November 28, 2012 | 9:24 pm

Jeffrey Goldberg’s Big Idea

Posted by Rob Eshman

Jeffrey Goldberg. Photo by Liz Lynch

The brilliance of Jeffrey Goldberg’s recent Bloomberg News column on Palestinian statehood is only matched by the idiocy of most of the hundreds of comments that follow it.  One day a PhD student in Jewish studies will write her thesis on what Internet commenting reveals about the state of the modern Jewish psyche.  In the meantime, here’s my hypothesis:  We need help.

Goldberg makes the argument that the surest path to Palestinian statehood is for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to demand full citizenship, including voting rights in Israeli elections.  If Israel accedes, it soon becomes another Arab state (the 23rd, he notes).  If it resists, it ends up as apartheid South Africa.  The rest of the world and American Jews—whose support for Israel, I've long believed, is absolutely contingent on it remaining a democracy—would all but abandon a so-called democratic country that denies basic rights to its citizens.

Goldberg is not saying this is a good thing, or that a Palestinian state would live in peace and harmony with Israel, or any of the other things the commentrons attributed to him.  Trust me, the guy gets it. 

His point is that Israel has to choose between controlling the Palestinians and remaining a Jewish state.   In 1967 Ben Gurion and Levi Eshkol foresaw the same dilemma.  Read your Oren.  Read your Goremberg.  Read your Goldberg.  The Israeli Left re-pointed out the obvious, then the Center, then, when Sharon detached Israel from inside Gaza and Olmert sought a deal with Abbas, the Right.  Netanyahu gets it too, but he hasn’t been able to find a way out that he believes secures Israel and/or his coalition.

All Goldberg is saying is if the Palestinians have time and bodies on their side: Israel doesn’t really want a couple million new Palestinian citizens, and it can’t force them onto Jordan or into Jordan (note to some commentrons: forced population transfers look very bad on CNN).  So the Palestinians could just call Israel’s bluff: If you don’t want to grant us statehood, make us Israelis.

Brilliant column.

Why won’t the Palestinians take Goldberg’s advice?  Because they and their Arab so-called allies prefer scoring points against Israel. 

What would Israel do with a unilateral declaration of Palestinian Zionism?  Shed territory, unilaterally, and fast.   Israel would cut off hunks of the West Bank like bad meat.  It would shut down settlements like they were Circuit Citys.  It wouldn't be pretty-- the Palestinians would get the least Israel could possibly give-- but it would be done.

Or maybe Israel would then negotiate—though I doubt the Palestinians, with world opinion at their back, would be as amenable to compromise.

Who knows what would happen?  But the simple act of demanding citizenship would create a firestorm.  Asking for an upgrade in UN status?  Here today, yawn tomorrow.

When Rob Eshman isn't leaping to the defense of Jeffrey Goldberg, he is tweeting @foodaism.  Follow him there.  Recipes included.

November 20, 2012 | 1:25 pm

Matisyahu: ‘Happy Hanukkah’

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Matisyahu "Happy Hanukkah" (New Song)
All Proceeds through the End of Hanukkah will be donated to Hurricane Sandy Relief. For more info visit: http://bit.ly/MatisyahuHanukkah

Donate and download at http://bit.ly/MatisyahuHanukkah
Available on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/h55ln4
Available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/Tcev1n

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November 20, 2012 | 12:12 pm

Brous, Gordis exchange heated words on Israel

Posted by Julie Gruenbaum Fax

Rabbi Danny Gordis accused his former student and friend, Rabbi Sharon Brous, of abandoning Israelis.

Rabbi Sharon Brous, leader of Ikar, a spiritual and social activism community in Los Angeles, and her colleague and friend of many years, Rabbi Danny Gordis, locked horns this week in a passionate and personal exchange of articles in the Times of Israel about what it means to support Israel in a time of crisis. 

Gordis, who writes frequently about Israel and recently published a book about Israel, is senior vice president and Koret distinguished fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, and a founding dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism, now American Jewish University, in Los Angeles.

In an article in The Times of Israel, Gordis attacked Brous for a letter she wrote to her congregants that affirmed Israel's obligation to defend its citizens and called for empathy for both Israelis and Palestinian civilians.

Gordis Wrote:

Why can we not simply say that at this moment, Israel’s enemies are evil? That they’re wrong? Why cannot someone as insightful and soulful as Rabbi Brous just say, without obfuscation, that whatever fault one finds with Israel, it is the Jewish State that for seventy years has sued for peace and the Arabs/Palestinians who have always refused…

… my friend left me heartbroken. If people as wise and as deeply Jewishly knowledgeable as Rabbi Brous (whom I told that this response was forthcoming) cannot come out and say that at least at this moment, we care about Israel more than we care about its enemies because we care about the future of the Jews more than almost anything else in the world, then her Jewish world and mine simply no longer inhabit overlapping universes.

In an article posted at the Times of Israel the next day, Brous said Gordis  brought the conversation on Israel to a new low:

What is shameful is that Gordis knows what many of his readers do not. For years my teacher and friend, he knows precisely what is the character of my Judaism, he knows just how deeply Jewish traditions and texts run in my blood. But it is far easier to cast aspersions on a straw man than engage in discourse with a real live colleague who shares his concern for Israel, the Jewish people and its future but nevertheless sees things differently than he does. So he follows the disturbing pattern he established years ago – pinpoint one voice, publicly eviscerate, hit send and reap the rewards of the resulting publicity. This may be a fine strategy to keep Gordis’s agenda on the radar of the American Jewish community, but it does not actually serve the interests of the Jewish people, his ostensible concern.

David Myers, chair of the history department at UCLA, came to Brous' defense in another post, characterizing Gordis' attack as stemming from a romanticized version of Zionism:

Rabbi Daniel Gordis’s critique of Rabbi Sharon Brous induces in the reader a certain fatigued response. On more than a few occasions, he has seen fit to anoint himself as the guardian of a fixed moral boundary line, insisting that one either stands with him – or against the Jews. In his latest pronouncement, he issues his own “J’accuse” against one of the most promising leaders to be found in American Judaism (who, in the name of full disclosure, happens to be a friend), Rabbi Sharon Brous. The crime? Nothing less than betrayal of the Jewish people. That the accused has inculcated a love of Judaism, Jews, the Jewish people, and the State of Israel in thousands of young people is of little moment to Rabbi Gordis.

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November 16, 2012 | 2:05 am

Anti-Israel protest outside of the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles [VIDEO]

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Anti-Israel protesters gather outside the Israeli Consulate of Los Angeles in support of Gaza.

On Nov. 15, at approximately 4:30 p.m., more than 100 people took to the streets in West Los Angeles to express their solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The protest was a response to the escalation of recent attacks between the Palestinian militant Hamas group and the Israeli military.

A small group of pro-Israel protestors gathered across the street, on the northwest corner of Wilshire boulevard and Granville avenue, to express support for Israel.

Meanwhile, consul general of Israel in Los Angeles David Siegel denounced Hamas’ attacks on Israel and said Israel must defend itself. “We’re in a situation that is becoming more and more untenable,” he said.

Video by Jay Firestone and Ryan Torok.

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November 15, 2012 | 1:13 pm

Rep. Wasserman Schultz stands with Israel against Hamas’s rocket attacks

Posted by JewishJournal.com

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Photo by U.S. Congress

Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) made the following statement condemning the recent Hamas missile attacks on Israel and standing up for Israel’s right to self-defense:

“With our deepest concern and strongest support, the United States stands firm with our ally Israel, currently under fire from an onslaught of Hamas rockets.  I reject Hamas’s relentless violence, and commend President Obama’s unwavering commitment to our ally, including his fundamental support for the Iron Dome missile defense system. As the days unfold, we remain united in our support of Israel’s sovereign right to self-defense and ever hopeful for a return to calm and peace. My thoughts and prayers remain with the people of Israel in these uncertain times.”

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November 9, 2012 | 11:40 am

Nate Silver and his perfect election

Posted JTA and JewishJournal.com

Statistician Nate Silver of the New York Times "FiveThirtyEight" blog correctly predicted the winner of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. (Randy Stewart via CC/Graphics by Uri Fintzy)

Nate Silver, the 34-year-old whiz who created a system in 2003 that uses statistics to accurately forecast baseball matchups, may have changed political predictions forever. In 2008, he applied his baseball model to the presidential election and accurately predicted the winner in 49 states and the District of Columbia (he got Indiana wrong.) The New York Times picked up his FiveThirtyEight blog -- named for the number of electors in the Electoral College – and Silver quickly became a lightning rod for critics and a guru for admirers. But his predictions in recent weeks that President Obama had an 80-plus percent probability of winning earned him derision from both the right and left. On Election Day, however, Silver correctly predicted the victor in all 50 state contests plus DC. On Wednesday, even Silver's detractors were doffing their hats.

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November 6, 2012 | 8:31 pm

Pics and quotes from Sinai Temple

Posted by Jonah Lowenfeld

Muriel Perry

“I have kids who got laid off from their jobs. I have a grandchild who just graduated college who’s having a tough time finding a job, and I just hope things change for the better.”

- Muriel Perry, who cast her ballot at Sinai Temple this morning

Dennis Kahan said he voted Libertarian this morning at Sinai Temple. He voted for Libertarian Gary Johnson, and left the spaces for Senate and Assembly candidates blank.

On the ballot measures, Kahan voted against any that raised taxes or increased government intrusion into the private sphere – so thumbs down for both Prop. 30 and 38, which would raise taxes to pay for education as well as for Measure B, which would require condom use on the sets of adult films shot in the city of Los Angeles.

“Surprisingly,” Kahan added, “I voted no on Prop. 32,” the ballot measure that would restrict the ability of Unions and corporations to use monies deducted from payroll to pay for political activities.

“I don’t like unions, because they restrict the rights of individuals to work,” Kahan explained, “but I voted against the measure because I don’t want the government telling unions what they can and can’t do.”

Robert Rosenberg wouldn’t hint at who got his vote, but he did have this to say about what needed to change in the American system of elections.

“Shorter campaigns,” he said, “and one six-year term for President instead of two four-year terms.”

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November 6, 2012 | 1:17 pm

Campaign 2012 election day updates from your favorite fantasy movies [TOP 10 List]

Posted by Jay Firestone

Jeff Hensiek and Adam Wills contributed to the post.

1) Star Wars, Episode VII:

Han Solo casts the ceremonial first ballot in the first free elections since the fall of the Empire.  

2) Harry Potter

Voting by Owl accounts for most accurate election results in history of the magical world.

3 ) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Oompa Lumpas rally to oppose Prop. 32 which they believe may weaken labor union campaign contributions.

4) Being John Malkovich

Voter I.D. laws cause massive confusion inside the latest Malkovich vessel.

5) Back to the Future

Mayor Goldie Wilson campaigns for reelection in downtown Hill Valley.  Proposition to fund clock tower restoration falls short of the necessary votes.

6) Chronicles of Narnia

Long lines extend far beyond household wardrobes.  

7) Lord of the Rings

Middle Earth voters carefully cast their ballots into the Crack of Doom at the highly active, volcanic Mount Doom in Mordor.  Everybody gets a free sticker.

8) Avatar

Widespread election fatigue across Pandora appears to have been caused by an overwhelmingly high number of campaign contributions and advertisements from rival Super PACs: "Citizens for Unobtainium" and "Navi for Eywa."

9) The Matrix

Cautious voters succumb to Machine voting.  Absentee voters choose either Red or Blue pill.

10) The Wizard of Oz

Munchkinland sees moderate election turnout as Mayor of Munchkin City in the County of Oz faces massive smear campaign for “glorifying the name” of an illegal alien.  Exit polls looking good for the incumbent coroner; pundits calling it the "Witch Bump."

Bonus: Video Game - Super Mario World

Mario/Luigi ticket tops polls and has star support from Princess of Mushroom Kingdom. Pundits suggest he may squash opponents, but faces backlash from PETA protesters.  Opponents say he has received questionable campaign contributions, both from anonymous sources and grass roots efforts.  Favors: Public transportation via pipes, whistles.  Opposes: Slow moving terrorists.

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