by sarah [➚] · Sunday, September 25th, 2005
Just a reminder that Chabad’s To Life! telethon is on right now, channel 26 in Frisco, 18 in LA and 55 in the Tricities. There ain’t this much Jewish TV on all year…and I’m including Jerry Lewis.
There is some serious triumph-of-the-human-spirit style stuff going on right now, these kinderlach should produce the next Olympics telecast. Seriously though, there is a good deal of inspiring video here from the likes of The Moshav Band, Matisyahu, Dennis Prager, and of course, Tony Danza.
Streaming video is at www.tolife.com
by Mobius [➚] · Sunday, September 25th, 2005
Al Jazeera reported Wednesday,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has brushed aside an appeal from the Quartet of international peace mediators to dismantle resistance groups, saying he knew best how to handle them.
“With regard to dealing with the Palestinian organisations, this is our affair,” Abbas said in the town of Rafah on Gaza’s border with Egypt on Wednesday.
“We know more and are more capable than others in dealing with our brothers.”
Two days later, Hamas rallied in the Gaza Strip, brandishing weapons as a sign of the success of their violence in driving “The Zionist Aggressor” out of Palestinian lands. No one told them, however, that it’s just plain stupid to drive around with missiles bumping about in the bed of your pickup. Horror ensues.
A truck carrying a group of armed men and makeshift weapons exploded yesterday during a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 80, according to hospital officials and witnesses.
Hamas quickly blamed Israel for the incident:
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahari told reporters that he witnesses the events at the Hamas rally on Friday evening. He said that Israeli drone airplanes were flying overhead at fired four missiles at a convoy of cars during the rally. He added that as a convoy of cars neared the crowds, an Israeli drone fired four rockets and hit one of the cars directly.
He said, “Israel will pay a heavy price for this crime. We are certain that the explosion was not internal, and was not a result of a car full of explosives. The explosion was a result of targeting a resistance convoy by Israeli army drones.”
Abu Zahari continued, “I was on the stage, and I saw the drone firing four missiles at the convoy of the Hamas resistance cars.”
The allegation — which is not an impossibility but which is highly improbable — is being circulated as fact by the Arab press.
Unexpectedly, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was the first to cry bullshit:
“What happened yesterday is what we always feared would happen, and what we always warned against,” he said, referring to repeated appeals to gunmen not to flaunt their weapons in public. “Today, we are required more than ever to end this tragedy that resulted from chaos and military parades in residential areas,” he said.
Israel too denied responsibility.
Hamas upheld their promise to ‘make Israel pay’ Saturday by launching a barrage of Qassams at Sderot. Israel, in turn, retaliated by bombing the ever-living-fuck out of Gaza and arresting 207 suspected militants in the West Bank — notably killing and wounding less people with their airstrike than the shitheads in Hamas did with their little victory dance which was, at the end of the day, responsible for this entire incident.
Seems to me like Abbas’ strategy towards ‘reigning in terror groups’ is becoming pretty clear: Let them run wild. They’ll incur the wrath of Israel which will decimate them, which will in turn cause the militants to incur the wrath of the Palestinian street who will lose patience with the bastards that keep getting bombs dropped on them. Abbas’ political opponents will thus vanish and Abbas can then save face because Israel will be responsible for killing and imprisoning the terrorists rather than he himself.
Unless I’m missing something here…
by Jake Marmer [➚] · Friday, September 23rd, 2005
Once, there was a Jordanian king who summoned fifty Talmud scholars and proclaimed…
Muslims from every branch of Islam can now assert without doubt or hesitation that a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians—no matter what nationality or religion, Muslim or Jew, Arab or Israeli—is a basic violation of the most fundamental principles of Islam.
And then he said:
It is my hope that we as children of Abraham can go forth from this gathering with a common mission, to work together towards peace, justice and reconciliation. The point on the religious calendar at which we find ourselves can inspire us in this endeavor. This year marks an unusual concurrence of the High Holy Days on the Jewish calendar and Ramadan on the Islamic calendar, each of which begins next month. These are opportunities for self-examination, reflection, repentance, atonement, forgiveness, and renewal. By embracing the true spirit of these sacred times, conferred by God, we can reaffirm the essential principles of our faiths and apply these principles to the challenges before us all. Just as Isaac and Isma’il were able to put aside the differences that had separated their mothers and come together to honor and bury their father, so too must we put aside the differences that some use to tear us apart. We must honor our common heritage, reaffirming the essential principles that lie at the heart of our faith.
And such things happened just a few days ago at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington DC. You can find the script of the whole speech and event sum up here.
Props to Rabbi Yakov Travis of Ruach for sharing the news.
by Zionista [➚] · Friday, September 23rd, 2005
Everywhere conservative privatization-guru Grover Norquist goes, his violent anti-Zionist friends like Abdurahman Alamoudi seem to follow. Right up to the White House. And whose White House, we may ask? No “liberal commie Democratic” one, that’s for sure.
The Washington Post reports,
David H. Safavian, the Bush administration official arrested Monday, initially failed to disclose lobbying work he had done for several controversial foreign clients when he went before a Senate panel last year to be confirmed as chief of the White House’s federal procurement office.
[...]
The record of Safavian’s confirmation shows extensive questioning by the committee staff about his alleged lobbying for local Muslim leader Abdurahman Alamoudi, who in October 2000 made widely publicized comments supporting Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, at a rally in Lafayette Park.
Lobby disclosure forms originally filed by Safavian’s firm, Janus-Merritt Strategies, show that it represented Alamoudi, a prominent Muslim activist, until 2001. Alamoudi has since been convicted and imprisoned for accepting money from the Libyan government as part of an alleged plot to assassinate the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
Janus-Merritt Strategies changed its lobby disclosure forms in 2001 to indicate that its client was not Alamoudi but Jamal Barzinji. In March 2002, Barzinji was named in a search warrant affidavit filed by a Customs Service official as “the officer or director” of a group of entities in Northern Virginia “controlled by individuals who have shown support for terrorists or terrorist fronts.” No charges have been filed against Barzinji, and he has denied any wrongdoing.
Hey, it’s no Chinese Buddhist scandal. But you work with what you got….
by Benyamin [➚] · Friday, September 23rd, 2005
The Associated Press has an interesting story out today about the latest trend in Hollywood: Bypassing the usual mainstream ad route and instead promoting family-friendly fare directly to church groups. Hoping to ride the wave of the phenomenally successful box office of The Passion of the Christ (which used a similar direct to church groups promotional campaign), studios are hoping the strategy will take hold. Fox has even launched a Web site, foxfaith.com, to help promote said films. Last month Disney made the bold move of deciding to only sell it’s new direct-to-DVD Christmas cartoon at that bastion of right-wing Christian retailing, Wal-Mart. And NBC is also getting in on the trend (as we reported earlier this week), promoting their faith-based new show Three Wishes by sending advanced copies of tonight’s episode to a number of small-town churches. The funny thing is that the AP report cites two recent examples of movie studios taking their films to the house of God before the multiplex — Disney’s The Greatest Story Ever Told starring the very Jewish Shia Lebeouf and Paul Reiser’s new film about a Jewish father and son trying to reconnect. A good way to promote family films or a secret plot to infiltrate the world of the Jews? You decide.
Cross-posted on The Yada Blog.
by Mobius [➚] · Friday, September 23rd, 2005
Jewschool gets featured in the Jewish Journal for our t-shirts and two Australian guys in the 2nd photo down rock said gear at a pro-Israel rally.
by Mobius [➚] · Friday, September 23rd, 2005
Dubya gave props to the American Jewish community, and Chabad in particular, for their Katrina relief efforts during a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition earlier this week. Video here. (c/o Merliner)
by shamirpower [➚] · Thursday, September 22nd, 2005
A four day weekend in the Catskills. Unlimited opportunities to learn, discuss, argue, sing, dance, schmooze, pray, eat. LimmudNY is a fabulous way to connect with the Jewish people in ways you never thought possible.
Here’s the offical press release:
Sign up NOW to reserve your spot at the second annual Limmud NY!
Limmud NY is a three-day learning experience that invites Jews of all ages and backgrounds to come together to create a multi-generational community of learning, teaching, and exchanging ideas. Interact with your community in an entirely new way during Martin Luther King Weekend 2006 (January 13th-16th), while studying ideas that move the whole Jewish world.
The conference offers diverse, innovative programs ranging from interactive topical lectures, concerts by renowned musical artists, and activities for children and youth, to film screenings, dance performances, opportunities for artistic creation, text study, and panel discussions around the social issues that shape the daily lives of New York area Jews.
Register online by going to:www.limmudny.org and clicking on “Register Now,†or call the Limmud NY office at (212) 284-6968. Scholarships are available for people of all backgrounds. Please inquire.
Last year it sold out in November, so if you are thinking of coming, make it happen soon. I had an amazing time; one minute I was at an alternative “meditation ma’ariv,” the next I was hearing a talk about egalitarianism in davening, then after that I went to a hip-hop klezmer concert.
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 22nd, 2005
I can’t quite put my finger on what Rosh Hashanah has to do with a new self-help book and series on Bravo (except the kind of lame “New Year’s resolution” angle), but either way, this promotional cartoon by Shabot 6000 creator Ben Baruch is funny enough on its own to merit our approval.
And on that note, I just saw this for the first time and laughed out loud.
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 22nd, 2005
Aaaaar! Our Pirates Be The Bomb Burnin’ Up!
by Jeanette Friedman
Someone knew Pirates of Penzance, Di Yam Gazlonim, at the 92nd St. Y last night was a smokin’ hit and was pissed. S/he called in a bomb threat The building’s fire alarm was trigged during the show, so clanging bells and sirens annoyed the audience trying to listen to an amazing waif, Nell Snaidas, in the role of Malka. It turns out the noise was being made by first responders who evac’ed everyone, including the Inspector General, in the middle of the first act.
Truth was the audience, packed with hundreds of old fogies mostly, didn’t want to believe it was happening, and didn’t want to leave…neither did the younger crowd because they were getting hooked on what the pirates were doing on the stage. (Wasn’t Monday Talk Like a Pirate Day?)
Ay, Matey, ‘tis fair strange when you hear Gilbert and Sullivan filled with Vey iz mirs, and oy veys being sung by a group of troupers participating in the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival. It’s also lots of fun, especially when audience and cast members get to mingle on 92nd Street while bomb sniffers firefighters do their thing.
Fifteen minutes later, the show picked up where it left off, and an hour later, the audience went home with smiles on their faces. Mal Z. Lawrence, the Catskills comic, handled the brilliant English translation by Al Grand, so that those who don’t speak Mamma Loshen could at least get the gist of the brilliant and funny lyrics.
Yiddish is making a comeback because Yinglish has enriched American language. Younger folks want to learn the original ‘cause they’ve discovered there are some things you just can’t translate—words like macheteynista and mechutin, misshigas (which is featured prominently in this musical bon-bon) and some curses that just don’t make sense unless they’re delivered in Yiddish.
This little Gilbert and Sullivan ditty was given a Yiddish twist in plot as well as lyrics. The gazlonim [pirates] couldn’t marry the maydlach because there were no shadchanim, and besides, it didn’t passt, cause gazlonim are prust and not appropriate for the Inspector General’s ten daughters. The Inspector General’s greatest claim to fame was that he was an “erliche Yid,†who lied to the pirates and suffered severe guilt. Insomniac drama ensues.
In the end it turns out, the gazlonim were really misguided Yeshiva boys, so everyone gets to live happily ever after. Mazal Tov, Mazal Tov. It starred Robert Abelson, Henry Carrey, Mary Feinsinger, Jacob Feldman, Dan Rous, and Nell Snaidas; the executive producer was Moishe Rosenfeld and the piece was directed and conducted by Zalmen Mlotek, executive director of the Folksbiene.
[Update] Alix Friedman, director of Public Relations for the 92nd St. Y writes,
Contrary to the report on your web site, there was neither a bomb scare nor any bomb-sniffing dogs at the 92nd Street Y last night. A smoke alarm went off on the second floor and the entire building was temporarily evacuated. The whole thing turned out to be a false alarm and everyone was let back into the building within 15 minutes.
Oops. Sorry ’bout that. Had she been aware it was not actually a bomb scare, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that Ms. Friedman had a bad-ass time at the show. All apologies. It shall be a lesson to us wee amateur bloggers to check our facts before going live with such things. Though I can’t say I’m all that troubled by it, considering the freakin’ sweet amount of traffic this post has generated from Gawker. Hell, maybe we should unintentionally make shit up more often! But for real, sorry. We regret any drama this incident may have caused.
To be honest, the reason I found it believable was first-and-foremost the source (Ms. Friedman is a well-respected journalist and doesn’t usually goof as such) and secondly, when I was employed by the JCC in Manhattan, we got so many bomb threats at a certain point (it was at the height of the intifada) I think security services decided to stop responding to them and calling them in. But alas… Our bad, yo. We’ll do our damndest best to avoid such errors in the future.
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 22nd, 2005
The JCPA reports,
According to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and Gaza on Sep. 7-9, 2005, 84% see the Israeli withdrawal as a victory for Palestinian armed resistance; 40% give Hamas credit, while 21% give credit to the PA and 11% to Fatah.
62% oppose and 35% support continued attacks against Israel from Gaza and 60% support and 37% oppose collection of arms from armed factions in Gaza. 77% support and 22% oppose the current ceasefire.
73% support and 25% oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state that would start first in Gaza and gradually extend to the West Bank.
56% view the Israeli withdrawal as the end of occupation and the start of independent Palestinian statehood.
However, 60% expect that internal infighting will follow the Israeli withdrawal.
View the full survey here.
by Mobius [➚] · Thursday, September 22nd, 2005
Today is Chai Elul, one of the most important and oft overlooked days in the Jewish calendar. Today both the Baal Shem Tov — the founder of Hasidism — and Reb Schneur Zalman of Liadi (aka The Alter Rebbe) — the founder of Chabad — were born, Hasidism itself as a movement was founded, and The Maharal — creator of the Golem — died. So if you find the time, toss back a l’chaim, go out to the woods, sing a niggun, and do a little dance to celebrate the lives of these great tzadikim, and their profound contributions to the world. Judaism wouldn’t have turned out to be nearly as enthralling without them.
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
At the age of 13, Tibor Rubin, a Hungarian-born Jew, was liberated by American forces from the Mauthausen concentration camp. After the war, Rubin emigrated to America where he later served in the US Army himself, enlisting during the Korean War to repay the debt he felt he owed for his life. During his time in combat, he was once again taken captive, this time by Chinese forces, where he “used all the experience he had gained as a Holocaust survivor in helping keep himself and other prisoners alive.”
“I did it because I was an American,” Rubin told The National Review Online, “and because it was a mitzvah. Regardless of color or nationality, they were my brothers.”
Last week, his mitzvah was recognized by the highest authority in the land (after G-d, of course), and Rubin was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Read his remarkable story here.
(c/o Rafael S. via The Mudville Gazettte)
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
As reported by Oyhoo!, the organization behind The New York Jewish Music & Heritage Festival, as featured here on Jewschool these last two weeks:
Michael Brecker, an 11-time Grammy winner and one of the foremost jazz musicians in the world today, has myelodysplasia and needs a blood stem cell transplant to survive. Since tissue type is inherited, his best chance of finding a donor lies with volunteers of Eastern European Jewish background.
The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, the only Jewish bone marrow registry in North America, will be testing volunteers at Jewzapalooza on September 25 to join its registry of bone marrow and blood stem cell donors. Gift of Life is internationally recognized for facilitating bone marrow, blood stem cell and umbilical cord blood transplants for over 1,000 patients around the world. Through targeted recruitment in Jewish communities, Gift of Life has greatly improved the chances that Jewish patients will find genetically matched donors.
You can find out if you match Michael, or one hundreds of other patients in desperate need of life-saving transplants. Donor testing is fast and easy, requiring only a swab of cells from inside the cheek. No blood is drawn and there is no charge to join. Donors must be between 18-60 years old and in general good health. Please, stop by Gift of Life’s table at Jewzapalooza to be tested and learn more about how you can help in our mission to save lives.
It will only take one person to save Michael’s life. Could it be you? For more information, call 800-9MARROW, or visit giftoflife.org.
For more information about Brecker’s condition, visit his website at MichaelBrecker.com.
by Danya [➚] · Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that the current Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof would be much, much better if Rosie O’Donnell was wearing tzitzit and Harvey Fierstein was the balabusta in the shmatta.
This? This is just a strange perversion of gender roles, and I can’t say that it makes me entirely comfortable.
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
Jewish activists outraged over United For Peace & Justice‘s re-involvement with International ANSWER, have decided to organize their own activities at the upcoming anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
The charge, led by Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center, was spurred on by the noted Renewalist’s editorial in The Forward:
There is a broad spectrum of organizations that opposed the invasion of Iraq and is working to end the American military presence there. Many of these groups are also critical of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. That’s not terrible — after all, so are you.
But some of these anti-war activists taint their opposition by demonizing the whole of Israeli society and by refusing to criticize the “violence of the oppressed,” even when it includes terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian groups. Their misguided views make it much easier for some parts of mainstream America to reciprocally demonize the entire anti-war camp and deprive it of support.
They have posed a problem to a major anti-war rally scheduled for September 24 in Washington. The broad anti-war group organizing the weekend-long gathering, United for Peace and Justice, had insisted for months that on principle it would not co-sponsor the event with Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, an ultra-left fraction, known as Answer, that has a bitterly anti-Israel policy.
But just three weeks before the event, United for Peace and Justice agreed to do just that. The Shalom Center had been urging Jewish support for the anti-war weekend, and we and many other progressives felt betrayed and outraged by the change.
Waskow has commented further on his own blog here.
In response, Waskow has helped organize several events, many with the involvement of other institutions of the religious Left, including Shabbat services for activists visiting the D.C. area, and a direct action Monday at the White House. For more information about these activites, click here.
(If anyone’s going down with The Shalom Center for the demo and would like to cover it for Jewschool, give a holler. My e-mail’s in the sidebar on the upper-right.)
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
Aw man, this is just ugly:
The Bush administration’s top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff’s activities in Washington.
The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002.
[...]
At the time of the golf trip, Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration, where ethics rules flatly prohibited the receipt of a gift from any person seeking an official action by the agency. When Safavian asked GSA ethics officers for permission to go on the trip, he assured them in writing that Abramoff “has no business before GSA,” according to the affidavit signed by FBI special agent Jeffrey A. Reising.
Reising alleged, however, that Abramoff had by then already secretly enlisted Safavian in an effort to buy 40 acres of land that GSA managed in Silver Spring for use as the campus of a Hebrew school Abramoff founded. Safavian also allegedly tried to help Abramoff lease space for Abramoff’s clients in an old post office building downtown.
For more info, see our previous reportage on this subject. And for an ethical discussion of Abramoff’s use of dirty money for tzedakah, check out Richard Silvertsein’s excellent essay on Beliefnet.
Hey Jack — It’s still Elul! You have time yet to do teshuva!
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
There are at least four different opinions on the subject. The Ramban says that when the Gemara learns that eating blood is permissible, it also learns that eating human flesh is permissible. The Ra’avad (Hilchos Ma’achalos Assuros 3:4), the Rashba, and the Rosh (5:19) agree with the Ramban.
Keep reading… (c/o Angel One)
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