Kesher Talk

A Nazi Killing Good Time: Calling all Jewish gamers! I'm researching an article on Jews that play WWII era shooter games (e.g. Wolfenstein, MOHAA, Battlefield 1942) and get a vicarious thrill out of blasting Nazis. Anyone who played the original Wolfenstein 3-D back in the day will remember the smug satisfaction you got after wasting hordes of Goosesteppers who yell "Mein Leiben" when you plug 'em. I'm looking for like-minded Jews who played and still play these types of games. It doesn't have to be the sole reason you play, but if you have anything interesting to contribute, shoot me (get it?) an e-mail.

In other news, the article I had asked Kesher Talk readers for help with before this appeared a few weeks ago. It is on the death of Napster and the loss of Jewish music available on the Web. Check it out here.

posted by Rami @ 10/10/2002 05:36:07 PM  

An Athelete Who Gets It: I'd been meaning to post this for a week or so, but now is better than never. This quote comes from an article in ESPN Magazine about John Smoltz, the closer for the Atlanta Braves.

"When I was out injured for all of the 2000 season and most of 2001, nothing could have been further from my mind than where I am today. Really, it was a relief to find out I needed reconstructive surgery on my elbow. Because if more rehab or rest had been prescribed, I thought I might have to retire. I don't want to overplay the feeling of what I went through, because it doesn't relate well to real-life tragedies, but in my sport, I was having no fun. I was miserable. I tried to override pain with power, and it was not fun. The pain was great enough that there were times I ripped my shirt off and said, "This is it, I'm done." I really don't know why I kept going. I do know I'm glad I did."

With all the pompous, self-absorbed men playing games for millions of dollars, it is nice to see at least one who recognizes his place.

posted by Rami @ 10/10/2002 12:52:10 AM  

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: We will all miss Howard while he's off gettin' hitched, but as the Talmud says "In a place without a leader (lit. man), you should strive to be a leader." In that case, I will at least attempt to fill the void so y'all'll keep coming back here. I can't promise to try, but I'll try to try. First question: How about that double contraction "y'all'll" (short for: you all will)? There should definitely be a rule in the English language to allow for such things.

posted by Rami @ 10/09/2002 08:02:24 PM  

So Long! I'm leaving shortly for the wedding -- Buffalo is calling... The pain and strife of my job will be left behind for two and a half weeks, thank G-d. I'll be back to blogging after we return from our honeymoon, Oct. 25. Until then, everyone please have a drink or three in my honor.

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 12:29:02 PM  

Surfin' Iraq: This week, singer Harry Belafonte slammed Secretary of State Colin Powell over Bush's foreign policy.

Singer Barbara Streisand has also been strongly critical of President Bush.

The criticism is having an effect ... President Bush has now promised not to launch an attack on Iraq without giving advanced notice to Barry Manilow and at least one member of the Beach Boys.

(from Mike Sultan)

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 10:08:45 AM  

Jewish ranks in the U.S. falling: America’s Jewish population declined by 5 percent during the past 10 years, according to a new survey, a trend that is likely to continue given the community’s aging population and low birth rates.

If you're looking for more info on the "First Findings" of the National Jewish Population Study 2000-01, see a summary from the Jerusalem Post and the survey itself. Media coverage is available from the JTA, the Washington Post, the AP, and the New York Times.

Unfortunately, I am too pressed for time for adequate comment. I've been meaning to do some analysis on this issue, so hopefully I will be able to get back to it when I return from my honeymoon.

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 09:14:32 AM  

Around the Jewish World: Reports from The Jewish Week, JTA, and the Christian Science Monitor...

• Gabbing in Golders Green: "There are now 210,00 Jews in London — 300,000 in all of Great Britain — widely spread throughout the metropolis."


• Take My Yiddish, Please: Yiddish "is spoken by fewer than 1 million people in the world. It is not an official state language in any nation. And it carries a reputation as the vernacular of poor illiterate villagers." And yet, scholars won't let it die. Lithuania is home to the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, which runs summer programs in the language.


• Synagogue building delayed in Azerbaijan: "The Ashkenazi Jewish community of Baku [capital of Azerbaijan] originally hoped that its new synagogue would be ready in time for Rosh Hashanah. Now they hope it will be ready in time for Chanukah." It seems money woes are scuttling this project which would serve the city's 10,000 Jews.


• Fasting amidst starvation: While Jews around the world were observing Yom Kippur, Jews in Zimbabwe were already starving thanks to their lunatic dictator Mugabe.


• Jewish communities dwindle in North Africa: Growing anti-Semitism and poor economic prospects are threatening to extinguish two Jewish communities on the North African coast. After the expulsion from Spain in 1492, a small number of Jews escaped across the Strait of Gibraltar to two fortress cities that Spanish kings were establishing as beachheads in North Africa. Despite the Inquisition on the Iberian mainland, the Jewish inhabitants of Ceuta and Melilla largely were left alone for the next five centuries. They were joined by other Sephardic Jews over the centuries. Their descendants now are leaving the enclaves, which are surrounded by Moroccan territory, and returning to Spain.


• Croatian Jews either not practicing or don't want to admit it: Croatia’s recently issued census for 2001 appeared to indicate that some of the nation’s Jews are unwilling to admit their background. "The census indicated that 576 people described themselves as Jews “by ethnicity,” but only 475 described their religion as Judaism. Given that there are 2,000 registered members of Croatia’s nine organized Jewish communities, the results showed there were many people who sought another self-description."

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 09:01:04 AM  

"Christian Solidarity with Israel Rally": The down-on-its-luck Christian Coallition is organizing a rally of evangelical support for Israel on the Ellipse in DC for Friday (2-4 PM). Michael Freund has some details.

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 09:00:55 AM  

Young Jewish Republicans pass out the dough: Wednesday night, the DC chapter of the Young Jewish Leadership PAC made its second round of allocations for this election year. Traditionally, each Senate candidate gets $500 and each House candidate gets $250.

United States Senate

Rep. Jim Talent (MO)
Rep. John Thune (SD)

United States House of Representatives

State Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite (FL-5)
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-2)
Rep. Tom Delay (TX-22)
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11)
Rep. Tom Latham (IA-4)
Brose McVey (IN-7)
Rep. Connie Morella (MD-8)
Mike Turner (OH-3)

Here were the allocations made earlier in the year:

United States Senate

Rep. Saxby Chambliss (GA)
Norm Coleman (MN)

United States House of Representatives

Rep. Eric Cantor (VA-7)
Rep. Connie Morella (MD-8)
Rep. Jim Saxton (NJ-3)
Rep. Pat Toomey (PA-15)

Are you a budding Jewish Republican? You ought to consider joining the PAC... I've heard there is also a chapter in NY, NY as well...

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 09:00:32 AM  

New bloggers added to the links list: Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and Mike Sanders' Keep Trying have been added to the Warblogger list to your left, and the Tales of Hoffman blog, primarily focused on medicine and health care, joins the ranks of the SciTech blogs... Welcome one and all.

posted by Howard @ 10/09/2002 09:00:25 AM  

Jordan tightens border security to prevent Palestinians from travelling through to Iraq: Jordan has toughened measures aimed at preventing Palestinians from entering the kingdom. The new restrictions, which include a total ban on the entry of West Bank and Jerusalem residents, reflect Jordan's growing fear that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will flock to the kingdom when and if the US attacks Iraq. The Jerusalem Post reports that one of the reasons for the new regulations is connected to reports that many Palestinians are trying to travel to Iraq via Jordan to join the Iraqi army in the fight against the Americans and their allies.

posted by Howard @ 10/08/2002 09:42:30 AM  

New cancerous agent in food -- good tase: The discovery of the possibly cancerous chemical acrylamide in common foods has activists leaping for joy and researchers baffled. It also has the Food Network wetting itself from fear that all food will now be eater either raw or boiled...

posted by Howard @ 10/08/2002 09:35:47 AM  

McKinney campaign was victim of "malicious crossover" votes: Five folks from Cynthia McKinney's DeKalb County district filed a federal lawsuit on October 4 to throw out the results of her Aug. 20 Democratic primary loss to Denise Majette.

The lawsuit claims "malicious crossover" voting by Republicans in the primary violated the Voting Rights Act. The suit was filed against Secretary of State Cathy Cox, the DeKalb and Gwinnett county elections supervisors, Majette, the DeKalb Republican Party and the state Democratic and Republican parties.

"Did we miss anyone?"

But the crucial factor which should see the lawsuit laughed out of court is mentioned in the third paragraph of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's coverage:

Georgia does not require voters to register by party, and it allows them to vote in the primary of their choice. Before the election, some Republicans called on their fellow party members to vote in the Democratic primary to help ensure the controversial McKinney's defeat.

As in so many places these days, activists are crying racism. Anytime a candidate they do not like gets elected, it must have been because they were denied the vote. "The issue is that black Democratic voters in the 4th District had their voting rights interfered with and violated," said Atlanta lawyer J.M. Raffauf, who represents the plaintiffs. Raffauf said he had recently talked with McKinney and that she supports the litigation.

I'm sure it will "crossover" maliciously with any future lawsuit of her own, against the nefarious operatives that did her in: the J-E-W-S and the I-N-D-I-A-N-S. It also will probably not hurt her to attack both the Democratic and Republican parties if and when she takes up the mantle of the Green party.

Update: Eugene Volokh has posted the complaint in its entirety.

posted by Howard @ 10/08/2002 09:31:50 AM  

Jewish denominations fight in Eastern Europe: In the Czech Republic, the JTA reports on discord within the Bejt Praha synagogue in the capital city of Prague. Meanwhile, tempers are rising in Poland over conversions to Judaism ... when they are non-Orthodox.

posted by Howard @ 10/08/2002 09:00:05 AM  

Crappy Pollster says Arabs hate us for our policies: That was not the original headline to this Washington Post article, but it is a more accurate one. Zogby, notorious among public opinion pollsters for his mercurial tweaking of data, has surveyed some countries in the Arab world, and claims that they don't hate us, they hate our policies.

posted by Howard @ 10/07/2002 11:41:19 AM  

Sorry for the Kesher Outage: A network crash at work meant no email and no web access to speak of on Friday. My fiancee and I spent the weekend taking part in a Torah discussion, doing a few last minute wedding preparations, and doing some wine tasting with friends out in central Virginia.

Time is growing short. My last blogging will be on Wednesday, after which we will head to Buffalo to get everything set for the wedding. With luck, my contributing editors will return to action while I am gone. If not, don't expect to hear from me again until after the honeymoon -- I return to work Oct. 28.

posted by Howard @ 10/07/2002 09:02:12 AM  

Bibi says, 'Take Saddam, please': Speaking before a crowd in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "just a question of time" before a terrorist state acquires nuclear weapons "and they will use them because they have no limits."

"I think the United States should act," he said. "If the U.N. wants to join, that's fine. I happen to think most of the world will join -- later."

posted by Howard @ 10/07/2002 09:01:52 AM  

Orthodox Jewish minyans - for women? The Forward reports on a hopefully growing trend -- actually involving women in prayer and services. How shocking!

About a half-dozen such groups, or minyanim, have sprung up in the Orthodox community during the last year. In some cases women are permitted to lead selected daily or weekly services, while other groups permit all members to read from the Torah or recite the accompanying aliya blessing.

From the outside, this brand of worship appears to occupy a theological middle ground between Orthodoxy's commitment to stringent gender distinctions and Conservative Judaism's 20-year march toward full egalitarianism. But the phenomenon, which still lacks the public imprimatur of a prominent Orthodox institution or rabbi, seems best understood as a grassroots attempt by lay people to revolutionize Orthodoxy.

Organizers of the new prayer groups say most of the participants are looking to expand women's roles, while remaining within the Orthodox communal fold and the boundaries of rabbinic canon law, or Halacha. Still, their innovations reveal the ritual limits of Orthodox feminism, especially when compared to advances in other Jewish denominations.

posted by Howard @ 10/07/2002 09:00:41 AM