The Forward

Israel Launches Major Gaza Offensive

2008-12-27T15:06:00

Israel launched Saturday morning the start of a massive offensive against Qassam rocket and mortar fire on its southern communities, targeting dozens of buildings belonging to the ruling Hamas militant group. Palestinian medical sources said that at least 205 people had been killed in the strikes, which began with almost no warning at around 11:30 a.m. local time.

Months of Planning and Public Deception Preceded Gaza Strikes

2008-12-27T22:11:00

Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public — all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces “Cast Lead” operation against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which began Saturday morning.

Israel To Mobilize 6,500 Reservists for Gaza Operation

2008-12-28T09:54:00

The Israel Defense Forces will call 6,500 reservists to duty, as part of the largest Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip since it captured the territory in 1967. Defense officials said some reservists had already been mobilized to help in protecting communities on the Gaza border from retaliatory Palestinian rocket salvoes. New reservists would help complete the armed forces’ preparations for a possible escalation of the fighting, anofficial said.

Ailing Son of Slain Mumbai Emissaries Dies

2008-12-30T12:03:00

Dov Holtzberg, the 4-year-old son of Chabad emissaries Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, overnight of the genetic disease.

A Euphonic Union of Klezmer and Punk

2008-12-28T23:30:00

Scattered about T.T. the Bear’s, a hole-in-the-wall club in Cambridge, Mass., were plastic dreidels, bags of chocolate gelt and jelly-filled donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. It was a feeble attempt to play up the show’s Hanukkah theme, and as demonstrated by a performance by the band Golem that had the audience dancing a dervish-like hora, it was probably unnecessary.

Indie Rock of Ages

2008-12-29T13:06:00

Night falls on Hoboken and candles light for the sixth “8 Nights of Hannukah with Yo La Tengo” at Maxwell’s. Although the Hanukkiah is upfront and proud, this is no Matisyahu concert — not least because musician Ira Kaplan’s mom had to correct the arrangement of the lit candles. But musically too, these performers are, like their audience, secular and older.

In Gaza Campaign, Israel Seeks To Change the Rules of the Game

2008-12-29T19:14:00

The military problem facing Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the country’s military planners is twofold: how to stop the Qassam rockets and how to restore Israeli deterrence in the region after eight years of relative inactivity in the face of rocket attacks.

YouTube Yanks Israeli Army Videos

2008-12-30T16:21:00

YouTube has removed videos that the Israeli army posted as part of a public relations effort to rally world opinion behind its operation in Gaza. On December 29, the IDF began posting videos of its aerial strikes. The rationale was that it wanted to support the claim that it is not targeting civilians, but rather Hamas targets

P.A. Denies Border Crossing to Injured Gazans

2008-12-31T12:56:00

Wounded residents of Gaza have been withheld urgent medical treatment because the Palestinian Authority refuses to transfer them to Israeli hospitals, the Forward has learned. When doctors at Shifa Hospital in Gaza found out that requests to move five seriously ill patients to Israel had been refused, they presumed that Israeli officials were behind the decision.

YouTube Restores Israeli Army Videos

2008-12-31T15:57:00

YouTube has restored four videos posted by the Israeli army that were removed on December 31 following complaints filed by users of the video-sharing site.

Rabbi Arnold Wolf, 84, Was Progressive Leader

2008-12-31T17:37:00

Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, a prominent Chicago spiritual leader and rabbi emeritus of the Reform synagogue situated across the street from President-elect Barack Obama’s house, has died, apparently of a heart attack. He was 84.

Dovish Jewish Groups Break Ranks,

2008-12-31T17:39:00

Breaking ranks with most Jewish organizations, several dovish pro-Israel groups have come out against Israel’s military operation in Gaza and called on the United States to push for an immediate cease-fire.

Learning From Lebanon, Israel Sets Up

2008-12-31T17:40:00

Even as their surprise military campaign remained secret, Foreign Ministry officials scurried to put in place another dimension of modern warfare that they considered crucial to their success.

Charities Change Course After Madoff

2008-12-31T17:41:00

In the wake of the ever-widening Madoff scandal, prominent Jewish fundraising experts are calling for a return to the days when Jewish charities engaged the entire community — not just an elite group of mega-donors.

Israeli Martial Arts Gurus Duke It Out For Real

2008-12-31T17:42:00

When grandmaster Haim Gidon, a top-ranking practitioner of the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga, entered a studio in New Jersey on a recent Monday, the 20-odd people in the room stopped pummeling each other and lined up like soldiers standing at attention. Gidon was visiting from Israel to give them advanced training, and the students — who included law enforcement officers, military personnel and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter John Mayer — treated him like a commanding officer.

Transgender Jews Now Out of Closet, Seeking Communal Recognition

2008-12-31T17:43:00

When Elliot Kukla, a Reform rabbi, came out as transgender six months before his ordination in 2006, he never imagined how openly the Jewish community would be addressing transgender issues just three years later. This month, he is poised to address a West Coast regional conference of Reform rabbis on the subject, and even the elderly Jews that he works with in the Bay Area are largely accepting of his identity.

A Murder in Yemen Stirs a Tiny Remnant

2008-12-31T17:43:00

Unlike many of his more isolated countrymen, Moshe Yaish Nahari, a Yemeni Jew, spent years studying abroad, then returned to act as a leader of Yemen’s ancient but tiny Jewish community. Now, however, the recent murder of Nahari has thrown the fate of Yemen’s Jewish population into doubt.

As Bush Exits, Four High-Profile Felons Hope For Pardons

2008-12-31T17:44:00

Even the naughtiest Jews know the commandments against breaking the law. But for those who just couldn’t help themselves, the road to redemption — for the next three weeks, anyway — leads straight through the Oval Office.

Israel’s Stark Choice in Gaza:Cease-Fire or Regime Change?

2008-12-31T17:45:00

It was on the third and fourth days of its retaliatory air offensive in Gaza that the fork in the road for Israel became clear: another cease-fire agreement, or regime change.

Jan 9, 2009

2008-12-30T17:20:00

75 Years Ago in the Forward: In the most recent issue of Tsienist, the monthly journal of the Zionist organization in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Independent Jewish Club began a major advertising campaign calling for a mass meeting of Jews in order to combat prostitution.

Teen Lit Takes the Road Less Traveled

2008-12-30T17:21:00

For someone who’s recently written a novel about teenage Orthodox Jewish lesbians — it could even be called the definitive novel, since there isn’t exactly a surplus of teen Orthodox lesbian fiction floating around — Leanne Lieberman isn’t really the ideal spokeswoman for the “Orthodyke” community. As a matter of fact, she’s neither Orthodox nor gay… nor, actually, a teenager.

Living Like a Lord

2008-12-30T17:24:00

As the waters of the Sea of Galilee lapped at the foot of the back garden, I rocked gently in a hammock and pondered the possibilities. Should I stroll down to the beach, where the children played in the sand? Feed the carp in the fishpond, or curl up with a book in the Bedouin-style tent on the lawn? Head to the kitchen for a snack of cheeses from a local boutique dairy, along with a freshly ground cappuccino? Or merely roll over in my hammock, mesmerized by the peace and privacy of Villa Melchett, a luxurious estate with a history.

Sibling Act Steals the Show

2008-12-31T15:36:00

Among the standout acts at a December 23 “Storytelling” event, sponsored by Heeb magazine, was that of sibling comics Eliot and Ilana Glazer, who presented two case studies of their American Jewish grandparents.

Stamps of Approval

2008-12-31T15:37:00

Two Turkish diplomats who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust have been honored with commemorative stamps recently issued by Turkey’s postal system. Selâhattin Ülkümen (1914–2003), consul general of Turkey in Rhodes from 1943 to 1944, saved 42 Jewish families from deportation to concentration camps and was declared a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem in 1990. Necdet Kent (1911–2002), Turkey’s vice consul general in Marseille, France, from 1941 to 1944, gave Turkish citizenship to Jews living in France who faced deportation to concentration camps. In one incident, he boarded a train filled with Jews that was bound for Auschwitz, refusing to leave unless the Jews were also released. The two stamps were issued under the title “Precedent to Humanity.”

Hundreds of Little Dreidels

2008-12-31T15:38:00

It was the opposite of the “No Spin Zone.” On December 22, hundreds of southern California Hanukkah enthusiasts converged on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade in a mass attempt to break one of the few world records Michael Phelps left standing in 2008: the distinction of spinning the most dreidels simultaneously. Enlisted by Sha’arei Am — The Santa Monica Synagogue, the gathered group hoped to break the 541-dreidel mark established by Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, N.J., in 2005, and noted in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Martyrology

2008-12-31T15:42:00

A poem by Rabbi Jacob Staub, who is professor of Jewish philosophy and spirituality at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Art, Truth, Beauty in Schapiro’s Letters

2008-12-31T15:45:00

The much-beloved art historian Meyer Schapiro (1904–1996), born in Šiauliai, Lithuania, immigrated with his family to New York when he was a toddler. In his decades of varied research, on subjects from Romanesque art to Picasso, from Hiberno-Saxon illuminated manuscripts to Cézanne, Schapiro achieved an uncannily personalized view of each artist — and also captured his sense of each as a person.

The Return of Menachem Mendel

2008-12-31T15:48:00

In a period of economic hardship, such as the one our country has entered, I find myself turning to Sholom Aleichem for consolation. His characters, particularly Tevye the Dairyman and hapless stock investor Menachem Mendel, suffer serious financial losses in Sholom Aleichem’s stories. But the author responds to their condition with great humor, and provides readers with a sense that this, too — the losses and trials of hard times — will pass, although right now they have returned in new form.

Two Minority Reports From 1948

2008-12-31T15:57:00

For better or for worse, the shadows of 1948 still hang over half the world as reminders of what was and harbingers of what will be, but these shadows are always half-glimpsed. Two recently published translations of memoirs by legendary Israeli political figures solidify some of the shadows for English speakers.

Painter of the Caribbean

2008-12-31T15:59:00

Jewish families who trace their roots back to England, Spain, Portugal and beyond have distinguished themselves for generations as merchants and financiers in the Caribbean. Reminders of the contributions they have made to the varied cultures and societies of the region can be found in the graveyards and in postcolonial, national archives of what are now its many small, independent countries.

Un Ladino, Dos Ladino, Tres Ladino, Cuatru

2008-12-31T15:44:00

A reader who prefers that his name not be published writes: “I am trying to learn how to count to ten in Ladino. I found a list of the written words, but with no pronunciation guide. Also, this written list appears to be inconsistent with some pronunciations that my young son came home with in a song he learned. Can you help me?”

January 9, 2009

2008-12-31T17:06:00

Warren Pick Doesn’t Speak to This American: Would you explain again how honoring Rick Warren at Barack Obama’s inauguration is, as your editorial put it, “speaking to all Americans” (“Praying With Rev. Warren,” January 2)? For whom will he be praying? And what will he pray for — our conversion?

Changing the Game, or More of the Same?

2008-12-31T17:28:00

Here’s the context: A few days after the Thanksgiving holiday, at a party he attended reluctantly, he met and chatted up a young woman. Somewhat to his surprise, she gave him her phone number. A few days later, he called her and arranged a dinner date for December 28. Having asked around about her, he’d learned, among other things, that she was an ardent Zionist. Determined to make a terrific impression, he figured he’d best bone up on Israel, about which he knew virtually nothing. So he started following news reports, of which there were quite a few.

Holding Hamas Accountable

2008-12-31T17:34:00

Operation Cast Lead, initiated in response to resumed Hamas rocket attacks on communities in southern Israel, represents Israel’s most furious attack on Hamas since the terrorist group assumed control of Gaza. For the past six months, an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire maintained an uneasy status quo, during which time Hamas smuggled some 80 tons of explosives, roadside bombs and longer-range rockets into Gaza. While Israel’s military operation may succeed in weakening the heavily armed Islamist group, the Gaza crisis also highlights a vexing challenge awaiting the new Obama administration: the question of how to deal with Hamas.

A Danger Greater Than Denial

2008-12-31T17:35:00

The news that Herman Rosenblat’s Holocaust memoir “Angel at the Fence” is a fraud has the press buzzing and the publishing world reeling. The book, which the publisher apparently anticipated would be a best-seller, was pulled right before it was to be shipped to bookstores. No one who has paid close attention to the story, however, has a right to be surprised.

On Gaza, Sense and Centrism

2008-12-31T17:36:00

Wars sicken me, even wars that I support. I support Israel’s offensive in Gaza, but watching it on TV — the images of bombed-out buildings, crying women and, inevitably, the bodies of innocent bystanders — is a painful experience.

Obama’s Gaza Opportunity

2008-12-31T17:36:00

When Israel unleashed its warplanes on Gaza on December 27, a collective gasp could be heard around the globe. The sudden fury of the bombardment brought visions of another Lebanon-style debacle: neighborhoods in rubble, mass civilian deaths, angry mobs surrounding Western embassies, furious diplomatic brinkmanship leading to a humiliating Israeli withdrawal.