The Evolving Jew

Yesterday, scandal-ridden Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich did what many feared he would do - he appointed someone , ( Roland Burris) to serve out Obama's US Senate term. The hue and cry is enormous - everyone on both sides of the aisle are condemning this appointment as illegitimate. There are threats by the state attorney general to refuse to certify the appointment and threats by the Democrats who control the US Senate to refuse to seat Burris. But it's far from guaranteed that they will be able to legally exercise that authority and the courts may overrule them and Burris will be seated anyway. And by deliberately picking an African American, Blagojevich has cynically put race into the equation as well. This environment is the last thing the new Obama administration needs as they come to Washington. But the Illinois state legislature had a chance to do the right thing, and the majority Democrats balked . They had the chance to strip the governor of the power to appoint

I was tagged by Jessica with this meme - my first one :-) The Rules: a) Link to your blogger and list these rules on your blog b) Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird c) Tag 7 people (if possible) at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs d) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs 1: I have a really good voice (I’ve been told), love singing and used to sing in a choir. But I have no talent for art whatsoever. If you ask me to draw a picture, it’ll look like a kindergartner drew it. 2: I am a cyborg. I have a metal plate and 9 pins in my ankle as a result of a hiking accident at the aptly named Breakneck Ridge in 1996. (And am glad it wasn’t my neck!) I still set off some metal detectors. 3: I travelled to France with some friends to see a total solar eclipse in 1999. Unfortunately, clouds rolled in just before totality and we missed it. But it was still eerie to see day t

The Jerusalem Post has this amusing article about the lack of latkes (or levivot) in Israel in favor of sufganiyot (fried jelly doughnuts). Some of the comments are funny too. The author quotes someone's story on how sufganiyot became popular in Israel: "It was the Histadrut guys, you know the ones from way back... They were bothered by levivot being homemade and not something that was sold in grocery shops or kiosks, and felt that something was needed to keep workers busy - particularly during the slow months between the hagim and the time dried fruits start moving. So they began to look for an alternative, you know, something that you need oil for but also something that people - and especially kids - would spend money on. Someone real smart came up with the idea of making sufganiyot a Hanukka treat, and bingo, a star was born." Personally, I think both are a recipe for indigestion. Instead, I'll be making some zuchinni levivot later fried in oliv

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/nyregion/23yeshiva.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Interesting article on how faculty & students at YU are dealing with the scandal. One non-sequiter: The picture of students in the beit midrash is labelled "Students in the library." I guess that's close enough - does anyone use the term "study hall" these days?

So it seems that Bernard Madoff invested all his clients' money in his own wealth and depended on his being as cool as "the Fonz" to get him through it. But unfortunately, he was caught by Mr. Cunningham. Joanie was so disappointed in Bernie, that he decided to turn himself in... Well, someone I know really did think it was called a "Fonzie Scheme". In actuality, Madoff's crime is his pulling off a giant "Ponzi scheme", named after Charles Ponzi, who pulled the wool over his investors' eyes in the early 20th century. For more, see the Wikipedia entry here .

Noam Shpancer writes a column in my local Jewish paper. He's an Israeli living in my city and he has strong opinions, usually to the extreme left of Israeli politics, and more often than not, I think he's gone off the deep end. But his latest piece is excellent, albeit written in his confrontational style. He decries the tendency to see antisemitism around every corner. I agree. sometimes it seems like fighting antisemitism has replaced the richness of our actual tradition for some organizations. Here's his article on the local paper's website or on his blog . I once knew a guy named Ze'ev Maghen. I haven't seen him in many, many years but a quick google search found him teaching at Bar-Ilan. Anyway, way back when, I think around 1990, he wrote an article on how to fight anti-semitism. Its main point was that we shouldn't moan and wail about anti-semitism but go ahead and live rich Jewish lives and that's the best answer. I found a link to the art

I have several female friends who are Orthodox and single, all near the age of 40, (give or take a couple of years,) who had babies, are pregnant, or are trying to get pregnant. It’s a tough decision to become a single parent, but I see no reason why that decision should be stigmatized by Orthodox Judaism. These women are opting for artificial insemination. While there may be some halachic issues, they’re not an insurmountable barrier. These women felt their biological clocks ticking and decided to go for it. They're successful professionals who can afford to do this financially and they have support systems of friends. Instead of this being something that is talked about in hushed tones, the Orthodox community should relax its obsession with the supposed “singles crisis” and create an environment where such decisions are celebrated rather than looked down upon. While there are many reasons aside from community pressure that a single woman might shy away from this path, com