12 Jan
Arts & Culture, Culture, Latest

The Israeli Daily Show

By Daniel Hoffman The controversial educational video from the Israeli Ministry of Education opens with a kindergarten teacher asking tough questions “to prepare the children for the complicated life in Israel.”  Shockingly, the tots reply straight off with traditional right-wing arguments. When the teacher wonders what Israel needs to have peace, the answers come from all sides. “There’s no one to talk on the other side!” one cutie cries. “I got to be a leftist but I became disillusioned,” another admits. "It's proven, removing settlements doesn't bring peace," a third says. The video goes on, parodying many clichés of Likud rhetoric, such as the world’s hostility toward Israel and the country’s famous “PR problem.” The hilarious skit is an excerpt from the comedy show Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country), broadcast on Channel 2 since 2003. One of the...

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04 Nov
Uncategorized

At Sanity Rally, Sense Through Satire

By Symi Rom-Rymer In the weeks leading up to last Saturday’s Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, the media world was practically falling over itself trying to analyze, explain, and dissect the event before it even happened.  Pundits were asking each other, what it will it mean for the midterm elections, what did it mean about the state of centrist politics, is Jon Stewart preparing for a political campaign, will it draw more crowds than Glenn Beck’s Rally to Restore Honor, and most importantly, will it be a success?  Today, having almost fully recovered from being crushed morning ‘til night by 214,000 of my closest friends, I can unequivocally answer, I don’t know, I don’t know, I certainly hope so, and it seems that way.  As for the rally’s success, the answer is...

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09 Feb
Latest

Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly and the Jewish Question

By Symi Rom-Rymer Perhaps the winter weather is making people a little crazy or perhaps liberals, fed up with current political narrative, are just itching to remove the gloves.  Whatever the reason, a willingness to venture onto Republican turf has been on the rise these past few weeks.  First, there was President Obama who, in a riveting piece of political theater, took on the House Republicans during their annual retreat in Baltimore.  Then, just a few days ago, Jon Stewart appeared on Fox as a guest of Bill O’Reilly. (Can someone explain to me why he is so popular?  Political views aside, he comes across as so condescending and self-righteous—why do viewers find that appealing?  Or is he just that way when non-Republicans are on his show?  If someone could let me know without my having to...

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20 Nov
Arts & Culture, Latest

An Interest in Hanukkah? Jon Stewart Sings!

By Mandy Katz "Can I Interest You in Hanukkah?" may be the first ever TV ditty sung a due by Jon Stewart and fellow faux-newsie Stephen Colbert. It's part of Colbert's upcoming TV special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All, airing Sunday on Comedy Central. Audio of the duet aired yesterday on National Public Radio's Fresh Air — you can hear it on the show's website (click "Listen Now" and skip to minute 7:07). Sample lyric: "Yes, indeed, 8 days of presents, which means one nice one, then a week of dreck." Colbert, the show's host and self-described "broadcasting legend," also sings his own original carols. After all, the crusty newsman explains, perched on a piano bench in a cozy cardigan sweater, every time we hear one of those other, familiar, Yuletide standards, "someone else...

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13 Nov
Arts & Culture, Culture, Latest, Misc, Religion

The Forward 50: 2008 Jews of the Year

By Jeremy Gillick The Forward has published its annual list of America’s 50 most important Jews: the Forward 50. Winners include Rahm Emanuel, Obama's newly appointed Chief of Staff, about whom you can read here. There's also Morris Allen, a Conservative Rabbi from Minnesota who helped re-invent kashrut as a moral rather than merely legal imperative, just as Agriprocessors, America's largest kosher meat producer, sunk deeper and deeper into sin, exploitation and eventually, bankruptcy. Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of the new, liberal Jewish, Israel lobby group J-Street, is at the top of the list too. Although this choice is perhaps more a reflection of the Forward's editorial stance than of Ben-Ami's success, the creation of a viable alternative to AIPAC is, at the very least, a major symbolic accomplishment. And it could become much more than that. Here's what Moment...

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10 Nov
Latest, Moment Magazine

November/December Issue of Moment

It's on newsstands now! The election is over. Take a deep breath. Now, curl up at home with the new issue of Moment. First you'll meet Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, aka Jon Stewart. Even with an anglicized name, the Daily Show host is still the quintessential Jewish boy from Jersey. He may also be the perfect Jewish ambassador for our times—smart but not arrogant, extremely funny but not mean—a valedictorian, most popular, best-looking and class clown all wrapped into one. In this exclusive cover story, discover Stewart’s Jewish background and beliefs, and hear from family members, teachers and friends. In the spirit of Jewish Book Month, we asked co-founder Elie Wiesel and other Nobel laureates Eric Kandel, Avram Hershko, Martin Perl, Robert Solow, Robert Aumann, Eric Maskin, Sidney Altman and Roger Myerson to reflect on their favorites. Our book...

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