Eric Cantor, a Republican congressman from Virginia, wasn’t anybody’s idea of a household name a few weeks ago, but you’ll be hearing a lot more about him in the weeks ahead because he’s emerging as one of President Obama’s biggest headaches. As GOP whip, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, it is…
On the surface, Joseph Diangelo and Flora Jessop couldn’t look more different. Diangelo grew up in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn. Jessop was raised in a polygamous compound, part of a fundamentalist Mormon sect on the Utah-Arizona border. But as Diangelo listened to Jessop tell her harrowing tale of abuse, forced marriage, spiritual threats, rape…
A Jewish editor would be an unusual presence at most black newspapers, but at few places more so than the famed Amsterdam News. For the past few decades, the weekly, Harlem-based publication has achieved notoriety in no small measure due to its frequent run-ins with Jewish antagonists. Those battles were often sparked by the paper’s…
When Michael Lerner, founder of Tikkun magazine, was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, he alerted his supporters in an e-mail message that went beyond delivering bad news. The message folded Lerner’s diagnosis in with a plea for supporters to devote more money and time to his cause, the Network of Spiritual Progressives. With a subject…
At the first national conference on Jewish women and prayer, the numerous attendants told a story as important as the sessions themselves. Some 350 participants crowded into breakout sessions, filling every seat at the March 1 event. They stood along the walls and sat on the floors at Manhattan’s Abraham Joshua Heschel High School, where…
It was at the very end of his solidarity rally for Orthodox victims of sexual abuse that the tensions beneath the surface of Assembly member Dov Hikind’s approach to the problem boiled up. “When are you going to come out with the names of the murderers and molesters?” David Framowitz, an alleged victim of molestation…
Following reconciliation talks in Egypt at the end of February, efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions and form a unity government appear to be gaining momentum. Hamas and Fatah have formed committees to reach agreements on a range of issues. These include the formation of a transitional unity administration to govern until elections in early…
Why Poppyseed Hamentaschen Are The Only True Hamentaschen – I share this short formula from my father: Mohn (poppy seed) + Taschen (pockets) = Mohntaschen (poppy seed pocket pastries) Ha (Hebrew definite article) = Hamohntaschen (Haman’s Pockets) or Purim poppy seed pocket pastries Now, I LOVE poppy seed filling Hamentashen. And seeds are a traditional…
Rick Zichlin of Highland Park, N.J., asks: “Why does the American press refer to the head of the Likud party as Benjamin Netanyahu instead of Binyamin Netanyahu? I understand that Benjamin is the English language equivalent of Binyamin. Yet to my knowledge, the English-language media have never referred to other Israeli politicians as Isaac Rabin…
It’s no wonder that Purim is such a beloved holiday. After all, a day on which Jews are commanded to have a feast, drink to excess and repeatedly interrupt synagogue services is off to a good start in any popularity contest. Perhaps it’s because of all this joyous distraction that one negative aspect of the…
When I was 11, we were in Israel for Purim. I was shocked at the number of non-Esther, non-Mordechai costumes. There was a Karate Kid, a Darth Vader, various zombies and ninjas, a spandex-clad, gum-chomping Sandy from Grease. But most of my friends who do Purim in the States tend to stick to the Megillah…
