The presidential elections are more than two years away, but some Beltway insiders are already dubbing the Senate’s impending consideration of embryonic stem-cell research “a 2008 vote.” The issue, which is slated for an up-or-down vote on July 18, is heating up a year after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and likely…
Some Democrats are nervous that if Senator Joseph Lieberman loses his primary to an antiwar challenger, thousands of hawkish Jewish Democrats who see the Connecticut lawmaker as their standard-bearer will either abandon the party or sit out the November election. That, say several political observers, could make the difference in some hard-fought Senate races —…
WASHINGTON — Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and several Jewish organizations locked horns last week over his country’s relations with Hamas. During what participants described as an otherwise friendly meeting, Gul told a small group of foreign-policy experts with American Jewish groups that Turkey was disappointed over the Jewish community’s failure to support Ankara’s efforts…
WASHINGTON – After essentially sitting on the sidelines as it observed the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the Bush administration this week moved to contain the deterioration, sending two of its top diplomats to the region and receiving assurances from Israel that its aim is not to bring about the collapse of the Palestinian…
Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a prominent lay leader in Jewish communal life who had recently gotten to know Seymour Fox, arguably the most important visionary in Jewish education during the past half century. I mentioned that I had had dinner in Fox’s apartment in Jerusalem a few weeks prior. She…
Katsav: I Was Blackmailed Israel’s attorney general opened a probe into an alleged attempt to blackmail President Moshe Katsav. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz made the decision Tuesday. Details of the case are in dispute, but it apparently involves a former employee’s attempt to extort money from Katsav. Israel’s Channel 2 reported Saturday that Katsav summoned…
The latest chapter in an ongoing saga pitting an Orthodox rabbi from Monsey, N.Y., against female former congregants who have accused him of sexual harassment is raising broad legal questions about the right of free speech in cyberspace. Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, who was accused of sexually propositioning women who came to him seeking spiritual guidance,…
As he battles from behind in the polls, Pennsylvania Republican Rick Santorum is calling on his Jewish friends to help catapult him to a third term in the United States Senate. Next week, he will host a “Jewish Leadership Summit” in Washington for prominent Republican invitees, including White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Senate…
Jonathan Levine writes from Ann Arbor, Mich., to inquire: “What is the origin of the Hebrew expression h.alomot be’espamya, or ‘pipe dreams’? My dictionary lists aspamya as a synonym for sefarad, i.e., Spain, which I suppose is easily decodable as a slight mispronunciation of España. But why ‘dreams in Spain’?” h.alomot be’espanya, or “dreams in…
Today we will talk about poop. I was hoping to somehow bring poop into a discussion of this week’s Torah portion, to give the poop gravitas, but Parshat Pinchas turns out to be about immoral Israelites sexually consorting with Moabites and getting righteously killed in flagrante delicto. So, uh, not so much. (I could save…
Whether you’re a professional genealogist or simply attempting to put together a family tree, the 26th annual International Conference on Jewish Genealogy has something for everyone, with lectures, tours, events, performances and hands-on computer workshops. Presented by the Jewish Genealogical Society, the event, which is being held from August 13 through 18 in New York…
