by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
A very heavy, painful, blatantly biased, though revealing, and exceptionally looooong piece by two former CIA analysts in Counterpunch:
A few weeks spent in Palestine is always an assault on the senses, on the emotions. And after three trips to the West Bank in the past eighteen months, it is impossible not to draw some conclusions. For most Americans, the eleventh commandment of the politics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is Thou Shalt Not Reach Conclusions, for conclusions  that Israel wants the land of Palestine without the people; that the Israeli settlements, the roads accessible only to Israelis, the land confiscations, the house demolitions, the destruction of agricultural land add up to an act of ethnocide against the Palestinian people; that Israel’s occupation and Israel’s land greed are the root of the conflict and the root cause of terrorism  are too pointed for most people, too embarrassingly descriptive of an ugly reality impossible to ignore.
Without conclusions, American friends of Israel can live comfortably in denial, believing that although the occupation may be misguided, ultimately Israel is good and innocent, it is only protecting its security, the whole conflict is the Palestinians’ fault. But when you are in Palestine, when you see hundred-year-old olive groves bulldozed to make way for the wall, when you see entire city blocks bulldozed and cleared of homes where thousands once lived, when you actually watch a home being demolished, when you see huge Israeli colonies and small outposts on every hilltop, when you see markets closed because the wall has separated commerce from its customers, when you see destruction all around, denial is no longer possible. You must conclude that there is a deliberate scheme here. You must acknowledge the unthinkable, that Israel has been built from the beginning on the ruins of another nation, that Israel has all but destroyed another people in order to have a Jewish-majority state, that Israel is not moral as its friends claim, not a light unto the nations.
Take a deep breath. Then read on if you can bear it. Nevermind that the narrative of the Jewish state is completely misrepresented, mischaracterized, and even demonized — I mean, this is just vicious. But, the things which these people have witnessed that have driven them to these conclusions: Can we not begin to address them in a sensible manner so that we may right such wretched wrongs?
I mean, that is if you even in part accept the assesment that what is happening here is wrong…
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
We were down for five days so we didn’t get to follow up on the latest regarding the WJC scandal but uh, it looks like Bronfman (and it should read Edgar, not Charles), booted Isi Liebler from the WJC last week. I wonder if Liebler will file a wrongful termination suit or if he realizes he should quit before he gets hit with a slander suit he can’t win…
by Ronen [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
According to the Washington Post, Rabbi Menachem Youlus of Wheaton, Maryland, is on a mission to save Jewish history one Torah at a time. Along the way, he’s had the chance to right some historical wrongs, like providing proper Jewish burial for the bones he found at a Holocaust-era mass grave site. He’s also amassed $170,000 in personal debt to finance his work.
I was especially impressed with the Rabbi’s plurlalist message. On his web site, www.saveatorah.org he explains that
The Torah is the source of Jewish learning, religious and moral values, and instructions for living. No matter what level of belief or observance, the Torah is the one symbol that unites the Jewish people: the Sephardim and Ashkenazim, members of Reconstructionist, Orthodox, Reform and Conservative Congregations, and even the unaffiliated. It connects the past to the present and is a source for the future, Le’Dor va Dor…from “generation to generation.” It brings together members of communities for learning and praying and is the one object that all Jews can identify with.
You can donate to this cause via the web site as well.
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
So the guys from Lebowskifest shot me down on bringing the event to Tel Aviv in January. Their reasoning was that they didn’t want to franchise, that they themselves only had an interest in doing two events per year, and that they’d already committed elsewhere within that timeframe. That didn’t stop me from nudging them a bit on the issue.
Anyhow, somewhere in the course of our back-and-forth, one of the organizers made a remark that, well… put me off a bit.
He wrote, “We arent saying no to Tel Aviv absolutely, we’re just saying no right now. Next year we are looking overseas for the fall of ’05 but we will pick a more vacation friendly place in Europe.”
“More vacation friendly place?” I thought. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
And so I replied, “I’m curious as to what gives you the impression that Tel Aviv is not vacation friendly. All these folks seem to be having a good time…” and included this link [NSFF].
To which he replied, “Yowza! That looks like fun.”
And I, again, replied in turn, “Don’t let the media fool you. This place isn’t a war zone. It’s actually a really bitchin place to be.”
To which he concluded, “I’m glad to see that Tel Aviv aint so bad. The media did have me fooled and probably a lot of others.”
Ahh, the power of boobies. To answer your question Josh, perhaps there isn’t “another way to ‘stimulate’ the guys back in America.”
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
by The Town Crier [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
Israeli rap group Hadag Nahash, who have topped the Israeli charts with their track “Shirat HaSticker”, is set to embark on its first tour of the US.
Although most of the band’s songs are in Hebrew, Streett is confident that its “global sounds” will transcend the language barrier.
“I like a lot of music that I don’t understand,” he says, noting that in recent months he has really gotten into German, Arabic, Japanese and Greek rap.
Yeah, Americans are strange that way. La Bamba, La Vida Loca… Who knows?
by The Town Crier [➚] · Sunday, September 26th, 2004
It seems that the controversey over the new Gal-Paz hut on Lee Avenue in Williamsburg has now made it to the mainstream press. MBD could not be reached for comment.
by Reb Yidlicious [➚] · Saturday, September 25th, 2004
Is there a Hassidic management style?
Business writers have instructed us in the management secrets of Shakespeare, the robber barons, the Greeks and Romans, Sun Tzu, and Attila the Hun. But what about my people? At last, just in time for the Jewish High Holidays, Moshe Kranc has published The Hasidic Master’s Guide to Management.
The review concludes:
Kranc oddly underplays the greatest example of Hasidic management: Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe. Out of the ashes of the Holocaust, Schneerson built a Hasidic community in Brooklyn and then created a highly successful global enterprise with an intense strategic focus: getting Jews to become more observant. When it comes to Hasidic sects, the Lubavitchers are General Electric.
Full story.
by Reb Yidlicious [➚] · Saturday, September 25th, 2004
Can surfing and spirituality coexsist?
‘You can’t be too square. You’ve got to be a little hip,’ With those wise words, the ‘surfing rabbi,’ who appeared in the 2003 surf movie ‘Step Into Liquid,’ grabs his long board and paddles out, just like he’s done for the past 40 years.
Cowabunga! This mensch can rip.
Shifren is spiritually stoked he lectures on the ‘surf and soul connection’; holds Passover surfaris and Mexico kosher surf camps (with five-star cuisine by a Chabad caterer); and conducts beach bar mitzvahs where celebrant and guests shoot the curl.
Full story.
by Mobius [➚] · Saturday, September 25th, 2004
Great 10 questions with Jon Stewart in Time:
WRITING A BOOK IS SO RETRO. SHOULDN’T YOU BE BLOGGING OR SOMETHING?
I can’t. It’s too hip. Then I’d have to get a BlackBerry, and I’m wired in, and next thing you know, I’m at a Black-Eyed Peas concert with a crack problem. I just can’t go down that road.
Full story.
Great honors for Stewart this week — according to Business Journal,
Viewers of late-night comedy programs, especially The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on the cable channel Comedy Central, are more likely to know the issue positions and backgrounds of presidential candidates than people who do not watch late-night comedy, the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey shows.
I used to watch the guy on UPN when he wore a leather jacket and ripped jeans… You’d never believe it’d come to this point.
by Mobius [➚] · Saturday, September 25th, 2004
Haaretz gives us a peek into a world of Orthodox anarchists: The Shababniks.
David Halfon from Netanya insists that he does indeed have the fear of God in him. Halfon is a “shababnik”, a derogatory term for a young person who does not heed the accepted social rules in the ultra-Orthodox community. He refuses to study like everyone at the yeshiva, he is not strict about uniform dress and sometimes he goes out to have a good time, even at secular places. Shababniks like Halfon are usually treated “like lepers” by the ultra-Orthodox community, in the words of one member of the community.
It is this attitude that led Halfon to embark on an unprecedented campaign against the ultra-Orthodox establishment, in which he claims that his lifestyle, though different, is ultra-Orthodox in every way. His faith, he says, is the most important thing. The ambitious campaign has its own slogans, invented by Halfon himself, which have been distributed in thousands of copies through flyers placed in ultra-Orthodox mailboxes in and outside of Netanya, like, “I am a proud Shababnik!”
Full story.
by Moishe Oofnik [➚] · Friday, September 24th, 2004
[sic] !âîø çúéîä èåáä îëì öååú ãæùåñ÷åì
May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.
by Ari [➚] · Friday, September 24th, 2004
This is an event after my own heart. Even if I wasn’t working overtime for regime change 2004, the idea of seeing Alicia Svigals AND Gary Lucas AND David Krakauer in one evening would be worth it.
Concerts for Change presents: Don’t Just Rock the Vote… Freylakh The Vote!
A Benefit for the Democratic Party’s Efforts in Swing States
A high energy evening featuring New York’s premiere Jewish performers:
- Alicia Svigals & The Klezmer Rock Project
- Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters
- David Krakauer
- What I Like About Jew
- Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi
The Knitting Factory Main Space
Tuesday, October 12th at 7:30pm
72 Leonard Street
(212) 219-3006
To purchase tickets online, go to: Concerts for Change
Tickets: $18 online/$25 at the door
(All proceeds will go to the DNC)
by Reb Yidlicious [➚] · Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
Jerusalem Post:
The ‘Rabbis Answer’ hotline, which was widely publicized in the religious media, is aimed at providing information to anonymous callers in Israel. It was initiated three months ago when Pfizer-Israel, which represents the manufacturer of Viagra, agreed to sponsor it for at least a limited period…
Too bad Viagra is Chametz…
by Benyamin [➚] · Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
Los Angeles Dodger and Sandy Koufax wannabe Shawn Green has two games that will conflict with Yom Kippur this weekend and says he will miss at least one of them.
For Hillel’s sake, he’d better skip both games. The college Jewish outreach organization presented Green with a Hillel baseball jersey last month. Hillel Board of Directors Chairman Randall Kaplan thanked him at the time for sitting out an important Yom Kippur game in 2001. “You are a role model for students who often have to choose between school, sports and observing Jewish holidays,” Kaplan said.
“Hillel will not be reclaiming the jersey if Mr. Green decides to play a game this year,” jokes Kaplan. “For all of us, this High Holy Day season is an intensely personal time of self-reflection and choice.”
Um, would that be the choice to sacrifice your faith or sacrifice a fly ball?
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
Jason Alexander, Larry King & Mary Hart (among others) will apparently be bringing the Jewish masses Yom Kippur television programming again this year, with Yom Kippur services broadcast live on cable.
Can I get an “oy gevalt”?
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
Madonna has been denied entry to Egypt because she has “converted to Judaism.” Yeah… It’s news to me too.
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
IslamOnline reports,
A French pro-Palestinian group has asked for banning an extremist group blamed for inciting hatred and physical violence against Arabs.
Olivia Zemor (Olive & Stone) group has made the calls for the Jewish Ligue De Defense Juive (an organization defending Jews in France) to be added to the list of terrorist organizations.
The call comes on the heel of the conviction earlier this week of two members of the Jewish organization for attacking pro-Palestinian activists of Olivia Zemor in France.
Full story.
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