Here’s this week’s list of five people you are or should be talking about, courtesy of the JTA staff…
The Beastie Boys Are Inducted
The three Jewish kids behind one of the most incendiary and influential hip hop acts of all time — Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz — are going to be Hall of Famers. The Cleveland-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced this week the Beasties will be inducted in March. The trio, authors of a generation of parental headaches, have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide since their debut 25 years ago. [[READMORE]]
Menachem Stern Keeps Beard
It took him two years and a lawsuit, but Rabbi Menachem Stern was sworn into the U.S. army today with his beard intact. Having received a waiver for the rules regulating the facial hair of new recruits — the first in 30 years — Stern will become a First Lieutenant and the 38th Jewish chaplain in the armed forces.
Avi Mayer Wages a Twitter War
When Avi Mayer, social media head for the Jewish Agency, noticed that the tag IsraelHates was trending worldwide over the weekend, he decided to retort the Jewish way — with a message of love. Mayer started a tag called IsraelLoves, which has helped knock IsraelHates off the leader board and gathered the support (in tweets) of Israeli officials, IDF officers, members of the Knesset, university students and Jewish organizations.
Matt Brooks Rallies Republicans
Every four years, Republicans predict they will make serious inroads with the Jewish community and every four years they’re disappointed. Still, they keep trying. The Republican Jewish Coalition is the vanguard of this effort and Matt Brooks is its ringleader. Most Jews lean Democratic, but the RJC head runs an organization that punches above its weight, as reflected by the six presidential candidates who showed up for its presidential candidates forum Wednesday. But a better sign of Brooks’ clout might be what happened after the forum, when he was ribbed by Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show"
Simi Lampert Stands Firm
Simi Lampert, 22, the co-editor-in-chief of the YU Beacon, a student-run newspaper at Yeshiva University, encountered significant pressure this week to pull a controversial essay about a sexual encounter from the paper’s site. She and co-editor Toviah Moldwin refused. Critics accused the paper of extreme impropriety, especially for a publication associated with YU. But the pair held their ground. The result? The Beacon was defunded, but continues as an independent student publication.
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