Was Columbus secretly a Jew?

BY CHARLES GARCIA, CNN— Today marks the 508th anniversary of the death of Christopher Columbus. Everybody knows the story of Columbus, right? He was an Italian explorer from Genoa who set sail in 1492 to enrich the Spanish monarchs with gold and spices from the orient. Not quite. For too long, scholars have ignored Columbus’s…

ABCs of Shavuot

BY RABBI SHRAGA SIMMONS, AISH It is ironic that Shavuot is such a little-known holiday. Because in fact, Shavuot commemorates the single most important event in Jewish history ― the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Shavuot is the culmination of the seven-week-long “counting of the Omer” that occurs following Passover. The very name…

Video: Indivisible Jerusalem

The division of Jerusalem into “East” and “West” imposed by the Jordanian occupation for a brief period of 19 years is no longer possible in a city which has dramatically grown and changed over the last 44 years. 270,000 Arabs and 200,000 Jews live in the mosaic of neighborhoods called “East Jerusalem.” Dividing Jerusalem is…

The obstacle of world opinion

BY AMBASSADOR (ret.) YORAM ETTINGER, ISRAEL HAYOM— World opinion should not deter Israel from enhancing Jewish roots and national security, expanding the Jewish presence in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights and pre-empting Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorism. Adverse world opinion and Global pressure have always been an integral part of the Jewish People and…

The 11th century Shavuot poem

Before the reading of the Torah, on the first day of Shavuot, a beautiful 11th century poem called Akdamut is recited in the Synagogue. This poem was written by Rabbi Meir bar Yitzchak from Worms, Germany. Akdamut consists of praise for God, His Torah, and His people. In most synagogues the poem is read responsively:…