Tennis, anyone? For much of the 20th century, American Jews had a passion for sports. Some took pleasure in boxing, others in baseball and basketball, and still others in keeping score. Bowling, tennis and golf also had more than their fair share of fans. Far more than an idle pursuit, a form of easy sociability…
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration appears to have dropped any objections to Israeli efforts to topple the Palestinian Authority’s democratically elected Hamas government. Israel’s security Cabinet on Wednesday authorized the Israeli military to broaden its actions in Gaza and further target Hamas, the terrorist organization that won January’s Palestinian elections and has claimed responsibility for…
Last week the Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform movements — encompassing the vast majority of American Jews — became founding members of the Informed Meetings Exchange, or Inmex. We feel strongly that Inmex, an independent organization that provides objective information on working conditions within the hospitality industry, will help translate the values we espouse into the…
‘Tonight David and Abby are our king and queen,” Avraham Infeld, president of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, said of financial guru Abby Joseph Cohen and her husband, investment analyst David Cohen. The Cohens were honorees at Hillel’s June 6 International Gala, held at the Pierre Hotel. “In China they call Abby ‘Goddess’;…
As the chairman of the Republican National Committee attempts to distance himself and his party from the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal, a new government report suggests that the GOP leader used his previous White House post to aid the disgraced lobbyist. Since allegations first surfaced in 2004 that Abramoff had bilked Indian tribes out of…
Stanley Siegelman returns to Der Vinkl with his incredible ability to uncover rare bits of news and to follow up with his hilarious Yiddish and English commentary. Here’s the news item, as he describes it: “Saudi King Abdullah has instructed newspaper editors to stop printing photos of women in which their faces are revealed. He…
WASHINGTON — A Republican congressman from Iowa alleges that the Anti-Defamation League defamed him over claims that he compared illegal immigrants to Nazis. The ADL has been highly critical of a May 27 speech delivered by Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, in which he argued that illegal immigrants have killed many more Americans since…
Following the inaugural session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, Jewish organizations are criticizing both the new body’s decision to focus on alleged Israeli violations and the Bush administration’s failure to take stronger action to head off a diplomatic debacle. Held in Geneva, the two-week meeting ended with the adoption of a…
A leading expert on the humane treatment of animals is giving a stamp of approval to the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse after previously criticizing the plant. Temple Grandin, an animal science professor, issued her endorsement last week, after visiting the AgriProcessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. The plant, owned and run by Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim, has been…
JERUSALEM — Following a recent wave of Palestinian attacks against Jewish hitchhikers in the West Bank, leaders of the settler movement have started yielding to army pressure and issuing warnings against the dangers of hitchhiking. Settler leaders have long resisted pleas from the military to discourage hitchhiking, citing limited bus service to their isolated outposts…
The country’s two largest synagogue movements are stepping up their criticism of the Bush administration’s domestic wiretapping program and treatment of detainees, in sharp contrast to the approach of the major non-sectarian Jewish civil rights organizations. Senior figures of the Conservative and Reform movements have recently called on the White House to prohibit the use…
