Afghanistan's last Jew vows to stay put

CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Zablon Simintov is always guaranteed the best seat in his local synagogue here, but the privilege comes with a downside: he's the last Jew in Afghanistan.

The country's 800-year-old Jewish community -- an estimated 40,000 strong at its peak -- is now a party of one. [...]

British Anti-Semitism: Review of "Trials of the Diaspora"

NYTimes

Anthony Julius has written a strong, somber book on an appalling subject: the long squalor of Jew-hatred in a supposedly enlightened, humane, liberal society. My first, personal, reflection is to give thanks that my own father, who migrated from Odessa, Russia, to London, had the sense, after sojourning there, to continue on to New York City.

With a training both literary and legal, Julius is well prepared for the immensity of his task. He is a truth-teller, and authentic enough to stand against the English literary and academic establishment, which essentially opposes the right of the state of Israel to exist, while indulging in the humbuggery that its anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. Endless boycotts of Israel are urged by this establishment, and might yet have produced a counter­boycott of British universities by many American academics, whether Jewish or not. However, under British law the projected boycotts may be illegal. The fierce relevance of Julius’s book is provoked by this currently prevalent anti-Semitism. [...]

Gay father,surrogate mother & Jewish identity

Haaretz

A homosexual father of twins who were born to a surrogate mother in India is being denied permission to enter the country with his infant sons. The move stems from a family court's refusal to issue a standard legal order that would pave the way for the children to obtain Israeli citizenship.

For the past two months Dan Goldberg and his twin sons, Itai and Liron, have been staying at a Mumbai hotel, awaiting permission from the Jerusalem Family Court to proceed with a paternity test that would determine whether he is indeed their biological father. [...]

Lag BOmer at kever of Rema - 70 years ago

BHol

תיעוד היסטורי: כך חגגו בקרקוב לפני 70 שנה

סדרת תמונות נדירות מתעדת את עליית יהודי פולין לפני השואה, אל קברו של הרמ"א בקראקא, ביום ההילולא - ל"ג בעומר • התמונות, המדהימות בחדותן, מנציחות את התפילות, האווירה, והקבצנים

Rav Sternbuch: Jewish Education

Arabs who saved Jews during Holocaust

Middle East Channel




PBS

Did any Arabs save Jews during the Holocaust? That's the question author Robert Satloff had in mind when he set out to discover the lost, true stories of survival, courage and betrayal in Arab lands during World War II. The history of the Holocaust in Europe is well-documented, but the history of what happened to the Jewish people of North Africa has been mostly forgotten, even in the very towns and cities where it occurred. The truth is remarkable: not only did Jews in Arab lands suffer many of same elements of persecution as Jews in Europe -- arrests, deportations, confiscations and forced labor -- but there were also hopeful stories of "righteous" Arabs reaching out to protect them. [...]

Teacher vs curricula: Determining what works

Newsweek

Since holding teachers responsible for student performance is now all the rage, from the White House to the political right, let us do a simple thought experiment. Imagine an amateur baseball league in which team owners dictate which bats players use. The owners try to choose the best, but the research on bats is so poor, they have to rely on anecdotes—"Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs with maple!"—and on manufacturers' claims. As a result, some teams wind up using bats that are too heavy, too fragile, or no better than a broomstick. Does it make sense to cut players who were forced to use ineffective equipment? [...]

Grandmother goes to jail for slapping foul mouthed granddaughter

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Israel: Jews often disagree with leaders

NYTIMES

Criticizing Israel has long been the equivalent of touching a third rail in many Jewish families and friendships, relegating disagreements to a conversational demilitarized zone where only the innocent and foolhardy go.

“You cannot really engage in that conversation,” said Phillip Moore, a teacher in this Detroit suburb who has embraced strong opinions on many topics in his life — on politics, education, even religion — but avoids the subject of Israel at gatherings of his Jewish relatives.[...]

Incidence of child abuse skyrocketed during recession

Children's Hosptial of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA - May 1, 2010 -

The number of cases of abusive head trauma in children has increased dramatically since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, according to a multi-center study led by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Results of the study are being presented by lead researcher Rachel Berger, MD, MPH, on Saturday, May 1, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. Dr. Berger is a child abuse specialist and researcher at Children's Hospital's Child Advocacy Center.[...]

IDF reports serious abuse of soldiers by officers

Haaretz

The annual report of the IDF Ombudsman, which was served to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, has revealed serious cases of mistreatment of soldiers inside the Israel Defense Forces.

The report included cases of abuse and humiliation of IDF soldiers by their commanders and inadequate medical treatment in IDF medical clinics.

The Ombudsman report revealed that 6,100 complaints were lodged by soldiers against their commanders in 2009, a decrease of 400 complaints from 2008. Of the 6,100 complaints lodged, 60 percent of the complaints were found to have merit by the IDF Ombudsman. [...]

Interview with HaRav Ruderman, zt"l

Neil Harris wrote to anther list

I recently found a great website, closetotorah.com that is hosting a recording of R Ruderman zt'l, a talmid of Slabodka, being asked questions about the Alter.
The link is:
http://www.closetotorah.com/archives/627
 
I found it to be quite revealing and blogged about it, as well, here.

 

Abuse - Israeli PTSD expert on Time's list

YNET

Prof. Edna Foa, clinical psychologist who developed treatment methodology for post-traumatic stress disorder following second intifada, named one of world's 100 most influential people. 'There were people who hadn't functioned 30 years and were able to function within two months,' she tells Ynet [...]

Historic Conference about Abuse in Summer Camps

VINS

Brooklyn, NY - At an unprecedented meeting in Flatbush last night, directors of thirty six summer camps met to discuss the issue of child molestation in summer camps, bringing to the forefront an issue which, unfortunately, does occur in Jewish summer camps, but more often than not is quietly ignored. This marks, perhaps, the first time the issue of sexual abuse in summer camps has been openly addressed on such a large scale. The meeting was spearheaded by Beth Kaplan, director of Sacred Lives, a small and relatively unknown that deals with child molestation in the frum community. Dozens of camps catering to the yeshivish and Chassidic communities signed on for this initiative.[...]