The New Standard — “Central Ohio’s largest Jewish circulation newspaper” — reports on the closing of the Bexley Kosher Market.

The good news: The local Kroger plans to open extensive kosher operation.

MTV has produced two Holocaust awareness ads as part of its “Think” initiative.

THE FAMILY ROOM

THE SUBWAY

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.

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. …

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.

During her acceptance speech at the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, Madonna reflects on writing her first song in an abandoned synagogue in Queens (4:45) and quotes some Talmud (6:15).

Ali Jarbawi, a political science professor at Bir Zeit University, argues in the Lebanon Daily Star that the best thing for Palestinians would be to dissolve the Palestinian Authority and press for a one-state solution: (more…)

The Jeffersonian, Baltimore’s business newspaper, reports on a Jewish recovering drug addict and the community’s efforts to draw attention to the issue:

Samantha Schroeder’s life revolved around heroin for nearly a decade. The Pikesville native stole money from the bank where she worked and became a prostitute, watching her life deteriorate as she struggled to keep up with a $250-a-day addiction.

Her story echoes countless other stories of drug abuse. But because she is Jewish, many may see her as an anomaly.

“My grandmother would always say, ‘I bet you are the only Jewish person in Narcotics Anonymous.’ If she only knew!” said Schroeder, now 37 and free of heroin for almost 10 years.

The perception that Jews are more immune to the perils of substance abuse is one that Jewish leaders have been trying to change. Schroeder, who has spoken around town in connection with Baltimore-based Jewish Addiction Services, recently told her story at a March 2 sisterhood brunch at Reisterstown’s Temple Emanuel.

Israeli television takes a look at intermarriage in the United States:

Remember Commentary’s “World Terrorism Wall Map” giveaway? Now, in Slate, Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger take a look at Israel’s growing terrorist-tourism industry:

So, what can a country do when its tourist industry is eclipsed by terrorism? The answer, it seems, is to market terrorism to tourists. In perhaps one of the strangest twists of Middle East politics, terrorism is being used to lure visitors back to Israel. Our itinerary—which promised participants such highlights as an “observation of a security trial of Hamas terrorists” and briefings on “the realities of Israel’s policy of targeted killings” — was not, at first glance, for the casual visitor. But in a way, it was. Israel has a long tradition of combining tourism and lobbying. Most famously, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave a helicopter tour to George W. Bush during his 1998 trip to Israel while Bush was still governor of Texas. The two hit it off, and the visit is widely credited with reinforcing Bush’s sympathy for Israel’s security situation.