by Y-Love [➚] · Thursday, January 25th, 2007
There simply is no limit to Israeli ingenuity.
A hat tip to Israel @ LG for turning me on (no pun intended) to something I had never even thought of before.
Edible lampshades.
Shuli Levin’s lampshades look so good you could almost eat them. But rather than cultivate the squash-like gourds that grow outside his studio in Bnei Zion, a moshav north of Ra’anana, for food, the intrepid Israeli industrial designer transforms their fibers into hip, cutting-edge eye candy for the home.
A graduate of Tel Aviv’s Ascola School of Design, Levin launched Studio Shulime (Studio on the Fringes) in 2003, staunchly adhering to the principles of sustainable design: recycling, reuse of materials and reducing the amount of virgin material needed for the production of his light fixtures and furniture.
“There is such a thing as positive consumption,” Levin told ISRAEL21c. “I want to return a sense of environmental awareness to Israel.”
Can’t help but love the sentiment, and the lampshades don’t look half bad either.
“You’ll never believe what they’re doing with squash these days!”
by Y-Love [➚] · Thursday, January 25th, 2007
First impression upon reading this breaking story from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: someone decided to re-release an excerpt from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, translating into Russian, and changing some key facts.
But lamentably, this is no macabre attempt at humor, this is an official statement from a Russian legislator:
Jews are attempting to commit genocide against ethnic Russians, a Russian lawmaker claims in a recent article.
Nikolai Kolomiytsev, a former State Parliament deputy and member of the Russian Communist Party’s Central Committee, wrote the article, which was posted on the party’s Web site, according to a Jan. 18 report on antisemitizmu.net.
The article accuses Jews of causing unemployment and promulgating drug addiction and alcoholism in an attempt to undermine the naturally “collectivist†nature of Slavic peoples, thus hastening their extinction.
Promulgating drug addiction and alcoholism? Jews bringing down Gentile morality? This isn’t even original!
The Russian Communist Party, besides being notoriously anti-Semitic, is attempting to re-unify the former Soviet Union under a socialist banner. The party’s head, Gennady Zyuganov, plans to run for president of Russia in 2008. They got 16.75% of the vote in Moscow in 2005 — and in the arctic district of Nenetsia, they received 27% of the vote and beat Putin’s United Russia party.
They received 13.7% of the popular vote in the election which saw Vladimir Putin become the new president.
When an official party’s lawmaker says such things about Jews — and this party is getting parliamentary seats in various regions (Georgia’s region of Abhkazia also enlisted their support for its Communist Party) — and 51 out of 450 national parliamentary seats in 2003 — one can not help but notice.
by David Kelsey [➚] · Thursday, January 25th, 2007
Since I began my investigation of NCSY back in September, my primary concern has been that America’s foremost after school youth program for Jewish teens is advocating haredism (ultra-Orthodoxy) to secular Jews under the guise of Modern Orthodoxy. In fact, in a two and even three step program, NCSY is proselytizing under an ecumenical veneer, recruiting non-Orthodox Jewish teens to their programs directly from the public school system, through the Jewish Student Union (JSU).
JSU claims,
The mission of Jewish Student Union is to get more Jewish teens attending public high schools to do something Jewish! That’s it! It’s that simple!!!
Some of the JSU’s activities are in school, and some of them are after school. JSU has pizza parties, and during school hours, is open to anybody. NCSY’s JSU works with faculty and even has begun partnering with non-Orthodox groups, such as BBYO.
But JSU is ultimately controlled from the top by NCSY. Even the “dean” of the Jewish Student Union is the national director of NCSY, Rabbi Stephen Burg, though he is listed only on the JSU site as a “cool advisor,†without his title, not even of “rabbi,†and like many of its Orthodox advisory staff, without an actual photo. The relationship between JSU and NCSY is not revealed clearly, and by failing to disclose this information NCSY may be seen as attempting to disguise both their control of the program and its goals.
More »
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol [➚] · Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Apparently Kosher Today has now started a war against the Conservative Movement’s not yet even fledgling Tzedek Hechsher. Failed Messiah has been blogging up a storm on their most recent efforts to undermine the possibility of this actually happening. Gotta love it: Kashrut is big business, so hey, who cares that there are a few laws about how one treats workers, too? Those darn Conservative Jews, always looking at social issues.
Fhew.
No sense reinventing the wheel, story here, extensive quoting:
failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/01/the_truth_about.html
failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/01/how_accurate_is.html
failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/01/the_campaign_ag.html
by Mobius [➚] · Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
The AP reports,
At a stormy, nationally televised speech at his official residence Wednesday night, [Israeli President Moshe] Katsav professed his innocence and accused the police and media of working together to bring him down, using terms like “witch hunt” and “McCarthyism.” He angrily pounded the podium and his voice cracked during a rambling diatribe that lasted nearly an hour.
“Don’t believe the libel, the defamation, the lies. There is only one truth … I am the target of one of the worst attacks in the history of the state of Israel,” Katsav said, gesturing with a pointed finger, pounding on the podium and shouting at a reporter. He pledged to “fight to my last breath, even if it means a world war, to clear my name.”
He refused to answer questions from reporters in his first appearance before them since the scandal broke six months ago.
After reading that framing of Katsav’s speech, I have to wonder if he’s telling the truth. That story reads like a press resentful of being called out on their shit. Check Katsav out yo:
In Israel 2007, it seems there is no need in this for proofs or for evidence; it’s enough just to hear one side; my fate was decreed even before I could say one word. Not one of you [reporters] has seen one shred of evidence against me. There is no evidence against me.
But you in the press did not allow the facts to bother you. You did not stop for a second to ask yourselves if maybe the accusations are not true. Not one of you asked questions; not one of you – not one radio or TV or newspaper – did an investigative piece to see if it’s true. You transgressed all journalist ethics!
I know what bothered you – that six years ago I was elected President [defeating Shimon Peres]. You wrote at the time that it was the end of Zionism, etc. I should be ashamed of myself? You should be ashamed of yourselves for writing such things about a democratic vote in the legislature!
[...]
Yes, it’s the same media of which one journalist wrote that when I was elected President, he felt as bad as he felt the day that Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was murdered. Can you understand this comparison, citizens of Israel?
[...]
I saw myself as a symbol of all those who do not belong to the elitist, ego-swollen clique of those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, who see themselves as the only ones worthy of representing the public!
For years, the press looked all over the place for something with which to besmirch me, but thank G-d, they found nothing. They went as far back as my 2nd grade school! But they found zero, they failed; they found nothing. I cannot understand where this hatred comes from, this urge to devour, that takes over the sense of truth and justice.
[...]
I admit that I would like to resign now; you have succeeded in taking away the joy of serving in this honorable position. It would be easy for me to quit. I am tired of this witch hunt. But the alternative is to surrender. I refuse to give in to blackmail and lies.
The police set itself a target of convicting a President of the State – yes, this is true. They did this because the police knew it would be popular in the eyes of the media.
Not one of you – no journalists, no politicians, not even my lawyers – have seen the evidence. I know the truth. The evidence is on my side, the truth is on my side.
[...]
But I ask you what should a man do if he knows he’s clean, the Attorney General has not decided, and it’s all a libel – should he give up and quit just because of a media lynch? No. I will not cooperate with anyone who wants to execute someone without a trial. You want to execute someone without a trial – do so; I will not cooperate.
McCarthyism has been revived here in Israel. And one of the worst dangers is the cooperation between the police and media. In any normal country, the media are the last line of defense for a citizen who demands simple justice and basic civil rights. When the police persecute people in a totalitarian country, the media rises to protect him. But here the media and the police work together, leak to each other – and the civil rights of the citizens are trampled. Where are the bleeding hearts? Why don’t they raise their voice against this injustice?
Read the full transcript here.
by Y-Love [➚] · Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
Plans for permanent housing for Jewish settlers removed from Gaza, after over ten months of bureaucracy, are now beginning to come to fruition, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday.
As JPost reports:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged on Tuesday to start building new homes for 400 Gaza evacuee families in the Lachish region, between Jerusalem and Beersheva within six months.
“There is no limit to the area’s potential,” said Olmert as he visited the empty construction site in the South.
“I would like, not in one year, but already within six months to come here again to see the tractors working and to breathe in the dust, to see the foundations being poured and the buildings rising,” he said. “There is no reason that this will not happen.”
Government plans call for creating seven new communities in Lachish with approximately 4,600 housing units. About 400 of the units have been earmarked for Gaza evacuees still living in temporary homes.
This is great, however, as Arutz Sheva reports, at least a few residents are skeptical the governments’ plans of permanent housing will ever be carried out, with their representative saying, “our faith will return when we see the tractors at work.”
However, one can not gloss over the glaring discrepancy in numbers:
According to the Disengagement Authority, only about 200 of the 1,350 Gaza families who plan to build new homes have received building lots from the state. The lots in Lachish have yet to be formally assigned.
So let us do the math: 200 of the original 1,350 families have received building lots from the state. An additional 400 lots will be assigned in Lachish. Even if we will assume that all of the housing is two-family housing, this would still be housing only for 1,000 families. This would still potentially leave 350 families still without lots to build homes on, still in trailers or hotels, still without permanent housing, 18 months after the Disengagement.
And, remember, we are talking about lots, not one new home has been actually built for the evacuees.
Some residents want to be relocated into communities resembling the communities they left — they want to be relocated with their neighbors, leaving social ties intact. It is highly unlikely that all residents with such feelings will have their requests met.
Housing and Construction Minister Meir Sheetrit adjoined his own feelings to PM Olmert’s pledge for housing:
“There is absolutely no justification for this. With all due respect, this is not the way to run things. This could have all been approved in a day,” he said.
Could have? Only history will verify the veracity of that statement. But one thing is for sure, it definitely should have. Relocating over one thousand families with no destination, no plan B, and no talks of a destination (as there is over a half-year gap between the Disengagement and the beginning of the talks which led to this Lachish project) is irresponsible at best, a crime against the humanity of one’s own population at worst.
In addition, even with these new construction plans, many of the evacuees’ needs will still be left sorely unfulfilled. Disengagement Administration head Zvia Shimon noted that while the construction is welcome, “alongside construction we need to find solutions for employment, education and welfare.” “Still need to find a solution for education” — does this mean that hundreds of kids are still without permanent schools?
Is Olmert’s “new vision” too little too late for the relocated settlers?
by BZ [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
It’s that time again! The courses have been announced for the 2007 National Havurah Committee Summer Institute (August 6-12, 2007), a week of multigenerational nondenominational Jewish learning where every teacher is a student and every student is a teacher.
Drum roll…………
More »
by Rooftopper Rav [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
For the New Yorkers among us, check out these two classes being taught by the hip young documentary filmmaker, Faye Lederman. One explores Black-Jewish relations through film, and the other (co-taught by the equally great Wendy Amsellem) uses film to explore the tensions between Judaism and modern society.
Imagining Alliances: The Black-Jewish Relationship Explored Through Film
Taught by Faye Lederman
Tues 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Jan. 30 Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27 Mar. 6, 13, 20
Where do Jewish and African-American cultures, politics, and immigrant
experiences overlap and where do they diverge? When did the accepted notion
of a historic Jewish-black alliance fall apart and why? Explore the past and
present of black-Jewish relations through films such as Black to the
Promised Land, From Swastika to Jim Crow, and Strange Fruit. We’ll also
examine the overlap of these two ethnic identities through films about black
Jews, such as The Commandment Keepers. Short written texts will help frame
our discussions of both documentary and fiction films.
www.adultjewishlearning.org/courses.cgi
www.newday.com/filmmakers/Faye_Lederman.html
Projecting Ideas: Exploring Tensions Between Judaism and Modern Society
Co-taught by Faye Lederman and Wendy Amsellem
Tues 8:15 PM – 9:45 PM
Jan. 30 Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27 Mar. 6, 13, 20
As Judaism adapts to and embraces various host cultures, it must confront
and grapple with the challenging social issues and inherent tensions in
modern society. This unique course will pair screenings of Jewish films with
related text studies from Jewish tradition, allowing us to more fully
explore, from both visual and written textual standpoints, several seldom
discussed issues in a Jewish context. Discuss how film itself is text and
how the visual experience of film compares to words on a page. Topics
include women’s status, gay and lesbian issues, illness/healing, and
disabilities. Films will include excerpts from Tehora, Mekudeshet (Sentenced
to Marriage), Keep Not Silent: Ortho-dykes, and Praying with Lior.
www.adultjewishlearning.org/courses.cgi
www.newday.com/filmmakers/Faye_Lederman.html
by Lilit [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
In my inbox this morning I discovered the following email from my friend at Sundance:
So last night me and some friends (including Jesse Metcalfe from ‘Desperate Housewives’…) went to see Justin Timberlake and Timbaland perform at a small club.
Apparently JT and Timbaland decided not to show for some reason. Word got around that they were no-shows, eventually reaching the ears of a certain Hasidic rapper who took it upon himself to perform in their absence.
Matisyahu saved the day. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
Now, if only I could figure out what Matis was doing at Sundance…
by sarah [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Last year, I went to this awesome event here in San Francisco, and I babbled on at such great length to the organizers about how great it was that they turned around and hired me to produce it this year. Seriously.
It gives me great pleasure to announce the BJE’s Second Annual Feast of Jewish Learning in San Francisco with special guest Y-Love. This is a Limmud-style event that happens in one giant building on one giant day in the heart of SF. It is the onl event of its kind all year long in our fair city so you won’t want to miss it! Last year, 500 people attended. Let’s make it even bigger. Please RSVP immediately so’s we can get our caterer busy schechting and stuff.
The Bureau of Jewish Education is proud to present:
“Telling Secrets, Revealing Mysteriesâ€
The Second Annual Young Adult Feast of Jewish Learning.
At the JCC of San Francisco: 3200 California St.
Sunday, February 25, 4:00pm to 10:00pm
FREE OF CHARGE
RSVP with your full name to feastrsvp@bjesf.org so that we save you a seat, and know how much food to get!
Join 500 of your best friends for twenty-five free workshops on Jewish thought, text, life and love. It’s all free. All you have to do is show up, and we’ll supply the Bay Area’s most exciting Jewish faculty, free kosher food, the West Coast premiere of hip hop artist Y-Love, plus plenty of He’brew beer and schmooze time.
Whether you’re a little yeshiva bachur or a total newbie, there’s something here for you. The program features different branches of Judaism and totally different outlooks on life – academic, secular, orthodox, queer, activist, romantic, businessy…Feeling texty? There’s lots of Talmud and Torah – in both classic and more edgy presentations – on the menu. Spiritually inclined? Learn about Hasidic practice, study Kabbalah – the real thing, or sing the mystical songs called nigguns. How about something completely different, like yoga, theater, baking or film? Each participant can attend two 90-minute workshops from great local presenters like
Rabbi Camille Angel * Sam Ball * Rabbi Eve Ben-Ora * Maya Bernstein * Mitch Braff Dr. Marc Dollinger * Estelle Frankel * Dr. David Henkin * Hazzan Richard Kaplan * Emily Shapiro Katz * Rabbi Lawrence Kushner * Rabbi Sydney Mintz * Rabbi Gedalia Potash * Leah Potash * Bill Selig * Rabbi Henry Shreibman * Maggid Jhos Singer Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz * Reise Tanner * Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan
Bring your friends and partners: this day of education is open to everyone 21-45. Get the full scoop at www.bjesf.org/feast.
Co-presented by the Taube Center for Jewish Life of JCCSF. The Feast of Jewish Learning is made possible, in part, thanks to the Milton & Sophie Meyer Fund and Sinai Memorial Chapel. Bureau of Jewish Education is a beneficiary of the SF-based Jewish Community Federation.
by EV [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Steve Martin imagines Islamic fascist Paradise.
Virgin No. 36: Sure, I like you, but as a friend.
Virgin No. 37: No kissing. I save that for my boyfriend.
Virgin No. 38: I’m Zania, from the planet Xeron. My vagina is on my foot.
Virgin No. 39: It’s a lesion, and, no, I don’t know what kind.
Virgin No. 40: I’m Jewish. Why do you ask?
Read the rest here.
by Mobius [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Lisa Goldberg, president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation, passed away last night at the age of 54, after suffering a brain aneurism.
I met Lisa when I was contacted by her assistants to potentially consult on various web-based projects for the foundation. Lisa was impressed with my work, particularly on Jew It Yourself, but saw me as a long-shot funding candidate because of my penchant for incendiary politics and Internet drama. However, rather than pushing me out the door, like most funders, she took an active interest in my projects and offered me work, presenting me with an unparalleled opportunity to prove myself, to clean up my image and to make Matzat more known and attractive to the funding establishment. “Help me fund you,” she said, inviting me to a seat at the table.
Lisa was a rare bird, for that. She was the type of Jewish professional folks like me dream of. She believed in me and my vision and wanted to see it grow, even if she couldn’t be the one to fund it.
For that simple act of faith, I thank her and mourn the loss of great Jewish soul: One willing to take a chance on a nut like me, and who in doing so, gave me strength and confidence to persevere in my work when so much seemed in doubt.
Thank you Lisa. And goodbye.
by Mobius [➚] · Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
- Music — Amy Winehouse (SL: “She’s smoking.”)
Runners-up: Regina Spektor, Golem (JA: “We had a Chanukah hora going for like a half hour in Boston.”), Y-Love, Rav Shmuel, Sway Machinery, Vulgar Bulgars, The Moshav Band, C Lanzbom & Noah Solomon, Hadag Nachash (DR: “Gets some points for writing a song in which they sexually proposition California.”)
- Movie — Borat (RA: “Even though he will throw money at us and run away.”)
Runners-up: Close to Home (SL: “The Israeli army buddy film, is not only one of the best Jewy movies, it was one of the best movies I saw last year, period.”), Live and Become (RL: “If you haven’t seen it, you should.”)
- Magazine — a tie between New Voices (JB: “It’s a magazine for Jewish students and has become one of, if not the only print publication that is actually willing to take on the tough and important stuff in American Jewish communities. Who else covered The Queeruption? Has frequent contributions from Jews living in Arab countries [and occupied territories]? Jewish space and nationalisms, gender issues, Hillel’s paternal attitude towards Jewish students. You get the idea.”) & Zeek
Runners-up: American Jewish Life (MR: “Because they’re doing stories that are actually interesting and appealing to the mass while still trying to affect social and religious change, instead of just being controversial for the sake of being controversial [ahem] and appealing to an ever-diminishing crowd of people who get the Jewish in-references.”)
- TV Show — The Colbert Report
Runners-up: Daily Show, Weeds, Aqua Teen Hunger Force
- Book — The World To Come by Dara Horn (MR: “This is blowing me away — it’s so
much better than I thought the latest Jewish buzz-bin writer would be.”)
Runners-up: The Dialogues of Time and Entropy by Aryeh Lev Stollman, New York by Will Eisner (MR: “The last hurrah by the last of a dying breed of Manhattanite.”)
- Organization — Jewish FundS for Justice (RL: “For their work on congregational based organizing, minimum wage, standing up for MoveOn, JSpot, and their Selah leadership training for Jewish social justice leaders.” RA: “It’s nice to have a loud national Jewish social justice voice out there.”)
Runners-up: Keshet JTS, Encounter, Brit Tzedek V’Shalom, Moishe House (SL: “For rocking the early twenties social scene and giving the post-college set a non-judgemental place to hang out and celebrate on their own terms.”)
- People — Rahm Emmanuel & Chuck Schumer (RL: “The impact of Chuck and Rahm on this country takes the cake, whatever we think of their strategies.”)
Runner-up: Ruth Messinger (JA: “For her fearlessness in shaking American Jewry out of complacency, launching a march on Washington, ensuring Darfur stays in the news despite international best efforts to forget it, and demanding that we take a hard look at what ‘never again’ really means.”)
- News Story — a tie between CJLS gay teshuvot (DR: “It’s been an interesting year for the queer Jews.”) and the Lebanon War (SC: “If you’d told me [that CJLS would ordain gays] vs.
[there being a war with Lebanon] one year ago, the Lebanon War would have been more believable.”)
Runners-up: Lieberman losing the Democratic nomination, Abramoff scandal, Rubashkin’s kosher meat scandal, Soros’ AIPAC Alternative, World Pride Jerusalem
- Blog — JSpot
Runners-up: Jewbiquitous, Mah Rabu
by shamirpower [➚] · Monday, January 22nd, 2007
I just received the following in an email. Please send to anyone you know in that area and keep a look out:
Rachel Smith, from North Potomac, along with her friend Rachel Crites, have been missing since Friday, January 19th. They were going to a movie in Georgetown on Friday afternoon and haven’t been seen since. Rachel Smith, who is currently a junior at Wootten High School, also ran track last year. She is 5’1″ tall and weighs about 118 lbs. She has green eyes and medium-length brown hair (the photo below is a fairly current one of her). Rachel Smith is 16 and is too old for an “Amber Alert”. Her mom, Marian, is a preschool teacher at B’nai Tzedek. Marian just learned today that the last phone call she received from her daughter on Friday afternoon was actually traced to a cell tower in Charlestown, WV — so the girls could be
anywhere at this point.
Rachel Smith:
Rachel Crites:
They were last known to be travelling in a dark blue Subaru Outback Station Wagon with a black cargo box on the roof. The license plate number is MD:MBJ 485. Anyone who has any knowledge of where these girls might be or has seen the vehicle, please call Montgomery County Police ASAP at 301-279-8000 or 240-773-5400 or call 911.
And please circulate this message to everyone you know. Photos and above text also available here.
by Mobius [➚] · Monday, January 22nd, 2007
for Leah bat Ita, a rather important woman in the Jewish philanthropic community who is one of the very few who believes in projects like Jewschool and Jew It Yourself.
by sarah [➚] · Monday, January 22nd, 2007
“What’s your name?”
The words were shouted inches from my ear, heavily accented, angry.
“What do you do?”
“I’m a reporter.” My words were muffled by the cloth bag over my head, the rope around my throat that tightened every time I started to straighten my duct-taped legs. My hands, wrapped in coils of rope, had lost all sensation.
“A reporter! A Jewish reporter!” the voice roared. “You work for the Zionists! Do you work for the Mossad?” And the blows rained down, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make me happy when they stopped.
Then, the same voice: “Get the chain saw.”
I wasn’t too concerned. The voice was that of Doron Benbenisty, 37, owner and lead instructor of Las Vegas-based Crisis Response International. …the amount of muscle behind the beating was less amusing. But I had paid for this treatment: $800 for a three-day class on “Surviving Execution/Beheading/Assassination Attempts & Escaping from Captivity.” That’s with a holiday discount.
Read all about San Francisco’s new training course in hostage avoidance in today’s SF Chronicle.
I’m sure this is an important and probably vital part of training for journalists in some parts of the world these days, and in no way do I mean to trivialize this sort of thing, but why am I so delightedly unphased to find photos of hunky Israeli men – with guns no less – tying people up on the front page of the Chron? Oh yeah, because I live in San Francisco.
by EV [➚] · Monday, January 22nd, 2007
According to The New York Times:
[Robert] Crumb’s current project has him spending a lot of time in the past. He is illustrating the opening book of the Bible, Genesis, and spends hours in his study deep in the Crumb house consulting translations of Sumerian legends, Hebrew and Christian scholarly interpretations of the Bible and reproductions of illuminated manuscripts.
The work contains biblical scenes populated with classic R. Crumb women, their legs and ankles hearty, their breasts straining through flimsy dresses. But the work is not sexually graphic. Nor has the artist altered a word of the Genesis text.
Full story.
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