By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Another financial drama is having rippling effects in the Jewish community, only, unlike the financial misfortunes of Sheldon Adelson we wrote about last week, this one is despicable. Bernard Madoff, the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was arrested Dec. 11 after...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [caption id="attachment_1730" align="alignleft" width="226" caption="Richard Falk"][/caption] Israel refused to allow senior UN rights official and Special Rapporteur in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk into the country earlier today, sending him back to the US after he landed at the Tel-Aviv airport. Falk planned the trip...
By Jeremy Gillick While the economic crisis may spell Birthright's demise, New Voices editor Josh Nathan-Kazis argues that the famously free trip to Israel has already left its mark. In its December issue, Josh takes a look at Birthright's Hidden Cost. The issue also features an interview...
By Mandy Katz Birthright may have to cut back on the inspirational Israel tours it hosts for Jewish American teens, the Forward reports. A drop in the fortunes of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation threatens the financial viability of its majority stockholder, Sheldon Adelson, a major...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="227" caption="Jimmy Carter's on a Mideast tour"][/caption] Former president Jimmy Carter just arrived in Lebanon, where he will do some electoral analysis and give a speech that will probably upset legions of Jews across the globe. Carter will speak Dec. 12 at...
by Jeremy Gillick [caption id="" align="alignright" width="184" caption="Settlers in Hebron"][/caption] Much of the West Bank is in turmoil following this morning's highly anticipated evacuation of the Orwellian "House of Peace" in Hebron. Though the evacuation itself was a success, as Israel's security forces took several hundred settlers...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [caption id="attachment_1650" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg"][/caption] This eulogy for Rivka and Gavriel Holtzberg found its way to us at ITM and we think it's worth sharing with our readers. It is by Hillary Lewin, who met and became friends with the Holtzbergs...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler All our Thanksgiving weekends were touched with sadness as news from Mumbai interrupted what should have been cheery days watching football and spending time with family. The details of the perpetrators' motivation and planning are still being worked out, but we know a...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBMluWgN5Bc] If you're wondering which brother is which, just check out the suits: The one with the power pinstripes has to deal with Capitol Hill, that's Barack Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm. The puke colored tie gives away the eldest brother Ezekiel, who is a...
By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler According to data based on precincts "with High-Concentration Of Orthodox Jewish Voters," Orthodox Jews were not only unafraid of Barack Obama, some communities voted for him in larger numbers than they did for John Kerry in 2004. Shmuel Rosner blogs (and has a nice...