How to Write About Israel

Posted on: May 20th, 2012

Weigh every story one way. Depersonalize Israelis, personalize Muslims. One is a statistic, the other a precious snowflake. A Muslim terrorist attack is always in retaliation for something, but an Israeli attack is rarely a retaliation for anything. When Israeli planes bomb a terrorist hideout, suggest that this latest action only feeds the "Cycle of Violence" and quote some official who urges Israel to return to peace negotiations.

Louis C.K. – Not a Jew

Posted on: May 20th, 2012

One of the main things I’ve learned about the differences between Jews and non-Jews (namely Christians) is that non-Jews place a great deal of importance on how you feel, what you believe, your intentions, your inner motivations for being good. By contrast, according my friend Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Jews “care far less about what you believe. What you do is more important.”

Jerusalem in the Twilight Zone

Posted on: May 20th, 2012

Here I was, just out of New York, not knowing what the Torah was really about, surrounded by tens of thousands of ecstatic davening Jews, with the choruses of “Amen, yihe shamai rabbahs” ringing in my ears like the blasts of the shofar on Mount Sinai. What can I tell you? New York and Hollywood were blown out of my brain, like a dream that never happened, just like the Psalm says: “When the Lord brings back the captives of Zion, we were like those who dream.”

Who Thinks about Jerusalem During the Seventh Inning Stretch?

Posted on: May 18th, 2012

This blog is not coming to reject, or condemn, any practice of Judaism which is based on a sincere fear of Heaven, nor to reject or condemn any Jew, or Jewish community, God forbid. The blogs we write come to reject only the misunderstanding of Judaism which negates the centrality of the Land of Israel to the Torah and to the vitality of Jewish life.

Tibbi’s Roundup: It’s All in the Wrist

Posted on: May 17th, 2012

Our JBlogs Chief Reviewer Tibbi Singer brings you fresh recommendations on 12 new articles, plus reader mail and words of wisdom about sticking magnets under your skin (you shouldn't).

Punch The Other Cheek

Posted on: May 16th, 2012

The problem with turning the other cheek is: it doesn’t work. Not with bullies. Not even with Catholic school bullies. Because bullies don’t consult the “Good Book” before they do bad things.

The Diaspora Has Failed!

Posted on: May 16th, 2012

All of the directors and presidents of the Jewish organizations and federations and committees and leagues and unions who didn't and still don't call upon their members to pack up and go, they all should be replaced with braver souls. With the scourge of intermarriage decimating our ranks, all of the rabbis who didn't and still don't urge their congregations to go en mass to Israel should read through the Torah once again.

JBlog Roundup: Love and Marriage and Hate and Divorce and Blintzes

Posted on: May 16th, 2012

You want strange news? I’ll give you strange news: According to a complaint filed in Federal Court, Nancy Genovese, a mother of three, was arrested for taking a picture of the decorative shell of a helicopter on display in full public view near the entrance of the Gabreski Airport in Suffolk County, New York. While [...]

JBlog Roundup: The Lessons of Nude Unicycling

Posted on: May 15th, 2012

I admit, I like a bizarre news story like the next gal. So I definitely had to click to read this item from the AP: “Police say a man named Joseph Glynn Farley was arrested in a Southeast Texas city for riding his unicycle in the nude, distracting drivers and creating a hazard.” Right away, [...]

Suspended For Being Too Jewish?

Posted on: May 15th, 2012

My earliest thought of Judaism came in Catholic school, when I cussed out my grade three teacher for being an anti-Semite. I was no Biblical expert at the age of nine, but even my cursory understanding of the Bible told me that Christians had a heck of a lot in common with Jews.