current issues »

Assuming that John McCain will win the conservative vote and Barack Obama the liberal vote; that leaves up for grabs about 37 percent of the electorate who call themselves moderate, according to a recent Rasmussen Poll. Their survey shows that 30 percent of the public are either undecided or say they may change their minds before Election Day. As a result, many pollsters contend that Obama cannot take his early lead over McCain for granted.

Saudi Arabia has plenty of oil but it may only have enough water to last another decade. So says Syrian scholar Elie Elhadj, who was CEO of a major Saudi bank in the 1990s. Writing in the latest edition of the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Elhadj argues that the Saudis have squandered billions of dollars and wasted their finite water supply in a fruitless quest to make its desert bloom with agriculture.

Western powers hoping that Iran’s supposedly unstable regime might be toppled from power are likely to be disappointed, says Raz Zimmt of the Center for Iranian Studies. While the Islamic regime faces ideological, political, and social challenges, the government has been successful in balancing and controlling those challenges. If anything, the results from this year’s Iranian parliamentary elections show a desire for stability, not upheaval.

The Passaic River, notorious for being one of America’s most polluted waterways, it is now slated for an $80 million cleanup to remove poisonous sediment in the Newark area. Workers will divert water from “hot spots” containing some 200,000 cubic yards of dioxin and then remove it with conventional earth-moving equipment. This phase of the work is expected to take almost three years.

— Benyamin Rose

Magazine Cover Story:
Encountering Greatness - For the 10th Yahrtzeit of Rav Ben Zion Abba Shaul, ZTZ”L, Rosh Yeshivas Por by Yisroel Besser

It is ten years since the passing of the great Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef, Chacham Ben Zion Abba Shaul, ztz”l. The Rosh Yeshivah served dual roles in the Torah community, as both a gifted maggid shiur, disseminator of Torah, and a leading posek, a halachic arbiter. In addition, his blessings and advice brought salvation to many. He was a quiet, humble figure who worked assiduously to flee from honor and attention. more »

Family First Feature Story:
The Gift of Thrift By Riva Pomerantz

Thrift is in high fashion, spurred on by prices rising faster than the air temperature, from fuel to flour and everything in between. That means smart shopping, creative cooking, more coupon cutting, and less impulse buying. Welcome to the wild world of budget stretching, where the key to success is in your mind, not in your pocketbook more »

Junior Cover Story:
The Arch of Titus By Malky

Rome is a beautiful city. However, Torah Jews don’t find many spots of interest there, because most of its tourist sites are Christian. There are two places, though, that attract Jews the world over: The great Synagogue, located in what was once Rome’s Jewish ghetto, and the Arch of Titus. On a recent visit to Rome, I visited both. more »

Buying in Israel A to Z

Binyamin Rose

The ins and outs, and ups and downs of securing a foothold in the land of our forefathers. You’re considering buying property in Eretz Yisrael? Congratulations! Just keep in mind the dictum of Chazal that Eretz Yisrael is acquired through yissurim. May yours be few and far between and may this article make you a more educated consumer. more »

This Way to the Beis HaMikdash

Aharon Granot

A visit to the recently unearthed 2,000-year-old main road to the Makom HaMikdash.. Deep under the road leading to the Arab village of Silwan, archaeologists have recently unearthed the main thoroughfare that once connected the residential area of Jerusalem to the Temple Mount compound. more »

HIGHLIGHTS

Purim
with Rav Yitzchak Hutner, ztz"l »
A Day of Mouurning
For All »
A Look at
the Community Kollel »
A Portrait of the Generations
A photographic pioneer ponders sixty years of Rebbes, Roshei Yeshivos, weddings, and the big picture. »