Influential Democratic Rep. Howard Berman of California has refused to co-sponsor and sign a letter praising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for brokering the recent Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the Rafah border crossing. “I was fine with everything about the letter except the last paragraph,” Berman, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, told…
Sharon Soars in Polls Prime Minister Sharon’s Kadima party will sweep the upcoming Israeli election, a new poll says. A Yediot Aharonot survey Monday said that Kadima, which Sharon formed after quitting the ruling Likud Party last month, is expected to take 41 of the Knesset’s 120 seats in the March 2006 national poll. The…
LONDON — After waiting almost a year to convene disciplinary hearings against Mayor Ken Livingstone, accused of comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi “concentration camp guard,” England’s local-government ethics watchdog met for just two days and adjourned this week, leaving the case unresolved. The Standard Board for England and Wales decided to reconvene in…
Hy Rosenfeld from Phoenix writes: “This week, while lighting a yahrzeit candle in memory of my mother, I remembered that, when somebody did a good deed or performed an act of kindness, she would say — in Yiddish, of course — ‘till 120.’ I have heard this expression used by others, too. Why the specific…
Even those Hanukkah scrooges who find nothing miraculous about a dollop of oil lasting for eight days will have a hard time not discerning the hand of the Divine in “Hanukkah Rocks” (JDub/Reprise), a lighthearted look at the Festival of Lights by the LeeVees, aka power-pop artists Adam Gardner and Dave Schneider. Filled with rocking…
When it comes to the Festival of Lights, there is no shortage of gift schmaltz. What qualifies as kitsch? From the excellent to the terrible, kitsch that doesn’t know it’s kitsch automatically draws attention. Instead of kvetching “Bah, humbug,” we’ve opted to offer our recommendations for the kitschiest of the kitsch this holiday season. To…
“Today’s young people are no longer satisfied with the story of survival,” said Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Shlomo Lahat, former mayor of Tel Aviv, at the November 16 American Friends of Beth Hatefusoth-The Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora dinner, held at The Pierre. “They are looking for positive concepts and values based on tradition…
We are a little out of touch with the spacious skies and amber waves of grain around here. Josie can tell you what train to take to Coney Island (the Q, silly) and Max understands that when we find torn bits of candy wrapper on the playground, we give them to Mommy; we do not…
FORWARD FORUM On Tuesday, Stanley “Tookie” Williams was executed, despite a nationwide outpouring of support for clemency in his case. Those arguing on his behalf maintained Williams’ s innocence, and lauded his abdication of gang life and his contributions to society while on death row. But it was hard not to get the feeling that…
Ruth Rubin was a multitalented Yiddishist who was a poet, a singer and a recording artist in the latter half of the past century. Her book, “Treasury of Jewish Folk Songs,” was published in 1950. The text is written in transliterated Yiddish, with Rubin’s English adaptation. Many of the songs are lullabies, as is the…
For two decades, Adam Kidan, failed Long Island businessman and disbarred lawyer, counted embattled super lobbyist Jack Abramoff among his closest friends. But now, as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, Kidan, 41, is expected to testify against his longtime friend in a high-profile federal wire fraud case. Prosecutors allege that the two men…
