WASHINGTON, D.C. (SDJW)–Following is the text of President Obama’s final State of the Union message as released by the White House. It was delivered on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, before a Joint Session of Congress: By President Barack Obama Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans: Tonight marks the eighth year […]
President Obama’s final State of the Union address Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — In one of the episodes of the TV drama, Homeland, a CIA operative reports to a meeting of senior officers about his experience in Syria. The discussion proceeds something like this. There are too many militias to count, and more than a few considered important. The US has no strategy guiding
Can radical Islam be defeated or moderated? Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USAIsraeli justice minister slams U.S. intervention in ‘internal legislation’ (JNS.org) Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked criticized the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv’s statements voicing concern over Israel’s recently proposed NGO transparency bill, saying the Obama administration is interfering with internal Israeli legislation. The U.S. Embassy released two statements on Monday outlining U.S. Ambassador to Israel
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Middle EastBy Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — Many years ago, as I tried to keep up with each of my kids as they breezed through “the new math” and learned to multiply fractions, I realized with dismay that if I had to go through grammar school again I would probably flunk the third grade.So you can imagine
Outfoxing Wall Street in ‘The Big Short’ Read More »
Cynthia Citron, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — What is David Bowie’s Jewish connection? A. Bowie performed at a concert at Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv in 1990, during the time of the first Intifada. During the performance, he altered the lyrics of his song, Space Oddity, singing, “Ground Control, we need Salaam. Ground Control, we need Salaam.
Jewish trivia question: David Bowie, RIP Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Mimi Pollack SAN DIEGO –The motto for California Labrador Retrievers and More is “Dogs + Families = Love.” Thanks to all their hard work and dedicated volunteers, this group, also known as Labs and More, has found homes for 3,900 dogs in five years. Just last week, they found homes for 50 dogs,
Group specializes in rescue of labs, more Read More »
Mimi Pollack, The World We ShareBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Obama administration appears surprised by the sudden eruption of Saudi-Iranian hostility after the Saudi government executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the Iranians responded by organizing/sponsoring/approving an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Both sides have walked the rhetoric back just a bit in the last day
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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USACAMERA rebuts LA Times op-ed that urged boycott of Israeli education system (JNS.org) The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) has rebutted an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that made claims of inherent racism toward Palestinians in Israel’s educational system. The op-ed by comparative literature professor Saree Makdisi—titled “Why
Middle East Roundup: January 11, 2016 Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–Even those who don’t take much interest in Jewish thought probably know of the late Emil Fackenheim’s 11th (or 614th) commandment that all Jews must observe: to survive and not give Hitler a posthumous history. The State of Israel was for him the best, perhaps the only, guarantor of Jewish survival.
Jews must cry with one eye, laugh with the other Read More »
International, Middle Easthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninet_Tayeb
The Jewish singers: Ninet Tayeb Read More »
Travel and FoodBy Kenneth Bandler NEW YORK — The American Jewish Committee (AJC) on Sunday, Jan. 10, condemned the desecration of the Catholic cemetery in Beit Jamal (near Beit Shemesh), Israel. In another action, the AJC welcomed the rejection by the American Historical Association of an anti-Israel resolution. Concerning the desecration of the cemetery, in which dozens of
AJC condemns cemetery vandalism; hails AHA vote Read More »
Middle East, USA
By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — As the motto of this website intones, “there’s a Jewish story everywhere,” and I found a good one in Morocco. It’s about a Moroccan Jew named Raphael Elmaleh and a Scottish expat living in Morocco named George Ricketts. They two men teamed up to write a guide
How a Jewish guide book of Morocco came to be Read More »
International, Middle East, Travel and FoodBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s hard to find a more emotional issue roiling our American friends than guns and what’s associated with them. Who can have one or lots of them, what the Constitution guarantees, how much damage they produce, and what benefits they offer. A close cousin to gun control are issues of
Gun control in Israel and the U.S. Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USAIsaac Stern: My First 79 Years, written with Chaim Potok, Alfred Knopf Publisher, 1999 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — On any list of the outstanding violinists of the twentieth century, one would surely find the name of Isaac Stern. Born in 1920, in the city of Kreminiecz, which, as he states in this
From the Jewish Library: ‘Isaac Stern’ Read More »
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