Новости за 06.11.2015

If supporters and opponents of the ordination of Orthodox female rabbis can agree about anything, it’s that last week’s resolution by the Rabbinical Council of America was a huge waste of time.

I’ve been gripped by a deep shopping dilemma of late: I keep obsessing over whether or not I should buy a midi skirt. I’m attracted to the au courant 1970’s vibe that’s everywhere this season, and I like the idea of not only playing with the unexpected shape and length of a skirt, but also owning one that won’t make me worry I’m unprofessionally flashing my underpants every time I cross and uncross my legs. And yet every time I try one on, I squint at the way it hits me at exactly mid-calf. And... Читать дальше...

Five years ago, the Maccabeats catapulted to stardom on the heels of their viral Hanukkah music video, “Candlelight,” which now has more than 10 million views on YouTube. Next week, the group will be releasing their first Hanukkah album, featuring seven new tracks—and we have one of them. It’s an original bluegrass-inflected composition for “Hanerot Hallalu” (“These Candles”), the traditional prayer said over the lit Hanukkah menorah.

On Wednesday, Riyad Mansour, the official Palestinian representative at the United Nations, falsely accused Israel of stealing organs from the bodies of Palestinian terrorists. The claim echoed the anti-Semitic blood libel of the Middle Ages, which charged Jews with murdering gentile children to use their blood for Passover matzoh. But you won’t hear much about this egregious anti-Semitic outburst in the media. That’s because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again commandeered... Читать дальше...

I have this idea—it’s my mission, in fact—about Jews of color becoming an integral part in Jewish conversations to the point where we have equal representation at the table of “mainstream” American Judaism. I believe that in order for this to happen, we first need to be recognized as a unique facet of the Jewish picture. That is, we need statistics about Jewish diversity in Jewish identity as a whole, beyond denomination and retention rates, for example. What we need is deep, data-driven information... Читать дальше...

Ayelet Shaked is an anomaly in Israeli politics. She’s a successful female politician in a landscape governed almost entirely by the male graduates of the Israel Defense Forces’ elite units. She’s a secular woman who had ascended the ranks of a religious party. And she’s a computer programmer who found herself, after a brief and meteoric rise, as Israel’s minister of justice.

Bruce Jay Friedman has been a stalwart of American Jewish fiction for 50 years, ever since the publication of his debut novel Stern in 1962. Now 85 years old, he has written 19 books and several hit screenplays, including Stir Crazy and Splash. His work helped to create what we now think of as the voice of Jewish comedy—zany yet bleakly ironic, knowingly self-deprecating. Yet he has never enjoyed the commanding fame of a Philip Roth or a Neil Simon; and the Friedman-like characters we meet in his new book of short stories... Читать дальше...

Israeli expat Yael Raviv argues in her new book Falafel Nation that food has been an Israeli “marketing tool” since the initial wave of Zionist pioneers arrived more than a century ago. As Raviv illustrates with old postcards and other ephemera, members of that “First Aliyah” grew such “fruits of the land” as grapes and olives to forge “a more direct and powerful link with the land of Israel,” by literally putting down roots.

On Thursday, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) unanimously approved the Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-comforming People at its Biennial meeting in Orlando, FL. The declaration follows a history of URJ support for minorities, women, and the gay and lesbian community, including a 1977 resolution that recognizes “the rights of homosexuals.” From 1987-1997, the URJ has passed six related resolutions. According to Reuters, more than 1.5 million North American Jews affiliate with the organization... Читать дальше...