With congressional inaction leading to thousands of elderly refugees being cut off from their only source of income, and thousands more facing a similar prospect, a handful of Jewish organizations have launched an emergency legislative campaign. Since late 2003, refugees have been facing the end of their Supplementary Security Income, or SSI benefits, because of…
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s proposed cuts in funding for dozens of programs that benefit poor and elderly Jews — as well as other disadvantaged Americans — is alarming Jewish communal leaders. Particularly worrisome to Jewish activists is the deep cut proposed for Medicaid, a program that benefits tens of thousands of low-income Jewish seniors in…
Poland has received much praise from Jewish leaders in recent days for its sponsorship of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — perhaps the last major memorial to be attended by survivors and liberators. In addition, the Polish government is being hailed for finalizing agreements last month to build a…
WASHINGTON — On the eve of his summit with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, President Bush is being urged to press the Russian leader on Moscow’s alleged violations of religious freedom and failure to crackdown sufficiently on antisemitism. Members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a Federal agency whose members are appointed…
Under pressure from American regulators and three lawsuits brought by families of American and Israeli victims for its alleged role in financing Palestinian terrorism, the Arab Bank of Jordan has decided it will “gradually” close its sole American branch. The closure was announced in a statement released Tuesday by the Central Bank of Jordan, which…
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an accomplished classical pianist, was once asked to name her favorite composer. Rather than cite the sentimental Russian romantics — “where it’s all on the sleeve” — she replied: “I love Brahms, because Brahms is actually structured. And he’s passionate without being sentimental.… With Brahms it’s restrained, and…
Samuel Jacobs of Massena, N.Y., writes: “Here is a question that I have wondered about for decades. My mother, of blessed memory, was born near the shtetl of Dukshitz, in White Russia, now Belarus, and came to the United States as a young teenager in 1907. What Yiddish I learned was from her. I was…
Comparisons are odious. As the touchy-feely therapist who led my new mom’s group used to say, “Compare and despair!” (I find it fun to repeat this in the flat, nerdy Midwestern accent used by the school principal on “South Park,” despite the fact that the therapist was from Queens.) Yet how can the mother of…
One of the most important lessons I learned during my run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000 is that the bonds uniting America’s Jews and Christians are far stronger than any strains that might divide us. I also learned that preventing this fact from becoming known by both Jews and Christians seems an almost…
Valentine’s Day can summon terrible sadness in Hapless Jews. Last Valentine’s Day, the Hapless Jewish Writer spent the day despairing over his ex. The Hapless Jewish Writer’s girlfriend ended their relationship at an Indian restaurant December 7 — a date that will live in infamy. “I love you,” his treacherous blonde-haired vixen declared. “I’m just…
The Yiddish term “shlemazel” has been broadcast into tens of millions of American homes during the last three decades, via the popular 1970s comedy hit “Laverne & Shirley” — apparently without incident. But when Israel’s vice premier, Shimon Peres, dismissed a massive right-wing anti-disengagement demonstration as a “rally of shlemazels” last week, he was reproached…
