D'une seule voix » a trouvé son public

Difficile d'imaginer des musiciens musulmans de Gaza et des chanteurs juifs de Tel-Aviv, séparés toute l'année par un mur de plusieurs mètres de haut, partir en tournée en France, comme des rock stars. C'est pourtant ce qu'a réalisé Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi, un homme aux multiples vies. Rock star américaine dans les années 1970, celui que l'on nommait « Mister Frog » aux États-Unis est parti, en mai 2003, au Proche-Orient. « Au départ, je ne connaissais personne. C'était une aventure folle, impossible, j'ai cru que l'on ne réussirait pas », assure l'aventurier. Et pourtant, un an plus tard, il réussit l'exploit de faire passer des musiciens gazaouis vers Jérusalem pour un concert, première ébauche de D'Une Seule Voix. Car, ce jour-là, un certain Xavier de Lauzanne filme l'événement. Il ne quittera plus le groupe. suite>>

Quand les juifs orthodoxes découvrent les gays

Le judaïsme orthodoxe s'interroge sur les droits des homosexuels.

 Des questions scientifiques aux droits des femmes, les dilemmes modernes n'ont pu ébranler l'orthodoxie juive. Mais alors que de jeunes juifs orthodoxes militent pour l'intégration des homosexuels, le mouvement n'a, pour la première fois, pas de réponse logique à opposer aux critiques libérales internes. Si ce plaidoyer pour les droits des gays devait être couronné de succès, on assisterait à l'apparition d'une niche inédite: un groupe orthodoxe sur tous les plans, sauf un. Et les mentalités évoluent, comme l'a prouvé le mois dernier la participation massive à une discussion sur le thème de l'homosexualité organisée à l'université Yeshiva de New York, l'une des principales institutions orthodoxes.

Gays et femmes, même combat

Ce qui se rapproche le plus de cette bataille, c'est la lutte en cours pour l'intégration des femmes au sein de l'orthodoxie. Pourtant, sans minimiser l'importance de la lutte en question, force est de constater qu'il existe un monde entre les souffrances de quelqu'un que la religion empêche de devenir rabbin, et celles de quelqu'un que la religion empêche d'avoir un partenaire. suite>>

JDC Experts Assessing Impact On Chilean Jewish Community

NEW YORK, NY, February 28, 2010—In the wake of today’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the world’s largest Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, announced that it will collect funds for relief efforts, said JDC CEO Steven Schwager.

"Our hearts go out to the people of Chile and, as we have recently done in Haiti, JDC will leverage our strong partnerships in the region, including the local Chilean Jewish community, to provide a quick and effective response to the needs of those affected,” said Schwager. “We are receiving up-to-the-minute reports from JDC's Latin America team on the ground, including the impact of the earthquake on Chile's Jewish community.” continued>>

Women's History Month Exhibit Opens at New York State Museum

This photograph, titled "Women Vote in New York City", c. 1918, will be part of the small exhibition "Women Who Rocked the Vote" at the New York State Museum. (Library of Congress photo)

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the New York State Museum will open a small exhibition March 1 featuring artifacts and images from the woman’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century.

"Women Who Rocked the Vote" will be open through March in the Museum’s front lobby window. The exhibition chronicles the history of the suffrage movement, which was officially launched when Elizabeth Cady Stanton added the demand for equal suffrage to the Declaration of Sentiments at the first woman’s rights convention in Seneca Falls that she helped organize. Modeled on the Declaration of Independence, the declaration condemned male tyranny. It also claimed for women “all the rights and privileges” of citizenship. News of the convention sparked controversy and helped ignite a national movement.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a large wooden wagon that was once covered in suffrage banners and hand-painted signs as suffrage activists used the wagon as both a prop and a speaker’s platform. There also are historic images and a large painted banner carried in a massive suffrage parade up Fifth Avenue in New York City . The parade came just 10 days before the November 1917 election which gave women the right to vote in New York State . Two years later the state ratified the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibited sex-based restrictions on the right to vote.

Mark Rothko's Black Paintings Unveiled at The National Gallery Of Art

Mark Rothko, Untitled (reclining nude), 1937/1938. Oil on canvas. Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc. Copyright. ©1997, Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel.

WASHINGTON, DC.- A new exhibition featuring seven of the enigmatic black paintings made in 1964 by American artist Mark Rothko (1903–1970) is the second in a series of shows installed in the National Gallery of Art's Tower Gallery, East Building, that center on developments in art since midcentury. On view February 21, 2010 through January 2, 2011, "In the Tower: Mark Rothko" includes works drawn largely from the Gallery's own vast collection of Rothko's oeuvre and features a short film created for the exhibition. These austere paintings, each presenting a single black rectangle on a black or nearly black field, are among the most mysterious of Rothko's career. This is the first exhibition devoted to Rothko's black paintings since the show that celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Rothko Chapel at the Menil Collection in Houston in 1996. The dozen ... More

The epitomy of decadence

sent by Jack Levi
edited by Aimee Kligman
(the grammatical errors were most likely caused by the author of this piece drooling all over himself)

Roman Abramovich in the company of Dasha Zhukova and his son Arkadi and three business partners stopped over for dinner at restaurant "Nello" in New York

ed: perhaps Mr. Abramovich could make a check out in this amount and give it to one of Israel's soup kitchens who cater to the poor?

It was obvious from the start that the high quality and type of food take priority over cost said restaurant owner Nello Balan. Mr Abramovich began his diner with carpaccio with white truffles followed by Milan lamb with pasta and Parmesan.  For desert Mr Abramovich tried delicious tiramisu. They were drinking champagne and expensive wines. They looked no different than New York tourists said the waiter.


Drinks included 2 bottles of Chateau Petrus, 3 bottles of La Tâche Romanée Conti Pinot Noir and 2 large bottles (1.5 litre each) of Cristal Rose champagne ($5,000 per bottle). 
The wine only came to $35,000. Pregnant Miss Zhukov was drinking $16 mineral water.

Mr Abramovich's face did not change when he saw the bill, said the waiter. He only asked if the service was included. The couple sitting at the next table thought they won the lottery. The owner of the restaurant gave Mr Abramovich a soccer ball as a memento for being a special client, and suggested he buy the New York Yankees. Mr Abramovich replied - no thanks, I have plenty of problems with Chelsea.

Total sum came to $47,000 US in just 1hr and 18min. The sum included a 20% tip, however they generously gave the waiter another $5,000 in cash. 

In total they spent around $52K for lunch. Many people make this in a year: said journalists and advised rapper Jay-Z (who left $1,700 tip in the same restaurant) to "eat his heart out".  (ed: really? I find this completely disgusting)

Detroit art museum opening Islamic gallery

sent by Elie Mangoubi

DETROIT (AP) — In the heart of the largest concentration of Muslims in the U.S., the Detroit Institute of Arts this weekend is opening a new permanent gallery of Islamic art showcasing exhibits including a rare 15th-century Quran of a Mongol conqueror.

"The Arab and Islamic community is significant enough that it needs to see itself in the museum," said director Graham W.J. Beal. "Their collection had not been shown very prominently in the previous recent decades."

Imam Sohel Mangera photographs a Qur'an from about

1450-60 displayed at the Detroit... (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Sunday's opening comes as several museums worldwide are broadening their collections. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is working on a suite of Islamic art galleries and The David Collection in Copenhagen is preparing to close its gallery for a re-installation. The Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London also boast of major renovations to their collections. And Egyptian officials plan to reopen Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art. more>>

The Cairo Rambam Project

sent by Yves Fedida

Before the opening ceremony of the Rambam, I felt it may be useful to recapitulate what the remarkable development has been. You can watch this unfold through our visits of 2006-2007-2009-2010 in the following video

Video 1



There is a tickle if you believe in coincidences...
Maimonides may have had something to do with sound extraction in the second part but you'll find some interfaith natural on this video.

Happy Pourim

Yves

Lieux saints: après Hébron, nouvelle flambée de violences à Jérusalem-Est

De violents incidents ont eu lieu dimanche autour de l'esplanade des Mosquées à Jérusalem-Est, un lieu saint de l'islam, dans un climat déjà tendu par un projet controversé d'Israël d'inscrire à son patrimoine national deux sites sacrés de Cisjordanie occupée.
Gali Tibbon


De violents incidents ont eu lieu dimanche autour de l'esplanade des Mosquées à Jérusalem-Est, un lieu saint de l'islam, dans un climat déjà tendu par un projet controversé d'Israël d'inscrire à son patrimoine national deux sites sacrés de Cisjordanie occupée.

Les affrontements ont éclaté entre la police israélienne et des Palestiniens à la suite de rumeurs d'incursion de juifs extrémistes sur l'esplanade, au coeur de la Vieille Ville de Jérusalem. 

Ils ont fait deux blessés dans les rangs de la police, selon le porte-parole de la police Micky Rosenfeld, qui a fait état de sept arrestations. suite>>

Israel With a Russian Accent (and Pork)

Alex Kapov Kagan, who immigrated to Israel from St. Petersburg in 1991, relaxes at Bar Putin in Jerusalem. The bar has become a second home for many Jews who left the former Soviet Union

"All around me in the Israeli city of Ashdod, people were chatting in Russian, darting in and out of stores with signs in Cyrillic, living the lives that they had once lived, as if they were in a mythical, far-flung former Soviet republic. I had come from Moscow to explore Israel, but when I reached Ashdod, a port on the Mediterranean that is shunned by most guidebooks, I almost felt as if I were back where I had started. Minus the snow.

But it is everywhere. On Channel 9, news anchors discuss the latest wrangling with the Palestinians in the language of Pushkin. Graduates of Soviet institutes have helped transform the Tel Aviv region into such a fertile high-tech center that some Israelis quip that you have to master Russian to get ahead there. Across the country, the symphonies and theaters abound with performers trained in Moscow or St. Petersburg or Kiev. So do the streets. One day, I approached a violinist fiddling for change in Jerusalem and, on a lark, greeted him in Russian. He was from Siberia." continued>>

ed: this post is dedicated to my cousin Soly who deplores this character aspect of Israel.

Sue Myrick Meets the Muslims - and Brings Backup

ed: an excellent post on how Americans who are 'aware' are pushing back

excerpt:

"As Americans, we want to work together for the same purpose; we want to take a stand against the radical extremists who threaten our America and our American way of life," she said. Radicalization is "a form of cancer; we've got a means to cure it."

Myrick passed out copies of the foreword she wrote for "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," the book by former Air Force investigator P. David Gaubatz and journalist Paul Sperry that accuses the nonprofit civil-rights advocacy group, Council on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR), of, among other things, placing spies as interns on Capitol Hill. The foreword read, in part: "Government officials need to stop hiding behind political correctness and keep American people informed."She showed charts and maps and video clips. She blamed the media, in part, for misrepresenting her views on Islam." Read entire article on Politics Daily>>

'Mossad Mania' Strikes Israel

The recent murder of a Hamas leader in Dubai may have put Israel in diplomatic hot water, but the affair has been magic for the country's spy agency and its recruiting effort. "Mossad mania" has gripped Israel, The Times of London reports. Mossad memorabilia is flying off the shelves in Israel. Glasses like the ones worn by suspected killers have become bestsellers. Young men and women are eager to sign up to be spooks. “I’ve always had a dream to work for the Mossad. It’s obvious why—it’s exciting, dangerous and special," an Israeli told the Times. Israel has not confirmed or denied that it was involved with the Dubai hit.

Read it at The Times of London: Israelis rush to join Mossad after Mahmoud al-Mabhouh killing

ed: geez, looks like murder is good for business; could this be the key to our lifting our own recession?

I'm at the New York Travel Show and will not be posting till the end of the week.

Les sportives canadiennes emportent la vedette

En bobsleigh, les équipages canadiens Kaillie Humphries/Heather Moyse et Helen Upperton/Shelly-Ann Brown ont respectivement raflé l'or et l'argent

Dans la famille olympique canadienne, on voit vite qui porte la culotte. Et les médailles. Autrement dit : Jenn, Kaillie, Heather, Helen, Shelley-Ann, Ashleigh, Tessa, Maëlle, Christine, Kristina, Clara, Marianne, Jessica, Karyna, Tania, Shannon, Meghan, Carla, Becky, Colleen, Rebecca, Cherie, Gillian, Meaghan, Caroline, Jayna, Jennifer, Catherine, Haley, Hayley, Sarah, Gina, Marie-Philip, Charline et Kim. Et canadiennes, elles le sont. Il suffit de les entendre brailler l'hymne national depuis le podium construit par des hommes, peut-être, mais sur lequel ces dames font la loi. Sur les 16 médailles remportées par le Canada [après treize jours de compétition], 12 reviennent clairement à des femmes, une étant partagée par le couple de danse sur glace Tessa Virtue et Scott Moir. Ce qui confirme la tendance amorcée à Turin, où le score avait été de 16-8 en faveur des femmes. suite>>

Violences. Un texte pour mieux protéger les femmes

Une femme sur deux serait victime de violences au cours de sa vie, selon certaines statistiques. Et une sur dix les subirait dans un cadre conjugal. Photo Claude Prigent

L'Assemblée examine cet après-midi une proposition de loi sur les violences faites aux femmes, portée par la droite comme la gauche.

>> Lire également le point de vue de Michèle Fitoussi

Le texte proposé notamment par les députés PS Danielle Bousquet (22) et UMP Guy Geoffroy (77), porte sur le renforcement de la protection des victimes, la prévention et la répression. Il vise à faire tomber les obstacles au dépôt de plainte que sont la garde des enfants, le logement ou la régularité du séjour pour les femmes étrangères.

«Problème social et sociétal»

Avec ce texte, «un drametel que celui du meurtre de la mère du petit Ibrahima par son ancien conjoint aurait été traité très en amont», soutient le député Guy Geoffroy. «Loin du fait divers qui appellerait une réponse simpliste et sécuritaire, les violences faites aux femmes sont un problème social et sociétal, auquel il convient d'apporter une réponse globale, coordonnée et accompagnée des moyens humains et financiers», explique de son côté Danielle Bousquet. suite>>

Sex and the City' Star CHRIS NOTH Hosts Purim Party

Masks and Mayhem

Hosted by ‘The Good Wife’ Star CHRIS NOTH

@ Solo (550 Madison Avenue btw 55th and 56th Street)
Saturday, February 27th, 9pm

-Food by Top Chef star ELI KIRSHTEIN
-Free Drink Ticket (included with registration)

-DJ Roy Baron
-Celebrity Guest List
-2 FIRST CLASS tickets to ISRAEL and Private Chef’s Table for 10 at Solo for the Best Purim Costume
-500+ Attendees

$40 by 12pm, Friday, February 26th; $60 at the door

“The reading of the Megillah at the Sony Atrium, as well as both events following it are wheelchair accessible throughout, and service dogs are permitted. Individuals, families, or groups with special needs may request to go ahead of the line.”

-Telephone registration closes Friday @ 1pm
-Online registration closes Friday @ 4pm

There will be a megillah reading at the Sony Atrium at 7:45pm ONLY for those preregistered for the party. If you have not preregistered you will not be admitted into the Megillah reading.  more>>

Extrait du discours de Mme Alliot Marie devant le CRIF de Bordeaux

« Je veux cibler l’action de la justice sur la lutte contre les discriminations.

Je n’accepte pas que des personnes, responsables associatifs, politiques ou simples citoyens, appellent au boycott de produits au motif qu’ils sont kasher ou qu’ils proviennent d’Israël.

Je souhaite que le parquet fasse preuve de davantage de sévérité à ce sujet.

J’ai donc adressé une circulaire aux parquets généraux, leur demandant d’identifier et de signaler tous les actes de provocation à la discrimination.

J’entends que tous les auteurs d’actes soient poursuivis dès qu’ils auront été identifiés et notamment quand les appels auront été faits sur Internet.

A cet égard, je salue la détermination du parquet dans l’affaire de l’individu qui avait appelé au boycott de produits israéliens par voie d’affichettes dans un centre commercial de Mérignac.(1)

Ses réquisitions ont été suivies dans la condamnation prononcée par le tribunal correctionnel de Bordeaux le 10 février dernier.

L’action du parquet de Bordeaux illustre ma détermination dans la lutte contre l’antisémitisme. »

Vous pouvez lire ce discours en entier sur le site du CRIF du 19 février.

3 Foreigners Die in Cruise Liner Accident in Egypt

AL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) -- A luxury cruise liner carrying nearly 1,500 passengers slammed into the pier as it docked at an Egyptian Red Sea resort in fierce winds, leaving three crew members dead, officials said.

The ship's owner, Costa Crociera, said the vessel was damaged on the right side after it banged into the pier at about 4:45 a.m.

''We sadly have to confirm the deaths of 3 crew members,'' the company said in a statement. ''The ship is now safely docked in port.''

Other passengers were being put up in hotels and arrangements were being made to return them to their home countries, according to the company.

Witnesses said fierce winds had rocked the area overnight and the ship was slammed part way onto the pier. continued>>

Far from home; close to the heart in Iran

By HOWARD LEVINE
Special to the CJN

Published: Friday, February 26, 2010 1:10 AM EST

I recently had the opportunity to visit Tehran, Iran, as the guest of honor at a sinus surgery meeting. My itinerary allowed me a short but very memorable visit to Isfahan, an Iranian city of about 1.6 million people, all Muslim except for 6,000 Christians and 1,200 Jews.

In the past, the Jewish population of the region was quite large, making it a center for Jewish life. Notably, Isfahan is near the burial of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai of Purim fame.

My travel was filled with some anxiety since my stay coincided with “Student Day,” the anniversary of the Dec. 6, 1953, killing of three of University of Tehran students by the former Shah’s Iranian police. At that time, the students were protesting the visit of U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon. The observance while I was there sparked countrywide student demonstrations protesting the current government, largely in Isfahan.

 Howard Levine, left, befriended the couple who attended

the Sephardic synagogue in Iran’s former Jewish hub.

 On the way to Isfahan, my host asked if I would like to visit the “knesset.” When I gave a questioning look, he explained that, in Iran, that term meant “synagogue,” and then I remembered that while we think of Knesset as the Israeli Parliament, its literal Hebrew translation is “gathering place.”

 The synagogue caretaker greeted Howard Levine

in the Isfahan shul’s walled-off courtyard.

more>>

Venezuelan official disputes report on human rights abuses

February 25, 2010 -- Updated 2244 GMT (0644 HKT)

The report accuses the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of human rights abuses.

Venezuela's top human rights official on Thursday disputed findings of a report issued by an Organization of American States commission, and accused the panel of unfairly distorting statistics to show a pattern of political repression and abuses by the government.

The report, released Wednesday by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said Venezuela's government often intimidates or punishes citizens based on their political beliefs.

At a news conference in Caracas, Ombudswoman Gabriela Ramirez said the report "attempts, once again, to discredit and weaken the democratic institutions of the state," and accused the OAS of lacking impartiality, according to the official ABN news agency.

Ramirez accused the IACHR of taking some statistics out of context and using others selectively, which she said "takes away credibility and shows that bias of this organization," the news agency reported. continued>>

Staring down a paper tiger

Henry Norr* has a history lesson for Obama

---

With President Obama's Middle East peace plans so completely -- and humiliatingly -- shipwrecked on the rocks of Israeli intransigence, it's time for him to consider a new approach, at least if he's serious about his announced objectives. In the spirit of bipartisanship that he's so dedicated to, I suggest he look to the way Dwight Eisenhower handled a similar predicament a half-century ago.

First, a quick review of the goals Obama staked out last year and how much progress his efforts have produced. In his speech in Cairo last June, he noted that the Palestinian people have "for more than 60 years... endured the pain of dislocation" and "the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation." "Let there be no doubt," he proclaimed, "the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own." Israel, he went on, "must live up to its obligation to ensure that Palestinians can live and work and develop their society."

Specifically, on the key issue of Israeli colonisation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, he reaffirmed the policy Washington has subscribed to, at least on paper, since 1967: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop." continued>>

Jewish-themed events a big part of yearlong celebration

As part of the yearlong Shanghai Celebration, a number of Jewish-themed events are coming up. For more information about these events, and for further details about the full Shanghai Celebration, visit http://www.shanghaicelebration.com.

• “Jews in Modern China” runs now through May 16.

Photos and documents (including memorabilia from Bay Area families) depict the experiences of Sephardic, Russian and European Jews who settled in China over a 100-year period. Free. At the Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave., S.F. More information: (415) 777-3820 or info@shanghaicelebration.com.

An opening reception at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, will include a viewing of the exhibit and a discussion featuring professor Pan Guang of Shanghai’s Center for Jewish Studies. Sponsored by the San Francisco office of the American Jewish Committee and the Asia Society of Northern California. $50.

• “Shanghai’s Jews — Art, Architecture and Survival” on Thursday, March 4.

A discussion about the Jews in Shanghai will cover art, architecture, survival and other aspects of their experience. 7 p.m. at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission Street, S.F. $5 includes access to all galleries. More information: http://www.thecjm.org or (415) 655-7800.

• ”Remembering Rena” on March 7.

A program honoring the late Rena Krasno, a Shanghai-born Russian Jew who documented the Jewish experience in China. 2-4 p.m. at the Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave., S.F. Free. More information: http://www.ajcsanfrancisco.org/china or (415) 751-2535.

• “A Young Man in Shanghai: Troubles and Triumphs” on March 10.

Audrey Friedman Marcus discusses the Shanghai experiences of her late husband, Fred Marcus, whose diary was recently published. 7-9 p.m. at the Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave., S.F. Free. More information: http://www.ajcsanfrancisco.org/china or (415) 751-2535.

• ”Founders of the Shanghai Jewish Community: The Sephardic Story” on March 14.

Shanghai-born Leah Jacob Garrick discusses the history and legacy of Sephardic families who shaped Shanghai’s business world and architecture. 2 p.m. at the Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave., S.F. Free. More information: http://www.ajcsanfrancisco.org/china or (415) 751-2535.

Note: Another program led by Garrick (on the migration of Iraqi, Russian and European Jews to Shanghai from the 1840s to the 1930s) is slated for 6:30 p.m. April 15 at the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., S.F. Free with museum admission. More information: saa@asianart.org or (415) 581-3701.

• “Jews in Modern China: Personal Stories and Reminiscences” on March 21.

Bay Area residents, representative of the Jewish communities that settled in China, speak about living there. Presented by Lehrhaus Judaica and co-sponsored by the AJC San Francisco office. 7-9 p.m. at Congregation Netivot Shalom, 1316 University Ave., Berkeley. More information: http://www.lehrhaus.org or (510) 845-6420.

Note: Repeats 7-9 p.m. April 29 at the Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave., S.F.

• Three Jewish-oriented films have been included in the celebration’s “Shanghai Film Series.”

“The Port of Last Resort,” a tale of Jewish refugees in 1920s Shanghai, is told by former refugees and through rare home movies, newsreels and propaganda films. 79 minutes. May 2, 2:30 p.m.

“A Place to Save Your Life” is about Jews living in Japanese-occupied China. 52 minutes, in English. June 6 at 11 a.m.

“Shanghai Ghetto” a 95-minute documentary narrated by Martin Landau, with English subtitles. June 6 at 2 p.m.

All three will screen at the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., S.F. Free, as part of Target First Free Sunday promotion. More information: http://www.asianart.org or (415) 581-3500.

/u/41506

Interview with Jean Naggar, Sipping From The Nile

Before we begin our interview, Jean, I want to thank you. I have admired your work as a literary agent for years, and was thrilled to have met you in New York City. I felt as though I was meeting a superhero that I had long admired! Thank you for sharing your memoir with us. It was beautifully written and engaging. I could not put it down.

Interview questions for Jean Naggar, Sipping From The Nile:

Q. You have a long, very reputable career as a literary agent. What led you to put that aside (so to speak) and write your memoir?

I indeed founded JVNLA (the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc.) in 1978 and in fact did not curtail my activities as an agent during the years that I wrote and rewrote Sipping From The Nile. I had wanted to be a writer from an early age, but life and living took over and the desire simmered on a back-burner for many years. When I became a grandmother, I began to realize how very different my childhood had been from anything my grandchildren would know or could imagine, and I began to record for them, memories of a past I had closed off and of the people who filled my childhood and who still live in my heart, but whom they will never know. I wrote and revised and rewrote and cut and polished in stolen hours for several years. It was a labor of love, and very hard labor too. I am still very active in the literary agency, but no longer accept any new clients. Taking care of my client list takes a lot of time, but leaves me the time to think of writing more.

Q. Your family was built on traditions and your family experienced closeness with aunts, uncles, and cousins that is not seen very often here in America. Speaking generally, of course, how do you feel about the typical American family values, and how they differ from the family relationship and values that you were brought up with?

From what I have observed, I think that typical family values across cultural divides continue to place an emphasis on a moral compass, a good education, and a loving home climate. Where I see a difference in the ways that my children have grown up is in the sense of infinite possibility that surrounds them, and their unquestioning acceptance of freedom to explore beyond tradition and social demands. Families in America reflect the mosaic of their differences, but there is a sense throughout that many limits to achievement and success are self-imposed and are not a part of the social structure. more>>

Meurtre à Dubaï: l'Australie convoque l'ambassadeur d'Israël

Le chef du gouvernement australien, Kevin Rudd, a sérieusement averti Israël que l'Australie «ne resterait pas silencieuse sur le sujet».

Photo: AFP

L'Australie a haussé le ton et convoqué jeudi l'ambassadeur d'Israël pour qu'il explique comment trois passeports australiens ont pu être utilisés par des membres du groupe qui a tué un cadre du Hamas à Dubaï, assassinat dont la police locale accuse le Mossad, a annoncé mercredi le Premier ministre australien.

Le chef du gouvernement australien, Kevin Rudd, a sérieusement averti Israël que l'Australie «ne resterait pas silencieuse sur le sujet».

«Si des passeports australiens sont utilisés ou falsifiés par un quelconque État, surtout si c'est avec l'objectif d'assassiner, cela nous inquiète profondément et nous allons maintenant tirer les choses au clair», a déclaré Kevin Rudd sur les ondes de la radio ABC.  suite>>

Mosab Hassan Yousef: The Hamas prince who was spy for Israel

Haaretz

Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamsas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef (below), secretly worked to disrupt Hamas assassinations and suicide-bomb attempts for more than 10 years.

 

He was Israel's most valuable spy inside Hamas - and certainly the most unlikely.

For more than a decade, Mosab Hassan Yousef disrupted dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts by the militant group, saving hundreds of lives.

Infiltrating the upper echelons of Hamas came relatively easy for Yousef: He is the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef.

"So many people owe him their life and don't even know it," an Israeli security agent told the Israeli daily Haaretz on Wednesday.

"People who did a lot less were awarded the Israel Security Prize. He certainly deserves it."  continued>>

Is it really kosher to call Asians the "new Jews"?

The notion that Asians and Jews are two shoots from the same cultural rootstock is an old but evergreen meme.

You see it in fringe theories about the Lost Tribes of Israel -- there's an entire body of cryptoarchaeological canon that uses similarities between customs, language and naming convention to "prove" that the ancient vanished Jewish clans ended up in China, India or Japan. (Japan's 50,000-member Makuya sect, which has as its central dogma that the Japanese are descendants of a lost Jewish tribe, keep kosher, speak Hebrew and use the seven-armed menorah as their symbol.) 

You see it in more personal contexts as well, both casual and intimate: In tongue-in-cheek stand-up and sitcom references to the Jewish love of Chinese food, especially when eaten on Christmas. In wedding toasts at cross-cultural "Judasian" weddings, where the acknowledgment of Asian/Jewish similarity has become almost a traditional element.

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"Juif d'affirmation" ?

par Léon-Marc Levy

24.02.10
ed: l'auteur est juif séfarade

Cette chronique se situe dans le prolongement de celle de Louise Gaggini (*1) et après lecture des deux livres récents de Bernard-Henri Lévy (*2).

L'un des deux livres (très « buzz », bien sûr !) de BHL me pose un problème essentiel. Philosophiquement essentiel, qui relève de l'essence.

D'abord, je vous rassure : mon propos n'a rien à voir avec l'illustre J-B. Botul. BHL s'est planté avec ce canular. Il a réagi intelligemment en saluant les inventeurs de Botul. Affaire classée ! Il n'y a évidemment pas de quoi fouetter un chat et encore moins un philosophe, « nouveau » fût-il en son temps ! Au contraire, sur ce sujet, j'étais à deux doigts d'écrire une chronique pour prendre sa défense : le torrent d'attaques ignobles dont Bernard-Henri Lévy a été et est encore l'objet depuis quelques jours me soulève le cœur. « Libération » a dû clore les « réactions » de lecteurs tant les vannes de l'injure et de l'antisémitisme étaient largement ouvertes ! L'ordinaire quoi, les affaires courantes... navrant.


Non. Mon problème c'est un des deux livres qu'il vient de publier. Je suis courageux, je parle même du plus gros ! « Pièces d'identité ». Pour être encore plus précis, il s'agit de la partie (conséquente !) intitulée « Le Génie du Judaïsme ». Plus de deux cent cinquante pages tout de même ! Avec un titre alléchant, emprunté à Chateaubriand, véritable moment fondateur du Romantisme français.

Rien ne me gêne, bien au contraire, dans l'apologie de la richesse et de la profusion des grands textes sacrés ou profanes qui constituent le socle de la culture, voire de la civilisation, juive millénaire. BHL rappelle non seulement l'importance fondamentale de ces trésors mais surtout leur caractère universel et l'immense apport qu'ils constituent pour l'humanité toute entière. Il ne se contente pas d'en souligner l'importance intrinsèque, mais il déroule le fil du sens jusqu'à montrer comment ils sont en œuvre encore aujourd'hui dans la pensée, en particulier occidentale. Autre terrain sur lequel j'adhère sans hésitation au propos : le Judaïsme est une matrice constitutive de l'écriture, non pas au sens technologique, mais au sens sémantique et esthétique. L'analyse textuelle et la linguistique viennent en droite ligne de l'exégèse cabalistique. suite>>

Le foulard qui sème la zizanie à gauche

Si la religion est "l'opium du peuple", elle est aussi "le soupir des opprimés

Excusez un observateur extérieur, athée convaincu de surcroît, qui en lisant les récents commentaires de la presse française sur Ilhem Moussaid, la candidate du NPA à Avignon coiffée d'un foulard, a eu le sentiment qu'il y avait quelque chose de pourri dans la politique culturelle française. Reprenons.

A l'évidence, Ilhem est d'accord avec un programme qui défend l'avortement, la contraception, etc., c'est-à-dire le droit d'une femme à décider de sa vie en toute liberté. Mais elle n'a pas le droit de choisir ce qu'elle porte sur la tête. C'est très surprenant.

Aucun précepte coranique n'est en cause. Le Livre dit : "Qu'elles ramènent sur elles leurs voiles et dissimulent leur beauté." Un message coranique qui peut être interprété de différentes manières. D'ailleurs, il est contourné par les nombreuses Egyptiennes coiffées de foulards mais moulées dans des jeans que l'on croise au Caire. Ce sont les traditions patriarcales et culturelles qui sont en jeu, et elles varient d'une génération à l'autre. Rejeter les gens dans leur ghetto n'est d'aucun intérêt pour personne. suite sur Le Monde>>

Berlinale Won’t Pull Romanian Film Over Anti-Semitism Claims

The Berlin Film Festival is in the news here in Germany again. This time over another controversial film from Romania. The film, “Portrait of the Young Man as a Fighter,” depicts a group of anti-communist freedom fighters led by Ion Gavrila Ogoranu. The man, a kind of forgotten hero in Romanian society, is the subject of dispute actually. Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania says the main character, Ogoranu, was a fascist and anti-Semite.

The film, by 36-year-old Romanian director Constantin Popescu, reveals the story of one of a thousand groups of anti-communist freedom fighters who hid out in the remote Carpathian Mountains for over a decade. A little of the history of this situation is necessary to reveal the truth of this story actually.

Romania’s Long Wait for Deliverance - continued>>

What Often Happens To Israel's Critics I

excerpt from Andrew Sullivan's article:

I have worked undercover at both the Finsbury Park mosque and among neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers to expose the Jew-hatred there; when I went on the Islam Channel to challenge the anti-Semitism of Islamists, I received a rash of death threats calling me "a Jew-lover", "a Zionist-homo pig" and more.
Ah, but wait. I have also reported from Gaza and the West Bank. Last week, I wrote an article that described how untreated sewage was being pumped from illegal Israeli settlements on to Palestinian land, contaminating their reservoirs. This isn't controversial. It has been documented by Friends of the Earth, and I have seen it with my own eyes.
The response? There was little attempt to dispute the facts I offered. Instead, some of the most high profile "pro-Israel" writers and media monitoring groups – including Honest Reporting and Camera – said I an anti-Jewish bigot akin to Joseph Goebbels and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while Melanie Phillips even linked the stabbing of two Jewish people in North London to articles like mine. Vast numbers of e-mails came flooding in calling for me to be sacked. Read the whole article here>>

Israel PM 'signed off' on Dubai hit

Hamas officials said al-Mabhouh may have created a
 "security breach" that led to his death [Reuters]



Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, is alleged to have given the green light for last month's assassination of a senior Hamas figure, according to a British newspaper.
The Sunday Times, citing "sources with knowledge of Mossad", reported on Sunday thatNetanyahu visited the Israeli intelligence headquarters in early January and, after being brief, authorised the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.


A rehearsal of the operation, which reportedly involved at least 18 agents, was apparently carried out at a Tel Aviv hotel - without detection - prior to the briefing.
While the identity of the killers remains unknown, Dubai police have identified 11 members of the alleged hit team through immigration records and CCTV tapes. continued on alJazeera>>

DTC's 'Asher Lev' gives insight into artistry

A young man wearing a yarmulke but no shirt is on stage painting while the audience enters for The Delaware Theatre Company production of “My Name is Asher Lev.’The stage depicts an artist’s studio filled with paint spatters and stacked with canvases. None of the artwork is fully visible. The artist puts on his shirt and announces that his name is Asher Lev. In the very first moments, director Jeremy Skidmore has established the themes and challenges of the play that Aaron Posner has crafted from Chaim Potok’s famous novel about the conflicts of faith and art. The depictions of Hassidic Judaism as well as the tang of Yiddish phrases form a major part of the play. continued>>

Blast Targets Egyptian Synagogue

Egyptian officials say a man attempted to bomb a synagogue in the capital, Cairo, on Sunday. The device burned briefly, but no one was injured. Officials say the man had checked into a hotel across the street from the Jewish house of worship. He threw his suitcase at the synagogue from a hotel window. The suitcase contained several cans of gasoline, as well as his clothing.

Photo: AP

An Egyptian policeman orders media to leave the area in front of the Egyptian Jewish synagogue, Shaar Hashamayim, in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, 21 Feb. 2010

The synagogue is located on a downtown thoroughfare. The man fled the scene and police say they are searching for him. In 2009, a crude bomb exploded in a busy tourist area, killing a French tourist.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

City Winery: Purim - Bloody Esther! 2010 Hadassah Does Esther

February 27 - Tickets

Purim - Bloody Esther! 2010 Hadassah Does Esther

Join the members of Storahtelling and Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross for a night of biblical bloodlust, revelry and revenge. A radical retelling of the Esther Scroll.

March 3 - Tickets

Asaf Avidan (acoustic with Hadas Kleinman on cello)

The Israeli superstar plays City Winery for an intimate
solo acoustic set. Don't miss this show.

March 8 - 7:00pm Tickets

March 8 - 10:00pm Tickets

Idan Raichel

Glorious music and compelling performance from the popular Israeli world music star. Special Early and Late shows.

March 9 - Tickets

David Broza

Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt.
The legendary David Broza performs from his newest album. An essential show to witness the incredible talents of this national treasure.

March 25 7pm- Tickets

Downtown Seder

Michael Dorf's annual Seder brings together 25 artists, political figures, activists and comedians to offer a one-of-a-kind interpretation of the ancient Passover story. This Seder transcends the Jewish tradition and has many relevant and important messages for our society relating to the on-going struggles for freedom across the globe. This unique dinner has capacity for 250 guest and includes 4 glasses of wine.

March 14 - Tickets

Goddess Perlman and the Four Skins

Klezmer Brunch Comedy

Irreverent and entertaining comedic klezmer brunch from the Jewish Girls Gone Bad ringleader and friends. Yiddish Ditties and Guilty Pleasures.

June 20 - Tickets

Yale Strom and Hot Pstromi
Klezmer Brunch

A leading light of the Klezmer revival and a refreshing talent who has reinvented Gypsy and Jewish Traditions.