The German word ersatz is commonly used around the world today to refer to an “artificial and inferior substitute or imitation.” During WWI, the shortage of coffee in Germany catalyzed the development of over 11,000 ersatz products, including a coffee substitute using roasted acorns, chicory and beechnuts. Thousands of U.S., British soldiers, primarily airmen, captured in […]
The last three verses of the Book of Genesis have a prophetic glow to them: Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will assuredly take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then […]
This is the third of a three-part newsletter investigating Russia’s stated reasons for invading and destroying Ukraine. President Putin and Russian media repeatedly stress that Ukraine is a fascist country run by neo-Nazis and anti-Semites. Is there any truth to these charges? This third newsletter weighs Ukraine’s history regarding anti-Semitism, fascism and neo-Nazi movements, and […]
This is the second of a three-part newsletter considering the subject of Russian propaganda and disinformation regarding their purported reasons for invading and destroying Ukraine. President Putin and state-controlled Russian media repeatedly stress that Ukraine is being run by neo-Nazis and anti-Semites. This second newsletter weighs Russia’s role (both in history past and present) […]
The word of YHVH came to Jonah, commissioning him to, “arise, [and] go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, because their wickedness has come up before Me.” But instead Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of YHVH” (Jonah 1:1-3). Jonah was a bona fide prophet who had a spiritually sensitive […]
Mark Twain was noted for the one-liner: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” As the world attempts to focus on recent events in Ukraine, let’s consider some sobering historical parallels from nearly thirty years ago. Those events revolve around the September 1999 KGB false-flag bombings of Russian civilian apartments, which were then falsely ascribed to […]