For the left wing of the American political spectrum, George Soros is one of the great patrons of progressive causes. For those on the right, he is the man who lavished money on insurgent groups like MoveOn.org, and called defeating George W. Bush a “matter of life and death” — in other words, a symbol…
Some investors in the hedge funds managed by J. Ezra Merkin that were decimated in Bernard Madoff’s massive investment fraud could get money back in the next few months. But as the first disbursement is prepared, the legal battle over the scraps of the billions once invested in Merkin’s funds has devolved into a complicated…
Every Saturday morning, around 8:45, Rabbi Elkanah Schwartz leaves his house in the Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood of Boro Park for what has become a three-hour trek to shul. Almost 6 feet tall and broad-shouldered, with gray wisps of hair poking out from under his black hat, Schwartz heads north, past Hasidic homes, synagogues and yeshivas,…
Is the discovery of George Soros’ donations to J Street beginning to take its political toll? Early signs from the race in Illinois 9th congressional district may indicate that the answer is positive. Democratic congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who was endorsed by J StreetPAC and received campaign donations from them, is now openly criticizing the dovish…
This week, we finish reading the last Torah portion of Deuteronomy and start again at the beginning of Genesis. I can hardly believe that it’s now been a year since I started writing these columns. In reflecting back on the year, I’m struck by how much writing these columns have enriched my life in ways…
This is the second of three excerpts from Forward staff writer Gal Beckerman’s new book, “When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle To Save Soviet Jewry,” published on September 23 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. By the late 1970s, a number of refuseniks were so well known to activists in the West…
Many American Jewish leaders fumed Wednesday when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman proposed “an exchange of populated territory” as part of a Mideast peace deal in a speech before the UN General Assembly in New York. Lieberman suggested ceding parts of Israel with large Arab populations to a future Palestinian state in exchange for Israel keeping…
All kids fear that they’re different, but I really was. I was born in Temple. Temple, Texas, that is, in the buckle of the Bible Belt, where there was only a handful of Jewish families in 1942 and no synagogue. I’ve always thought Kinky Friedman should write a country and western song called “There Was…
Neil Yerman likes to recall the oldest Torah he ever restored, which was written on deerskin and came from 17th century Morocco, and the smallest Torah he ever restored — it measured just 7 inches high — which had to be kept small so that it could be hidden during the late 19th-century pogroms in…
Florida Heat: According to Politico’s Alexander Burns, Gov. Charlie Crist, running in Florida’s senatorial contest as an independent, is about to get “the full Arlen Specter treatment” as the state’s Democratic party supports an ad from Democratic opponent Kendrick Meek that points to Crist’s Republican — no less, his “Jeb Bush Republican” — past. It…
American Israel Public Affairs Committee spokesman Josh Block is stepping down from his post at the pro-Israel lobby and setting up shop as a consultant for Democrats. Block, who has been AIPAC’s spokesman for the past 9 years, will be starting a new Washington media consulting firm with former Clinton White House aide Lanny Davis….
