Mel Gibson\’s \”muse\” is on the path to sainthood. Pope John Paul II this week beatified Anna Katharina Emmerick, a 19th-century German nun whose mystic visions inspired Gibson\’s gory depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus in \”The Passion of the Christ.\”
Since traveling to Cuba several times with her mother, who organizes relief missions for Cuban Jews through her travel agency, Daniella Gruber has returned home changed by the experience.
Even a wizard at niche marketing would tremble before the title of Julie Salamon\’s most recent book. "Rambam\’s Ladder," based on an ancient text by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, sounds like it\’s bound for the remainder bins even before it hits the Judaica sections.
Leap year fixes a flaw in the calendar and a glitch in our culture. We women constantly complain about our position on the dating food chain. We have to wait for men to ask us out, make the first move and call the next day. Well now we can stop waiting and start dating.
If it seems unlikely that a nice Jewish girl would become a flamenco dancer, consider her early role models. Or Nili Azulay\’s Syrian-born grandmother, Nona, defied her parents to wed the man she loved, then refused to remarry after he died several years later. Azulay\’s mother, Chaya, became one of Israel\’s first female barristers; her father died when she was a small child. \”The sadness of not having a father was tempered by growing up with these strong, independent women,\” she said.
\”The Pet Press is distributed to pet-related venues and many other places, including libraries, car washes and my favorite locations — Jewish delicatessens from Calabasas to Long Beach … and all points in between,\” Lori Golden said.
Medical oncologist Dr. Daniel Lieber reached a breaking point two years ago. Israel\’s poor economic state had him so concerned that he began moonlighting as a volunteer for State of Israel Bonds Development Corporation for Israel (DCI), primarily trying to induce doctors to invest their pension money.
Until recently, the word Drohobycz (pronounced "Dro-ho-bit-ch") sounded to most American readers like an exotic Eastern European tongue twister.
It was this relationship — these two boys, total strangers now bound forever by one horrible deed — that was the initial inspiration for \”Levity.\”
In researching the movie, I spent time with a lot of people who had committed murder when they were kids. I met some through youth groups, others through church and community programs. Some I interviewed extensively, others I just followed around for a while. They were all different ages, yet each had in common that he was trying to come to terms with the consequences of what he\’d done. Some (those who believed in God) were trying on a spiritual level, others (those who didn\’t) on a secular level. For all of them it was a kind of obsession.
This weekend we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the life he dedicated to the struggle for civil rights. As we still reel from the savage assault wrought upon our nation on Sept. 11, 2001, and as the people of Israel endure terror on an almost daily basis, the significance of King\’s life should be recognized anew. Under his leadership, the civil rights movement transcended political, theological and ideological differences. So, too, must our fight against terrorism.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.