A joke was told about U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman during the 2000 presidential campaign. Not only was Lieberman the first Jew to run for vice president, but he was a famously observant one. “If you elect Joe Lieberman,” the joke went, “he will be on the job 24/6.”
Stephanie Liss is an award-winning writer whose research has taken her to Bosnia, the Congo, Lebanon, Israel and even to undercover encounters with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat and Hamas.
When first meeting Rachel Fleischer, her innocent, girl-next-door appearance may lead you to wonder why this nice Jewish girl from a good home would spend her weekends among the indigent population of Los Angeles’ Skid Row. The reason can be found in the young director’s documentary film, “Without a Home,” which follows the anguished lives of the homeless and confronts many preconceived notions about them.
Among the gifts of the Jews, to use Thomas Cahill’s flattering phrase, perhaps none is more stirring and enduring than the biblical call to social justice. We are reminded of the Jewish injunction to seek justice in a couple of new books from Jewish Lights, each of which shows us how do more than pay lip service to one of the bedrock principles of Judaism.
Martin Fletcher may already be familiar to you from his long career as a television news correspondent. Or you may recall that Fletcher is the author of two books of nonfiction: “Breaking News” (2008) and “Walking Israel” (2010), which won the National Jewish Book Award. Last month saw the release of “The List” (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin\’s Press, $25.99), marking Fletcher\’s entry into the ranks of professional novelists, too.
The overly creased and still tender face of Shimon Peres looks like he has always been crying; he seems to carry centuries of Jewish suffering upon his strong shoulders. Still, there is some flicker of hope in the old man’s eyes; a stubbornness and a determination that his life’s work will mean something.
Yael Naim might need to have her head checked out. Take her word for it.
My friend and I go to the same synagogue but almost never run into each other. “How come?” I was musing the other day.
Are Halloween masks of Jews in the news a trick or just a new treatment?
After their immigration to Southern California more than 30 years ago, the majority of the area’s Iranian Jewish community poured their energies into re-establishing themselves financially. Following their success, some Iranian Jews have turned their attention to promoting philanthropy in the arts, education and Israel in recent years.
