Caroline Kennedy: the Daring Swimmer

The Times profiled Caroline Kennedy on the occasion of her nomination as ambassador to Japan, "Caroline Kennedy, Catching the Torch".

In the article we read about a surprising facet of her life. She is an avid open water swimmer.

...A few years ago, Mr. Hughes made an offhand comment that he and his partner, Dr. Richard Friedman, a psychiatrist who directs the psychopharmacology clinic at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, made a ritual of competing in Swim for Life, a 1.25-mile event in Provincetown, Mass, that raises money for AIDS and women's health charities. "She said, 'Oh, I'd really like to do that,' " Mr. Hughes said.

And so, Ms. Kennedy did. "She just showed up and changed in a gas station and came out and did the race," Mr. Hughes said. "It was pretty choppy, and she did a terrific job. I'm happy to say I beat her. But just barely."

Last year, Mrs. Kennedy and her daughters Tatiana and Rose joined Mr. Hughes and Mr. Friedman in Turkey for another swim, this time a 3 1/2-mile race across the Hellespont, which takes entrants from Europe to Asia.  "Lord Byron went in with a disabled leg and came in with a much faster time than we did," Mr. Hughes said. "But it was extraordinary. It was one of the most terrifying things I've ever done."

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Is Edward Snowden Jewish?

Okay, fine. New Yorker bloggers debate whether Edward Snowden is a hero or a villain:

• Jeffrey Toobin: Edward Snowden Is No Hero
• John Cassidy: Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero

But what we want to know: is Edward Snowden Jewish?

We will go out on a limb here and, even lacking firm evidence, based on his bio, we will say, no, Edward Snowden is not a Jew. 

US News on NBC news reports: "Born June 21, 1983, he grew up in Wilmington, N.C., but later moved to Ellicott City, Md., he told The Guardian. His mother, Wendy, is the chief deputy clerk for administration and information technology at the federal court in Baltimore, a court official told NBC News. His father, Lonnie, is a former Coast Guard officer who lives in Pennsylvania, the Allentown Morning Call reported. A neighbor said he has an older sister who is an attorney."

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Is Jonathan Krohn Jewish?

No and yes. According to the Times, the young (former) conservative is being brought up as a Christian. So no, definitely Jonathan Krohn is not Jewish by religion.

Update: At 17, Krohn was doing teshuvah - repenting his conservatism - i.e., he adopted liberal ideas and went to study philosophy at NYU. MSNBC reported in the video clip below, wherein Lawrence O'Donnell lauded him for converting to the "bright side".

Update 2: The Times reported on Krohn: "The Growing Pains of Jonathan Krohn" (4/28/2013)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As to his religion, according to the Times, Jonathan Krohn's mother was Jewish before she converted to Christianity. According to Jewish law, Jonathan is a Jew. Appropriately, the Times is silent on the issue of whether his Baptist parents gave him a bris. It seems the young Christian conservative did not have a bar mitzvah but he did get a present,

He received a computer from his maternal grandfather for his 13th birthday. “In the Jewish culture in which my mom was raised, 13 is a big deal,” he said. “But since I’m a Jewish Christian, I don’t do a bar mitzvah.” (Decades ago, his mother became a Baptist.)

Even in parentheses, the fact that the boy has a Jewish mother, makes him a (latent) member of the tribe. In 2009 we said: We do envy this young man who has concluded at such an early age that the world is precisely the way it should be, that progress is not needed, that government ought to be curtailed and that Rush Limbaugh is NOT a big fat idiot. We wish we had learned all that by the time we were 14. Even now we are struggling to rid ourselves of the desire for progress and the esteem with which we hold those who dedicate their lives to public service in the quest for better government and leadership in our country. //reposted from 3/8/09 because this little feller is finally talking a bit of sense//

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Is Julius Genachowski Jewish?

Yes, Julius Genachowski is a Jew.

Barack Obama named Genachowski as Head of the Federal Communications Commission in 2009. He announced his intention to resign in March, 2013.

Several news reports confirmed that, "Mr. Genachowski, attended yeshiva through high school and studied in yeshiva in Israel before going to Columbia... His parents are immigrants who survived the Holocaust."

Calling him a "Talmud Ace," The Forward reported:

Julius Genachowski was born August 19, 1962, to Adele and Azriel Genachowski. He grew up in Great Neck, a Long Island suburb, in a family that attended the local Young Israel. He attended Orthodox day school at North Shore Hebrew Academy and summered at Camp Raleigh. His high school was the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, which is part of Yeshiva University. Though he says he cut classes to play basketball, he won the Talmud award.

Genachowski spent a year after high school studying in Jerusalem at Yeshivat HaKotel, where he and his peers practiced “learning, discussing, questioning each other, even the possibilities of different points of view,” he recalled. “One of the things that you take away from learning Talmud, learning Gemara, is that two or three brilliant people can look at the same passage and have different interpretations and views, each of which makes a lot of sense, but they’re not all consistent. So I enjoyed that.”

Today, Genachowski attends Sabbath services regularly at Adas Israel, Washington’s largest Conservative synagogue.

He is the cousin of Rabbi Menachem Genack (we assume shortened from Genachowski), rabbinic administrator and CEO of O.U. Kosher, an Orthodox rabbi with liberal political views.

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Is Jack Lew Jewish?

Yes, Jack Lew is a Jew.

President Obama has nominated him to be the secretary of the treasury.

JTA reports:

Will Republicans let Lew get to Treasury? | JTA - Jewish & Israel News

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Is Brian Schatz Jewish?

Yes, Brian Schatz, the new US senator from Hawaii, is a Jew.

JTA reports:

Hawaii's governor named his Jewish lieutenant governor, Brian Schatz, to replace the late Daniel Inouye in the U.S. Senate.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, on Wednesday named Schatz, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party, to replace Inouye, who died last week.

Schatz, 40, lists his religion as Jewish on his Facebook page.

...Inouye, who was a pro-Israel leader in the Senate and who once considered converting to Judaism, had told Abercrombie that his preferred successor would be U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii).

Inouye's office said it was "disappointed" but wished Schatz the best of luck, the Associated Press reported.

Schatz will serve until 2014, when there will be a general election for the seat.

Schatz brings to 11 the number of U.S. Senators who identify as Jewish.

All are Democrats, except for Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Additionally, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) does not identify a religion but notes that his mother is Jewish.

Hat tip to Henry, David and others...

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Mazal Tov Barack - Obama's Victory Speech

From NPR audio and transcript of Obama's excellent victory speech.

JTA reports on an exit poll that shows Obama garnered 69 percent of the Jewish vote, down from the 74-78 percent he received last time.

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Video: Mitt Romney's Mormon Religious Belief: There will be "a war that's coming in to kill all the Jews"

See this video clip. As part of his Mormon faith, Mitt Romney believes that there will be "a war that's coming in to kill all the Jews" (at about 1:35 in the video) and that Jesus will come to "split" the Mount of Olives to stop it and then he will reign in Jerusalem and Missouri.



Mitt gets defensive, argumentative and testy in this interview. It makes me worried and uncomfortable to hear that this man believes Jesus will come back and protect "all the Jews". I'd rather have a mainstream Protestant president like Barack Obama who supplies real sophisticated armaments to Israel.

Vote for Obama - Biden.

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Vote for Barack Obama for re-election

We endorse Barack Obama, not just because we have a son named Barak. We believe in his politics and policies.

Although we expect Barack to win by a big margin, it is important that you go out and cast your vote for him.

This Times op-ed by Haim Saban makes a good case for Obama's support for Israel.

Obama's convention acceptance speech was inspiring.



We need a visionary liberal political leader in the White House. We do not need a CEO for the USA who sure would distribute more wealth to the wealthy and cut off costs and benefits from more and more workers.

We endorse Barack Obama for re-election.

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Walk away from the illusion of conversation

We like the analytic mode of discourse. It is more Talmudic. So a while back we noted the use of the concept "illusion of competence" that someone employed to describe what happens when you practice at a golf driving range. When you later go out an play you find that how you do in practice has weak correlation to performance on the course.

In today's Times two academics published an op-ed that used the notion “illusion of explanatory depth,” calling it "an idea developed by the Yale psychologist Frank Keil and his students."

This essay describes research that separates real explanation and understanding from what we used to call "double talk", i.e., when someone explained the incomprehensible with additional incomprehensible or non-related ideas.

There is so much of that going around in this political season, more than we can ever recall. We resigned from political conversation of any kind this year because of that and because of one other concern, namely the utter rudeness and obnoxiousness of the discourse of this campaign.

We said to a right wing friend yesterday at a wonderful Shabbat Tea social event, that we would not engage with her in political discussion this time around because of the rude and obnoxious talk coming from both side of the aisle.

Apparently, that balanced criticism was not sufficiently clear or acceptable to her. She immediately responded by attacking me with her certainty that Obama supporters started the rudeness, hence she had every right to keep it going.

I walked away.

The Times essay is a brilliant restatement in social scientific terms of what we know from common sense. Thoughtful discussion on issues often brings people together. Harangues laden with double talk mostly keep people apart.

Read the essay by Steven Sloman, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University and Philip M. Fernbach, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business. It purports to reveal, "why partisans can't explain their views."

And just walk away from those who want to harangue you. There is no point in staying to try to talk.

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Les Miz Style Musical Appeal for One Term More for Barack Obama

One Term More - With Subtitles from One Term More on Vimeo.

We can't recall a more spirited political musical adaptation. And it covers all the main points of why you want to vote for Barack Obama and not for Mitt Romney. Delightful.

Hat tip to a very good friend (who loves Broadway show tunes).

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Is Paul Volcker Jewish?

No, we do not think that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is a Jew. According to reporter Roni Sofer of the usually reliable Israeli source YNet, he is a Jew. However this is disputed by credible evidence.

The 2004 biography by Joseph B. Treaster, Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend, says Volcker attended a Lutheran church on Sundays with his mother, while his father went to an Episcopalian church.

A member of our nearest Teaneck synagogue who has written a new book about Volcker confirmed to us that Volcker is not a Jew. William Silber has published, Volcker: The Triumph of Persistence

Volcker is a native son of Teaneck New Jersey and a graduate of Teaneck High School. His father was the township's first Municipal manager.

Volcker was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.

Volcker served on the Obama economic team. WSJ reports that his influence was substantial, "At least for the day, the most powerful man in the U.S. financial industry and for equities markets is 82 years old, a man who ended his leadership of the Federal Reserve more than 20 years ago."

Forbes reported in January 2011 that Volcker was retiring from public life, "Gone Fishing: Paul Volcker Retires From Public Life, Heads For the River," saying, "Later this week Paul Volcker, the man who helped guide the U.S. through two of its most serious recent economic crises, will step down as the chairman of the President’s Economic Advisory Board."   //augmented repost from 3/09//

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Republicans: I can't talk politics with you

I told a good Republican friend I was having lunch with yesterday that I can't talk politics with him this time around.

I explained that the level of personal attacks that I was seeing directed at Obama and at his supporters was simply unacceptable. Rhetoric coming from that side was tilting too far away from facts, policies and substance and towards sarcasm, cynicism, mockery and slander.

And so, end of discussion. The choice is to vote for Obama, for facts, policies and substance, or for Romney, for sarcasm, cynicism, mockery and slander.

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ABC: Romney's Dirty Religion Ad

Mitt Romney, who has served as an official of the Mormon church, which pothumously baptizes Jews, knows a thing or two about waging war using religion.

USA Today reported in March 2012 that in the past Romney was, "a Mormon bishop (equivalent to a pastor) and a stake president (presiding over several area congregations) in suburban Belmont, Mass."

In February 2012 Allison Yarrow wrote, "Mormons Still Baptizing Dead Jews Despite Agreements to End Practice":

The Church of Latter-day Saints apologized Tuesday for posthumously baptizing Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s parents amidst much Jewish vitriol. But despite more than two decades of negotiations and agreements between the two groups to prevent such baptisms of dead Jews, the practice persists.

The charge that Romney's ad makes against Obama is false and inflammatory, as the ABC report describes. In America, those who use religion as a political weapon, often find that it blows up in their face. We think this ad will backfire and leave Romney's campaign damaged.

Romney ad accuses Obama of waging a ‘war on religion'

Mitt Romney is out with a new television ad that accuses President Barack Obama of declaring a war on religion.

The 30-second spot renews a fight Romney launched against Obama at the height of the GOP primary, when he trashed a provision under the Obama health care law that required religious institutions including schools and hospitals to offer its employees free access to contraception and the morning after pill even if its against their beliefs.

In February, Obama responded to the uproar by signing off on an "accommodation" that exempted religious institutions from the rule by allowing women to get free birth control directly from their insurance provider. But that's not mentioned in the Romney ad, which begins with a narrator asking, "Who shares your values?"

"President Obama used his healthcare plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith," the ad says. "Mitt Romney believes that's wrong."

The spot, jointly paid for by the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee, is clearly aimed at Catholic voters. It features footage of Romney's recent trip to Poland, including his meeting with former Polish President Lech Walesa—whom, as the ad touts, endorsed Romney's bid for president.

It also features snippets of a speech Romney delivered in Warsaw, in which he touted a historic 1979 mass delivered in the city by Pope John Paul II.

"When religious freedom is threatened, who do you want to stand with?" the ad asks.

The Romney campaign did not say how much it is spending on the ad or where it is airing.

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Update: Mittness Protection Program Dropped in Jerusalem

Update - WSJ reports that some reporters will be allowed at the Romney Jerusalem fundraiser. WSJ also reminds us that, "President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign was quick to note that Mr. Obama did not hold fundraisers on his visit to Israel as a candidate in 2008."

Original post:
CNN Politics Political Ticker reports that Romney will bar reporters from his Jerusalem fund raiser at the King David Hotel. They further report:

In response to the news, Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod tweeted, "After London debacle, Romney team re-institutes Mittness Protection Program. Now media will be barred from his Jerusalem fundraiser."

In another tweet, he added, "Is it because Sheldon Adelson, the SuperPac King, will be among the guests?"

The Times Magazine noted the irony of Mitt taking money back from Israel. Matt Bai wrote in the "One Page Magazine" section: "IT'S ALL KOSHER. By Matt Bai. American Jews send millions of dollars to Israel every year, but Mitt Romney will soon reverse the equation." It's $60,000 a plate to attend.

Note that it looks like the same rabbi hosted both candidates at the Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich.

He is known officially as the Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel.

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Is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Jewish?

No, Judge Sonia Sotomayor is not a Jew. She is Catholic.

In the Times blogs, Charles M. Blow wrote about the religious composition of the court in his post called, "The Catholic Court":

"Thirty years ago eight of the nine Supreme Court justices were Protestant. Now only two are. Five are Catholic, and two are Jewish. If federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed as a replacement for Justice David H. Souter, who is Protestant, she will become the sixth Catholic justice on the court."

Is Sotomayor the first Hispanic Supreme Court Judge?

Technically, you could argue that Sephardic Jewish judge Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was the first Hispanic judge to serve in the US Supreme Court. Cardozo served from 1932 until his death in 1938.

Cardozo was born in New York City, the son of Rebecca Washington (née Nathan) and Albert Jacob Cardozo. Both Cardozo's maternal grandparents, Sara Seixas and Isaac Mendes Seixas Nathan, and his paternal grandparents, Ellen Hart and Michael H. Cardozo, were Sephardic Jews; their families immigrated from England before the American Revolution, and were descended from Jews who left the Iberian Peninsula for Holland during the Inquisition. Cardozo family tradition held that their ancestors were Marranos from Portugal, although Cardozo's ancestry has not been firmly traced to Portugal. [Wikipedia]

The AP reported via the StarTribune that, "Some definitions of Hispanic include Portugal and Portuguese-speaking cultures; others don't." [reposted]

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Is Jimmy Kimmel Jewish?

No, comedian Jimmy Kimmel is not a Jew. He is a Catholic. Wikipedia explains, "He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy. Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side."

Kimmel performed 4-28-2012 at the White House Correspondents' dinner where he poked fun at Washington politicians.

Kimmel has had a relationship with the Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman that began in 2002. Wikipedia reports:

She referred to the relationship in some of her comedy, "I'm Jewish, but I wear this Saint Christopher medal sometimes; my boyfriend is Catholic — but you know... it was cute the way he gave it to me. He said if it doesn't burn a hole through my skin, it will protect me." In July 2008, Vanity Fair reported that the couple had split, ending their relationship of five years. However, in October 2008 it was revealed by Fox News and People magazine that they were on "the road back to being together." The couple attended the wedding of Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky together, but split again in March 2009.

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Henry Frisch's Maxwell House Haggadah Beats out the new one by the Trendy Novelists Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander

Our neighbor Henry Frisch (he lives mamash on our block in Teaneck) has beaten out the two hoity toity hotsy totsy novelists who have published a really strange new Haggadah this year.

According to the Times, none other than the President of the United States, Barack Obama, has considered the Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander Haggadah and has rejected it in favor of Henry's translation in the Maxwell House Haggadah.

Boo-yah to Henry. Way to go man!

Two Novelists Take on the Haggadah
By ALEX WILLIAMS
AFTER a lengthy interview with President Obama in the Oval Office two weeks ago, Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for the Atlantic, had one more question, and it had nothing to do with Iran.

“I know this is cheesy ...” Mr. Goldberg started, but before he could finish, the president interrupted him. “What, you have a book?” Mr. Obama asked. Turns out, Mr. Goldberg did, but “it’s not just any book,” he replied.

Mr. Goldberg reached into his briefcase and handed the president an advance copy of the “New American Haggadah,” a new translation of the Passover liturgy that was edited by Jonathan Safran Foer and contains commentary by Mr. Goldberg and other contemporary writers.

After thumbing through the sleek hardcover book, Mr. Obama looked up and asked wryly, “Does this mean that we can’t use the Maxwell House Haggadah anymore?”

Mr. Goldberg was impressed. “Way to deploy the inside-Jewish joke,” he later said. Since the 1930s, Maxwell House has printed more than 50 millions copies of its pamphlet-style version of the Haggadah. It has been the go-to choice at the Obamas’ White House Seders, though Mr. Goldberg hoped the president would consider using their version this time around.

In the end, the White House decided to stick with the Maxwell House next month...more...

Cheesy? More like dumb to report that your president rejected you. Or not, the book is the #7 best seller on Amazon! Utterly amazing all around.

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Huff Post: Best Paid Pastors

Jaweed Kaleem writes in the Huffington Post about the top earning pastors in the US. He explains,

From church closings and foreclosures of houses of worship across the nation to the limited number of clergy jobs for new rabbis, imams and pastors, the recession has hit religious Americans just as it has affected the tens of millions of the country's jobless.

Even before the recession, most spiritual leaders of small towns and big cities across the United States earned meager salaries, with annual pay for Catholic priests and imams ranging from $25,000 to $30,000 and the average Protestant pastor making $40,000 a year, according to a recent survey.

Yet, even in difficult times, some churches and pastors are soaring. While not a definitive guide, HuffPost Religion has has compiled a slideshow of some of the best paid pastors in America. For several, their high income comes not only from employment as pastors, but also from TV appearances, book sales and charity management.

For the lucky few, being a pastor can mean being a multi-millionaire.

We like the description of how Rick Warren "reverse tithes." Warren is one of Barack Obama's friends,

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has made tens millions of dollars off his books, such as "A Purpose Driven Life." He's made so much that, in 2005, he returned 25 years of salary to the church and stopped accepting new paychecks. Warren and his wife say they are "reverse tithers" who give away 91 percent of their income to charity and live off nine percent.

In our understanding, the reverse of giving 10% of your income would be taking 10% of something or other. Ah well, imprecision, whatever.

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