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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
August 11, 2010
/ 1 Elul 5770
Muslim-turned-infidel, now 18, is ready to begin life anew
By
Rene Stutzman
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
In an interview Tuesday, Rifqa Bary's father told The Orlando Sentinel that he still loves his daughter and hopes she will soon come back to her family.
"We're a family," said Mohamed Bary in a phone call from Columbus, Ohio. "We love her. We want the best for her. No matter what happened, she's our daughter."
Rifqa turned 18 Tuesday, and the case pitting her against her parents — and symbolically Christianity vs. Islam — formally ended on the order of a Columbus judge.
She is now free to live where she chooses and practice the religion of her choice.
The end of the case also made moot a gag order that had kept both sides from talking to reporters.
Her father and mother disclosed Tuesday that their daughter two weeks ago sent them a video, along with candy and music, saying she loved them.
She also has sent them letters. In one, she thanked them for helping her be a successful student. She graduated recently from a Columbus-area high school, her father said, and was valedictorian.
" 'I'm here because of you guys,' " her father said she wrote them.
Mohamed Bary said he has no idea where Rifqa, now an adult and on her own, will spend the night. She had been in a foster home in Ohio.
He also does not know what she plans for the future, but he hopes it includes him, her mother and two brothers.
John Stemberger, one of her Orlando lawyers, said Rifqa likely will become a Christian missionary to China.
"She wants to preach the gospel to the nations. That's what she says all the time," he said.
One of her Columbus attorneys, Kort Gatterdam, would not talk about where she'll live in the next few days or what she'll do, except to say that that's been taken care of.
An Orlando friend said Tuesday that Rifqa will return here soon for a visit. Last summer, John Law helped Rifqa run away by paying for her Columbus-to-Orlando bus ticket and meeting her at the Orlando Greyhound station. At the time, he was president of Global Revolution Church, the congregation whose pastors took her in.
Law said Tuesday that the date of Rifqa's visit here had not yet been set but that it likely would not be this week or weekend.
In a prepared statement released Tuesday, her parents criticized her attorneys for defending her right to stop chemotherapy. Rifqa has had three operations and a limited amount of chemotherapy because of uterine cancer. She is now cancer-free and decided to stop chemotherapy.
That has upset her parents, who say they fear the cancer will come back.
Gatterdam, her Columbus attorney, said Tuesday that she now has no medical insurance and no ability to pay for cancer treatment, should she need it.
Rifqa disappeared from her suburban Columbus home July 19, 2009, setting off a manhunt that ended three weeks later, when an Orlando husband-and-wife team of Christian evangelical pastors, Blake and Beverly Lorenz, reported that she was living with them.
According to Rifqa, her father had threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity. Authorities found no evidence to support that claim or that members of the family's mosque would harm her.
The case set off a firestorm of reaction, particularly from conservative Christians, who flooded Gov. Charlie Crist's office with thousands of e-mail messages and phone calls, demanding that he keep her in Florida and keep her safe.
In October, an Orlando judge ordered her moved from an Orlando-area foster home to Ohio, where she moved in with a new foster family.
Although her parents said they would allow her to practice Christianity if she would just come home, they and their lawyers failed to win her back.
They have not had a private face-to-face conversation, even in the presence OF a family counselor, since she ran away, the parents' Ohio attorney, Omar Tarazi, said Tuesday.
He said with the court case finished, he hoped that within a short time, the family could privately reconcile.
Said her father, "We would like to be with her, like to be with our daughter. Unfortunately, our family has been ripped apart."
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© 2009,The Orlando Sentinel; Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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