Dear Reader,
The newest thing on our website is a passionate essay on the homepage by Gary Rosenblatt, our editor and publisher, who has always defended the Times' coverage of Israel -- with some qualifications. Now he's not so sure, and he lays out in his article his reasons. They are many.
OPINION
False Equivalency
The New York Times’ parallels of Israeli and Arab behavior are forced, and inaccurate.
Gary Rosenblatt
The New York Times building. Wikimedia Commons
I’ve long been a defender of The New York Times’ Mideast coverage, arguing that for all of its flaws on occasion, there is no consistent, inherent bias against Israel.
But I’m having second thoughts these days, based on the coverage of the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Case in point: an Editorial on Monday, “Four Horrific Killings,” and news report on Tuesday, “Israel Warns Gaza Targets by Phone and Leaflet,” both of which seem to me guilty of striving so hard for symmetry to the point of ignoring or playing loose with some basic facts about how the Palestinians and Israelis wage war.
One might think that a story on how Israel seeks to warn civilians in Gaza of impending attacks via cellphone calls and leaflets in Arabic would be portrayed as a humanitarian effort. Yet the Israeli policy of giving advance word to occupants that the building they are in is going to be bombed is described as “contentious.” To whom? I wondered. The Times cites “groups like Human Rights Watch,” which assert that such warnings “do not absolve the armed forces” of ensuring that “the warnings are effective.”
In the specific incident cited, Israel called the cellphone of someone in a house in Gaza that the air force was about to bomb, saying everyone must leave in five minutes. According to a survivor of the attack, as the occupants were fleeing, “our neighbors came in to form a human shield.” (This was after an Israeli drone fired a flare at the roof of the house, a common practice the Israelis call “the knock on the roof” to make sure people leave.)
As a result, the house was not abandoned and seven people died when the bomb hit. Israeli officials said they had done their best to convince the occupants to get out and that houses that are targeted belong to Hamas members who use them to plan military actions.
Israel contends that terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah deliberately operate in civilian areas, often schools or hospitals, hoping that Israel either will not attack so as to avoid shedding innocent blood, or will be condemned by the international community for the use of disproportionate force when such unintended tragedies take place.
(One of the serious flaws of the infamous Goldstone Report to the United Nations after the 2009 round of fighting between Israel and Hamas was that it refused to deal with the fact that the Arab militants wear civilian clothes and operate in civilian neighborhoods to cynically exploit the Israel Defense Force’s ethical code of avoiding innocent deaths whenever possible.)
The Times article also stated that “Israel does not always give warnings, of course.” It noted that an Israeli missile hit a car in Gaza, killing its three occupants, one of whom “was reportedly a senior Hamas military official, Muhammad Shaban, and it seemed unlikely that anyone had called them to warn that a missile was on the way.”
Is warning your enemy the standard procedure called for in warfare against leaders of an acknowledged terror group? More to the point, is any other country, including our own, expected to act this way?
The editorial the day before, on the tragic killings of the three Israeli teenagers followed by the murder, presumably by Jews, of a Palestinian youngster, calls upon “leaders on both sides to try and calm the volatile emotions that once again threaten both peoples.”
The Times writes that “after the attack on the Israeli teenagers, some Israelis gave in to their worst prejudices,” and points out that “hundreds of extreme right-wing protesters” chanted “Death to Arabs,” a “Facebook page named `People of Israel Demand Revenge’ gathered 35,000 `likes’ before being taken down,” and “a blogger gave prominence to a photo, also on Facebook, that featured a sign saying: ‘Hating Arabs is not racism, it’s values.’”
The Times acknowledges, in a phrase, that “Palestinians have been fully guilty of hateful speech against Jews.” But it does not point out that Israeli officials publicly and regularly speak out against racial prejudice while ongoing incitement against Jews as evil baby-killers is supported, if not promoted, almost daily by the Palestinian government, which glorifies suicide bombers as “martyrs” and teaches children that Jews are sub-human.
Finally, the editorial reports that both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas denounced the murders. But it does not mention that Abbas is now partners in a unity government with Hamas, whose charter is to destroy the Jewish state and kill Jews, and currently trying to do so through hundreds of daily rocket attacks against the Israeli population.
Without leaflets, phone calls or other advance notice.
gary@jewishweek.org
-------
We're also offering you nuanced and varied coverage of the conflict in Israel. Check our page for a mixture of breaking wire service news, analysis and special angles you won't find anywhere else, like Stuart Ain's piece about the teens who got stuck at JFK because Hamas was targeting Ben Gurion.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/
-------
ISRAEL NEWS
With Teens At JFK, BBYO Cancels Trips To Israel
Stewart Ain
Staff Writer
Two groups of teenagers were at John F. Kennedy Airport Tuesday preparing to board a flight to Israel on a BBYO-organized tour when the organization decided at the last moment to delay the trips because of the rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip, The Jewish Week has learned.
Carly Lundy Schacknies, BBYO’s marketing and communications manager, confirmed the postponement of the two trips — a 21-day tour and a 28-day tour — for youngsters in the ninth through 12th grades.
“We worked with them and their families to provide overnight accommodations at hotels,” Schacknies said. “They were all chaperoned and supervised. They now have the option of choosing another trip domestically or in Europe. We provide trips to 15 countries around the world, so there are other options for them to provide a meaningful experience even if they can’t unfortunately be in Israel.”
She said BBYO has other groups of teens already in Israel and that the organization’s “overriding primary concern is the safety, security and comfort of our teens and their parents. We are working closely with Israeli security on the ground to help plot our itinerary and ensure that it is as nimble as possible. At this time, their itinerary is relatively uninterrupted.”
On its BBYOPassbook Facebook page, the group wrote: “During this difficult period, our groups are staying together and united. Their ongoing safety remains our over-riding concern. If you are the parent of a teen in Israel now, update messages were sent earlier this evening and additional updates will follow.”
Schacknies noted that BBYO would be “working with our families to figure out the financial considerations” as a result of the changes.”
Meanwhile, Taglit-Birthright Israel posted a notice on its website Wednesday that said the organization was “monitoring closely the situation” and that “the safety and well-being of participants [in Israel] is our ‘primary’ concern.”
“At this point, none of the current 3,500-plus participants in Israel have left trips earlier than planned,” it said. “Monitoring closely the situation, we constantly implement the most stringent and comprehensive security measures, far exceeding that of the Israel Security Authority guidelines. We have a well-deserved reputation for being cautious and conservative, a reputation that we have earned in the 14 years of our program and take [it] extremely seriously. No effort or expense is spared as it relates to the security of our participants.”
It added that all Birthright participants have been asked to call home within the next 24 hours.
-------
And one of our more touching stories on Israel is one that you wouldn't expect. On our Food & Wine page you'll find All The Gingerladies from food writer Amy Spiro. Amy made aliyah several years ago, and she is doing her thing in the face of fear, with no fanfare. This recipe, a witty redesign of the gingerbread man as blingy brides for summer's wedding season, is something small, and a symbol of something very great.
All The Gingerladies
Whip up a batch of 'gingerbrides' for your favorite bride.
Most craft or baking stores will sell a 'female' gingerbread man cookie cutter, and from then on it's simple to turn them into gingerbrides with the help of a little frosting. You can use the recipe I provide or pick up "cookie icing" at most supermarkets. Make sure to buy the icing designed for cookies; it will usually say that it dries hard or "sets up."
I also put some sparkly sprinkles at a local craft store to add a little "bling" to my wedding dresses, but of courser you can decorate them any way you see fit.
Amy Spiro is a journalist and writer based in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute's baking and pastry track, a regular writer for The Jerusalem Post and blogs at bakingandmistaking.com. She also holds a BA in Journalism and Politics from NYU.
Hide Servings & Times
Yield:
Makes about 4 dozen cookies
Active Time:
15 min
Total Time:
1 hr
Hide Ingredients
Special Equipment Needed:
Gingerlady cookie cutter
6 tablespoons (3/4 cup) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Hide Steps
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses. Mix in the vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
Divide the dough in two and wrap discs in plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or up to 8.
Roll out dough on a well floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes, and place on a greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake on 375 F for 9 to 10 minutes. With a metal spatula, remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack. Decorate with royal icing.
Hide Sub Recipe(s)
To make the royal icing, beat 3 egg whites and 3 tablespoons lemon juice together. Gradually add 4 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted, to the egg white and lemon mixture on low speed until smooth. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate, or it will harden.
-------
Shabbat Shalom, Amy.
Best,
Helen Chernikoff
Web Director
The Arts
Nat Hentoff, Pleasures Of A Soloist
Documentary visits a life in jazz (and the 'Yiddish blues'), out of step. by Jonathan Mark, Associate Editor
Back in the days when the Village Voice was a must-read paper, “it always made me think of [a] great bar in the Village, and everybody’s … talking about everything under the sun,” recalled Karen Durbin, one of the former editors. “And sometimes an argument” would break out “and sometimes a chorus. You want that conversation at that bar or you’re just a bunch of boring drunks.” One of those at the old Voice who, for more than 50 years, was never boring or afraid of an argument was Nat Hentoff, 89.The brilliant jazz writer and the columnist-guardian of the First Amendment (“the Constitution and jazz are my main reasons for being”) is the subject of David Lewis’ new documentary, “The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes On The Life of Nat Hentoff” (in which Durbin was doing her remembering).
In the era of LPs and record stores, when liner notes on the back of albums were an art form, Hentoff wrote liner notes almost as long and as often as he wrote columns, for albums ranging from Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin’ to recordings by John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Charles Mingus. Hentoff’s wife Margot remembers, his liner notes “were so romantic,” and one didn’t have to be married to Hentoff to think so.
For example, Billie Holiday and Lester Young had a musical connection so transcendent, and a relationship so smokey, that many believed they must have been lovers, or should have been if they weren’t. We see a clip of Holiday and Young, who grew ever distant with the years, performing “Fine and Mellow” on “The Sound of Jazz,” a CBS program in 1957 for which Hentoff was executive producer. Hentoff wrote, “Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard, and [he and Holiday] were looking at each other, their eyes were sort of interlocked, and she was sort of nodding and half smiling. It was as if they were both remembering what had been — whatever that was. And in the control room we were all crying. When the show was over, they went their separate ways.”
It was romantic until it wasn’t. Hentoff was fired in December 2008 after a half-century at the Voice, in no small measure for being “out of step” on topics ranging from abortion (he was against it, just as he was against the death penalty and almost all wars) to President Obama (“possibly the most dangerous and destructive president we have ever had”) to AIDS (“his first reaction to AIDS was not good,” said Durbin). That we’re not even told what Hentoff’s position on AIDS was, just that it was “not good,” reflects the onset of a politically correct time when, in the church of the Voice, to disagree was to be damned. “Nat and I became enemies,” said Durbin. “It was too painful, because neither of us was going to say, ‘Gee, I’m really sorry.’”
His firing was an ironic end for a columnist who defended the free expression and First Amendment rights of everyone else, from Malcolm X to Lenny Bruce to the right of Nazis to march through a Jewish neighborhood, although Hentoff was painfully conscious of anti-Semitism, even in liberal New York. As Hentoff wrote in the Voice, “If a loudspeaker goes off and a voice says, ‘All Jews gather in Times Square,’ it could never surprise me.”
Tony Ortega, the Voice editor (2007-12) who pink-slipped Hentoff, praises him, while skirting the controversies: “[When] Nat began his column … what Nat did that I don’t think anyone was doing at that time, is he would take a look at what the dailies were writing and comment on it. He was one of several people that invented that role of being an alternative to the daily newspapers, and that’s really what an alternative weekly is.” But by 2008, Ortega explains, “I had four columns and I knew that I could only afford two. Another editor might have chosen differently, but I felt I was choosing for where the Voice was going in the future.”
Perhaps it’s best to go back to the beginning, when Hentoff was the one you wanted to sit next to when the nights were good and the conversations even better.
The film opens with the arm of a record player, its stylus slowly lowered onto a jazz LP, softly scratched. “Certainly, anybody interested in the music, knew the name Nat Hentoff,” said the poet and jazz writer Amir Baraka (LeRoi Jones). At one point in the film Baraka tells of going to the Village Vanguard one night, “and I said to Miles, “Mr. Davis, I’d like to interview you.” Davis said no. Baraka said, “I betcha if I was Nat Hentoff you would do it.”
We see Lenny Bruce, on stage: “This is a newspaper I’m reading. It’s brilliant. It’s called the Village Voice. And actually this is a brilliant newspaper. It’s published in the Village and it has a brilliant editorial staff, plus some very erudite contributors. Let’s see, we’ve got Nat Hentoff, his subject is jazz. He knows about it…”
For an atheist, his journey to jazz began in shul. Hentoff tells the camera, “The cantor was a basic part of the whole religious experience there. And they sang what is called melismatically. That is, they often would take one syllable and use a number of notes on it, and they often improvised with melodies called nigguns. It was so powerful, so viscerally powerful, I still have a big collection of Jewish cantorial singers. Later on I told my friend Charles Mingus, the jazz creator … ‘I’ve got to play you some of this ‘cuz this is Yiddish blues.’ That started what I look for in all music. What most moves me is what in Yiddish is called the krechts, the cry. That’s what you have in all of jazz, one way or another. It makes you sit up and sometimes get up and shout.”
One day, walking in his hometown of Boston, he heard music coming out of a record store, music “that hit me like a chazzan swinging. I was so excited that I yelled in pleasure, which you didn’t do in Boston in those days. I rushed into the store… what was that? That was Artie Shaw’s ‘Nightmare.’”
Boston, he remembers, was “the most anti-Semitic city in the country,” and once when he was surrounded a gang who asked if he was Jewish, he denied it. “My pride was broken.” He never denied it again.
There are two Jewish covenants, one of faith, one of common fate, and while Hentoff doubted the first he embraced the second. In the 1930s, he would “knock on the doors of our neighbors … to ask for donations to plant trees” in pre-state Israel, believing that there needed to be “a safe homeland there for the people chosen to be the objects of the oldest continuing bigotry on earth.” Today, “I let myself dream that I might have had something to do with one or more of the trees in Itamar,” the settlement where the Fogel family was killed in a brazen terrorist attack.
Hentoff was often more complex than his enemies supposed. He opposed abortion, and yet early in their marriage, Hentoff’s wife went to Cuba — during the revolution, no less — to get an abortion. Looking back, Hentoff says, “What [was] I going to do, tell her not to? This is not a patriarchal household that I’m part of. I’m incapable of that…”
He was one of those writers that many readers, and the people he wrote about, thought of as a friend. Mingus, who died in 1979, says in an old clip, Hentoff was “a very sensitive cat … one of the few white guys you could really talk to in your life. Afterwards, you get in the habit of writing to him from time to time, when you’re feeling the pain in the middle of the night, and the larger questions that seem to have no answers loom up before your eyes. But Hentoff always digs the meaning of the question, and replies, all in caps on yellow paper, like a story off the wires.”
“The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes on the Life of Nat Hentoff,” is playing at IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave., near West Third Street, (212) 924-7771.
THE POLITICAL INSIDER | THE ROSENBLOG | THE NEW NORMAL | A COMIC'S JOURNEY | WELL VERSED
THE NEW NORMAL
The "Ordinary Man" From The Tribe Of Dan: Inspired By Torah Portion Pinchas by Rabbi Michael Levy
Part One
Rabbi Michael Levy
Place: Hebron, Israel
Poor Dan!
Eleven of Jacob’s twelve sons had two or more children. Benjamin had ten!
The twelfth son, Dan, had one son, Chushim, who was deaf. Like many parents today, Dan might have worried, “What will be the future of my disabled child?”
The phrase “special needs child” hadn’t been invented yet. On his own, Chushim, trying to be ordinary, would communicate “What’s going on?” when he didn’t understand a situation.
When Chushim’s esteemed grandfather Jacob passed away. Jacob’s brother Esau, that old troublemaker, claimed that he had first rights to the single gravesite remaining in Machpelah, the ancestral burial site. Chushim’s uncle Naftali was sent off to find the appropriate legal documents.
Chushim inquired about the delay in Jacob’s burial. When he was told about Esau’s interference, his solution was a bit drastic. He beheaded Esau.
Nobody was terribly distressed or displeased. Apparently, Esau had it coming to him.
Father Dan was in a fix. His only son was deaf, and possessed, shall we say, a bit of a temper. “Oy, NOW what will happen to my disabled child?”
Part Two
Time: 2,488 on the Jewish calendar
Place: The Plains of Moab, Across the Jordan from Jericho, Israel
The generation that left Egypt traveled in the desert for forty years. They did not merit entering the Promised Land.
2488 was an exciting year for the next generation. They were poised to cross the Jordan and conquer Israel. AS we read in this week’s Torah Portion, God commanded that Moses and the High Priest Elazar conduct a census.
“These were the descendants of Benjamin, totaling 45,600 (Numbers 26, 41.) “These were the descendants of Dan… (Through the Shuchamite (derived from Chushim) family, totaling 64,600 (Numbers 26, 42-43.)
We don’t know the details, but Chushim must have found a wife who admired him—deafness, temper and all. Together they raised a thriving family.
A Very Old “Jewish Normal”
In whatever civilization it lived, our Jewish nation has always “bucked the trend.” Surrounded by idolaters, we worshipped one God. In a society where men always dominated, the women of Israel had a place in shaping our history. In a world where the firstborn son assumed the mantle of leadership, many Israelite leaders were not firstborn sons.
Let us apply this very Jewish “old normal” to Jews with disabilities. If we leave room for God, Jews with disabilities need not resign themselves to “special futures,” included but yet on the sidelines.
Like Chushim, Jews with disabilities can strive to lead “ordinary lives,” knowing that God, and not statistics or misguided societal attitudes, is behind the scenes, determining their destinies and the destinies of their descendants.
A native of Bradley Beach, New Jersey, Rabbi Michael Levy attributes his achievements to God’s beneficence and to his courageous parents. His parents supported him as he explored his small home town, visited Israel and later studied at Hebrew University, journeyed towards more observant Judaism, received rabbinic ordination, obtained a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University and lectured on Torah and disability-related topics.
As a founding member of Yad Hachazakah, the Jewish Disability Empowerment Center, Rabbi Levy strives to make the Jewish experience and Jewish texts accessible to Jews with disabilities. In lectures at Jewish camps, synagogues and educational institutions, he cites Nachshon, who according to tradition boldly took the plunge into the Red Sea even before it miraculously parted. Rabbi Levy elaborates, “We who have disabilities should be Nachshons --boldly taking the plunge into the Jewish experience, supported by laws and lore that mandate our participation.” Rabbi Levy is currently director of Travel Training at MTA New York City Transit. He is an active member of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY. He invites anyone who has disability-related questions to e-mail him at info@yadempowers.org
WELL VERSED
Chief Rabbi's Historic Letter In New Hands by Sandee Brawarsky
Courtesy Kestenbaum & Company
For 25 years, Stern, a businessman, has been a collector of Judaica, focusing on silver ritual objects, until about five years ago when he turned his attention to letters.
What interested Stern in the unpublished Herzog letter, which expresses the hope that the close connection between Judaism and Islam might help the cause of “peace between Ishmael and Israel,” was its clear call for a religious dimension to the peace process.
“We need to involve the religious leadership on both sides to be able to sit down and to realize that there is a lot of similarity – more areas of agreement than disagreement,” he says.
In this letter, Rabbi Herzog is congratulating scholar Abraham Isaac Katsh on the publication of his “excellent” book.
“I try to buy historically significant letters,” Stern says, noting that he’s particularly interested in how Jewish leaders approach important issues. “Letters give you a truthful view, as to a person’s relationships, world view and leadership style.”
Stern plans to beautifully frame the letter, and include a copy of the second side on the back. A founding partner of Specialty Commodities, an international importing and distribution company, Stern is active in Jewish affairs in L.A. and serves as president of his orthodox synagogue, Congregation Etz Chaim of Hancock Park. He describes his extensive Judaica collection as eclectic.
“Judaica collection is very emotional for Jewish people,” he says. “So much of our heritage was destroyed and stolen.” He adds, “You can get a glimpse through Judaica of how Jews lived in different places, the huge differences in the ways we dress, talk, daven, conduct our Judaism.”
Stern’s collection also includes a letter from the Kotzker rebbe to a good friend, and the first-known letter written by the Lubavitcher rebbe, the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to his rebbe.
Food & Wine
The Summery Side
Bring this fun corn salad to any picnic or barbecue.
If you have plans this July 4th weekend, chances are they involve meals. Because what is better than friends, family, fun, and food! Whether you're having a picnic in a park or a barbecue with friends, this fun and summery corn salad is a perfect pairing.
I perked up the corn - both flavor and color-wise - with mango, beans, pepper and peas. A quick vinaigrette brings everything together and lets the flavors shine - the sweetness of the mango, the saltiness of the black beans and the crunch of the pepper and onions. What's great about this recipe is that it is very hardy and holds up well - it is perfect to make the day before, and easy to pack up and travel with. It can work with dairy or meat meals.
Of course, it's an easily adaptable recipe, and you can add in plenty of other fun fruits or vegetables, like chickpeas, pomegranate seeds, or even avocado (though save that to add closer to serving time).
Amy Spiro is a journalist and writer based in Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute's baking and pastry track, a regular writer for The Jerusalem Post and blogs at bakingandmistaking.com. She also holds a BA in Journalism and Politics from NYU.
Hide Servings & Times
Yield:
Serves 10-
Active Time:
15 min
Total Time:
15 min
Hide Ingredients
5 cups corn (canned, frozen or fresh - up to you)
1 1/2 cups green peas
1 large red pepper, diced
1 large mango, peeled and diced into chunks
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon orange juice
The Jewish Week
1501 Broadway, Suite 505
New York, NY 10036 United States
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment