Steven Cohen is the new secretary to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, among his most powerful aides. So please don’t confuse him with Steve Cohen, the Memphis congressman, or Steven A. Cohen the billionaire hedge fund manager.
When it comes to politicians meddling in people’s religious lives, the answer should be clear: Don’t do it! Neither members of Congress nor congressional staffers should be pressuring any individuals to adhere to any particular religious code. As obvious as that seems, sometimes it gets more complicated, as the case of Aharon Friedman reminds us. Friedman is a staff member in the office of U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Democrat. Friedman also is an Orthodox Jew in the midst of a messy divorce. Actually, from a civil standpoint, the divorce is over. According to the state, Friedman’s marriage to Tamar Epstein was terminated last April. Jewish law, however, says the couple is still married as Friedman refuses to give his wife a get, or a Jewish bill of divorce.
The death last weekend of Jawaher Abu Rahmah is a puzzling tragedy. The IDF, however, has turned it into an example of how the occupation brings out this country’s ugly side.
In hindsight everyone will be able to point at this moment or that event and say: “There, then, that is when it went off the tracks.” This will be debated by others who will counter: “No, by then it was too far gone.” Still others would say: “That was a minor bump, there was still a chance to right the cart, to get it back on the road, to resume the project.” The incident is not necessarily a large event, the place not always monumental or even memorable. It is only in hindsight when it comes time to mourn or to write history that it is clarified.
The entire Jewish community should applaud the recently announced plan by The Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and several major Jewish federations to invest millions of dollars over the next few years to fight the delegitimization and demonization of Israel. These groups understand that if academic and cultural boycotts are legitimate when aimed at Jews in the West Bank today, they will soon become legitimate when aimed at Jews in Tel Aviv tomorrow; and, you can be sure that after that, the boycotters will set their sites on Jews in New York, Los Angeles, Peoria … and everywhere else that Jews live.
THU | JAN 6 (CURRENT EVENTS) Reza Aslan, the Iranian American author of “No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam” and editor of the recently released anthology “Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes From the Modern Middle East,” lectures on “Iran, Israel and The U.S.: Conflict or Cooperation?” Afterward, he discusses the topic with Sinai Temple’s Rabbi David Wolpe and signs copies of his books. Thu. 7:30 p.m. Free. Sinai Temple, 10400 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. (310) 474-1518. sinaitemple.org.
What a wonderful idea. Let us counteract a boycott by engaging in a boycott of our own; let us boycott the boycotters who in turn can retaliate by boycotting the boycotters of the boycott.
Green Cars Benefit Earth, Israel. Kudos to The Journal for the Dec. 3 cover story on ways to reduce consumption (“My Chanukah Miracle\” target=\”_blank\”>My Chanukah Miracle”) and for Rob Eshman’s Dec. 10 column on the new Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid (\”The Home Front\” target=\”_blank\”>The Home Front”). We should strive proactively to reduce our environmental footprints. Mark Shapiro (Letters, Dec. 17) complains about the cost of a Volt compared to that of a conventional gas-burning car. What Shapiro didn’t mention is that the price of a conventional car and the oil it runs on are greatly subsidized — these prices do not include the cost of exhaust pollution on human health, military protection of access to oil (think Iraq and Afghanistan) and deadly oil spills (Gulf of Mexico).
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