Beinart vs. Gordis
No RSVP required — first-come, first served. And livestreamed via Tablet Mag: www.facebook.com/TabletMag
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Hebrew edition of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”
I have to admit musician Gotye’s hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” has been stuck in my head for a week. And it’s inspired a host of covers and parodies. Below is a tongue in cheek cover of a cover in Hebrew. In it, Roi Lavi and the Good Guys reproduce a six-on-one-guitar cover of the song by Walk Off the Earth. Original videos below the fold.
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I was an Everett Fellow and so can you
Attend the NHC Summer Institute as an Everett Fellow! Application Deadline – May 2nd
Imagine late-night singing and philosophical discussions under the stars; engrossing Jewish learning; opportunities to participate in a variety of services, arts experiences, Shabbat celebrations, and outdoor activities; meeting a group of dynamic, thoughtful, energetic Jewish young adults as well as community members of all ages at a weeklong institute. Sounds fantastic, right?
The NHC (National Havurah Committee) Summer Institute is now accepting applications for its Everett Fellows Program! Fellows participate in the full Summer Institute programming and in four workshops designed specifically for them. As a Fellow, you receive a scholarship for tuition, room, and board, and are expected to pay only for registration and dues ($120) for the full week (August 6-12).
To apply for an Everett Fellowship, you must be 22 through 32 years of age, interested in exploring Havurah Judaism, and willing to participate fully in the Summer Institute. Preference is given to first time Institute attendees. The application can be found here
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The Hebron Matza Cover Initiative
This year, Project Hayei Sarah is using the holiday of Passover as an opportunity to support Palestinian friends in Hebron whose ability to take care of their families is severely harmed by the occupation. Project Chayei Sarah is a group of rabbinical students, rabbis, Jewish educators and lay-leaders who have spent time in Hebron and are grappling with the difficult realities we encountered there. Those, like myself, who have been to Hebron use the annual reading of Parshat Hayei Sarah, the Torah reading in which Abraham buys part of what is considered to be modern-day Hebron, as an opportunity educate our communities about the situation there.
In the H2 section of Hebron, the economy of the Palestinian community has been nearly destroyed due to the presence of Jewish settlers. At seder tables all over Jerusalem, friends of Project Hayei Sarah used matzah covers hand made especially for them by Women in Hebron. Purchased as an act of solidarity and of hidur mitzvah — beautification/elevation of a commandment — the matzah covers remind us of the liberation we need to continue working towards in Hebron.
“While everyone is busy debating about to boycott or not to boycott, we wanted to raise a new question: how might we, as Jews, support Palestinian economies?” relayed project coordinator Alana Alpert.
Fellow activist Moriel Rothman added, “On passover, we recall that we were once slaves in the Land of Egypt. It does not befit a community of ex-slaves to oppress others as Israel is doing in the city of Hebron. Selling the Matzah Covers on Ben Yehuda was an attempt both to support the Women of Hebron, and to encourage Israelis and visitors to Israel to learn about the situation in Hebron, as we reflect collectively on the meaning of freedom.”
To learn more about the situation in Hebron, visit the experts:
breakingthesilence.org.il, rhr.org.il/eng and btselem.org.
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Dear organizers: Boycott voted down, you must now heal the Park Slope Food Coop
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Co-Occupation | ||||
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Last night, the members of the Park Slope Feed Coop voted 1,005 against and 653 in favor of a [referendum on] boycott of five Israeli products, soundly voting the measure down. Both sides claim victory, of course. The pro-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) side claims increased awareness for Israel’s occupation; the anti-BDS activists claim a 2:1 ratio of defeat for veiled calls against Israel’s existence. Both, of course, are right. But now they must both do what neither side — pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian — typically does: deescalate the charged polarization they worked so hard to create. More »
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Watch J Street’s #MakingHistory live (or after the fact)
Starting at 6:30 pm, you can watch the livestream of J Street’s final session featuring one of the weirdest line ups I’ve seen: former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Women of the Wall leader Anat Hoffman, and Yiddish actor Theodor Bikel. Also, check out the many sessions already posted online (with more to come).
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Some perspective on J Street, four years in
Some perspective: In 2006, the Second Intifada was barely tapering off. Peace fatigue was high – disbelief was even higher. Yet a plucky little organization composed of grassroots Jewish activists in dozens of cities across America was hard at work. No, this wasn’t J Street. J Street would be founded a few years later by Washington veterans seeking to compliment this grassroots network. This was Brit Tzedek v’Shalom.
I was the New York City co-chair for Brit Tzedek and a board member in charge of online outreach. We had a budget of less than a half a million dollars. Our single paid organizer managed a membership of 36,000 across America and some two dozen sizable chapters. In NYC, my small activist team worked alone and overwhelmed in American’s biggest Jewish community to be a pro-Israel, pro-peace voice. A national tour took Combatants for Peace, featuring former IDF soldiers and former Palestinian militants, to packed synagogues and JCCs across the country at a time actively hostile to peace. We held five annual conferences in Washington, DC. We were incredibly proud to have a whopping 300 attendees. Knesset leaders from Meretz and Labor sometimes came. Often our legislative meetings with Representatives and Senators were held in hallways and Congressional cafeterias. More »
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Commentary blogger impugns Jewschool for support of OWS and J Street
Over at Commentary Magazine, Jewschool has been impugned in the silliest of conspiracy theories. (Sorry, and you thought this post would be newsworthy!) Apparently, we’ve colluded with the pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby J Street to “insulate” Occupy Wall Street from spurious accusations of rampant antisemitism. Both of those bodies — J Street and OWS — of course represent the vilest of trends in American life to Commentary.
Commentator Omri Ceren spins this giddy tale: J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami worked through Jewschool “boss” Daniel Sieradski to sic on OWS’s critics figures like former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and former Vermont Governor Madeline Kunin. All to protect OWS from the vile Jew-hating going on under its auspices. The evidence: the phrase “Occupy Wall Street” occurs 700+ times in our archives, we’re co-sponsoring the J Street conference, and the Sieradski-operated Occupy Judaism site suspiciously vanished last night!
If Ceren had any journalistic chops, this entertaining proposal would have unraveled before embarrassing himself and his sponsor. As Sieradski rebutted last night, a simple tweet or email would have revealed:
Just for your information: I resigned from Jewschool in 2007 when I went to work at JTA News as part of a noncompete agreement and have had no relationship to the site in the successive five years. Also, Occupy Judaism has never worked with J Street in any capacity and the letter, to my understanding, originated with Mark Green and Elliot Spitzer, not J Street. Furthermore, I did not take the Occupy Judaism site down – I was experiencing an issue with my DNS server which I was unaware of until I saw Omri’s tweets accusing me of colluding with J Street to hide said letter.
As of yesterday morning, Ceren acknowledged his lack of professionalism when he changed a few lines in his article, but posted neither correction notice nor apology.
As for Jewschool’s involvement in both the Occupy movement and J Street, we’re quite comfortable with our association to both. For the third time, we’re co-sponsoring J Street’s conference and a half-dozen of our writers will be there. A number of our contributors were (and remain) active members of Occupy Wall Street and leaders in Occupy Judaism. Now, we’re not prone to statements of what Jewschool as a whole believes — our editorial board and contributors, all volunteers, run the full spectrum of progressive views. But I think it’s quite safe to say that we enjoy being portrayed by Commentary’s comical conspiracy as a hub of activism on progressive movements within America and American Jewry today.
And, look, Jewschool is no stranger to amateur blogging — we’re all volunteers here, writing about Jews and progressive issues because of our passion for both. If Ceren made a few mistakes, we’ll forgive him that. Here, we don’t have paid staff or editors to fact check everything. We’re not lush with Commentary’s generous editorial budget. But we expect every writer to blog from personal experience (not Googling), to fact check, and when proven wrong to own their mistakes like big kids. But our masthead is clearly posted, our Twitter and email accounts are active, and yet never once have we or Sieradski been contacted. It’s clear from Commentary’s recent history that their mistakes are ideologically motivated. And the editorial staff seem to hardly care, for this continues to be a problem. As of today neither Ceren nor Tobin gave Jewschool, Sieradski, or Occupy Wall Street any courtesy of an apology or noted correction.
Commentary Magazine: all the news that’s fit to Google with half the accuracy.
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Fes-TAV-al celebrates Uri L’Tzedek’s 100th restaurant
Mazel tov to Uri L’Tzedek, the Orthodox social justice organization that pioneered an fair wage certification, has reached their 100th certification! If I weren’t at a bris this weekend, I’d be there.
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Jon Stewart: “Because in Israel, apparently you’re allowed to criticize Israel”
And below the fold, the John Oliver plays a game of “Who Wants to Join the United Nations” with Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour.
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Shimon Peres’ Noy Alooshe Hasbara Remix
Everybody! Shimon Peres has a sense of humor aaaaaaand a Facebook page! He really wants to hear your voice and be your friend for peace. Peace peace peace! If we say it with high production values on the YouTubes then it will make it happen, don’t you see? (Hat tip Aaron Bisman.)
This, ladies and gentlemen, is not your crazy, racist uncle’s Israel advocacy. Somebody at the Foreign Ministry finally read a social media manual. Say welcome to hasbara 2.0.
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Blog your way to the J Street conference for free
Jewschool is co-sponsoring J Street’s Making History conference on March 24-27. As we did in 2009, we want to send two smart, dedicated, insightful and prolific Jewschool fans to cover the conference with the rest of our contributor team. Applicants agree to:
- Attend as Jewschool official press with access to J Street’s press box and office.
- Write one post 2-3 weeks before the conference.
- Write one post on Saturday night and at least one post per day on Sunday and Monday.
- Write one follow-up post within a week after the conference.
Application details below the fold! More »
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Jewschool co-sponsors J Street’s “Making History” on March 24-27 (updated)
[Want to attend J Street's "Making History" conference for free as Jewschool's blogger? Details here.]
Jewschool is excited to partner with J Street on “Making History” their 2012 national conference in Washington! Our team covered their inaugural conference in 2009, including Rabbi Eric Yoffie’s chastisement of the Jewish left, critiques of the social justice rhetoric, and musings on its centrist positions. Again in 2011, we covered the controversy of a speaker in favor of divestment, video interviews with the imam of Park 51 and Mona Eltahawy, and thoughts from the only attendee who also went to TribeFest.
It’s an election year and this gathering takes on new-found purpose. The movement has proven it’s here to stay and the list of impressive speakers grows. Just a sampling:
- Amoz Oz, author known as Israel’s conscience
- Anat Hoffman, leader of Women of the Wall and director of the Israeli Religious Action Center
- Peter Beinart, political commentator who on that Monday night will launch his new book The Crisis of Zionism
[Update: Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be a keynote speaker.]
Also featuring Israeli human rights activists and Middle East journalists, such as leaders of last summer’s 500K-strong social protests, +972 Mag, Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity, Ir Amim, Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Yesh Din, Peace Now, the New Israel Fund, Rabbis for Human Rights and others. From Europe will be France’s J Call and the UK’s Yachad. There is a parade of former military leaders, journalists from America’s top publications, and Jewish institutions from around the world. The conference also features notable Palestinian perspectives, including +972 Mag’s Aziz Abu Sarah and One Voice Palestine’s Rami Rabaya.
Register here — and this year, take advantage of the “pay what you can” registration rate of $36.
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Sexy Israeli fashion shoot parodies mehadrin buses
The February issue of BelleMode, an Israeli fashion magazine, is speaking up against anti-women events in Israeli public life in its own provocative way. Their making-of video is below and here’s some of the full set. But here’s the question: protest notwithstanding, is this also sexist objectification?
Oh, and this is the first time I’ve ever checked the “fashion” category box in my life. Shehekhianu… (Hat tip Alix.)
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Coded anti-Semitism in Newt’s use of Saul Alinsky?
Gal Beckerman at the Forward posits that Newt Gingrich’s use of “food stamp President” holds racist overtones and that “Saul Alinsky radical” is pregnant with antisemitism. Newt seems to think the average American knows who Alinsky is and that conservatives know to hate him.
Is it true or not true? (Not the part about Obama being a leftist radical, we all know that’s not true. I mean Beckerman’s charge of antisemitism.)
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