Not so kosher after all? [Forward]
Ever wondered if you were funding the violence of radical ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel? Shmarya Rosenberg is there! Rosenberg finds a link between the purchase of kosher food items in the United States and the militant, fundamentalist groups recently dominating Israel’s headlines.
“Most of us do not want our money to be used to pay the stipends of men who stone Israeli police, vandalize Israeli buses, spit on ‘immodest’ little girls and attack ‘immodest’ women. One way to ensure it won’t be is to stop buying products that carry the Badatz Yerushalayim and CRC kosher seals. Another is to raise Satmar’s involvement in Edah HaCharedis with American politicians who help Satmar organizations receive government funding.”
The Jewish Press responds to outspoken critics after article about being frum and gay. [Press]
The Press goes on the defensive after a recent article by a gay Orthodox Jew led to backlash from angry readers who felt it had no place in the pages. While suggesting that homosexual acts are “anti-Halachic,” the article does note the hidden presence of LGBT people in everyday life.
“We ran this article because, whether one wants to admit it or not, there is a serious problem that some members of our religious community face – day in and day out. It could be your Chavrusah (study partner) in Yeshiva, the guy sitting next to you in shul, or your brother in your very own home. And this is true whether you wear a black hat, a streimel, or a knit yarmulka.”
Protestant Jews? [Sh’ma]
American Jews are becoming too concerned with material things, argues Jenna Joselit, who suggests that this shift in thinking is leading to the sacrifice of an important component of a religiously engaged, Jewish life.
“Without knowing it, many American Jews take their cue from Max Weber’s classic account of the relationship between capitalism and Protestantism. In ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,’ the German sociologist likened material wellbeing to a state of grace. Within Protestant circles, he argued, prosperity was a sign of approval from on high. The same might be said of American Jews. Maybe, consumerism is one of the ways we count our blessings.”
Architecture makes for one stylish kippah [Tablet]
Late artist Sol LeWitt’s work is becoming a sort of phenomenon in the Jewish world. But who would have thought that a minimalist synagogue design would have turn into a kippah-pushing fad?
Jews in the Prohibition: “Would you like some kosher wine with that?” [NY Times]
In a review of Marni Davis’ “Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition,” Sam Roberts takes a look at a few colorful characters from the period (Izzy and Moe, anyone?), the battle between assimilation and religious continuity, and other factors that led to the integration of Jewish Americans into public life.
