Numbers have great meaning in Judaism, and Israel’s 70th year of independence takes on special significance when we realize that, according to Jewish tradition, 70 represents the nations of the world.
After 2,000 years of ups and downs, light and darkness, glory and exile, the veil has been lifted over the wisdom of Israel—the wisdom of Kabbalah—and we are becoming ripe to start using it to realize our true role in the world.
On April 18, when Israelis recognized those who died defending the country, they also commemorated not only the soldiers who died in the distant past, but those who have died since, including the two soldiers who were killed just last March, when a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a group of four soldiers patrolling on the side of the road.
This “march” was not a peaceful demonstration reminiscent of the sit-ins of Selma, Ala. The protestors sought to storm the border with lethal intent, hurling firebombs, rocks and burning tires at Israeli soldiers. In at least two cases, they fired bullets directly at troops on the other side.
The effective merger of the New Israel Fund with the Anne Frank Foundation is the latest chapter in the theft of Anne Frank’s legacy, which began in the 1950s.
Notably, the first foreign leader who called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to congratulate him for his decisive victory in Hungary’s parliamentary elections Sunday was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Victor Orbán’s landslide electoral victory on Sunday, gaining 134 seats out of 199 in Hungary’s parliament, increases his governing supermajority and endorses his tough policy of excluding illegal immigrants, especially from the Middle East. His success dramatizes a new reality across Europe and in Australia: a novel kind of party has emerged, disturbing the political scene and arousing impassioned debate.
