Category Archives: Jews and Judaism

Fragments from Evolving Manhood: A Full-Throated Protest Against Existence and the World

I have written before about the book of personal essays dealing with manhood, masculinity and male sexuality that I tried, unsuccessfully (even with the help of an agent) to get published in the 1980s. Evolving Manhood was the working title, … Continue reading

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J Street and Poetry and Jewish Politics and Jewish Poets and Jewish Poetics and Holocaust Trivialization and Israel and Palestine and antisemitism and How Can Culture be a Tool for Change if You Won't Let Culture do its Work? – Part 1

Note: Portions of this post were edited on January 19 to correct problems that resulted from careless cutting and pasting. Oy! So I was, with mild interest, reading the conversation that was beginning to develop around the post written by … Continue reading

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J Street Los Angeles!

Because I am a glutton for punishment with no sense of restraint, when the email came in saying that J Street was opening up local chapters, not only did I immediately sign up, but I checked off every single skills/interests … Continue reading

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"The Myths of Liberal Zionism," by Yitzhak Laor – I want to read this book

Writing in the January issue of Harper’s Magazine, Joshua Cohen wrote this at the end of his review of Laor’s book: It often seems that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is just […] a textual problem. If so, then the muddle of … Continue reading

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A New Covenant

Because we have discussed male infant circumcision on this blog before, a poem in progress: They say it’s a shame we didn’t do it when we should have, that probably you’ll need it later in life, when it’s more complicated, … Continue reading

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Who Is a Jew? Court Ruling in Britain Raises Question – from The New York Times

The Supreme Court in England is set to rule by the end of this year on a case involving a question that has vexed Jewish communities throughout the world for centuries: Who is a Jew? The case began because a … Continue reading

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Happy New Year!

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Jessie Brown celebrates the day with Moishe Oysher and the Barry Sisters, and it does seem like a nice way to kick-start a new year. From Chazzanut.com: Moishe Oysher (and that was … Continue reading

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Jews Earn Like Jews And Vote Like Jews

From a New York Times review of Norman Podhoretz’s new book, Why Are Jews Liberal? In the book, Podhoretz — a conservative — wonders why most Jews are liberals (in recent presidential elections, an average of 75% of Jews have … Continue reading

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Your Friendly Neighborhood Terrorist

So the guy who shot up the Holocaust Museum is James W. von Brunn, Holocaust denier, neo-Nazi, and generally swell guy: James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE … Continue reading

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Easter in Orange County

Last Sunday, sitting on the steps next to my container garden outside my Long Beach apartment, I heard a group of people singing in the next building. I thought of the seder I’d had a couple of nights before; my … Continue reading

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Families structures, divorce, etc, Jews and Judaism, Race, racism and related issues | Comments Off