If you’ve never listened to XM/Sirius Radio, you can get a free trial here. Why would you bother? Because they have awesome programming, including a certain segment tomorrow you may find worth your time. It’s a conversation between a poet laureate and a daughter of Jewish immigrants who also happens to be a three-time presenter at Jewlicious Festivals. The topic? American Jewish identity… just in time for the 4th of July.

The show airs tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1st, at 1 pm or 7 pm EST at XMRadio.com. Tune in to Channel 156, Oprah Radio, and hear Dr. Maya Angelou discuss how she appreciates and identifies with the tragedies and triumphs of the Jewish people in her own inimitable way.

FYI: The show lasts about an hour and this Jewie segment comes on about 20 minutes before the close.

If you’d like to hear a sample or have only five minutes to spare, check out this snippet of the program online. There’s no XM subscription required for this sample.

Again, if you want a free trial, you can sign up here. Best of all, it’s economic downturn-worthy. No credit card required.

Last September in the LA Times, James Marcus interviewed 75 year-old author Philip Roth about his new book, “Indignatgion.” During the conversation, Marcus and Roth discussed movie adaptations of his novels:

Indignation will be the fifth of Roth’s novels to be made into a film. I ask what he thought of the earlier adaptations, and he gives high marks to Jack Klugman and Ali MacGraw in Goodbye, Columbus, while ruefully acknowledging the cartoonish tone: “A little vulgarity goes a long way, and they did lay it on pretty heavily.” And what about Ernest Lehman’s version of Portnoy’s Complaint, which brought back Richard Benjamin for a second turn as the author’s cinematic proxy? “Unspeakable,” Roth declares. “It’s a movie about shouting. Jewish shouting.” (He proceeds to give a brief, comical example, which strikes me as a specimen of literary history, like Thoreau demonstrating how to peel the bark off a birch tree.)

Marcus seems to have been very impressed by Roth’s subsequent sound bite because he then remixed it into a short dance number that has been described by the Guardian as “the ringtone of choice among hip literary types this summer.” The mix been posted online by US independent publisher Melville House, which as Marcus describes, is always “on the alert for booty-shaking literary artefacts”. Marcus promises that should the mp3 file become popular enough, he will turn it into a 15-minute dance track and soon we will be entertained by the image of David Kelsey, Muffti and Eli Valley body rockin’ to the insane ululations of a 76 year old Jew writer. So yeah, listen to and download the track here!

The annual ROI Summit is set to begin today. One hundred and twenty young Jewish innovators from Israel and around the world will get together near Tel-Aviv for 5 days of brainstorming, networking and skill building sessions. There’s much talk in the organized Jewish community about fostering innovation, but gosh darn it, for the past 4 years the Schusterman Foundation has put its money where it’s mouth is. The Jewlicious Festival has received funding from the Schusterman Foundation for the last 2 years and Jewlicious.ru, our Russian language site, is itself a project that evolved out of and was partly funded by ROI. Thanks to ROI, we managed to see innovative projects get implemented and succeed, like Jerusalem.com, Oleh Records, G_dCast etc. and we look forward to seeing that process continue to have an impact on all our daily lives.

So yeah, I hope that didn’t sound like I was brown nosing too much, but we’ve really been enriched on so many levels by ROI that I can’t overstate the point enough. I know a number of the new crop going into the summit this year and I can’t hardly wait to see what awesomeness transpires. Stay tuned I suppose, we’ll be keeping you updated on that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Sasha Perry’s first ROI related video above. Sasha is part of this year’s ROI video team and she is also a Jewlicious Festival veteran and a frequent resident of Beit Jewlicious here in Jerusalem. Yay!

Oh and the twitter hash tag for ROI is #roicom. I was shooting for #ILoveBeto but cooler heads prevailed I guess…

So began my little speech at Friday night dinner. There were 17 of us assembled and it was quite the diverse crew. We had Leah, Kate, Sasha and Talya who were getting ready for the upcoming ROI Summit. We had some local Nachlaot spiritual hippy types, denominations from Orthodox to Reform represented, the unaffiliated, Orthodox lesbian activists, right wingers, peace activists including one woman who came on Birthright Israel last summer and then joined Birthright Unplugged in the West Bank – suffice it to say we were a diverse group that came together Friday night, after an eventful week, to enjoy a peaceful and yummy Shabbat dinner. Some of us had just marched in Jerusalem’s Pride Parade on Thursday, and all of us were mindful of the heating up Shabbat Wars related to the municipality’s opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath, much to the consternation (to say the least) of members of the Haredi community.

Our Shabbat dinner table however, was lively but peaceful. Sarah and Leah helped make Matbuchah which we will turn into Shakshuka come Sunday morning. In doing so they learned first hand of the perils of cleaning hot peppers by hand (sorry ladies!) and there was tons of yummy food for all. We went around the table and made introductions and when it was my turn, I quoted the first line of Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of our Fathers). Rashi commented on the line and wondered if it meant that all of Israel, by mere virtue of being Jewish, had a share in the world to come (or whatever the penultimate goal of Judaism is). That kind of didn’t make sense – why follow the laws then? What’s the incentive to be righteous? The answer was that the sentence isn’t meant to be taken literally. What it means is that when all the Jews are united, only then are they worthy of a portion in the world to come.

Gazing around our table, far from the anger and hatred on the streets of Jerusalem that only further divisiveness, I knew that we were, in some small measure, doing our part to merit inclusion in the world to come. As we sang our Shabbat songs, even those who didn’t know the words joined by tapping a beat on the table and I knew that we had managed to carve out our own slice of Olam Haba around our modest table.

Desert

[caption id="attachment_9115" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Abandoned Syrian base, View of a minefield, Golan Heights, 2007"][/caption]

Shai Kremer is the photographer. A true and gifted artist.

Shabbat shalom!

In a little more than two months, Gilad Shalit will turn 23 — if he is still alive.

Yesterday marked the three-year anniversary of Shalit’s abduction by Hamas. An Israeli soldier captured during a border raid on Gaza, Hamas is holding Shalit captive. He became the first soldier captured by Palestinian terrorists since Nachson Wachsman was abducted in 1994; tragically Wachsman, z’l, was ultimately murdered. Shalit served in the IDF’s Armor Corps, and at the time of his abduction, held the rank of corporal. The IDF has subsequently promoted him to staff sergeant.

Hamas has barred the International Red Cross from seeing Shalit, demanding that Israel free 1,000 terrorists in exchange for his release. Israel has agreed but negotiations have deadlocked on the number of so-called “heavyweight” prisoners. Shalit holds French citizenship, but both France and the European Union have also been unable to secure his release.

When he was 11, Shalit, wrote a story about two enemies, a shark and a fish, who become friends.

A new YouTube project shows people all of all ages reading his story, in a multi-lingual campaign initiated by the Consulate General of Israel in New York that stresses the universality of this issue.

In 2008, the French town of Raincy and the city of Paris named Gilad an honorary citizen. Rome did so in April, 2009, when Mayor Gianni Alemanno said that the Shalit affair does not concern the state of Israel alone, but the whole of humanity. This week, both Miami and New Orleans followed suit and claimed Gilad as their citizen as well. At a recent rally in Tel Aviv, Israeli singer/songwriter Aviv Geffen called him “everyone’s child.” As Geffen sings, Gilad belongs to all of us.

Please join efforts to appeal for Gilad Shalit’s release. Express your support to President Obama. Write your representatives in Congress. Ask your city to embrace Gilad as its own citizen. Spread the word and share the message. Pray for the release of Gilad ben Aviva and keep this issue alive. Release Gilad Shalit!

An unbelievable exchange and demonstration of how the Obama policy towards Israel and towards Iran differs from Hillary’s as a Presidential candidate. The shift is definitely not in Israel’s favor and shows that the “bonds with the US” are shakeable and have been shaken, stirred and spit out.

This interview was given on June 12th and was part of the ongoing US Administration’s push after Obama’s Cairo speech. Of course, since then many things have happened to point out that Obama’s approach with Iran is entirely off the mark, but I don’t think Hillary’s hedging about US support for Israel as the new policy is going to change.

By the way, Dennis Ross has been removed from his position as envoy to Iran. Some say that it was his own request, some say it’s because the Iranians refused to engage a Jewish envoy, but I wonder whether the following exchange is related.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your own envoy, Dennis Ross, has said one way to strengthen the position of the United States going into these negotiations is to make it very clear that, if Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel or any U.S. ally, that would be met as an attack on the United States, full response. Now, that was your position during the campaign, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it U.S. policy now?

CLINTON: I think it is U.S. policy to the extent that we have alliances and understandings with a number of nations. They may not be formal, as it is with NATO, but I don’t think there is any doubt in anyone’s mind that, were Israel to suffer a nuclear attack by Iran, there would be retaliation.

STEPHANOPOULOS: By the United States?

CLINTON: Well, I think there would be retaliation. And I think part of what is clear is, we want to avoid a — a Middle East arms race which leads to nuclear weapons being in the possession of other countries in the Middle East, and we want to make clear that there are consequences and costs.

The video of this exchange is available here and is worth watching.

(Hat tip: Jewish Newswire)

I’m one of those people who believes very powerful sanctions are needed against Iran lest it gain control of a nuclear arsenal. They already have serious delivery systems, have sponsored proxy armies in Hizbullah and Hamas, and have voiced aggressive intentions against Israel. If sanctions are not brought about soon and as severe as possible, Israel may have to bomb Iran and face some harsh consequences. Iran may be distant, but it has 10 times the population of Israel, can develop sophisticated arms capabilities, is still ahead of Israel in the missile vs. anti-missile contest, controls two dangerous proxy armies that sit on Israel’s borders, and has shown in the past that it will execute terrorist activities against large Jewish targets in other countries as they did in Argentina.

The consequences of an attack have consistently left me apprehensive about the great risk involved for Israel. With Obama coming to power in the US, the notion of an attack became remote because he was clear that he intended to talk the Iranians down. The events of the past two weeks, with the probable theft of the election by the present Iranian government as backed by the imams and the mini-revolt that has followed, change the dynamic regarding the US.

First of all, Obama looks weak, indecisive and unsupportive of natural democratic rights of Iranian citizens. Second, as the current government proceeds to squash opponents and eventually to retain power, his assertions about talking to them being a sufficient method of achieving a compromise on the nuclear arms program appears weaker and weaker as a strategy. If anything, it preempts any such talks because it makes clear that there is nobody with whom to talk.

This, in some strange way, re-opens the door for a possible Israeli attack. After all, it will be hard to contest the Israeli claim that the current government is dangerous and cannot be approached diplomatically. Still, the dangers are so great that I cannot imagine such an attack and the implications for Israel. I cannot imagine any Israeli leader actually approving such an attack since it would surely be a suicide mission for many of Israel’s pilots.

To make the situation even more complicated, I saw an article in MEForum that truly captures the dangerous intentions emanating from Iran. The article effectively highlights how the language coming from Iran’s leadership over time addresses Israel from a genocidal perspective. Looking at this list, one can only imagine how the world viewed Hitler as somebody who could be talked down even as he was outlining precisely what he intended to do.

Timeline of Statements by Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders (2000-2008)

Dec. 15, 2000 Khamane’i
Iran’s position, first expressed by the imam, and stated several times by those responsible, is that the cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from the region

Jan. 15, 2001 Khamane’i
“the perpetual subject of Iran is the elimination of Israel from the region” translated by journalist Kasra Naji: “mission of IRI is to erase Israel from the map of the region.”

Dec. 14, 2001 Rafsanjani
“If one day … the Islamic world will be equipped with weapons available to Israel now … the employment of even one atomic bomb inside Israel will wipe it off the face of the earth but would only do damage to the Islamic world.”

Sept. 22, 2003 Banner on Shihab 3 missile (photo)
“Israel must be uprooted and wiped from history.”

Oct. 2005 Iranian regime
Iranian publishers display English edition of Protocols of Zion at a Frankfurt book fair

Apr. 2005 Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani
“One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam will be met.”

Oct. 26, 2005 Ahmadinejad
“Our dear Imam [Khomeini] ordered that this Jerusalem occupying regime must be erased from the page of time. This was a very wise statement.” “Soon this stain of disgrace will be cleaned from the garment of the world of Islam, and this is attainable.”

Oct. 27, 2005 Ahmadinejad
“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.” Any Islamic leader “who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world.”

Oct. 30, 2005 Hossein Shariatmadari
“We will be satisfied with nothing less than the complete obliteration of the Zionist regime from the political map of the world.”

Apr. 14, 2006 Ahmadinejad
“Israel heading towards annihilation.” “a dried, rotten tree that will collapse with a single storm.”

June 9, 2006 Mohammad Ali Ramin
“Among the Jews, there have always been those who killed God’s prophets. … it was said that they were the source for such deadly diseases as the plague and typhus. This is because the Jews are very filthy people. For a time, people also said that they poisoned water wells belonging to the Christians and thus killed them.”

Oct. 22, 2006 Resalat (Tehran)
“Great war is ahead of us, perhaps tomorrow, or in a few months, or even a few years. The nation of Muslims must prepare for the great war, so as to completely wipe out the Zionist dream, and remove this cancerous growth.”

Nov. 2006 Banner on bus at military rally
“Israel should be wiped off the face of the world!”

Dec. 2006 Ahmadinejad
“the Zionist regime will be wiped out, and humanity will be liberated” — freed, that is, from the “acquisitive and invasive” minority.

Sept. 2007 Ahmadinejad
“brutal Zionists”
“Zionist regime”
“Palestine and Iraq will be liberated from the domination of the occupiers, and the people of America and Europe will be free of the pressure exerted by the Zionists.”

Oct. 4, 2007 Shariatmadari
“Death to America and death to Israel are not only words written on paper, but … a symbolic approach that reflects the desire of all the Muslim nations.”

Feb. 5, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“A people falsified, invented. [Israel] will not last, they must leave the territory.”

Feb. 12, 2008 Ahmad Jannati
“[We have] bigger crowds, slogans more enthusiastic, ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’ regime getting better and better.”
“The blind enemies should see that the wish of these people is the death and destruction of America and Israel.”

Feb. 18, 2008 Mohammad Ali Jaafari
“In the near future, we will witness the destruction of the cancerous microbe Israel by the strong and capable hands of … Hezbollah.”

Feb. 18, 2008 Manoucher Mottaki
“even after 60 years, the Zionist regime has neither gained any legitimacy nor played any role in this region.”

Feb. 23, 2008 Yahya Rahim Safavi
“with God’s help, the time has come for the Zionist’s regime death sentence. … the death of this unclean regime will arrive soon following the revolt of the Muslims.”

Feb. 23, 2008 Haddad Adel
“The countdown has begun for the destruction of the Zionist regime.”

Feb. 20, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“they [the global powers] have created a black and filthy microbe called the Zionist regime.”

Mar. 14, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“the Zionist regime is on its way out [destructible].”

Apr. 17, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“The region and the world are prepared for great changes and for being cleansed of Satanic enemies” [referring to the Great Satan (USA) and Little Satan (Israel)]

May 13, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“global arrogance established the Zionist regime.” “[which is] a stinking corpse”

May 13, 2008 Mohammad-Reza Khabbaz, member of the central committee of National Trust reformist party
“Creation of Israel only served the purpose of creating a cancerous tumor in the body of Islamic society.”

June 13, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“terrorist and criminal state … backed by foreign powers … regime to be swept away by Palestinians.”

June 14, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Israel’s days are numbered … peoples of region know there is the narrowest opportunity to annihilate this false regime.”

July 2, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of corruption will be wiped off the face of the world.”

July 24, 2008 Esfandiar Rahim Masha’i
“Israel is a cancerous tumor.”
“Israel will soon disappear.”

Sept. 23, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“The Zionists are the eternal enemy of ‘the dignity, integrity, and rights of the American and European people.”

“Although they are few in number, the Zionists have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the United States in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner.”

“Even some presidential or premier nominees in some big countries have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings, swear allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to attain financial or media support.”

Even “the great people of America and various nations of Europe” are caught in the clutches of Jewish power.

They “need to obey the demands and wishes of a small number of acquisitive and invasive people. These nations are spending their dignity and resources on the crimes and occupations and the threats of the Zionist network against their will.”

“Today … the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse. There is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters.”

Sept. 25, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Zionism … is the root cause of insecurity and wars. … What commitment forces the U.S. government to victimize itself in support of a regime that is basically a criminal one?”

Nov. 26, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Iran will support Hamas until the destruction of Israel.”

Dec. 25, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“If Christ was on Earth today, undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists, and bullies the world over.” [Iran hangs nine individuals before 12/24/08 bringing the yearly total to 244.]

Dec. 30, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“the real Holocaust is now taking place in Gaza Strip and Palestine.”

Source: Genocide Prevention Now World Situation Room of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem, and Genocide Prevention Program of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Published with the permission of Genocide Prevention Now website. An expanded version of this paper and timeline will be posted on the Genocide Prevention Now website.

This is a complex situation, but one that nobody should take lightly.

Some news to browse while avoiding the television tonight…

Is a Jewish school in London Racist? If admission is barred based on religion, is that racist? From The Independent, news that Jewish schools in Britain may need to revise their admission’s policies. A Court of Appeal ruled that the widely used criteria for selecting pupils for a school breached the Race Discrimination Act. Three judges found that the JFS in Brent area of London racially discriminated against a 12-year-old boy, known as “M,” by denying him a place at the school because his mother was not a recognized Jew. She was born Catholic. The JFS is a very well known school in London; it’s President is Lord Levy. The ruling was criticized by UK Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sachs. The boy’s father is Jewish by birth, but his mother is Jewish by a conversion process that was conducted at a Progressive rather than an Orthodox synagogue and therefore not recognized by the Chief Rabbi’s office. The parents are divorced, and “M” lives with his officially recognized Jewish father.

Michael Jackson had a lot of hangers-on. And they are coming out of the woodwork to leverage the publicity of his death. And I don’t mean Rabbis Boteach or Sharpton. Or do I? The Los Angeles Jewish Journal comments on the death of Michael Jackson from a Jewish perspective. It reports that Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, considered herself Jewish (although Chief Rabbi Sacks would not consider her Jewish). Would that make her kids, Paris and Prince, Jewish as well? But, more importantly, the LA Jewish Journal reveals 5 Jewish tidbits from the upcoming film, BRUNO.

Should you profit off the news of Jackson’s demise? If yes, then perhaps you should short the stocks TKTM (Ticketmaster) which will need to return commissions (I assume) on the European tour tickets sold, and short the stock of whoever manufactures the brand Demerol.

Additional hours of Nixon’s tapes were released this week, and some Jewish groups, or the leaders of these groups, were startled to hear Richard Nixon and Billy Graham speak about Jews, pornographers, the synagogue of Satan, and how the anti-evangelical behavior of Jewish leaders might rile up anti-Semitism in America. On the other hand, Yale Professor David Greenberg, writing in The Forward, offered the idea that this is not news to anyone who knew Nixon. Come one guys, Nixon is the President who used to refer to the US Attorney’s Office as the “Jew boys” and “those Jews down there.”

Haaretz reported that a Manhattan synagogue, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, that was targeted by the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, raised $10,000 in response to the demonstration. The church members protested outside the synagogue’s rented space while the synagogue asked its members and friends to donate a dollar or more for every minute that the demonstration lasted. Mitchell Gold, a furniture retailer, pledged $, as did many others. The protest lasted nearly an hour.

In reviewing the new Transformers film, which was released last week in the U.S., The critic for the New York Times is miffed by the minstrel-like racism that permeates the film, as well as the crack about the Jewish character, Simmons, and a pubic-fro head. The credited script writers are Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

The Sun Sentinel in Florida reported on the reunion of former students of Centro Israelita de Cuba, a Jewish school in Havana that Fidel Castro shut down around 1961. The Class of 1959 had their 50-year reunion at Temple Beth Shmuel-Cuban Hebrew Congregation’s Shabbat service in Miami Beach.

Reuters reported that 16 Jews have left Yemen for Israel after a Jewish man was murdered. Three Jewish families left Amran via the city of Sanaa in Yemen after a Yemeni court handed a death sentence to Abdul-Aziz al-Abdi for shooting dead Mashaa Yaeesh al-Nahari.

The White House reports that Attorney Samuel L. Kaplan, 72, has been nominated for the rank of Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco. He is a founding member of Kaplan, Strangis and Kaplan, P.A. established in 1978. Early supporters of the late Senator Wellstone, The Center for Responsive Politics lists Sam and Sylvia Kaplan as among the major “bundlers” of campaign contributions for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, in the range of $100,000 to $200,000. Note to File: Geez, a score high on the FSOT exam but failed my all day State Dept oral interview by half a point. I must remember to bundle some donations in the future so I can be appointed to an ambassadorial position somewhere fun, like Cyprus or Bahrain.

The Jerusalem Post reports that an agreement has been reached in which inmates from over 6 dozen Polish prisons will work to restore Jewish cemeteries and sites in Poland. I guess this is a form of punishment? Or rehabilitation? I jest. I like the works of Rabbi Schudrich in Warsaw. Note to file: Can you send some prisoners over to the cemetery in Rymanow (next to Zarszyn) to check on the headstones for my great great grandfather?

The Shemspeed Summer Music Festival is underway! They are still choosing a few special guest bands, so feel free to get in touch with ideas and to get involved. So far the line up is amazing with shows lined up in LA, NJ, NYC, Philly & Chicago.

Info at http://shemspeed.com/fest

Check out the schedule below:

(more…)

Pres. Obama claimed that ended the crisis in Darfur was a priority – but he has dropped the ball on this campaign promise, to the detriment of fragile lives in Darfur.

As Mark Lotwis writes from the Save Darfur Coalition:

This new phase of the crisis in Darfur might not make as many headlines, but the suffering continues.

The daily attacks of years past have been replaced by constant suffering in refugee camps. Every day, 2.7 million people face hunger, disease, fear that the next food shipment may not arrive—and the constant threat of violence.

Hilary’s State Department, General Paternalus, and Obama are espousing a myopic view that Jews living in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus, in Efrat and Hebron are the most serious impediment to world peace.

Send a postcard to the White House to remind them that Darfur’s suffering is a gaping moral shortcoming of his first 6 months in office.

So, Mr. B and I were buying challah at Wegmans the other day.  If you’ve never been to a Wegmans, it’s exactly like any other grocery store.  In the same way that Turandot is exactly like High School Musical.  We buy challah there as one would buy crack. On the downlow.  I never know if you’re only supposed to eat it on Shabbat, so I sneak up to the bread aisle, look around to make sure no other Jew is coming.  “Cover for me, Vasya,” I yell at Mr. B like Russian pilots did in World War II and run into the fray.  Even though we are nowhere near Stalingrad.  Also, Mr. B’s name is not Vasya.  I grab it and run.  When I get home we eat handfuls of it.

So, the other day, when we surreptitiously bought our Jewbread and were munching at home, I came across the following article in my Rachael Ray magazine.  Yes, I read Rachael Ray, and if you say anything snide about it, I will most likely punch you.  My feelings are still raw from the beating my Hebrew name got the other day.  This is what I came across there.

That’s right.  It’s a Pork Roast Panini.  ON CHALLAH ROLLS.  My version of keeping kosher is to at least boil and peel the shrimp, but even I was kind of offended by this.  Is it ok to have non-kosher products on challah rolls? Is this taboo, even for non-observant Jews?  I think it’s crazy.  So does Vasya.

Win Cool Jew, Yom Kippur A Go-Go, a schlep tote and $100 worth of loot in this Summer Reading Giveaway!

PopJudaica.com is celebrating summer with a Summer Reading Giveaway and a prize package valued at over $100.00, all tucked into a “Schlep” tote bag! To enter to win, tell us your favorite Jewish author or Jewish themed book. Leave your answer in the comments section at http://popjudaica.blogspot.com by midnight Pacific time by this Thursday, June 25th. Be sure to also leave your email or twitter handle so Pop Judaica can contact you if you are the winner! Note: This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. Sorry ck!

Cool Jew by Lisa Alcalay Klug — a must read for every member of the Tribe! The book covers everything Hebraic from womb to tomb, finally putting an end to Christmas tree envy. Short essays, lists, instructional guides, photographs, and original illustrations celebrate Jewish cultural pride with love, enthusiasm, and irreverence.

Bar Mitzvah Disco Remember the year when you turned Lucky 13? The authors of Bar Mitzvah Disco take you on a journey to a parallel universe, where tall girls slow-danced with short boys at arm’s length, suburban break-dance pioneers vied with Lionel Richie fanatics for dance-floor space, and Aunt Edna came ready to mount an assault on the dessert buffet.

Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat by Meredith Jacobs.
Written in conversational style from one modern Jewish mom to another, the MJM’s Guide is funny and warm, brightly colored and easy to read book, filled with delicious, easy recipes and family art projects, suggested family discussion topics. No matter your level of religious observance, this book appeals to all.

Yom Kippur A Go-Go by Matthue Roth. Yom Kippur A Go-Go is a mind-blowing meeting of pop culture, Orthodox faith, and hipster poetics. With humor and insight, Roth describes the tension between contemporary life and the demands of his Orthodox faith.

My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen. Raised as an Orthodox Jew and the son of a rabbi, Benyamin Cohen grew up fascinated by the church across the street from his childhood home. Struck by a crisis of faith, and not long after marrying the converted daughter of a Baptist minister, he decided to see if Jesus could lead him back to Judaism by embarking on an Oz-like journey on which he visited a myriad of denominational churches. In the end, Cohen found that his yarmulke had similar powers as Dorothy’s red shoes.

Enter to win here!

We like a bit of good mischief here at Jewlicious, especially when racist hate mongers are at the receiving end of it. Who can forget that time we “defaced” a Nazi Web site, or that other time me and Muffti joined the Delaware Klan? So I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read the other day in the New York Times, about what the Missouri Department of Transportation did after the Missouri chapter of a neo-Nazi group called the “National Socialist Movement” volunteered to clean a Missouri highway, and get official recognition for it in the form of an Adopt-a-Highway sign. See, freedom-of-speech laws prevent state officials from refusing to allow anyone from participating in an Adopt-a-Highway program where groups adopt a stretch of road and keep it clean thus saving the state money and getting a highway sign in return. So what Missouri State officials decided to do was to rename the highway after Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who fled Nazi Germany, became a prominent Jewish theologian and civil rights advocate in the United States and marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Needless to say, the Nazis are not amused:

“I think it’s childish,” said Cynthia Keene, 38, a sergeant in the group’s Springfield unit. “If they want to have Nazis out there stomping on a Jewish-named highway, that’s their choice.”

Well, childish or not, as long as they’re not goosestepping while cleaning their half mile stretch of highway, the whole thing is pretty funny. And that’s really what’s most intriguing about this story. Who knew Missourians were funny? Who knew?

Last week, I had an enlightening discussion with some colleagues about dating – and it was inevitable that we ended up talking about Jdate. While I do know a handful of people who married someone they met through the site, I can’t help but note that for the majority of current and past Jdaters (at least those I know), it hasn’t been so successful – but not by the fault of the site.

First of all, Jdate success seems to depend on your geographic location. In this small town, Jewish dating options are extremely limited, so it’s not such a surprise that Jdate options here are even more so. In addition, it’s hard to weed out the sketchy and skeevy ones when you’re communicating online and judging people through a few pictures and a profile they’ve surely spent hours perfecting.

Then there are those non-J-daters. They come in two varieties: those who have no qualms about telling you outright or describing themselves in their profile as non-Jews and  those who “will tell you later”. It makes very little sense to me why they’re on Jdate – I guess it stems back to those stereotypes. Maybe the female non-Js are looking for a nice Jewish lawyer or doctor and the male non-Js are looking for their own Monica Lewinsky? I highly doubt you’d find a Jewish person on a Catholic dating website…but maybe I’m wrong.

And when you look at the education level requirements for one’s ideal match, it’s shocking to me that any man with a bachelors or masters degree, even some with a JD, PhD or MD are OK with dating women with just a high school diploma…really? REALLY? Something about that seriously bothers me and should bother you as well.

As a final point – I joined Jdate for a short time after my last relationship. It was only to make my mother happy. Just three weeks after the breakup, she was pestering me to “get on Jdate and meet someone” already. Why do (some) Jewish moms think that by joining Jdate, their recently single or even perpetually single son or daughter will miraculously find love? Let me say that I didn’t find anything through Jdate other than some seriously awkward first dates and hundreds of profile views from creepy older men. But if any other moms have reacted to a child’s breakup in the same way, one has to wonder how many miserable sons or daughters are on Jdate just to make her stop bothering them.

I’m not anti Jdate, or any online dating site. I just think that everything and everyone warrants a second look, especially when it comes to dating.

The use of Medical Marijuana in Israel has been technically legal since 1999. But in a country known for its bureaucratic labyrinths and where much of the populace seems to have formed its understanding of Marijuana from repeated viewings of Reefer Madness, how does “technically legal” play itself out?

Haaretz Correspondent, Haim Shadmi, has written a great, in depth article about the confusing situation faced by patients who use Medical Marijuana to treat a host of ailments from Tourettes’ Syndrome to Cancer. It has a great cast of characters including the one Doctor in Israel authorized to prescribe Marijuana, the former pill popping raver authorized by the Ministry of Health to grow Medical Marijuana, Yossi Bozaglo, one of the first patients to be prescribed marijuana, who was tried in 2001 for buying marijuana from a drug dealer (!), a guy called “Angel face” who provides marijuana to patients for free and the Doctors of course:

When Cannabis was approved for medicinal purposes in 1999, it was originally intended for terminal cancer and AIDS patients. Today it is being used in earlier stages of illness and for a wider array of diseases, including Parkinson’s, Tourette Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, chronic pain and shell shock. The medical establishment is also increasingly recognizing Cannabis’ effectiveness in treating illness.

At the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital’s Bone Marrow Transplantation department, patients including children and babies are treated using drops of oil derived from Cannabis. “It has no side effects and is largely effective in treating patients,” said department chief, Professor Reuven Or. “I would say it is effective in 80 percent of patients, which is a lot.”

Professor Or continued, “It stimulates the appetite and minimizes nausea and vomiting, which is of great importance in Oncology. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, which helps in cases of infection or inflammation caused by radiation. Along with this, Cannabis eases the coping process for patients – it improves their morale and lowers depression, and these are important parameters for patients battling disease.”

Half of the patients being treated with Cannabis are Oncology patients, while about a quarter suffer from chronic pain.

But Medical Marijuana, while legal and effective and used by about 2000 patients, is not covered by Israel’s HMOs. Angel face provides it for free but the current situation is not tenable. The Health Ministry is planning on opening 5-6 new grow houses, but in the meantime “grass” roots organizations are providing patients with the weed they need. The article discusses the potential profits that operators of these grow houses might make and is a fascinating look at how things in Israe work despite everything.

Regina Spektor’s new album, Far, is slated for release this Tuesday, June 23rd. For a sneak peak of the talented chanteuse’s signature track, “Laughing With,” listen below.

Laughing With


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

For more on Regina Spektor, click here.

If he did, however, he’d thank him/her/it for the beauty of Yosemite as seen here from the top of the famous half dome (which Muffti hiked w/Sari K — soon to be chair of jewish studies at a CUNY campus).

He’d then ask the holy one blessed be he to heal his sore, sore legs. Amen.

From WashingtonBlade.com:

SO PERHAPS NOW YOU CAN UNDERSTAND my dismay at seeing ANSWER rear its ugly head at a gay Pride parade. But given the organization’s “entryism” — a tried and- true formula by which communist sects would slowly infiltrate and take over social democratic organizations, thereby turning them into hard-left front groups — my shock was misplaced. Fervent antitotalitarian that I am, I told the marching ANSWERites, in so many words, that the presence of Stalinists at a celebration of freedom and individual liberty was inconsistent, and that they should therefore make themselves scarce. In response to my expletive-laden outburst, one member of their creepy-looking crew turned to me and said, “We’re not Stalinists!” and waddled off.

Individual members of ANSWER can insist to the contrary all they like, but as long as they march under the organization’s banner they have no case on which to recoil from the label of “Stalinist.” Indeed, they’re that and more. The criterion for earning the support of ANSWER seems to depend on the answer to a single question: Do you consider yourself an implacable enemy of the United States?

It doesn’t matter how many people you gas, political dissidents you imprison, or United Nations Security Council resolutions you violate, any tin pot tyrant or clerical fascist who registers his opposition to American “imperialism” can count on ANSWER’s backing. At a New York City ANSWER rally I covered in the summer of 2006, convened to protest Israel’s defensive war against Hezbollah rockets raining down on its northern border, numerous speakers praised the Iranian backed Islamist terror organization and called for the destruction of the Jewish state. If ANSWER had its way, those who hang Iranian gay teenagers and superglue shut the anuses of Iraqi homosexuals would dominate the Middle East.

Click here to read the entire article.

From The New York Post:

Just six months into the new administration, however, it is becoming increasingly clear that those who harbored suspicions about Obama’s approach to the Middle East had good reason to be worried. A confluence of factors — including his administration’s undue pressure on Israel, a conciliatory approach to authoritarian Muslim regimes, and the baseless linkage of the failed “peace process” to the curtailment of the Iranian nuclear program — point to what could become “the greatest disagreement between the two countries in the history of their relationship,” as Middle East expert Robert Satloff recently told Newsweek.

This dramatic shift in American policy began several months ago when the administration signaled that it would make the cessation of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank the centerpiece of its policy to revamp the region. And that approach, mostly hinted at through anonymous leaks, became as good as official when Obama delivered his vaunted address to the Muslim world in Cairo earlier this month. In that speech, Israel (and, specifically, its policy of settlement construction) was the only state to merit specific criticism from the president of the United States. Among all the degradations and injustices in the Middle East, from the abhorrent treatment of women in nations like Saudi Arabia, to Syrian-backed assassinations of pro-sovereignty politicians in Lebanon, to the arrest and imprisonment of gay men in Egypt, the leader of the free world singled out America’s one, reliable democratic ally in the region for rebuke.

Click here to read the entire article.

Billy Joel’s wife Katie Lee, 33 years his junior, and the former host of the hit Bravo reality TV show, Top Chef, is shagging Israeli fashion designer, Yigal Azrouel . Sidebar: Am I wrong in thinking this guy is a total arse schmuck? Then again, maybe my pragmatism and miserly disposition just don’t see the value in spending $1150 on a cotton dress with a zipper, which by any other name smells like shmatas.

Joel and Lee announced their split just this week amidst rumors of infidelity. While the Joel-Lees are denying the rumors, it would seem that the age difference was a major factor in their split.  Joel’s former “Uptown Girl,” Christie Brinkley was in the news last year when news of her former hubby’s scandalous shacking up with their nanny hit the fan.

Now that they’re both older, anyone else think that Joel and Brinkley should just reunite and stop trying to reclaim their youth by marrying adulterous klumniks?

It’s one of those blah summer / late spring days, the temperature has dropped considerably much to my dismay, it’s overcast, and every now and then heavy rain sets in. It’s perfect cuddle weather actually, but the only ones around I could cuddle have got tuna breath. But it’s also great soup weather, and since I’ve been lagging on the recipes lately, here’s something to start catching up with:

For 6 to 8 servings you’ll need:

3 chicken breast filets (about 200 grammes each)
a little oil for frying
about 1.5 litres of chicken bouillon
juice of one lemon
400 millilitres of coconut milk
2 tablespoons of finely chopped mixed herbs & spices such as parsley, garlic, ginger, coriander, green pepper, lemon grass, spring onions, curry leaves, and Chinese chives (You can get / grow larger quantities of the herbs and dry them by tying the stems together with a rubber band and then hanging them up. Crumble when dry into spice storage containers.)
3 tablespoons of finely cut chilli peppers
1 1/2 tablespoons of your favourite curry mix
1/2 a tablespoon of curcuma (a cheaper alternative to saffron for adding colour – to your clothes as well, so be careful)
3 medium-sized carrots; peeled and finely diced
1 medium-sized jar of mung bean sprouts (approximately 200 grammes net weight)
approximately 125 grammes of short wok noodles (or break long ones into spoon-size bits) that don’t need pre-boiling

Heat some oil in the wok (a large pot will also do, but quality woks not only look great but also distribute the heat differently, which will save you a lot of time). Rinse and dry the chicken breast filets and fry from all sides (this will keep them juicy but will also prevent the meat from getting soggy later). Add the chicken bouillon and bring to the boil. Add lemon juice, and let the broth simmer on low heat for about thirty minutes with lid on the wok. (If the bouillon boils down, add some water to keep the meat covered.) Remove the filets from the broth. Add coconut milk, stir in spices, herbs, and carrots, and bring to the boil. Cut the chicken breast filets into bite-size pieces. Strain and add mung bean sprouts to the soup, then the meat. Stir in wok noodles and let the soup simmer on low heat for another four to five minutes.

The soup looks great served in the wok, and the colours are more intense than in the picture. You can also prepare the soup hours ahead, but I recommend only adding the noodles when you re-heat the soup so they won’t get too soft.

My morning news round-up: Skipping the cereal for some morning material

It is reported that Billy Joel’s third wife, Katie Lee, has separated from the pop singer. Lee has left the 60 year old crooner and has been seen in the arms of Israel fashion designer, Yigal Azrouel. Joel, 60, is a grandson of a German Jewish businessman who escaped Germany after his very large company was taken over by Nazis in the 1930s. Story link to The Miami Herald

A three day water-only fast in support of Darfur refugees involved over eighty rabbis.

A group representing Holocaust survivors will sue Israeli Bank Leumi which they assert is holding $77 million in assets of survivors and their families and will not relinquish the funds. I guess it is not just Swiss Banks that have soiled reputations?

After 11 years at Palo Alto’s Temple Beth Am, a rabbi will make the move to Israel, with his guitar, to lead the Reform movement’s Year In Israel rabbinics and cantorial programs.

The Los Angeles Jewish Journal reports on a star that was NOT born, and the LA area auditions for Israel’s popular television show, A Star is Born, Kochav Nolad, which is similar to North America’s American Idol series.

The LA Times asks, as it city’s Israel Film Festival closes, whether the Israeli hit about two brothers in love with the same woman, Lost Islands, is too funny for American audiences. And why is it being completely ignored by American film distributors? Will an American producer buy the rights and remake it in America?

The Denver Post comments on the 25 years that have passed since the liberal, Jewish, radio talk show host, Alan Berg, was brutally gunned down by a far right wing murderer.

The Deutsche Welle reports on Israel’s Yad Vashem which gave honors to the German WWII military officer Wilhelm (Wilm) Hosenfeld who was stationed in occupied Poland, and helped and eventually saved the life of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman. The story was later recreated on the screen in, “The Pianist.”

The NY Post sold many extra copies last week with its blaring front page stories on a rabbi cum power broker in the city’s jail system who arranged for a convicted swindler and cheat to have “bar” mitzvah and engagement celebrations for his son and daughter at the jail, com[plete with knives and cell phones, and who arranged for better food and nicer treatment for certain Jewish inmates. Now “The Forward” has investigated this alleged Satmar influence broker in the following story. It is alleged that Agudath Israel of America drafted a letter to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressing support for Rabbi Leib Glanz, a chaplain in the New York City jails, who was forced to resign. The said it was merely a lapse in judgement and is not related to any monetary issues.

A small controversy was created in Kansas City when a reporter slash community activist criticized a company for cutting short a D J Jazzy Jeff concert. The reporter said it was because the company’s leaders (the Cordish family) are Jewish, and like all Jews, are only interested in money.

The Boston Globe report on the low cost Do It Yourself bar mitzvah trend in Newton and Brookline, MA. The families are affiliated with the Sunday School for Jewish Studies.

From the UK, there was a story on a Jewish couple who is sunig their apartment complex, after it installed a motion sensing lighting system which “turns on” when someone walks by it seven days a week, including the Sabbath. The Jewish family says it breaks the rule against work on Shabbat.

And finally from Manhattan: a story on a new play by David Adjmi (a Yeshiva of Flatbush alumnus) that hit the stage in NYC. It has a Jewish theme, actually a Syrian Jewish theme, which is rarely seen or heard about in American Jewish life. “Stunning” is a three-act play about the relationship between a Syrian-Jewish couple in present-day Midwood (Brooklyn) and their black housekeeper. Lily and Ike Schwecky are married, though Lily is 16, and Ike is much older and coarser. They have a complicated relationship with Blanche Nesbitt, their seemingly overqualified live-in housekeeper. On facebook, I guess they would say “it’s complicated.” I wonder if fellow alum, Isaac Mizrahi, will attend the show?