In Other Jewish Newspapers: Chabad’s Ivy Cred, Hulk’s Jewish Values, Infiltrators for Jesus?
BLAMING THE VICTIMS?: New York Jewish Week editor Gary Rosenblatt writes about the recent resurfacing (first reported by JTA) of controversial spiritual leader/seeker and former rabbi Mordechai Gafni. Gafni, who has long been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, now seems to be affiliated with a non-Jewish New Age community in Utah, and he’s pointing an accusatory finger at his accusers. “He now says that he wrote his public apology for his behavior two years ago under stress, and that the women accusers banded together to destroy his career,” Rosenblatt writes. But Rosenblatt, for one, ain’t buyin’ it.
MEDIA MONITOR TURNS 10: The right-wing Jewish Press’s Media Monitor column celebrates a decade of airing a mix of legitimate grievances about anti-Israel bias and unfair slurs against pro-Israel columnists with which its author happens to disagree.
CHABAD’S IVY CRED: A Chabad rabbi has received official recognition from Princeton University as a campus chaplain. The New Jersey Jewish News has the story.
RETURN TO CHINATOWN: The Baltimore Jewish Times looks at how Washington Chinatown’s historic 6th & I synagogue has been transformed into a vibrant cultural destination.
JEWS CAN SWIM: The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle profiles local Beijing-bound swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale and notes that there will be three additional Jewish swimmers representing Team USA at the Olympics.
10 JEWS, ONE MUSEUM: There may only be about 10 Jews left living in Stevens Point, but that didn’t stop the central Wisconsin city from getting its own Jewish museum. The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle reports that a local historical society has converted the town’s old synagogue into a mini-museum.
HULK’S JEWISH VALUES: Writing in the St. Louis Jewish Light, Jewish educator Michael Raileanu finds Jewish meaning in this summer’s blockbusters — from “Kung Fu Panda” and “Wall-E” to “Hancock” and “The Incredible Hulk.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?: Denver’s renowned National Jewish Medical and Research Center has changed its name to “National Jewish Health.” The move, of course, was made under the expert guidance of a marketing firm. The Intermountain Jewish News has the story.
FAREWELL HAGGADAH HUB: When Berkeley’s Cody’s Books closed recently, Northern Californians lost not only a beloved local institution and literary hub, but also a store that historically had managed to assemble an incredible selection of Passover Haggadahs. San Francisco’s J. has the story.
JAPANESE AND JEWISH: “It’s not easy being a Japanese Jew,” Francesca Biller-Safran explains in San Francisco’s J.
CHOOSING A GENDER, FINDING A JOB: San Francisco’s Jewish Vocational Service has launched a new program to help the transgendered find employment, according to local Jewish weekly J.
WHAT NEXT?: The L.A. Jewish Journal reports on Birthright Israel co-founder Michael Steinhardt’s effort to find something for alumni of the program to do next.
JEWESSES CLIMB EVEREST: Two Aussie Jews have become the first mother-daughter climbing team to reach the summit of Mount Everest, according to Jewish Times Asia (via JTA).
FRUIT FIT FOR A KING: Israel has given 120 pomegranates to the king of Thailand, Jewish Times Asia reports.
INFILTRATORS FOR JESUS?: Members of a proselytizing Messianic Jewish group are volunteering in an Australian Jewish nursing home, and some folks are pretty peeved. The Australian Jewish News has the story.
CHRISTMAS IN JULY?: Britain’s Jewish Chronicle reports that a Jewish worker for a Jewish burial society has settled his racial discrimination claim against his employer. Part of the worker’s complaint was that he allegedly didn’t receive as much additional money as his non-Jewish colleagues for working on Christmas.
Hat tip for a couple of these items goes to JTA’s talented Fundermentalist blogger, who, I feel, sort of stole my newspaper roundup idea (which I can’t really complain about too much, since I had sort of stolen it from Slate in the first place).
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