TEL AVIV — Following his drubbing in a Likud party referendum of his own devising — widely seen as the worst political blunder ever by an Israeli leader — Prime Minister Sharon was struggling this week to find a way of staving off the demise of his disengagement initiative and, some said, of his career….
Curled up on a friend’s couch, mug of tea in hand, 36-year-old Nancy Vineberg dished about the joys and trials of parenthood one recent Sunday afternoon. Nearby, her 3-year-old, Noa, played exuberantly under the supervision of a friend while Vineberg enjoyed a rare uninterrupted chat. Like most parents of young children, Vineberg is used to…
Orthodox Jewish women experience a relatively high level of frequent sexual activity, but low levels of emotional and physical satisfaction, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in New York. The study was based on anonymous, self-administered questionnaires filled out by 382 Orthodox women in the…
THE WONDERS OF AMERICA These days, they’re packin’ them in at New York’s Minskoff Theater, where audiences throng to see the latest revival of that evergreen musical, “Fiddler on the Roof.” I had the good fortune to be among them recently when I took my class of Princeton University undergraduates to see the play. For…
Moshe Dworkin, a devotee of Jewish culture and a board member of myriad Jewish organizations, died last week in a nursing home in Belmont, Mass. at the age of 68. He had been suffering for two years from complications from a stroke. Involved in media — both as a professional and a volunteer — Dworkin…
My text is Leviticus 23:19, “And for a sin offering you shall sacrifice one male goat.” A sin offering was needed to atone for an unintended violation of ritual practice. Even though it was unintended, such a violation of norms creates a tear, a rip, in the social fabric that has to be repaired by…
A convicted sex offender in Los Angeles has used an assumed name to market himself as a rabbi and Kabbalah instructor. Michael Ozair, who pleaded no contest to oral copulation of a 14-year-old girl in 2002, had until earlier this week been advertising himself as Rabbi Michael Ezra, the “Kabbalah Coach.” The KabbalahCoach.com Web site,…
Water is a ubiquitous and potent symbol. It can mean life, from irrigation to amniotic fluid; it can mean physical healing or inner cleansing, as in the literal or symbolical cleaning of a wound; it can mean movement, as in the currents of a river or the tides of the ocean. It makes sense, then,…
Charming Kerry: Seeking to show an important Jewish communal group how his experiences visiting Israel had affected him personally, John Kerry told a number of stories during a speech Monday at the annual conference in Washington of the Anti-Defamation League. Before a crowd of more than 500, Kerry spoke about his trips to Israel and…
Dr. Barnett Zumoff, who in addition to being a prominent doctor and a motivating spirit in the world of the Forverts and the Workmen’s Circle, is also a prolific translator of Yiddish poetry into English. For some time now, he has been working on an anthology of Yiddish writings by women and about women, titled…
SAN FRANCISCO — The Trader Joe’s supermarket chain recently decided to pull the products of the world’s largest kosher poultry provider and distributor, Empire Kosher, off the shelves of some 150 West Coast stores. Officials from both companies declined to say why Trader Joe’s, a 216-store boutique grocery chain, decided to cease selling fresh Empire…
