With the High Holy Days behind us, it seems timely to recall a little story in Ruth Levitan’s ever entertaining collection titled “Lakh a Bisl, Lakh a Sakh.” The English translation is by Gus Tyler. Yom Toyvim A goy hot zikh amol megayer geven. S’iz grade geven in mitn vinter. Az s’iz gekumen Rosh-Khoydesh Shvat,…
When I got to Rutgers University in New Jersey last month, I almost forgot I was on a college campus. The atmosphere was far from the cool, button-down academic reserve typical of such institutions. It was more reminiscent of a battlefield. My arrival was greeted by a noisy demonstration of Palestinian and Jewish students holding…
WASHINGTON — The leaders of an Israeli-Palestinian grassroots peace initiative came to Washington this week seeking support for their undertaking to revive peace efforts on the basis of mutually accepted principles to guide a final settlement between the parties. The two leaders of the initiative, Ami Ayalon, former head of Israel’s Shin Bet general security…
A Republican gubernatorial candidate’s visit to the fundraiser of an allegedly racist group, and his subsequent defense of the appearance, has Democrats mocking White House efforts to woo Jewish voters. Haley Barbour, a Washington lobbyist and former chairman of the Republican National Committee who is running for governor of Mississippi, politicked at a July 19…
With Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad standing by his claims that Jews rule the world, Israeli leaders and Jewish groups say they are stepping up efforts to organize a “global rejection” of the Asian leader’s remarks. Israeli Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Natan Sharansky issued a statement Wednesday announcing that the night before he…
Israel’s Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing November 6 on a complaint filed against several of Israel’s top financial authorities that accuses them of failing to investigate a multimillion-dollar scam by the Swiss subsidiary of Bank Leumi, Israel’s second-largest bank. Two foundations representing Israeli and French citizens are citing the supervisor of banks,…
WASHINGTON — A leading activist from Israel’s Peace Now movement last week urged the Senate to help stop Jewish settlement activity in the territories and prevent Israel’s security fence from cutting through the West Bank. The director of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Project, Dror Etkes, told the Senate Subcommittee for Near Eastern and South Asian…
Executive Privilege: Malden Mills chairman Aaron Feuerstein has been hailed by many as the conscience of corporate America, the boss who stood by his workers after a devastating 1995 fire ravaged his factory. His moral standing has been instrumental in securing support in the fight to save his bankrupt company from creditors — and with…
When I was an adolescent in the town of Zichron Ya’akov, Israel, during the 1980s, American fashion magazines were an expensive treat whose glossy pages, fragrant with perfume samples, held the promise of a temporary escape to a more glamorous world. Israeli women’s magazines cost a fraction of the price. But as far as I…
OAKLAND, Calif. — The parade rolled into downtown Oakland last Saturday just as it does every year, a long, undulating chain of youth groups and dance troupes, drill teams and color guards — and, of course, the cowboys. Some ride solo, others in posses, their horses clip-clopping past office buildings. They smiled as they tipped…
Warren Lehrer was struggling with a book of short stories called “Leap” during the spring of 1999. They were about people whose lives were about to undergo tremendous change. At the time he was assisting his wife, Judith Sloan, in a storytelling workshop at Forest Hills High School for which the students interviewed immigrants living…
