Our Jewish Cadillac

By Ben Sales June 29, 2009

On a Hillel-sponsored trip to Israel three and a half years ago I sat in a crowd of 45 students listening to Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, speak about the challenges facing the PR operation of the Jewish State. After detailing strategy, obstacles and key issues Regev dismissed concerns, saying, “A Cadillac sells itself:…

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Judaism, On Demand

By peil June 26, 2009

If your family is anything like mine, you already have Judaism on demand. Kugel recipes; memories of the Lower East Side; updates on the Brandeis art museum – I have it all push of a button: speed-dial to my 98-year-old great aunt, Jay, in Pompano Beach. But for folks without an on-call source for Jewish…

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From East of the Bank: Wind, Ruach, Reh

By miriamberger June 25, 2009

I had never expected Amman to be such a windy city. Back home, as I packed my single duffle bag for my seven-week trip, I fretted over how I would balance modest dressing amid the inevitable, unbearable heat. I was headed to Amman to study Modern Standard Arabic (Fus-ha) and colloquial Jordanian dialect (Aamiah) through…

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The Yankees’ Day of Rest

By Ben Sales June 24, 2009

This year, for better or worse, marks the 10th anniversary of the publishing of Kosher Sex, a book by self-billed “America’s Rabbi” Shmuley Boteach, who also happens to be Michael Jackson’s ex-spiritual advisor. Be that as it may, the book became a bestseller and its title represents at least half of the fantasy of the…

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College Jews and Liberal Views

By rebeccablady June 23, 2009

I find that I’m often struggling to find a way to best answer a question that comes up so often now that I’m a college student: Why are colleges so liberal? Curious myself, I picked up a book titled One Party Classroom by David Horowitz. Horowitz argues that professors in the most prestigious and high-ranked…

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Some Other Things to Worry About

By paulasass June 22, 2009

Not to be a promoter of stereotypes, but Jews are good at worrying. I suppose that centuries of persecution have that effect. As a community, we have our usual concerns, many of which we’ve been worrying about for generations: anti-Semitism, assimilation, the future of the Jewish people, and, of course, Israel. With a history that…

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Silence, Meet Singularity

By peil June 19, 2009

Summer brings with it a lot of dead air.  From beach traffic to bathroom lines at the ballpark, awkward silences lurk everywhere.  But fear not: just as you can arm yourself against sunburn and mosquitoes, you can prepare for lapses in conversation.  Enter Ray Kurzweil — Jewish super-intellect; unabashed Futurist; conversational lighter fluid. Kurzweil is…

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Orthodox Judaism is moving–where?

By rebeccablady June 16, 2009

In honor of my first blog post, I’m going to steer clear of all issues pertaining to elected Israeli officials, elected (maybe?) Iranian officials, and Holocaust museums. As important as these things are, I’ll wait to discuss the more controversial ideas bouncing around on this blog until I feel a little more comfortable. But in…

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Bibi Netanyahu’s Baby Step

By paulasass June 15, 2009

A few days ago, Daniel Temkin wrote optimistically about the potential for progress towards peace under Netanyahu and Obama, comparing the political climate to that of 1977 under Begin and Carter, when the Camp David Accords created a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt.  At the end of his post, Daniel mentioned the expectation that…

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Barack Versus Bibi

By admin June 12, 2009

In a blog post from earlier this week, Ben Sales suggested that the tension between supporters and opponents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is nothing new. I would argue that the current tension between Washington and Jerusalem is a new and alarming development, one which should concern all supporters of Israel. But it…

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What We Choose to Do

By Ben Sales June 11, 2009

 My friend Ari Roskies made the case on this blog two days ago that President Obama should have criticized oppresive Islamist regimes for requiring women to wear hijabs, or traditional head-coverings, in addition to defending what should be the right of women to do so in western countries. Ari added that by not opposing the hijab’s enforcement, Obama…

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Jewlicious on the tragedy in D.C.

By joshnathankazis June 11, 2009

A great tragedy in D.C. yesterday, as a neo-Nazi murdered an African-American security guard at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The neo-Nazi was 88, the numerology of which will not be lost on white supremacists. As we mourn Stephen Tyrone Johns, a thought. There’s been much attention given to a few lines written in an online…

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Bar Mitzvahs jump the shark

By joshnathankazis June 10, 2009

We asked for it. h/t JTA

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Mazel Tov on Your Beer Mitzvah

By paulasass June 8, 2009

The Shmaltz Brewing Company, known for its He’brew: The Chosen Beer, is celebrating its thirteenth anniversary with a special new brew, The Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah.  It will feature 13 hops, 13 malts, and a 13% alcohol content.  In addition to the 13-themed beer, Shmaltz is running a bar mitzvah photo contest, giving awards in categories…

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Settle This

By Ben Sales June 7, 2009

Here we go again. In what the New York Times calls a historic shift, President Obama has called for the limiting of settlements in the West Bank. And so no one was surprised to hear loads of   criticism from the right, this one courtesy of the ever-ideological Caroline Glick. The truth is that this debate over…

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