September 15, 2011 | 6:11 am

This week in power: Obama, Egypt, Mel Gibson, Kosher Facebook

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Obama’s “Jewish problem”
The national election is still over a year away, but discussion has already begun over Obama’s “Jewish messaging,” according to The New York Times. Is it time to worry? “Though the Democrats are still in a relatively strong position vis-à-vis Jews, they know Obama is a weak incumbent who has already lost the trust of this community,” said Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary. As usual, it all starts with Israel, and the results from Tuesday’s New York congressional election could mean Obama is in store for a lot of Jewish opposition.

Israeli Embassy in Egypt attacked
Protesters in Cairo broke into the Israeli Embassy last weekend which led the ambassador and his family to flee the country. It called relations between the two countries even more into question. “The rules of the game with Egypt have changed. The policy of winks and tacit agreements of the days of former president Hosni Mubarak is now on trial and cannot survive,” said a Haaretz editorial. The Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens wondered what it means for Israel: “No democracy in the world today lies under a darker shadow of existential dread than Israel. And the events of the past month ought to demonstrate that Israel’s dread is not of shadows only. Israel’s efforts to allay the enmity of its enemies or mollify the scorn of its critics have failed.” Remember, there’s Turkey, too.

Mel Gibson’s Maccabee movie
Outrage erupted over reports that Mel Gibson is working on a movie that will portray Judah Maccabee, the Jewish hero. But there were some defenders, including Brad Laidman at The Morton Report: “Admittedly, if this movie spurs on Mel’s political ascension to the point where he influences widespread anti-Semetic hatred that leads to the mass killing of millions of people of my ethnic heritage, this won’t be my proudest take ever, but as it stands now, if Mel makes a movie about Judah Maccabee and Roger Ebert tells me that its gory, but exhilarating, than in all likelihood, I’ll be paying to see it.” Sean O’Neal at The Onion’s A.V. Club had a sense of humor about the whole thing. “What better time than right now, considering the Jews already kind of hate him? It’s like a double jeopardy, nothing-left-to-lose, nowhere-to-go-but-up sort of thing.”

A Kosher Facebook option
For those who wish to do their social-networking free of the opposite sex, there’s Faceglat, a site that targets the ultra-Orthodox sect. As soon as men sign up, they’ll only get the male portion of the site and clientele, and the same goes for women. It might sound crazy to outsiders, but perhaps there’s a point here. “Would you consider joining a social network that segregates genders?” asked Marieln Loveland at Scribbal. It’s definitely a different experience, said Jeff Mills at Nerve. Still, this could take off. “I’m not sure if Matisyahu is a member, but if he is, he must have an avalanche of friend requests.”

Sex toys, modestly
The New York Post reported about KosherSexToys.net, a site that caters to more religiously- and modestly-minded adults. “Can they use the battery-powered vibrators on Shabbos? Or do they need a Shabbos Goy to come turn it on for them? joked John Del Signore at Gothamist. It’s nice to see Orthodox Jews waking up to this cultural phenomenon, said Ilana Angel in the Jewish Journal.

September 8, 2011 | 5:12 am

This week in power: 9/11, Turkey, Rally, Philharmonic

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Remembering 9/11
As Americans mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the spiritual ones among us might be coping a bit better, a study suggests. The study in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine shows that religiously-minded people, including Jews, are in better physical and emotional health than their counterparts. So how has the past decade changed us? We should speak about it and discuss the issues involved, said Isaac Steven Herschkopf, because “the manners in which we commemorate the tragedies that befall us say everything about us.” And we must acknowledge that there’s still work left to be done, said Michael Berenbaum at the Jewish Journal. “New York, and the nation with it, will have to deal with the paradoxical legacy of absence: the absence of presence and the presence of absence.”

Turkey vs. Israel
The two countries are at odds with one another after the United Nations “essentially exonerated” Israel for last year’s incident aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara that killed eight Turkish citizens. In response, Israel’s ambassador was expelled from the country. “We don’t blame Israel for wondering if Turkey is keeping this conflict going to burnish its standing in the Arab world,” said a New York Times editorial. “Israel should apologize for the deaths. And Turkey should stop upping the ante.” With pressure against Turkey mounting, they will have to reconsider their actions, said a Wall Street Journal editorial. “The Turks will learn in their own time that being Hamas’s patron is a loser’s game.”

Is the U.S. spying on Israel?
The New York Times revealed this week that a man accused of leaking classified information to Israel discovered that the U.S. was wiretapping the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. But this isn’t a big revelation, said Douglas Bloomfield at The Jewish Week. “I’m not surprised that the feds were tapping the Israelis’ phones. And I expect they’re not alone; the Russians, Chinese, Arabs and others are probably trying to listen in as well.” But Richard Silverstein, the blogger who received the confidential information, told the Seattle Weekly that not everything was so ordinary. “The most concerning thing in the transcripts perhaps was the level of intensity that Israeli gives to tracking members of Congress,” he said. How much does any of this really matter? asked Jacob Heilbrunn at The National Interest. “Should the FBI, then, be spying on embassy conversations? Much of it is probably a waste of time and resources, which includes having to punish Leibowitz for transgressing the law.”

Israel’s largest rally ever?
More than 400,000 Israelis demonstrated in cities across Israel on Saturday night in what was being billed as the contry’s “March of the Million.” It was part of the ongoing struggle over high costs of living there. Shortly after the rally, tent dwellers packed up and went home. It’s yet to be seen whether the protests will go on somehow, but those who participated say that it’s paid off. “We are taking down the tent today with our head held high, after the very significant rally that took place yesterday,” said on student representative. “The tents were, in some way, a symbol and we had to choose a very particular date to take them down. The tents were merely sheets and pegs; the people inside are what is important—the people who were at the rally yesterday and will be there next week as well.”

London concert protested
After warnings of protest, the show went on with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra playing at Royal Albert Hall in London last week. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were so vocal that the BBC cut off its live feed in the middle. It was the first time in history that anything forced the Proms broadcast off the air. “Legitimate protest against the Israeli government?” asked Stephen Pollard in The Telegraph. It didn’t sit well with some, including one musician who wrote a letter to The Guardian saying “To wreck their very rare and special concert over here gives a terrible impression of us all.”

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September 1, 2011 | 5:06 am

This week in power: Hurricane Irene, Beck rally, Bachmann, Hollywood

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Irene takes its toll
The storm struck hard last weekend, killing at least 40, causing upwards of $7 billion in damage, and leaving many people along the Eastern seaboard without power. Inside the Jewish community, people were relieved Hurricane Irene wasn’t worse. But not everyone escaped the storm’s wrath - at least two Jewish people were killed in separate incidents in New York. Some Jewish weddings were forced to be postponed, while others went on with it. “A final mazal (and hearty thanks!) to all of you who have power post-Irene’s wicked PMS and are choosing to use it reading this here,” said Carrie Goldberg at Jewcy.

Glenn Beck’s rally fallout
Glenn Beck ruffled some feathers last week with his public rally in Jerusalem. The comment continues: “All entertainment goes in cycles and, for now at least, Beck seems to be in decline,” said Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice. Still, that didn’t stop him from running the event. “Lacking in chutzpah has never really been Beck’s problem—and in his speech on the night of Aug. 24, it certainly showed,” said Michael A. Cohen at Foreign Policy. Yet some walked away impressed with the man’s message. “Beck is rare, because he refuses to bow to the intellectual intimidation and groupthink that plagues the discourse on Israel in Israel itself and throughout the world,” said Caroline B. Glick in The Jerusalem Post. Or maybe this whole thing was just a “distraction” from what’s really going on.

Who should lead the GOP?
It looks like Republican Jews are more and more impressed with Gov. Rick Perry, which could help get him elected next fall. But he may still have to “soften the edges” and figure out how to better pander to these constituents when it comes to the much-debated topic of Israel. It could be Rep. Michele Bachmann who poses the biggest threat, though, as American Jews are confusing her for being Jewish, reported the New York Post. “Doesn’t every American Jew know that -mann names are invariably non-Jewish?” joked The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait. Some believe that this report was overblown, After all, “Jewish donors aren’t fools, and they know the candidate doesn’t share their faith,” said Margaret Hartmann at Jezebel.

A Nevada politician’s gaffe
Congressional candidate Kate Marshall last week sent her staff a memo that contained a list of reasons why it would be “useful” for the Democrat to support Israel, according to reports. Will this hurt her in her special election? She already had a tough road ahead of her, trying for a seat that hasn’t gone Democrat for decades. As far as gaffes go, this is truly bad, said Jadedbypolitics at Unified Patriots. “I know that humans are fallible,” the blogger said, but this is a “purely hateful and disgusting action.” It’s the fact that she needed these notes at all, said Moe Lane at RedState, that’s so bad. “’I’m sorry: the most reasonable interpretation of the situation is that this was to get Kate Marshall herself up to speed. Which is… an incredibly depressing, if at least mildly searing, indictment of the Democratic party leadership’s priorities.”

Israel woos Hollywood
Israel wants more movies shot there, so the country is promising better tax breaks, terror attack insurance, and handouts of up to $400,000 to bring more movie producers to the promised land. “It’s absurd. Movies set in Jerusalem are filmed in Malta, Morocco and Greece,” one Israeli film director was quoted as saying. Tel Aviv and Haifa are also working on similar tactics to get into the multi-million dollar business. But that might not be such a good thing, warned Dovid Efune at The Huffington Post. “Hollywood’s attention span is limited; a film never captures a complete picture, when the lone ranger rides off into the sunset, the happy couple embrace or the enemy is vanquished, and the credits begin to roll, what happens next is rarely explored, the viewers move on.”

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August 25, 2011 | 5:19 am

This week in power: Eilat shooting, Glenn Beck, Obama’s choice, Facebook

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Eilat shooting and counter-attacks
A terrorist attack last Thursday near Eilat led to Israeli retaliation on Egypt, raising concerns over whether the two countries can truly achieve peace. “I used to joke that I felt safer going to my Army base than being home,” said Ruth Margalit at The New Yorker. “Now, after a period of relative calm, marked by Israelis’ newfound preoccupation with domestic and social concerns, there is a frightening sense yet again that the quiet was only an illusion.” Only further clouding the issue, said D.L. at The Economist, is the “turbulence and uncertainty still shrouding Egypt’s future.” And the rift extends well beyond just Egypt, warned Frida Ghitis in the Miami Herald, as Palestinians seek their independence. “It’s a depressing and dangerous scenario, but it’s worth remembering that three years ago peace seemed within reach. In this era of unexpected changes, the wind could shift again.”

Glenn Beck’s rally
Glenn Beck hosted his much-publicized rally in Jerusalem on Wednesday with hundreds of supporters, including Israeli politicians, in attendance.
. Even before Beck arrived, his presence had already stirred debate. While Beck has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s, “this is not the kind of help Israel needs,” said Noam Sheizaf in The Jewish Daily Forward. ” Beck claims to stand by Israel but his views are similar to a small, extreme minority in this country.” But not everyone sees him that way. Beck’s “activism has shown up one of the greatest Jewish failures of our time: our crisis in identity and definition,” said Dovid Efune at The Huffington Post. His rally is a “call for courage send a strong message to Jewish leaders of tomorrow: It is time to take the lead and convey the positive Jewish message to the world.” Yet, some say all Beck did was get two extremes to both side against him.

Obama picks Forman
The president chose Ira Forman, former head of the National Jewish Democratic Counci, as his Jewish outreach director earlier this month, in what some believe is part of a plan to secure the Jewish vote in 2012. “Forman has his work cut out for him as the President’s approval rating is sinking on all fronts, including the Jewish community, which has been his strongest constituency after African Americans,” warned Douglas Bloomfield at The Jewish Week. And heading into election season, the issue of Israel is only becoming ever more contentious...

Tax the rich?
Warren Buffett rubbed some people the wrong way early last week with a New York Times op-ed that suggested the U.S. should heavily tax the wealthiest American citizens. “What do rich Jews think of Buffett’s analysis and his proposed solution?” asked a Jewish Daily Forward editorial. But it’s not as simple as having them write a large check. “We have a communal responsibility to provide resources so that government can protect us, provide for us when necessary, and maintain all the services and privileges that are taken for granted, from street cleaning to farm subsidies. It’s not about me. It’s supposed to be about us.” But some were critical of this position: “The Forward is just like Mr. Buffett — going around calling for higher taxes, while at the same time organizing its own affairs with extensive care so as to pay as little as possible themselves,” responded an editor at the Future of Capitalism.

Facebook’s handling of Holocaust denial
A group is calling on Facebook to treat Holocaust denial as incitement to hatred. “The irony, of course, is that Zuckerberg and many of his employees are Jewish,” noted Lloyd Grove at The Daily Beast, who investigated how widespread the Holocaust hate speech is on the social-networking site. And, to no one’s surprise, he found a lot of it. What do we make of this? asked The Cajun Boy at Uproxx. “The slack-jawed, mouth-breathing Jew-haters on the site probably have no idea that the platform they’re using was designed, created and still operated by a Jew and many of his Jewish friends, who have the ability to monitor their every move online. In addition to irony, there’s some humor to be found in that, I suppose.”

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August 18, 2011 | 5:40 am

This week in power: Crown Heights, Bibi, Beck rally, Lieberman book

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Anniversary of Crown Heights riots
The Brooklyn neighborhood infamous for the 1991 riot between blacks and Jews has changed over the past few decades, but memories of the mayhem are still very much alive. “When one walks down the street in Crown Heights today, one sees a vibrant, integrated community that is building toward a growing future,” said Rabbi Shea Hecht in The Jewish Daily Forward. To mark the anniversary, Rev. Al Sharpton will participate in a panel discussion on black-Jewish relations this weekend in Long Island.

Bibi and Obama
As Benjamin Netanyahu grapples with unrest in pockets of Israel, the Israeli prime minister is under increased pressure from American Jews to get on the same page as President Obama. Obama “seems to have concluded that the ideal segue from the latest Arab crisis is a new attempt to pressure Israel into accepting a quick march to Palestinian statehood,” said The Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl. And it’s time to accept that, said Morton Klein at JTA. “Things may get better or worse—more likely the latter—but one thing is clear: Obama and Israel are not of one mind, or anywhere close to being so.” But not everyone has lost hope. JTA’s Marc Stanley said that “Obama and Netanyahu continue to work as partners in every sense to secure Israel and ensure lasting peace for the Israeli people.” What more can you ask?

Beck’s upcoming rally
After months of planning and anticipation, Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Courage” rally in Jerusalem is just a week away, and some people are aren’t taking kindly to it. It is “nothing more than a media-driven, money-making, self-serving, end-of-times messianic-lunacy circus show, and that is the very last thing Jerusalem and Israel need at this moment,” said Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater in the Jewish Journal. That it’s happening at all is beyond ludicrous, said an editorial at Israeli National News. “So the question must be posed: What in the world is a media figure doing addressing a legislative body? Has Oprah Winfrey ever addressed a joint session of Congress? How about Rush Limbaugh? Dennis Prager? Michael Savage?  Or even, for the liberally inclined, pre-Congressional Al Franken? Anybody?” Say what you want about Beck, said Sammy Levine at the Jewish Journal, but Beck stands up for Israel when times are tough. “Thank you, Glenn, for your unwavering support for Israel. We need more people in the media like you.”

Lieberman’s Sabbath book
The senator from Connecticut’s new book has a positive message for everyone: Give it a rest. “The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath” is for non-Jews, too, the senator said. ““This gift, I wanted not only to share with Jews who are not experiencing it, who haven’t accepted it, but also in some measure to appeal to Christians to come back to their observance of their Sabbath on Sundays,” he told The Jerusalem Post. So how is the book? “The book is old-fashioned in the best sense: It reveres the past and is sentimental without devolving into nostalgia. Lieberman employs the lovely archaic language of the King James version of the Bible rather than more modern translations,” said John Bicknell at Roll Call. And it’s a testament to Lieberman’s hard work over the years, said Michael Medved in The Washington Times. “Americans should honor his true legacy: the dignity with which he has exemplified the principle that true religious faith, like the Sabbath itself, has more to do with warmth, joy and fellowship than restriction, guilt and intolerance.”

Chinese Jews?
The Wall Street Journal profiled Jews in Kaifeng who are only considered Jewish as long as they stay outside of Israel. Making matters worse, the Chinese government won’t acknowledge that there are any Chinese Jews at all. Between 500 and 1,000 people in the city say they are descendants of Kaifeng Jews. Whether or not these Jews should be accepted is up for debate, but what’s clear is that the Jewish and Chinese heritages and traditions intertwined over time. After all, there’s mah jongg to be played.

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August 11, 2011 | 5:53 am

This week in power: Tent City, Debt deal, Norway aftermath, Alan Gross

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

The politics of Tent City
It’s perhaps strange to see a protest in Israel fueled by economic issues,and not political ones. But that’s the case for the quarter-million Israelis protesting the high cost of housing. “Now, it is focusing on the economy and society, it does not distinguish between right and left, it addresses broad interests, not specific ones,” said Guy Rolnik at Haaretz. Yet, it represents more than that, said Amos Oz in the Los Angeles Times. “The heart of this protest is the affront and outrage over the government’s indifference to the people’s suffering, the double standard against the working population and the destruction of social solidarity.” And they could have real political effects for Benjamin Netanyahu.

Impact of the debt deal
Jewish communal federations across the country are wondering, reported The Jewish Daily Forward, how they will continue to fund hospitals, nursing homes, and other services after federal cuts. We don’t yet know where the cuts will come, but they could hit anywhere from “elderly care to environmental issues to democracy promotion overseas,” said JTA. Is it time to worry? “From a Jewish perspective, when coupled with the ‘vision of human solidarity,’ the premise of this bill is no doubt a strong step in the right direction,” said Dovid Efune at The Huffington Post. But let’s hold firm, warned a Jewish Exponent editorial. “As the safety net begins to sag, we must remain vigilant lest the seniors and the most vulnerable among us—indeed the ones with the least power—end up the most adversely affected by Congress’ next act.”

Norway and the Jews
Even weeks after the Norway attacks, debate goes on over racism and multiculturalism inside the country and in greater Europe. “All of the Western European racist and fascist parties have moved away from using overt racism to win greater support. Instead they concentrate on issues such as nation and identity, said Socialist Workers Party’s Martin Smith. And its not like our leaders are helping things, said Roger Pulvers in The Japan Times. “Merkel, Sarkozy, Cameron, the Tea Party in the U.S. and similar intolerant and confrontationalist pressure groups in the Western world are all coming from the same place: a gross misunderstanding of what makes up their own identity today.” Which is why we must not make this exclusively about Anders Behring Breivik’s mentality, said Leonard Fein at The Jewish Daily Forward. “A plea of insanity lets the perpetrator off the hook and lets society off the hook, as well. It is self-serving, far too facile, hence appropriately suspect. Wherever the contextual chips fall, they warrant careful consideration.”

Alan Gross’s sentence upheld
A Cuban court upheld the 15-year prison sentence for a U.S. government subcontractor for crimes against the state, which will only make relations between the two countries worse, according to reports. It means Alan Gross, a Jewish 62-year-old Maryland native, has no more chances at freedom through the courts system. “Only in Cuba would this otherwise benign act be characterized as subversion and the hapless individual caught in a trap labeled a spy,” said a Miami Herald editorial. Whose to blame for this ordeal? The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin criticized Obama over the ruling: “As with the economy, Obama’s weakness and lack of realism in foreign policy reveal how underqualified and inept the president is. There is just so much Congress can do in the realm of foreign affairs.” Obama must negotiate a way out, said Elliot Abrams at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It would be intolerable for the Castros to benefit from Obama policies while Alan Gross sits, month after month, in their prisons.”

Tisha B’Av thoughts
Tuesday marked a Jewish holiday that “commemorates thousands of years’ worth of calamities throughout history that all happened on the same date,” said the Ottawa Citizen. With calls for social justice this holiday, what else are people praying for? “It took the Jewish people generations to figure out what the narrative of the destruction of the Temple on Tisha B’Av was, and we still incorporate new episodes of pain and loss into the commemoration,” said Rachel Kahn-Troster at The Huffington Post. “Even the official story is still open. As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, may we have the wisdom to hear other, competing stories with hearts of chesed.” Lessons of the past still resonate, said one women quoted in The Jerusalem Post: ““When I think of Tisha B’Av and I’m mourning Tisha B’Av I’m not mourning 2,000 years ago. I’m mourning the situation of 2,000 years ago that still lives with us today.”

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August 4, 2011 | 5:23 am

This week in power: Border deal, Norway, Tent City, SF ban

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Hope for a new border deal?
Peace talks look promising now that Israel has signaled it is willing to negotiate with the Palestinians based on the 1967 border of the West Bank, according to reports. But some believe this development may just be Israel posturing for public support. “Netanyahu’s new willingness to talk about borders, but only on his terms and if the Palestinians withdraw their U.N. bid,  is simply his latest move in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian battle for international public opinion,” said Tony Karon at Time. Yeah, there’s nothing new here, agreed Adam Serwer at The Washington Post, since the ‘67 borders have long been the “framework” for peace. “I look forward to the harsh condemnations of Netanyahu from American members of Congress.” Said an Arab News editorial: “Despite the hype from Washington and Tel Aviv, there is no sign that Netanyahu has changed his mind on any of this.”

Lessons from Norway
Two weeks ago, a bomber carried out attacks on Norway, leaving scores dead. What’s the takeaway from this terrible tragedy? “The link between far-right politics and support for Israel bodes poorly for European Jews, who in many lands already must contend with a virulently anti-Israel—and anti-Semitic—climate. It also offers little comfort to Israel and her supporters, who are increasingly isolated and stymied in their efforts to make their case in the court of European public opinion,” said a Jewish Exponent editorial. Alan Dershowitz at Hudson New York agreed: “The time is long overdue for Norwegians to do some deep soul searching about their sordid history of complicity with all forms of bigotry ranging from the anti-Semitic Nazis to the anti-Semitic Hamas. There seems to be a common thread.” But it’s not uniquely a Jewish problem, said Charles Kimball at The Huffington Post. “It is a stark reminder that we share a fragile planet where ignorance, hate and fear can link easily with religious worldviews and produce horrific consequences.”

“Tent City”
Tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting rising housing prices, a grass-roots movement that’s gaining steam in the street of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. “The atmosphere is Tahrir Square protests meets Woodstock, meets last-year’s-camping holiday in the South of France,” reported the BBC. How similar is this to other recent protests? “Israel is much wealthier than Egypt and historically much more democratic—but the economic bind that has ignited protests looks similar,” said Gershom Gorenberg at The American Prospect. “When the dust has settled, this may be among the most important, if unexpected, outcomes of a protest that began with an eviction notice slipped under the door of a young video editor who’d just had enough,” said Noah Efrom at The Huffington Post. And, in the meantime, love is in the air.

The fight over Shariah law
Some states are grappling with how to handle the application of Islamic law, and a fierce anti-Shariah movement has spouted up, reported The New York Times. The paper profiled David Yerushalmi, a 56-year-old Hasidic Jew, who “has come to exercise a striking influence over American public discourse about Shariah.” But some readers protested. “This is one of those stories where you wonder if a piece about apples and oranges has been combined into a really weird-tasting fruit concoction. Is it a story about one crazy man’s influence? Or is it a story about whether anti-Shariah state laws are good or bad? Or is it both? If it is both, is it really possible for a single story to tackle both questions in a satisfactory way? asked Bobby at GetReligion. And the content of the story was misleading, too, said Richard N. Weltz at American Thinker. “Forget all the evidence in plain sight of efforts to inflict Muslim belief and practice on our society—and others in the Western world. It’s all just Jewish and Republican make-believe to the New York Times.”

Circumcision ban bill removed
A San Francisco County Superior Court judge ruled late last week that a measure prohibiting male circumcision should be taken off the fall ballot. Judge Loretta M. Giorgi worried that the propsoed ban would violate citizens’ right to the free exercise of religion. Jews around the world celebrated the decision. “This measure to ban one of the most fundamental tenets of Judaism undermines our cherished American value of religious freedom,” B’nai B’rith president Allan J. Jacobs said, as quoted in The Jerusalem Post.

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July 28, 2011 | 5:50 am

This week in power: Cantor, Arab Spring, Gay marriage, Amy Winehouse

Posted by Danny Groner

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Eric Cantor under fire
With debt ceiling talks heating up as the August 2 deadline quickly approaches, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is getting some perhaps unwanted attention. “Am I the only Jew in America who finds the House majority leader deeply embarrassing to our people? Am I the only tribe member who considers this smarmy yutz today’s numero-uno shonda fur die goyim?” asked Michael Takiff at Salon. Marc Tracy at Tablet wondered about the affects that talks could have on Israel bonds, but Commentary’s Seth Mandel defended Cantor saying that “Israel is not a partisan issue–unless Republicans are the targets of the attacks.” It’s hard to predict how the debt ceiling situation will end, but it’s clear that Cantor will play some sort of big role in the resolution or lack thereof. “Whatever his long-term goals, the next several weeks will go a long way toward deciding Cantor’s future,” said National Journal’s Major Garrett.

Is the Arab Spring coming to Israel?
Amid the turmoil taking place in neighboring nations, Israel has been relatively quiet this summer. But some are worrying that conflict and protests are on the horizon. Tens of thousands of students demonstrated in Tel Aviv over higher housing costs, which is a “political headache for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” according to Batsheva Sobelman at the Los Angeles Times. But could there be an even bigger threat at hand? What if Palestinians in the region rise up? “Israel, of course, is no stranger to political upheaval and is better equipped than others to deal with the crisis. But, then, no one ever believed that the protests in Egypt in January would lead to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February. Seems anything is possible these days,” said Peter Gelling at the Global Post. “A chapter is being turned by popular revolution in Arab history,” said Larbi Sadiki at Al Jazeera. “Those unpacking the Arab Spring should not wish for the banners of Islamism or of Palestine absence. Rather, they should wish for Islamists to be engaging through democratic channels, and they should wish that Israel concedes Palestinians the right to be in an independent Palestine.”

Jewish gay couple weds first in NY
Two Jewish women - Phyllis Siegel, 77, and Connie Kopelov, 85 - became the first gay couple to get married in New York last weekend. Later in the week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg officiated another gay couple’s marriage. Not everyone, however, is happy with the state’s new law. Some organizations filed a lawsuit against the Marriage Equality Act, including the executive director of Torah Jews for Decency, an Orthodox Jewish “advocacy organization,” according to the Village Voice. Other Jewish New Yorkers were on hand on Sunday morning to protest the day’s first gay marriages. “To advance meaningful discussions within our communities on the issue of inclusion, we may first need to grapple with the perceptions of Otherness that many of us harbor, whether or not we are prepared to admit it,” said Mira Sucharov at Haaretz.

Amy Winehouse’s Jewish funeral
Fallen singer Amy Winehouse, who died last weekend at the age of 27, was buried on Tuesday as part of a Jewish ceremony. She was cremated, which violates traditional Jewish law. “An increasingly significant number of Jews are choosing cremation. It’s not something I would encourage, but we live as a part of the world,” said Rabbi Mark S. Diamond, as quoted by E! Online.“No matter how her parents designed her memorial, it was likely the best way they thought they could find some peace. And I say amen to that,” said Leslie Gornstein at E! As for Winehouse’s body itself, “some say the Jewish prohibition of tattoos can keep people with ink from a traditional Jewish burial, but that’s a misconception, as Jewish news sites have reminded the media in Winehouse’s case,” said Kate Shellnutt at the Houston Chronicle.

Larry David’s Palestinian chicken
The Curb star pushed the limits of political correctness on last week’s episode which “may have been their most Jewish episode to date,” said Alan Sepinwall at HitFix. “Some Israel lovers will find ‘Palestinian Chicken’ distasteful, but it’s a hit among David’s fans,” said Nathan Burstein at The Jewish Daily Forward. In this episode, Larry “holds his Jewishness at a distance and ends up turned on by the idea of rebelling against it, here by eating at a Palestinian restaurant and getting it on with the bird shack’s hot, virulently anti-Israel owner,” said James Poniewozik at Time. “But the elements of Jewish identity, and the way they dovetail and conflict with an individual’s desires and needs, put Larry David in Philip Roth territory this week,” added Ken Tucker at Entertainment Weekly. “Who needs Portnoy’s Complaint when you’ve got ‘Palestinian Chicken?’” joked Meredith Blake at The Onion’s A.V. Club.

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