Last week, in Warsaw, 60,000 Poles and foreigners participated in an Independence Day march to mark 99 years of Polish nationhood. It should have been an auspicious occasion. Poland, partitioned by Russia, Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 18th century, regained its sovereignty in 1918 and has been independent ever since. Unfortunately, some […]
The Jardim Botanico, one of the loveliest botanical gardens in the Western hemisphere, is a serene refuge in the bustling Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Set between the tropical splendor of Tijuca National Park and the rugged Serra da Carioca mountain range, it’s one of Rio’s top tourist attractions. It’s a particularly attractive place to […]
Prince Charles, the heir to the British royal throne, has expressed an opinion about an important facet of the Arab-Israeli conflict that could have been taken straight from the mouth of a pro-Arab British official during the Mandate period in Palestine. In a letter to his friend Laurens van Der Post, he dashed off a […]
Earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu singled out Iran as the source of most of Israel’s security concerns. Speaking at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the bombing of Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires — a terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 29 Israeli diplomats and local workers and which was […]
Regrettably, Poland continues to drag its feet concerning a problem that should have been resolved years ago. To this day, Poland is still the only major European country that has not passed comprehensive legislation for the restitution of property seized by the Nazis during the German occupation and nationalized by the Communist regime after 1945, according […]
You wouldn’t think that Israel, a nation besieged by enemies, lends itself to comedy. Think again. As Jews know from bitter experience, comedy defuses tensions and is tailor-made for people and countries under siege. Which brings us to Holy Air, a film written and directed by Shady Srour, a member of Israel’s large Arab minority. […]
For about 2,000 years, until the early 20th century, Hebrew was virtually comatose. Once the mother tongue of the Jewish masses in their ancestral homeland, it ceased being a spoken language and became the sacred language of the synagogue and of rabbis and scholars studying religious texts. Its restoration as a utilitarian language, driven by […]
Israel’s next general election is about two years away, but the newly elected leader of the center-left Labor Party, Avi Gabbay, is already maneuvering for advantage. Gabbay, who was elected to his post in July, has moved the Labor Party rightward in the hope of siphoning votes away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud […]
Israeli cuisine is a kaleidoscopic amalgam of tastes, flavors and aromas from every conceivable corner of the globe, matching the national origins of its diverse Jewish, Muslim and Christian population. The typical Israeli, if there is such a person, will most probably like a Polish-style kugel — a baked noodle pudding — as much as […]
Deutsche Bahn, the operator of Germany’s state railway, recently announced its intention to name a new high-speed train after Anne Frank, the Dutch Jewish diarist who perished in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the final days of the Holocaust. The news has caused an outcry because Anne Frank and her older sister, Margot, were deported […]