Daniel Gordis has written a new book entitled Menachem Begin: The Battle For Israel’s Soul. What makes this book different from a number of other biographies is Gordis’ underlying thesis that Menachem Begin was Israel’s most “Jewish” prime minister. In order to understand why observant Jews related so much better to Begin than to any of Israel’s other leaders – and to perhaps find a way to resolve today’s imbroglio – I will review a number of significant events in Begin’s life that give us an idea of his “Jewishness.”

*  *  *The town of Brisk is famous in frum circles as the home of the Soloveitchik dynasty of rabbis. That was indeed an important part of Brisk, but it was not all of it. Many different movements and ideologies vied for the loyalty of the youth of Brisk when Menachem was born, in 1913, and throughout the 1920s and 30s. There were the very pious, of course, who looked upon Zionism as a danger to traditional Jewish life. And there were those who went all the way to the other side, such as the Hashomer Hatza’ir movement, which taught its members to revile religious practices and admire communism.

To judge by the account in the Washington Post, the recent statement about the Holocaust by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas was a game-changing reversal of Abbas's previous Holocaust-denial.

In an "unusual step," the Post asserted, Abbas released "a strongly-worded statement" in which he "denounced" the Holocaust as "the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era."

Too bad the Post neglected to report the first half of the Palestinian leader's statement.

We hold Eretz Yisrael in our hearts as our own special place – our home, even when we don’t reside there. We visit, if we can, to soak up the atmosphere of kedusha (holiness), and some of us actually transfer our selves and our belongings – to live there in reality and not just in our dreams.

One thing that everyone can agree on is that Eretz Yisrael is nothing like our sedate Baltimore. From the blazing sunlight to the passionate people, from the politics to the religion, things are more intense. Everything matters, and everyone cares. Besides being a land steeped in kedusha – perhaps because of it – Eretz Yisrael is embroiled in conflict. Ancient and modern, holy and mundane, beautiful and repulsive, great love and poisonous hatred – they all travel the same buses.

(Mr. Phillips is president of the Religious Zionists of America, Philadelphia Chapter; Mr. Korn, the former executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, is chairman of the RZA-Philadelphia / http://www.phillyreligiouszionists.org/)

One of the most important, but most-overlooked aspects of the meeting between Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli students last month was an exchange about whether Jews could reside in a future Palestinian state, just as Arabs are citizens of Israel.  Abbas replied: "You cannot compare the Arabs who live in Israel now, who have been living here for thousands of years, with the settlers, who came yesterday or today."

(Mr. Phillips is president of the Religious Zionists of America, Philadelphia Chapter; Mr. Korn, the former executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, is chairman of the RZA - Philadelphia / http://www.phillyreligiouszionists.org/)

Welcoming Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the White House on March 17, President Obama declared that "He has been somebody who has consistently renounced violence."  Anyone who follows the news from the Middle East knows that Abbas regularly glorifies and encourages violence. Yet here was the president of the United States telling the public the opposite. How does Abbas get away with it?

I want to start this article by apologizing. I would really love to write a cheerful article on just about any subject. That is not to be so. But one thing I can promise you is that it is a story with a happy ending, because I am writing about the Jewish nation and we all know that those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

Six-and-a-half months ago my family moved to Gush Katif to strengthen the people of Gush Katif and our hold on the Land of Israel.

Actually, I do not see a difference in these two purposes. Rather, I see them as two intertwined and inseparable beliefs. The Land of Israel and the people of Israel. Three weeks ago my family was thrown out of our home and land in the settlement of Shirat Hayam along with 18 other families, who had become like family to us. Unlike other friends from Gush Katif, I have a house in Elon Moreh. I am not homeless. I am not a refugee in the literal sense of the word. Then why do I feel like I am?