In Other Jewish Newspapers: Koch on Buckley/Baker, Adding/Removing Swastikas, Judy Chicago’s Gaon/Ancestor
DIVIDED WE STAND: The New York Jewish Week’s Gary Rosenblatt looks at the growing divide between Orthodox and other Jews.
AT YOUR SERVICE: Israel’s Arab citizens like a new national service program — even if their leaders don’t. The Jewish Week has the story.
KOCH ON BUCKLEY: Former New York City mayor Ed Koch remembers William F. Buckley. “What did a Jewish Democrat like me have in common with a conservative, Catholic Republican like William F. Buckley, Jr.? More than you might think,” he writes in The Jewish Week.
KOCH ON BAKER: Raphael Medoff previews a new book on which he collaborated with Ed Koch — including a revelation from New York’s former mayor about some infamous remarks purportedly made by James Baker.
CHARMING MAN: A headline in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle: “Syrian ambassador uses charm, humor while slamming Israel.”
ENFRANCHISED IN MARYLAND: The Baltimore Jewish Times looks back at the day in 1825 when Maryland Jews were granted the right to vote and hold public office.
APROPOS ITS NAME: From an article in The Baltimore Jewish Times: “The Baltimore Zionist District has a sole agenda, according to Chairman of the Board W. James Schiller, and that’s Israel.”
JEWS FOR SWASTIKAS: The Baltimore Jewish Times reports on the latest incident in which a Jew has defaced something with a swastika. (What’s going on)?
MAY I HELP YOU REMOVE THAT SWASTIKA TATTOO?: L.A. Jewish Journal editor Rob Eshman meets a man in a hot tub with a swastika tattoo and wants to help him get rid of it.
GETTING THEIR LEARN ON: Los Angeles has seen a boom in Jewish secondary-school education — with 2,600 students now attending 14 local Jewish high schools. “More teens in Los Angeles are now enrolled in full-time Jewish education than in supplementary Jewish education,” the L.A. Jewish Journal reports.
‘HIP,’ ‘DARING,’ ‘EDGY’: Five Conservative synagogues are creating a new program for their teens called “ATID: Alliance for Teens in Detroit”. The Detroit Jewish News reports:
The ATID curriculum includes the study of Jewish texts and tradition, the pursuit of social action, the embrace of Israel and its people, and the principles and practices of Conservative Judaism. Electives will include cooking, music, yoga, Israeli sports, drama and other offerings that teens request. Confirmation is part of the program. So is a travel component to places like Chicago and New York.
Jewish News editor Robert Sklar dubs it “hip,” “daring” and “edgy.”
CHICAGO’S GAON BLOOD: Feminist art icon Judy Chicago is a descendant of the Vilna Gaon, The St. Louis Jewish Light reports. I wonder what the giant of Lithuanian Orthodoxy would have thought about his descendant’s “Dinner Party.”
QUEBECERS DON’T LIKE US: Residents of Quebec have markedly more negative views of Jews than do other Canadians, according to a new poll. The Canadian Jewish News has some of the results.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: B’nai Brith Canada has expelled eight of its members, including a man who has belonged to the group for 68 years, The Canadian Jewish News reports.
PIONEER SHUL: In Alberta a building that was once a pioneer prairie synagogue is being restored and moved to a Calgary historical park, The Canadian Jewish News reports.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: One finds the strangest things when one’s ripping up a former synagogue building. A builder found a time capsule from 1890 in a hole in the wall of the former West Kensington and Hammersmith Synagogue. The capsule contained copies of two now-defunct newspapers, as well as an edition of London’s Jewish Chronicle, which is still around to report the story 118 years later.
ARCHITECTS VS. ISRAEL: First it was British academics and journalists. Now, London’s Jewish Chronicle reports, it’s architects who are seeing a surge of anti-Israel sentiment in their ranks.
WITH US AND AGAINST US: Controversial Oxford Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has signed onto a letter reaching out to Jews, even as he calls for a boycott of the Turin Book Fair for its decision to honor Israel. (To be fair, Ramadan does stress that he isn’t calling for a boycott of individual Israeli authors.) London’s Jewish Chronicle has the story.
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