A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:
Newtown aftermath
It's hard for anyone to process and make sense of the tragic deaths of 20 children plus six others last Friday. As the smalltown of Newtown tries to begin to move on, ” target=”_blank”>read a letter to the editor of JTA. Others have focused on cutting back on the the traditional gun culture of the United States. “If the United States, itself awash with weapons, wishes to benefit from Israel’s experience, it must make sure it learns the right lessons. The first and most universal one is that ever more stringent gun control is bad policy: As is the case with drugs, as was the case with liquor during Prohibition, the strict banning of anything does little but push the market underground into the hands of criminals and thugs,” ” target=”_blank”>conpiracists…
Hagel opposition
President Obama may pick former senator Chuck Hagel to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta when he steps down, but the main knock coming out about Hagel this week is that he won't act in srael's interest. “Defeating a Hagel nomination, however, will be more difficult than mounting a vocal opposition, in large part due to the Senate’s tradition of collegiality. Tradition indicates the Senate would extend a former senator — one whose Senate colleagues would be directly involved in his confirmation — considerable latitude,”” target=”_blank”>said Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post. It's time to speak up, ” target=”_blank”>according to reports. He's served at the Finchley United Synagogue, one of London’s modern Orthodox shuls, since 1996, and was previously chief rabbi of Ireland. Lord Sacks wil retire next fall. “Highly respected among his rabbinic colleagues, Mirvis is a good speaker and has a reputation for warmth, though he is not considered a bold thinker,” said the Times of Israel. How important this role is in modern times is unclear, ” target=”_blank”>sexually abused students during the late 1970s and early ’80s but they weren't dealt with appropriately. Norman Lamm, who was president of Y.U. from 1976 to 2003, said that he rememebered dealing with the allegations privately to minimize the embarrassment and attention. “Joe Paterno turned a blind eye and was rightfully fired from his position – is Rabbi Lamm’s turning a blind eye to these issues any different? YU needs to begin the healing process by firing Lamm and launching a proper investigation,” ” target=”_blank”>wrote another blogger.
What would we do to Jesus?
Outrage over the official Facebook page of Israel’s embassy to Ireland sparked up this week after a ” target=”_blank”>told BuzzFeed that the post was a “total misunderstanding.” “It is a good thing that someone in Israel’s Irish embassy caught the folly of whoever’s running their Facebook page (though they might want to take a look at the Twitter account, too), and I suppose that the apology, while rather anemic, is nice,” ” target=”_blank”>added Haroon Moghul at Religion Dispatches.
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