Is it really necessary after all these years to spell out exactly what a malignant joke Geraldo Rivera is? If his history of shenanigans somehow escaped your radar, a quick glance at his Wikipedia entry is all one needs to see why Geraldo is one of those people who have helped turn US television news from what it used to be into the pathetic, dumbed-down, quasi-form-of-entertainment, nonsense and outright voyeurism that it is today. It’s no coincidence that this self-styled “liberal” is none the less mostly employed by Fox “News.”

In keeping with his long standing tradition of mediocrity – in a recent appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Geraldo launched another stupid rant about religious figures who express opinions on political matters:

“I must say, it gives me the absolute creeps anytime I hear a religious person being so blatantly political,” Geraldo said. “Why is it that these people get income tax exemptions?” … He then continued, “If I hear one more rabbi talking about Israel, excuse me: shut up!”

Geraldo, who was raised mostly Jewish and even had a Bar Mitzvah, must have not been paying too much attention during his lessons. Israel is of central importance in Judaism. Nary a Jewish prayer exists that does not mention Israel and Jerusalem. Programs like Taglit-Birthright Israel posit Israel as being of unique importance in any conception of Jewish identity. Even Reform Judaism, a movement that once christened Berlin as the “new Jerusalem,” requires all prospective Rabbis to spend a year in Israel and to develop a modicum of Hebrew literacy prior to receiving ordination. I’d view with great suspicion any Rabbi who didn’t talk about Israel.

Diasporists can now receive the respect they deserve with Geraldo on their side. You can see Geraldo’s rant at the Huffington Post.

The Soul Messengers, who you will be hard pressed to find an album of, until now, headed to Dimona to record messages of hope and peace. During the Yom Kippur War, the Soul Messengers were trekking around the country to perform for the soldiers. The tour got their message and music out very fast and they went on to record studio tracks with enough soul to match their beautiful dress and garments. (Pitchfork Media hipsters chime in….) [The album is] “intertwined with the histories of Israel, Liberia, the Black Hebrew movement, Zionist emigration, and black art and culture in Chicago….They tied together aspects of Judaism, black nationalism as first articulated by Marcus Garvey, and Zionism; South Chicago’s Black Hebrew leader, Ben Ammi Carter, saw Garvey’s back-to-Africa concept as a step on the way to settling in the Promised Land itself, Israel.”

I’ve seen their “Sweet Land Of Mine” album from 76′ on Ebay selling for upwards of $250. As someone into the Israeli obscure especially when its got soul, funk and jazz, I was really excited to see that the Numero Group dropped this reissue. I picked up the “The ABCs Of Kid Soul: Home Schooled” at Turntablelab and never would have thought they would have dipped into the semitic sonics next. So what’s it all about? (7 yr old niece chimes in…well, from the song titles it looks like the songs are about the Heavens, G-d and the Messiah). Check it out for yourself in the Shemspeed player!

p.s. When the second track, “Our Lord And Savior”, comes on my stereo I can’t help but chuckle. I mean who would have thought of traveling to Dimona to record a Hebrew singing cover of the Steam’s “Na Na Na (Kiss Him Goodbye)”!

As predicted, I’ve also made the cheesecake Ephraim had given me the recipe for, just that I used a square springform tin. I love sour cherries as well, so the cake was pretty much loaded with those (it’s all gone by now).

It may not be kosher, but the Hoopoe was chosen on Thursday as Israel’s national bird.

The Book of Leviticus groups the Hoopoe with birds such as the eagle, vulture and pelican that are “abhorrent, not to be eaten”.

[Full article]

Sydney Pollack, son of Russian Jewish immigrants to the US, died yesterday at age 73.

Pollack directed a large number of films, including such modern classics as “Tootsie” and “Out of Africa”. In addition, he produced many popular films, e.g. “Cold Mountain”, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, “Sense and Sensibility” but to name a few.

His memory will live on with his films.

Lame title I know, but… guess who is coming to Israel? Why none other than embattled 5-time Grammy award winning songstress Amy Winehouse! While she will not be attending the ROI Summit for young global Jewish innovators, she will be attending rehab. But why in Israel? Well, it’s not for the hummus, but rather for a radical 3-day procedure pioneered by Dr. Andre Waismann. Costing $12,700 and lasting a mere three days, the Doctor guarantees that all patients undergoing treatment will be discharged healthy and no longer dependent on opiates. Afterwards, Amy will spend a few days in a Hotel while encouraged to engage in moderate physical activity. Amy’s expected in Israel within weeks… just in time for ROI, hmmm…. Anyhow – with Dr. Waismann’s “Accelerated Neuro-Regulation” treatment, can we chalk another one up there for Israeli innovation? Can we expect Keith Richards here any time soon as well?

Source: Haaretz – But it’s bullshit according to Winehouse’s people. You mean Ha’aretz got it wrong? Golly.

Man does, though. Einstein’s recently sold letter to Gutkind caught the auction house a price of about $400000. The letter contained a nice, short summation of Einstein’s views on the torah and the jews as ‘chosen people’:

The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. These subtilised interpretations are highly manifold according to their nature and have almost nothing to do with the original text. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.

Wise words Muffti thinks. But 400000$ worth?

Neot Kedumim

Archeological dig in Neot Kedumim biblical landscape park, west from Jerusalem (image source).

Shabbat Shalom!

Woman Wakes Up After Family Says Goodbye, Tubes Pulled

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A West Virginia woman was being transferred to the Cleveland Clinic after walking the line between life and death.

Doctors are calling Val Thomas a medical miracle. They said they can’t explain how she is alive.

They said Thomas suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours. At about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, her heart stopped and she had no pulse. A respiratory machine kept her breathing and rigor mortis had set in, doctors said.

“Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled. Death had set in,” said son Jim Thomas.

Just a reminder, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest is on air on Saturday night, 9:00pm CET.

This’ll be this year’s Israeli contribution:

The Brooklyn Bridge was opened to the public 125 years ago on 24th May; since a large part of the commuters using the bridge are MOTs, it’s time to say “Thanks!” and “Happy Birthday!”. (Just consider what it would look like if all the Chasidim working at B&H had to swim across the East River.)

For all of you that cannot participate in the five-day festivities celebrating the Brooklyn Bridge’s birthday, all it takes is a printer, paper, scissors, glue, sparklers, and this, and you’ll be set.

I’m Beginning to Regret Teaching You That Word, Granny

Girl: I saw that movie when it came out, The Passion of the Christ.
Grandma: What movie?
Girl: The Passion of the Christ. You haven’t heard of it?
Grandma: Yes, but I’m not interested in watching it. Mel Gibson produced it.
Girl: Oh. So it’s a principle thing.
Grandma: No. It’s an I-don’t-like douchebaginess thing.

via Overheard in New York, May 22, 2008

The Jewish Journal’s Jay Firestone delves (slightly) into the Omer and decides to take it all off for Lag Ba’Omer.

They are just oldskool!

Archaeologists say bears and buffalo once roamed, and prehistoric men chipped flint into tools, in what later became the Holy Land.

The statement didn’t say exactly where the stalactite cave is. The main chamber is 80 by 60 yards (meters). It’s closed to the public. – AP

Source

The breadth and width of bloggers at 60bloggers is impressive anywhere in the blogosphere —here is a quick peek of some of the recent posts. Go ahead, take a peek.

What I Was Taught about Israel, by Lee Meyerhoff Hendler, a writer, speaker and philanthropist.
Sometime near the turn of the 20th century I almost became a sabra. My great grandfather, Oscar Meyerhoff, traveled with three male relatives to what was then Palestine from his tiny village near Kiev. He hoped to become a settler, then send for the rest of the family….

Los Angeles and Israel: A Story of Friendship and Common Dreams by the Honorable, Antonio Villaraigosa is Mayor of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, where I was born and raised, has a special relationship with the State of Israel. Despite the thousands of miles between us, we share so much – connections of culture and commerce, and ties of blood and family.

Choosing Hope by Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the spiritual leader of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley, CA.
We choose our destinies. Exilic wandering, for the modern Jew, is a choice. As Reb Chaim of Volozhin teaches in his magisterial Nefesh HaChayiim (1824), “And this is the Torah of being a person…One should never say in their heart, God forbid, ‘For what am I and what is my power to enact anything through my insignificant and and deeds? Understand, know, and set in your heart that every detail of every deed, word, and thought is not lost. Every one of them ascends to its own Source to cause an effect in the highest Heavens. (NH 1:4)” No act is neutral, and we can have a cosmic impact by simply thinking differently.

Eating My Way Through Israel by Leah Koenig, Editor of The Jew & The Carrot: Hazon’s blog on Jews, food, and sustainability. She’s also a freelance writer and a serious foodie.
I’ve only ever been to Israel once and that was last year at the age of 25. I’m not exactly sure what took me so long, though it was probably some combination of not being particularly involved in mainstream Jewish activities as a teenager, my parents’ fear of the “situation” in the Middle East, and my own complicated emotions around and relationship to he holy land.

My relationship with Israel by John Leonard author of Nun Bet.
My relationship with Israel began in a wooden church pew in a small North Carolina town. As a boy growing up in a conservative Baptist family, I was at church at least three times a week: twice Sunday and once on Wednesday night. My black, faux leather-bound, zip-up childhood Bible had pictures and maps of the Holy Land. Bored in the church services, I would flip through these images and imagine what that foreign land must be like. Little did I know that about twenty years later I would be able to see these place in person.

Post Cards to Israel by Leah Jones, a writer, ROI’nik, former stand-up comic, and occasional talker based in Chicago where she pens the blog Accidentally Jewish.
March 11, 2004: I’m working in London where I manage an international student residence. We have 24 hour security and the guys who work nights and weekends are all Israeli. The weekend after the bombings in Madrid, I walk with my Spanish students through the streets of London to the consulate. There we light candles, leave notes and walk back with the Spanish flag between. “Todos somos Madrilenos.”

One of my Israeli guys says to me, “Leah, if we stopped working every time a bomb went off in Israel, we wouldn’t get things done. This is life.”

Event you may not want to miss in NYC if you are obsessed by the campaign.

New Voices Presents: Blacks, Jews, and the Post-Racial Candidate

Wednesday, May 28th, from 7-9 pm at 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan.

Three leading journalists discuss the Jewish response to Barack Obama’s candidacy, and what it tells us about the state of the relationship between African-Americans and Jews. With Ari Berman (The Nation), Ta-Nehisi Coates (Village Voice and The Atlantic Monthly) and Sam Freedman (Columbia University and the New York Times). The discussion will be moderated by Marissa Brostoff (The Forward). Presented by New Voices, the independent Jewish student magazine.

A dessert reception will follow. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students. Buy now at: https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=BLA49

The new issue of New Voices can be found at their website newvoices.org and contains an article about the brouhaha at UCI. The article is well written in fact and interviews are aplenty – however one or two important voices on the issue are left out. The other articles in the issue are great, and for very personal reasons: a profile of Cory Booker, who I knew from my days in Oxford, Jonathan Richman, of one my high school musical idols (along with Billy Brag), and some other interesting tid bits hear and there. New Voices has come so far it is really remarkable achievement. With high turnover for student journalists and a low budget, they manage to keep you reading, and get these issues to campuses across the country.

BTW Free print subscriptions available for students. Email publisher@newvoices.org for details.

As found on The West Australian:

An Israeli tourist tired of wolf whistles from road workers in New Zealand stripped off her clothes in a show of defiance, police say.

“She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was inappropriate in New Zealand.”

Sorry, I might be too European, but why would anybody strip naked if they already felt annoyed by unambigiously sexuality-driven attention?
Also, New Zealand police let her get away with just reprimanding her? That woman provoked an international conflict! The only response in kind would have been to have a hot New Zealand road worker strip naked in a public place in Jerusalem. We wouldn’t want any conspiracy theorist to claim that lady had only received such mild punishment because she was Israeli, would we?

60bloggers.com has been graced by a number of fantastic posts, and fantastic posters. We have had prominent posters such as Yonatan Gordis, Daniel Brenner, Gary Wexler, Rebecca Honig Friedman, and many others.

Our most recent – and most famous – blogger to date is none other than the Honorable Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa. Having seen the Mayor at several events, he often speaks of a close connection he feels to Israel. He recognizes the importance of Israel to the world, and we are very grateful for his wonderful contribution.

Los Angeles and Israel: A Story of Friendship and Common Dreams
By Antonio Villaraigosa

Los Angeles, where I was born and raised, has a special relationship with the State of Israel. Despite the thousands of miles between us, we share so much – connections of culture and commerce, and ties of blood and family.

We are people who have made our deserts bloom; who have been strengthened and sustained by our immigrants; who take pride in our flourishing ports; who share the values of pluralism and democracy; and who strive for peace, prosperity and a brighter future for our children.

Los Angeles and Israel are both homes of creativity and bastions of innovation – places defined by a deep respect for diversity, a longstanding belief in what’s possible, and the fervent hope, dream and commitment to build a peaceful tomorrow.

Here in Los Angeles, we celebrate the state of Israel and our own Israeli community in a variety of ways. We host the largest showcase of Israeli films in the United States and we have built a strong relationship with our sister city, Eilat. Thousands of Israeli students of all ages have attended and enriched our schools and synagogues, and Israeli security specialists have come to the Tom Bradley International Terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport to help protect airline passengers and foreign visitors. Each year, the city’s Israel Festival brings together over 40,000 people in the largest celebration of Israeli culture anywhere. And, overcoming the obstacles faced by so many immigrant groups, the vitality and vibrancy of L.A.’s Israeli families never diminish and only grow stronger every day.

Israel’s 60 years have been shaped by the resilience, strength and devotion of its people. Through criticism and condemnation, the Jewish state has stood up for the values and principles that have long made the Jewish people a “light unto the nations.” Israel’s citizens have kept faith with the hope – “ha-tikvah” – that they might live as a free nation, in peace and security, in the land of their ancestors. I know the City of Los Angeles and our people will continue to benefit from a close relationship with the State of Israel long into the future.

Leave it to Canada’s brilliant MOT, Irwin Cotler, to lay out this legal and moral imperative justifying Israel’s existence. Yes to justify the existence of Israel. That is really what the current international debate is hinging on and the debate on college campuses (thankfully not in Congress). Putting Israel’s legitimacy and right to self-determination in line with other First Nation claims is brilliant spiritually, nationally, and politically. In his recent essay The gathering storm and beyond, Cotler writes:

Israel, then, is the aboriginal homeland of the Jewish people across space and time. It is not just a homeland for the Jewish people, a place of refuge, asylum and protection. It is the homeland of the Jewish people, wherever and whenever it may be; and its birth certificate originates in its inception as a First Nation, and not simply, however important, in its United Nations international birth certificate.

The State of Israel, then, as a political and juridical entity, overlaps with the “aboriginal Jewish homeland”; it is, in international legal terms, a successor state to the biblical, or aboriginal, Jewish kingdoms.

But that aboriginal homeland is also claimed by another people, the Palestinian/Arab people, who see it as their place and patrimony. THE EXISTENCE of a parallel claim does not vitiate that of the Jewish people or cause it to resonate any less as memory and memoir of homeland – where homeland represents history, roots, religion, language, culture, literature, law, custom, family, myth and values. Rather, the equities of the claim mandate the logic of Israeli-Palestinian partition – a logic which in moral and juridical terms requires that a just solution be organized around the “principle of least injustice,” and that includes mutual recognition of the legitimacy of two states for two peoples.

There is only one pitfall, perhaps two to this argument. There are very few First Nations that have modern States. It could be that Israel is the first. Secondly, the Muslim revisionist history that spreads from Mecca until UC Irvine calls Abraham & Sarah Muslims and the Palestinians as Philistines — no matter how absurd and absolutely wrong that is — which would seemingly nullify/equalize our First Nation status.

Nonetheless, his position if accepted by the left and moderates, would be a great step forward towards resolution of the conflict. Only if.

I hate cats. I mean really hate. I think they’re disgusting. It probably has to do with the cat infestation in Jerusalem. I don’t really know, but cats seem gross to me. Sorry. I also hate Hitler. Just to clarify, I hate Hitler more than I hate cats. The combination of the two, then, is really despicable. Fortunately there is a website which combines these two things, and despite my strong hatred, I found the website to be hilarious and fascinating. Go to cats that look like Hitler! Oh, I’ve copied my favorite one below.

Ruth Gruber has written a brief personal history of a critical moment in the creation of the state of Israel. Fascinating.

IT was Friday, May 14, 1948. I was sitting in the press section of the United Nations General Assembly in its temporary quarters at Flushing Meadow in Queens. I felt my heart thumping. We journalists were waiting impatiently to see who would win a tug of war taking place in Washington.

Free, but Without a Home On one side was President Harry S. Truman, who had told his aides that, with the last British troops leaving Palestine that day, he believed the Jews had a right to declare their own nation, and that he would make sure that the United States would be the first country to recognize it.

On the other side was the State Department, which wanted the land placed in a trusteeship under the United Nations. Secretary of State George Marshall was so passionate in his opposition to a Jewish state that he threatened to vote against the president in the November election. For Truman, who had come to office with the death of Franklin Roosevelt three years earlier, this was to be one of his first true tests of power.

She relates being part of a committee that traveled to refugee camps in Europe to meet displaced Jews who were seeking to move to Mandate Palestine – to Eretz Israel.

A young man approached us, his eyes bloodshot. “In Romania, they killed 30,000 Jews in two hours,” he said, his voice sounding as if it came straight from his guts. “They took Jews to the slaughterhouse and hung them alive the way they hang cows, and they put knives to their throats and split them. Underneath them, they put a sign: Kosher Beef.”

In camp after camp, the committee members asked, “Why do you want to go to Palestine? It’s such a poor country. The Arabs and Jews are always fighting. They don’t have enough food, they don’t have enough water. What is it about Palestine?”

A 16-year-old orphan — actually, we never used the word “orphan” because the term couldn’t convey the horrors these children had been through — gave the most poignant answer. “Everybody has a home,” he said. “The Americans. The British. The French. The Russians. Only we don’t have a home. Don’t ask us. Ask the world.”

The Arabs, in 1947, rejected the committee’s recommendations and the UN resolution to partition the land into two states for two peoples. As a result, the Yishuv decided to go it alone and planned to declare a state. The question was how the United States would react.

My mind was drawn immediately back to the present of May 1948 as I noticed an American representative to the United Nations, Philip Jessup, hurrying toward the podium. I knew, after talking to his aides, that in his hand he had a speech supporting trusteeship, not statehood, for Israel. The State Department was about to betray the president.

Jessup was halfway up the stairs when an Associated Press reporter handed him a dispatch. Jessup read it, grew white-faced, descended the stairs and then disappeared. The reporter next to me said, “He’s gone to the bathroom.”

I shook my head. “He’s gone home.”

Then we were handed the A.P. report. In Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion had just read the world’s latest proclamation of independence. Eleven minutes later, Harry Truman had recognized Ben-Gurion’s government as the “de facto authority” of the new state.

Israel was born.

Photo by YanivG.

YanivG has an entire set called “Text.” Interesting stuff.

SHABBAT SHALOM!

And I’m not even sure they traditionally eat curries in Indonesia…

For ease of reading, I’ll copy from the edited version of the interview here, but since this is really interesting, I’d ask you to read about the complete interview here.

New York’s largest mosque, the Islamic Cultural Center (ICC) on East 96th Street in Manhattan, is getting applause from an unexpected quarter — the city’s influential Jewish community.

“Westerners often wonder what they’re preaching in the mosques, and Jews particularly worry about that,” said Rabbi Burton Visotzky, who spoke at the ICC in April along with Ali.

[. . .]

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Updates on University of North Dakota campus antisemitic graffiti case: The student accused of writing the graffiti has pleaded not guilty. One of the students has released a scathing letter critical of the University President – see below. I have been following the case from a distance – please chime in below in comments if you have more details to fill in the picture.

Dear President Kupchella,

My name is Martin Rottler and I was one of the students that you met with a few weeks ago regarding the hate crimes that have occurred at UND. I wanted to take a moment to share with you my feelings with regard to how you as an administrator and as President of the University have handled this situation.

No matter what or where your “strategic priorities” lie, the number one stakeholders in a university are the students, all of whom make a significant investment and commitment during their tenure in studies. It is the responsibility of the administration of a university to ensure that the needs of its stakeholders are met in an effective and proactive manner.

Over the past month, the administration of the University of North Dakota, particularly yourself, have failed me as a student and have failed in your primary responsibility of protecting and serving the best interests of the students and faculty of UND. As an administrator, I trust in you to ensure that this protection and action is in my best interest as a student. You have violated that trust.
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I’m not even going to write about this Balagan joint, just watch!