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The Attraction of Irrelevance
Is our religious consciousness enhanced when we attempt to make our sacred scriptures relevant to a contemporary mind, or when we accept and enter into their foreignness, and allow them to be “irrelevant,” ancient, and utterly new? This week’s “double portion” of Tazria/Metzora begs the question, with 59 verses about tzaraat (a skin disease similar…
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The Sikrikin Mystery
Terror is stalking the streets of Jerusalem. It’s not the Palestinian brand. It’s the work of ultra-Orthodox extremists who have been, according to recent reports in the media, using and threatening violence against other ultra-Orthodox Jews whose religious observance strikes them as too lax. Known in Jerusalem’s Haredi community as “the sikrikin,” they recently burned…
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Remembering The Triangle Fire
For years, I’ve been obsessed with the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I don’t remember when I first heard about this event, which was New York City’s worst workplace disaster before 9/11. On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the factory’s eighth floor; 146 workers, most of them young Jewish and Italian girls, died….
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A Musical Celebration
Rock out and celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut with Heedoosh, a band started by Israeli brothers Yahav and Yaniv Tsaidi. Influenced by such groups as Stone Temple Pilots, Guns n’ Roses, Radiohead and the Ramones, Heedoosh mixes hard rock and Brit-pop with Hebrew lyrics and sacred text. The show is presented by KFAR Jewish Arts Center. Subterranean,…
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Franken Gets Primary Foe
Trial lawyer Mike Ciresi has jumped into the Senate race in Minnesota.
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Al Franken: Laughing for Dollars
Franken: Norm Coleman has “Big Tobacco” and “Big Oil,” I have “Big Comedy.” See report on how Tom Hanks, Larry David, Jason Alexander, and other funny men come through for their buddy in Minnesota.
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The Tommy Thompson Backlash
The former Wisconsin governor is already feeling the heat over his comments on Monday to the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Check out these editorials in the Appletton Post-Crescent and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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Israeli Lecturer Killed Shielding Virginia Tech Students
An Israeli lecturer killed in Monday’s massacre at Virginia Tech saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman. Students of Liviu Librescu, 76, an engineering and mathematics lecturer at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife that told of how he blocked the…
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Tommy Thompson: "Earning Money" Is "Part of the Jewish Tradition"
Tommy Thompson – a former governor of Wisconsin and potential Republican presidential contender in 2008 – made a damaging verbal gaffe while addressing Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center earlier today. “I’m sort of a reform public servant, 38 years in the government,” said Thompson, according to a transcript provided to the Forward by the Religious…
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Controversial Envoy to Belgium Vows More Campaign Giving
Sam Fox, President Bush’s controversial recess appointment as ambassador to Belgium, is vowing to continue donating to political candidates during his time in Brussels while forgoing contributions to 527s, the campaign vehicle that sparked the recent political firestorm that derailed his Senate confirmation. The decision to remain involved in the 2008 campaign on any level…
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Detente Is the Talk of Town In Damascus
Damascus — While Republicans and Democrats in Washington trade blows over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Syria last week, officials and pundits in this ancient capital describe the political feuding as a distraction from a more important truth. From their viewpoint, Pelosi’s visit was not a freelance bid for American-Syrian thaw but rather the…
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