24 Dec
Culture, Latest

AIPAC vs. Seinfeld

by Daniel Kieval I recently heard a lecture by J. J. Goldberg, senior columnist for The Forward, about the current state of American Judaism and its relationship to Israel. Goldberg spoke about intermarriage and what he termed the "Seinfeld effect," in which the national popularity of Jewish figures such as Jerry Seinfeld (or, these days, Jon Stewart) leads children of interfaith (or secular Jewish) parents to embrace the Jewish side of their identity. He also argued, like Peter Beinart in a much-discussed article earlier this year, that the right-wing position of major American Jewish organizations toward Israel has the opposite impact on these mostly liberal young people, turning them off of Judaism completely—we could call this the "AIPAC effect." AIPAC, popularly referred to as the "Israel lobby," has drawn criticism from liberals, Jewish and non-Jewish alike,...

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10 Dec
Uncategorized

People of the Book: Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora

By Symi Rom-Rymer The story of Jewish Eastern European immigration is a familiar one.  Even if one never had the chance to know their relatives from that generation, all one has to do is watch Fiddler on the Roof to see what they must have experienced: the shtetl, the Cossacks and, of course, the eventual expulsion.  But for Rebecca Kobrin, assistant professor of Jewish History at Columbia University and author of the new book Jewish Bialystok and its Diaspora , even if we might know all the words to Anatevka, we really don’t know very much.  Kobrin challenges the traditional American Jewish view of that life much like Alana Newhouse’s did with her article about Roman Vishniac’s photos in pre-war Poland within the context of pre-war East European Jewish life. Using Bialystok—a center of industry and a predominantly...

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07 Dec
Arts & Culture, Culture, Latest

Maccabeats Suffer “Wardrobe Malfunction”

By Doni Kandel The Yeshiva University Maccabeats, the university’s a capella group that has taken the United States by storm, received one of their first ugly lessons in stardom Monday morning. While taping a performance on the CBS Early Show, Maccabeats vocalist Nachum Joel suffered a wardrobe malfunction after one of his beat-mates bumped into him, knocking his yarmulke to the ground, exposing the top of his head. Joel frantically picked up the fallen skull cap and slammed it back on his head but the CBS cameras had already caught every second of his nude scalp on tape. This, of course, was not the first time CBS has been victimized by unfortunate garment error. CBS was the station that covered Super Bowl XXXVIII when Janet Jackson was briefly exposed by co-performer Justin Timberlake during their half-time performance....

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19 Nov
Uncategorized

It's 1979, do you know where your Nazis are?

By Symi Rom-Rymer By 1948, World War II had been over for three years, yet hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons remained scattered throughout the wrecked and scarred European landscape.   The United States Congress responded with one of its most far reaching immigration laws, the Displaced Persons and the Refugee Relief Acts, which brought over 600,000 of those refugees onto its shores.  But among the Nazi victims and self-defined anti-Communists who sought shelter in the US, were perpetrators of war crimes who were also eager to start a new life in a new country.  Slipping by the overworked and overwhelmed US consular officers, they gained entry to the US where they lived peacefully until their past lives caught up with them.  This week, the New York Times released the complete 617 page report from...

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02 Nov
Uncategorized

The Emergence of Jewish Republicans

By Gabriel Weinstein After a year of raucous Tea Party protests, growing disillusionment with presidential policies and economic stagnation, Republicans’ fantasy of regaining control of at least one house of Congress is close to becoming a reality. The final USA Today/Gallup Poll released Sunday revealed that 55 percent of likely voters plan on voting Republican while 40 percent of likely voters will vote Democratic. Independent voters, who helped propel Barack Obama to victory in 2008, have left the Democratic fold. Women voters, traditionally Democratic stalwarts, are predicted to vote primarily Republican for the first time since gender vote tracking began in 1982. On this Election Day, will Jewish voters remain a bastion of Democratic support or join the disgruntled droves and vote Republican? Jews have tended to vote Democratic throughout American history.  The small American Jewish community...

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07 Oct
Uncategorized

Textbook Tussle

By Symi Rom-Rymer "No other country in the world, in its official curriculum, would treat the fact of its founding as a catastrophe," categorically stated Education Minister Gideon Saar in response to a recent controversy over an unapproved Israeli textbook. The textbook in question is a history textbook used by Shaar Hanegev, a liberal high school in southern Israel.  In this teaching of Israeli history, the authors—a group that includes both Israeli and Palestinian teachers--offer competing versions of the establishment of Israel. On one side of the page is the traditional Israeli narrative and on the other side the traditional Arab one. The middle of the page is left blank so that students can add their own thoughts.   As the Christian Science Monitor reported, this book is so incendiary because “the row drives at the heart of Israeli identity,...

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06 Oct
Uncategorized

Jews In the Media on Jews In The Media

By Ben Goldberg CNN anchor Rick Sanchez was fired last weekend after calling Jon Stewart a “bigot” and saying that CNN and most of the media are run by Jews. In a radio interview with host Peter Dominick, Sanchez implied that Stewart looked down on him because of his ethnicity. When told that Stewart himself might actually relate since, as a Jew, he is also part of an oppressed minority, Sanchez fired this salvo: Very powerless people... He's such a minority, I mean, you know ... Please, what are you kidding? ... I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they -- the people in this country who are Jewish --...

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05 Oct
Culture, Latest, Religion

They’re Here, They’re Queer….We’re still getting used to it.

By Niv Elis Dismayed.  Disappointed.  Disgusted. These are the adjectives commenters posted in response to a statement by The Jewish Standard, a New Jersey weekly, declaring that it will no longer publish marriage announcements for gay couples.  The decision came in the wake of the first gay engagement to grace the paper's lifestyle pages, honoring Avi Smolen and Justin Rosen. Following its publication, reports the Standard: A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused. The accompanying decision to stop running gay wedding announcements aroused a massive influx of criticism, pressuring the editorial...

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05 Oct
Uncategorized

Web Exlclusive – The Kosher Tea Party

It's well-known that American Jews tend to lean left politically.  Over 70 percent, for example, voted for Barack Obama.  But what about the rest of the Jews?  "Are we chopped liver?" asks Benyamin Korn, a fiscally conservative Orthodox Jew? There are, in fact, a handful of Jewish activists that strongly support the Tea Party movement.  Moment's Web Exclusive on the Jewish Tea Party includes profiles of some of its activists and a fascinating account of how they got involved. What do you think about the Tea Party?  Is it "good for the Jews?"  Leave your comments and let us know!

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30 Sep
Culture, Latest, Religion

What Do Jews and Mormons Have in Common?

By Lisa Krysiak and Sala Levin An above-average knowledge of the "core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions," according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.  As a group, Jews came in second, averaging 20.5 correct answers out of 32 questions. Mormons gave Jews a run for their money, though, averaging 20.3 correct answers. It seems that religious minorities in the U.S. are better-versed in the fundamental facts of world religions than their more populous counterparts; white Catholics and white mainline protestants came in fifth and sixth, respectively. Jews make up about 2.5 percent of the American population, while Mormons account for roughly 2 percent. Do these results reflect a higher priority on education among these two religious groups?  Perhaps.  But interestingly, the one group that trumped both Jews and Mormons in the survey...

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