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July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

June 13, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine

Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends

JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 12, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

June 11, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?

Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'

JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination

June 6, 2008

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem

Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs

JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 5, 2008

David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'

Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread

JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 4, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'

Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus

JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler

June 3, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East

Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel

JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?

He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 11, 2007 / 29 Elul, 5767

Same-sex ruling spurs awkward GOP debates

By Kathryn Lopez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Marriage matters as a political issue, a fact we were starkly reminded of when an Iowa judge, recently redefined marriage.


In his ruling, Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson wished into law the right of "individuals to marry a person of their choosing," with no gender restrictions. He said that Iowa's extant marriage law must be nullified, severed and stricken, and that all references to "marriage" be "read and applied in a gender neutral manner so as to permit same-sex couples to enter into a civil marriage pursuant to said chapter."


There's nothing like a judge's bypassing the democratic process to spur responses from democratic leadership.


Since Iowa is a key state in the presidential election process, the location of this latest judicial overreach naturally encourages candidates' responses. But most GOP candidates wish the issue had never come up, since it's a touchy subject for a party of wide stances.


As it happens, only one of the leading Republican candidates — Mitt Romney — supports a federal marriage amendment, which would constitutionally prevent marriage redefinition in the states. So Romney was quick to denounce the Iowa ruling as "another example of an activist court and unelected judges trying to redefine marriage and disregard the will of the people" — and to declare that this "once again highlights the need for a Federal Marriage Amendment to protect the traditional definition of marriage."


Romney first confronted this issue in Massachusetts. He was governor when the state's highest court executed a similar coup — the first in the nation to do so. Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, calls the Iowa ruling "Massachusetts deja vu" and says it will have major repercussions: "It certainly makes the case for a Federal Marriage Amendment. The defeat of the current Massachusetts marriage amendment in the state legislature on June 14 has emboldened the same-sex marriage advocates around the nation. They will undoubtedly press this Iowa issue to the fullest, and I believe same-sex will be a major issue in the 2008 election."


Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council points out that Florida, too, has a marriage showdown looming just in time for the presidential campaign — and he tells me that while the national GOP might be too "clueless or spineless" to take on the issue, it's in the party's interest to do so.


Pew Research Center polls suggest that at least half of Americans are opposed to same-sex marriage, but you wouldn't know it from listening to the Republicans. At a debate of presidential candidates in New Hampshire days after the Iowa judicial usurpation, a woman in a diner told Fox News reporter Carl Cameron, "We're the state of 'Live Free or Die,' and people should be able to marry the person they love." In response to her statement, just one candidate, Sen. Sam Brownback. R-Kan., had a retort. His answer was right on: Marriage "is a foundational institution."


Critics of a marriage amendment suggest that the Romney/Brownback position won't fly in Iowa, but they may be reading their own biases into the polling. Iowa has a state Defense of Marriage Act, so the need for a national one has not been deeply felt there. This may change in the wake of the court ruling. A temporary judicial stay has kept a mass same-sex-marriage-license line from forming — for the time being.


Stanley Kurtz, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and longtime observer of the politics of gay marriage, suggests what might happen next: "The fact that the Iowa legislature has passed some anti-discrimination laws does not in any way say that a marriage amendment will fail. ... it's perfectly possible to imagine a legislature that passed antidiscrimination legislation also voting for a marriage amendment."


Pushing the issue of a marriage amendment is not just the civic duty of candidates who believe in it, it's a fundamental building block of society. It's good politics, which will separate those standing up for the traditional family (popular with a healthy portion of the country) and those radicals — like Hanson — who don't.

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