WASHINGTON — Bush administration officials remain confused and divided over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan, even after high-level talks with Israeli leaders last week. Three Bush advisers — White House aides Steven Hadley and Elliot Abrams, and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns — returned to Washington without a clear understanding of the…
In the book of Job, the title character asks, “Where can wisdom be found? Where is the source of understanding?” (Job 28:12). Not bad questions, all in all. Rabbi Tanhum ben Hanilai suggested that these questions refer to King Solomon, who spent so much of his life seeking wisdom. God rewards Solomon, explaining, “Since you…
WASHINGTON — A major initiative aimed at setting aside a string of conservative judicial decisions and restoring the protections in the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act is drawing strong support from national Jewish organizations. Seventeen Jewish groups — including the community’s leading women’s organizations, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress…
When it comes to allies, the “sisterhood is the rabbi’s best friend,” or so the American Hebrew declared in 1928. The newspaper wasn’t kidding. For nearly a hundred years, voluntary organizations such as the sisterhood and the ladies auxiliary had kept the American Jewish community afloat; by the 1920s, such groups were poised to grow…
President Bush’s recess appointment last week of William Pryor to a federal judgeship is dividing Congress along partisan lines, but critics say that at least one Republican senator seems unwilling to take a firm stand on the issue. Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is refusing to voice support for…
hananya Weissman is sick of dating shtick. For the past year, the 25-year-old Yeshiva University rabbinical student has been gaining faithful adherents to End the Madness, his engine for changing the Modern Orthodox dating culture. When it comes to dating, Weissman and his supporters want it to become more acceptable for young singles to meet…
TEL AVIV — Although the official announcement has not been made, the word out of the Defense Ministry is that the commander of the Israel Air Force, Major General Dan Halutz, will be appointed deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces this summer. The promotion makes Halutz the prime candidate to become Israel’s…
A Hollywood movie about Jesus Christ, released in a presidential election year, is denounced by religious leaders, inspires antisemitic demonstrations and becomes an organizing tool for Christian fundamentalists: “The Last Temptation of Christ,” director Martin Scorsese’s 1988 adaptation of the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, anticipated Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” even as it…
When Pakistani terrorists kidnapped and murdered Daniel Pearl two years ago, the Wall Street Journal reporter became one of the most famous victims of antisemitism since Anne Frank. “Among other things, he came to symbolize the post-9/11 species of antisemitism,” his father, Dr. Judea Pearl, said during a recent interview. “It’s a strange fusion of…
When the president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, Bruce Raynor, endorsed North Carolina Senator John Edwards for president at a February 7 rally in Milwaukee, it was only the latest maverick move by the union leader. Many unions were flocking to the camp of the Democratic front-runner, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry,…
Is (the?) Shekhina (Shekinah? Shechinah?) a “she” or an “it”? “The Shekhina is a woman,” Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy is quoted as saying in the latest issue of Moment magazine, in which the article “In Search of Shekhina” deals with Mr. Nimoy’s recently published book of photographs, “Shekhina.” And yet in none of the…
