JustASC

Douglas Martin, in the New York Times, wrote a wonderful obituary for proto-rapper Rudy Ray Moore, which included this great line about his greatest cultural contribution:

Most critics refrained from overpraising “Dolemite,” with the possible exception of John Leland, who wrote in The New York Times in 2002 that it “remains the ‘Citizen Kane’ of kung fu pimping movies.”

“Most critics refrained from overpraising ‘Dolemite….’”  That is genius.

Larry Yudelson contributes an essay to the NJJN on McCain and “Judeo-Christian” values — and asks what’s so Judeo about them:

I got an unhealthy dose of the language of Judeo-Christian values when I set out to critique conservative columnist David Klinghoffer’s book, How Would God Vote: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative.

On issue after issue, what Klinghoffer touted as a “Judeo-Christian” ethic was in fact a Christian concern, pure and simple.

NJJN also published a piece by Klinghoffer a few weeks back, saying Sarah Palin  mixes religion and politics in a way that was once a “basic axiom of the Jewish worldview.”

Now that’s how to say goodbye: In it’s article announcing that Stephen Pollard has been named editor of London’s Jewish Chronicle, The Guardian recalls the farewell column he wrote for the Daily Express after philanthropist Richard Desmond took over the paper in 1991.

Check it out here, and be sure to pay attention to the bold-faced letters.

This story, about the demise of new Jewish publications, is sad and ominous.

People who know the publications that have failed say that they confronted the same difficult financial conditions facing many publications nowadays as advertising revenue moves on to the Internet. In addition, many of these Jewish ventures relied on deep-pocketed benefactors who have been hit hard during the recent economic downturn. But none of that blunts the disappointment of the failed high hopes that created these publications.

Ben Smith reports that Obama’s campaign, angry over the Republican Jewish Coalition ads in Jewish newspapers, has barred its Jewish surrogates from debating representatives of the RJC:

“The Obama campaign has established a rule that, as a result of the dishonest campaign tactics of the RJC, its official advisors are no longer authorized to debate RJC representatives,” wrote Mel Levine, an Obama supporter, to an RJC official in an email. “I do believe the policy decision is correct, in light of the RJC’s dishonest tactics and assertions throughout the campaign. The campaign has authorized its official representatives to debate any legitimate McCain surrogate.”

Here’s JTA’s backgrounder on the RJC ad controversy at Jewish weeklies, and here’s the editorial we carried defending our decision to carry the ads.

Remember Bruce Jay Friedman? In the mid-1960s, it wasn’t unusual to hear his anxious, Jewish fictions mentioned in the same breath as those of Philip Roth. He wrote the play “Steambath,”  and co-wrote “Splash” and “Stir Crazy”; “The Heartbreak Kid” was based on one of his stories, and ”The Lonely Guy” was adapted from his book of humor.

NJJN’s Ron Kaplan catches up with the still-busy author on the publication of a new collection, Three Balconies: Stories and a Novella (Biblioasis):

After all these years, he still recalls the trauma of attending Hebrew school, his introduction into the Jewish community.

“The instructor hit me across the face with the Five Books of Moses for whispering to the guy next to me,” Friedman said, amazing himself with the memory. “Mr. Kaminetsky…you don’t forget that kind of name. I’ve thought about that for years and I ended up sympathizing with the poor man. Who knows what kind of pressure he was under.

“I always feel if I had one guiding individual to take me through what the religion was all about and get me interested, my life would have been a bit different.”

JTA reports on what Jesse Jackson did or did not say at the World Policy Forum last week:

Sources close to Jackson said some of the quotes in Taheri’s article were fabricated – Jackson never used the term “Zionists,” for instance, they said.

It was not clear if Taheri claimed to be in the room when Jackson made his remarks, or if others had reported the remarks to Taheri.

Taheri has a controversial past. Some of his writings on his native Iran have been debunked by experts as based on fabrications and distortions. Canada’s National Post apologized for his 2006 report that Iran’s leaders planned to force Jews to wear yellow insignia after the claim was proved unfounded.

Let’s hope a transcript or recording emerges so we can judge who said what and to whom.

And when the results are in, let’s also debate to what degree it matters what Jesse Jackson says in this campaign.

Hemp yarmulkes? Organic kishke? NJJN’s Johanna Ginsberg has a fun story about a family’s environmentally friendly bar mitzva:

Hackman worked with caterers and a chef at the hotel to ensure the food was locally sourced and organic. They brought in local beer, and organic vodka and scotch; they served wild-caught sea bass and free-range organic poultry and meat. Even the mini-hamburgers for the kids were made from organic meat. Most of the produce was locally sourced and organic as well. It helped that the affair was held at the end of August.

National Review columnist Mona Charen writes a cranky piece about Sarah Silverman’s “Great Schlep” video and its coverage in the New York Times. Charen argues that Silverman is a prime example of a “non-Jewish Jew who substitutes liberal politics for religion.”

Forgetting the political part, Charen has a definition of Jewishness that might surprise some rabbis (including Silverman’s sister), Jewish historians, and about, oh, a few million secular Jews in Israel and the Diaspora (mind you, Silverman never says in the interview that she is “not a Jew” — that’s Charen’s [counter-factual] interpretation).

Writes Charen:

As Silverman admits in the Times profile, she isn’t really Jewish. Though she comes from a Jewish background and can pronounce a few Yiddish words, she is not a Jew. “I have no religion. But culturally I can’t escape it. I’m very Jewish.”

Maybe from the point of view of the Times she is. And certainly because she claims Jewish ancestry, she gets a blanket immunity from the charge of anti-Semitism – and apparently from the charge of racism as well.

Oh, that gullible New York Times, which seems to have swallowed whole the idea that someone born of a Jewish mother who declares herself “very Jewish” is actually a Jew. Next time they should consult Rabbi Charen.

My daughter becomes a bat mitzva in a month, and my wife and are basically freaking out about how much needs still to be done, and the expense of even the relatively modest celebration we have planned. (To keep costs down, we’re thinking of a cash buffet. Would that be so wrong?)

Somehow, this from today’s New York Times made me feel better:

“In the last couple of weeks, since the bottom fell out of the market, we’ve seen people become more reticent to sign commitments for some expensive venues,” said Joseph Todd St. Cyr, director of Joseph Todd Events, which plans weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs for clients whom he describes as nonshowy, sophisticated Park Avenue types.

“I had one client who was ready to book the Plaza for a wedding, but now he wants to know what are his other options and whether the Plaza will back down on its minimum spending requirement, which runs about $80,000 to $100,000 for a prime Saturday night date,” Mr. St. Cyr said.

“Bar and bat mitzvahs in this town had become a little bit of a show. There’s a little bit of outdoing the Joneses and the Cohens,” he added, noting that typical parties, if devoid of appearances by N.F.L. superstars or the Black Eyed Peas, range from $150,000 to $400,000. [Emphasis added]