A Russian chief rabbi stands by his strongman, aka Putin
Jewish Journal
June 5, 2015
Rabbi Berel Lazar’s mother was eager for grandchildren.
Category
controversial
U.N. Failing in Conflict-Resolution Role
James D. Besser
July 22, 2004
All of this comes to mind in the face of this week\’s effort by the Palestinians to generate anti-Israel resolutions in the General Assembly in response to the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — the judicial but injudicious arm of the United Nations — that Israel\’s controversial new security barrier is illegal and must be torn down.
Gibson Film Stirs Up Variety of Reactions
Journal Staff
March 4, 2004
This masterfully crafted film deals with a troubling event and could lead to trouble.
Opinions Conflict on Ending Life Support
Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff
November 6, 2003
The Florida case of a woman on life support for 13 years has put issues of how we die and when and how doctors and others should intervene on the front page. Whatever the courts say about that case, however, will only apply to federal and Florida law.
What would Jewish law say about such a case? That question is important because the issues raised in that case confront Jews often as they care for their parents, spouse and other loved ones and as they contemplate their own dying process.
The basic Jewish principle about these matters is clear: We are, on the one hand, not allowed to hasten the dying process, but on the other, we are not supposed to prolong it either.
Dollars and Sense of Jesus Films
David Finnigan
August 21, 2003
Movie studios release very few historical or period films each year, much less a film like \”The Passion,\” which is in Aramaic and Latin with subtitles.
Far From ‘Divine’
Tom Tugend
March 6, 2003
\”Divine Intervention\” has been embraced by European and most American critics as a brilliant absurdist comedy, recalling the style of French director Jacques Tati, and the silent movie performances of Buster Keaton and the early Charlie Chaplin.
Sharon Vows More Targeted Killings
Naomi Segal
January 2, 2003
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is vowing to step up targeted killings of suspected Palestinian terrorists. Israel\’s practice of targeted killings is not new, but Sharon\’s statements again threw a spotlight on the controversial policy.
He made the comment following a terror attack Dec. 27 at a West Bank yeshiva, in which four students were killed and 10 others wounded. Reflecting the odd vagaries of Middle East politics, his vow also came as Israeli and Palestinian officials began reviewing the latest draft of a U.S. \”road map\” for achieving peace in the region.
Terrors of the Resistance
Robert Sklar
November 14, 2002
The highly controversial French documentary film, \”Terrorists in Retirement,\” offers a striking revelation that, on reflection, should come as no surprise at all — Eastern European Jews played a prominent role in the most daring exploits of the World War II French resistance movement. This truth comes as a jolt only because French popular myth and official histories have so thoroughly suppressed it, considering it harmful to the nation\’s heritage to admit that stateless immigrants, facing deportation and almost certain death, fought harder for France\’s freedom than did many citizens who were content to collaborate with their German conquerors.
Jews in the Nazis’ Ranks
Dennis Gura
June 13, 2002
\”Hitler\’s Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and the Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military\” by Bryan Mark Rigg (University Press of Kansas, $29.95).
Bryan Mark Rigg\’s most controversial assertion is \”Hitler\’s Jewish Soldiers\’\” least relevant matter. In a complicated opening chapter, he claims that 150,000 individuals (almost exclusively male) served in the German military who were, by Nazi racial standards and laws, Jews of some quantity. By his calculations, perhaps as many as 6,000 \”full\” Jews (with four Jewish grandparents) were in the Wehrmacht — but the greater number comes, of course, from the highly assimilated, aggressively nationalistic, and thoroughly acculturated \”quarter\” and \”half\” Jews, those with one or two Jewish grandparents, respectively. (The mathematics is darkly amusing: two half-Jewish parents make up one half-Jewish child.)
Tinseltown Exposed
Naomi Pfefferman
June 13, 2002
When Bernard Rose first met superagent Jay Moloney, the inspiration for his controversial new film, \”ivansxtc,\” he was a hot young director courted by every agent in town. \”I was staying at the Mondrian, and gifts would suddenly appear in my room,\” says the 41-year-old Jewish Brit, who had just made an acclaimed 1988 drama, \”Paperhouse.\”
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