JustASC

A Rutgers-Eagleton poll says a majority of New Jerseyans believe marijuana possession should not be penalized at all,  and one-third would completely legalize its sale and use.

Here’s the Jewish angle: When it comes to making marijuana available for medical use by prescription, “virtually all Jewish respondents are positive.”  On each question, Jews are more forgiving of marijuana possession than other religions: 62% would eliminate penalties for the possession of small amounts;  69% agreed penalties for the use of marijuana should be reduced;  and 41% said the sale and use of pot should be completely legalized (compared to 33% of Catholics and 29% of Protestants).

It’s hard enough to get Jews to agree on anything. I see an opportunity here for synagogues and federations. Not to mention the Joint Distribution Committee.

Rabbi Dan Dorsch, the assistant rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, criticizes the Lakewood yeshivas that chose to hold school on Thanksgiving Day:

The decision of these yeshivot to hold school on Thanksgiving at all seems to reflect a poor overall strategy to emphasize the differences between Jews and the rest of the world, rather than taking this holiday as a rare opportunity to celebrate that which we do have in common. This is disappointing. There are so many ways that the Jewish people celebrate our uniqueness from other peoples of the world in what we eat, in how we pray, and how we learn. However, the American Thanksgiving holiday teaches us to recognize that the very ideas of being thankful and appreciation are not only “middot” (Jewish values), but ones that we strive for as Jews to encourage our entire world to embrace. Has it now come to the point where we will refuse to acknowledge a holiday that espouses our own values and that has its roots in our own Sukkot – because we have to be more different?

The Jewish Channel has a scoop about an Israeli ad campaign urging Israelis living in the United States to return home.

Two of the  three videos created for Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption take a negative approach to Jewish life in America. In one, an American granddaughter tells her saba and savta back in Israel that she celebrates Christmas; in another, an Israeli girl’s English-speaking boyfriend doesn’t understand why she is so upset on Israel’s Day of Remembrance for fallen soldiers (suggesting not only that there is a cultural gap between the two, but that said boyfriend is a bit of a moron).

Jeffrey Goldberg complains:

I don’t think I have ever seen a demonstration of Israeli contempt for American Jews as obvious as these ads. I understand the impulse behind them: Israel wants as many of its citizens as possible to live in Israel. This is not an abnormal desire. But the way it is expressed, in wholly negative terms, is somewhat appalling. How about, “Hey, come back to Israel, because our unemployment rate is half that of the U.S.’s”? Or, “It’s always sunny in Israel”? Or, “Hey, Shmulik, your mother misses you”?

I never got near a computer during the long Thanksgiving weekend, or I would have complained about three upsetting pieces in the New York  Times: Sarah Schulman’s bone-headed oped about how Israel uses its commitment to gay rights to “pinkwash” its treatment of Palestinians (a piece that could be summarized as “God forbid anyone says something nice about Israel”) and two, count ‘em, two articles in Sunday’s Review section about Israel’s ethical quandaries.

Taken in isolation, the Sunday pieces are justifiable: Jim Schachter writes a thoughtful essay about his family’s long distance debates over Israel; Gershom Gorenberg writes a searing indictment about  how settlers are aiming to “re-Judaize” neighborhoods in Israel and are thus “reimporting the message of Jewish-Arab struggle.” 

But it’s a big and troubled word out there, and you have to wonder why one small country would get so much attention — of the “Israel fails to live up to its democratic ideals” variety — in one section of one paper. (Not to mention the baffling headline some editor slapped on Gorenberg’s piece, “Israel’s Other Occupation.”)  

But of course, J.J. Goldberg got there first, dissecting Schulman’s piece and the Gorenberg headline, and asking the structural question that must be asked:

For Thanksgiving, a lovely story out of Jacksonville, Fla., about Marlene Aronowitz, an elderly New Jersey Jewish woman with developmental disabilities, and Dora Williams, the African-American woman who for decades has been her “caretaker, advocate and friend.”

 Dora and Marlene met when Dora worked at a facility for the disabled in Irvington, NJ. Here’s the twist: When Dora moved back home to Florida, she figured out a way to take Marlene with her:

When they got here, Williams wanted to take her into her own house. But she was finding it more difficult to look after herself, let alone someone else. So she scouted out nursing homes and picked the Signature HealthCare facility.

A couple of times a week, Williams takes her scooter there, cutting Aronowitz’s food and helping her to eat.

On Thursday, Aronowitz will go to Williams’ house for Thanksgiving. Everybody in the family loves her, Williams said. So they will all gather and give thanks.

“Even with all the ups and downs, I know God is on my side,” Williams said as they sat in the courtyard, telling their story.

“Mine, too,” Aronowitz said. “Mine, too, Ma.”

Bergen Record columnist James Ahearn writes about the school busing story in Lakewood, where Orthodox schools open on Thanksgiving had requested that their public school bus drivers work on the holiday:

Well, the Orthodox aren’t the first group of immigrants to look out for their own. And Lakewood hasn’t seen the acrimonious friction that developed in New York State when Orthodox Jews took over school boards in Lawrence on Long Island, in East Ramapo in Rockland County and in Kiryas Joel in Orange County.

Still, something valuable is lost when one faction in a community squares off against others and the outlook is for more of the same.

Get me rewrite.

First of all, the Thanksgiving story is not the best example of Lakewood’s Orthodox community “squaring off” against others. As Ahearn himself notes, “people involved are trying to fashion a common-sense solution” to the busing issue. (That leads to a rather icky headline, “No cause for thanks in South Jersey township.”) Ahearn is on firmer ground when he writes of an Orthodox-dominated school board that votes against spending increases that would benefit the public schools.

But because he hasn’t exactly thought through all the implications of his essay, and doesn’t speak to any of the Orthodox stakeholders in the town, it’s not clear what Ahearn is asking for. Implied is a warning and suggestion to Orthodox leaders that they think beyond their parochial interests as they wield influence in the town. I’ve written as much in the past. You can’t deny any group the right to wield influence in a democracy, although you can call on them to embrace a larger vision of community. As Orthodox communities both grow and turn inward, they risk alienating their neighbors, ignoring the needs of others, and (here’s the self-interested part) creating a hillul Hashem – that is, desecrating God’s name in front of the gentiles.

But like I said, this sort of argument is only implied in Ahearn’s piece. At the pshat level, as a Talmudist might say, he just sounds grumpy and fed up with those people, and provides fuel for the extremely angry people who tend to comment on Lakewood stories in the Asbury Park Press.

As a Jewish newspaper editor, I have more leeway in criticizing fellow Jews — it’s an inside conversation. Ahearn would have done himself and his readers a favor by talking to some Jewish leaders and observers, perhaps those who have worked with Lakewood leaders on perception issues and share his view, as I do, that the Lakewood model is a troubling formula for democracy and community relations.

It would have given him some cover, and deepened a shallow and potentially inflammatory piece.

UPDATE: Who is Ahearn calling “immigrants”? Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the folks from Lakewood are overwhelmingly American-born, if I am not mistaken — or at least no more “immigrants” than any other American population. I think he means “ethnic group.”

Oy.

This ad could be seen from the West Side Highway in Manhattan. ADL was all over it, and the company, New York-based Panache, apologized.

The company web site explains that its signature vodka is a product of the Polmos Bialystock distillery in Eastern Poland. Luckily, it is a region of the world that few associate with anti-Semitism.

(Photo via Gawker.)

The Times reports on plans, inspired by the High Line, to develop a subterranean park beneath Delancey Street. Wags have already dubbed it “The Low Line.”

Given Delancey Street’s history, why not “The Chai Line”?

The Associated Press reports on a “naturally occurring retirement community” program sponsored by my publisher, United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ:

About 10 miles northwest of Newark, Verona has roughly 13,300 residents nestled into less than 3 square miles. There’s a transportation network that takes older people on shopping trips and to medical appointments, and the town is benefiting from a $100,000 federal grant to put in place an aging-in-place program called Verona LIVE.

Administrated by United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey, the program strives to educate older people about available services to help them address problems and stay active in the community. Its partners include the health and police departments, the rescue squad, the public and public schools, and religious groups.

Among the support services are a home maintenance program with free safety checks and minor home repairs, access to a social worker and job counselor, a walking club and other social activities. In one program, a group of middle-school girls provided one-on-one computer training to about 20 older adults.

The saga of Heath and Deborah Campbell, the New Jersey couple who named their kid Adolf Hitler Campbell, continues: they lost custody of their fourth child 17 hours after he was born

The Express-Times of Lehigh Valley, Pa., reports:

Their family gained publicity in December 2008 after ShopRite in Greenwich Township refused to decorate a birthday cake for their son, Adolf Hitler Campbell, because of the boy’s name. He and his sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, have been in foster care since child services officials removed them from the Campbell home in January 2009.

Their new brother, Hons Campbell, was born about 2 a.m. Thursday at Hunterdon Medical Center after a doctor induced labor Wednesday evening, Deborah Campbell said. She said the doctor who delivered the baby called the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, and DYFS officials arrived with police officers and hospital security guards about 6:50 p.m. Thursday to take the baby into custody.

-snip-

In past court filings, the agency says the couple’s other three children were in danger because of previous violence in the Campbell home.