Новости за 01.07.2016

The fight over Israel in the Democratic party platform has just about been settled, according to a full, two-paragraph section of the draft version of the platform, which Tablet has seen, and Foreign Policy, which also obtained a section of the platform text relating to the party’s stance on Israel.

Brooklyn’s Nostrand Avenue, one of the boroughs most alluring and vibrant mishmashes of Jewish and West Indian cultures, is an American gem. Along the packed Crown Heights thoroughfare, one can see (among a zillion other confluences of culture), Hasids hurrying by Caribbean restaurants, while a mouthwatering scent of Thai-style fried fish mingles with the Dominican-style pork next door; elsewhere, colorful murals adorn more than a few walls, and church-fronts blare soul music from shabby little radios. Читать дальше...

In May, I wrote about my favorite anti-Semitic song, which led some readers to understandably inquire: enough with the anti-Semites—what about your favorite Jewish songs?

The best new thing that has emerged from the political campaign is a novel way of displaying the flag, not as a lonely drooping banner but as a giant bouquet of innumerable flags spread across the stage, colors ablaze—the stars-and-stripes as a garden landscape, a shimmery ocean, a harvest glory, a voluptuous sunset. Was it Donald Trump who popularized these over-the-top displays? Possibly it was. He has the con-man’s knack for theatrics. But Hillary Clinton, too, has taken to standing in front of star-spangled multi-flag extravaganzas. Читать дальше...

The best new thing that has emerged from the political campaign is a novel way of displaying the flag, not as a lonely drooping banner but as a giant bouquet of innumerable flags spread across the stage, colors ablaze—the stars-and-stripes as a garden landscape, a shimmery ocean, a harvest glory, a voluptuous sunset. Was it Donald Trump who popularized these over-the-top displays? Possibly it was. He has the con-man’s knack for theatrics. But Hillary Clinton, too, has taken to standing in front of star-spangled multi-flag extravaganzas. Читать дальше...

At 5’6′, 150 lbs, Akiva Neuman is no NFL linebacker. But on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior course, it ain’t about size; it’s about agility, strength, and heart. Oh, and maybe a little bit of showboating and celebration—it is television, of course.

If, like those of us who’ve made terrible life choices, you end up a professional comedy writer, you know that humor rarely translates well into other languages and cultures. What’s hilarious to a Swede may not amuse a Turk, and what’s funny to a German, well, probably isn’t funny at all.

In 1961 the eminent Muslim scholar Muhammad Asad, then living in Europe, published The Principles of State and Government in Islam. The central question posed in that book is whether Islam is opposed to the mixing of religion and politics—as is the modern West. Though Asad’s answers to this question are subtle and non-categorical, his overall conclusion is that in majority-Muslim states a mixture of politics and religion is necessary. Society must bind itself to the will of God, Asad stated, and... Читать дальше...

July 4th marks the 40th anniversary of the famed rescue at Entebbe, in which Israeli commandos flew 2,000 miles into the heart of Africa to bring home over 100 Jewish hostages whose Air France flight had been hijacked to Uganda by Palestinian and German terrorists, abetted by Ugandan strongman Idi Amin.