JustASC

The Star-Ledger editorializes against a Hebrew Language Charter High School:

The state’s priority needs to be protecting that option in the urban districts, and that means it should take care to avoid provoking opposition in the suburbs by approving charter schools where they are not needed.

Take, for example, a Hebrew language charter proposed for New Brunswick. If approved, it may accept students from the largely Jewish suburb of Highland Park, provided it doesn’t get enough from Edison or New Brunswick.

It’s a good example of a charter plan that should not be approved. No, there is nothing wrong with a public school that teaches Hebrew, or a charter for suburban kids. Good districts can be complacent about their offerings, and language immersion may be better.

The real issue is that this charter has failed to make a compelling case that it’s needed — or even wanted. Too many questions remain unanswered. Why are the mostly black and Latino students of New Brunswick best served by a Hebrew school? Why does Highland Park, which already has a successful high school offering Hebrew and plenty of private Jewish schools, need a Hebrew charter, too?

Besides, another Hebrew charter opened last year in East Brunswick and has yet to prove itself. Shouldn’t we wait to see if that K-3 school successfully expands up to eighth grade as promised, before opening a second one for older students?

Many families that want their kids to learn Hebrew are paying tuition at private schools today. If all this charter accomplishes is to transfer kids from a private school to one paid for by tax dollars, how is that addressing an unmet educational need?

Read our story about the latest developments here.

Business Insider lists Bibi Netanyahu seventh among “The 19 Smartest People The World Has Ever Seen.”

Citing what appears to be a reader’s comment to a Caroline Glick article (and what could be any more definitive than a reader’s comment on a Web site?), B.I. says the Israeli p.m. “is alleged to have an IQ of 180.”

Topping the list, by the way, are Microsoft’s Paul Allen, physicist Stephen W. Hawking, and chess grandmaster Robert Byrne.

It was my mother of blessed memory who would say to me, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” (I got my sense of self-esteem from her.) Insert your own version about Bibi here.

UPDATE: I started poking around to find out if there is an original source for the claim that Bibi has an IQ of 180, but most of the links take you to the same “alleged to have” references as B.I. Two intriguing tidbits, however: Citations referring to Ehud Barak as the Israeli prime minister with the 180 IQ!

The first is from the May 30, 1999 issue of Newsweek, which refers to Barak as “the tough little Sabra with the chest full of medals and the 180 IQ.”

The second is from a 2003 edition of something called “Newsmakers,” from Gale Research. It writes of Barak, “his lack of interest in education seemed to stem from boredom, since his IQ was measured at an impressive 180.”

Barak’s alleged smarts have been a theme of his career. A 1999 profile of Barak from the Jerusalem Post Service describes Barak’s skill as a classical pianist, and reports that he has ”a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a master’s degree in economic engineering systems from Stanford University.” His favorite hobby is “taking apart watches and putting them back together.” 

Of course, Bibi has architecture and business management degrees from MIT.

But unless Israel has had the good fortune to be governed by two prime ministers with an IQ of 180, there seems to be some confusion out there that I don’t have the IQ to unravel.

From the Washington Times “Communities” site:

LOS ANGELES, December 28, 2011–On this final day of Hanukkah, the epilogue of a proud Jewish holiday is fused like melted candle wax with the epilogue of the Republican Jewish Coalition 2012 Presidential Candidates Forum.

Hilarious “marketing” campaign from the publishers of the Biographical Dictionary of Yiddish Writers in the Soviet Union:

CONGRESS FOR JEWISH CULTURE REPORTS BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED SALES FOR “BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF YIDDISH WRITERS IN THE SOVIET UNION”

 

BREAKING OF SALES RECORDS FOR FEWEST BOOKS SOLD NOW IN DOUBT

 

PUBLISHER WILL INCREASE PRICE

 

Dear Colleague:

 

The new “Biographical Dictionary of Yiddish Writers in the Soviet Union” is doing a lot better than expected, according to Shane Baker, executive director of the Congress for Jewish Culture, the book’s publisher.  Since its November 1 publication date, the Dictionary, perhaps the most obscure and esoteric publishing project of the 21^st century, has sold almost ten copies.

 

Because of this sales spurt, the book — a 464-page lexicon containing biographical and bibliographical information on 487 Yiddish writers who published in the Soviet Union — has shot up the Amazon Best Seller ranking from its initial 1,737,771 ranking all the way to 1,488,683.  In the Yiddish reference category it has leapt to 51 from a dead-last 56.

 

“We might run out of books at this rate,” reports Baker, who is planning on raising the price to $65 (from $49.95) as of January 1 in an effort to control the demand.

 

With Chanukah in full gear, interest seems to be spiking.  The book, which memorializes the contributions to Yiddish literature of writers who were persecuted and even murdered, takes on added meaning at this time of year, according to Baker.  “Chanukah, the festival of lights at the darkest time of year, celebrates the minority’s struggle to maintain its values and identity when all is seemingly lost. These writers deserve the recognition we are giving them, by shedding light on what they accomplished under adverse circumstances.”

NJJN has a new blog — Kahntentions, written by our regular columnist, Kean University political science prof Gil Kahn. Gil will be writing about the convergence of U.S. politics, global affairs, and Israel.

Today Gil writes about the failure of U.S. and South Korean spy agencies to pick up on the fact that Kim Jong-il had died until two days after the fact. Some spooks may lose their jobs, but hey — maybe the North Koreans didn’t want to upset us:



More on that 12-year-old kid who told Chris Christie that the “Jewish community … controls the township of Springfield and its School Board.”

It turns out that the boy’s father, Devendra Makkar, is a political gadfly in Springfield who runs something called “Citizens for Democracy.”  He maintains a number of blogs, including “Attorney and Judge Corruption,” which details his legal disputes with various Springfield developers, including members of the Wilf family, who are prominent Jewish philanthropists. Something about stopping a construction project near Wilson Road. (Elsewhere a “Dave Makkar” posts photos of the site, saying it is “under destruction by Zionist Zygi Wilf.”)

Devandar “Dave” Makkar also announced a Senate run here.

Another blog, bullyingbyeducators, details the incident that his son was asking Christie about. It includes a somewhat incomprehensible account of the alleged bullying incident involving the boy — from “the minority Hindu Indian community of Springfield” — and two other kids, including “Mike from the preferred community” (I assume he means Jews). From what I can tell, Makkar’s son played along when one kid told another that he belonged on a “special bus” that would pick him up at midnight.  

It also reprints the statement the boy began reading at the Christie town hall meeting. It includes the same incomprehenisble account of the bullying incident, and continues:

My [School] Supervisor Michael Plias says I have done bullying and he forced me to write I bullied Joshua to be funny and cool. For Mike Mr. Plias is saying Mike realized after speaking with him that what Mike said to Joshua was wrong. If I have done bullying according to Mr. Plias how come Mike who made the actual comment and initiated the incident has not done bullying? Just because he is Christian he has not done bullying and myself being a Hindu has done bullying by saying “Yeah there is” to Joshua from Jewish community that controls the township of Springfield and its School Board.

The rest of the blog is peppered with references to the “All Jewish Board” and the “Rulers [sic] Jewish community.”

Apparently there is some history here (no kidding, right?). The blog continues:

This is the second time the Jewish Leadership of Springfield has racially discriminated Surya Makkar. First time they racially discriminated him when he was only 5 years old and was not in a position to even understand what is racial discrimination. A Jewish women Officer …  from Springfield PD almost pulled out her gun to stop Student 3 and his 9 years old sister from entering the Court room during recess to meet their mother on the orders of an attorney …. Unfortunately the Leaders of Jewish community were using [a Jewish judge's] Court room as picnic room during recess; eating, drinking and loudly talking to each other. This judge knowingly that she has 2 underage children kept their mother past midnight…

And so on.

The blog also includes what appears to be the Springfield Public Schools’ official report on the alleged bullying incident. If authentic, it sounds like someone’s anti-bullying radar was tuned way too high — the kids appear to be ribbing each other (ranking out was the term of art in 1974) in a fairly innocuous way.  (NJ educators have been complaining that the state’s new anti-bullying law has gone overboard). 

I don’t think there is much more to this story than one family’s sadly inappropriate and ugly response to what could well have been a frustrating incident. I just pity the administrators and state officials, including Christie, who have to wade through all this.

A.P. reports on Gov. Christie’s unusual town hall meeting in Spotswood, NJ, which included rather rude and inappropriate frank and honest questioning from audience members. Here’s an example, as a 12-year-old kid channels Borat: 

After an hour, Christie seemed relieved to have picked a 12-year-old boy from Springfield to ask the last question. When the boy started reading from prepared remarks, Christie seemed even more delighted: “I made a good choice. He is reading the question!” Christie exclaimed.

The boy went on to ask the governor to decide if he really bullied another student, but Christie’s amusement was visibly lessened when the boy went on to suggest he was singled out by the Jewish community that he said controls his town and school board.

The Star-Ledger has more details:

For his last question, Christie called on Surya Makka, a student at the Florence M. Gaudineer Middle School in Springfield, who calmly explained how the “Jewish community that controls the township of Springfield and its school board” unfairly targeted him under the state’s Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying law.

The boy was accompanied by his father, Devendra Makkar, who handed out copies of the boy’s statement.

The governor stopped the boy after a few minutes [or] two and said that as a former United States Attorney, he took discrimination seriously and would look into the matter.

What the hell? I suppose the proper response to the kid would have been, “Let me stop you right there, son — you insult this forum, my office, and me personally when you try to pit one ethnic group against another.” But I’ll give Christie some leeway — who expects to call on a kid and a get an anti-Semitic tirade, unless that kid is Eric Cartman?

Tablet touts Allison Hoffman’s new piece on Obama and the Jews saying his support is “sagging among a key Democratic voting bloc,” although the evidence she provides for this decline is a little skimpy and anecdotal.

But the story is not a report on poll numbers as much as it is a game plan for the president to win back Jewish votes:

This, ultimately, will be how Obama will win the Jews: not with lawyerly responses and tactical reasoning, but by matching the emotional appeal his opponents are trafficking in with the same kind of uplift that carried him to the White House in the first place.

In other words, the “kishkes factor,” which I (first, I believe) identified in a 2008 column that Allison is kind enough to cite in her piece.  Just the support I need to get the folks at Merriam-Webster to come around and recognize my singular contribution to the Judeo-political vocabulary.

Tom Friedman takes a mulligan:

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman told The Jewish Week Tuesday that he regrets writing in his Dec. 13 column (“Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir”) that the standing ovation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received in Congress this year “was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”

“In retrospect I probably should have used a more precise term like ‘engineered’ by the Israel lobby — a term that does not suggest grand conspiracy theories that I don’t subscribe to,” Friedman said. “It would have helped people focus on my argument, which I stand by 100 percent.”

“Engineeered” vs. “bought and paid for.” Yes, that will appease his critics.

Coming up next on “Who’s Sorry Now?” — Newt Gingrich says the Palestinians aren’t so much an “invented people” as they are an “engineered populace.”

Happy Chanukah! I intend to celebrate with an ancient Jewish ritual — attending a board meeting. I will be looking for deliverance at, oh, 8:30 or so.

Enjoy!