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OU-IPA Washington Wire February 10, 2007
February 08, 2007
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OU-IPA News

With its "ripped from the headlines" timeliness, three Orthodox rabbis grappled with how to bring Jewish thought and ethical teachings to the modern battlefield. These discussions are now available to a world-wide audience on Orthodox Union Radio, www.ouradio.org and www.ou.org/public_affairs.

Leading the discussion was Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, an adviser to the Israeli army on combat ethics. He was joined by Rabbi Shaul Robinson, Senior Rabbi at New York Lincoln Square Synagogue and Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, the two co-hosts of the event. See the video of the event here.

In the News

Maryland lawmakers will attempt again to enact a law making a Jewish divorce a requirement for a civil divorce.

A "high priority" release last week from Agudath Israel of America said that two Baltimore-area Democratic lawmakers, state Del. Sandy Rosenberg and state Sen. Lisa Gladden, planned to introduce legislation that would allow a spouse facing a civil divorce suit to require an affidavit from the filer stating that all barriers to remarriage have been removed.

Get laws have only been on the communal agenda in the handful of states with large Orthodox populations, and New York is the only state actually to have one on the books. Read about it here and here.

Also in the news, the American Jewish population is 20 percent higher than previously reported, according to a new study released by the Brandeis University Steinhardt Social Research Institute. The institute estimated there are 6 million to 6.4 million Jews living in the United States, along with another million people with Jewish ancestry, by analyzing survey data collected by a range of government, academic and private foundations. Read about the study here.

News from the Middle East

Take a look at this article from the Middle East Forum for an interesting look at Hamas' international strategy.

Campaign '08

With candidates officially launching their campaigns read about these two candidates. Read this Times article about Mitt Romney and whether his religion will be an obstacle to his winning the Republican nomination. And on the other side of the political aisle read about Barack Obama and some of his views on politics and religion.

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