May 28, 2013 | 10:28 am

Does this tea kettle resemble Hitler?

Posted by Ben Harris, JTA

"Hitler" tea kettle

Some folks in the Twitterverse seem to think so. If only there was an expert in figuring these things out …

May 22, 2013 | 9:09 am

LA elects Garcetti as first Jewish mayor

Posted by  Tom Tugend

New Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti during an election night party at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, Calif., on May 21. Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Los Angeles elected Eric Garcetti as its first Jewish mayor in a number of political contests on Tuesday that reflected the city’s diversity, as well as its numerous variations of Jewishness.

Garcetti, 42, and a veteran city councilman, defeated city controller Wendy Greuel by eight points according to final results announced Wednesday morning.
He is the son of a Jewish mother and was raised as a Jew. On his father’s side, he is of mixed Italian and Mexican heritage.

Greuel is not Jewish but is married to a Jewish attorney and their nine-year old son attends a Jewish day school. Both candidates are liberal Democrats and their campaigns were based more on personalities than ideological differences.

Defeated in the earlier primaries was Councilwoman Jan Perry, an African-American and a convert to Judaism.

Jewish candidates for two other citywide offices won impressive victories. Mike Feuer, a longstanding Jewish community activist, beat incumbent Carmen Trutanich by 62 to 38 percent of the vote.

Newcomer Ron Galperin handily defeated veteran politician Dennis Zine by 12 points to become the new city controller. In his campaign literature, particularly when aimed at Jewish voters, Galperin stressed that his parents were Holocaust survivors who had fought for Israel in the 1948 War of Independence.

Los Angeles’ 600,000 Jews make up the second largest Jewish community in the United States, but are only six percent of the city’s roughly 4 million residents. However, they generally represent about 20 percent of those actually casting ballots in municipal elections, which are marked by low voter turnout.
In Tuesday’s election, only 19 percent of registered voters cast ballots by mail or at polling stations.

In a historical footnote, one Bernard Cohn was the appointed mayor of Los Angeles for a few weeks in 1878.
   

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May 22, 2013 | 8:16 am

L.A. elects first Jewish mayor

Posted by  Tom Tugend

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti (center) greets supporters during an election night party at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California, May 21. Photo by REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

UPDATE 8:00 am: Eric Garcetti wins the mayoral election with 53% of the vote (181,995 votes), becoming the first Jewish mayor of Los Angeles. Garcetti's opponent, Wendy Greuel, received only 46% (155,497 votes).

Jewish candidates won the other two citywide offices contested in yesterday's election as well. In the race for city attorney, former California Assemblyman Mike Feuer beat incumbent Carmen Trutanich by a wide margin, 62 percent to 38 percent. Ron Galperin, an attorney who has never before held public office, will succeed Greuel as the next city controller. He beat City Councilman Dennis Zine 56 percent to 44 percent.

Los Angeles appeared to be on track to elect Eric Garcetti as its first Jewish mayor in a number of political contests that reflected the city’s diversity, as well as its numerous variations of Jewishness.

Garcetti, 42, and a veteran city councilman, was leading city controller Wendy Greuel by eight points around 2 a.m. Wednesday, with more than half the ballots counted.

He is the son of a Jewish mother and was raised as a Jew. On his father’s side, he is of mixed Italian and Mexican heritage.

Greuel is not Jewish but is married to a Jewish attorney and their nine-year old son attends a Jewish religious school. Both candidates are liberal Democrats and their campaigns were based more on personalities than ideological differences.

Defeated in the earlier primaries was Councilwoman Jan Perry, an African-American and a convert to Judaism.

Jewish candidates for two other citywide offices were well ahead of their opponents. In the race for city attorney, Mike Feuer, a longstanding Jewish community activist, handily beat incumbent Carmen Trutanich, who conceded around midnight.

Also well ahead was Ron Galperin in his bid for city controller. In his campaign literature, particularly when aimed at Jewish voters, he stressed that his parents were Holocaust survivors who had fought for Israel in the 1948 War of Independence.

Los Angeles’ 600,000 Jews make up the second largest Jewish community in the United States, but are only six percent of the city’s roughly 4 million residents. However, they represent close to 20 percent of those actually casting ballots in municipal elections, which are marked by low voter turnout. Many Latino and Asian residents are recent immigrants and non-citizens, who are ineligible to vote.

Staff writer Jonah Lowenfeld contributed to this report.

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May 21, 2013 | 11:06 am

Justin Timberlake and Coen brothers answer Jewish questions at Cannes

Posted by Jana Banin, JTA

Justin Timberlake. left, and director Ethan Coen, attending the “Inside Llewyn Davis” Press Conference during The 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival, May 19, 2013. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty)

Using his preternatural smoothness, Justin Timberlake saved the Coen brothers from some serious awkwardness at a Cannes press conference for their folk singer film “Inside Llewyn Davis” on Sunday.

“Jewish humor, does it exist? If so what does it consist of?” the reporter asked after suggesting that the Second World War and the Holocaust were possibly responsible for the German people’s lack of humor.

Timberlake, who plays a folk singer in the film, shot right back with, “I smell a trap.”
Then Joel Coen chimed in, squashing the conversation for good. “There’s nothing like the Holocaust to put the stake in a certain kind of humor,” he said.

After that everyone spent the rest of the conference talking about the movie, which is what they were there to do in the first place.

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May 20, 2013 | 11:40 am

James Franco paints ad for ‘This is The End’

Posted by Jana Banin, JTA

Proving once again that there isn’t anything he doesn’t do, James Franco has created marketing material for his upcoming film “This is The End.”

The actor/artist/Ph.D. candidate was spotted in Williamsburg, Brooklyn over the weekend painting a mural of the movie’s cast on the side of a building.

This work of art not only reminded us of Franco’s many talents, but also of the fact that this movie has a very Jewish cast. There’s Franco himself, of course, and also Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen and (not depicted in the mural) Paul Rudd and Jason Segal.

Not sure how we feel about the painting, but we are indeed looking forward to the film, in which the actors, who all play themselves, are at a party when the apocalypse hits.

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May 14, 2013 | 9:59 am

Alison Brie on her very Jewish mother

Posted by Jana Banin, JTA

Actress Alison Brie

This week on his podcast, Jewish comedian Marc Maron chats with Alison Brie, who opens up about lots of stuff, including what it was like splitting her time between her divorced interfaith parents as a kid.

On weekends with her dad she’d go to Sunday school at his Christian-Hindu hybrid church, where the future “Mad Men” and “Community” actress did a lot of meditating and chanting about a “cloud-colored Christ.” (Her reenactment is worth the download).

Then she’d go back to her mom who, while completely secular, has a strong Jewish identity.

“My mother, God love her, is a very proud Jew and would always make sure we knew we were Jewish. I remember being 6 years old and her saying, you know you guys are Jewish. If Hitler came today he would take you,” she said in a way that sounded funny and not at all terrifying.

These days Brie and her sister, no longer up for double visits, make their parents come to one of their places for the holidays, where the girls eliminate tension by serving alcohol and pot brownies. Which, when you think about it, is a pretty amazing idea for any kind of Jewish family gathering.

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April 30, 2013 | 10:58 am

Beastie Boys writing memoir

Posted JTA Staff

The Beastie Boys in 2006. Photo by Masao Nakagami

Michael Diamond (Mike D.) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock), the two surviving Beastie Boys, have signed a deal with Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, to write a book about their careers.

According to The New York Times, the Jewish rappers plan on being as out of the box in their writing as they were with their music.

“The first words out of Mike’s mouth were, ‘I don’t want to do a straight memoir,’ ” said Luke Janklow, the group’s agent.

Instead the book will be “a multidimensional experience,” said Julie Grau of Spiegel & Grau. ”There is a kaleidoscopic frame of reference, and it asks a reader to keep up.”

The book, which will be edited by hip-hop journalist Sacha Jenkins and is slated for the fall of 2015, will include images as well as passages by other writers. Per Grau and Janklow, fans can expect something similar in style to Grand Royal, the irreverent magazine put out by the Beasties in the '90s.

Adam Yauch (MCA), the third member of the group, died last year at age 47 of cancer of the salivary gland.

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April 25, 2013 | 4:47 pm

Norway’s Last 819 Jews Are NOT Leaving the Country

Posted by JewishJournal.com

A Norwegian Jew, really

There's an email going around with the headline, "Norway's last 819 jews are now leaving the country."

Bottom line: it's false.

The Jewish Journal has received multiple copies in the past month, with urgent requests to act.  In fact, the rumor has been circulating for over a year. Meanwhile, here's what the Anti-Defamation League has to say about it:

Alarmist E-Mail Claims Norway is 'Judenrein'

November 6, 2012

An e-mail rumor, with a subject line "Europe again becoming 'Judenfrei' and soon 'Judenrein,'" claims that "the last 819 Jews still living in Norway are now leaving the country due to the rise of anti-Semitism."

 

The e-mail goes on to cite a litany of attacks by Muslims against Jewish communities in Norway and elsewhere in Europe, and warns that "history is repeating itself."

Much of the information in this e-mail message is alarmist and outright false.

 

ADL is in close contact with the leadership of the Norwegian Jewish community. The community has assured us there is absolutely no truth to the claim that all 819 Norwegian Jews have left. The Jewish population of Norway is approximately 1,700 and there has not been any significant emigration.

So: There has been no significant emigration of Jews from Norway, and the population is twice what the email claims is it.  Meanwhile this email has been posted on numerous Jewish web sites, and pased around as fact.

There are anti-semitic undercurrents and actions in Norwegian society, and a study in 2010 found anti-semitism among the country's Muslim community.   But the Jewish community there does not see these as representative of Norway as a whole, or as portending greater danger.

For more information click here.

And yes, the photo is of a Norwegian Jew, from the web site of the "Jewish Journal" of Norway.

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