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Ronn’s rabbis

By Ami Eden · July 11, 2008

After my earlier post on Ronn Torossian, he and I went back and forth over his interest in representing hip-hoppers and traditionalist/hawkish Jews. Here's what he sent me for the record:

I grew up in the Bronx passionate about a lot of things – Judaism and hip-hop amongst them. Today, I personally remain passionate about both Judaism and hip-hop.

I was the National President of the Betar movement for years, and spent days, hours and weeks protesting for various causes important to Am Israel (frankly as I joke with friends a lot more time doing that then in school from the age of 12ish till I graduated from college).... I am proud of the fact that I grew up in Rabbi Avi Weiss' shul and consider him a very very close figure to me on many levels. When I was married I had 2 officiating Rabbis - Rabbi Avi Weiss, and Rabbi Benny Elon, who at the time was a minister in the Israeli government. I continue myself [to be] very close to them today personally, as well as to many others who are traditionalists. We work with many traditional, conservative organizations and people.

Rabbi Pinto in fact visits my office regularly and will be here this week... There are pictures of the Chabad Rabbi in my office. I think anyone who knows me at all from the Jewish community is very familiar with my personal beliefs. A picture of Ze'ev Jabotinsky is also in my office.

Today, at the age of 33, I own a business - One which is one of the 25 largest independent PR firms in the U.S. We work with a wide variety of clients, from many walks of life. I am proud of the fact that we have 1 of the most diverse client lists in the U.S. It's hard, every day to build a business and work hard. People can challenge, question and destroy - A lot easier than building and working. We regularly turn down clients for many reasons.

0 Comments | Share This | Mishegaas |

No, that wasn’t really Rabbi Allen on our site…

By Ami Eden · July 11, 2008

Here's the fake quote attributed to Rabbi Morris Allen that was posted to the JTA site:

There is a war going on here, the war between the kashrut standards of Orthodoxy and Conservatives. For so long, Orthodoxy has controlled the "industry" and we see what has happened.

Tzedek will set a standard set by a committee and it will be certain to protect workers from abuse. An added benefit it that it will protect the IRS from being defrauded, because Tzedek will entail honesty on taxes as well.

We will give a pass to small stores where illegals work, but not large companies - that is to much leeway. If an owner has a housekeeper or nanny, he or she better be legal.

Then again, if these illegals are paid well and treated well, maybe it won't matter that they are illegal. This hasn't been worked out yet.

Meanwhile, the Agriprocessors matter should continue until we get what we deserve. Tzedek on out terms, Tzedek for our beliefs, and a Tzedek that we can regulate.

1 Comment | Share This | Agriprocessors, Kashrut |

Torossian: We are defending Kashrut

By Ami Eden · July 11, 2008

5WPR's founder and president, Ronn Torossian, just issued this statement about the controversy engulfing his company [UPDATE: This is the revised version that the company sent out a few minutes after the first one]:

While traveling earlier this week with my family out of the country, my IT department investigated accusations which we have now learned to be true. A senior staff member failed to be transparent in dealing with client matters. He has taken full responsibility.

We have been in business since January 2003 – and according to Odwyer's 2007 rankings our revenues exceeded $11.5M, and we are the 21st largest independent PR firm in the United States.

Growing companies often have problems in their expansion, and we continue to strive for the highest performance. We have instituted internal measures to ensure this cannot happen again. We continue to strive for the highest ethical standards.

This battle is not about blogging, it is however about protecting the highest levels of Kashrut in the Jewish community. We as a firm feel personally and professionally passionate about these, and related issues.

Critics of traditional Judaism have chosen to smear the largest provider of the highest level kashrut meat in the world. We stand with protecting kashrut.

And treif meat, too.

Seriously, though, one of the most intriguing aspects of this entire story is that 5WPR has managed to carve out two seemingly contradictory niches, representing both traditionalist Jewish groups and celebrities associated with the raunchier side of American pop culture (for example, Girls Gone Wild – that's Torossian on the left at the 28-second mark – and Lil' Kim). The media equivalent would be Fox, which has an entertainment division that has arguably done more than any other company to create the debased standards of decency on television that the traditionalist/conservative folks over at the news division love to rail against.

UPDATE: The Forward's Nathaniel Popper hit on this irony back a few years ago with this profile on Torossian.

0 Comments | Share This | Agriprocessors, Kashrut |

Joe Klein still fighting

By Ami Eden · July 11, 2008

Back in June, Joe Klein found himself on the defensive, after he argued that "the desire of a great many Jewish neoconservatives — people like Joe Lieberman and the crowd over at Commentary" to go to war with Iraq and Iran was raising questions about Jewish loyalties. He went back and forth with Commentary bloggers, including Jennifer Rubin, and exchanged feisty letters (here and here) with the ADL's Abe Foxman. He also was criticized by John McCain.

Well ... we'd like to update you on Round 2.

Klein recently took aim at a column by Rubin in the Jerusalem Post titled "Why more Jews won't be voting Democrat this year."

The Times columnist characterized Rubin as saying that "the most important thing for Jewish Americans to consider about Barack Obama is his policy toward Israel." And then...

"The real problem with Rubin's distorted view is this: the overwhelming majority of American Jews–except, perhaps, for the Commentary crowd – are far more concerned about what the next President has to say about the United States than about Israel. Rubin's description of the interests of American Jews is an embarrassment that plays into the worst antisemitic stereotypes."

Two problems with Klein's slam on Rubin.

First, she never suggested that the bulk of American Jews would end up voting for McCain over Israel-related concerns. In fact, she suggested the opposite:

That does not mean Obama will not carry the majority of the Jewish vote. Jews are overwhelmingly Democratic, and it is certainly the case that for many American Jews the secular liberal agenda takes precedence over everything else in presidential politics.

The second point is that did she say specifically say that Israel is "the most important thing" for Jews to consider when voting for president.

What she did say is that there are some Jews who believe Israel's survival is at stake, and that there is nothing in Obama's record to suggest that he will definitely deliver in a life-or-death crisis.

On the one hand, it's easy to understand why Joe Klein, himself a Jew, takes umbrage with what he feels are the efforts of conservatives to accuse him of anti-Semitism. But, at the same time, last time I checked, Rubin is an American, so maybe he should be a bit more cautious before painting her with the dual-loyalty brush.

His post leaves me wondering: If Klein thought Israel's survival depended on the actions of the U.S. president, and he concluded that a specific candidate could not be counted on to back up Israel, to what degree would that sway his vote?

5 Comments | Share This | Iran, Israel, Politics |

Shidduch emergency crisis

By Uriel Heilman · July 11, 2008

Shidduch vetting in the Orthodox world has gotten out of control, writes Tamar Snyder in the Wall Street Journal:

Just as the economy is headed to recession, the shidduch system is in crisis mode. Or so the rabbis moan, noting the surplus of women eager to marry and the corresponding shortfall in the quality and quantity of available Jewish men. It's not that there are more Orthodox women than men out there; experts instead attribute the shortage to the broader sociological trend of postponing marriage, which works to the disadvantage of women looking for spouses their own age or just a few years older. Men who are 30 will date women as young as 18 and may turn their noses up at dating any woman past the age of 25. The 20% or 30% of women who don't get hitched right away begin to worry they'll be left out in the cold for good.

3 Comments | Share This | community, Dating, Orthodox, Religion |