JustASC

JTA eulogizes Irving J. Shulman, the entrepreneur whose Elizabeth NJ discount store grew into the Daffy’s chain:

Irving J. Shulman, the retail entrepreneur whose discount clothing store chain moved onto Manhattan’s tony Fifth Avenue promising “bargains for millionaires,” died March 25 at 96.

Shulman died just short of the 50th anniversary of the opening of his original store, Daffy Dan’s Bargain Town in Elizabeth, N.J.

The family-owned chain, now with 17 stores in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and with plans to open in Times Square, had $150 million in sales in 2009, said company chairman Marcia Wilson, Shulman’s daughter.

Tomorrow night I’ll be leading a discussion after a screening of “Brothers” at the New Jersey Jewish Film Festival. Director Igaal Niddam’s film portrays Israel’s religious-secular split through the relationship of two long-estranged brothers, one a kibbutznik, the other an American-trained black hat and attorney.

The screening is Thursday, March 31, at 7:30 PM at the JCC MetroWest — Maurice Levin Theater.

Oy, the marketing for Miral just gets worse and worse:

The Weinstein Co. has been promoting “Miral,” which opens in limited release Friday, with a graphical print and online advertisement featuring a striking red-and-black image of Pinto, which Schnabel said he shot himself, accented with a barbed-wire Star of David surrounding her eye and a bold tagline declaring it’s “the movie they tried to stop.”

 ”I know a good line when I hear it,” Harvey Weinstein said in an email when asked about the ad. “Seriously, though, it is true that attempts were made to halt the premiere at the U.N., and I did find that sad and troubling. Our ultimate goal is to get people to see ‘Miral,’ a movie we love and believe in, and one we think can promote valuable dialogue.”

True, some Jewish groups objected to the film being shown at the United Nations, calling it a reflection of the organization’s bias. As far as trying to block wider distribution of the film? Please.

I haven’t seen Miral, Julian Schnabel’s “pro-Palestinian” movie, but it’s advertising campaign is enough to annoy me.

 “Is this the face of a terrorist?” No. It is the face of a beautiful Indian actress named Frieda Pinto. But even if this were a documentary, and the woman in the poster were a Palestinian, and even if she WERE a terrorist, it’s still a stupid question. It’s not their looks that makes terrorists terrorists. It’s the fact that they, well, commit terror. I am sure there are some very beatufiul people who commit terrorism, and some very ugly ones, as well a some very light-skinned people who commit terror, and many dark-skinned people.

There is also something lookist about the ad – as if to say, can someone this beautiful be a killer? I wouldn’t want to base a security strategy on that assumption. Would Schnabel?

My local Shop-Rite offers this very unfortunately named product.

Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac investigates an eruv battle in the Hamptons, embarrassing its secular Jewish opponents (and more gently ribbing traditionalists).  The Orthodox Union should send him a fruit basket by way of thanks.

From MSNBC:

A bus explosion in Jerusalem has caused dozens of casualties, police said Wednesday.

Scores of ambulances converged on the area near the central bus station and a city conference hall in a Jewish neighborhood of downtown Jerusalem, Reuters reported, citing Israeli TV and radio.

People were lying on the ground and taken away on stretchers, according to The Associated Press.

The explosion appears to be the first bus bombing in several years and comes amid rising tension between Hamas militants and Israel.

NJ Jewish federations in Bergen County, MetroWest and Union county are dissolving their public advocacy partnership, two years after it was announced.

In May 2009, the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, and UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey formed a regional Jewish community relations council. The goal was to increase the federations’ clout in lobbying for Israel, Jewish issues, and interfaith affairs, while trimming costs.

The federations announced today the patnership is being dissolved as the result of “demographic realities, differing communal priorities, and significant organizational changes.” As one insider put it to me, it was a “noble experiment” that didn’t work out.

The full statement follows the jump: (more…)

The Star-Ledger’s Bob Braun reports on growing anger over the push for charter schools:

Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, is nothing like the small Raritan River suburb of Highland Park. Yet both communities are divided over the same issue: charter schools. In recent weeks, arguments over the publicly funded but deregulated — some say privatized — schools have packed school board meetings and led to angry words.

It could be just the beginning as boards, their state aid cut, try to balance their budgets while paying for a growing number of charters they say siphon off students and money.

-snip-

“This may be a fight here now in Highland Park,” said Wendy Saiff, president of the town’s school board, “but eventually, it’s going to affect everyone in the state. A lot of communities don’t realize it yet.”

She made the remarks while presiding over a meeting where residents vented feelings about Tikun Olam, a proposed Hebrew-language charter high school. The state twice rejected the school’s application, but state officials are working with its proponents on a third application.

The anger at the Highland Park meeting was restrained.

So let’s say you’re watching a mixed-martial arts match and need to explain to your Yiddish-speaking friend what’s going on. Rutgers University prof Eddy Portnoy provides a glossary of “Yiddish terms for specific ass-kicking techniques.”

Writing for the on-line Jewish magazine Shtetl, Portnoy, a professor of Yiddish, provides a list of fight terms found in a 1926 essay by a little-known scholar named Hershl Grinboim. “Even in 1867,” writes Portnoy, “dozens of Yiddish words and phrases existed that dealt with fighting.”

A sample:

Unterkletzl: also Puterpletzl and Benkele: a strong knee in the ass.

Araynforn: as in, “araynforn in pisk arayn,” meaning, to elbow someone in the jaw.

Barne: a closed-fisted hit on the head with the knuckle of the middle finger raised. Known in English as a noogie.

Bukh: a punch in the side.

A bintl finger: literally, “a bundle of fingers.” a punch in the mouth. Not to be confused with the Forverts’ A bintl brif (A Bundle of Letters) column.

A bentsh: to smash someone in the head with a piece of wood, or some other item. Literally, “a blessing.”

Der gubernator: “the governer.“ To take one’s thumb and jab it under a person’s ribcage, or into his side.

If this turns out to be a Purim parody, I’m going to give Portnoy such a bukh!