Syndication
Shimon Peres
The Country So Nice That Bush Wants To Visit Twice?
About to make the first visit of his presidency to Israel, Presdient Bush reportedly is already planning a second trip to the Jewish state.
Ha’aretz reports that Bush plans to visit again in May for a convention Israeli President Shimon Peres will hold to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state.
Madonna Hearts Shimon
Madonna dropped in on Israel’s president Shimon Peres this weekend amid her latest celebrity-packed Kabbalah conclave in the holy land.
Y-Net reports that she presented Peres with a copy of the “Book of Splendor” (i.e. the Zohar) with the dedication: “To Shimon Peres, the man I admire and love, Madonna.”
The Material Girl also proclaimed herself an “ambassador for Judaism” and beseeched Israel’s president: “Tell me what I should do, Mr Peres, because I am in love with Israel.”
Perhaps Peres could ask her to bottle her enthusiasm and give a little of it to young American Jews. Then again, cults and enthusiasm do tend to go hand in hand.
Jewlicious blogger and Hasidic rapper Y-Love, for one, thinks Paula Abdul would make a better ambassador.
Dude, Where’s Shimon Peres, and Other Celebrity Kabbalah News
The Jerusalem Post reports (following up on an article in Yediot Aharonot) that a bevy of celebrities is headed for Israel for Rosh Hashanah. They’re all stars smitten by the voodoo that Kabbalah Centre does so well: Madonna, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Donna Karan.
The Post’s best tidbit, however, is the following:
Kutcher, best known for his work on That ’70s Show and MTV reality program Punk’d, had an even more direct encounter with the Israeli government last October, meeting with Shimon Peres briefly in Berlin.
In town to promote his latest movie, the Dude, Where’s My Car? star put in a hasty request for a meeting with Peres after learning that he, too, was in the German capital on business.
At their meeting, Peres fielded questions from Kutcher about Israel’s security situation, with Kutcher ending the conversation with a pledge to visit Israel someday with his wife.
Dude, didn’t Peres have anything better to do?
UPDATE: Reader “Harry” helpfully notes that the Post got some key details about the Kutcher-Peres pow-wow wrong. (See his comment to this post.) It turns out that Peres was also meeting with Kevin Costner, who, having starred in “Field of Dreams” and “Dances With Wolves,” undeniably has gravitas. (The Forward’s earlier account of the Kutcher-Costner-Peres meeting is here.)
Editors Come and Go, but Peres Keeps on Running
By now you may have heard … I am leaving the Forward next month to become the managing editor of JTA.
This isn’t the time for any long goodbyes. I just wanted to say this: When I started working here nearly seven years ago, Reform Jews didn’t spend their conferences davening and trying on tefillin, Conservative rabbis were supposed to be straight and didn’t perform gay marriages, and Joe Lieberman was still a Democrat.
But some things never change: Shimon Peres was and is running for president.
