Savlanut and the Jewish heartBy: Cliff KellerThe collective Israeli psyche, if such a thing exists, is ambiguous, capricious, mysterious and odd. Israelis often demand “savlanut” (sahv lah NOOT), or patience, from others, for example, while most of them refuse to stand in line, honk at red lights in traffic as if to insist that they

Why another blog about Israel?By:  Cliff KellerIn about one quarter of a second, a web search will currently return an astounding 191 million links in response to the query, “Israel blogs.” It would take nearly seven years to check them all if one were able to scan at one link per second, working day and

DNA Testing and Implications for Jewish IdentityNineteenth century Augustinian scientist from St. Thomas’ Abbey of for Aliyah and Moravia, by the name of Gregor Mendel, became the first person to study character traits in simple garden peas. He conducted his exper- iments from 1856 to 1863 and was determined to discover the waythese traits were

From Darkness to LightEver have one of those days—you know, the type of day in which nothing seems to go right? A day which Murphy as in Murphy’s Law is going wild? The day you wished never happened? In Jewish life, this day is Tisha B’av (the9th of the month of Av). While this may

Loving People into the Kingdom of G-dHow can you betray your Jewish people and join the Christians, who throughout the centuries have persecuted our ancestors in Europe? You need a psychiatrist!” declared Rabbi Stewart Winograd’s mom,not an uncommon reaction from a Jewish parent back in the 1970s, when hearing that her hippie son was now

Creatively Done: The Art of Life in Media and MinistryWise, artistically talented, kind-hearted, spiritual, articulate, beautiful, and a Jewish Believer are just a few words that describe the 22 year- old Israeli, Ronit Joy Holtz. Born in the United States, Ronit’s parents and her four siblings made Aliyah to Israel when she was just a

The Art of the MessiahJerzy Kosinski, the American-Polish novelist once said, “The Principals of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.” The work of three Messianic Jews, Richard Danielpour, Michael Wolf, and Jonathan Cahn exemplify this quote in their creative outlets. Each of these men created pieces that not only portray the uniqueness

Minnesota freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar has a well-documented history of making antisemitic statements. Granted, partisan politics, alongside irresponsible hyperbole, rule the day, but should Jewish people be concerned by the congresswoman’s apparent hostility toward Jews? Let’s review the record.In 2012, while serving as campaign manager for Kari Dziedzic’s reelection to the Minnesota State Senate, Omar

Every year on the 27th of Nisan, in the Hebrew calendar, Israel takes a day to remember what happened in Europe over 70 years ago. It was the worst time in Jewish history as the Nazis wiped out 6 million Jews with the intent of destroying all of world Jewry. Thankfully, Hitler was stopped, the

It was sunset on the sixth night of Chanukah when Ceil Rosen was called into the loving embrace of the Messiah. To write a piece honoring her life seems an overwhelming responsibility. How does one condense a life of nearly eighty- seven years that helped to pioneer a movement which forever changed the way many

In 1915, director D.W. Griffith released his epic film, “The Birth of a Nation.” This historical fiction movie followed two American families fighting on opposite sides of the American Civil War. The film followed the characters up to and including the reunification of the United States. Although the film marked a major milestone in the

MacArthur’s host, Shapiro, perhaps America’s best-known (and most controversial) Orthodox Jew, graduated from high school at age 16, earned summa cum laudeand Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at 20 and graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School at 23. Now age 35, Shapiro, after founding The Daily Wire, a news and opinion