Before we can discuss the outbreak of war between Israel and the PLO in Lebanon, we must lay out the political context. As Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian liberation army were massing troops along the border, and the city of Kiryat Shmona was facing bombardment, Prime Minister Menachem Begin visited US President Ronald Reagan in…
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Adar is the month when we increase our joy. The question is, in an increasingly bewildering world, where is it to be found? Learn about the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Book of Esther, and how it applies to us today.
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Israel’s leadership came to be part by never forgetting the principal of “when one comes to kill you, rise early and kill first.” Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s 1981 bombing of the Iraqi reactor Osirak on the distant banks of the Tigris gave birth to the “Begin doctrine” of absolute opposition to enemy possession of…
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People like to talk about the price of peace, but they rarely define what peace actually means. This makes evaluating the price impossible. In April of 1982 Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula and for the first time destroyed established Jewish homes in the name of peace. This episode explores the price. Learn about the…
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There are some conversations which Am Yisrael is just not having. As a follow up to some of the issues raised in the last few episodes Rav Mike is joined by Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen of the Vision Movement for a conversation on power and violence in the State of Israel.
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Today the media loves to discuss “settler violence,” but it is rarely interested in its historical origins. This episode picks up the story of Yehuda Etzion and Menachem Livni who had set out to trigger redemption by any means necessary. As it turns out, events went in another direction and their actions continue to have…
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In politics as in physics – for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s signing of the Camp David Accords with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat did not produce a singular response, but it did send shock waves through every aspect of Israeli society. Among the idealists of the settlement movement,…
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It is rare that someone who begins a movement is still leading strong fifty years later. Daniella Weiss was part of the original settlement of Judea and Samaria in the early 1970s, specifically Elon Moreh and Kedumim where she served as mayor. She remains an outspoken force within the Jewish settlement movement today with the…
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Is anyone else feeling a little frayed around the edges? Here is an interlude where I give some insight on how to avoid snapping under the pressure of our world, and even how to fray with grace. Send me an email at ravmikefeuer@gmail.com if you want to set up a counseling session about how to take these…
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The domestic political upheaval of the Menachem Begin victory in 1977 was followed quickly by an international earthquake in 1978 when Israel and Egypt agree to make peace. Here is the story of how shifts within two societies, and two leaders, led to the signing of the Camp David Accords. Learn about the tension Egyptian…
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