In Other Jewish Newspapers: Nylon in the Temple, Super Bowl Pioneer, Sing-Song Shoah?
CROWN HEIGHTS REDUX: Jewish activists in Crown Heights — the Brooklyn Lubavitcher stronghold that became synonymous with the word “riot” in the 1990s — are faulting police over their response to a number of recent attacks on Jews in the neighborhood.
Also in the Jewish Week: Israel correspondent Michele Chabin takes a look at the issue of poverty in Jerusalem.
QUESTIONING BARACK OBAMA: The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent’s Jonathan Tobin says that while many of the rumors about Barack Obama are untrue, but that doesn’t mean we should be afraid to raise more substantive questions about his candidacy.
NYLON IN THE TEMPLE: Jerusalem’s Temple Institute has a lavish new 6-foot-tall harp, modeled after the harp that, tradition holds, was once played in the Temple. It was built with the hope that someday it will be played in a rebuilt Third Temple. The materials used to build the harp were selected with an eye toward tradition, with the exception of the strings, which are made of nylon. Brooklyn’s Jewish Press has the story (particularly interesting, no doubt, for those of us who are eagerly awaiting the day when animals are once again sacrificed in Jerusalem with string music playing in the background).
MUSLIM MISSIONARIES: Detroit Jewish News editor Robert Sklar sounds the alarm about Muslim missionaries who are targeting Israeli Jews for conversion — and hails the counter-missionaries who are fighting them.
EX-CON TO RABBI: A former thief, conman and alcoholic who is now a rabbi uses his unique background to help teens make better decisions. The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle has the story of a spiritual leader who says a pair of mobsters once put out a $10,000 bounty on his head.
SUPER BOWL PIONEER: The New Jersey Jewish News chats with former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Bob Stein about his great moment in Super Bowl history.
BRIDGE TOO FAR: Placing protest banners on a highway overpass appears to be illegal, but that hasn’t stopped some pro-Palestinian activists, Houston’s Jewish Herald-Voice reports.
BETTER 87 YEARS LATE THAN NEVER: San Francisco’s J. has the story of a centenarian’s bat mitzvah.
GO BACK TO BEANTOWN: Boston-based pro-Israel watchdog group Camera has launched a campaign to protest a Pasadena, Calif., Episcopal church’s hosting of a controversial Palestinian cleric. L.A. Jewish Journal editor Rob Eshman thinks Camera should “butt out”.
HISTORIC PARTNERSHIP: Tennis partners Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram win the Australian Open and become the first Israeli doubles team to win a grand-slam title. The Australian Jewish News serves up the news of their historic victory.
SING-SONG SHOAH: Rachel Fletcher of London’s Jewish Chronicle makes the case for a Holocaust musical. “Musicals can move us as deeply as any other medium — so why not portray the Shoah?” she writes, prompted by the debate over plans to stage a musical about the life of Anne Frank in Spain.
Also in the J.C.: Israeli clubland has a burgeoning amphetamine addiction; British Jewry’s Board of Deputies rejects a proposal to consider staking out more critical stances on Israel; and Jewish university students in the Midlands try to save the job of a beloved campus rabbi.
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