Новости за 06.01.2016

Last night, I watched a movie. It was intense. A handful of characters, very few of them likable, are forced to put up with each other and spend their days discussing lofty things like destiny and justice all while eyeing each other’s backs, looking for a good spot to stick the dagger. I’m not talking about Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight; I’m talking about Frontline’s The Hateful Eight Years. OK, so the movie was really called Netanyahu at War, but don’t let the thin grey mist of public television dullness fool you... Читать дальше...

Israel has long been a force to be reckoned with in the world of competitive debating. At last year’s European Championship in Vienna, debaters from Tel Aviv University were declared victors in the English as a Second Language (ESL) category, while another Tel Aviv team reached the Open Final against native Anglophones from Scotland and Ireland. Last week, during the 2016 World University Debating Championship in Thessaloniki, Greece, members of the Israeli Debating League progressed deeper into... Читать дальше...

As a rule, every racehorse in America had a birthday last Friday, New Year’s Day. The best in the land, American Pharoah, turned four, but his racing career is finished. It was short and spectacular, over in fewer than 15 months. We got to see him in 11 races. He lost twice. In 2015, the bay colt earned $8,288,800, a single-season record as he became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since 1978. Ahmed Zayat, his Egyptian-American Orthodox-Jewish owner, finished the year as the leading owner ranked by earnings. Читать дальше...

Last month, a remarkable moment took place in Boston that was largely lost in the holiday hiatus. In the wake of presidential contender Donald Trump’s incendiary call to halt Muslim immigration to the United States, Ralph Gants, the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, was asked to address the largest mosque in New England, the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. In his speech, which took place on December 18, Gants drew on his legal expertise and Jewish heritage to assure... Читать дальше...

To kvetch is as Jewish as guilt-tripping, gefilte fish, and gloom. But the ne plus ultra of Jewish is angst—that sense of dread and foreboding that keeps whispering: “The universe is out to get you.”

Many are the tender moments that shape a young person’s life: that first sweet kiss, that first bitter heartbreak, one’s first time in a  small, airless classroom answering silly questions about Sophocles’ Antigone, wishing ill on just about everyone in Thebes.

In 2008, at the age of 23, Luzer Twersky left his wife, his children, and the Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, to try to make a new life for himself. He was tired of pretending to feel and believe things he no longer felt or believed. Since then, Twersky has gone on to become […]

In 2008, at the age of 23, Luzer Twersky left his wife, his children, and the Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, to try to make a new life for himself. He was tired of pretending to feel and believe things he no longer felt or believed. Since then, Twersky has gone on to become an actor; he now lives in Los Angeles, and has a leading part in Felix and Meira, Canada’s submission for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, as well as a small part in the second season of the Amazon TV series Transparent. Читать дальше...

On Tuesday French President Francois Hollande and other dignitaries honored the victims of the Hyper Cacher terrorist attacks by unveiling commemorative plaques at the kosher supermarket and at the old offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine. It has been nearly one year since 17 people were killed by Islamic extremists over a three-day rampage, including four people inside the kosher supermarket, 12 Charlie Hebdo staffers at the magazine’s headquarters, and Ahmed Merabet, a 40-year-old... Читать дальше...

On Monday California Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) introduced a bill (AB-1552) that, if adopted, would prohibit state-run government entities from doing business with companies that engage in boycotts with a “person or entity…based on the race, color, religion, gender, or nationality.” The BDS movement, said Allen, “use(s) false, demonizing, and delegitimizing propaganda against the State of Israel.”