January 31, 2012 | 1:43 pm

Gingrich claims Romney denied kosher meals to Holocaust survivors

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Floridians are going to the polls today in the fourth primary of the presidential campaign season. And things are getting really non-kosher between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. I’m not referring to the converting-Jews-to-Christianity event that Gingrich found himself at Sunday.

This post is about Gingrich’s latest robocall, which accuses Romney of forcing Holocaust survivors to eat non-kosher food as he cut expenses from the Massachusetts budget. Here’s the text of the call:

As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney’s compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012.

The Romney campaign is saying that the call is an indication that Gingrich’s campaign is at death’s door. In fact, it’s long since come back from the grave. And the call is likely to resonate with some of Florida’s large elderly Jewish population. After all, it implies that even Hitler didn’t deny Jews kosher food (though I think that implication is historically wanting). The robocall is also not an accurate characterization of what happened in Massachusetts.

Commentary explains:

It’s a great campaign line for the former speaker, and the addition about George Soros is a nice touch. The problem is, Romney never actually “eliminated serving kosher food” to Jewish residents at state nursing homes, especially not in the way Gingrich describes.

In 2002, cuts in both federal and state subsidies to assisted living facilities, combined with the rising costs of maintaining the facilities, caused a couple of Massachusetts nursing homes to consider closing their kosher kitchens. It was an unfortunate decision, but there was never actually a concern that kosher residents would be forced to eat non-kosher food – the facilities were weighing several options, including busing in the food from other nursing homes or hiring catering services.

While Romney’s veto of a bill that would have provided $600,000 in funds to nursing homes made him appear insensitive to elderly Jews, Gingrich’s characterization of the veto as denying kosher food to Holocaust survivors has “little basis in reality”—a not uncommon theme for things that come out of the former Speaker’s mouth.

Still, it might work. I’m eager to see exit poll results regarding how Florida Jews vote.

(Hat tip to Huffington Post.)

January 31, 2012 | 1:31 pm

Trial court to consider if university punished student for refusing to counsel gay students

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed summary judgment in an interesting free-speech and free-exercise case involving a graduate university student who refused to counsel a gay student. Howard Friedman at Religion Clause explains the background:

At issue was whether counseling student Julea Ward, who was enrolled in a practicum course, could because of her Christian religious beliefs refuse to counsel a gay client or at least have her faculty supervisor refer the client to another counselor if same-sex relationship issues arose. The University took disciplinary action against Ward under its rules that prohibit counseling students from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and require them to affirm a client’s values during counseling sessions.

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Eastern Michigan University, meaning that there was no dispute over a material issue of fact and that the university was entitled to having Ward’s claims dismissed as a material of law. But the Sixth Circuit disagreed (full opinion here).

The judges reasoning boils down to this:

The key problem with the university’s position is not the adoption of this anti-discrimination policy, the existence of the practicum class or even the values-affirming message the school wants students to understand and practice. It is that the school does not have a no-referral policy for practicum students and adheres to an ethics code that permits values-based referrals in general. When the facts are construed in Ward’s favor, as they must be at this stage of the case, a reasonable jury could conclude that Ward’s professors ejected her from the counseling program because of hostility toward her speech and faith, not due to a policy against referrals…..

In other words, a material issue of fact exists as to whether the university’s practices could be used—or against Ward were used—to discriminate against a viewpoint that the university disfavored. The case now will go back to the district court for trial on the merits.

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January 30, 2012 | 5:52 pm

Converting Jews to Christianity and voting for Gingrich

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The connection between converting Jews and voting for Newt Gingrich is obvious, nu?

I’m on the road right now, but had to share this incredibly awkward news from Newt Gingrich’s final push in Florida. Yesterday the GOP presidential candidate Calista joined thousands of evangelical pastors at a conference at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville.

From Yahoo! News:

Inside, the topic of the evening discussion, led by Joel Rosenberg, a novelist who writes about Islamic terrorism, focused partially on how to convert Jews to the faith.

“As a Jewish person,” Rosenberg, who was raised by a Jewish father and a Gentile mother, “our people really didn’t get it the first time Jesus came.”

He urged the audience not to be bashful, and to act quickly in case the End Times were nigh. “I know you know Jewish people,” he told them. “You have an accountant, you have a lawyer…”

Gingrich, perched in the back, waited patiently to be introduced to the nationwide audience of pastors. When Rosenberg finished his talk, a pastor announced to the crowd that the presidential candidate was in attendance.

Gingrich and Callista stood up, waved, and received a standing ovation.  The duo rushed out the back door immediately once the applause died down, and sped off to Mass.

You know, some of my best friends (and favorite relatives) are accountants and lawyers.

Just imagine if that had been Sarah Palin’s story. I’m not sure how many Florida Jews were thinking about voting Gingrich, but he probably needs to jump on this grenade before, say, 8 am tomorrow morning.

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January 29, 2012 | 11:02 pm

Israeli students cut class to protest military deferent for yeshiva students

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I can’t find news on whether they did, but hundreds of Israelis students were expected to cut class today in protest of legislation that would allow full-time yeshiva students to defer military service. Haaretz reported:

Hundreds of high-school students across the country are expected to boycott classes on Sunday in protest at the Tal Law, legislation that allows full-time Yeshiva students to defer their military service.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to let the Knesset decide the law’s future, after initially saying he would put an additional five-year extension to a cabinet vote on Sunday. Netanyahu changed course following objections by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Debate on an extention of the law must begin by February 1 if the government is to preserve the option of extending it beyond its current expiration date in August.

Despite the prime minister’s decision to scrap the cabinet vote, the student walkout is expected to go ahead on Sunday from 9 A.M. to 10:30 A.M. in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Tiberias and Ramat Hasharon. Some students plan to protest outside their schools. Others are expected to study in the corridors or hold panel discussions on the issue.

“Although there won’t be a debate on the law in the cabinet, we intend to go to Jerusalem to come and say that we are not all excited over the change [in the location] of the debate. Instead, we believe we have to keep our finger on the pulse to immediately rescind this law,” said Zahara Berger Tzur of the Forum for Equal Service.

One of the initiators of the student walkout, Yotam Berger, is a senior at the Hebrew University High School in Jerusalem. (He is no relation to Berger Tzur but is also a member of the Forum for Equal Service.) Berger said 4,000 high-school students from around the country have signed a protest letter against the Tal Law. Berger’s school, which is commonly know as “Leyada,” will be holding a panel discussion on the legislation.

Also Sunday, the “Camp Sucker” movement visited Jerusalem to also protest the Tal Law. More from JPost.

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January 29, 2012 | 1:19 am

Why even those in majority should support church-state separation

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Jessica Ahlquist, a 16-year-old atheist, angered a lot of folks in Rhode Island when she asked her school to take down a prayer banner in the auditorium. The school board refused, bowing to public pressure, so Ahlquist’s father filed suit on her behalf. Jessica won earlier this month, which only turned up the heat and condemnation from community members.

One thing that’s often lost in disputes like this is the clear tension between the majority being able to publicly embrace their religion without making members of minority religious groups feel uncomfortable. And as is often the case, the members of the majority in this largely Catholic Rhode Island community didn’t seem too worried about how they would feel if Christianity generally or Catholicism specifically was suddenly in the minority and they were subjected to state-sponsored expression of, say, Judaism or Islam.

Zachary Bailes, writing for the Associated Baptist Press, picked up on this in a very nice piece:

An irony not lost on students of history is that Roger Williams, the prodigious 17th century rabble-rouser, founded America’s First Baptist Church in nearby Providence in the name of “soul freedom” after banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Now the eventual state founded by the man who championed religious liberty long before it was popular (and some might contend that it still isn’t) appears antagonistic toward the idea.

Yes, religious liberty extends to those who choose not to participate in religion.

(skip)

Baptists, Catholics and atheists don’t agree on much, but they share a common story: religious oppression. Our forebear believed that faith and God were big enough that they did not need the sword of coercion or the endorsement of a government. Baptists, fundamentalist or not, should stand up and protect the rights of atheists, even if one believes their souls are damned for hell.

Rest here.

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January 28, 2012 | 11:31 pm

Ultra Orthodox survivor support group takes form in Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

It’s the age-old question: Why does God let good things happen to good people? It’s even more difficult to answer when really awful things happen to people serving God. Theodicy is, as I’ve said before, “a black hole of theological clarity.”

And understanding the Holocaust is about as difficult as the question comes for observant Jews. Each year Jews remember the Holocaust with ceremonies on Yom HaShoah, which was yesterday. But the Ultra Orthodox do not partake. But now a group of Ultra Orthodox survivors have been to meet as a support group to reflect on their suffering during World War II.

The AP reports:

After years of silence, a small group of pious elderly survivors have begun meeting in a weekly support group at a senior center in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, sharing their thoughts on how they reconcile with a Lord that allowed the destruction of their homes, their families and 6 million of their people.

“We stayed alive. We survived. How could this have happened without the almighty?” said Alex Seidenfeld, an 82-year-old survivor from Hungary, who said he saw “miracles” unfold daily in Nazi concentration camps. “The almighty knows what he is doing. He has a plan that we sometimes don’t understand.”

The ultra-Orthodox support group is the first of its kind, and members say their community’s public silence on the Holocaust has been misunderstood. In the eyes of most secular Israelis, the ultra-Orthodox have, at best, a cavalier approach to the Holocaust.

Interesting story that mentions the recent conflict in Israel between Ultra Orthodox Jews and other Israelis, in particular the use of Holocaust symbolism. Read the rest here.

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January 26, 2012 | 6:11 pm

CJR evaluates charges of NYT’s anti-Israel bias

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The New York Times building in New York, NY across from the Port Authority. Photo by Wikipedia/Haxorjoe

Neil Lewis over at Columbia Journalism Review has a piece about the New York Times and the perceived animus that many Jews believe the newspaper has for Israel. And while Laurel Leff’s “Buried by the Times” convincingly depicts America’s most important newspaper turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, the NYT really doesn’t have an Israel problem.

The basic gist of Lewis’ article:

For years, a small but determined segment of American Jews have believed that the Times has been regularly unfair to Israel, even harming its standing and security.

This has produced a tension between the paper and a portion of its readers that is as intense today as ever and hovers over the paper’s coverage of the region.

It is, however, largely an ill-founded—as well as toxic—notion based on misunderstandings of journalism, some lamentable history of the Times’s coverage of the Holocaust, and perceptions about the relationship of the paper and some of its forebears to their own Jewish heritage. It also ignores the changing political realities in the region.

There are, of course, those who, like Doris Halaby, believe just as strongly—whether because of its journalism, its Americanness, or its many Jewish employees—that the Times has a pro-Israel bias.

Even so, the enduring criticism from this segment of American Jews, who have historic and geographic connections to the Times, is especially poignant. That is particularly so in light of the fact that, given the inherent imperfections of close-quarters journalism—as opposed to history—the paper’s coverage has been overwhelmingly fair and appropriate.

That sounds about right to me.

You can talk to activists on either side of this issue—and many places in between—and get very different portrayals of the NYT as anti-Israel or pro-Israel. I’ve often felt like the paper does a decent job telling both the Israeli and Palestinian stories, though is sometimes handicapped by the proclivities of the reporters in their Jerusalem bureau (many of whom are, in fact, often Jewish).

Thoughts? David Bernstein thinks that Lewis’ piece is “trite, largely repeating what any fair-minded observer already knows.” What say you?

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January 26, 2012 | 12:10 am

Alaska Airlines ends 30-year policy of giving prayer cards with meals

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I don’t often fly Alaska Airlines, and I can’t remember the last time I paid for an in-flight meal, so it’s little surprise that I don’t remember getting a prayer card with my meal. And it looks like I’ve missed my window nonetheless. After 30 years of providing prayer cards with meals, Alaska Airlines announced today that it was ending the practice.

The AP explains why:

The airline sent an email to its frequent flyers on Wednesday explaining the change that will take effect Feb. 1.

“Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice,” said the email signed by both airline CEO Bill Ayer and President Brad Tilden.

The email said some of its customers enjoyed the cards but others were offended by them.

This seems like a pretty simple business decision, and not out of line with Alaska Airlines policies when you consider that the prayer cards started as a marketing ploy.

It also seems like branding from a bygone era. It’s rare these days to hear of mainstream businesses incorporating religious messages into their services—one reason that In-N-Out’s biblical references have drawn attention.

(Hat tip: Sarah Pulliam Bailey)

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January 24, 2012 | 5:46 pm

Daily Show slogan for Romney campaign: Mormon-y, Less Problems

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

People seem to be focusing on Jon Stewart going nuts in talking about the hypocrisy that is Newt Gingrich, but don’t overlook the gem of a Mitt Romney poster that “The Daily Show” had ready for the point in the race when Romney’s religion became a forefront issue: “Mormon-y, Less Problems.”

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January 24, 2012 | 12:42 pm

Andrew Adler apologizes for presidential assassination column

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times resigned yesterday amid fallout from a recent column that he wrote advocating that Israel assassinate President Obama.

It was within the context of discussing Israel’s options in preventing nuclear war with Iran. Adler said that all options should be on the table and then suggested assassinating a U.S. president that he sees as unfriendly to Israel’s interests. He wrote

“Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?”

An image of Adler’s whole column has been preserved here. Frankly, I’m shocked he was able to only give up to the day-to-day activities and hasn’t been pushed to sell the paper.

But he has. And Adler is now trying to explain why what he said was taken out of context—or something like that. As J.J. Goldberg of The Forward says, the above video is “a wrenchingly, gruesomely compelling scene of a broken man who plainly has no idea how he got himself in this mess.”

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January 23, 2012 | 12:04 pm

What Would Ken Jennings Do?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ken Jennings. Photo from Youtube

Ken Jennings, the former “Jeopardy!” champion, is Mormon. And, he writes in the New York Daily News, he remains suspicious of the outside world like many Mormons. Moreover, Mitt Romney’s bid for the White House isn’t making things better.

Jennings writes:

Romney isn’t an icon of hope to his community the way John F. Kennedy was for Catholics or Obama for African- Americans. If anything, his rise makes us uncomfortable. What will they say about Mormons at work every time Romney makes a debate gaffe or an unpopular policy move? Why would we want someone as divisive as a politician to be our public face? Weren’t Donny Osmond and Jimmer Fredette doing just fine?

Read the rest of his op-ed here.

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January 23, 2012 | 12:49 am

Carnage in Nigerian terror attack that left at least 178 dead

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Destroyed police headquarters in Nigeria's northern city of Kano Jan. 22, following a bomb attack on Friday. Photo by REUTERS/Stringer

The Islamist attacks that began Friday continued today in the Nigerian city of Kano. So far, at least 178 have been killed.

The attacks, carried out by Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sacrilege” and wants to impose sharia law on the 160 million living in Nigeria, were the deadliest by the organization and suggest to intelligence officials that Boko Haram is getting support from Al Qaeda.

The scenes are gruesome. As described by the Los Angeles Times:

An immigration official, who declined to be named, said he was wounded when Boko Haram gunmen attacked, killing two of his colleagues. He survived by pretending to be dead.

“They shot me on the right shin, shattering my bone and another bullet pierced my shoulder,” he said. “I remained motionless and they left me for dead.”

In hospital morgues, bodies were piled up, and throngs of relatives of those missing waited fearfully.

“We now have 162 bodies deposited here by relief workers,” an attendant said an attendant in a morgue, where corpses were piled on the blood-splattered floor nearby. “The figure is bound to increase, as the rescue teams keep recovering bodies from different parts of the city.”

Read the rest here.

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