Yudeline

Saturday, April 17, 1999

Bibi the Banker: Hirsh Goodman: Checkbook politics. "Almost NIS 600 million over the past two months alone."

So Let's Flog Deri! Ha'aretz reports that "inmates are exempt from many commandments a free person otherwise must keep, according to an article published Friday in an Agudat Israel Torah guide to jail dwellers."

"Rabbi Dov Landau, the article's author, also recalled that incarceration is not one of the forms of punishment recognized in the Old Testament. Monetary fines, stoning, flogging and other forms of the death penalty all are mentioned in the Torah, he said."

Speaking for APN: Tom Friedman's New World Order: The L.A. Jewish Journal interviews the author of Lexus and the Olive Tree

From the Folks who Brought you Torquemada: Gay nuptials under Christian fire (Salon) Hate-mongering Christian protest casts shadow over mass gay marriage.

"I praise God!" bellowed another man, through his bullhorn. "I praise God that your mommies didn't abort all of you, so that we can share the grace of God with you today."

"You're telling me about grace?!" gasped a gay man. "You're the most graceless creature I've ever seen!"

Stealing the Lulav: Nathan Lewin comes to Satmar's Defense. "The arrangement took place, but he did not benefit one penny," Frankel's attorney, Nathan Lewin, told the Associated Press.

Friday, April 16, 1999

The Shelf Lives of Bill Gates: Robert X. Cringely on What Microsoft learned (and the Department of Justice didn't) from the grocery business.

"Without Microsoft's influence, software prices would be dropping even faster. The difference between prices that are dropping slowly and prices that would have been dropping quickly is borne by you and me."

Satmar Scam: Scam Cost Bd. of Ed. 6M: Probe (Daily News)

"Brooklyn rabbi stole $6 million from the Board of Education by putting 81 no-show employees on the board payroll in a 20-year scam that benefited his religious school, Special Schools Investigator Ed Stancik charged yesterday.

Rabbi Hertz Frankel — principal of the 4,000-student Beth Rachel all-girls school in Williamsburg — pleaded guilty last Friday to a felony charge to commit mail fraud."

Shas on Ice: Deri gets 4 years, NIS 250,000 fine (Ha'aretz)

And: Hannah Kim, Shas, c'est moi

"Police investigators discovered that at Deri's instructions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs transferred a great deal of money to the Talat (Movement for the Dissemination of Torah) Institute in Yeruham, by means of the local council, which served as a "pipeline" for that purpose.

"David Milgrom (no relations to the budget director of the Finance Ministry), advisor to Deri in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, headed the institute. The police discovered that Milgrom transferred NIS 400,000 from the coffers of the Torah institute to a private firm, Meshor Yeruham Ltd., a company that manufactures and markets a fuel economy device."

Next, Hang the Judges: Lieberman asks Netanyahu: Investigate the investigators (Ha'aretz)

Two Minute Hate: Orwell's 'B-B' and ours (Doron Rosenblum, Ha'aretz)

"Nobody heard what Big Brother was saying," writes Orwell. "..At this moment the entire group of people broke into a low rhythmic chant of 'B-B!...B-B!' - over and over again, very slowly, with a long pause between the first 'B' and the second - a heavy, murmurous sound, somehow curiously savage, in the background of which one seemed to hear the stamped feet and the throbbing of tom-toms."

Love Those Refugees: Miss Israel visits the Balkans "A Jewish relief agency flies a planeload of Kosovar refugees to Israel, where the country's mixed feelings about a Muslim "Greater Albania" -- and its own Arabs -- awaits them. " (Salon)

Netanyahu's "foreign minister, waving the specter of a Muslim "Greater Albania," home of Islamic terrorists, had criticized the NATO airstrikes. But with general elections around the corner, it would have been foolish for Netanyahu to ignore the Israeli public's overwhelming response to the Balkan crisis. "

Those Anti-Semitic Brits: Ex-Beatle Lennon voted greatest pop singer ever by Mojo Magazine's readers. Dylan ranked only fifth.

Thursday, April 15, 1999

Election '99 Akiva Eldar on The new blood pumping through Mordechai's veins. A look at Mordechai's decision to stay in the race despite lackluster support.

Tidbit: "Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) is expecting a mandate from the Arab sector in return for benefits accrued from his ministry. "

Also: Barak softens stand on drafting the ultra-Orthodox. "Barak, a former chief of staff, thinks the army will take no more than 250 to 300 Haredim out of a total of about 3,000 draft-age candidates a year."

And: Mordechai rally is wrecked by Likud jibes. Roni Milo, said "we will end up in a situation where no one can say anything or Avigdor Lieberman, the minister of police, will deal with him" - referring to the head of the Yisrael Beteinu list, who was Netanyahu's chief aide.

Cleaning the City? Rights groups protest government's confiscation of Palestinian IDs. "This could be our last chance to challenge the policy, which essentially makes Palestinians tourists in their own homes," said an organizer of the demonstration, Matthew Brubacher of Badil, the Research Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. Meanwhile, Ha'aretz reports that Palestinian family wins 8-year court battle over Silwan home

Mosque of the Nazarenes? Muslims fight Christians, Shas fights NRP. Church threat over Nazareth mosque (Ha'aretz). Religious Affairs D-G told to leave Nazareth alone (J Post).

Happy Birthday, Miss Welty America's greatest living short story writer turns 90. (Salon)

I Can't Hear You Dave: BBC News reports fears of Hearing lost in space. It's loud in the orbiting tin can. "There's an indication that a significant number of astronauts have lost hearing in Mir," and the International Space Station may not be better.

Tuesday, April 13, 1999

Kiss UJA Goodbye! JTA reports that `United Jewish Communities: Serving Federations Across North America" is the name of the new national entity formed from the merger of the Council of Jewish Federations, the United Jewish Appeal and the United Israel Appeal. Stephen Solender, the executive vice president of the UJA-Federation of New York, will serve as the acting president of the new organization. JTA's follow-up article explains that the new name reflects market research conducted months in advance indicating that ``United Jewish Communities" would have greater appeal among philanthropically active younger Jews.

Yudel's Line:

• Too bad that the UJA brandname -- worth how many millions? -- was jetisoned. Seems like the new organization is putting "communities" -- that is, the local federations -- over the united.
• "Serving Federations Across North America" -- what were these people thinking? How about, "Presiding over the dessicated corpse of the UJA?" Means the same thing, and equally relevant to the donors.
• Though you wouldn't know it from the JTA coverage (they got into enough trouble when I reported on the merger's initial stages five years ago), this all constitutes a giant step backward from what little democracy there was in Jewish communal life. Why? Because the Zionist organizations, which represent low-level activists, and the religious groups, which represent all of us who are synagogue members, have no place at the table. As J.J. Goldberg observed in his recent column on the topic, it's a victory for the plutocrats. But why are our rabbis putting up with this so meekly?
• Doesn't anyone watch Star Trek anymore? The former CJF-quarterly meeting is now being called the "Founders Forum". Someone should tell whoever is running the show that on Star Trek today, the "Founders" are the shapeshifting morphs who run the Dominion, the Federation's mortal enemy. Then again, maybe they know that.

Yes, Virginia, We Want Your Domain Name: Time for the United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula, Inc., to get a new domain name: I suspect the new United Jewish Communities will want to own WWW.UJC.ORG. If the Feds want UJC.com, however, they better contact Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, where Wayne Jeremy seems to have picked up ujc.com -- just six weeks ago. Nobody ever accused the federation system of moving on Internet time.

Jews Attacked from Outer Space! U.S. satellite photos show new settlements in West Bank reports Ha'aretz. "American satellites have recently revealed that since the Wye accords Israel has established 12 caravan encampments on West Bank hilltops and paved new access roads. For all practical purposes, these can be considered new settlements, even though most are located not far from existing settlements....According to Peace Now, some 9 percent of all new housing in 1998 was built in the settlements, compared to 4 percent in 1997 and 3 percent in 1996. The 9 percent figure in 1998 represents three times the relative proportion of Israelis living in settlements."

Arik the Red? Ze'ev Schiff: Israel's Russian adventure, initiated by Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, is beginning to look like theater of the absurd.

Our Racists are Better Than Your Racists: James David Besser on the Congressional failure to criticize the Council of Conservative Citizens. Surprise! Republicans, who approved a 1994 resolution that criticized Khallid Abdul Muhammad, the former Nation of Islam leader, don't want to ruffle offend white racists.

Representative Democracy? We've wondered for some time about certain right-wing Republicans, who dance to the Likud/ZOA tune in hopes of being seen as "friends of Israel." Michael Forbes, Jim Saxton -- they're active on the press release front, but who do they really represent? Would you believe, nobody? These two turned up prominently on a list of beneficiaries of census overcount -- people counted twice by the census, presumable because they own two homes and filled out the form twice. A full list of the 22 over-represented districts, prepared by National Committee for an Effective Congress, appears in Slate.

Monday Blues: Ha'aretz: Study finds that death, too, takes a break on Shabbat

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