Last week in Baghdad, 30 Iranians were captured fighting for the militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. A few days earlier, two trucks transporting weapons for Sadr\’s fighters were caught trying to drive into Iraq from Iran.
What\’s the best way to celebrate 350 years of Jewish life in America? If you\’re the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, you fete one of the top cultural achievements of American Jews — the movie business — with that favorite all-American pastime, the top 10 list.
Borat is a fictional Kazahkstanian reporter distinguished by his utter lack of social propriety who allegedly films segments on American culture for Kazakhstan television. Like the spectacularly stupid pseudo black rapper Ali G and the unashamedly vapid gay Austrian fashion reporter Bruno, Borat is a creation of British Jewish comic Sacha Baron Cohen. And, like the other characters, Borat uses his lack of shame to expose people\’s darker sides by asking them uncomfortable questions.
Rep. Porter Goss\’ distance from Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking was likely a plus in securing the nomination to lead the CIA.
In fact, Goss (R- Fla.), President Bush\’s choice to succeed George Tenet as intelligence director, is about as far from the CIA\’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East as Tenet was close to it.
Don\’t call them synagogues.
They are minyanim, or spiritual communities. They have evolved from shared and individual dreams and from serendipitous, profound and beshert connections. They are new, egalitarian, independent, warm, collaborative and vibrant.
And they are all led by female rabbis.
For years, Min Kantrowitz resisted the pull. Sure, the books on her nightstand were more likely to be a reference guide to the Talmud rather than the latest best-seller. But a rabbi?
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