This year’s Forward 50 list is out, which means plenty of Jewish machers and shakers are smiling — or, in the case of those who didn’t make the cut, grumbling. We’ve put together our own panel of experts to weigh in on the list (and invite you to chime in via the comments section below, where we’ll hopefully be carrying on the conversation for a few days).

It’s worth reading the full descriptions of each Forward 50 selection. For now, here are the “Top Picks” on the list: Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s pick for attorney general; Elyse Frishman, the rabbi who edited the Reform movement’s new prayer book; Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow, the creative minds behind “Knocked Up” and “Superbad”; Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and philanthropist with a new foundation reportedly set to dole out up to $200 million per year, and Peter Deutch, the former Democratic congressman whose now working to create a movement of Hebrew-language charter schools.

First my thoughts:

If, as the Forward claims, the list really is about recognizing those who “are doing and saying things that are making a difference in the way American Jews, for better or worse, view the world and themselves” — where are the authors of perhaps the two most debated essays of the year: Noah Feldman and Alvin Rosenfeld.

Certainly in Orthodox circles, no article generated more debate and sermons than Feldman’s essay in the NYT Mag, in which he paints his yeshiva high school as primitive for allegedly leaving him out of a reunion photo and not publishing his family announcements because he married a non-Jew. In general, intermarriage may seem like an old story, but in many ways it still is the story in American Jewish life — and, however flawed, Feldman’s article was the focal point of the issue this year.

And where is Rosenfeld, who sparked a national controversy with his essay, “‘Progressive Jewish Thought’ and the New Anti-Semitism,” published by the American Jewish Committee? Coupling him with Cecilie Surasky, of Muzzle Watch, would have been a good entry addressing the raging debate over whether the Jewish Left is defaming Israel or the mainstream Jewish community is stifling all criticism of Israel.

I loved the culture picks, all very smart, but not thrilled with the idea that telling a few Jewish jokes in two movies merits a Top Pick for Rogen and Apatow. (While we’re on the topic, far be it from me to take issue with YIVO or the brains at the Yiddish Forward, but the word is s-h-l-u-b.) Much more significant on the cultural front, I think, is Michael Chabon’s increasing focus on the Jewish condition. He’s on the list, but is more deserving of being in the “Top Picks” than Rogen & Apatow.

Enough quibbling. Overall, the list is great, and anyone with an interest in Jewish life would do well to give it a thorough read. I’ll end with praise for one of many smart picks: Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, the top Chabad guy on the West Coast. The choice is strong on two levels: It speaks to the fact that Chabad is taking over the world — and that it is doing so because of the people on the ground, not back at some headquarters in New York.

Now for the guest experts: (more…)

Hadassah, the largest Jewish women’s organization, wants you to know: it has launched a campaign to circumcise men.

That must be one engrossing pamphlet.

UPDATE: Just to be clear, the campaign (aimed at reducing AIDS in Africa) is a good thing. It was the photo that made us smile (and cringe).

Noah Feldman doesn’t like that his high school’s alumni newsletter won’t publish his mug and/or family milestones becuase he married a non-Jew?

Good thing he wasn’t born a Syrian Jew …

[The Syrian Jews] of Brooklyn are bound by an invisible fence known as the Edict — a rabbinical threat of excommunication so dire and so powerful that it has fixed the true parameters of the community for generations.

The Edict was issued in Brooklyn by five Syrian rabbis in 1935. They had a simple goal: to preserve the age-old Syrian Jewish community in the New World. … It proclaimed, “No male or female member of our community has the right to intermarry with non-Jews; this law covers conversion, which we consider to be fictitious and valueless.”

A 1946 clarification added specifics: “The rabbi will not perform Religious Ceremonies” for such unkosher couples. “The Congregation’s premises will be banned to them for use of any religious or social nature. . . . After death of said person, he or she is not to be buried on the Cemetery of our community . . . regardless of financial considerations.”
With these words, Chief Rabbi Jacob Kassin effectively excommunicated any member of his flock who married a partner with gentile blood.

Big vote tonight in Lexington, Massachusetts, as Armenian-American activists and their Jewish allies press ahead with their campaign to get municipalities to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League.

Much more on this later (both a JTA story and some blog posts).

At this point, however, I’d like to focus on the wider geo-strategic fallout if Nancy Pelosi acts on her vow to bring a resolution to the floor that would use the term genocide to describe the World War I-era massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.

Jewish groups have been warning that the resolution could damage U.S.-Turkish relations, Turkish-Israeli relations and endanger the Turkish Jewish community. Armenian activists and their Democratic allies in Congress have scoffed at or essentially ignored these concerns.

Now that the resolution has been approved by the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, Turkish officials are bouncing off the walls. Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the U.S. for “consultations” and is seeking parliamentary approval for raids into northern Iraq against Kurdish forces accused of carrying out terrorist attacks.

But Pelosi and the resolution’s other Democratic backers are standing firm.

The irony here is that usually it has been many of these very same Democrats criticizing President Bush for failing to let practical concerns temper his ideologically driven foreign policy. The Bush administration, critics love to say, was naïve and blind when it came to the realities of Iraq, thinking American forces would be greeted by flowers rather than an insurgency and a sectarian civil war.

Well, now, even as Turkish officials ratchet up their threats, Democrats are still taking a “what me worry” approach.

Pelosi: “This isn’t about the Erdogan government. This is about the Ottoman Empire.”

Tom Lantos: “The Turkish government will not act against the United States because that would be against their own interests.”

For my taste, it sounds a bit too much like “The Iraqis will greet us with flowers and let all use their oil money to pay for everything.”

Is it too much to ask that lawmakers supporting the measure at least say something like: “We are supporting this measure even though it could damage ties with Turkey and spark some sort of military action in northern Iraq.”

The Professional Leaders Project is planning a big conference — dubbed ThinkTank3 — at the end of October for future Jewish bigs in their 20s and 30s.

From a news release on the event: “The typical profile of [a conference participant] is having an advanced degree from one of nation’s top schools, being of high net worth, and having the drive and talent to improve and lead society.”

Wonder where the meeting is being held for potential Jewish leaders with state-school degrees and middle-income jobs.