A Hamas Victory in 2010? The Street Speaks

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

LETTERS: November 20-26, 2009

By JewishJournal.com

In response to Rabbi Boteach’s passionate rejoinder to the British government’s ruling (“British Court Dares to Claim Who Is a Jew,” Nov. 13), an examination of the facts is in order. First of all, the Jews’ Free School is a public school. Secondly, it is prejudicial to base admission on ethnic heritage and, I would imagine Jews would be up in arms if another publicly funded school, say Oxford, excluded a Jewish student simply because a parent was Jewish.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Peace in Arabic

By David Suissa

It’s not that I get tired of listening to Jewish speakers. More often than not, they motivate and inspire me. Whether I agree with them or not, there’s a familiarity, a connection. I learn from my people and I embrace their diversity.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Concerted Effort Needed to Meet Demand for Educators

by Jehuda Reinharz

The Talmud teaches that if a king of Israel dies, all Jews are eligible to succeed him. But if a scholar dies, we are told, he cannot be replaced.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Bra Helps Fight Breast Cancer

By Marty Kaplan

Now that CNN has put Lou Dobbs out to pasture, you'd think that The Most Trusted Name in News would make the reporting of facts - you know, the practice formerly known as journalism - the hallmark of its brand. Dream on.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

LETTERS: November 13-19, 2009

Unity Offers Hope

The Unity trip of 18 Los Angeles Rabbis to Israel (“The Unity Trip,” Nov. 6) gives me a glimmer of hope that Jewish mutual tolerance will grow to such an extent that the Ayalim (new Zionists) and the lion cubs of Judea (new Zionists) will coexist with the benign approval of the veteran post-Zionist and liberal elites on both sides of the Atlantic. There will not be mutual banal criticism.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Fighting for Peoplehood

By David Suissa

It’s not fun to hear bad news on Shabbat. The whole idea of Shabbat is to take a spiritual break from the rest of the week, to reconnect with the essential stuff of life and to do it all in a spirit of joy. The last thing we need is to have our spirits brought down by depressing reminders.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Health Care Reform Bowl

By Steve Greenberg

The Health Care Reform Bowl

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Obama and Health Care: From the House to the Senate

By Raphael Sonenshein

Almost exactly one year after the historic election that brought Barack Obama to the White House, the House of Representatives passed a health care bill that is itself historic. No president has ever moved the ball this far forward on health care. For a moment, the dramatic vote recalled the enthusiasm and esprit that characterized the Obama presidential campaign. We well remember the long lines of people young and old, rich and poor, of all races and ethnicities, preparing to cast the vote of their lives.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Elder Justice

by Hon. Aviva K. Bobb (Retired Supervising Judge of the L.A. County Probate Courts) and Mitchell A. Kamin (President/CEO, Bet Tzedek Legal Services)

The recent conviction of Anthony Marshall for defrauding and neglecting his elderly mother, New York City Grand Dame Brooke Astor, is a sobering reminder that elder abuse permeates all echelons of our society. Elder abuse is a widespread and largely invisible crime and, unless we treat it as seriously as we did domestic violence in the 70’s, the incidence will worsen significantly. Moreover, abusers will continue to be confident that their misdeeds will go unreported since their victims have no voice.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A Palestinian Response to David Suissa

by Ameen Estaiteyeh

David Suissa thinks that what is needed now "more than anything today is not a J Street but an A Street," "an Arab organization that would...rally peace-seeking Arab moderates to the cause of peaceful coexistence with a Jewish state." (November 5, 2009, We Need ‘A Street,’ Not J Street)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Mad Men’s Don Draper and Jewish Tradition

by Mark Pearlman, JInsider.com

Who is the most influential man of the year? Last year it was Barack Obama, but this year it is fictional TV character Don Draper of the Emmy-winning show “Mad Men,” according to Askmen.com. Draper is an ad executive who on the surface seems to have a perfect life: handsome, beautiful wife, three kids, great home and career. But it’s an American dream not satisfied — and ultimately the antithesis of a Torah-led life. To better understand this powerful fictional...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Bibi Then and Now

By Rob Eshman

If you heard Benjamin Netanyahu speak at the General Assembly in Los Angeles three years ago, you would have thought, except for the perfect diction, it was a different man.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Tough Guys

By Rob Eshman

I arrived in Israel in 1984. I didn’t speak or understand Hebrew, didn’t have a job and didn’t have a friend. In my pocket I had the name of the one person I knew in the entire country: a middle-aged Israeli American woman I had heard lecture on contemporary Hebrew literature at an Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley. After her talk, I mentioned to her that I would soon be moving to Jerusalem. She scribbled down her address and told me to come by for Shabbat.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Kristallnacht Then and Now

By Steve Greenberg

Kristallnacht Then and Now

Thursday, November 5, 2009

LETTERS: November 6-12, 2009

By JewishJournal.com

I am troubled by Rabbi Isaac Jeret’s “Key to Peace” d’var Torah in the Oct. 30 Journal.

Much as we are continually informed and taught by our Torah, its blessings and its commandments, I am reluctant to base international political decisions on biblical promises — be they Hebrew or Christian — or anyone else’s scriptural promises for that matter. That the land of Israel has been (continuously) inhabited by Jews does not negate the fact that it has also been (continuously) inhabited by others. “An honest accounting of history” often rests in the eyes of the beholder, and in the end what stands out in my mind is that the current relationship between Israel and her neighbors is not working well for them, nor for the rest of the world.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

We Need ‘A Street,’ Not J Street

By David Suissa

I don’t quite get the brouhaha that is going on in the Jewish world about J Street. Some Jews are convinced that this new organization poses a threat to Israel’s interests, while others are equally passionate about the need for an organization that will counter AIPAC and critique Israeli policy for the sake of peace.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

How to Rescue the Resort

By Gina Nahai

Have you noticed how the people who work in luxury hotels never actually use the word “hotel” to refer to the place? They call it “The Property,” or “The Resort,” or sometimes even “The Estate,” which, I imagine, is supposed to describe something much grander, more awe-inspiring and worthy of one’s hard-earned money than a mere “hotel.”

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

No Pork, Just a little: Reflections on our college road trip

By David Rudolph

My daughter Hana “suggested” last spring that we needed to take a college road trip so she could make an informed decision about where to apply to college. After delaying my decision on this for weeks, I finally gave in. Why do I always give in? That “informed decision” – including air fares, rental car, hotels, food, etc. – cost us over $2000, but who’s counting? Hana is “sixteen, going on seventeen” and you know the rest of the song—“Baby it’s time to think. Better beware. Be canny and careful. Baby you’re on the brink.” Being the concerned father that I am (that’s c-o-n-c-e-r-n-e-d, not overprotective in the least), how could I say no?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pro-Israel Motives Do Not Mean Pro-Israel Results

By Alan Levine

J Street, after its first ever conference has shown that it misunderstands how to be pro-Israel in the Diaspora. In a nutshell: non-Israeli supporters of Israel are supposed to support Israel, not tell Israel what to do.

Monday, November 2, 2009

If You Liked Health Care, You’ll Love Afghanistan

By Marty Kaplan

If you’re depressed by the way the national debate about health care has been playing out, just wait until the rubber hits the road on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Israel. If you’re enraged by the way Wall Street’s rescue has made us hostages to their recklessness, get ready for how the oil and coal industries are going to game the energy and climate change decisions ahead. If you’re scared by the way the media can trivialize and polarize and make entertainment out of any topic in its crosshairs, imagine its toxic impact when we get around to dealing with education, immigration and trade.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Spelling Afghanistan

By Steve Greenberg

You can't spell Afghanistan

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Chillax

By Rob Eshman

Every day, more like every hour of every day, I get e-mails, letters and phone calls crying out that Israel faces dire threat, if not certain doom.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

LETTERS: October 30-November 5, 2009

According to Professor Marty Kaplan, infotainment programs like “Showbiz Tonight” and “Jon & Kate Plus 8” are “dangerous” to democracy (“Balloon Dad to Pose for Playgirl,” Oct. 23)! So dangerous that anonymous villains, including lobbyists (who?), Wall Street firms (which ones?) and Big Pharma (whatever that is) cynically rely on them to distract hapless, stupid Americans. After all, “average” people have short attention spans and become confused when given too many choices. In other words, they’re uninformed tools addicted to trash TV.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Child of Moses

By David Suissa

A thousand Jews were gathered for the Passover seder. There were no tables or chairs or haggadot. The matzot were handmade. No one had gone shopping at the local markets, since they had grown all the food themselves. The plates were brand new; each family had broken their old ones in a wild ceremony and made new ones by hand, as they did every year.