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July 3, 2008
Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)
Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat
JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron
July 2, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots
The Kosher Gourmet
By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!
JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life
July 1, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?
Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?
JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism
June 30, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world
Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?
JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child
June 26, 2008
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil
Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy
June 25, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies
JWisdom:
Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
June 25, 2008
Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists
Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?
JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III
June 24, 2008
Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge
JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence
June 23, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma
Jeff Jacoby: A world without children
JWisdom:
Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction
June 20, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation
Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week
JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
June 19, 2008
Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in
Chris Christoff:
Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub
June 18, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem
The Kosher Gourmet
by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups
JWisdom:
Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
June 17, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein
Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies
JWisdom:
Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron
June 16, 2008
Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?
Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'
JWisdom:
Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire
June 13, 2008
Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine
Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends
JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
June 12, 2008
Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad
JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron
June 11, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?
Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'
JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination
June 6, 2008
Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem
Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs
JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky
June 5, 2008
David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'
Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference
The Kosher Gourmet
By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread
JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
June 4, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'
Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus
JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler
June 3, 2008
Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East
Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel
JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher
June 2, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?
He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song
JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
March 27, 2008
/ 20 Adar II 5768
Detroit mayor's scandal has a sports page feel
By
Mitch Albom
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
DETROIT -- They call him the Hip-Hop Mayor, but that always has been misleading, for he is less a musician than a jock, with a jock's sense of entitlement, a jock's bully muscle, a jock's entourage, a jock's approach to women, and, most of all, a jock's eternal belief that he can fight his way out of anything.
Having seen enough sports scandals, the Kwame Kilpatrick mess feels all too familiar. First, like an athlete in hot water, he blames rumors. When it's proven more than rumors, he blames "haters." When it's proven more than haters, he blames the media. When it's proven more than media, he blames racism. When it's proven more than racism - when it's proven to be tangible, chargeable, real legal trouble - he gets the best lawyer money can buy.
So now Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in the biggest fight of his career, one that parallels many high-profile athletes who insist "they're out to get me." First, others take the fall, as happened with Michael Vick and Tonya Harding and Barry Bonds. Eventually the net tightens. And finally, we have a moment as we did Monday, where the star is fingerprinted and has his photo taken.
And his lawyers start talking.
The game must go on ...
Remember, Kilpatrick, the second-term mayor, was once a lineman for Florida A&M, captain of the football team. And having known and observed him for years, I have often thought he views himself like a superstar athlete, a member of the "in" crowd, entitled to star treatment, security, sleek vehicles, family members on the payroll. He does this while emboldened by a fervent "home" crowd that will love him simply because he wears the right uniform.
And, like some of the sports stars he often hugs and chats up, he feels the show cannot go on without him. The most maddening of all Kilpatrick's deceptions is that he is the only man who can run this city. He forgets there were mayors before him and there will be mayors after him. Certainly many people can run it better than him now, without the shadow of criminal charges and the daily drain of lawyers, worry and anger.
But Kilpatrick wants to play on, like Kobe Bryant with a sexual-assault charge, flying into court in the morning and back for a game at night, like Pete Rose, insisting he can still manage his team despite a Dowd Report that he gambled on baseball.
"I look forward to complete exoneration," the mayor said Monday. "... In the meantime, I will remain focused on moving this city forward."
As the famous quote goes, "A painter paints, a fighter fights ..."
Play ball.
And there is no endgame ...
The difference is, of course, that you are elected mayor by the people, you didn't sign a contract with a guaranteed salary. In sports, if you can perform, they'll pry open the vault, pull the fence out of the ground, because sports serves one master, winning, that is all that matters.
In public office, winning is only how you get there, not how you stay. There are different rules. Rules of behavior. Rules of ethics. As mayor, the word "honorable" comes before your name.
Which means you can't just wiggle out of a tackle, foul when the ref isn't looking, find a way to win and all is forgiven. Kilpatrick's predictable attempts to kill these charges by technicalities (How do you know I used the pager? Who says the text messages are admissible?) shows this is just about winning now.
But that should surprise no one. His arrogance is his armor. And any thought of this guy quitting for the good of the city can be trashed right now.
He is the quarterback with an entire football field to cover and 11 men in front of him, a jump shooter with six hands in his face and a parking lot between him and the basket. And still he believes he is entitled to survive, not just survive but to prevail, so he will run, leap, shoot with everything in him, and only history will judge him, perhaps as sad, perhaps as pathetic. Won't matter. In his mind, he's the king, he's entitled, he's doing what a fighter does. He's fighting. You'll have to drag him out by his ears.
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