In Other Jewish Newspapers: From Russia With Hate, JDate’s ‘Pro-Semites,’ Movie Mogul and Rabbi Rater
FROM RUSSIA WITH HATE?: New York’s Russian-speaking community is growing steadily less Jewish, and some of the new immigrants, it seems, are no philosemites. The New York Jewish Week examines the controversy in the Russian community.
Also in the Jewish Week: The ArtScroll editions of traditional religious texts are increasingly popular, but Orthodox feminists say the books are not very female-friendly.
GRAVE SITUATION: A local rabbi is up in arms over plans for a cell phone tower in an area cemetery, Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent reports.
PRESS PROTEST: Members of the local Jewish community are objecting to the University of Michigan’s distribution of the book “Overcoming Zionism” and other controversial titles from British publisher Pluto Press. The Detroit Jewish News has the story.
‘PRO-SEMITES’ ISO LOVE: Gentiles love us. That’s why, according to a new book, “nearly 11 percent” of JDate members are non-Jews, The Washington Jewish Week reports. (JDate wouldn’t confirm that stat to the newspaper.) Mark Penn and Kinney Zalesne, authors of “Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes,” say that “liberal to moderate, slightly downscale, Catholic men” are the demographic most likely to want to date Jews.
MILLION DOVE MARCH: Daniel Lubetzky and his OneVoice movement hope to mobilize a million Israelis and Palestinians to rally for peace next month, San Francisco’s J. reports.
TRAFFIC PROBLEM: Talya Gillman went to Israel for her junior year abroad and came back determined to enlist Americans in the fight against sex trafficking in the Jewish state, Seattle’s Jewish Transcript reports.
MOVIE MOGUL, RABBI RATER: In his spare time, Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton makes lists — of rabbis. The L.A. Jewish Journal chats with the movie mogul about his Jewish identity and reports that there are plans for a second edition of the widely discussed list of America’s top rabbis that Lynton published on Newsweek’s Web site earlier this year.
GOOD FOR THE GANDER: The ultra-Orthodox outreach organization Aish HaTorah uses a modern idiom in its efforts to bring other Jews closer to Orthodoxy. But its tactics aren’t for everyone — particularly not for other ultra-Orthodox Jews. London’s Jewish Chronicle reports:
Outreach group Aish HaTorah UK has apologised for placing an advert in a strictly Orthodox publication, which it admitted was inappropriate and insensitive.
The advert had originally been placed in The Advertiser — a free newspaper distributed in London’s Stamford Hill, home to a large proportion of the Charedi community.
It is believed it was promoting a talk called “Is there a God?”
Aish reportedly said the ad had been placed in the paper by mistake. It seems Aish doesn’t think that such profound questions are appropriate for the haredi community — even when they’re being posed rhetorically.
Also in the JC: British Jews are planning a “Salute to Israel” parade modeled on the one in New York, and a former member of Hizb ut-Tahrir says the Muslim extremist group urges Israel’s destruction.
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