Ami Eden
By Ami Eden
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Culture Shemer Zemer Added to Tisha B’Av Liturgy
For many Israelis and American Jews, the recently deceased singer-songwriter Naomi Shemer always has been a religious figure of sorts, with an unmatched ability to move even the most secular listener with her spiritually uplifting songs about Israel and Zionism. Now Shemer’s status as a modern-day psalmist is official: Her most famous song, “Jerusalem of…
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News The Rabbi, the Rav and the Rebbe
B etween 1991 and 1994, the American Jewish community lost its rabbi (Louis Finkelstein), its rav (Joseph Soloveitchik) and its rebbe (Menachem Mendel Schneerson). Taken together, these three deaths are best understood as marking the end of the era of the great rabbi in American Jewish life — a time when leaders not only dominated…
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News Ex-Mideast Envoy Zinni Charges Neocons Pushed Iraq War To Benefit Israel
The simmering debate over the role of Jewish neoconservatives in drawing America into war in Iraq erupted with new fury this week. One of America’s most respected ex-generals took to the airwaves to charge on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that the war had been fought for Israel’s benefit, just days after a similar charge was…
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News Death Ends Slain American’s Religious Journey
Being Jewish may have cost Nicholas Berg his life, said the father of the 26-year-old American contractor who was decapitated by Islamic militants in Iraq. The Forward has learned that the slain American had, during the past year, intensified his study and observance of Judaism, and taken to wearing tzitzit, or ritual fringes. His father,…
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News Fiddling With Tradition: Does Musical Misstep?
Mel Gibson isn’t the only director generating a heated debate over his depiction of Jews. As “The Passion of the Christ” racked up more than $200 million at movie theaters in just two weeks and generated loads of media attention, a burgeoning debate has emerged over the latest Broadway incarnation of “Fiddler on the Roof,”…
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News Right-Wingers Urging Judge To Take On Bush
With the Democratic primaries all but over and Ralph Nader pledging to run for the White House, only one piece of the November electoral lineup remains unsettled: Will President Bush face an independent challenge from his right? Speculation is rampant on the Web and among dissatisfied conservatives that Roy Moore — who grabbed national headlines…
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Culture The Not-So-Supreme Being?
More than two decades after Harold Kushner’s “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” became a best seller, another rabbi-author has reopened the vexing question of whether divine justice exists in the universe. This time, it’s Benjamin Blech, weighing in with his book, “If God is Good, Why is the World So Bad?” (Simcha Press,…
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Culture Some of Mel Gibson’s Best Friends Are Jewish
Watching Mel Gibson revel in the controversy surrounding his new film, “The Passion of the Christ,” it is easy to understand why critics of the Hollywood star insist that he suffers from some sort of martyrdom complex. But Gibson is not alone in envisioning himself as a modern-day Jesus, subject to crucifixion-by-press-release at the hands…
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News Scoop: Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
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Music For Bob Dylan’s biographer, ‘A Complete Unknown’ is a dream come true — even if it’s mostly fiction
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Culture In Peter Yarrow’s legacy, an uneasy blend of Jewish values and personal transgressions
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News ‘Do you have the Torahs?’ Synagogue races LA wildfire to rescue its past and future
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Fast Forward Israel’s judicial overhaul is back. So are the protests.
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Opinion After 15 months of war, Israelis are all scaffolding, helping hold each other up
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Fast Forward Their Pacific Palisades synagogue is standing, but all three rabbis lost their homes
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Fast Forward House votes to sanction International Criminal Court leaders over Israel charges
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