Yori's News Clips

Bea Abrams Cohen, who turned 102 in February, believes in mitzvahs. "Pay back. It works," she told the LA Times. Bea enlisted during World War II and worked for more than seventy years supporting the U.S. military and charity organizations.

The world is not a safe place, is the bottom line of what our State Dept. wants you to know. But if you insist—heaven knows why—on leaving your safe bedroom and risk setting foot in one of those awful places you hear about in the news, there's a lot you need to know. Travelers can become victims of crime and violence, or experience unexpected difficulties, says the special page titled "A Safe Trip Abroad" on the DOS website.

"I write this article in fear," starts Omar Sharif Jr.'s revelatory article in the Advocate, which dishes out coming out stories to fit every pallet. This one involves an Egyptian TV and screen actor, grandson of a Hollywood legend, who fled his homeland for the safety of America. And he's probably Jewish, too.

After quitting his Queens House seat disgraced by "texting," former Congressman Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (whom Michelle Bachman accused of being part of a Muslim Brothers conspiracy, seeing as her brother is a Muslim Brother—like her father and her mother, who are also Brothers—this is so Abbot and Costello) have acquired what the NY Post describes as a $3.3M "sprawling, 12th-floor Park Avenue trophy residence" which is owned by Rosen Partners LLC, which the Post says is headed by a close Clinton friend, Jack Rosen.

Of course, it's just a typo, but, you know, come to think of it, wouldn't many of us have preferred it if Shimon were to do what he does on the other side of the pond?

Rahimi's remarks came at an international anti-drug conference in Tehran, attended by many foreign diplomats, and AFP says it was "a rare diatribe by an Iranian official targeting the Jewish faith, rather than the state of Israel."

Had the (Jewish) heavens gone a little bit differently, Cleveland could become the first American city with three Jewish major leaguers playing at the same time.

Welcome to the Jewish Press Online Cartoon Rehabilitation Project (JPOCRP), or, in short (suggested by our colleague Rafi Harkham) Cartoon Rehab. We found this cartoon on the ADL website. They say it was originally published in Oman, April 12, 2012, and the original text, written in blood, says: "We Will Never Surrender."

They wrote flippantly: "Securing Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state requires diplomatic and political leadership, not legal maneuverings." Legal rights be damned, then?

"Most people have probably never heard of Y-Love," writes Jerry Portwood in Out Magazine this week, explaining that "for a dedicated fan base, however, Y-Love, aka Yitz Jordan, is a popular Hassidic hip-hop artist who raps in a mix of English, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin. That’s right: Jordan is an African-American rapping Jew. And now he wants the world to know he’s gay."

Former pro-Soviet Jewry activist and local Upper West Side all around tzadik Glenn Richter has been collecting food from the Ohav Zedek synagogue and similar institutions and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently, when he attempted to bring a traditional Shabbat cholent leftovers from a shul kiddush, he was refused on account of the Bloomberg administration's decree against giving too much salt, fat and fiber to the homeless.

The case is, predictably, another ugly and scary and very personal one, which is why I stayed off it all this time. But as the pressure campaign is increasing and even Fox News is dumping on the husband (a Republican!), I went looking for some context. Now you can, too…

Mario Balotelli, who scored two amazing goals against Germany June 28, to take Italy into the Euro 12 soccer championship final against Spain on Sunday (which they lost 4-0, and were totally outclassed by the world champion) – grew up as the foster son of a Jewish mother. Balotelli talked about his adoptive Jewish mother when the Italian national squad visited Auschwitz ahead of the start of the games.

This cartoon, by Syrian artist Tishrin, was published September 22, 2011, and, to be fair, as anti-Israeli cartoons go it is relatively tame. But I was delighted by the opportunity to turn Tishrin's clever (albeit kinda trite) use of the letter T as cross, into the letter T as clothesline.

Today's cartoon is from Al-Watan (Qatar), from way back in May 13, 2003. The U.S. and Israel are shown eating from two sides of an apple that represents “the Arab states.” According to the middle-east-info.org, where we found it, this cartoon is noteworthy because it was published in Qatar, home to the Al Jazeera TV network. Qatar is considered by many in the U.S. State Department to be a U.S. ally and a relatively moderate state.

The AP has apparently caught the Israeli government red handed on the eve of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Jewish state.

Police said they suspect this is a response to the evacuation of Migron on Sunday. I have my doubts.

The lovely Mayim Bialik, heartthrob of millions of geeks as Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, spoke at the National Museum of American Jewish History to mark the 90th anniversary of the Bat Mitzvah. I absolutely love Mayim, who confessed to nursing her own little boy, Fred, through age 3 ("I believe in child-led weaning"). I just think she may not be the best advocate for rituals of adulthood…

While some religions place ultimate responsibility for healing in divine hands, “Jews don’t see a conflict between faith and medicine,” says Alan M. Kraut, a professor of history at American University who helped put together the exhibition “Trail of the Magic Bullet: The Jewish Encounter With Modern Medicine, 1860-1960,” on view at Yeshiva University Museum in Manhattan.

We long for the days that we will see the reestablishment of Solomon's Temple and hopefully we will pray there together in the near future. This will definitely happen as the days of Messiah—Yamot HaMashiach—are imminent.

On Saturday, Mitt Romney introduced his running mate, Paul Ryan, as "the next president of the United States."

There's only one bit of good news for the Romney campaign in the all-important swing state polls this weekend.

Lemel Leo Adler, left, and Leon Schagrin are cousins, the sons of two sisters. After the invasion of Poland, they were transported to the Tarnow ghetto, and then to several labor camps, and finally to Buna, "a chemical plant taht also known as Auschwitz III." In there they met only briefly, between shifts. In January 1945 they were separated and didn't see each other again. "A far as they know, everyone else in their families were killed."

Alexander Müller has resigned from the Swiss People’s Party after a tweet sent from his account called for a repeat of the Night of the Broken Glass, this time targeting Muslims. His tweet read: “Maybe we need another Kristallnacht… this time for mosques.”

The selection of Paul Ryan, with his proposals for a trimmed-down federal budget, may not bode well for the Republican ticket among Jewish voters. And since Florida is the largest of the swing states, its Jewish voters will have a huge impact on the presidential election. On the other hand, the "Israel first" Jewish voters, after three years of constant conflict between Obama and Netanyahu, are not likely to stick with the president. Finally, what does it mean when Romney concedes the independents at the center and pick a VP to the right of him politically?

Between conversations and nibbling, one of my neighbors bent over and whispered, smiling, “At least in this shul we know no one is going to recited Tehillim for his speedy recovery.” My immediate, totally uncalculated reaction was to open a siddur (prayer book) and begin to recite Tehillim. I couldn’t behave otherwise. That‘s my nature – if someone will tell me NOT to jump off a bridge, I’m already up on the railing, hat in hand.

What do you think of when you hear the name "Gaza?" Gut wrenching misery of a devastated people under siege. Not if you judge by this music video, shot against images of the thriving, beautiful, totally modern city of Gaza, with thousands of folks gathering in a stadium for a celebration, and the obligatory images of armed Hamsniks in training. Everyone looks well fed and quite happy.

On the menu this morning: A Yiddishe Robbery … The Birds, The Bees, And The Jews … Latter Day This … Albert Brooks? Try Albert Speer! … and Human Rights Watch Guy Gets Watched Back. We're weird, we're borderline freaky, we're Jewish – get used to it. Or don't, we get paid either way.

My friend and colleague Lori Lowenthal Marcus writes today in Arutz 7 about her entanglements with the Jewish Federations of North America, and how, instead of confirming or denying a simple question she posed to them, they chose instead to start a campaign of personal attacks against her.

The owners of Native Intimates are Orthodox Jews. That by itself is not exactly shocking, since Jews of all stripes have been running New York's garment industry since the early 20th century. What's unique about this particular outfit is their poor choice in letting go a female temp at their warehouse because she looked and dressed too provocatively for the workplace.