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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

January 19, 2011

Governor’s slap spurs outreach by Birmingham federation

Leave a Comment / United States /

Birmingham’s Jewish federation said it would reach out to Alabama’s governor after he said non-Christians were not his “brothers and sisters.”

The federation told The Los Angeles Times that it would assemble a group of Christians and Jews “as soon as possible to initiate a dialogue” to reach out to Robert Bentley, the newly elected Republican leader.

Bentley, speaking at a Baptist Church on Monday, the day of his swearing-in, spoke of his evangelical fervor. He said Christians are his “brothers and sisters.”

“Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters,” he said. “So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

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Author Ian McEwan to receive Jerusalem Prize

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment /

British author Ian McEwan was chosen to receive the prestigious Jerusalem Prize.

The biennial prize, which will be awarded next month in a ceremony on the opening night of the Jerusalem Book Fair, is Israel’s highest literary honor for foreign writers. The award is given to an author whose works best exemplify the “freedom of the individual in society.”

McEwan is the author of “Amsterdam,” “Atonement” and “On Chesil Beach.”

Previous Jerusalem Prize winners include Japanese author Haruki Murakami in 2009, Arthur Miller in 2003 and Susan Sontag in 2001.

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Livni cancels South Africa visit

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

Israeli lawmaker Tzipi Livni canceled a scheduled trip to South Africa due to a strike by her country’s Foreign Ministry workers, the ministry said.

Palestinian activists’ groups on Wednesday disputed the reason given by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to the South African media, saying that the threat of being arrested on war crimes charges for her role in the Gaza war is what made Livni decide to nix her trip.

Livni, Israel’s opposition leader and head of the Kadima Party, was scheduled to visit South Africa at the end of the month as a guest of the Jewish Board of Deputies, according to the South African Press Association. She was scheduled to give several speeches and hold meetings in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Several diplomatic visits to Israel and from Israel to other countries have been postponed or canceled due to the strike.

Earlier this week, the Media Review Network, a South African organization dedicated to dispelling stereotypes about Muslims, told the South African Press Association that it had instructed its attorneys to secure the arrest warrant in accordance with the Rome statutes, to which South Africa is a signatory, “which obligates all member states to honor their responsibility in the prosecution of war criminals.”

It is not the first time that foreign organizations have tried to secure warrants for Livni’s arrest for her actions during the Gaza war. A British court issued an arrest warrant for Livni in December 2009, forcing Livni to cancel her visit.

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$50 million initiative aiming to better poor Israeli schools

Leave a Comment / Education /

The Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network and Israel’s Education Ministry have launched a $50 million campaign to improve 50 schools on Israel’s periphery.

The Sci-Tech Network, formerly known as ORT Israel, includes more than 180 schools that focus on technological training and high-tech curricula. The Education Ministry will match dollar for dollar up to $25 million to bring 50 schools in Israel’s poorest regions into the network, the group announced Tuesday night at a dinner honoring philanthropist Edith Everett.

The schools will be equipped with new curricula, tools, infrastructures and technologies to provide students living in these economically lagging areas with marketable science and technology backgrounds and credentials critical to their own futures and that of Israel.

The event Tuesday marked the launch of the American fundraising branch of the Sci-Tech Network, which was forced to rebrand itself following a lengthy divorce from the international network of Jewish vocational schools, World ORT. The two groups battled for nearly two years over the usage of the name ORT, with Israel ORT eventually losing the right to use the ORT name for fundraising purposes.

Everett became involved with what is now the Israel Sci-Tech Network some 36 years ago when she and her late husband, Henry, opened with the organization a school in the town of Hatzor in 1974.

“The Sci-Tech mandate is to go to the hard places and to decrease the gap between the wealthy and the poor,” Everett said in a statement released by the organization. “We hope the improvement will spur similar efforts throughout the country. The key is to offer a systemic solution, not just a series of one-time projects.”

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Ex-officials urge Obama to back U.N. resolution on settlements

Leave a Comment / United States /

Former U.S. officials and policy writers are urging President Obama to endorse a proposed United Nations Security Council resolution blasting Israel’s settlement policy and calling for a return to peace talks.

“At this critical juncture, how the U.S. chooses to cast its vote on a settlements resolution will have a defining effect on our standing as a broker in Middle East peace,” says the letter, signed mostly by figures who have favored greater U.S. pressure on Israel in the past, sent Wednesday to Obama. “But the impact of this vote will be felt well beyond the arena of Israeli-Palestinian deal-making—our seriousness as a guarantor of international law and international legitimacy is at stake.”

The letter notes earlier occasions when the United States did not apply its veto to Security Council resolutions condemning settlement building. Since the U.S. is a permanent member of the Security Council, its veto would quash the entire resolution.

The resolution, reportedly drafted by Palestinian officials and representatives of other countries, does not directly criticize the Palestinians for the recent collapse of peace talks.

The Obama administration and Israel say the Palestinians have been at fault for making a settlement freeze a precondition for a return to talks.

The letter says that the United States could address such imbalances through an “accompanying statement.”

Among the signatories are Frank Carlucci, a former defense secretary, and a number of former U.S. diplomats who served in the Middle East, as well as representatives of Arab-American groups.

Jewish signatories include Rabbi Leonard Beerman of Los Angeles’ Leo Baeck Temple; Rabbi Tirezah Firestone of Rabbis for Human Rights; and Peter Beinart, a former New Republic editor who wrote a controversial essay last year that argued that Israeli policies were alienating young Israelis.

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Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

I really don’t understand what’s all the bruhaha all about!  Why is everyone so upset with Ricky Gervais, and his performance at the Golden Globes?  Last time I checked, Ricky Gervais was a Comedian, and the Golden Globes committee hired him to host the show knowing that he is a Comedian, right?  I am pretty sure they also knew that he is British, as well as his comedic style and sense of humor, right?  It doesn’t just change overnight.  He did the same thing last year as well.  People, what is the big deal?  I could be totally wrong about this, but I am pretty sure that Comedians are supposed to make people laugh, make fun of people, things and events, especially actors and celebrities.  So, when Ricky made fun of celebrities at the Golden Globes for their own stupid behavior, was that not funny?  I thought it was.  People are saying that it was inappropriate and tasteless, but I couldn’t agree with that less!  I think he was dead on, and furthermore funnier than every other host of that show or any awards show altogether!  Jon Stewart tried it, and was funny but not edgy enough for my taste.  Ellen DeGeneres was so-so, staying on neutral subjects and trying not to cross the line.  That’s not comedy, that’s censorship.  I want outrageous, tasteless, edgy, hysterical, dark humor!  I don’t think I am alone in that.

Are we not supposed to laugh at the stupid lives of these so-called celebrities?  Are we not supposed to laugh at their lavish lifestyles, multiple nannies, housekeepers, chefs, and personal trainers to make their lives “easier”, only to find them unable to manage their personal lives, get arrested over and over for public intoxication, driving drunk, hurt those around them, and finally end up in jail or rehab?  Of course we are supposed to laugh at that.  How else are they ever going to learn?

I absolutely loved seeing the actors faces when he was talking about them, it was priceless.  Priceless, I tell you!  Talking about the characters in the Tourist movie being 2-dimensional was genius, not tacky.  Even I had to take a moment to think about that one, and you know that’s a good joke if that happens.  What about his introduction of Robert Downey Jr.?  Yes, it was crude but so what?  Downey is constantly making fun of himself.  For instance, a few minutes before the show started, as he was walking down the red carpet he made an obscene joke to a reporter about his drinking and rehab days.

If the guy can make fun of himself, he can definitely take a joke from a comedian.  All of them can, they are not called Public figures for nothing!

So all of you straight arrows out there, take a chill pill (does anyone say that anymore?), buy yourself some sense of humor, and laugh a little!

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Sargent Shriver and God

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

Kennedy biographer Laurence Leamer was on NPR this morning talking about Sargent Shriver, who died yesterday at 95. Shriver was a legendary figure in the world of public service and well-known if far less successful in politics. He was also a devoted Catholic, and it was Leamer’s response to Shriver celebrating Mass most mornings that caught my attention:

I asked him once, Why do you go to Mass every morning? And he said, Because I need God everyday. He was indeed a public servant of a kind we do not have very much of anymore.

That reminds me of Martin Luther’s great line that he was “too busy not to pray.”

The Catholic Online has more about the great pro-life liberal Catholic.

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Lieberman notes barriers he broke in ending his political career

Leave a Comment / Politics /

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) noted his “barrier-breaking” vice presidential candidacy in announcing his decision not to run again.

Lieberman announced his decision Wednesday in Hartford. Present were four of his children and six of his grandchildren.

He noted to applause from his followers that an 11th grandchild is due next month, and then said he couldn’t help but recall his four grandparents “and the journey they traveled a century ago.”

They found freedom, he said, but they would never imagine that “their grandson ended up a United States senator and incidentally a barrier-breaking candidate for vice president of the United States.”

Lieberman became the first Jewish nominee on a major presidential ticket when Al Gore chose him as his running mate in 2000.

Lieberman lost favor with Democrats over his support for the Iraq war.

He lost the Connecticut primary in 2006 but ran as an independent and won.

He caucused with the Democrats, but backed the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008.

Video by Associated Press.

 

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