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May 9, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Reverence, Yes; Worship, No

Mona Charen: Did Israel Drive Out the Arabs 60 Years Ago?

JWisdom: Ultimate opportunities by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

May 8, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Israel at 3,500+

Jonathan Tobin: Still Fighting the Same War

Steven Plaut: How ‘nakba’ proves the fiction of a Palestinian Nation

JWisdom: Taking Israel for Granted? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

May 7, 2008

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Israel is irrelevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Dion Nissenbaum: Latest Olmert scandal could derail efforts to force Israel's compromises

JWisdom: My Inner Ventriloquist by Sara Yoheved Rigler

May 6, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: Anti-Zionism at 60

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: In honor of Israel's 60th anniversary, the former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with a smorgasbord featuring the taste and essence of the Jewish homeland

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Jewish Deer in Nazi Headlights

May 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Busy work

Jonathan Mark: Remarkable half-century old Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban puts current anti-Israel sentiment into perspective

May 2, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Rote religiosity

Caroline B. Glick: Whitewashing Hamas

JWisdom: Parent trap?

May 1, 2008

David Zwiebel: Faith communities can learn from Orthodox Jews in stimulating private philanthropy for religious education

George Friedman and Peter Zeihan of Stratfor: The Shift Toward an Israeli-Syrian Agreement

JWisdom: It's time to wake up by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis

April 30, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Pennsylvania's Democratic slugfest may leave some Jewish votes up for grabs

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Fresh herbs, sauteed veal and tiny creamer potatoes makes a light spring dinner

JWisdom: How to Build a Mentch by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 29, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama's Muslim Childhood

Joel Brinkley: On human rights, the U.N. once again strikes out

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: When The Truth is Unbelievable

April 28, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I'm often stuck in the doctor's waiting room for hours! Doesn't he owe me something for my wasted time?

Steven Emerson: New U.S. government policy advises agencies to avoid using some of the very same words that make up terror groups' names

JWisdom: Why You & I Never Die: A Jewish View of Immortality, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

April 25, 2008

Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg: Schadenfreude isn't kosher for Passover --- or at any other time

Rabbi Berel Wein: The secret of how the data bank of memory is transferred from one generation to the next

JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part III

April 24, 2008

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The successful failure

Fred Burton and Scott Stewart of Stratfor: Placing the terrorist threat to the food supply in perspective

JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part II

April 23, 2008

Connie Ogle: An intricate game of a novel

Jonathan Tobin: Making Sense of the 'J Street' Jive

JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen

April 22, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Why Israel's 'Leaven law' matters

Caroline B. Glick: Obama the Savior

April 18, 2008

Rabbi Harvey Belovski: Multimedia tool of antiquity

Caroline B. Glick: Revealed Truths vs. revealed lies

JWisdom: More than miracles by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

April 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Deconstructing Dayeinu

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: Is innovation at the Seder a slap at tradition?

JWisdom: Discovering Your Divine Mission, Part III by Rabbi David Aaron

April 16, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: A Prayer for Sderot's Children

Ethel G. Hofman: Sumptuous Seder

JWisdom: The Divine is in the details by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 15, 2008

Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Let Charlton Heston Go!

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Jimma, tyranny's enabler

JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part IV by Dr. Lisa Aiken

April 14, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: The Snitching Supervisor

Jonathan Tobin: Forget the Fun and Games!

JWisdom: Sincerity is Valued Most by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D.

April 11, 2008

Rabbi David Gutterman: A Mystery in the Middle East

Caroline B. Glick: Why Ahmadinejad smiles

JWisdom: Elevated illness by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

April 10, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing by George Friedman: A Mystery in the Middle East

The Kosher Gourmet By Steve Petusevsky: The spring elegance of asparagus

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: The Power of Rational Lies

April 9, 2008

Michael Feldberg: An all but forgotten Colonial doctor who put his Jewish values before his life

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's "Everything's Relative" gets philosophical

JWisdom: Four Rabbis in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 8, 2008

Caroline Glick: Covering for the enemy

Elliot B. Gertel: 'House' goes Hasidic

JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part III by Dr. Lisa Aiken

April 7, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I have a translating business. Recently someone asked me to translate some financial documents that are clearly forged. Should I agree?

Jonathan Rosenblum : Israel is unwittingly helping to fuel the international campaign of delegitimization against it

JWisdom: Matzah and leaven as a life philosophy by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D.

April 4, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The Mystery of Suffering

Caroline B. Glick: Fear of democracy

JWisdom: Dirty Jews by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

April 3, 2008

Rabbi Y. Y. Rubinstein: Parents --- and the children who would be them

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: Tempted by restaurant dressings? Don't be. Here are recipes that can be made at home, healthier!

JWisdom: The importance of retaining a 'slave mentality' by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

April 2, 2008

Mitch Albom: Child abuse, disguised as faith

Jonathan Tobin: Unreasonable Accommodations

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith with Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Eliminating Jewish Influence over Germans

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!)

Jewish World Review Oct. 18, 2007 / 6 Mar-Cheshvan 5768

Let's hear it for the old fogies

By Suzanne Fields


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience. — Oscar Wilde, dead white man


The celebrated English wit was right, and usually in the past adults weren't afraid to be old fogies, ready to shake an index finger at childish behavior. It was about helping the young grow up with a sense of responsibility. But somewhere in the last half of the 20th century a permissive culture put the children in charge. The wisenheimers who four decades ago vowed never to trust anyone over 30 are themselves over 60 now, but the residue of that permissiveness lingers still. It hurts the underclass most of all.


This is hardly news to anyone paying attention. The '60s generation that rebelled against the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is still triumphant in the popular culture dictated by Hollywood, where men in tuxedos show up for formal occasions in tennis shoes, without ties. The rich and famous can always get away with such things. The underclass has less wiggle room, and their rebelliousness is considerably more off-putting than their fashion in dress (though baggy prison pants doesn't do them any good).


What is news is that two prominent black men are now speaking out in a fresh way, calling for an end to what has come to be known as ghetto culture. We're not talking about Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, purveyors of the victim scam. The prophets for change are Bill Cosby, the entertainer, and Alvin Poussaint, the professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Their new book is called "Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors."


Bill Cosby, famous for his television sitcom depicting an ordinary middle-class family, a kind of black "Father Knows Best," focuses now on blacks who haven't cracked the middle class. He's gone from acting to preaching, and he's delivering a powerful sermon he heard from a pastor in Wilmington, Del.


This pastor, Cosby told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," talks about discipline through "shakedown." In a prison shakedown, guards go through the cells to search for drugs and crude handmade weapons. Rev. Derrick Johnson, who is also known as Pastor D, tells his congregation to call a "shakedown" of your child's room: "Your child didn't buy that room, your child's not paying rent. You're trying to keep your child from being murdered, from going to jail. Look under his mattress, make sure your kid doesn't have a gun. Look into materials on the wall. What is your kid talking about? Is it dangerous? This is part of love, and this is what we have to do, regardless of race, color or creed."


Bill Cosby moves from the room to the culture. He demands an end to obscene lyrics that degrade women, that endlessly recite the "N-word." When white ladies offered a similar message more than 20 years ago, they were excoriated by Hollywood glamorosos as do-good censors. Here's Bill Cosby 20 years on: "The N-word is a vile symbol of our oppression by slave masters." It's no more acceptable for blacks to use it than for whites. He tells of a friend whose record producer asked him to write rap about rape. "You're talking about my mother," the writer said. "Well," the producer responded, "if you don't want to write it, then I'll get somebody else who will."


Gangsta rap may make a young black man feel tough, Bill Cosby observes, "but not so tough he can walk through prison walls." It can "jazz" young men into sexual passion, but it can't make them good fathers.


It has not been easy to say such things in public without inviting sneers and scorn, and Cosby and Poussaint have taken their share of ridicule and disdain. But they sound like grown-ups with common sense, offering advice to children that will ultimately turn into dollars and cents. They prescribe teaching standard English as a first language, even suggesting that blacks watch "My Fair Lady." Speaking properly lends confidence and competence. The new path requires a fundamental change of the walk and the talk, of attitude: "Blaming white people can be a way for some black people to feel better about themselves, but it doesn't pay the electric bills."


Art and morality are often at odds. Artists push the envelope of civility and decency. But we live in an age where the mark of the lowest common denominator misleads the most vulnerable among us. "Come On People" isn't just about blacks. It's a cry for all of us to get our act together. It's about time the culture grew up.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


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