by sarah · Tuesday, November 30th, 2004
Animals rights folks protesting kosher slaughter isn’t anything new, but today’s story in the New York Times shows that in one case, protesters may be on to something:
An animal-rights group released grisly undercover videotapes today showing cows in a major kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa staggering and bellowing in seeming agony long after their throats were cut.
[...]
A spokesman for Shechita UK, a British lobbying group that defends ritual slaughter against the protests of animal-rights activists, said after watching the tape with a rabbi and a British shochet that he “felt queasy,” and added,”I don’t know what that is, but it’s not shechita.”
[...]
Asked how prominent authorities could disagree over such a fundamental issue, he replied: “Well, we don’t have a pope. You do find rabbis who interpret things in different ways.”
Full story.
(Note: This is kind of gory article for the Times, but interesting if you eat kosher, shop kosher, and care about how its done.)
[Update] Related links: The PETA video. Seattle PI story. Eco-kashrut.
by Mobius · Tuesday, November 30th, 2004
Mahmoud Abbas has ordered all government operated Palestinian media outlets to terminate programming which incites hatred towards Israel., the head of Hamas has offered a 10 year truce, and the US government shoots down an Israeli request to fund separate roads for Palestinians.
Wow. There is hope after all…
[Update] Or not, depending who you ask.
by shamirpower · Monday, November 29th, 2004
It’s finally happened. Only 9 shopping days left until Chrismukkah! Sundown Dec 7 thru Dec 25.
Celebrating the Holidays together. As Christmas and Hanukkah draw near once again, many of us are wrestling with an annual dilemma: “So, what’s it going to be? You want your matzoh balls or a candy cane? Spin the Dreidel or get kissed under the mistletoe?” Well, you’ve found the one place where you don’t have to choose. Here you can have it all!
[...]
Continuing the current trend of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, it was announced today at a press conference that Christmas and Hanukkah will merge…
Full story.
It’s not just some crazy marketing gimmick. In fact, they base themselves on the UJC’s Jewish Population Survey, which states that of Jews who married since 1996 (until the survey was taken in 2000), 47% have intermarried. Among all married Jews today (year 2000), 31% are intermarried.
(i was wondering if the google ads would be confused, but hannukah won out. ha!)
by Reb Yidlicious · Monday, November 29th, 2004
New Orthodox Union’s president, Stephen J. Savitsky:
People are starting to go to Israel for the right reasons. Years ago aliya was for people who were running away from something. They weren’t successful. They didn’t have a successful marriage. They were coming because there was a reason. They weren’t role models.
But today I see really successful people. Young people. Doctors, lawyers, business people, finance people, who are giving it up not to come here to starve. Not to schnorr from their parents.
Full Story. (c/o IsreallyCool)
by Mobius · Sunday, November 28th, 2004
The Globe & Mail reports,
Montreal’s exclusive Lower Canada College is again in an embarrassing spot after two graduating students placed coded messages calling for death to all Jews in the school’s yearbook as a joke.
The statements, in a jumble of acronym-like e-mail shorthand, were spotted hours before the 2003-2004 yearbook was to be widely distributed this month.
All 1,000 copies were destroyed.
Full story.
by Mobius · Sunday, November 28th, 2004
Interesting piece in The New York Review of Books about disengagement and its implications for both Sharon’s administration and the future of the Palestinian people. (c/o Joseph)
by Moishe Oofnik · Friday, November 26th, 2004
This is an ugly reality:
Horit Herman-Peled, a volunteer for Machsom Watch, (an organization known in English as Women for Human Rights) will not forget the afternoon of Tuesday, November 9. While she was standing her watch at the Beit Iba checkpoint on the outskirts of Nablus, a Palestinian reached the front of the line, with a violin case in his hand. Apparently in an effort to ascertain that it was indeed a violin, and not explosives, the soldier at the roadblock demanded that the young man open the case and remove the violin. The soldier then asked the young man with the violin to play for him.
[...] Herman-Peled recalls being utterly shocked, and not even having the strength to speak with the soldiers, or the violinist. As the child of Holocaust survivors, she was bothered more than anything else by the demand that a Palestinian play music for a Jewish soldier.
Video footage of the incident can be found here.
[update] Guardian has a good article about the incident. A quick glance at the video will show that the soldiers around the violinist were’nt really worried of a bomb going off. The ’security’ excuse has no basis, as usual.
by Joshua · Friday, November 26th, 2004
The Jerusalem-based photographer Ahikam Seri is a great interpreter of contemporary Israel. Seri has shot powerful images from the second Intifada and, most recently, he created a gritty and unsentimental series on Arafat’s funeral in Ramallah.
His strongest images, though, capture subjects that are anathema to his own national politics: Seri’s series on West Bank settlers is both challenging and humane. It’s a valuable glimpse into a society that perplexes, frustrates, and captivates most of Israel and the word.
by Mobius · Friday, November 26th, 2004
Check out this fookin’ awesome poster commemorating 350 years of Jewish involvement in American labor and social justice movements, from the folks at Celebrate 350. (c/o Arieh)
by Mobius · Friday, November 26th, 2004
Check out No Sweat, a clothing company
… launched in October of 2002 by CEO Adam Neiman, his wife and V.P. Natalia Muina, and COO Anne O’Loughlin with an eye toward the fair marketing of solely union-made wear. Formed as an alternative to all the Nikes and Gaps out there, which are often criticized for labor practices, the company, which today employs four full-time workers, has attracted customers in all 50 US states, 36 countries and six continents solely by word of mouth, with no advertising or publicity. Products include outer, business and casual wear and athletic, women’s and kids clothing, which include tees and tanks, fleeces, sweats and hoodies, workout clothing, crews, polo and twill shirts, jeans and denim, and accessories and music items as well.
[...]
[Neiman] became more Jewishly observant when his son, Raphael, was born. “His second-grade teacher at the Rashi School, Stephanie Rotsky, kept sending home assignments with probing questions about social justice and tzedakah. Neiman, who had founded the Rosebud Roofing Company in 1986, asked himself, “what am I myself doing? What could I do to change the world, and hopefully make a living, that might best utilize the abilities I have?” He located people in the progressive movement who were interested in the formation of a fair trade fashion company. “Jews have always been on all sides of the schmatah business, labor and manufacturing,” he quipped. “It seemed like a logical step to pull both halves together.”
Full story. (c/o Arieh)
by Mobius · Friday, November 26th, 2004
As in the story of the Jew who keeps the Sabbath and finds a gold coin on the Sabbath and does not wish to touch it and stands over it until the three stars that announce the end of the Sabbath have appeared in the sky, I stand and I stand, oh the pain in my legs, I stand and I stand, but where are my stars?
Thanks to Joshua Ellison for forwarding the following two links: An excellent profile of Amos Oz in The New Yorker and, from The NY Times, some scraps discovered amongst the belongings of the late Hebrew poet Yehuda Amichai.
by Ariela · Thursday, November 25th, 2004
Tzniut: 1 / Picture of Clean Skin: 0
A poster and billboard campaign showing the “Sex and the City” actress in a skimpy, sequined dress was quickly replaced with new ads of her in a dress that covered her arms, back and thigh, reportedly after ultra-Orthodox consumers objected to her outfit.
The sexy ads promoting Lux soaps had begun appearing on billboards across the country in recent days. But after an angry phone call from a prominent rabbi, the consumer goods giant Unilever quickly gave Parker a more modest wardrobe, the Haaretz daily reported.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, who require women to dress modestly, account for roughly 10 percent of the Israeli population, making them a sizable market for local Unilever products.
Nothing makes me want to shower like a picture of a sequined SJP. Except maybe the vomitous (yes, “vomitous“) promotion on Jewschool of T-Shirt Hell’s dreidel disaster. ::shiver::
Full story.
(repost from urban/achiever)
by Mobius · Thursday, November 25th, 2004
by Mobius · Thursday, November 25th, 2004
Tonight, on the Fox Network:
Four American yeshiva students suspected of hurling a firebomb at a group of Arabs in the Old City of Jerusalem were released on bail Wednesday by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.
The four suspects, Shalom Brender, Aharon Dim, Daniel Starngvest, and Nachman Kropper, who were arrested Tuesday night, were ordered to post bail of NIS 1,500 each and to provide a guarantor who would post the same sum and ensure that they would reappear when summoned by police.
The four, who are in Israel on tourist visas, deny the allegations.
Just kidding about the Fox thing. Full story here.
by Mobius · Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
Famed blogger and university prof Juan Cole has been threatened with a lawsuit by MEMRI, The Middle East Media Research Institute, for comments made in a recent blog post accusing the organization of being a propaganda mill for Likud and the neoconservative agenda. While MEMRI may be somewhat overreacting to the acerbic post and drawing themselves more negative attention than they bargained for, and while Cole may even have waged some valid criticisms, it sure is fun watching him avail himself of what an anti-Zionist stooge he is as he attempts to paint the organization as part of a vast Israeli “information control” conspiracy in every other post on his blog.
Yes, frankly, I can see precisely why you’d be turned off by the Left. But I don’t cast my lot with this jackass.
[Update] Martin Kramer recalls Cole’s threat to sue him and Daniel Pipes over their Campus Watch site two years ago. (c/o Jewlicious)
by Mobius · Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
If you missed his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, here’s video of Matisyahu’s national television debut, in which he braves the tauntings of Scott Baio and Kevin Nealon.
[Update] While we’re at it, here’s video of his recent performance in Paris, his CNN interview, and a highly acclaimed short documentary film about him.
by Benyamin · Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
The controversial never-aired Family Guy “When you wish upon a Weinstein” episode — which hilariously pokes fun at Jewish stereotypes — will finally be seen. Sort of. You see, FOX never aired the episode before they canceled the cult series several years ago. But fans did get to see the episode in all of its glory as it was included on the Family Guy DVD — and has also aired on Cartoon Network twice. So FOX’s decision to finally air it — on December 10th — is not such a big deal, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
by Mobius · Wednesday, November 24th, 2004
If I may be as so bold as to just completely gank several paragraphs of a 1998 press release from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture annoucing the establishment of the Award in American Jewish Humor (I mean, why reinvent the wheel):
Viennese comedian Sigmund Freud once said that “there are no jokes.” He also noted that the tradition of self-deprecating Jewish humor was really a put-on, albeit a subconscious one: Only a people sure of its superiority could create a humor so mercilessly self-critical. Looks like the joke’s on the gentiles.
But seriously, folks. What is Jewish humor today? Has it changed dramatically in recent years? And what does it say about “Jewish culture?”
Despite Freud’s interpretation, Jewish humor has usually been viewed as a defense, both by Jews and non-Jews. On a physical level, as Woody Allen’s scrawny boyhood stories inform us, using your wits is preferable to using your fists. Make it look like you’re harmless by making a lot of jokes at your own expense, and maybe you’ll live another day. A deadpan joke from Allen’s film “Zelig” illuminates: “As a boy, Leonard Zelig is frequently bullied by the anti-Semites. His parents, who never take his part and blame him for everything, side with the anti-Semites.”
On a psychological level, as Sholom Aleichem’s comic-philosopher Tevye teaches, humor acts as a buffer between expectations and the cruelties of reality. In both cases, the texture of Jewish humor reflects the experience of being outsiders or the victim of persecution.
On the other hand, Jewish humor - especially in twentieth century America - is also a kind of offense (and sometimes even offensive), and represents an increasing Jewish confidence in America. Jews’ wholehearted embrace of and contribution to Vaudeville, stand-up comedy and radio and television entertainment underscores their exuberance in the possibilities of America - economic, social, cultural, linguistic. This combination of offense and defense, of hunkering down and striking out, [finds] perfect expression…
in Plotzlady Barbara Rushkoff’s riotous new book, Jewish Holiday Fun …For You!, a delightfully funny primer on the chagim for Jews and non-Jews alike, which has arrived just in time for the winter holiday season. In fact, if Rushkoff’s introduction is any indication, non-Jews may reap the most reward from the book, be it as a gift from a Jewish friend, or by way of giving Jewish readers a humorous perspective from which to relate the Jewish experience to non-Jews.
Growing up Jewish in a predominantly non-Jewish area wasn’t a big deal. Well, until Christmas. That’s when the neighborhood kids wanted to know what was up with the lame plastic lamp in our window. As I tried to juice up the story about the miracle of Hanukkah (which nobody was buying anyway), I was met with the same bottom line: “So, why don’t you guys have a tree?”
And no matter how many times I said “because we’re Jewish,” they didn’t really get it. Jews in my ‘hood were an enigma. We were thought of as peculiar people with strange holiday foods; people who have something against blinking Santas and electric reindeer.
[...]
Once I got my cranium around each holiday and uncovered the so-called mystifying roots, I wanted everyone to know the real deal. But instead of going around with a bible in my hand pointing out scripture, I decided to write a book.
And what a book: Over 100 beautifully designed full-color pages of honest and irreverent Jewish humor. The only setback? It’s Jewish. Responding to a write-up on boingboing yesterday, Rushkoff notes on her blog,
It made me feel really good to see someone write about the book and actually get it. Lots of folks don’t. Lots of folks think I wrote a religious book or a book that only Jews can relate to. I keep forgetting that we don’t live in a Jewish country, even though Jews abound everywhere. (You’re soaking in one!) It was like that when I did the zine [Plotzworld]. A Jew zine? People were baffled at the thought. Then they read it and saw that I wasn’t preaching but merely writing honestly about stuff like holidays, pop culture and my obsession with ReRun of What’s Happenin’?! Ain’t nothing scary there. And ain’t nothing scary in my book.
That is unless you’re terrified of pissing yourself with laughter. With material like a sendup of Highlights magazine’s “Goofus and Gallant” entitled “Doofus and Moishey”, a paper doll telling of the story of Ruth, and a circumcision coloring book, you’re certain to bust a gut no matter what preconceptions you come to it with.
And at a moderate $10, Holiday Fun is pretty much a steal, making it a great stocking stuffer for your favorite curious shaygetz, or Chanukah gift to any kheeb under 40 familiar with the, erm, “parlance of our times,” ie., the hip hop vernacluar. Kol hakavod, beyotch! Er, I mean, Barb.
