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At Tu B' Shevat, the Endangered World of Water

By:

Mike Weilbacher

As the Jewish calendar heads toward Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for the trees, we'd do well to remember that water flows through their lives and ours: We drink, bathe in, cook with and flush some 100 gallons each and every day. Water pours through the Torah, too -- it floats Noah's ark, drowns Pharaoh's army, gushes out of rocks,...

Columns

The Reward Comes in the Form of Accomplishing Work Itself

By:

Betsy R. Sheerr

Millions of lives -- and the future of a tiny nation -- are still in jeopardy. No, we're not talking about Israel, but Haiti -- that small, impoverished island nation. Within hours of a catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti last week, Israel and the United States led the way in rescue and recovery. President Barack Obama spoke movingly: "In times...

Kvetch 'N Kvell

Letters the Week of Jan. 28, 2010

There Are Losses That Go Beyond Just Numbers "Philadelphia by the Numbers" (Cover story, Jan. 14), which dealt with the recently released population study, omitted another devastating phenomenon: the transfer of Jewish wealth to non-Jews. In the past, throughout the Diaspora communities, this transfer often occurred through violent expropriation from Jews by hostile governments; now it is happening every day...

Editorials

Birthright and Beyond

Birthright Israel recently marked its 10th anniversary, and we can only hope that it will be around for at least another decade. It is widely acclaimed as one of the most successful innovations to hit the American Jewish scene in decades. The program, which offers free 10-day trips for young Jewish adults in the Diaspora, was the brainchild of mega-philanthropists...

Editorials

Essence of Who We Are

The images emerging from Haiti are staggering; the statistics mind-boggling. While it would be easy to be struck with paralysis by the depth of such death and destruction, this is not the Jewish way. And so, from day one of a crisis of incomprehensible proportions, Israel and a host of Jewish organizations have rushed to join -- and, in many...