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May 22, 2013

John Thorne: They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman

John Rosemond: 'Disciplinary math' adds up to parental successl

Warren Richey: Are prayers before public meetings OK? Supreme Court to decide
Rick Montgomery: Use of ADHD drugs as study aid raises concern on campuses

Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.: 6 convincing reasons you should keep carbs in your diet

Eoin O'Carroll: Scientists examine nothing, find something

The Kosher Gourmet by Carole Kotkin: This soup is made from one of the great pleasures of spring: A wonderful pairing of rosy color and earthy tang

May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting

May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review July 3, 2009 11 Tamuz 5769

Will we never learn?

By Suzanne Fields


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What a fortnight this has been for observing the human animal in his natural habitat. We're reminded daily of the clay feet, the wounded psyches, the angst of the exploiters and the anger of the exploitees. Their behavior runs the table, from naive foibles to deep, tragic flaws, linking the venal with the vulnerable. All is writ large in headlines about money, sex and power.


Like the beat-beat-beat of the tom-tom, like the tick-tick-tock of the stately clock, the drip-drip-drip of the raindrops (with apologies to Cole Porter), a voice within keeps repeating, "Why, why, why?" We want reasons why our cultural icons can move so quickly from the spotlight of center stage to hidden places among the shadows of the wings, there to reveal lives lived most scandalously.


We watch with fascination when men on stilts feed our fantasies, but there's nothing left but frustration and disappointment when we witness the witless and wasteful repeating the stupid mistakes of those who fell before them. We're inevitably teased into looking for explanations elsewhere.


Achilles had only his heel to worry about. (Our heels impose larger worries.) The arrow pierced Achilles' heel, but not before he could show an honorable side. He rose above mistakes made through anger, greed and pride, and his myth lives inside the history of literature larger than life-size. How puny our fallen titans look by comparison. No myth can be written small enough to suit.


When Bernard Madoff stood up to be punished for the pain his greed had inflicted on so many, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin imposed the maximum 150 years of imprisonment. The judge called his crimes "extraordinarily evil," and the cries of universal agreement sounded like the chorus in a Greek tragedy. But do we examine ourselves as we examine him or merely dismiss self-examination as "there but for the grace of G-d go others"?


Dante links the notion of greed to the biblical warning that the love of money is the "root of all evils." In his "Inferno," Dante puts the greedy together with the hoarders who give nothing to their neighbors. The tightfisted and the ravenous wolves are destined to keep bumping into each other as they endlessly push a boulder in the fourth circle of hell. They spend the afterlife in eternal conflict: "Ill-giving, ill-hoarding, lost for them the light of the bright world and in this scuffling caught."


Too bad so many of the charities that benefited from the "profits" earned by Madoff are either out of business or greatly diminished in their ability to help others. Who will make up for those losses?


When Madoff turned to face his victims in the courtroom and spoke of his life as "tormented" by his cruelty, his victims were unmoved. The news that his wife cries herself to sleep every night, consoled only by the $2.5 million she will be allowed to keep, impressed no one — and certainly not his victims, who cry themselves to sleep every night, too. Would the Madoffs shed tears of remorse if they hadn't gotten caught? Dante is merciless toward the greedy; less condemning toward the lustful.


So, too, the public reaction to the misdemeanors of our randy politicians, such as the adultery of Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina. But for his remarkable press conference and continuing interviews, in which he looks more a fool than a sinner, he might have earned greater public sympathy.


Human frailty is fathomable — and forgivable. Though the state briefly was left leaderless for love, South Carolina survived his absence. By printing the private letters between the governor and his mistress, the press looked even more prurient than usual. We felt sullied by reading them, but read them we did. Who among us would not take pleasure in being addressed as Beloved (and who among us would not feel foolish if an intimate letter to a beloved was held up for public entertainment)? This was not correspondence between Antony and Cleopatra, but the media were the asp in the grass.


Michael Jackson is a moral tale well told before — a talented man who dies before ripening into maturity. By all accounts, he long ago snuffed out his talent with drugs and an obsession with cosmetic surgery that exposed the qualities of the outer man as something less than skin deep. The stick figure he left behind was pecked to death by the hordes of freeloaders at Neverland. He could moonwalk better than anyone else, but where ultimately did the walk take him?


"For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever was," Dante wrote, "(it) never could buy repose."


Will we never learn?

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