JustASC

This week in the New Jersey Jewish News:

A preview of Super Tuesday: Barack Obama talks to the Jewish press; what college activists are thinking; Canasta Ladies for Clinton

Teens face lawsuit in cemetery attack. Plus, when is an attack on a Jewish cemetery not a hate crime?

Second thoughts on Orthodox-bashing: I respond to readers who felt I went soft on wrong-doing by Orthodox Jews. An excerpt:

As a matter of Jewish law, mesira reflects the fear - well-founded in Jewish history - that informing to the secular authorities will only shame the Jews, and worse. But critics suggest it can be used as a way to cover up wrongdoing. One of the angriest responses I received came from a writer who was educated in Orthodox schools. He railed against a religious system “which openly disdains western civilization and the rule of law, and which settles its own disputes through corrupt courts that lack all transparency.”

If this were only the criticism of a few disgruntled outsiders, I would hesitate to print or discuss it. But there’s no use pretending that this is not a debate within Orthodoxy itself.