April 10, 2012 | 9:44 pm

Drake gets re-bar mitzvah’d

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Details of the latest Drake video, seen above (explicit version), from Bloggish:

Drake released his newest music video this week, titled “HYFR” (Hell Yeah F***ing Right). It features a lot of swearing, dancing women in minimal clothing and fellow rapper Lil’ Wayne.

What makes this video different from all other music videos?

Well, for one thing, the entire video is set in a synagogue, where Drake gets re-bar mitzvah’d. The provocative clip opens with actual footage of young Drake (then Aubrey Graham) saying “Mazel tov” to the camera and dancing at a bar mitzvah. He is also seen reading from the Torah (and later destroying a Torah-like cake). With all the cursing and scantily clad women, this is one bar mitzvah to which you wouldn’t want to invite your grandfather.

Word has it that’s Temple Israel in Miami.

April 10, 2012 | 7:13 pm

California says no to Kosher for Passover Coke

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo by Wikipedia/Yoninah

News that matters: California has banned Kosher for Passover Coke. That’s right, the good stuff that has real sugar in it will no longer be sold in the state. JTA reports:

Coke was required to change the way it manufactures caramel due to the high levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MEI, which California has listed as a carcinogen under its new guidelines. The manufacturing changes in California affected the kosher for Passover status of the cola, according to reports.

The company expects to offer the kosher for Passover variety of Coke in California by 2013, the newspaper reported, citing the company spokesman.

Just another reminder that the Pepsi lobby is strong.

The story goes on to say that some store still have the blackmarket Passover Coke, imported from other states, though I have to imagine that selling it is still illegal.

So does this mean that I’ll no longer see the “hecho in Mexico” Coca-Cola at Target? Isn’t that the same thing? California might be able to keep real-sugar Coke out of the state, but legislators can’t deny that the corn syrup Coke is better.

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April 10, 2012 | 11:55 am

Mike Wallace’s reflections on being an American Jewish reporter in the Middle East

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Mike Wallace in New York, Nov 21, 2006. Photo by REUTERS/Chip East/Files

Mike Wallace was a legendary journalist. Somehow, though, I missed that he was also Jewish.

Wallace died over the weekend at 93. And in response to his death, The Jewish Journal republished an excerpt of the essay that Wallace wrote for “I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl,” in which he discussed his memories of reporting on the Middle East, starting in the 1950s, and being called a “self-hating Jew” for not just giving Israel a free pass:

My eyes had first been opened to Israeli/Palestinian realities by two pioneering figures from that part of the world. Back in the ’50s, Reuven Dafne, a Romanian Israeli, and Fayez Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian, two friends of mine, gave me a primer course on the complicated subject, for which I remain grateful.

I have long admired the courage and determination of the Israelis and sympathized with their yearning for a secure state. I have similar feelings about the Palestinians. But I’m an American reporter, a Jew who believes in going after facts on the ground, as Daniel Pearl did, and reporting them accurately, let the chips fall where they may.

Read the rest here.

The overwhelming majority of reporters would agree with that perspective. I suspect that’s true even among the different Israeli newspapers—it’s just that they have a different view of the conflict.

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April 10, 2012 | 11:28 am

Muslim Brotherhood better than other option in Egypt?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

If you thought that the Muslim Brotherhood rising to power in Egypt was a sign of bad times, consider how much worse things have gotten:

So bad, it appears, that the Obama administration actually believes it ought to throw its support behind the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop an even more radical Islamist from being elected to the presidency of the most populous Arab nation. That’s the predicament Washington faces after the Brotherhood broke its pledge not to field a candidate for Egypt’s presidency.

That’s Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary, who cites anonymous State Department comments to The New York Times and then takes the Obama administration to task for its Middle East foreign policy (of which I’m much less critical, but this is Commentary). Read the rest here.

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April 8, 2012 | 8:30 pm

Church pastor: ‘In Christianity, it’s the Pope and Tebow right now’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Tim Tebow, March 26. Photo by REUTERS/Mike Segar

Speaking of Easter, the Jets new backup (?) quarterback—that would be Tim Tebow—spoke to about 15,000 at an Easter service in Texas today. Check out the quote from the church’s pastor. Talk about an intro:

“In Christianity, it’s the Pope and Tebow right now,” Celebration Church pastor Joe Champion he said. “We didn’t have enough room to handle the Pope.”

The rest of the AP story, which discusses Tebow’s talking points and hours and miles people drove to see him speak, can be read here.

(Hat tip: Rachel Zoll)

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April 8, 2012 | 12:45 pm

Anne Lamont: ‘Easter people living in a Good Friday world’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Today is, for good reason, my favorite Christian holiday. Easter’s message is crucial to Christianity. But year in and year out, it is difficult to realize new things, or at least remember forgotten things, from an old holiday.

This interview that Anne Lamont, the novelist and essayist, did last year with NPR helps. In particular, this comment:

“Well, it’s the most profound holiday in the Christian tradition,” Lamott says. “And I think two things really come to mind. One is something that the great writer Barbara Johnson said, which is that we are Easter people living in a Good Friday world. And I think that every year the world seems more of a Good Friday world. And it’s excruciating, whether it’s Japan, or Libya, or whether its your own best friends and their children who are sick, which is something that makes no sense when you think about a loving God. But it’s a time when we get to remember that all the stuff that we think makes us of such value, all the time we spend burnishing our surfaces, is really not what God sees. God, he or she, loves us absolutely unconditionally, as is. It’s a come as you are party.”

Read or hear the rest here.

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April 5, 2012 | 4:31 pm

‘KONY 2012: Part II—Beyond Famous’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

In the sequel to last month’s viral sensation, Invisible Children addresses the criticisms of “KONY 2012” and explains the mission behind the campaign and what supporters can do now that everyone knows the name Joseph Kony:

KONY 2012: Part II—Beyond Famous offers a closer look at the LRA and explores the solutions put forward by leaders of the currently-affected areas of CAR, DRC, and South Sudan, where local communities continue to live under the constant threat of LRA violence. This generation has responded to the call to make Joseph Kony famous. Now we need to dig deeper and turn awareness into informed action. That starts with sharing this film and continues with participating in Cover the Night, the advocacy and awareness event taking place worldwide on April 20th.

“KONY 2012” also made Invisible Children a household name, and the media attention that followed prompted a psychotic episode in co-founder Jason Russell.

Some might see this video as a defensive justification, a response to critics. But their message still matters, despite the reality that Kony isn’t as much of a menace now as he was five years ago.

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April 5, 2012 | 2:43 pm

In Maryland and Wisconsin, Romney does just fine with evangelical and Catholic voters

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

For half a decade, we’ve been hearing that evangelicals just won’t vote for Mitt Romney because he’s Mormon. It’s one reason that the GOP frontrunner has kept his faith—and the Real Romney—on mute.

But it looks like the anti-Mormon vote might not be that big of a concern in the end. A study of voting in the Maryland and Wisconsin primaries by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that Romney basically split with Rick Santorum the white evangelical and born-again Christian voters:

In Maryland, 41% of evangelicals voted for Romney while 39% supported Santorum. In Wisconsin, 43% of evangelicals backed Santorum and 39% voted for Romney.

Romney also did a lot better among Protest and Catholic voters than Santorum. Notably, 47 percent of Catholics voted for the Mormon Romney while 35 percent of Catholics voted for the Catholic Santorum. And that is despite 59 percent of Wisconsin voters saying that it matters “a great deal” or “somewhat” that a candidate shares their religious beliefs. Six in 10 cheeseheads are not Mormons, so what explains this?

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April 5, 2012 | 2:34 pm

Bar Mitzvah boy’s got the ‘Moves Like Moses’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Passover starts tomorrow night, but Tuesday the a cappella group Pella uploaded this Jewish spin on Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger,” based on that old passage into manhood.

It’s OK, but it’s no Maccabeats and certainly no “Honika Electronica.”

(Hat tip: VideoJew)

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April 3, 2012 | 9:11 pm

FIBA player thanks ‘god’—or ‘God’?—for scoring 113 points in a single game

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Mohammad El Akkari, who plays for Tripoli Moutahed, had a truly legendary game in a Lebanese Division A League Final 8 game. El Akkari, who sports Nick Van Exel socks and came into the game averaging in the single digits, dropped 113 points in his team’s 173-141 win. The most amazing part wasn’t that he made 32 three-pointers, but that he attempted 59. Wilt Chamberlain only attempted 63 field goals, mostly around the basket, when he scored 100 points in a 1962 game. Didn’t the other team think of stepping out on El Akkari and forcing him to drive or at least go mid-range?

Anyway, what caught my eye, besides the fact that he scored more by himself than 11 of the 12 NBA teams that have finished games so far tonight, was this line, via FIBA Asia:

“Thank god for this performance. I think it’s all a result of my practice,” Akkari said from team bus on his way back to Tripoli.

“I also want to thank my coach for letting me play that long and all my teammates for helping,” he added.

Why is that weird? Because God is spelled with a little g. Based on El Akkari’s first name—Mohammad—I was sort of expecting that he was, you know, Muslim. But, like Christians and Jews, Muslims believe in one God.

Just a typo? Probably. Or maybe El Akkari wasn’t thanking God but saying “thank god,” and so the reporter went lowercase g so as not to say God’s name in vain?

Regardless, El Akkari had an amazing night and I don’t think anyone will be rewriting that story anytime soon.

(Thanks to my Entertainment Law Review co-conspirator David for the link.)

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April 3, 2012 | 10:44 am

Christianity in the Oakland school shootings

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

A police officer entering a private Christian college in Oakland, California, Apr 2. Photo by REUTERS/Reuters TV/KNTV/Handout

By now, everyone has heard about the shooting at Oikos University, a small private school in Oakland, that left seven dead. The suspect reportedly sought revenge against a school administrator, after he was expelled, and when she wasn’t on campus upon his visit, a rampage ensued.

Oikos has been described as a “Christian vocational school” that caters to Korean immigrants. It lacks accreditation and offers degrees in, among other areas, nursing, music and theology. The school has additionally been deemed Catholic by The Telegraph and fundamentalist by the Huffington Post.

Beyond the questions surrounding the crime, the circumstances, and reportage that has followed, beg a few questions about the role of religion in the life the suspect, One Goh, and just what sort of Christian school we’re talking about here. Jaweed Kaleem answers a few of those questions by searching Oikos’ website:

Oikos University’s website lists a doctrinal statement on the beliefs of the university administration, which are theologically conservative. It says the Bible is made by “infallibly and uniquely authoritative and free from error” and that “the Father, Son and Holy Spirit equal in every divine perfection, yet executing distinct but harmonious offices.”

It also says: “We believe the full historicity and perspicuity of the biblical record of the primeval history, including the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse on the creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of nations and languages at the tower of Babel. We believe the realities of heaven and hell.”

But, Kaleem admits, not much is known about the school or the organizations that it’s affiliated with.

The shootings strike me not as a Christian attack, but as a horrific event involving Christian actors. We don’t yet know if that’s true—it’s possible, for instance, that Goh held some sort of religious grudge—but thus far the details of yesterday’s attack do not indicate anything religiously motivated.

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April 2, 2012 | 10:43 am

‘Magic City’ brings Jewish gangsters and murder to Miami Beach

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

“Magic City” makes me wish that I still had Starz. The new show is filled with yiddishkeit and Jewish gangsters in 1950s Miami Beach. Sounds like a good time.

An example of the show’s Jewish themes from the New York Times:

Rather than glance over its main characters’ religion, the drama intersperses Jewish culture heavily throughout the series, departing from the nebbish neurotics popularized in sitcoms like “Seinfeld” and “Friends.” The series follows hunky power players in dark suits (and sometimes yarmulkes), more Tony Soprano than Larry David.

While covering up a murder, the sleek hotelier Isaac Evans, called Ike, the protagonist played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, plans his daughter’s bat mitzvah, an affair that includes the 13-year-old drifting down a winding staircase engulfed in pink dry-ice fumes. A gold Star of David stands out against the tanned chest of Stevie Evans, Ike’s oversexed son. And late at night Ike asks Stevie to help him protect a friend from Ben Diamond’s wrath. “Now?” Stevie asks. “No, next Shavuot,” Ike says, sarcastically referring to the Jewish holiday.

Read the rest of the review here.

Previously in gangster Jewish news:

* “Murder Inc. and Jewish Toughs”
* “Gangster Jews and the Bid to Defy Weakness”
* “Rediscovering Gangster Jewish Roots”

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