Luis Molina lost part of his middle finger to a 2,000-pound food mixer while working at what is now the country’s largest producer of kosher beef, Alle Processing. Molina, 23, said that the accident, which happened when a fellow employee flipped a power switch, was not a surprise, given that he and others on his…
St. Paul, Minn. — Although the Bush administration says that it is trying to reach a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate by the end of this year, Senator John McCain and his surrogates all but ignored the issue in their presentations to Jews attending the Republican National Convention. In closed-door meetings with Jewish activists, several…
Earlier this month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first Western head of state in at least three years to visit Damascus, a symbolically significant step in Syria’s reintegration into the international community. Filling the diplomatic vacuum created by the Bush administration’s reluctance to engage with Syria, Sarkozy offered to sponsor direct peace talks between…
Los Angeles — When Barbara Mindel wanted to help instill Jewish traditions in her grandchildren — the offspring of an interfaith marriage who were raised without Judaism — she took a simple step. Mindel moved a dreidel and a Hanukkah menorah, which had been perched on a high shelf in her home, to a lower…
While Barack Obama has struggled to capture Jewish votes, it turns out that one of his wife’s cousins is the country’s most prominent black rabbi. Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, is a first cousin once removed of Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side. Funnye’s…
For consumers trying to determine where their kosher meat comes from, there has been little public information about the companies that slaughter and process kosher beef and poultry, and even less information about how those companies treat their workers. After a highly publicized immigration raid this past May on the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors…
St. Paul — She’s a former journalist, mayor and female Republican governor who gets rave reviews for trying to shake up a state that’s not part of the contiguous United States and has long been dominated by one-party rule. But instead of being John McCain’s running mate, Linda Lingle has been speaking out as one…
Minneapolis – Long considered an oxymoron, Jewish Republicans, who represent 15% to 25% of Jewish voters, are suddenly feeling a little less lonely. More than 400 Republican Jews and their supporters packed a reception that the Republican Jewish Coalition hosted to salute governors at the Republican National Convention. The event also drew Sallai Meridor, Israel’s…
The Jewish Agency for Israel has agreed to cede its historic role as the face of aliyah in North America to a private organization. According to an agreement signed August 22 and hammered out after months of touchy negotiations and mediation, the Jewish Agency, a massive, quasi-governmental organization, will give up much of its public…
California journalist and Forward contributor Lisa Alcalay Klug has authored the new book “Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe” (Andrews McMeel Publishing), a funny compendium of Jews in pop culture, holiday survival guides, fashion and style tips, crash courses in “Kabba Lah Lah” and more. Klug’s self-proclaimed “pride in Jewish…
We have discovered baseball. Oh, sure, we’d played it on the Wii, but that’s not much of a simulacrum: You’re standing in your living room swinging a remote at a screen while your avatar bounces in anticipation, like a goober. Also, there’s no fielding. For a long time, neither of my children understood that baseball…
