by BZ · Friday, August 15th, 2008
At the aforementioned class on the Encyclopedia Judaica at this week’s NHC Summer Institute, we have looked at a number of articles, but this text from the Chaim Weizmann article stands out as fabulously awful.
There were times when Weizmann was seized with a poignant concern for Israel’s inner quality; but whenever he fell into doubts and regrets he looked through his window at Rehovot upon the verdant rolling plains and rich orange groves surrounding the scientific laboratories established under his inspiration. On a clear day his gaze would go as far as the Judean Hills. The landscape in between was dotted with villages and townships indicative of the new impetus given to Jewish national vitality. And then a deep contentment would come upon him, and his mind would become serene, as befitted a man who to a degree unshared by any figure in contemporary history had seen an improbable vision translated, largely through his own effort, into vibrant and solid reality.
(Wikipedia haters should note that this paragraph wouldn’t last for an hour on Wikipedia.)
(The article is signed by “A. EB.” That could be anyone!)
by Justin Goldstein · Friday, August 15th, 2008
= 
Interfax, the Russian state media, says ‘Yes!’ According to the
report, “Congress of the Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia believes, when Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili initiated military operations in South Ossetia, he committed the sin of Babylon king Nebuchadnezzar…” Nebuchadnezzar is the Babylonian king who destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem. Here’s the whole text of the report (it appears to be a rather poor translation):
More »
by Justin Goldstein · Thursday, August 14th, 2008
The Forward reports on more labor abuses, this time in their Brooklyn, NY warehouse.
Agriprocessors is engaged in legal battles against the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which the workers voted to join in 2005. Agriprocessors has refused their unionization and has appealed to every court they can–now they are appealing to the highest court in the land, the US Supreme Court. Agriprocessors’ lawyers claim the 2005 vote is defunct because 17 of the 21 workers who voted for unionization were undocumented workers–If undocumented workers aren’t legally allowed to work, how can they be legally allowed to join a union? Or so goes the logic of Agriprocessors’ team of lawyers. Problem with that argument is that in 1984, the US Supreme Court protected undocumented workers under the National Labor Relations Act–leading legal experts to presume the court will not hear the case.
According to the Forward report, it is presumed that the appeal to the Supreme Court is a stalling tactic to avoid enacting the will of their workers to unionize and protect their wages and rights.
Will this debacle ever end?
by Justin Goldstein · Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
The BBC reports that French prosecutors have opened an investigation.
The shirt is a reproduction of WWII era signs in Germany and Poland, it reads ‘Jews forbidden from entering the park’, and sells for 18 Euro (around $27).
This is unbelievable, but I have to admit, I kind of want one.
by Justin Goldstein · Monday, August 11th, 2008
I cannot help but notice that the Russian assault on Georgia goes unmentioned on Jewschool.
A little background: For the last couple of months there have been border clashes between Georgia and South Ossetia, a breakaway region between Georgia and Russia. Georgia is, of course, a former Soviet satellite state. On the morning of Friday, August 8 Georgia invaded and by the end of the day controlled most of South Ossetia. The evening of August 8 Russia responded with heavy attacks and were bombing in sovereign Georgian territory. On Sunday, August 10 Russia began a steady bombing campaign on Tbilisi, the Georgian capital and opened a second front from the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. Russia is being accused of exanding its war technologically. The US has been very firm in its reprimand on the Russian invasion. Putin says, ‘shove off.’ The newsmedia is, of course, just an easy search away.
What does this have to do with Israel? More »
by Justin Goldstein · Sunday, August 10th, 2008
The Iranian Olympic Delegation
It has happened again. They’ve made excuses since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 not to compete against Israelis–you may remember in ‘04 it was a Judo match, and this year it is swimming.
the report and more after the jump More »
by Diaspora Mentality · Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
Paramilitary American Jews aren’t just for the territories anymore. According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, “Kitat Konenut New York,” has been in existence since 2006. They describe themselves as a “competent and professional group of armed volunteers ready to respond to a threat at a moment’s notice in any area where Jews reside.” The article goes on to explain that Kitat Konenut New York holds 10-day training camps in the Catskills where participants get sharpshooter and assault rifle training (with some halacha thrown in) for a mere $400.
Says one of the men quoted in the article, “We believe all Jews in the US must be legally armed and trained, and towards this goal we hold paramilitary training camps to train and equip Jewish American youth.” The article mentions that private donors help fund the program but does not give names.
Boy, won’t you feel safer at your retreat this summer knowing these guys are around the corner?
Also, they have a Facebook page.
by Justin Goldstein · Sunday, July 27th, 2008
The New York Times has a pretty good article that focuses less on Rubashkin and more on the immigrants. What is striking about this article is it specifically addresses the issues involving child labor (with sound clips of three teenage workers). It seems that the underage workers could be the “coin that tips the scale,” so to speak, regarding whether or not Aaron Rubashkin (and presumably others) will face criminal charges. According to the report,
In formal declarations, immigrants have described pervasive labor violations at the plant, testimony that could result in criminal charges for Agriprocessors executives, labor law experts said.
There are also some shocking accounts, as shocking as things found in the previous post on the Agriprocessors scandal, like this:
“The floor supervisor then took one of the meat hooks and hit the Guatemalan with it,” the informant said, adding that the blow did not cause “serious injuries.”
And this one, for myself, is particularly hard to read:
Elmer L. said that he was clearing cow innards from the slaughter floor last Aug. 26 when a supervisor he described as a rabbi began yelling at him, then kicked him from behind. The blow caused a freshly-sharpened knife to fly up and cut his elbow.
He was sent to a hospital where doctors closed the laceration with eight stitches. But he said that when he returned, his elbow still stinging, to ask for some time off, his supervisor ordered him back to work.
The next day, as he was lifting a cow’s tongue, the stitches ruptured, Elmer L. said, and the wound bled again. He said he was given a bandage at the plant and sent back to work. The incident is confirmed in a worker’s injury report filed on Aug. 31, 2007, by Agriprocessors with the Iowa labor department.
a few personal thoughts, after the jump More »
by Justin Goldstein · Friday, July 25th, 2008
Ma’ariv has published Barack Obama’s note that he left in the Western Wall.
I read it–I feel pretty ashamed I did, it’s quite beautiful and simple (and I hope honest). This never should have been printed, but since it is now widely spread around the world, thanks to the handy InterWeb, if you care to take a look, click here.
But, really, what kind of yeshiva student steals a person’s note in the Western Wall, and what kind newspaper prints it? hutzpah, shande or umfarshemt? I’m not sure which applies.
by Kung Fu Jew · Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Who the hell comes up with the English language titles for Ha’aretz? Check it.
by Justin Goldstein · Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
[Pictured is Swift Boat Veterans for Truth backer, Ambassador to Belgium and RJC Chairman Sam Fox]
According to the Huffington Post, Suzanne Kurtz, communications director for the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), is making up news–and not the funny kind that Jon Stewart and the Onion are so good at putting together. And it’s also not funny who is paying for it.
A press release was issued Monday calling on Barack Obama “to drop Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) from his upcoming trip to Israel.”
Mr. Hagel is not, however, joining Mr. Obama to Israel; Afghanistan and Iraq, yes; Israel, not-so-much. It seems that the folks at the RJC are trying to manipulate the news to make it appear that Senator Hagel is a close adviser on Israel to Senator Obama. The press release lists a resume of ‘anti-Israel highlights’ from Hagel’s recent career.
- In August 2006, Hagel was one of only 12 senators who refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
- In December 2005, Hagel was one of only 27 who refused to sign a letter to President Bush to pressure the Palestinian Authority to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections.
- In June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran’s nuclear program at the G-8 summit.
- In November 2001, Hagel was one of only 11 senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush not to meet with the late Yassir Arafat until his forces ended the violence against Israel.
- In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.
after the jump is a transcript of the phone call from Monday afternoon between The Huffington Post and the RJC, sad and entertaining–like fake news ought to be.
More »
by Justin Goldstein · Monday, July 14th, 2008
The New York Times has issued a searing (ha! pun not-so-much intended) editorial on the Postville affair, titled, “The Shame of Postville, Iowa”
In my opinion, skip the editorial and go straight to the source, an eye-witness essay of the handling of the workers. It is pretty disgusting and it’s too early in the morning to share any reactions; it’s really awful enough to stand on its own, no reflection necessary. Read for yourself at your own risk of queasiness and rage.
inside the essay you’ll find joyful reports, such as:
Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10. They appeared to be uniformly no more than 5 ft. tall, mostly illiterate Guatemalan peasants with Mayan last names, some being relatives (various Tajtaj, Xicay, Sajché, Sologüí…), some in tears; others with faces of worry, fear, and embarrassment. They all spoke Spanish, a few rather laboriously. It dawned on me that, aside from their Guatemalan or Mexican nationality, which was imposed on their people after Independence, they too were Native Americans, in shackles
by Justin Goldstein · Sunday, July 13th, 2008
This man has every reason to look this worried. In the latest news in the corruption scandal clouding Ehud Olmert’s questionable stint as PM, according to the Israeli Police, Olmert funded personal and family vacations on the dime of non-profits and charities.
According to one Ha’aretz report–
Responding to accusations he stole money from charities such as Yad Vashem and the AKIM association for the mentally disabled, Olmert said “these are institutions that I worked to advance and I invested immense energy into raising funds and I believe I made a significant contribution to them. Therefore, precisely against this backdrop, the exploitation in this way was particularly hurtful.”
more after the jump More »
by Shalom Rav · Sunday, June 15th, 2008
This just in: a Tennessee man is suing his church for $2.5 million, claiming that someone should have been there to catch him when he fell backwards in religious ecstasy:
(Matthew) Lincoln alleges that Lakewind (Church) and its pastors were “negligent in not supervising the catchers to be sure that they stood behind the person being prayed for…should they have a dizzying, fainting, or falling in the spirit as had occurred on many occasions before.”
I’m thinking there’s a fascinating dissertation to be written about the connection between fervently religious and American litigious…
by Kol Ra'ash Gadol · Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Week Five, Day Three
Tiferet of Hod
Week Five, Day Four
Netzach of Hod
So much for Hekhsher Tzedek. Apparently politics wins out over justice.
In a not very surprising move, the Conservative Movement has decided not to boycott Rubashkin.
Calls this week by activist rabbis for a limited boycott have been muted out of concern that a boycott could be actionable and might discourage Jews from keeping kosher because kosher meat would be harder to access.
Actionable? Are you kidding? Seriously, what would be pure enough to get something started? Let’s see, we have major violations of Dina d’malchuta dina, loads of other, amazingly varied halachic violations that have now gone on for years - and in theory have actually spurred the Conservative movement to the unusual action of attempting to actually do something (follow-through apparently being a little slow, ahem). The moral and halachic violations range from abuse of workers’ labor to sexual abuse; apparently there are allegations of the drug methamphetamine being produced at the site, and that rabbinic supervisors, specifically have abused plant workers. Not to mention child labor violations, identity theft, illegal weapons sales, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
So, what would be enough to get the Jewish world to move? Can anyone possibly believe that they are totally innocent? That poor old Rubashkin’s is being railroaded? I mean, reality check: When is the Jewish community going to get off its collective Butt?
If for no other reason, we should be boycotting because this will make people look at us and say, if that’s what Jews do, I want no part of it. Note to the Conservative movement: This includes your followers whom you are trying so valiantly to get to keep kosher. IMO, more people will quit keeping kosher over your spinelessness than over the lack of available kosher meat. The folks who keep kosher now aren’t going to stop for this reason. Not to mention that all those young folks you’re trying to attract: they’re leaving because they look and see that something is seriously wrong here. As a Jew, I am embarrassed and ashamed about the lack of response from all the movements, but CJ, your Hekhsher Tzedek plans give you a special responsibility. Live up to it. Stand up for something, already.
And, Hey, Orthodoxy, you have a chance here to outmoral the left: get up and do something, will you? Somebody? Anybody? Before all the holiness drains out of the world?
by shamirpower · Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Way to demonstrate the letter of the law:
Police on Monday afternoon arrested a 27-year-old yeshiva student for undressing in a Bat Yam supermarket, wearing only a sock to cover his genitals, to protest a recent controversial court ruling which permitted the sale of chametz in some businesses.
…
Eyewitnesses stated the 27-year-old had the inscription “this is not public” scrawled on his abdomen. He claimed that since chamez was sold on the premises, it could therefore not be legally recognized as a public place, and as such, there were no grounds to press charges against him.
And what’s with the photo that goes with the article? Are we to infer that this is the guy in a trench coat before flashing? Does anyone even wear coats like that in Jerusalem in April?
(h/t to JM)
by Josh Frankel · Thursday, April 10th, 2008
I got this e-mail from a good fried of mine this morning. Tyson Herberger is a well-travelled, multilingual, Orthodox Jew. He’s married, lives in Jerusalem, and is pretty hard to pin down politically. You must read
Some of you may already now from reading the morning papers, but I am under house arrest for being a journalist.
Earlier this week Israel’s communications ministry and israeli police raided the Jerusalem studios of the radio station I work at. They seized all of the equipment in the studio itself, though left the rest of the offices intact. Everyone present at the time of the raid was taken into police custody for questioning. They released the secreatary after about 7 or 8 hours, and took the other 7 of us to
jail for the night as we were being detained.
More »
by shamirpower · Friday, March 28th, 2008
A few blocks from where I live in Park Slope, a young Chabad Rabbi was surprised to have his kippah swiped:
A New York teenager is being charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime after allegedly stealing a Wellesley rabbi’s yarmulke in a Brooklyn subway station last week. Rabbi Uria Ohana, 25, a rabbinical assistant at the Wellesley-Weston Chabad Center, had just entered a Park Slope subway station at 4th Avenue and 9th street at 6:20 p.m. on March 18 when he felt someone grab his yarmulke.
Turning around, he said, he saw an Arab teenager running down the stairs, and decided to chase him to get his yarmulke back. Running through the station, they passed a group of the boy’s friends who began chasing Ohana and screaming, “Allahu Akhbar!â€
Ohana chased the boy, identified as Ali Hussein, 18, of Queens, outside, where he ran into the street and was hit by a car. Hussein’s friends caught up with Ohana and began shouting, “you see what you do?†punching him in the head, and screaming “Allahu Akhbar. There were numerous witnesses outside the crowded subway station, he said, and many of them pulled out cell phones to call 911. Before police arrived, a black SUV pulled up, and two of Ohana’s attackers jumped in the car and drove away, leaving Hussein at the scene…
More from the Daily News.
