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The Schmooze Eliot Spitzer vs. Bill Hader
WATCH Eliot Spitzer confront former “Saturday Night Live” double Bill Hader, right before an incredibly uncomfortable interview with Jay Leno. As The Huffington Post pointed out, Hader used to play Spitzer back when he co-hosted (and then hosted) “Parker/Spitzer” on CNN. Sharing a moment, the two recounted how they first met during a White House…
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The Schmooze And on The Ninth Day, They Prayed
Yesterday evening marked the beginning of Tisha B’Av, the annual fast day which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the subsequent exile of the Jews from the Holy Land. Regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendars, all pleasurable activities are forbidden. As in a period of mourning, there is…
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Fast Forward European Union Bars Aid to Israeli Groups With Ties to Occupied Territories
The European Union said on Tuesday it will bar financial assistance to Israeli organisations operating in the occupied territories, underlining its concern that Israeli settlement-building harms prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Guidelines adopted by the EU’s executive Commission in late June and expected to be published this week make clear that, from next year,…
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Fast Forward Temple Mount Closed to Jews on Tisha B’Av
The Jerusalem Police closed the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors a day after Arabs protested such visits. The closure on Tuesday coincided with the fast of Tisha B’av, a day of Jewish mourning for the destruction of the two Jewish Temples that were located on the site. Police reportedly closed the site to Jewish and…
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Fast Forward Florida Official Sorry for Using ‘Jew-ing’
The chairwoman of a Florida board of commissioners apologized to those who questioned her for using the word “jewing” to describe salary discussions at a public meeting. Cheryl Sanders, an official in Franklin County, Fla., told Jim Romenesko, who runs an eponymous news business blog, that her use of the word at a July 2…
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News New Generation of Transgender Rabbis Ties Jewish Practice and Gender Change
In the next few years, the number of transgender rabbis in America is expected to double — from three to six. The tiny cohort makes up a miniscule percentage of the rabbis graduating rabbinical school, but these individuals have already played a big role in their respective seminaries to provoke conversations about gender and Judaism….
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Opinion How Fracking Conflicts With Kabbalah
Every year, more than 100 billion gallons of water are used in the United States for hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” a process that breaks up rock in order to force out millions of cubic feet of natural gas. What people may not realize is that most of this water stays deep underground. The 20%–50% of…
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Fast Forward Leonard Garment, Nixon Advisor, Dies at 89
Leonard Garment, the special counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal, has died, the New York Times reported on Monday. He was 89. Garment’s daughter, Ann Garment, confirmed the death to the newspaper. She said he died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. Garment, a Jewish lawyer and…
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Opinion Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla was never going to help Palestinians
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Culture I ranked the NYC mayoral candidates exclusively based on their bagel orders
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News How Jewish can you be in a Boca country club? Wrapping tefillin got a family suspended, lawsuit says
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Opinion Mike Huckabee’s stunning, terrifying new gift to the Israeli right
In Case You Missed It
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Culture His parents fled the Nazis in 1937 — now he’s using his chutzpah to fight Donald Trump
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Fast Forward 24 hours of war leaves Israel reeling, with bomb shelters full and flights canceled
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Fast Forward In US lawmakers’ response to Israel’s strike on Iran, sweeping support with signs of tension
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Opinion Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times
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