Mahmomir Cohen, a proud 80-year-old Iranian Jewish grandmother, clutched a notebook that included a Persian love poem she penned for her late husband. Her hands trembled as she recited the hand-written rhyming poem in front of a video camera on Sunday at Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills.
Teachers and principals in Los Angeles expressed bafflement and concern this week over a decision by Israel’s Ministry of Education that could derail what many believe is a paradigmatic program fostering connection between people in the United States and Israel.
The Obama administration continues to favor multilateral sanctions when it comes to pressuring Iran, senior officials have said.
In Hollywood, a good entrance is paramount. Two weeks before the theatrical release last month of their first feature film, “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” producers Alan and Gabe Polsky threw themselves a coming-out ball.
This past Monday I sadly learned that last week 13-year-old Gai Ben-David died in Madrid, Spain, from the brain cancer he had been fighting for a quarter of his young life. Gai was born of a non-Jewish mother and halachically converted by a Conservative rabbi. His family’s pain was compounded by the shocking news that he would not be granted the right to be buried as a Jew. The authority behind this decision is Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the current rishon l’tziyyon — Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel — whose opinion was sought by the Orthodox chief rabbi of Madrid. Rabbi Amar ruled that because of Gai’s non-Orthodox conversion, he had to be buried in a section of the Madrid cemetery reserved for those whose Judaism is questionable.
Is there a PR idea that can reverse Israel’s deteriorating image? I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and I can’t say it’s been too much fun. For one thing, being in PR mode doesn’t bring out the best in me. I get linear and think only of “winning the war” — not engaging in complex and nuanced conversation.
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