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Updated 11/20/09 @ 11:30AM EDT
- Canada's opposition Liberal Party is crying foul after the ruling Conservatives mailed out flyers extolling themselves as stronger supporters of Israel.
- Israel arrested five Palestinian Authority intelligence officers in the West Bank.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel is conducting secret negotiations with Hamas.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was welcomed Thursday in Brazil by a state governor who is Jewish.
- Prominent South African Jewish leader and philanthropist Mendel Kaplan has died at the age of 73.
- Canadian Liberals object after Conservatives say they’re stronger Israel backers
- Israel arrests five P.A. officers
- Abbas: Israel talking to Hamas
- Abbas welcomed by Jewish pol in Brazil
- South African Jewish leader Mendel Kaplan dies
- Israel will send ship to NATO anti-terror force
- Obama: New Iran sanctions coming within weeks
- What should we bring? Thanksgiving foods that travel well
- Female Orthodox scholars helping women talk about sex
- Obama half-brother has Jewish roots
- Lieberman: Fort Hood could be terror attack
- J Street confab shows generational divide on Israel
- What really happened at the Reform biennial in Toronto
- Rubashkin convicted on 86 charges
- Obama shifts to Israel’s corner, but tries not to show it
- Sniffing underwear and other high jinks in satire on intermarriage
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Posted in: Man on a mission to save the Jewish deli
08/31/09 11:32 AM
"Prostrate" should read "prostate". Here is some good eating advice from Jewish author Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." From a review of his book: "By which Pollan means: Eat natural food, the kind your grandmother served (and not because she was so wise, but because the food industry had not yet learned that the big money was in processing, not harvesting). Use meat sparingly. Eat your greens, the leafier and more varied the better." Even if you have excellent health insurance, it is no fund spending time in a hospital.
Posted in: Man on a mission to save the Jewish deli
08/28/09 09:47 PM
Jewish deli, for the most part, is not very healthy food, even if it is certified kosher. I suspect that it contributes to obesity, heart attacks, prostrate cancer and all sorts of other undesirable outcomes. Save Jewish lives, not Jewish delis. Eat healthy!
Posted in: Holocaust films keep coming, despite prediction of their demise
08/17/09 08:56 PM
During the 1930's and early 1940's, the major American film studios wouldn't touch Nazi persecution of the Jews. "Casablanca", released in 1943 by Jewish owned Warner Brothers, made no references to Jews, although undoubtedly the most desperate refugees in those days were Jewish. "Mrs. Miniver", released by Warner Brothers in 1942, had no problem including Anglican church services in the film, but none of the characters played Jewish parts. I guess Hollywood did not want to look too Jewish in those days and until the end of 1941, there was the German market for American films to think about. Germany was among the largest foreign markets for US films even before WWII. When the public stops buying tickets to see Holocaust -themed movies, the film studios will stop producing them. I recently finished reading "Four Girls from Berlin" by Marianne Meyerhoff. One of the "girls" is Meryerhoff's mother, a passenger on the ill-fated St. Louis who is sent back to Europe but is able to escape her detention in Holland. She eventually makes it to the US. If the book is turned into a movie, I will go see it, or at least rent the DVD. Then there is the story of Daniel Mendelsohn's great uncle Shmuel who was unsuccessful in leaving Poland and perished with the rest of his immediate family in the Holocaust. Maybe that story ("The Lost") has the makings of a good movie as well.
Posted in: Conservative rabbi in Georgia sues over kosher law
08/09/09 12:18 PM
To Will: If the beef suppliers were lying on such a massive scale, I think they would have been found out by now. In the meantime, I will continue to rely on the ingredients listed on the labels. Perhaps one day, the rabbis certifying kosher food products will exclude from certification food products which have harmful chemicals in them, such as sodium nitrate and MSG. Then the kosher designation will be more relevant to me.
Posted in: Conservative rabbi in Georgia sues over kosher law
08/08/09 09:14 PM
When it comes to swordfish, I have to side with the Orthodox rabbis even though I would consider myself culturally Jewish, but not religious. Swordfish has high levels of mercury, so that's a good reason to stay away from it. There are plenty of other fish to eat that healthier for you, such as cold water caught salmon (not farm raised salmon). Just because a product is marked kosher, does not mean it is good for you. Hebrew National hot dogs may answer to a higher authority, as the advertising slogan goes, but they have sodium nitrate in them, another unhealthy additive. I don't purchase pork products at the supermarket, but when I buy beef products, I look for beef that comes from cattle which have been grass fed and have not been given growth hormones or antibiotics. I don't worry about whether the beef is kosher, only that it is healthy. If you are an older person and you want to give yourself a really good case of indigestion, stuff yourself with I call Polish holiday food (kishke, creplach, blintzes etc). Kosher? Yes. Healthy? No. If you are having major indigestion problems, get tested for celiac disease. That matzah you enjoy during the passover season (made from wheat flour and water) may be slowly killing you. People with celiac disease should not be eating food products containing wheat, barley or rye. Instead of worrying about whether a food product is kosher according to a rabbi's label, worry about whether it is healthy for you to eat. May you live to 120.
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