As Jacob was preparing to cross into the land of Canaan to face his brother and chief nemesis, Esau, the Bible tells us that he was greatly distressed and afraid. In his defense,  there was ample reason to be concerned; Esau was bringing 400, presumably armed, men with him to meet Jacob, After petitioning God […]

As Jacob was preparing to cross into the land of Canaan to face his brother and chief nemesis, Esau, the Bible tells us that he was greatly distressed and afraid. In his defense, there was ample reason to be concerned; Esau was bringing 400, presumably armed, men with him to meet Jacob, After petitioning God […]

It was on this day in the year 1799 that, in his campaign against the Ottoman Turks, Napoleon captured the city of Jaffa or, in Hebrew, Yafo, which means, “beautiful.” The city is indeed beautiful and I have been fortunate to have visited it many times. It’s not uncommon to see dozens and dozens of […]

It was on this day in the year 163 B.C. that Antiochus V (not to be confused with Antiochus the IV of Hanukkah fame), granted freedom of religion and political autonomy to the Jews living in the land of Israel. This was to cancel the decrees of his father, who had outlawed circumcision, the study […]

It was on this day in the year 1979 that Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt signed the peace treaty between their countries. Since that time, Israel has enjoyed three decades of relative peace with Egypt. We say, “relative peace,” because Egypt has always represented oppression for Israel and the travail by […]