Yudeline

Sunday, April 25, 1999

Littleton (1) Hitler buff descendant of prominent Ohio Jew

Littleton (2) I am a senior at Arapahoe High School, in Littleton just 5 miles east of Columbine. (Slashdot.org)

"As soon as I heard about the shootings, the first thing that came to mind was the time I was sitting in a bathroom stall in the Columbine boy's bathroom during [a recent regional soccer] tournament. All 3 walls were covered with hate messages, swastikas, references to satan, and especially things to the effect of "All jocks must die!" And, like all those Columbine students, I thought that was kind of strange and then promptly dismissed it as I left the stall." "

1996 All Over Again: Bibi bravely opposes the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, as provacateur Raviv indicted for not reporting assassin Yigal Amir and Judges split, but uphold Har Shefi conviction. (Ha'aretz)

Everybody Vs. Bibi, Round 173: Kedmi, Netanyahu trade barbs as Nativ chief resigns (Ha'aretz)

Superficially confusing story, with too many threads, but noteworthy: Here's a guy who's been key in Sharon's pro-Russian policy, and he says he can't work with Bibi.

Look it up in Shas: Lesbian asks court to declare her adoptive mother of partner's child (JPost)

Planet Waves: Mars makes its nearest approach to Earth in 1999 this week and next (NASA)

Friday, April 23, 1999

Frankel Hurts? Lawrence Cohler-Esses goes Inside The Satmar School Scandal. Was the penalty too lenient -- or too harsh?

Campaign 1984: Lieberman may head PM runoff team; Likud livid

Lieberman, you may recall, is the former head of Bibi's staff who charges the police are out to get him and who the police charge are interfering with their investigation into the Russian mafia.

Hirsh Goodman's report: A view from the US

"Netanyahu, the great communicator on behalf of Israel when he was ambassador to the UN and later as deputy foreign minister, has lost his constituency in the States.

"...Nowhere is the disappointment deeper than among lay and professional leaders of organizations dedicated to Israel's well-being."

Blowin' in the Wind: Salman Rushdie asks: Where are the modern Dylans and Lennons?

Fighting the Copy Cops: Stewart Alsop: Copyright Protection Is for Dinosaurs

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

Nazareth Analysis: Meron Benvenisti, The annunciation of the mosque (Ha'aretz)

Doing the David Thing: The alternative yeshiva (JPost)

"Pelech Harimon, a kind of religious apprenticeship for shepherds, for artistically inclined children from Orthodox or haredi families who find the rigors of ordinary Torah study at the regular institutions spiritually painful, the long hours of study difficult and depressing."

Yom Ha'atzmaut Report: Girls sweep top 3 awards in Bible quiz

Top Guns: The aging Phantom: Lean, mean and still a fighter. They just don't make 'em like they used to, loyal airmen of the Phantom warplane tell Arieh O'Sullivan as the IAF marks 30 years of the F-4. (JPost)

Peace in our Time? New offer: Golan talks where Labor left off (Ha'aretz)

Israel is once again making overtures to Damascus, without using Russia as an intermediary, to open negotiations immediately on an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon - and, after the next government is established, to take up talks over the Golan Heights from where they left off under then-prime minister Shimon Peres.

Transitions: Howard Lovy named managing editor of JTA,
DC Comics writer John Broome dead at 85

Rabbis on the Run: In Ontario, rabbi awarded damages of $130,000 for wrongful dismissal; in Florida Fired Rabbi Won't Leave

Honor Among HMOs? AJCongress names HIP Chairman & CEO Man of the Year. Readers who are HIP members with complaints might want to send them to AJCongress Executive Director Phil Baum.

Tuesday, April 20, 1999

Book 'em, Danno: Dan Schifrin at the National Foundation for Jewish Culture told us that the NFJC and the Koret Foundation have announced their first Jewish book awards, which carry a $10,000 prize. Herewith:

Fiction: Yoel Hoffman, Katschen & The Book of Joseph
Brian Morton, Starting Out in the Evening

History: Miriam Bodian, Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam

Philosophy: Arnold M. Eisen, Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community

Yoel Hoffman is probably the most important male writer to emerge from Israel in the 1980s. His novels reflect his Zen scholarship. His other work available in English is Japanese Death Poems : Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death, about which one Amazon reader commented as follows:

I did notice something interesting about the authors of these poems: It seemed to me that most of them realised that they are actually about to die and felt that they wasted their lives in their religious beliefs. These monks took a vow of poverty and had no possessions, ever. They begged every day to make it to the next. Then in the end, they got nothing out if it. They realised they're going to die just like everyone else. Kinda sad.

Torah Judaism: Ha'aretz interviews Aviezer Ravitsky

"There had to be a third possibility, Torah and humanism, which would allow me to seek peace because I believe in the Torah, and to care about the sanctity of life because that is what Jewish tradition teaches."

"It turns out that the Jewish sources offer a much wider variety of approaches than we used to think," says Ravitzky. "Take the approach to religion and state, for example. If someone thinks that Jewish tradition offered only one model - a vital link between the two - I show them that there are four different models, from collaboration to conflict and contradiction....

Memories: Civil rights groups to recreate civil rights bus caravans (AP)

Friends of Bibi: Police investigate Lieberman for calling top officer 'champion of anti-Semitism' (Ha'aretz)

Senior police sources told Ha'aretz yesterday that "Lieberman's continual attacks... are aimed at deterring the police, and especially the international crimes unit, from undertaking investigations related to members of international crime organizations and to Lieberman's connection with them."

Just the Stats, Ma'am: Israel remembers its 18,939 fallen since 1947 and More than one-third of all Jews live in Israel (Ha'aretz)

Israel's population grew by 135,000 since last year's Independence Day celebrations, and currently some 36 percent of all the world's Jews live in Israel - a sixfold rise since 1948 - according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics and a demographics project at the Hebrew University. The country's population in 1999 has grown by 38,000 to stand at 6,076,000.

How Deri? State rabbis ordered out of politics

"This directive from the Chief Rabbinate is especially significant for Shas since it means that David Yosef, rabbi of the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem and son of Shas mentor Ovadia Yosef, is not allowed to take part in Shas rallies. The same applies to Yehuda Deri, the rabbi of Be'er Sheva and brother of Shas leader Aryeh Deri. David Yosef and Yehuda Deri are regular speakers at Shas events."

Monday, April 19, 1999

Agribusiness vs. the Rest of Us: Plant Sterility Research Inflames Debate on Biotechnology's Role in Farming.

"Seven years ago, Melvin Oliver had one of those middle-of-the-night "aha!" inspirations that normally occur only in researchers' fantasies and campy movies. Suddenly, he could visualize how to grow generation after generation of plants and then, whenever he desired, insure that the next generation would be the last -- because all its seed would be sterile."

Yudel's Line: In a world where everything is intellectual property, we'll all get to pay each year to license our software, our music, our newspapers, our books, and our genetically engineered food. Is this the triumph of capitalism -- or feudalism?

Advocacy: The Rural Advancement Foundation International is fighting agribusiness' effort to genetically engineer Terminator and similar genes.

"It will be vastly more profitable for multinationals to sell seeds programmed to commit suicide at harvest so that farmers must pay the company to obtain the chemicals to have them re-activated for the next planting &endash; either through a seed conditioning process or through the purchase of a specialized chemicals that bring saved seed back to life, Lazarus-style."

It's Thomas Friedman Time: Salon likes The Lexus and the Olive Tree; Slate complains that he doesn't go beyond the conventional wisdom of the financiers. "Friedman is almost certainly correct in his belief that globalization is likely to make life better for people in remote places. But it won't do it while preserving their local cultures. It will do it by partially or completely obliterating them," writes Jacob Weisberg. Buy it on Amazon and judge for yourself.

Jewish Writers at Home: Allegra Goodman: Marriage of Two Minds: Can a Novelist and Mathematician Coexist? A Salon article which begs the question: Didn't Rebecca Goldstein already write this novel, and better?

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