In Other Jewish Newspapers: Foxman Noodges Obama, Endogamy’s Ticking Clock, Britain’s ‘Lobby’ Lashers
FOXMAN NOODGES OBAMA: The Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman may have hailed Barack Obama for repudiating his church magazine’s decision to honor Louis Farrakhan. But Foxman tells the New York Jewish Week that Obama should go further in distancing himself from his church’s controversial minister, Jeremiah Wright. “He’s distanced himself from his pastor’s decision to honor Farrakhan. He has not distanced himself from his pastor,” Foxman tells The Jewish Week. “I think that’s the next step. One can now expect from Sen. Obama that he confront his minister.”
Also in the Jewish Week: The American Jewish Congress is getting lots of attention with its criticism of Ms. Magazine. But, Gary Rosenblatt reports, inside the organization, it’s the group’s chairman who’s on the hot seat.
HIGH-STAKES DATING: In some segments of the Orthodox community, pre-date screening has become so extensive, Cheryl Kupfer writes in Brooklyn’s Jewish Press, “that if a bocher and a girl actually go on a date — a mazel tov to both sides is warranted.”
EXCUSES, EXCUSES: New Jersey Jewish News editor Andrew Silow-Carroll doesn’t buy Ms. Magazine’s stated reason for why it wouldn’t run an American Jewish Congress ad about Israel.
PITT’S PEACE PANTHER: Jewish and Arab students at the University of Pittsburgh demonstrate that the nations of the Middle East can co-exist on the surface of a fiberglass panther. Pittsburgh’s Jewish Chronicle has the story.
CYBER-SAVVY SENATOR: Joseph Lieberman’s critics may have plenty of unkind things to say about the aisle-crossing Connecticut senator. One thing they can’t say is that he’s not Web-savvy. Indeed, the Connecticut Jewish Ledger reports, Lieberman now has a “silver mouse” to prove his cyberspace bona fides. (Though with his recent endorsement of John McCain, it’s safe to say he won’t be getting a silver donkey anytime soon.)
ABRAHAM WOULD KVELL: Christian, Muslim and Jewish teens travel together to Israel courtesy of the Jewish National Fund. Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent speaks with some of the participants in this interfaith pilgrimage.
Also in the Exponent: Executive editor Jonathan Tobin says Bush is “deluded” in his push for peace; and resident celebrity interviewer Michael Elkin chats with former Beatles promoter Sid Bernstein about why he once stopped saying “hello” to John Lennon for four months.
‘MEZUZAHS, MEZUZAHS, MEZUZAHS EVERYWHERE!’: That’s a headline in Houston’s Jewish Herald-Voice.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?: Portland’s Jewish review reports that a schola ris coming to town whose “expertise includes magic, genealogy, Talmud.”
DYSTOPIAN DISNEY: There has been a vigorous scholarly debate over Walt Disney’s views of Jews. San Francisco playwright John Powers assumes the worst. The J. newspaper talks with the man behind the new play “Disney & Deutschland.”
ENDOGAMY NOW? The L.A. Jewish Journal’s Amy Klein has tried to find a Jewish guy. Now, she’s asking, “At what age does a Jewish woman consider marrying out?”
Also in the Jewish Journal: How did an Orthodox rabbi wind up crossing paths with the Bloods and the Crips?
PURGING B’NAI BRITH: B’nai Brith Canada is trying to expel more than a dozen of its members who have criticized the organization’s governance. According to the Canadian Jewish News, they include a former president of the group and 93-year-old Lou Ronson, “who has been part of the organization for 68 years.” Another former president has already resigned, citing the organization’s treatment of Ronson.
BRITAIN’S ‘LOBBY’ LASHERS: Anti-Israel boycotters are accusing British parliament members of “eating out of the Israeli government’s hand” and urging an investigation of the “Israel lobby.” London’s Jewish Chronicle has the story.
Also in the J.C.: The head of a social services center for Holocaust survivors is refusing to share the stage at a Holocaust memorial event with the great-nephew of a Nazi.
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