Sunday, January 15, 2012

Haredim protest arrest of scam suspects; 3 detained


5:30 Sunday afternoon - I am sitting in my car in front of Manny's in Meah Shearim as I post this with the aid of a wireless modem. There are no signs of any riots and people are shopping as usual.
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Three haredi (ultra-Orthodox) demonstrators were arrested in Jerusalem's Shabbat Square on Sunday afternoon.

Hundreds of haredim had gathered to protest the arrest of six men from Mea She'arim for alleged involvement in a financial scandal earlier that day. The protesters threw rocks, calling police officers Nazis. A cameraman was reportedly injured.

6 chareidi activists arrested - including the gabbai of head of Eida Chareidis

BCHOL

שישה עסקנים - ובהם משב"ק הגאב"ד - נעצרו לפנות בוקר • החשד: הלבנת הון ועבירות מס בהיקף של מיליונים בארגון 'הוועד הארצי' • 'העדה': ירושלים תבער • סיקור מיוחד

Israelis Facing a Seismic Rift Over Role of Women


JERUSALEM — In the three months since the Israeli Health Ministry awarded a prize to a pediatrics professor for her book on hereditary diseases common to Jews, her experience at the awards ceremony has become a rallying cry. 

The professor, Channa Maayan, knew that the acting health minister, who is ultra-Orthodox, and other religious people would be in attendance.  So she wore a long-sleeve top and a long skirt. But that was hardly enough.

Jaded Jewish travel writer's first visit to Jerusalem


As a traveler, I am not a particularly choosy person. I will go pretty much anywhere, anytime. Wander on horseback into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan? Why not? Spend the night in a sketchy Burmese border town? Sure! Eat my way through Bridgeport, Conn.? Loved it. Once, I even spent four consecutive Sunday nights in Geneva — in midwinter — an ordeal to which no rational adventurer would willingly submit. 

In fact, of all the world’s roughly 200 nations, there was only one — besides Afghanistan and Iraq (which my wife has deemed too dangerous) — that I had absolutely zero interest in ever visiting: Israel

This surprised friends and mildly annoyed my parents, who had visited quite happily. As a Jew, especially one who travels constantly, I was expected at least to have the Jewish state on my radar, if not to be planning a pilgrimage in the very near future. Tel Aviv, they’d say, has wonderful food![...]


Family claimed rabbi told them not to call police "since incest rape happens in many families"


The State Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment this week against two brothers who molested their younger sister, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

The abuse continued for years after a rabbi advised the  parents against involving to the police, saying that such incidents "happen in many families."[...]

Ami magazine acknowledges poor judgment in their nazification of the White House

Jewish Week

The editor of Ami Magazine acknowledged today that the front page of this week’s issue depicting the White House draped in Nazi flags with Nazi storm troopers marching in front “may have been a poor choice.”

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Should a baseball hall of fame writer who is an alleged child abuser keep his award?


It was fairly common that when I went to eat at Villa Gallace restaurant during spring training in Clearwater, Fla., I would run into Bill Conlin, the baseball columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. Long before I joined the Philadelphia Phillies as a player with a team he covered very closely, I would know his work, his name. He spared no one from his wide-ranging critiques. Luckily, I was exempted from his harshest words in part because I happened to be his late wife’s favorite player.

So when I heard about the allegations against him — that he molested a group of young girls and a boy (including his niece who came forward over the holidays) — I was certainly appalled and caught off guard. A controversy is now brewing about whether his award for journalistic excellence given to him by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011 should be revoked and Conlin stripped of his place in Cooperstown. Character matters, it is argued, and I agree. Yet as it pertains to the award, it isn’t that simple.