For the Jewish immigrants who founded the German-language newspaper Aufbau in 1934, America represented the future and Germany the past. Things certainly have changed. Just days after the Jewish newspaper’s 70th-anniversary issue was published last week, editors said the paper’s financial situation in America had grown so tenuous that it faced the stark choice of…
King Kerry: Jewish voters in the March 2 Super Tuesday primary states cast their ballots for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in higher percentages than did voters of other religions, according to exit polling data. Their vote, which mirrors earlier primary results, suggests that Jewish Democrats — a high-turnout, activist group that is concentrated in some…
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is drawing harsh condemnations in some circles over its much-anticipated review of “The Passion of the Christ.” Using terms like “outrage” and “betrayal,” several Jewish and Catholic interfaith leaders are saying that in praising Mel Gibson’s film on Jesus’ last 12 hours, the bishops’ conference, the top Roman Catholic…
TEL AVIV — Officially Israel considered the hearings on its security fence, held this week at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, to be virtually meaningless. Jerusalem declined to appear before the court, instead submitting a preliminary affidavit questioning the court’s jurisdiction in the case and rejecting the allegations against Israel. Public response…
While religious conservatives are hailing President Bush’s endorsement Tuesday of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, some Republicans are expressing alarm that it could backfire. Bush’s move seemed aimed at evangelical Christian supporters, who have been pressuring the president to speak out clearly in favor of such an amendment, warning that conservative voters will not…
TORONTO — One of the senior staffers at a Canadian Jewish agency refers to Hershell Ezrin as “Super Jew.” That’s because the 57-year-old, Toronto-born Ezrin holds a position of unprecedented bureaucratic power in the Jewish community, having last month been appointed chief executive officer of the newly created Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy….
OPAVA, Czech Republic — Ever since The Boston Globe broke the story of Senator John Kerry’s Jewish roots last year, the rise of the humble Kohn family of Silesia to Boston Brahmanism has been presented to the public as a prime example of the American Dream. Earlier this month, I set out to trace the…
Harlem Two-fer: If there are satellite trucks in the neighborhood, this must be a good time for an Al Sharpton rally… In Harlem on Monday, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry rallied with some of his supporters among Harlem’s establishment Democratic politicos. But what is a New York event without some good old upstaging street theater? Lying…
I had dinner with a close friend last week. I know through a mutual friend that he is having marital problems. I wondered whether to broach the subject, but decided not to ask specifically about his personal situation. My thought was that if he wanted to talk about it, he would bring it up, and…
BOSTON — With the presidential election approaching, American Jewry’s main policy body shifted hard back to its liberal roots, pushing through several domestic-oriented resolutions, including a call for the repeal of the Bush administration’s most recent round of tax cuts. The resolution, which passed with only a smattering of dissenting votes at the annual plenum…
Although recognized in the late 1950s as a leading abstract expressionist, Philip Guston is probably best-remembered now for the critical drubbing he received in 1970. That fall, he declared his independence from his immediate past by showing large, clumsily drawn and sumptuously painted cartoons of Ku Klux Klansmen. This new turn did not go over…
