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David Landau: Did you ever think the press may have a point about Israel?

By Ami Eden · March 13, 2008

At the closing session of the of London Jewish Book Week, outgoing Ha'aretz editor David Landau suggested that instead of spending so much energy criticizing the media, pro-Israel activists should be asking if the press has a point when it puts forward comparisons to apartheid.

Listen to the audio clip or read an account of the talk (which also involved Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger).

Landau has generated plenty of controversy this year, by reportedly telling the U.S. secretary of state that Israel wants to be "raped" and boasting at a conference in Russia that his newspaper had "wittingly soft-pedaled" alleged corruption by Israeli political leaders who were pushing the peace process.

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Hey, Crystal, you’re no Gary Rosenblatt

By Ami Eden · March 13, 2008

With baseball writers buzzing this week about comedian Billy Crystal's short stint with the New York Yankees, Jewish Week editor Gary Rosenblatt picked a good time for a column on his own stab at spring training glory:

As spring training moves toward Opening Day, rekindling in baseball fans everywhere the flickering and foolish hope that this could be the year for their team, I share with you my own story of child-like dreams rubbing up against reality. It's a saga I like to think of as My (Almost) Magical Inning.

In this case it was the Baltimore Orioles (who went on to win the World Series that fall). And while it's true that it was a spring training exhibition game, not a "real" game, and

it took place in a rundown ballpark in Miami, not Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, and it was to be in a "B" squad game, not an "A" squad game, and it was only for a fraction of the game, not the whole game, still — to play on the field with your heroes, in uniform, who wouldn't jump at this chance of a lifetime?

So when a well-placed friend arranged for this to happen (long before Baseball Fantasy Camps became a booming business for affluent, grown-up kids), I flew down to Miami from Baltimore, excited and nervous, and clutching my weather-beaten fielders glove. ...

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The Luck of the Irish Jews

By Ami Eden · March 13, 2008

The Connecticut Jewish Ledger has an article taking a look at how Irish Jews around the world mark St. Patrick's Day.

The Lower East Side

The Loyal Yiddish Sons of Erin were a group of Irish-Jewish immigrants in New York City who, at least through the 1960s, would celebrate St. Patrick's Day with green matzo balls. The Sons were actually Irish-born descendants of Polish and Lithuanian Jews who had stopped off in Ireland for a brief period on their migratory path to the U.S.

Ireland

David Briscoe experienced the day differently while growing up Jewish in Dublin as son of Lord Mayor Ben Briscoe and grandson of the city's first Jewish Lord Mayor, Robert Briscoe.

"Irish Jews enjoy the day like everyone else and ensure it is a day to join in the celebration of Irish unity and culture," says the associate professor of medicine at Harvard. "On a personal note, I plan to arrange a day of Irish music and dance for several of my colleagues to celebrate Irish culture."

Israel

David Briscoe experienced the day differently while growing up Jewish in Dublin as son of Lord Mayor Ben Briscoe and grandson of the city's first Jewish Lord Mayor, Robert Briscoe.

"Irish Jews enjoy the day like everyone else and ensure it is a day to join in the celebration of Irish unity and culture," says the associate professor of medicine at Harvard. "On a personal note, I plan to arrange a day of Irish music and dance for several of my colleagues to celebrate Irish culture."

Plus a list of prominent Irish Jews.

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