The New York Times is touting a a new poll that shows “a majority of Amerians say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American … and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it.” The price they are willing to pay? For half of the respondents, not $500 more in taxes…
This year, I thought of it in time. Annually, whenever Purim has come around, I’ve always remembered too late that I should write a column about hamantashen. Or hamantaschen. Or hamantashes. Or homentaschen. Or hamentashes. Maybe that’s why I’ve always forgotten. How do you write about something with half-a-dozen spellings and two different plural forms?…
Seniors in Japan who have practiced, enriched and husbanded their country’s national artistic forms are designated as National Treasures during their life span. Notwithstanding a lifetime of accomplishment, international renown, devoted fans and scrapbooks full of reviews, most Yiddish actors never hear the accolades heaped upon them post-mortem, in eulogies where all jealousy and acrimony…
The Yiddish language, scorned and shunned, Has had its day! It’s moribund! It has no future! It is lost, Destroyed by lingual holocaust! The Yiddish tongue is trashed and burned, Rejected, cast aside and spurned. Recriminations such as these Abound, as do the obsequies. But let us take another look, Befitting People of the Book,…
Among the Jewish immigrants who arrived in America at the turn of the past century, most brought little in the way of material riches. Nonetheless, Cantor David Tillman said, “they brought with them tremendous culture.” Sitting in the tiny Temple Judea Museum, located in suburban Philadelphia’s Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Tillman motioned to the Yiddish…
Well, the advanced transcript of Obama’s speech to Aipac leaders is in. For the full text, read after the jump. Over at TalkingPointsMemo, M.J. Rosenberg had asked before the speech: “Will this be his Sister Soulja moment where he tells a powerful interest group something it does not want to hear, specifically that as President…
As Washington buzzed last week over the possibility that Senator Joseph Lieberman could throw his support to the GOP, several of the independent lawmaker’s most loyal Democratic backers continued to voice support for him. Lieberman — who lost in Connecticut’s Democratic primary last year to businessman Ned Lamont, but won as an independent in the…
Maybe Giuliani will be able to capture the hard-core GOP base after all: In a straw poll conducted in conservative Spartanburg County yesterday, the former NYC mayor led the field.
Rep. Robert Wexler, who represents the heavily Jewish district in Palm Beach County that was at the center of the 2000 election fiasco, has agreed to be the co-chairman of Barack Obama’s Florida campaign (hat tip to Larry Lipman of the Palm Beach Post. “I have never been as excited about a candidate for president…
Several months ago, Ha’aretz’ man in D.C., Shmuel Rosner, launched a Web feature titled “The Israel Factor.” It essentially amounts to a political beauty contest, with Rosner’s panel of experts determining which presidential hopefuls are the most pro-Israel. Barack Obama opened at the bottom, and remains way behind after several rounds of deliberations. Why? It’s…
David Duke and Hillel both have Purim-themed messages pointing to this year’s celebration of the holiday as a time to worry about Iran. For Hillel, this means worrying that Ahmadinejad is another Haman. Your favorite former KKK Grand Wizard, on the other hand, insists that “extremist Jews” seek “a new Purim massacre” to be carried…
