YudelLine

Thursday, October 21

Long time coming: AIPAC lobby comes out of the closet and challenges rightist opponents of Wye aid (Ha'aretz)

"AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, has launched a public campaign against rightist Jewish and Christian groups in the U.S., including the "gang of three" - Yoram Ettinger, Yossi Ben-Aharon and Yigal Carmon - who have long been involved in capitol hill campaigns to foil U.S. aid for the peace process, most recently campaigning against the aid package included in the Wye agreement.

"The American Friends of Peace Now initiated the campaign against the rightist groups, which find allies in the Republican opposition to President Bill Clinton, but with AIPAC onboard, for the first time the rightist groups are being challenged by major American Jewish organizations.

"'The efforts by these people - Ettinger, Ben-Aharon and Carmon - are extremely damaging to Israel's long-range security interests,' AIPAC spokesman Kenneth Bricker told Ha'aretz. "This activity must be seen for what it is - a crude attempt to sabotage the peace process."

Judea is here? Taxing Situation For Teaneck Yeshiva (The Jewish Week)

"At an impassioned Sept. 7 public hearing that attracted roughly 100 Orthodox citizens, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of the township’s Bnai Yeshurun synagogue warned the council that Teaneck’s Orthodox were “a sleeping lion” best undisturbed.

"Rabbi Pruzansky, who was speaking independently rather than as a representative of Ma’ayanot, suggested that the Jewish neighborhoods might secede from Teaneck, taking what Chanales estimates is their $500 million of taxable property with them."

Yudel's Line: For those who don't know him, Rabbi Pruzansky is a certified lecturer for Young Israel on Religious/Political Extremism, who eulogized Rabin thus: "Rabin was probably well- intentioned, but so were the leaders of the Judemat." (See this ADL piece for a rundown of Orthodox response to the Rabin assassination). He is the "American co-spokesman" for the International Rabbinical Coalition for Israel, which four months before Rabin's assasination debated whether such an act was permissible under Orthodox Jewish law. I hope Governor Whitman's security forces are more on the ball than were Rabin's.

A home at last? Conservatives Set To Accept Wall Compromise (Jewish Week)

"Rather than risk further violence from ultra-Orthodox Jews at the Western Wall, the Conservative movement is on the verge of agreeing to an Israeli government proposal to move its egalitarian prayer services to the southern end of the wall known as Robinson’s Arch."

God vs. Country: Bill to make rabbis salute state passes (Ha'aretz)

"Twenty-one MKs voted against the bill, including two ministers of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Cohen and National Infrastructures Minister Eliahu Suissa, along with another 13 Shas MKs."

Grokking the Golan: Three reckless steps (Ze'ev Schiff in Ha'aretz)

"In Israel, the transcriptions of Lauder's talks with the Syrians were combed over, and the opinion in senior Israeli circles is also that Lauder said things that Netanyahu was unlikely to have permitted to be said in his name.

"It is clear that there is a single goal, as written here years ago: The Syrians want some of the water from Lake Kinneret and the Jordan River. Even if an Israeli leader were to agree to this - and this is highly unlikely - there is no chance that such an arrangement would be approved in a referendum."

Perspective: It's the left, not the right, that was traumatized in November '95 (Baruch Kimmerling in Ha'artez)

"This trauma is a combination of a rational reading of the political map with a deep and emotional terror of losing control in the light of the overt and covert threats of the settlers and parts of the camp that calls itself "nationalist." This terror paralyzes the significance and the actions of the government.

"Take, for example, the petty bargaining over the release of the [Palestinian] prisoners and the "safe passage," the foot-dragging over the appointment of the team negotiating with the Palestinians, the pause for "quality thought" that Ehud Barak took, and the results of the negotiations over the outposts - negotiations that a self-confident government would never have needed to hold."

Monday, October 18

Nixed: A Question of Anti-Semitism (Newsweek)

"Was Richard Nixon simply letting off steam on newly released White House tapes — or did his prejudices influence his policies?

"In newly released White House tapes, Nixon singles out Jewish Americans as natural political enemies and potential traitors."

"Jewish communities listed for the first time in the annual demographic survey included Postville, Iowa; Traverse City, Mich.; Joplin, Mo.; and Danville, Va. The increase for Traverse City was attributed to an expanding medical facility, while Postvillle is an Orthodox community established by the development of a major kosher meat-processing facility.

New York remains the state with the highest Jewish concentration at 9.1 percent of its total population, followed by New Jersey at 5.8 percent, the District of Columbia at 4.8 percent, Massachusetts with 4.5 percent, and Florida with 4.3 percent."

One's Enough: Kids raised by single parents do just as well as other children (New Scientist)

"Some politicians blame single mothers for a host of society's ills. But the latest research shows that children from single-parent homes often get off to a good start in life--and if they don't, the main factor seems to be their mothers' level of education, not the absence of a father."

Shakespeare Go Home: Habima bars English accents (Ha'aretz)

"Actors have expressed anger after the Habima National Theater said it won't hire English-speaking immigrants due to their 'unattractive accents."

"The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention apologized Wednesday to people with chronic fatigue syndrome, saying the agency was wrong to divert millions of federal dollars earmarked to study the mysterious illness.

CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan promised a "reinvigorated effort" to study chronic fatigue."

Wednesday, October 13

"Rabbi Shagar, a prominent ideological exponent of assimilating the hassidic heritage into religious Zionism, spoke of a change in the religious experience itself.

"In a post-modern world, people are no longer capable of genuinely praying with the feeling of a slave facing his master," he explained. "Acceptance of absolute sovereignty no longer exists. Hassidic prayer can help here. Hassidism offers prayers and worship that is a reflection of the soul itself. The person praying is in fact screaming his soul."

Overdue: Samaritan priests ask court for same pay as rabbis (Ha'aretz)

"The State of Israel recognizes the Samaritans as Jews for all intents and purposes. However, the priests are paid a pittance. The High Priest receives a mere NIS 1,215 a month, while the lower priests are paid NIS 615."

Buzz! Caffeine clue to better memory (BBC)

"Researchers in Israel have shown that caffeine makes existing brain cells swell and new ones grow."

Meow! Looking through cats' eyes (BBC)

These are the first pictures from an extraordinary experiment which has probed what it is like to look through the eyes of another creature.

"Gore's record shows he's got what it takes to be president

"After serving as congressman, senator, and vice president, Gore has left a long trail of footprints (unlike, we might add, a certain Texas governor). And while spinning new metaphors to describe Gore's lack of charisma can make for entertaining copy, it is the vice president's record that gives the best indication of the president he would be."

Tuesday, October 12

PS I Love You: Palestinians Get Independent Internet Code (Reuters)

"Palestinians striving for a state of their own will be asserting independence on the Internet, ending their addresses with ``.ps'' to signify a Palestinian state, an official said Monday.

"Palestinians have been using ``.wg'' at the end of their Internet addresses to signify the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli addresses end in ``.il.''""

Knock-off or Heaven's Door? Religious text's style resembles Dead Sea Scrolls, scholar says (Nando Times)

"A religious text that has mysteriously surfaced in Israel and is being billed as one of the "lost" Dead Sea Scrolls uses some phrases and imagery that are similar to the other 2000-year-old writings, a scholar said after studying excerpts.

"But it's too soon to say whether the "Angel Scroll," which describes a believer's trip through the heavens, is a major find that will shed new light on Jewish mysticism and the origins of Christianity, or an elaborate hoax, said Stephen Pfann, president of the University of the Holy Land."

Get Pierced!: A gushing tribute to America's most obscure (and best looking) president. (The Franklin Pierce Pages)

"What do you have to do to become one of the worst presidents ever? How do you manage to be largely forgotten, but when you are remembered, it is as the 'fifth of six below-average presidents'?"

David Holzel and friends inexplicably take on America's 14th president.

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