Dividing Lines
Rob Eshman
November 20, 2003
About two miles northwest of Bethlehem, Israel\’s much-discussed security fence comes to an end — not with a bang but with a whimper.
Category
November 20, 2003
Don’t Hate Me ‘Cuz I’m Happy
Mark Miller
November 20, 2003
If you\’re anything like me — and for the love of God, I hope you\’re not –you\’ve found dating in Los Angeles to be nonstop inferno of disappointment, frustration, anguish, horror, tedium and depression.
And those are the dates that work out fairly well. It\’s not hard to understand why some battle-scarred veterans of the singles scene have completely sworn off dating, substituting other, nondating activities in life, whatever those could possibly be. I understand jogging may be one of them.
Educating Riordan
Jill Stewart
November 20, 2003
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger\’s choice of former Mayor Richard Riordan for state education secretary has education experts worried that despite his reputation as a pro-skills, pro-reform guy, Riordan\’s not all he\’s cracked up to be. These experts see Riordan as the power broker who spent far more time trying to fix school construction than classroom instruction — the source of California\’s long education nightmare. Indeed, among a throng of educators who see California\’s new, intensive skills-based instruction producing miracles in grade schools, where achievement is up significantly after a generation of downward spiraling, Riordan might be stunned to hear that he is Worry No. 1.
Attacks Bolster Turks’ Will to Fight Evil
Engin Ansay
November 20, 2003
Following the dastardly attacks in Istanbul targeting Turkish Jews in two synagogues on Nov. 15 that left 25 innocent people dead and several hundred Turkish Jews and Muslims severely injured (see Cover Story, p. 18), I was asked what this all means for Turkey.
It means sadness and sorrow for the lost lives and the loved ones left behind; it certainly means outrage; but it also means determination to fight against this greatest evil of terrorism. It is a terrorism that has no boundaries, that makes no distinction, but is hungry for creating fear and intimidation, and it has no respect for the central and sacred pillars of all universal principles — respect for life and the right to live.
Defining Family
Yehuda Lev
November 20, 2003
A few months ago, in these pages, I described a brief visit to Los Angeles to attend the wedding of my daughter, Dafna, 42, and
her fiancé, Scott, 36 (\”Father of the Bride,\” July 11). It was a first marriage for both and celebrated without benefit of clergy — Scott being Christian and Dafna, Jewish.
This drew some criticism from readers who felt that I was amiss in not discouraging my daughter from marrying a non-Jew. One, in fact, reminded me that some Jews sit shiva when such a marriage takes place and regard the offending child as dead. It seemed to me that is a bit strong. There was also a time when adulterers were stoned, but we seem to have progressed beyond that. (More to the point perhaps, how does one tell a 42-year-old daughter whom she should marry?)
Ask Wendy
Wendy Belzberg
November 20, 2003
Ask Wendy, readers\’ questions and get answers from Wendy.
Sharif Import Takes Boy on Trip to Islam
Tom Tugend
November 20, 2003
\”I was filming \’Funny Girl\’ with Barbra Streisand in 1967, when the Six-Day War broke out, and the Arab press called me a traitor for kissing a Jewish woman,\” actor Omar Sharif reminisced.\n\n\”When I told Barbra about it,\” Sharif added, \”she said, \’You should see the letter my aunt wrote about kissing an Arab man.\’\”\n\nSharif was in town to promote \”Monsieur Ibrahim,\” the latest of his more than 70 movies and a different kind of relationship — between an elderly Muslim and an abandoned Jewish boy.
The Furst Brothers’ Gamble
Naomi Pfefferman
November 20, 2003
When producers Sean and Bryan Furst met Wayne Kramer in 2001, just about everyone had rejected his Las Vegas fable, \”The Cooler.\” The screenplay was a hard sell, \”because it defies any specific genre,\” Bryan Furst said. \”It\’s not a mob flick, it\’s not a comedy or a love story, but all three together.\”\n\nIt didn\’t help that the inexperienced Kramer wanted to direct, although that hardly bothered the Fursts. With their eight-year-old production company, Furst Films, Sean, 33, and Bryan, 26, have made a name for themselves by discovering previously unknown talent. In 2000, their Sundance picture, \”Everything Put Together,\” introduced filmmaker Marc Forster, who went on to direct the Oscar-winning \”Monster\’s Ball.\” \”Sean has this incredible, risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit,\” Forster told Variety, which listed the Fursts among 2003 \”producers to watch.\”
Kramer Wins With a Vegas Loser
Naomi Pfefferman
November 20, 2003
Wayne Kramer identifies with the karmically challenged hero of his sleek new movie, \”The Cooler.\” Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) has bad luck so contagious, a Las Vegas casino employs him to cool down high rollers.\n\nKramer — who is hoarse as luck would have it, in an interview — more than relates.
A Debut Teeming With Love and Lore
Susan Miron
November 20, 2003
\”An Hour in Paradise: Stories\” by Joan Leegant (Norton, $23.95).
People imagine that, as a book critic, I read so much that there must be dozens of books I enjoy each year. But the truth is, books about which I am totally enthusiastic appear only every few years. Joan Leegant\’s terrific first book of stories, \”An Hour in Paradise,\” is one of those books.
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