Sit back by the bonfire and pop open a brewski, it’s Lag B’Omer. Since we have been counting the Omer--a biblical measure of barley that was brought as an offering to the Temple--each evening from the second night of Passover, what better way to mark the coming holiday than by downing a barley beverage, cold and carbonated? What’s the occasion? Lag B'Omer marks the ending of a plague during the Bar Kochba revolt in the second century C.E. According to tradition, students and soldiers were …More

Alex Traiman, JNS.org On Israel Independence Day, Israelis take great pride in the hard work and military victories that have built the world’s only Jewish state. At the same time, many detractors of Israel continue push for boycotts and divestment from elements of that state. The accomplishments of 2013 Israel Prize awardee Ron Nachman, however, have managed to transcend much of the contemporary criticism of Israel. Nachman invested his entire life in a barren mountain in Samaria and turned it into a …More

Just days before the State of Israel was established in May 1948, officials were debating what to call the new country in Arabic. [Times of Israel] Holland will invite visitors into the homes of Holocaust victims to memorialize the people who perished in World War II. [Forward] A recent archaeological discovery has recently found evidence of a mass grave sight at the Treblinka death camp. [Algemeiner] The trial of an underground neo-Nazi trio, known as the National Socialist Underground, continues to raise …More

Alumni and pro-Israel supporters of Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law have launched a campaign to prevent to the university from awarding former President Jimmy Carter with the school’s “International Advocate for Peace Award.” The award is being presented by the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. In reaction to the award, a group of leading alumni and pro-Israel supporters calling itself “The Coalition of Concerned Cardozo Alumni” has established a …More

US-born "Jewish terrorist" receives two life sentences. [Times of Israel] Natan Sharansky is set to propose new egalitarian laws for the Kotel. [Times of Israel] Yeshiva University alumni plan to block an award for Jimmy Carter. [Forward] A Jewish women's group is calling for civil marriages in Israel, and easier divorce laws. [Forward] A wave of anti-Semitic graffiti hits Massachusetts. [Arutz Sheva] Italy recovers a Marc Chagall stolen from a US yacht. [Arutz Sheva] A look at Hitler's Jewish soccer league. …More

Barack Obama will visit Israel this spring, the White House announced today. The news came after a government official promised last year the president would travel to the Jewish state should he earn a second term. Obama has faced criticism for years over his absence from Israel, though Obama did visit Israel in 2008 while a presidential candidate. "The start of the president's second term and the formation of a new Israeli government offer the opportunity to reaffirm the deep and enduring bonds between the …More

Jewish groups mourned the passing of Max Kampelman, the top US human rights negotiator who straddled the Carter and Reagan presidencies and who helped bring about recognition of the plight of Soviet Jews. Kampelman, 92, died at his Washington DC home on Jan. 25, according to reports. Born in New York to Jewish immigrants from Romania, Kampelman befriended Hubert Humphrey in the 1940s when Humphrey was mayor of Minneapolis, and followed him to Washington as a staffer when Humphrey was elected to the Senate. He …More

Today marks the 34th anniversary of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat’s historic joint awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. The honor recognized the coming together of the two world leaders--one the prime minister of Israel, one the president of Egypt--who would go down in history for their signing of the Camp David Accords in 1978, and the Israeli Egyptian peace treaty just one year later. With the Nobel award, Begin also made history himself, becoming the first Israeli to win the prize. Begin and Sadat were …More

Details from the lead up to past Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem have been released for the first time. The previously classified items tell the story of the initial steps to peace between Israel and Egypt, which resulted in the 1977 Camp David Accords and 1979 Peace Treaty. “I will now disclose things that cannot be made public,” said then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at a September 4, 1977 cabinet meeting. "[Romanian] President [Nicolae] Ceausescu has …More

Rabbi David Rosen was one of a triumvirate of Jewish, Muslim and Christian clergymen recognized by Search for Common Ground, a group that promotes reconciliation and conflict resolution. Jointly receiving the group's interfaith award were Rosen, the international director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee; Lord George Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican church; and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, which is behind …More

Jimmy Carter has endorsed an anti-Israel motion put forward by a coalition of Christian leaders. Last month, a group of 15 Christian clerics wrote a letter to Congress, urging for an investigation into the Jewish state’s human rights record. The letter also questioned whether the US should provide military funding for Israel. The letter drew condemnation from Jewish leaders and prompted many Jewish groups to pull out of an annual interfaith conference. Now, Carter has backed the original letter, both …More

Past US President Jimmy Carter met with Israeli President Shimon Peres Monday, sharing his dismay that the Palestinian peace process has been stalled for two years. Carter, who famously pushed for a two-state solution during his tenure in the White House, told Peres that a “catastrophic” one-state solution might be the only option left. “We are heading towards a one-state outcome, which will fail to ensure the security and democratic rights of the people of Israel and renege on the promise of …More