Glynis Ann Ritchie has a touching essay in The New York Times’ style section about how she, a starry-eyed American Jewish girl, fell for a hunky Israeli soldier on a Birthright Israel trip. Though the Israeli turns out to be part of the parade of callous men that Ritchie says “opened up my chest, scooped out the contents and tossed them into the trash,” he does leave her with something positive and long-lasting: a healthy self-image.

The Boston Globe’s report Q & A on with a doctor, Norman Spack, who offers sex-change operations to children struggling with “cross-gender feelings,” takes a Jewish turn.

In the interview, Spack discussed how his Jewish faith informs his work. His response: “My own rabbi said it best: The transgendered are also created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.”

The comment drew a rebuke from a conservative activist, Brian Camenker:

Camenker takes personal affront to that response. “Being Jewish myself, it’s a tremendous embarrassment that he would try to claim that Judaism has any connection at all to this kind of demonic and lunatic behavior — because it doesn’t,” he states.

UPDATE: In my rush to get this post up, I mixed up the links, leaving people with the — incorrect — impression that I was siding with Camenker. My only aim was to note that the doctor’s comment about his rabbi was irking a Jewish conservative who opposes his work. Sorry about the initial screw-up, but I disagree with those out there who think that there was something wrong with citing the exchange.

Ha’aretz peeks behind the curtain of a beauty salon where Haredi women come to indulge (modestly) in a guilty pleasure:

The Ye’elat Chen beauty salon, managed by Larrie, has been operating for 24 years in Jerusalem, not far from Mea Shearim and Kikar Shabbat. The side entrance on the main street is suited to women who want to steal in without being seen. Behind the simple door a surprise awaits. A pleasant and aesthetic space divided into cubicles. Several rooms have a secret exit to the salon’s backyard. They are meant for the wives of leading Hasidic rabbis, women from extremist Hasidic sects, along with several female MKs who have heard about Larrie. In other words, all those who have to maintain their privacy.

There is nobody more expert than Larrie when it comes to social sensitivities. “Sometimes a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law come to us, or a sister and her sister-in-law,” says Larrie. “Neither of them knows that the other is being treated at the same time. It’s not legitimate to talk about it. We understand that the name of the game is discretion.” …

The Israel Policy Forum has published an article heralding the recent arrival in Washington of a delegation of security experts consisting of three Palestinian women (Amal Jadou, Enas Nazzal, and Haitham Arar) and three Israeli women (Israela Oron, Eynat Gepner-Goldstein, and Etty Yevnin).

An all-female joint delegation consisting of an Israeli general and two colonels alongside officials of the Palestinian interior ministry is unusual enough. But what made this group stand out was not gender, but the message—from a group of established security professionals—that military means alone will not bring security to Israelis or Palestinians.

They maintained that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not one where victory is decided on the battlefield between uniformed soldiers, but rather it is a dispute fought within civilian communities.

Memebrs of the delegation stressed that women are “often on the first line of defenses for families and the first victims of failures in security.” In addition, they assume formal security roles.

Israeli women have always been required to serve in the military or an auxiliary service, while the first group of Palestinian police women only recently completed their training. …

Greater participation of women is one fundamental aspect of making sure that security concerns are not only handled by military forces, but involve civil society as well. Just as women are more likely to admit when they need to ask for directions, former Brigadier General (ret.) Israela Oron said in a talk she gave in Cambridge, they are also more likely to say when a new approach is necessary. That approach is negotiating toward peace. And “Peace,” Oron said “is the only way to achieve security.

The image on the left is plastered all over Seattle-area synagogues, plus the local Jewish newspaper. But it’s too hot for the Seattle Times. On the right is the image on the Web site of the Seattle chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women.

And, to think, it was only a few years ago that Seattle’s Jewish Federation wouldn’t let Leonard Nimoy show all of his Shekhina photos.

Back in August I moderated a panel discussion at the 92nd St Y titled “The Evolving Landscape in ‘New’ Jewish Media.” My favorite moment came when I asked Rebecca Wiener of Heeb if it was fair to say that her magazine had made its mark by pushing the envelope on sex.

She blushed, and seemed genuinely perplexed over why I would think such a thing.

Well here’s the latest cover (that’s a tube of K-Y Jelly in Jonah Hill’s hand)…

Hey, Rebecca, what do you call that? Pushing the envelope on bagels?

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The real shanda over at Heeb is that the offices there (so we hear) were closed for Columbus Day, but staffers needed to use vacation days to take off for Rosh Hashanah.