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Senators Visit Damascus, Push For Syrian Talks
Washington – As the Israeli debate over engaging Damascus intensifies, several influential American lawmakers have defied the White House with visits to Syria and calls for talks between the United States and the Baathist regime. This week, the issue heated up in Israel as the country’s Mossad spy agency and military intelligence sparred over the…
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Founder Retakes Reins of Liberal Mag, Plans Less Israel Coverage
As two of his top editors leave to work on other projects, Michael Lerner, editor of the liberal Jewish bimonthly Tikkun, has indicated that he is looking to redirect his magazine’s energies away from Israel and toward a greater focus on interfaith matters. In a December 4 e-mail to writers for the magazine, and in…
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Renewing Ecstatic Spirituality to the Beat of a Drum
“As opposed to the dense and demanding discourse of scholarship, students crave instant gratification,” complained outgoing Jewish Theological Seminary Chancellor Ismar Schorsch in his fiery farewell address last May. “The way to the heart is not through the circuitous and arduous route of the mind but the rhythmic beat of the drums.” Although framed in…
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Kabbalah Centre Scion on the Defensive at Jewish Mysticism Parley
San Diego – With Hollywood starlets donning red-string bracelets and toting the Zohar around as if it were the latest fashion accessory, serious proponents of Jewish mysticism find themselves struggling over the commercialization and popularization of Kabbalah. In particular, students and teachers have been trying to figure out whether they should be ecstatic or despondent…
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A Failed Search for a Neturei Karta Defender
It was a rumor too juicy to ignore: A teacher at a mainstream Orthodox high school in New York City, the story went, was prepared to defend the six ultra-traditionalist rabbis who attended the Holocaust denial conference in Tehran earlier this month. The story seemed to be the perfect counterweight to the current uproar surrounding…
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Book: Israel, Lobby Pushing Iran War
A former United Nations weapons inspector and leading Iraq War opponent has written a new book alleging that Jerusalem is pushing the Bush administration into war with Iran, and accusing the pro-Israel lobby of dual loyalty and “outright espionage.” In the new book, called “Target Iran,” Scott Ritter, who served as a senior U.N. weapons…
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GOP Rising Star Set To Take Calif. Post
Steve Poizner is the Republican to watch for California’s 2010 gubernatorial race, according to many pundits — awfully good press for someone who won’t be sworn into his first public office until January. The California insurance commissioner-elect has made a splash as the only Republican to win a statewide office here this year, besides re-elected…
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Bush Set To Tap New Jewish Liaison
President Bush has hired a new liaison to the Jewish community, appointing Jeremy Katz to take over for Jay Zeidman, the Forward has learned. Katz will be the sixth White House liaison for the Jewish community since Bush took office in 2001. The new liaison started off at the White House as an assistant to…
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Refugees Sue Over Benefits Cutoff
A group of elderly and disabled refugees are suing the federal government for cutting off their Social Security benefits. For the past three years, a little-noticed provision from the 1997 welfare reform bill has meant that disabled and elderly refugees who do not receive citizenship within seven years of arriving in America are stripped of…
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The Power of Camp
Thirteen-year-old Becky Goldberg’s summer was filled with magic: glittering sunshine on sparkling lakes, capsized canoes and children rappelling like spiders down rocky cliffs. By the time her four weeks at Jewish sleep-away camp were over, Goldberg felt like a link in a giant chain. “I had a ton of best friends from all over the…
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The Immigrant Experience
Dov Aryeh grew up attending Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue in New York City. He still has the little English-language Tanach the synagogue gave him for his bar mitzvah almost 40 years ago. He’s been involved in the Jewish community his entire life. Today he’s in a long-term, committed relationship with a fellow Jew. But…
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