-In “Israel Through My Lens�, David Rubinger “gives a spirited account of his six-decade, seven-war career as Time-Life’s photographer in Israel.� Includes 6 photos, including which was by far his most famous, which was “stolen by other photographers — who took credit for it — and appropriated by the Israeli information apparatus.� (Forward) -And David [...]

Erica Jong has never held her tongue, so why would she when talking about her grandson’s circumcision? Answer: She wouldn’t. On The Huffington Post today Jong rants about her suspicion that the covenantal cut damages a Jewish man’s attitude toward sex. Yesterday, Darwin turned eight days old. Darwin is my second grandson. You know what [...]

I generally don’t enjoy people who obsess about the media being anti-Israel, but this egregious case of bias is rather ridiculous. Apparently Hamas has been staging candlelit parliament sessions in Gaza and blaming the lack of power on Israeli blockades and power cuts. But as Gawker points out in this Reuters photo, there is light [...]

This past week, The Simpsons featured the Hillel from Marge’s college days in a flashback. So what else does Hillel International do but publish a press release about the opening of the C. Montgomery Burns Hillel Center for Jewish Campus Life at Springfield University. Including quotes from actual Hillel president Wayne L. Firestone, Springfield Hillel [...]

-Rabbi Avi Shafran takes a dour view of blogs: responsible blogs, in the Jewish realm are “decidedly in the minority. And even many responsible blogs allow postings of comments from people with very different value systems.� (NJ Jewish News) -But blogger Richard Silverstein says that blogs have provided an alternative to the views of mainstream [...]

When philanthropist Charles Bronfman announced his intention to fund a two-year visiting chair at Brandeis for someone who could come up with the “Next Big Jewish Idea” some people scratched their heads. The Jewish Week‘s Gary Rosenblatt expressed concerns with the notion that a single idea could save us and suggested that Judaism already had [...]

-Joseph Epstein provides a comprehensive and generally favorable review of the PBS documentary “The Jewish Americans.� (National Endowment for the Humanities) -The editor of a Jewish community monthly magazine in Vienna “who brought the wrath of Austria’s right-wing forces upon himself after accusing an Austrian professor of defaming Jews� is acquitted of causing the professor’s [...]

MSNBC is reporting that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have left the Kabbalah kraze: “Ashton and Demi used to have an impeccable attendance record,â€? says one source with close ties to the Kabballah Centre in L.A. Another source close to the couple says it’s been “monthsâ€? since the two attended services or participated in the [...]

Last week, YNet reprinted an article by Aaron Klein, which purports to be about anti-Zionist positions held by Israeli academics, but is really only a summary of positions published on a single website — Israel Academia Monitor. It’s quite possible that many of those quoted on this website are, indeed, anti-Zionist. But Klein’s article does [...]

Last fall there was a good deal of blog chatter and press coverage about a study released by Steve M. Cohen and Ari Kelman that found that “American Jews’ connection to Israel drops off with each subsequent generation.” But little was done with that information. Now Sh’ma, in its latest issue on the Jewish communal [...]