Few things make us more uncomfortable than potentially dubious claims of antisemitism. One thing that does: obviously dubious claims of antisemitism.
This one’s just embarsassing. The New York Post reports:
THE Jewish Theater of New York is squaring off against the New York Times once again, this time accusing the Gray Lady of attempting to force the […]

-The scriptures of Jews, Christians and Moslems each proclaim their own to be the Chosen Ones. In an age when these groups want to get along, what shall be made of these passages? (Jewish Journal)
-Jews traumatized by the expulsion from Spain and Portugal looked to the Book of Esther for explanation and succor. (National […]

ObamaGirl, aka Leah Kauffman, is back with her “wish” to be perfected just as Ann Coulter wants. It’s not nearly as funny, but isn’t intended to be.
What do you think? No more songs or right on target?

Last weekend’s Jewish Week contained an op-ed by Sherri Mandell that seemed to want to make a point about “Orthodox-bashing” but gets seriously detoured along the way.
Mandell begins by citing Noah Feldman’s “freewheeling diatribe against Modern Orthodoxy” and Shalom Auslander’s “public pillory of the Orthodox world” and claiming that the prominence of these pieces of […]

-A Muslim mother visits Dachau. (Jewish Journal)
-A new study asserts that Holocaust trauma affects grandchildren of survivors. (Haaretz)
-An Israeli teen writes, “modern Israeli society is completely dominated by the memory of the Holocaust…. I have come across many people whose grandparents are survivors, but who have only the faintest idea what Operation Barbarossa or Vichy […]

Get out your party hats. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has officially declared October 28 through November 3 “Hava Nagila 100th Anniversary Celebration Week.”
Just what I’ve been waiting a century for. Well, closer to 97 years:
The technical anniversary is not until 2010, but 86-year-old Sheldon Feinberg has been barnstorming the country since 2005 with “My […]

JTA is reporting something about an imaginary motion for a one-state solution to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What they’re reporting exactly, I’m not sure.
A motion calling for a one-state solution was defeated at the famous Oxford Union debating forum.
The motion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lost last week by a vote of 191-60 at Oxford University […]

Historian and Jewish theologian Ernst Ehrlich passed away more than a week ago. I didn’t blog about his death until now, because I didn’t know about it until now. In fact, I didn’t know anything about Ehrlich until now.
Which is too bad. It seems like he was a remarkable man. From the AP:
The Berlin-born Ehrlich […]

-Reuven Pedatzur concludes that a war with Syria would include a missile attack on Israeli cities throughout Israel that the IDF is unable to prevent. (Haaretz)
-Daniel Levy makes the case that the Iranian threat to Israel ought to handled by US-Iran negotiations, not by Israeli military threats. (Haaretz)
-A look at the work of the 1120-strong […]

Each year the discussion surrounding Halloween festivities surfaces in conversations with Jewish educators around the country. Seemingly, regardless of socio-economic background or location, the same issue arises.
So we’ve asked three Jewish educators:
Should we permit our children’s participation in Halloween festivities?

For me, the answer is clear. Our job is to inform; it is the parents’ job […]