Shavua Tov! Check out this week’s top Jewish news stories: a boxing champion and aspiring rabbi, a woman’s Western Wall arrest for wearing a talit, the Jew behind the vampires of “Twilight,” debate on Israeli settlements, the Reform Movement on abortion, a bagel fiasco in New York, and a special offer if you want to fly to Israel this winter.
1. Childhood Dream realised by Yuri Foreman – Times of India – And you heard that Jews can’t fight? Aspiring Israeli rabbi wins boxing title. And he’s been unbeaten for 28 fights. Next month, Orthodox Jew Dimitriy Salita will face off in a boxing match against devout Muslim Amir Khan. Read Heeb Magazine’s take on both fights.
2. Obama, Sarah Palin, the Anti-Defamation League and J Street argue about Israeli settlements in the West Bank (Capital J blog articles). First, Sarah Palin said that settlement expansion is necessary for all the American Jews moving to Israel. Then J Street attacked Palin for her position on the settlements, saying that she was “pandering . . . at the expense of the Security of the State of Israel.” The ADL then blasted J Street’s attacking of Sarah Palin and questioned it’s “pro-Israel” status, and J Street responded to ADL defending its status as “pro-Israel.” Oh yeah, and then Prez Obama said that Israeli settlements were “dangerous” and could “embitter” the Palestinians. Oy. So much to say – please add your thoughts to the comments.
3. “Reform movement: Don’t include Stupak amendment in Senate bill.” Capital J blog. The Religious Action Center (RAC) of Reform Judaism is asking the Senate to make sure any health care reform bill it passes removes the “dangerous” restrictions on abortion funding contained in the House bill’s Stupak-Pitts Amendment. Rock on RAC!
4. Woman Wearing Talit Arrested at Western Wall. – JTA. This is the first arrest of a woman wearing a Talit at the wall. Read a first hand account of the arrest from the Forward’s Sisterhood Blog.
5. “A Bissela Tsuris for H & H Bagels.” Corporate Crime Daily. A hilarious take on the crisis of another Jewish gonif in New York – this one in the bagel business.
6. Jewish Screenwriter Pens ‘Kosher’ Vampires for ‘Twilight’ – Jewish Journal. In case you were wondering why the vampires in the movie don’t drink human blood – they’re Kosher. Or sort of.
A special bonus for you: click here for info on Cheap tix to Israel ($872 a person, from MSP), if you buy them before 11/23, and travel in Nov/Dec. As reported in the Star Tribune.
(Photo: jeredb)
Great summary of Jewish news this week. But most striking was Obama warning against Israel building new homes for Jewish families in Jewish neighborhoods because those houses could “embitter” the Palestinians.
Uh wait — the Palestinian leaders in Hamas have openly called for the annihilation of the Jewish people in Israel and have repeatedly taken the steps needed (suicide bombs, etc) to begin that annihilation process. Why should we worry about “embittering” a people who happily announce that they want to commit genocide against the Jews? Should European Jews during the early-1940s have been concerned about “embittering” Germany against them?
I can’t fathom why Jews should be the only people on earth who are demonized for building homes for their families.
The tragedy of the story is not that Palestinians are embittered about the settlements but that Jews are. These are places where there has been a continuous Jewish presence in one form or another for thousands of years, longer than there have been Arabs or Islam. I wonder if these J-Streeters would like give up Tel Aviv which was only built 100 years ago. Tel Aviv is a settlement, not East Jerusalem or Hevron.