Nov. 23, 2009 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Negotiating nuisances JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff Nov. 20, 2009 Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry Nov. 19, 2009 Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes) Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics Nov. 18, 2009 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes) Nov. 17, 2009 Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations? JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung Nov. 16, 2009 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes) Nov. 13, 2009 JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes) Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity Nov. 12, 2009 The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes) Nov. 11, 2009 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes) Nov. 10, 2009 Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes) Nov. 9, 2009 Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes) Nov. 6, 2009 Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes) Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man Nov. 5, 2009 The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes) Nov. 4, 2009 Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered? JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes) Nov. 3, 2009 Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes) Nov. 2, 2009 Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes) Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review May 20, 2009 / 26 Iyar 5769 Would they lie? Only for safety By Jonathan Gurwitz http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Torture is wrong. All decent people oppose it. In a 2005 column, I wrote: "Because principles matter, in this conflict more than most, the United States must keep the high ground in the debate about torture and the rights of detainees in the war on terror." As a columnist whose greatest responsibility rarely exceeds meeting a deadline, I have the luxury of making such pronouncements. But I'm forthright enough to acknowledge this state of bliss — a state I share with most Americans. There are some people who don't have that luxury, however. The judgments they make may affect the lives — and deaths — of their fellow citizens. Perhaps hundreds of them. Thousands of them. And in times of peril, they must make difficult decisions — often with imprecise information — that less-scrupulous people will second-guess in times of safety. Sen. Diane Feinstein of California, a Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, recently gave a nod to the people with responsibility and added a bit of humility to the debate about the so-called torture memos. "I don't want to make an apology for anyone, but in 2002, it wasn't 2006, 07, 08 or 09," she said. "It was right after 9-11, and there were in fact discussions about a second wave of attacks." Ask yourself what you would do to a terrorist to extract information you thought might save a loved one. Would you push him against a wall? Would you waterboard him? Would you do anything you thought might reasonably save the life of your husband or wife, son or daughter? A very small number of people will honestly answer no on principled philosophical and religious grounds. A larger number will honestly answer yes. And if the public debate about the Bush administration's enhanced interrogation methods is any indication, an embarrassing number of two-faced moral absolutists will dishonestly answer no. Call it enhanced prevarication. And its leading proponent is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who — in the flash of a CIA report — went from being the foremost spokeswoman for "torture" show trials to being unable to articulate a coherent sentence. Responsibility? That's for other people, not the person two heartbeats away from the Oval Office. Leon Panetta, the CIA director who issued the report, evidently grasps the responsibility of his position. At his confirmation hearing in February, Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee, "If we had a ticking bomb situation and obviously whatever was being used I felt was not sufficient, I would not hesitate to go to the president of the United States and request whatever additional authority I would need." Warning to Panetta: When the bomb is defused or if the bomb threat turns out not to be as serious as you believed, be prepared to be tried and summarily convicted by armchair tribunals of your fellow citizens. President Barack Obama, explaining his decision to release the enhanced interrogation memos, said the best way to protect the nation is not to take ethical shortcuts that "undermine who we are." But he preceded that by saying: "Ultimately I will be judged as commander in chief on how safe I'm keeping the American people. That's the responsibility I wake up with and it's the responsibility I go to sleep with. And so I will do whatever is required to keep the American people safe." In recognition of that responsibility, Obama last week reversed his decision to release photographs of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger." It's almost enough to make the enhanced prevaricators think there's a war going on somewhere, that the United States has enemies, enemies who want to kill Americans — even in 2009. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment by clicking here. JWR contributor Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, is a co-founder and twice served as Director General of the Future Leaders of the Alliance program at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In 1986 he was placed on the Foreign Service Register of the U.S. State Department. Jonathan Gurwitz Archives © 2009, Jonathan Gurwitz

Arnold Ahlert  Mitch Albom  Michael Barone   Dave Barry  Tony Blankley  Andy Borowitz  David Broder  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  John Fund  Frank J. Gaffney  Lloyd Garver  Jonah Goldberg  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Lewis Grossberger  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Nat Hentoff  David Horowitz  Laura Ingraham  Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  Jack Kelly  Ed Koch  Ch. Krauthammer  Michael Ledeen  John Leo  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  Dick Morris  Bill O'Reilly  Jim Mullen  Clarence Page  Kathleen Parker  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Jonathan Rauch  Celia Rivenbark  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Pat Sajak  Debra J. Saunders  Culture Shlock  Roger Simon  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Byron York  Mort Zuckerman  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Baloo  Chip Bok  Dry Bones   Lisa Benson  John Branch  Gary Brookins  John Cole  J. D. Crowe  John Deering  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Mallard Fillmore  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holber  Steve Kelley  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Ranan R. Lurie  Jimmy Margulies  Rick McKee  Michael Ramirez  Kevin Siers  Jeff Stahler  Ed Stein  Danna Summers  John Trever  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters  How 2  Lori Borgman  The Savvy Consumer  Elder matters  Fixit  Dr. Peter Gott  GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko  Richard Lederer  Tech Maven  Every Monday Matters  Nutrition Myths  Bookmark These  Bruce Williams  How Stuff Works