The espionage case that sent shockwaves throughout the pro-Israel community came to an end Friday, as the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss all charges against Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The decision was based, according to court filings, on the prosecution’s assessment…
Until a friend recently told me about his foraging experience last week somewhere in a Bronx “forest,” I had never before heard of ramps. Ramps, also known as wild leeks, are a springtime treat on the East Coast. Ramps cannot be cultivated; they need to be foraged. That’s why they’re so expensive, so valued among…
I have become a huge fan of beets as of late. It wasn’t that I hated them before, they just weren’t one of my favorite foods. I think you know by now how this story continues but I will share anyway… We started getting beets in our CSA box and I had no idea what…
HONORING DENMARK’S ROYALTY AT THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN GALA The March 27 American-Scandinavian Foundation gala, honoring Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, was hosted by legendary Norwegian film star and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Liv Ullmann, with whom I recapped our past encounters. Gala co-chair Edward Elson, former ambassador to Denmark (1994–1998), welcomed the…
NEWS ITEM: Michelle Obama, our first lady, may have unwittingly committed a breach of British etiquette when she embraced Queen Elizabeth. Though a spokesperson for the Queen says that “no offense” was taken and that there was “no breach of protocol” (and some argue the Queen hugged first), the incident had people chattering on both…
NEWS ITEM: Opponents of circumcision have just marked Genital Integrity Awareness Week by staging a march from the White House to the Capitol. Among those who adhere to this point of view is a group called Jews Against Circumcision. They can point to the fact that Jonas Salk was among the Nobel laureates who petitioned…
Michael Oren, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pick to represent Israel in Washington, is a highly regarded writer and an articulate and telegenic speaker. But his public viewpoints on a number of key issues clash sharply with those of the Obama administration, to which he soon may be credentialed. That, Washington insiders say, may not actually…
One Friday night last November, after saying Kiddush and putting his children to bed, Pinny clicked the send button on his e-mail and turned to the work of killing himself. To the outside observer, and even to friends who knew him well, Pinny seemed like an upstanding, frum guy with a great life. He had…
It looked like a sight certain to delight every Religious Zionist. Just after midday April 29, Israel Independence Day, 3,000 flag-waving Jewish youngsters, many of the boys wearing yarmulkes, marched to the Western Wall from central Jerusalem. The mood was especially jubilant because most of the youths had a newfound appreciation for Israeli statehood. They…
Arlen Specter — once a Republican, now a Democrat — has long been one of Israel’s stalwarts in the Senate, serving on the critical operations committee, which writes the foreign aid spending bills. The “Jewish kid from Kansas,” as he called himself while standing next to President Obama on April 29, has taken his role…
With President Obama’s recent release of four classified Bush Justice Department memos sanctioning what most observers call torture, it was almost inevitable that Israel’s experience would soon become part of the debate. But in this case, paradoxically, Israel has managed to serve simultaneously as a symbol of both harsh interrogations of the sort Bush administration…
