May 24, 2010 | 3:00 pm

LeBron James and the Jews

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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I definitely agree with The Great Rabbino’s take on the NBA year being, for most spectators, over. The playoffs have been nothing but disappointing, with scarcely an exciting series. The real competition starts July 1. That’s when LeBron James, and a grip of other stars, though it’s really all about King James, will become free agents.

And that’s when the King will be confronted with his “Jewish dilemma”:

New York. What is more Jewish than New York? Seriously, they sell out the Garden for Maccabi Tel Aviv, imagine if King James came to town. If James took his game to NYC you know it’ll be about 10 minutes before Rabbi Shmuely took him under his wing. And if the Messiah were to come and need to stop somewhere before Jerusalem, don’t you think it’d be in NYC? Maybe a Crumbs Cupcake perhaps? James is as good as they come and New York is as Jewish as they come. Knick’s jersey sales would sky rocket both in NYC and in Israel.  If James chooses NY he will be making a lot of Jews happy.

Then there is Chicago, which is another heavily populated Jewish city. But forget about that. The Bulls are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf. The Jewish owner won six titles with Michael Jordan in the drivers seat. If James came to Chicago he would make Reinsdorf a happy man. James could be like Isaac to Jordan’s Abraham. Also, Chicago as a city pulling hard for James. Check out sendlebrontochicago.com.

Another Jewish owner recently got into the mix and made headlines. Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban said on CNNMoney.com that “anybody” would be interested in Lebron James. He went on to mention a possible sign-and-trade deal with the Cavaliers. Cuban was later fined $100,000 for his comments because he was considered to have “tampered” with the free agency pool. But Cuban isn’t the only one in Dallas trying to lore James to the great state of Texas. Check out lebrontothemavs.com.

Another site could be Miami. I actually do not want to discuss this possibility because the idea of Dwyane Wade and James playing together scares me.

Wait, Donald Sterling doesn’t have a horse in this race? No, not really. It’s not that his Clippers won’t have cap space. It’s that the owner of the worst franchise in pro sports almost certainly won’t spend it.

May 24, 2010 | 12:52 pm

Scalia and the “Nine Children Agenda”

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Apparently irked by the questions and innuendos about Elena Kagan’s sexuality, Michael Kinsley’s offered a bit of uninspiring satire over at the Atlantic Wire:

Now that the sex lives of Supreme Court justices have become grist for commentators, we are finally free to discuss a question formerly only whispered about in the shadows: Why does Justice Antonin Scalia, by common consent the leading intellectual force on the Court, have nine children? Is this normal? Or should I say “normal,” as some people choose to define it? Can he represent the views of ordinary Americans when he practices such a minority lifestyle? After all, having nine children is far more unusual in this country than, say, being a lesbian.

Let me be clear: the issue is not the fact that Scalia has chosen to have nine children. That is his personal business. The question is whether he is an extremist advocate of the so-called “Nine Children Agenda.”

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May 23, 2010 | 10:58 pm

Losing faith in “Lost”

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I never got into “Lost”—there are literally dozens of us—but based on all the tweets I’ve been seeing, I’d say the series finale was a big disappointment. Torch also sent along this SPOILER from what appears to have been a finale with end of life themes:

“No Walt, Mr. Eko or Michael in Heaven? And Rose only gets in with a white guy? Is heaven racist or what?”

Only under the Mormon Church’s pre-20th century doctrine.

On the eve of the end of “Lost,” Sarah Pulliam Bailey wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal saying that “Lost” devotees, like herself, needed a little faith:

fans are consumed with finding specific answers, like whether the island’s “protector” Jacob is good or evil. What is the “smoke monster” that kills those who cross its path? Will Kate end up with fellow survivor Jack or with Sawyer? A dedicated fan base contributes to Lostpedia, a wiki which helps people keep track of which theories have been debunked, such as the hypothesis that characters on the island are, in fact, in Purgatory—a theory deflated by the show’s executive producer, Damon Lindelof.

The theory that the island represents Purgatory reminds us that in real life, we attempt to answer questions about the unknown. Many people of religious faith, like viewers of “Lost,” are waiting for closure. Granted, much more is at stake for the religious: for instance, Jews who have been waiting for a Messiah and Christians who await the Messiah’s second coming. Yet it is not unreasonable to hope that the show’s writers have asked the audience to take a small step of faith, offering the possibility that investing time to watch the extraordinary and the mundane episodes will be worthwhile in the end.

For many, “Lost” has already transcended mere entertainment. The show’s first episodes portrayed characters—developed through flashbacks—who were merely hoping to escape. As they became aware of the island’s supernatural elements—one paralyzed survivor can suddenly walk there and another survivor’s cancer is healed—their questions gradually shifted from “Where are we?” to “Why are we here?”

Yes, that is a bit existential. Sarah follows that line with this bit of prescience:

s the final episode approaches, some viewers don’t want ultimate answers. “The power of the show is the air of mystery that it always preserves,” says Craig Detweiler, director of Pepperdine University’s Center for Entertainment, Media and Culture. “In the same way we would never want to put God in a box, I would hate to see ‘Lost’ wrapped up in a tight bow. Maybe the show will leave us with a sense of critical self-reflection about whose side are we on and which parts of our backstory do we need to reconcile.”

Other fans are afraid of hearing unsatisfactory answers. People often leave a religion when the doctrinal tenets become unsatisfactory or even illogical. In “Lost,” we see this kind of disgust from Ben when he finally meets the legendary Jacob after following his orders for years. Looking for recognition, Ben asks him, “What about me?” Jacob, who protects the island, responds, “What about you?” before a frustrated Ben drives a knife into Jacob’s chest. The finale could leave fans similarly disenchanted, feeling strung along before an anticlimactic letdown.

Read the rest here, and let me know what you thought of the “Lost” finale.

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May 22, 2010 | 2:06 pm

UCI’s favorite anti-Semite returns again

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Malik Ali at “Israel Apartheid Week”

Gustavo Arellano, my favorite Mexican journalist, has a good blog post on everyone’s favorite anti-Semite—Amir Abdel Malik Ali. That’s Malik Ali in the above photo. He’s a regular at UC Irvine, invited by the Muslim Student Union to condemn Israel and add some flavor to events like this one.

Here’s what Gustavo had to say:

I’m not sure why the MSU kids bring in Ali—ostensibly to rail against the treatment of Palestinians by Israel, but he always brings up anti-Jewish canards that have nothing to do with the current problems in the Holy Land. In past lectures before Anteaters, he’s claimed Jews were behind 9-11 and that Zionists control the media, a hell of a funny statement considering Rupert Murdoch (whom Ali has called a “Zionist Jew”) is a Christian blowhard and that the owners of Village Voice Media, the largest chain of alt-weeklies in the country and the corporate overlords of your favorite rag, is run by two perpetually drunk micks.

Anyhoo, Ali was back at UC Irvine this Thursday, and Brian Levin, head of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was there to capture it (we’re working on trying to get the audio up). In addition to repeating his previous idiocies, Levin reports that Ali “also appeared to suggest that there was a wide range in the number of those killed in the Holocaust” and contended “that the newly proposed federal hate crime legislation, known as the Matthew Shepard Act (which is supported by the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee), was an AIPAC drafted conspiracy to imprison Muslims and others who criticized Jews and Israel or dared to critically discuss the Holocaust.”

A bit more, including what Gustavo, who happens to be speaking at UCLA’s commencement next month, thought was the best part of Levin’s report, here.

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May 21, 2010 | 1:51 pm

Zapiro’s Muhammad-on-the-couch cartoon

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“Other prophets have followers with a sense of humor!”

Clever satire, which, not surprisingly, is not going over well in the Muslim world. To be sure, like most good cartoonists, Zapiro is an equal-opportunity offender.

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May 20, 2010 | 10:31 pm

Jews for Jesus founder dies

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In the past, Jews for Jesus have only been mentioned on this blog in terms of my mixed identity and Sarah Palin’s home church. This, though, is a more important occasion: Moishe Rosen, the Jewish-born founder of the evangelistic Christian ministry, has died. He was 78.

A brief report from the AP:

In a press release, Jews for Jesus says Rosen was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, but converted to Christianity at the age of 21 when he became convinced that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.

In 1973, he founded the organization whose mission statement is “to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide.”

Those evangelistic efforts have been denounced by Jewish groups and by some churches as well.

In a posthumous letter on the Jews for Jesus website, Rosen says: “Within Judaism today, there is no salvation because Christ has no place within Judaism.”

A lot more biographical details about Rosen at the Orlando Sentinel’s religion blog.

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May 20, 2010 | 6:56 pm

If you read one story about the Times Square bombing suspect ...

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The must-read story of last weekend was The New York Times’ massive profile of Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzad. You should read it, but before you set out to do so, make sure you have a free day or so. The tome written by The Andrea Elliott, and reported by a big team that included her, weighs in at 3,111 words, and it’s jam-packed with rich details:

The wide, maple-shaded streets leading to the University of Bridgeport seem a long way from Karachi. The quiet, tidy campus overlooks a tranquil stretch of the Long Island Sound, where ferries pass in the distance.

When Mr. Shahzad started classes there, more than a third of the college’s students were foreigners — 15 of them from Pakistan. Mr. Shahzad stood out. He walked with a confident air, showing off his gym-honed muscles in tight T-shirts. He carried the air of a privileged upbringing, coming off as aloof and, at times, snobbish.

While the Pakistani students stuck together, playing cricket and collecting free meals at the campus mosque, Mr. Shahzad had a wider circle of friends and a fuller social calendar. A skilled cook, he drew students to his dorm room with the scent of his simmering lobia, a Pakistani lentil dish. He worked out obsessively and, on weekends, hit New York City’s Bengali-theme nightclubs. He loved women, recalled a former classmate, and “could drink anyone under the table.” He showed little interest in Islam.

Mr. Shahzad rarely seemed pressed for cash — he had a large television in his dorm room and drove a Mitsubishi Galant. But he still looked for work. Nimble with his hands — he would later take to gardening and painting — he landed a job designing intricate gold pendants for a jeweler at a mall in Milford. While Mr. Shahzad did not seem to distinguish himself academically, he came across as witty, street smart and “fast on his feet,” recalled one classmate. He and his Pakistani peers were chasing the same dream, the classmate said: “Back then, it was all about fast cars and becoming something.”

While Mr. Shahzad seemed eager to carve out a life in his host country, his anger at America flared early. The classmate recalled walking into Mr. Shahzad’s apartment a few days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 to find him staring at news footage of the planes hitting the towers.

“They had it coming,” Mr. Shahzad said, according to the friend, a Pakistani-American. The friend said Mr. Shahzad believed that Western countries had conspired to mistreat Muslims. “He would just go off,” said the friend, adding that he paid little heed to Mr. Shahzad’s eruptions, dismissing them as a product of his fierce Pashtun pride.

Read the rest here.

I wrote a bit more about the article at GetReligion, but, in reality, I found the article to be so excellent that I had little to no criticism. Check it out here.

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May 19, 2010 | 2:05 pm

Tomorrow is ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ ...

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Best stick your head in the sand. That’s right, tomorrow is “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” and unless you want to look like you’re taking a part in it, well, then you better follow the “South Park” advice—advice that is painfully ironic after last month’s affair.

Here’s the story from FOXNews.com:

What started out as a cartoonist’s call to action against censorship—an open invitation to submit caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad—has led to death threats, a court order to temporarily block parts of the website in Pakistan and a call for a boycott of Facebook to protest what Muslims believe is blasphemy.

“Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” began last month as the brainchild of a Seattle-based cartoonist named Molly Norris, who was appalled by Comedy Central’s decision to censor an episode of “South Park” that depicted Muhammad in a bear costume.

As a way to protest the network’s decision—which came after an Islamic extremist website warned of retaliation against the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker—Norris created a poster with likenesses of Muhammad as a domino, a teacup and a box of pasta.

She declared May 20 “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!”—and her efforts quickly went viral, spawning several Facebook pages with thousands of followers dedicated to the event.

They also prompted a “protest” movement by thousands of other Facebook users opposed to it.

Norris is a bit uncomfortable with the life her call to action has taken on, and the credit she is receiving for it, which she discusses at the top of her website.

Her suggestion, though, is one I heard others voice after Comedy Central censored “201” because of threats against the network and “South Park” staff.

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May 19, 2010 | 1:36 pm

LeBron: The new messiah

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Obviously, we missed the mark the the whole Obama-is-the-messiah thing (though I’ve said before I think he’s doing well). But maybe the answer was in front of us all along. It must be LeBron. Why else would so many Clevelanders who can’t sing get together for this awful ditty?

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May 19, 2010 | 11:37 am

The lowest form of humor

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Remember that Massachusetts man whose legal name is Lord Jesus Christ? There is more to the story about him getting hit while crossing the street. He’s an artist and definitely an unusual dude, and this story about him is full of cheap jokes:

“I realize it’s controversial. I’m not what people picture Jesus Christ looking like,” Jesus Christ said.

(skip)

Jesus Christ has no telephone and no access to the Internet at home. To go online, he needs to go to the Belchertown library, but since the accident, he has been too banged up to leave his apartment in the Belchertown Housing Authority.

And though the news of Jesus Christ getting nailed in a crosswalk launched a thousand jokes the world over, he sees nothing funny about it.

The May 4 accident left him with some broken teeth, swelling to his face, a bruised hip and all-around soreness. Plus, the pain medication he is taking makes him sleepy, he said.

He said he does not believe the accident was intentional but Jesus Christ has hired a lawyer anyway.

Ugh. Read the rest here. Or, better yet, don’t.

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May 18, 2010 | 6:02 pm

More about the LAT on the Jewish Journal

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

When I mentioned Jim Rainey’s column about The Jewish Journal last week, I missed this video that appeared elsewhere on latimes.com. Coincidentally, we both chose the same accompanying art.

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May 18, 2010 | 10:19 am

American deaths in Afghanistan reach 1,000

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Faces of the Dead from NYT home page

NYTimes.com has a photo gallery marking a tragic milestone: 1,000 American deaths in Afghanistan.

We did something similar when I was at The Sun five years ago, except the story was 2,000 Americans dead in about two years in Iraq. It’s surprising how much less deadly Afghanistan was for a while. No more.

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