11 hijackers were driven by an older theological vision of a world-wide caliphate under the harmonious rule of Sharia. But most modern idealists derive their...

ROME, ITALY, November 4 (CNA/EWTN News) - The Jewish New Yorker who has made it his life's work to clear the name of Pope Pius XII of being anti-Semitic believes the wartime pontiff actually went undercover to save the lives of Jews in Rome. Gary Krupp came across the evidence in a letter from a Jewish woman whose family was rescued thanks to direct Vatican intervention. "It is an unusual letter, written by a woman who is alive today in northern Italy, who said she was with her mother, her uncle, and a few other relatives in an audience with...

When (always) Jewish Jerusalem - Beit-Hamikdash was translated into: Bayt al-Makdis / al- MuqaddasIbn Khallikan's biographical dictionary‎ - Page 235 - Ibn Khallik�n - Authors, Arab - 1843Makdisi means belonging to Bait al-Makdis (the House of the Holy Place, or Jerusalem). http://books.google.com/books?id=6p0TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA235Description of Syria: including Palestine‎ - Page 11 - Muhammad ibn Ahmad Mukaddasī - History - 1886 - 116 pagesAmong its cities are : Bait-al-Makdis (Jerusalem), Bait Jibril, Ghazzah (Gaza), Maimas, 'Askalan (Ascalon), Yafah (Joppa), Arsuf, Kaisariyyah (Caesarea), http://books.google.com/books?id=JCYYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11Palestine under the Moslems: A description of Syria and the Holy Land from A description of Syria and the Holy Land...

Dr. David Gerbi, a Libyan-born, observant psychologist living in Italy, spent the summer in a Libyan rebel encampment, joining the revolutionary forces and providing them psychiatric care. But their gratitude didn't last for long. He was nearly lynched and then booted out of the country when he tried to clean up a desecrated synagogue that hadn't seen a Jew since Muammar Gaddafi took over the country 42 years ago. --SNIP-- Although the new Libya is struggling for a more democratic identity, Gaddafi's 42-year rule succeeded in brainwashing the public with virulent anti-Semitism, propagating the myth that the Jews absconded with...

Once in a while I go to Wikipidea in order too at last try and remove some of the socialist drivel from there site. It is a futile effort I know but sometimes I come across pages or sentences Stalin and Hitler would be proud. Today I ran into this page on racial superiority. I will let you decide here are some of the better lines I found: Supremacism or racial superiority I will start with this one:“President George W. Bush’s support for fundamentalist Christianity has been linked to his having a “Christian supremacist vision” in his policies in the...

Downtown Dewey Square is crammed with tents and tarps of Occupy Boston protesters, but organizers made sure from the start of this weeks-old encampment that there was room for the holy. No shoes are allowed in the "Sacred Space" tent here, but you can bring just about any faith or spiritual tradition. A day's schedule finds people balancing their chakras, a "compassion meditation" and a discussion of a biblical passage in Luke. Inside, a Buddha statue sits near a picture of Jesus, while a hand-lettered sign in the corner points toward Mecca....

As you know, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, begins today at sundown and ends tomorrow at sundown. The evening service begins with the Kol Nidre. It has a haunting melody and I thought you might like to hear it (guess the singer). This is the translation from Aramaic: "All vows, obligations, oaths, and anathemas, whether called 'konam,' 'konas,' or by any other name, which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement until the next (whose happy coming we await), we do repent. May they be...

When I called Joel Pollak on Wednesday, he was back home in Skokie for the Jewish holidays—visiting from his new home in Santa Monica. He moved there to work as an in-house counsel and editor-in-chief for conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart, famous most recently for bringing down Acorn and Rep. Anthony Weiner. The 34-year-old Pollak—a staunch advocate of Israel, the Tea Party, and a graduate of Harvard College and its Law School—didn’t come too close to beating 9th District Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky in 2010 (he garnered 31 percent of the vote). But he seemed to spook the 67-year-old veteran, and he...

When I met Sarah Palin in March of last year, I wrote about it, and was immediately admired by some, and shunned by others. Members of the Republican Party praised me for being kind, and some of my liberal friends told me I was talking to the devil and needed to never speak of her again. There was not of lot of middle ground in my circle of friends, which I continue to find so interesting. Can people who have different political affiliations not be friends? As a liberal minded person, must I hate those who are conservative? Can there...

New York, NY, September 16, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) urges the Vatican to ensure that a breakaway Catholic sect which teaches anti-Judaism will be required to accept the church's official positive teachings about Jews and Judaism before they are fully accepted back into the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican announced earlier this week that in order for The Society of St. Pius X to gain full reconciliation with the church, SSPX must accept some core church teachings, but they have not been made public. It was unclear from news reports and Vatican statements whether the landmark reforms of...

An Apple application that let users guess which French politicians or celebrities are Jewish was pulled from France's App Store. but its American equivalent is still available. French activist groups said the "Jew or Not Jew?" app violated bans on compiling information on people's religion and revealing that religion without their consent, according to United Press International. The app, which became available last month, can still be purchased in other countries, the newspaper said. It was developed by a Jew. Johann Levy, 35, a French-British software engineer, told the Journal his intent was to develop a "recreational" tool for...

Roseanne Barr is on a mission. For anyone who has watched her on television over the past few decades it won’t come as a surprise that her mission involves empowering women, but it might be more surprising that twin prongs of strategy involve teaching Jewish women to meditate and running simultaneously for President of the United States and Prime Minister of Israel, on a two-for-one campaign. As a tangential part of that campaign, she and her sister Geraldine will be at the Isabella Freedman Jewish retreat center for a Jewish Women’s Weekend from September 23 to 25, running some programs...

"Casting him as a director or perhaps as the star of 'Judah Maccabee' is like casting Madoff to be the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission," says Rabbi Marvin Heir. Prominent Jewish leaders are beginning to speak out against Mel Gibson and Warner Bros. over their planned movie based on the life of religious icon Judah Maccabee. SNIP

Sometimes you can focus so hard on a single tree, you lose sight of the forest. For instance, every sane person, which automatically excludes leftists, realizes that we can easily un-elect Barack Obama next year. But we should not lose sight of the fact that we will simultaneously be sending Hillary Clinton, Cass Sunstein, Timothy Geithner, Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder, Jeffrey Immelt, Jay Carney, Valerie Jarrett and Joe Biden, back where they came from. That should certainly provide all Republicans, no matter which candidate they happen to support at the moment, with plenty of incentive to vote for our ultimate...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a law last month that would require homeowner associations to permit religious displays on residents’ doors, including mezuzahs. According to the law, the religious item must be under 25 inches and remain in the doorway. The law was introduced after a Conservative Jewish couple was ordered to remove a mezuzah from the door of their rental apartment and then fined when they refused. The couple sued to be allowed to keep the mezuzah up and lost; they moved from the building when their lease was up. They then turned to Houston Rep. Garnet Coleman to...

There was a noticeably quieter atmosphere along the length of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard on Monday evening, as Tisha Be’av came in after sunset. Trance parties and impromptu jazz parties were replaced by a series of lectures and a number of campsites where readings of the Book of Lamentations were held. At busier spots throughout the boulevard, such as the Student Union headquarters and the main kitchen at the corner of Rothschild and Marmorek, signs were posted calling on people to respect the fast, and notifying passersby that there would be no music parties, performances or entertainment scheduled for the...

The State of Israel is up in arms and everyone is protesting: Doctors, anarchists, homeless, renters who would like to be home-owners, parents, teachers, taxi drivers and more. Some of the protests are real, some are fake, some are authentic, while others hide a different agenda behind their protest signs. It's a mixed and very confusing bag of events that has broken out in our summer heat and it is rocking our government. It is difficult to sort out what is true and what is false. On the one hand, we all feel economic pressure. Whoever is getting married and...

The Palestinian Authority is renewing an archaeology dig in Shechem, which the Bible records was bought by Jacob (Yaakov). The director of the PA's Department of Antiquities, Hamdan Taha, says the dig will help in “writing or rewriting the history of Palestine.” Muslim clerics often have rewritten the Bible, claiming that the “binding of Isaac (Yitzchak)" actually refers to Ishmael. Clerics in the Palestinian Authority and the entire Muslim world also have frequently argued that the Holy Temples never existed and that Rachel's Tomb at Bethlehem actually is an ancient Muslim holy site. Shechem appears to be next in line....

The citizens of San Francisco will be voting on a proposition that seeks to ban circumcision in that city. Though I am strongly opposed to the proposition, if it passes, some good may come of it. Let me explain. I am a passionate advocate of Jewish ritual known as the brit (often pronounced bris) -- the ritual circumcision of 8-day-old Jewish boys. I am even an advocate of circumcision generally. I was recently in Africa -- in Zimbabwe and Zambia -- where I delivered mosquito nets and seeds to the poorest of Africa's poor. I saw giant billboards there, as...

Recent protests in Israel highlight the differences between the country's religious and secular Jewish communities.Hundreds of right-wing Jews have taken part in demonstrations outside Israel's Supreme Court over the brief detention of two prominent rabbis in the last few weeks. There were clashes with police on horseback on the nearby Jerusalem streets and several arrests were made. Rabbis Dov Lior and Yacob Yousef had endorsed a highly controversial book, the King's Torah - written by two lesser-known settler rabbis. It justifies killing non-Jews, including those not involved in violence, under certain circumstances. The fifth chapter, entitled "Murder of non-Jews in...

'A Jerusalem rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a dog it suspects is the reincarnation of a secular lawyer who insulted the court's judges 20 years ago, Ynet website reported Friday. According to Ynet, the large dog made its way into the Monetary Affairs Court in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, frightening judges and plaintiffs. Despite attempts to drive the dog out of the court, the hound refused to leave the premises. One of the sitting judges then recalled a curse the court had passed down upon a secular lawyer who had insulted the judges...

A Jewish rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a stray dog it feared was the reincarnation of a lawyer who insulted its judges, reports say. The dog entered the Jerusalem financial court several weeks ago and would not leave, reports Israeli website Ynet. It reminded a judge of a curse passed on a now deceased secular lawyer about 20 years ago, when judges bid his spirit to enter the body of a dog.

One recent 9th District poll was taken June 8th during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot (Shavuis/Shaveis). The Orthodox Jews in the southern part of Weiner's district were not picking up the phone to answer calls the evening before or during that day of the holiday. As is, most polls use land line phones and call people who are at home during the day or early evening, i.e., a population skewed toward the unemployed on government assistance.

The growing signs that Sarah Palin may enter the race for president are igniting warnings that she takes inspiration from Esther. The signs that she might run include reports that she has purchased a house that could serve as a base for a national campaign, that she has given her approval to a film that depicts her years as governor of Alaska and that will debut at Iowa, and that she’s launching a “One Nation” bus tour. One of the warnings about her that crossed our screen was a blog post by Andrew Sullivan, who writes that Mrs. Palin “is...

For this is what the Lord Almighty says: "After He has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you - for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye - I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion... Everything Christians do should be based upon the Biblical text. Here are seven solid Biblereasons why Christians should support Israel. 1. Genesis 12:3 "And I will bless them that bless...

Forget all the caterwauling about radical Muslims hijacking a great religion. The real story of our time is the hijacking of Judaism, the five-thousand-year-old bedrock of the West, by a clique of far-left cranks intent on bringing down the twin towers of Judeo-Christian civilization. These deadly dangerous malcontents would have you believe that Judaism is whatever Marxist codswallop they all agreed to twitter about today. Not so. Judaism is an eternal and unyielding moral code, enforced by a strict but loving God who demands justice. And at its beating heart lies Israel. Don't believe the phony act of "more in...

He's 24, but she is older than his mother. He’s a strict Muslim, she has fervent Kabbalah beliefs. So it was hardly likely to last. Madonna, 52, has split from her lover Brahim Zaibat, a hip-hop dancer, after nine months, the Daily Mail has learned. Last night a close friend of Zaibat’s said sarcastically: ‘Who’s Madonna?’ The friend added: ‘Brahim has been home and he’s a single guy

On Monday, US President Barack Obama has contacted Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to greet him a happy Passover. Then on Saturday, Obama carried out a message to all Jews as an effort to send warm wishes "to all those celebrating the sacred festival of Passover." "The story of Passover — which recalls the passage of the children of Israel from bondage and repression to freedom and liberty — inspires hope that those oppressed and enslaved can become free," Obama said in a statement. "This year, that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modem stories...

Will US Christians settle in Samaria? About 1,000 Americans have signed a document requesting to convert to Judaism, move to Israel, and settle in Samaria. The group members are seeking to serve in the IDF and later establish communities based on the Kibbutz movement model. The document was presented to Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset Member Lia Shemtov, who met with the group's representative last week and promised to offer her help in facilitating the initiative. The Christian group's representative, Baruch Abramovich, said he was hopeful that MK Shemtov would be able to elicit the government's support for the initiative. Ironically, the...

Interview With Scholar on Churches in the Middle EastROME, APRIL 4, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Saudi Arabia is considered holy ground by the Muslim majority who live there. Hence, Christians and even Muslims of other sects, face severe restrictions. Christians make up only about 3% of the population, but they have no churches and never display their faith in public. Professor Camille Eid, a journalist, author, professor at the University of Milan and expert on the Churches of the Middle East, spoke about the Saudi Arabia situation with the television program "Where God Weeps" of the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN)...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI and representatives of the world's major religions will make speeches and sign a common commitment to peace when they meet in Assisi in October, but they will not pray together, the Vatican said. In fact, Pope Benedict's formal prayer service will be held at the Vatican the evening before the encounter Oct. 27 in Assisi with leaders of other Christian communities and representatives of the world's main religions. The October gathering will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's "prayer for peace" encounter in Assisi. The 1986 event was seen by...

Let me preface this post by emphasizing that I know URJ president Eric Yoffie personally. Although we are friends, we are quite aware of each other’s political differences. This post is in no way an attack on his character but merely a strong disagreement with his positions and, by extention, those of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Likewise, although I do not know his presumptive successor Rabbi Jacobs personally—we might have met once a few years ago—I’m sure he is a decent human being and my issue is with his positions and not his character. That said … From...

In message delivered by his assistant at Uruguay conference Ban Ki-moon says occupation is morally and politically unsustainable and must therefore end. 'A way must be found for Jerusalem to emerge as a capital of two States,' he adds. WASHINGTON – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon slammed Israel's policy and called for the division of Jerusalem on Tuesday. In a message delivered by his assistant at a UN regional meeting in Uruguay, Ban said: "The target date for completing the Palestinian Authority’s two-year State-building program is fast-approaching." The occupation that started in 1967 is morally and politically unsustainable, and must...

Israel on Sunday prepared to deploy the first units of its recently-developed Iron Dome anti-missile system to battered Israeli towns within range of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already warning that the Iron Dome will not be able to stop all Palestinian missile attacks emanating from Gaza. Gaza-based terrorists have been firing an increasing number of short-range Kassam and more advanced Grad missiles into southern Israel over the past week. Last week, several missiles reached as far north Rishon Lezion and Yavne, towns just 10 miles south of Tel Aviv. Many of the missiles...

JERUSALEM – A Facebook page calling on Palestinians to take up arms against Israel has been removed from the social-networking site after a high-profile Israeli appeal. Entitled "Third Palestinian Intifada," the page had more than 350,000 fans before it was taken down. Facebook didn't comment the removal on Tuesday. Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein said in a letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that the page included calls to kill Jews and for "liberating" Jerusalem through violence.