In 1975, Israel became a member of the World Tourism Organization (WTO). One of the primary objectives of the WTO is to encourage tourism and free travel from country to country. On 21 November, 2001, the WTO enacted the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The Code is cited in Hebrew on the Israeli Ministry of Tourism’s website, and translated states in part: “The Office will adopt the regulations of the code in every area. We hope that all bodies involved in the Israeli tourist industry will

Everyone is currently engaged in a dramatic, analytic, and gloomy discussion of why the world economy has collapsed. It seems to me, however, that no one has touched upon the principal issue. Although everyone is trying to understand, only a few have seen that we’ve become prey to our own selves and to the laws of the economic game in which we’ve all gleefully participated. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost the old and good rules—our intimacy and mutual commitments. We’ve strayed fro

God promised our father Abram a land and a legacy. That promise was unconditional . . . or was it?

When we left Egypt, God met us at Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah. This Torah contained the accounts of creation, the selection of Abram’s children, our right to the land of Canaan, and instructions for living there. God, Torah, Land, and People thus became the four pillars that define us as Israel.

Among the Torah’s many laws, the violation of some is punishable by death or corporal punis

I’ve walked the stone streets of Megiddo seven times. This inspiring hill overlooking a broad plain communicates history and archaeology like no other place I have been. The paradox of Megiddo is that it is one of the oldest exposed sites of human life and also the site of human history’s last stand.

The first time I was here, in 1988, I was nearly oblivious to Biblical history and archaeology. I was such a new reader of the Bible, only one fact lingered with me after the journey. This was

What can we learn about Jewish life from the dead city of Beit She’arim?

The National Park of Beit She’arim lies in the southern part of the settlement of Kiryat Tivon on the southern slope of the lower western Galilean mountains. It is accessible by way of the settlement itself or by taking the forked turning westwards from Route 722 about a kilometer south of the Shomrim junction.

Beit She’arim was an important Jewish settlement during the Second Temple period, especially during the mi

As I write this, we have just gotten past Passover and started restocking our kitchens with bread products, when the Israeli memorial days are upon us once again.

First we have Holocaust Memorial day, which really turns into more like a week of remembering the enormous tragedy of the Holocaust. The main ceremony is held at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Six symbolic fires are lit by six survivors, in remembrance of the six million Jews who were massacred. It is impossible for ou

As I write this, I have just returned from another soul-sustaining trip to the land on a teaching assignment for MJTI. At a time like this, the divine promise of the land to the people of Israel is on my mind. I am reminded of something I have shared before with synagogue and other friends: eight texts from the Torah which state, confirm, and amplify the provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant that relate to the Land of Israel.

Genesis 12:1-3: The initial promise to Abraham. Note how the first thi

Those of us who make it a habit of reading the religious press are well aware of its hostility towards Messianic Jews and Judaism, as well as to Christianity in general. Recently, however, the weekly Makor Rishon, which represents the national religious camp, printed two articles which broke out of this mold. The dates on which they were published—the first on 28 December, 2008 and the second on 9 January, 2009—suggest that they were written in light of the recent situation, namely the war i