May 24, 2012 | 2:43 pm

Help wanted: Chinese company seeks tall, white, Harvard-educated, male Jew

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Beijing. Photo by Wikipedia/Vera Buhl

Remember how excited Christians were about the book “Jewish Wisdom for Business Success”?

Well, that book won’t suffice for a Chinese company. No, they’re looking for their own tall, white, Jewish male who attended Harvard and speaks fluent Mandarin. An excerpt of the job-posting email received by a writer for the Foreign Policy blog:

The first requirement of the job is that you must be an advanced Mandarin Chinese speaker, since the meetings will all be with Chinese people. Also men only, no females. The other requirement is that you must have some sort of background that Chinese people typically value. My contact is (deleted) and is slightly obsessed with Jewish people and thinks they are the smartest, so he naturally prefers this person to be Jewish. If he can’t get someone Jewish, he would also like someone who went to a famous university—Harvard, Yale, etc. Besides those 2 qualifications, I’m sure he’d be happy with someone who has some sort of connection to someone famous or important, or maybe someone who is really tall and handsome. Basically any characteristic that Chinese people are impressed by - he is looking for in this person.

Who knew the Chinese were obsessed with Jews? In fact, I thought China was obsessed with Hitler. Sounds like this is all just about money-making stereotypes. A little background on that here and here.

The email also said they’re looking to hire someone with a “‘white face’ to give some more credibility to the project.” Yowza.

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May 23, 2012 | 7:19 pm

Former Dodger great Shawn Green to play for Israel in World Baseball Classic

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Shawn Green. Photo by Wikipedia/Wknight94

Shawn Green, as famous for not playing baseball for the Dodgers on Yom Kippur as he is for bagging 19 bases in one game, is pushing 40. But he isn’t done playing baseball.

Though Green hasn’t played in the Majors since 2007, he’s going to be hitting for Israel in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. From The Jewish Journal:

Green will turn 40 on Nov. 10, and it remains to be seen how well he will perform after five years away from the game. He certainly has the bona fides. He hit 40 or more home runs three times, including 49 in 2001. He collected at least 100 RBIs four times, scored at least 100 runs four times and led the league in doubles, extra-base hits and total bases.

Fellow Member of the Tribe Brad Ausmus is the team’s manager.

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May 21, 2012 | 6:37 pm

Richard Dawkins wants your kids to read the Bible

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Richard Dawkins. Photo by Wikipedia/Kvonnegut

It’s no mystery that Richard Dawkins, aka Dicky Dawkins, is no fan of religion. In fact, he’s a quite vocal opponent. So why does he want your kids to read the Bible?

To appreciate as a work of literature, not, unsurprisingly, as sacred truth or a moral guide. Dawkins writes in The Guardian:

A native speaker of English who has never read a word of the King James Bible is verging on the barbarian. In the week after the 2011 census, my UK Foundation commissioned Ipsos MORI to poll those who had ticked the Christian box. Among other things, we asked them to identify the first book of the New Testament from a choice of Matthew, Genesis, Acts of the Apostles, Psalms, “Don’t know” and “Prefer not to say”. Only 35% chose Matthew and 39% chose “Don’t know” (and 1%, mysteriously, chose “Prefer not to say”). These figures, to repeat, don’t refer to British people at large but only to those who self-identified, in the census, as Christians.

European history, too, is incomprehensible without an understanding of the warring factions of Christianity and the book over whose subtleties of interpretation they were so ready to slaughter and torture each other. Does the eucharistic bread merely symbolise the body of Jesus or does it become his body, in true “substance” if not “accidental” DNA? Prolonged wars have been fought over how we should interpret the words allegedly uttered at the Last Supper. Three bishops were burned alive just outside my bedroom window in my old Oxford college for giving the unapproved answer. Centuries-long schisms were based on nothing more serious than the question of whether Jesus is both God and his son, or just his (very important) son. Even bloodier wars were fought against a rival religion that sees him not as God’s son at all but just reveres him as a prophet.

Read the rest here.

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May 16, 2012 | 10:18 am

Jesus makes another bid for president?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo by Wikipedia/Francisco Ribalta

Four years ago, there was the Jesus for President campaign, through which a progressive Christian urged other Christians to vote based on environmental and social justice issues, not abortion and homosexuality. This election season there is a very different “Vote for Jesus” effort being led by Internet evangelist Bill Keller, who five years ago lost his TV program for slamming Islam.

The Christian Post reports on Keller’s disgust for Romney and Obama:

Keller, who in the past has compared the choice between Romney and Obama as “flipping a coin where Satan is on both sides,” explained in an exclusive interview with The Christian Post on Friday that Christians can play a big part in the future of America by making a statement vote by writing in “Jesus” on their ballots, instead of choosing “the lesser of two evils.”

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“This is not about politics, it is about THE ETERNAL SOULS OF MEN! A true Christian will NEVER put politics above souls, so please watch for any so-called Christian leader who endorses and supports either President Obama or Mitt Romney, since they are nothing but ‘hirelings’ and NOT true men or women of God since they obviously don’t care about souls!” Keller expressed in a written statement on the Vote for Jesus website.

This is not the first time an evangelical has said Romney is not guided by God or that Obama is part of Satan’s plan (and Justin Bieber is too). But, beyond that, I get the feeling—a sneaking suspicion—that Keller doesn’t understand the role of the president of the United States.

Jesus is, indeed, a perennially popular write-in candidate. And this is not the first time that an individual or organization has encouraged voters to write-in Jesus rather than vote for a name on the ballot.

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May 15, 2012 | 10:23 pm

Beinart and Suissa debate ‘Is Zionism in Crisis?’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

If you’re in Los Angeles Wednesday, there is a great event worth checking out at Temple Israel of Hollywood. Peter Beinart, of “The Crisis of Zionism,” will debate David Suissa, the Jewish Journal president, on Beinart’s new book. The debate will be moderated by Temple Israel’s Rabbi John Rosove, who mentions a little about the debate on his blog.

If you’re going to go, Rosove warns you to arrive early. Beinart draws a big crowd. And if you’re not in LA, or you prefer to watch from home, the debate will be streamed live here.

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May 15, 2012 | 3:44 pm

Y-Love, black Jewish rapper, comes out as gay

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Yitz Jordan’s identity as a black Orthodox Jewish rapper was already a bit complicated. Jordan, known as Y-Love has struggled with his public image for years—and today in an interview published by Out magazine Y-Love revealed that he is gay.

An excerpt:

“I’ve never been conflicted about my sexuality,” Jordan told Out in an exclusive interview this week. “Any conflicts that have come up in my life have come up because of other people’s homophobia. I’ve always known when to be in the closet and when not to.”

So why come out now? According to Jordan, he’s wanted to tell the world that he’s gay for some time, but he was concerned that his “public reputation” would be tarnished and the music career he has fought so hard to carve out in a seemingly intolerant community would be ruined.

“I feel like I’ve wasted years of my life worrying that it would alienate the community I dedicated my life to as an artist and as a man. But my hope is that it will open their eyes—and hearts.”

Read the rest here.

I met Jordan, 34, at Jewlicious in 2009, when I was there to discuss my own complicated Jew-ish identity. His story has been passing around my Jewish friends on Facebook today, and I’ve seen nothing but support (like this from William Daroff).

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May 14, 2012 | 5:01 pm

2d Cir: NY kosher law doesn’t violate First Amendment

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Last week, in Commack Self-Service Kosher Meats, Inc. v. Hooker, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld New York’s 2004 Kosher Law Protection Act. The court stated that a labeling law requiring manufacturers of kosher foods to file with the state Department of Agriculture before using label on sold products serves a secular purpose of protecting against consumer fraud.

(Short Reuters story here; the court’s opinion here.)

Significantly, the law did not suffer from the fatal flaws of a previous New York kosher law struck down in 2002 because it required courts to make religious decisions, which the First Amendment prohibits courts from doing. As Howard Friedman noted, this law “does not define what is kosher, adopt kosher standards of any particular branch of Judaism nor authorize state inspectors to determine if products are in fact kosher.”

Significantly, the court said:

New York, through the Kosher Act, has not explicitly adopted or endorsed one religion or religious group over another, nor has it encouraged particular religious activities.  The neutral labeling requirement does not define “kosher” or any other religious terms and contrasts with prior situations in which this Court has found a perception of endorsement. ...

Therefore, because the amended Kosher Act neither advances nor impedes religion, has a secular purpose, and does not create an excessive entanglement between state and religion, it does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The court also found a Free Exercise challenge in want because Kosher Act is a neutral, generally applicable law that imposes a nonsubstantial burden and has a rationale basis. In other words, none of the key elements for a Free Exercise violation cut against the kosher law.

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May 8, 2012 | 9:36 am

The wild rumpus comes to an end: Maurice Sendak dead at 83

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Maurice Sendak. Photo by REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files

Maurice Sendak, the legendary author of “Where the Wild Things Are,” has died. He was 83.

Here’s a 2002 profile of Sendak by The Jewish Journal:

“I wrote it to poke fun at my mother,” he told The Journal via phone from his Connecticut home. “She was convinced chicken soup was the cure-all for everything. “If you had hydrophobia, she’d rub it on your chest. She’d wash your ears out with it. She’d give you an enema with it. Needless to say, I rather disliked chicken soup.”

If the Jewish panacea was a minor annoyance during his childhood, the Holocaust was a major source of pain, Sendak said. It’s the proverbial “monster in the closet” behind the dark motifs that haunt even his cheeriest work.

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When fans ask what Max is doing today, Sendak is irreverent as Max himself. “I say he’s still wearing that idiotic wolf suit, so his mother won’t let him out of the house,” the author said. “He’s unmarried and in therapy.”

“I like to be politically incorrect,” Sendak added. “Otherwise, things get boring.”

Read the rest here.

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May 4, 2012 | 10:41 am

Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, Jewish legend and hip-hop pioneer, has died

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Beastie Boys, Mike Diamond (left), Adam Horowitz and Adam Yauch (right), are photographed at the 2006 Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah in this Jan. 22, 2006. Photo by REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/Files

I had tickets to see the Beastie Boys at the Hollywood Bowl when Adam Yauch (aka MCA) was diagnosed with cancer back in 2009. I always assumed that Yauch, one of the three members of one of the most influential hip hop groups in history, would make a full recovery and I’d have another chance to see the Beastie Boys perform.

Sadly, I was wrong.

Adam Yauch, one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, has died at the age of 47, Rolling Stone has learned. Yauch, also known as MCA, had been in treatment for cancer since 2009. The rapper was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.

Last year, the Beastie Boys released what (I assume) will be their final albums with all three original members. “The Hot Sauce Committee Part 2” had been delayed by Yauch’s treatment. It still rocked.

I’ve blogged a bit about the Beastie Boys here before. They were, after all not only hip hop pioneers (for, among other reasons, their innovative use of sampling) but Jewish heroes, hailing from that famously Jewish city, New York.

Yauch and Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz weren’t Matisyahu, but they embraced their yiddishkeit. And this 2003 cover of Heeb remains my favorite.

Their legendary “Sabotage” music video is after the jump:

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May 1, 2012 | 8:57 pm

Madeleine Albright on discovering in her 50s that her family was Jewish

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Madeleine Korbel Albright. Photo by Wikipedia/U.S. Department of State

In her new book, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright shares what it was like to discover in her late 50s that her family was Jewish. A portion is excerpted at the Huffington Post:

I had no idea that my family heritage was Jewish or that more than twenty of my relatives had died in the Holocaust. I had been brought up to believe in a history of my Czechoslovak homeland that was less tangled and more straightforward than the reality. I had much still to learn about the complex moral choices that my parents and others in their generation had been called on to make—choices that were still shaping my life and also that of the world.

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By late in President Bill Clinton’s first term, I had seen several missives from people who had known my parents, who had the names and dates approximately right, and who indicated that my ancestors had been of Jewish origin. One letter, from a seventy-four-year-old woman, arrived in early December 1996; she wrote that her family had been in business with my maternal grandparents, who had been victimized by anti-Jewish discrimination during the war. I compared memories with my sister, Kathy, and brother, John, and also shared the information with my daughters, Anne, Alice and Katie. Since I was in the process of being vetted for secretary of state, I told President Clinton and his senior staff. In January 1997, before we had time to explore further, a hardworking Washington Post reporter, Michael Dobbs, uncovered news that stunned us all: according to his research, three of my grandparents and numerous other family members had died in the Holocaust.

In February 1997, Kathy, John, and John’s wife, Pamela, visited the Czech Republic; they confirmed much of what had been in the Post story and identified a few errors. That summer, I was able to make two similar though briefer trips. For me, the moment of highest emotion came inside Prague’s Pinkas Synagogue, where the names of our family members were among the eighty thousand inscribed on the walls as a memoriam. I had been to the synagogue before but—having no cause—had never thought to search for their names.

Albright’s story reminds me of my own mothers—except she lost no family (that we know of) in the Holocaust—or of Christopher Hitchens’. Not because the key details line up clearly, but for the general late discovery of a family secret of Jewishness. It reinforces for how little we often know about where we come from.

As I’ve written before, a desire to better understand where I came from led me on my Jew-ish journey:

Read more of this post

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April 23, 2012 | 5:20 am

Holocaust Survivors Foundation prez: ‘Obama policies hurting survivors’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Obama at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, Apr 23. Photo by REUTERS/Jason Reed

Thought-provoking letter to the editor from David Schaecter, the president of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, who claims that President Obama, despite supportive words to the contrary, has been hurting Holocaust survivors with his administration’s policies. At JTA:

Contrary to common sense, and to commitments made during the Obama-Biden campaign, this administration has consistently supported European insurance companies who defrauded Holocaust victims and dishonored our family insurance policies, even though the insurers failed to pay billions they owe to victims families. This is not acceptable—we are not only U.S. citizens, many survivors are American veterans and veterans of the Korean War. Yet because of the actions of the State and Justice departments, Holocaust survivors are second-class citizens under U.S. law. How can this be?

Further, tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors—50 percent of the American survivor population—live in or near poverty. Why would this administration block survivors from recovering the long-overdue debts owed by the wealthiest corporations in the world like Allianz, Generali and AXA? In March, the State Department again relied on a familiar litany of inaccurate statements in opposing legislation with broad bipartisan support that would restore survivors’ rights. The Foreign Affairs Committee rejected State’s bogus claims and passed the bill unanimously.

I don’t get the second-class-citizens remark, and I’m not sure how significantly the Obama administration policies differ from those of past presidents. (Survivors issues just don’t receive as much attention as they deserve.) But as someone who spent a summer helping primarily indigent Holocaust survivors—many live way below the poverty line—collect reparations from the German government, I hope that Obama and his presidential opponents hear Schaecter’s message.

Obama should soon have the chance. He’s speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum today to commemorate Yom HaShoah.

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April 22, 2012 | 11:50 am

ADL complains about Urban Outfitters sale of ‘Holocaust’ shirt

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Screengrab of Wood Wood Kellogg tee from UrbanOutfitters.com

I’ve never shopped at Urban Outfitters, so it’s not like I can boycott the store over it’s absolutely absurd Wood Wood Kellogg tee. But I definitely don’t plan to start paying way too much for cheap clothes after reading that Urban Outfitters is selling a yellow shirt with a six-pointed star on the left breast that strongly resembles the yellow star worn by Jews under Nazi occupation.

Not surprisingly, the Anti-Defamation League has objected to the shirt’s sale. The Philly Inquirer reports:

“We find this use of symbolism to be extremely distasteful and offensive, and we are outraged that your company would make this product available to your customers,” Barry Morrison, regional director of the ADL, wrote in a letter e-mailed to Richard A. Hayne, chairman and chief executive of the retail corporation headquartered at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

This is not the first time the ADL and Urban Outfitters have tussled. In 2003, the ADL complained about a shirt with the text “Everyone loves a Jewish girl” and that was surrounded by images of shopping bags and dollar signs. The clothier later removed the surrounding images.

Urban Outfitters has not commented on the star shirt and, as of now, the shirt is still available on UrbanOutfitters.com. I’m not sure what is more outrageous: the t-shirt design or the fact it costs $100.

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