In Other Jewish Newspapers: Shame on Rabbinate, Woody-esque Frenchwoman, Irangeles vs. Carter
SUKKAHS UNDER ATTACK: Two sukkahs at universities in Northern California were vandalized, one defaced with anti-Israel slogans and the other burned. The good news, San Francisco’s J. notes, is that the latter desecration may not have been the result of bias: The vandals “may just have enjoyed burning things.”
SHAME ON THE CHIEF RABBINATE: “In recent years the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has become an embarrassment even to the small portion of the Jewish world that honors and respects the office,” The New York Jewish Week editorializes.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF?: With another high-profile Mideast peace summit on the horizon, the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent’s Jonathan Tobin urges us to heed the lessons of the failed Camp David summit of 2000. He writes, “now is exactly the time that Jewish groups as well as Christian supporters of Israel need to speak up, not to oppose the summit or diplomacy itself, but against American strong-arm tactics employed against Israel to ensure either that the meeting takes place or to guarantee some sort of result.”
GOING POSTAL: Holocaust hero Varian Fry gets his own “pictorial cancellation” from the U.S. Postal Service. The New Jersey Jewish Standard reports on this honor for the Ridgewood, N.J., native and rescuer of Jews.
WOODY-ESQUE: New Jersey Jewish News editor Andrew Silow-Carroll digs the new movie “Two Days in Paris,” going so far as to declare: “The best and funniest Woody Allen movie in a long time was written and directed by a French actress named Julie Delpy.” And, like some classic Woody Allen flicks, it explores the Jewish-gentile divide through the prism of romance.
Also in the Jewish News: Michael Steinhardt has opinions.
TILL 120 + 10: Kansas’s Congregation Ohev Sholom marks its 130th birthday. Having weathered a financial crisis 15 years ago, Kansas’s first synagogue is now growing, The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle reports.
IRANGELES AGAINST JIMMY: Jimmy Carter may not be the most popular ex-president among Jews, but they’re not alone. Many Iranian-Americans — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — have no great love for the man from Plains, L.A.’s Jewish Journal reports.
In other Iranian-American news from the Journal: “Iranian couples trapped by six-figure party dilemma”. That’s right, having 500-plus guests at a wedding ain’t cheap.
A MINORITY OF ONE: Melbourne Jews are considering establishing an outpost of their community on the outskirts of town in suburban Melton. The Australian Jewish News reports that, according to the 2001 Census, there is not a single Jew living in Melton. One reader, however, took umbrage at that statement, posting the following in the comments section below the article: “The AJN has it wrong! The Jewish population of Melton is 1, and has been since 1991. You can take the Jewish boy out of the community, but the community will eventually find him…..”
BOOGIE BAN: What if a young Orthodox Israeli wants to dance with other young Orthodox Israelis — of the opposite sex? London’s Jewish Chronicle tackles the topic.
Also in the J.C.: Liverpool’s last kosher butcher closes shop, and Muslim extremists are recruiting university students despite campus bans.
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