Joey Kurtzman Out As President Of Jewcy Media

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Luke Ford

Jewcy.com has been the brightest addition to the Jewish media in the past two years.

Until this week, Joey Kurtzman was the president. Now he’s out.

I’m not sure where he’s going and why he’s gone from presiding over Jewcy (musical differences?).

Posted in Joey Kurtzman | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Joey Kurtzman Out As President Of Jewcy Media

OU Threatens To Withdraw Kosher Certification For Agriprocessors

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Luke Ford

Julia Preston writes for the New York Times:

The leading Jewish authority in charge of certifying kosher food has threatened to withdraw its certification from the products of Agriprocessors Inc., the nation’s largest kosher meatpacker, after criminal charges for more than 9,000 child labor violations were brought against the company and its owners in Iowa this week.

Rabbi Menachem Genack, who is in charge of kosher supervision for the Orthodox Union, the major kosher certifying organization in the United States, said he had set a deadline of “several weeks” for Agriprocessors to name a new chief executive, or the group would suspend supervision of kosher production at its plants.

“Because of the new charges in the state of Iowa, we believe it is in the best interest of the kosher consuming public to have new management with a new C.E.O., that will give people a new sense of confidence that all laws and regulations are being completely complied with,” Rabbi Genack said in an interview on Wednesday.

Losing the kosher certification of the Orthodox Union would be a potentially crippling blow to Agriprocessors, whose meat and poultry — sold as Aaron’s Best and Rubashkin’s, among other brands — are staples in Jewish households nationwide that observe kosher practices. The company is by far the largest producer of kosher meat, with annual kosher sales estimated at $80 million. Although other groups provide certification, they are less widely known, and the loss of the familiar circled-U seal on the company’s products could drive away many customers.

Agriprocessors has been struggling to maintain its production since 389 illegal immigrant workers were detained at its plant in Postville, Iowa, in a raid on May 12. On Tuesday, Iowa’s attorney general brought 9,311 criminal misdemeanor charges that accused the company of employing 32 workers under the legal age of 18 in Postville. Many of the youths worked night shifts in dangerous jobs that exposed them to hazardous chemicals, according to the charges.

Aaron Rubashkin, the Agriprocessors owner, who is a Hasidic Jew, and his son Sholom, the former chief executive of the Postville operation, were named as defendants in the criminal cases.

Posted in Agriprocessors | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on OU Threatens To Withdraw Kosher Certification For Agriprocessors

Who You Calling Rebbetzin?

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Luke Ford

Danielle Berrin writes:

For as long as rabbis have been arguing Talmud, their wives have been at home preparing Shabbat dinner.

Yet that image, along with expectations for clergy spouses, has evolved. For one, they’re no longer all women. They’re no longer always hovering in the background; they’re not even always a different gender from their partner.

Modern rabbis’ spouses don’t fit into any single mold.

Peni Bouskila is a major player in helping her overburdened husband run their synagogue; David Light balances comedy writing with care of his two daughters; Rachel Bookstein partners with her husband to reinvigorate Jewish life on a college campus; Bruce Ellman brings his psychology training to benefit his temple; Marjorie Pressman served as a fiery force throughout her now-retired husband’s pulpit career; and Brian and Deborah Schuldenfrei share the title of "Rabbi Schuldenfrei."

They all share their spouses’ life of public service. They are all subject to public scrutiny and have to protect their privacy. And at the most family-oriented moments of the Jewish calendar, they have to share their spouses with the rest of the community, as much on Shabbat as holidays. Most days, they cannot expect their lives to proceed without interruption: Rabbis are on call for emergencies at all times.

Even as I did my research over the past year, lives changed: Peni Bouskila’s kids got older. The rabbis Schuldenfrei gave birth to their first child and Rabbi Sharon Brous became pregnant with her third. And, along the way, I became involved with a rabbi of my own, because as it turns out, God is not without a sense of irony.

The night the man I am now seeing was ordained, he asked me whether I could see myself marrying a rabbi. I hesitated to answer. I didn’t think I could bear missing someone so much. I wondered whether a rabbi could ever love their spouse as much as they love their work — a tough choice when your business partner is God.

But if I found any truth in the writing of this, it’s that none of these people chose to marry a lifestyle. As Marjorie Pressman put it, "I didn’t marry a rabbi. I married the man I fell in love with."

Posted in Rebbetzins | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Who You Calling Rebbetzin?

Rabbi Pushed Off Sex Panel

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Luke Ford

Bill Sanderson writes for the New York Post:

Saying the cause was right but the threats it brought his family too much to bear, a prominent Brooklyn rabbi yesterday quit a new task force set up by Assemblyman Dov Hikind to combat child sex abuse among Orthodox Jews.

Benzion Twerski, a Ph.D psychologist who signed on to Hikind’s effort last week, said the verbal harassment of his family amounted to threats of "excommunication" from the Orthodox community.

In a post on the Orthodox news blog Vos Iz Neias, Twerski said some people told him they’d cross the street to avoid him, and that his adult children were told their children would never marry.

"I don’t have to be in a place where I choose between this and my family. My family was given to me first," Twerski told The Post.

Hikind has made a cause of halting child sex abuse among the Orthodox. The Democratic Assemblyman says he’s heard "hundreds" of abuse stories from Orthodox Jews in his district and elsewhere.

Hikind said Twerski’s harassment is a sign many Orthodox have no wish to confront the issue.

Posted in Abuse | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Rabbi Pushed Off Sex Panel

Luke Ford/Marc Gafni Discuss ‘The Dark Knight’

Posted on September 11, 2008 by Luke Ford

Click here to listen.

I’m not into comic books, even when they’re called "graphic novels."

I’m not into super-heroes and movies based on them.

I went to see "The Dark Knight" last week because Marc Gafni wanted to do a dialogue with me on the movie.

(Listen to it here.)

The film tries to make a variety of philosophical points, all of which I thought were dead wrong.

Read On.

Posted in Marc Gafni | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Luke Ford/Marc Gafni Discuss ‘The Dark Knight’

The Jewish Week Features An Ad Seeking A Pornographer

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Luke Ford

The Jewish Week is a newspaper subsidized by the New York Jewish Federation and edited by Gary Rosenblatt.

It runs ads from Monster.com, including this Wednesday evening (look on the far right of this screen capture):

I was shocked and appalled to find this kind of filth in a family publication subsidized by a Jewish charity.

Posted in The Jewish Week | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Jewish Week Features An Ad Seeking A Pornographer

Top Doc Twerski Scared Off Panel On Rabbinic Sex Molesters

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Luke Ford

From The Jewish Week:

A prominent Orthodox rabbi and psychologist has been intimidated into quitting as head of a just-formed task force dealing with rabbinic sex abuse of minors, organized by Assemblyman Dov Hikind this week.

Dr. Benzion Twerski told The Jewish Week Wednesday that he was quitting the task force because “I was prosecuted in the street for daring to join such a venture.”

“To protect myself, my family, and reputation, I decided to withdraw from this project,” he wrote in an e-mail as the paper was going to press with a story announcing Hikind’s formation of the task force. “From this point, I am avoiding participation in any forms of public service. Public life is not for me.”

Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat who represents Borough Park and Flatbush, deplored Twerski’s abrupt departure from his new panel.

“He was basically forced to resign,” said Hikind. “He was literally put against the wall, and he felt he had no choice. We’ll get somebody else who’s very respected. But that’s not the point. The point is they got to him, they threatened him.”

Twerski’s dramatic departure came just as Hikind was rolling out the new panel, planned as the next step in a personal crusade against child sex abuse in the Orthodox community that he has come to view as an epidemic.

Hikind said he had amassed a dossier with the cases of “hundreds” of individuals who say they have been sexually molested by rabbis and other Orthodox community members during their childhood. And he threatened to broadcast the names of their abusers if community leaders do not respond to his call for action against them.

“Let me tell you,” he said in an interview last week, “when there’s a person who we have confirmed through a variety of people has been doing terrible things” and those who know refuse to go to the authorities, “I am prepared to name names. I am prepared to be sued by those pedophiles. If they’re innocent, let them sue me.”

Speaking after a rash of highly publicized sexual molestation cases in the Orthodox community, Hikind said, “I have been learning that a lot of people out there know who the bad guys are. Where have I been? How come no one talked to me, how come no one came to me?”

Now, Hikind says, he is more determined than ever to establish a community task force to address the issue. Though vague on the panel’s broader makeup and specific plans, Hikind ultimately seeks to develop a list of sexual molesters in Orthodox schools to keep them away from children.

Neither man would specify the nature of the threats made against Twerski to force his departure. But Hikind called them “pathetic and sad.”

“My heart goes out to him,” he said. “I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. Things are opening up, people are coming forward, but we are still so far away.”

Posted in Abuse, Orthodoxy | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Top Doc Twerski Scared Off Panel On Rabbinic Sex Molesters

Palin Family Secrets

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Luke Ford

From the National Enquirer:

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER’S exclusive ongoing investigation of GOP VP Nom Sarah ‘Barracuda’ Palin’s goes far beyond a mere teen pregnancy crisis this week!

 The Enquirer’s team of reporters has combed the Alaskan wilderness to discover the hidden truth about Gov. Palin’s family, which has become a central part of political identity.
 
The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah’s oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics, detailed in the new issue of The ENQUIRER, which goes on sale today.

 THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track’s use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.

“I’ve partied with him (Track) for years,” a source disclosed.  “I’ve seen him snort cocaine, snort and smoke OxyContin, drink booze and smoke weed.”

 The source also divulged the girls would do anything for Track and he’d use his local celebrity to manipulate other guys “to get them to steal things he wanted.”
 
“He finally did what a lot of troubled kids here do,” the source divulged. “You join the military.”

And as Gov. Palin has billed the state of Alaska for various expenses related to her children, as reported by The Washington Post, The ENQUIRER’s investigation reveals that she was so incensed by 17-year-old Bristol’s pregnancy that she banished her daughter from the house.

Another family friend revealed pre-prego Bristol was as much of a hard partier as Track was.
 
“Bristol was a huge stoner and drinker.  I’ve seen her smoke pot and get drunk and make out with so many guys. All the guys would brag that the just made out with Bristol.”

 When Sarah found out the teen was pregnant by high schooler Levi Johnston, she was actually banished from the house.  As part of the cover-up, Palin quickly transferred Bristol to another high school and made her move in with Sarah’s sister Heather 25 miles away!

 And the ENQUIRER also learned that Levi Johnston, the baby mamma’s future wedded dada, who was glad handed by John McCain at the GOP Convention, isn’t too happy about his impending shotgun nups either.

 “Levi got dragged out of the house to go to Minnesota,” Levi’s friend told The ENQUIRER.  “Levi realizes he’s stuck being with Bristol because her mom is running for Vice President.”
 
The friend also confided that both Bristol and Levi “broke up a few times and they definitely messed around with other people.”
 
Meanwhile, as members of the Palin family’s war viciously over “Trooper-Gate” and claims of Sarah’s extramarital affair have turned the political race into a chaotic arena of threats, denials and vicious attacks by political black ops, The ENQUIRER has discovered shocking new details about the red-hot affair scandal!

 For the full story of the secrets Sarah Palin is trying to hide – pick up the new ENQUIRER!

Posted in Sarah Palin | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Palin Family Secrets

Luke and Sarah, Sittin

Posted on September 10, 2008 by Luke Ford

Dave Deutsch writes:

Although Springtime is the time for amour, astute Luke Ford readers can’t help but be aware that whatever the calendar may say, love is in the air. Not since a young Dan Quayle made his appearance on the national scene has a vice-presidential candidate so captivated Luke with his combination of conservative politics, non-threatening good looks, and feminine charm, as Sarah Palin. Of course, many may find a touch of sadness in here, at the thought that our Byronic hero may find himself once again with a love unrequited (and as he learned before, a dozen torrid nights with Keira Knightley can’t make up for the pain of one restraining order from Natalie Portman). But is it so unlikely that he and the stern governess might find themselves together? It may be less farfetched than some may imagine.

1. Sarah seems to love rugged, outdoorsy he-man types. While those who know Luke understand that the most exposure to nature he gets is eating in the sukkah, his beard lends him a certain Grizzly Adams-esque virile façade. Combine that with his Aussie accent, and all he needs to do is allude tersely to the occasional croc or shark encounter, and she’ll fall for it hook, line and sinker (kind of the way any Asian can convincingly pretend to be a martial artist)

2. Sarah needs a man who is willing to stay in the background, and, say what you will about him, Luke is among the most self-effacing men in the world. The only reason I don’t say he is the most, is because of course, he’d deny it.

3. While at first glance, religious differences may post a problem, Sarah attended a function at her church featuring a leader of Jews for Jesus. Where some may see Luke’s devotion to the Holy Torah to be an insurmountable obstacle, she may relish the challenge of making him a “completed Jew.”

4. Clearly, she needs somebody to take charge of her family’s ethical guidance, and who better than a man beloved by many as a moral leader (he couldn’t say it if it weren’t true).

Ultimately, it may all depend upon how she does in November. A loss might leave her vulnerable and receptive to Luke’s Pirkei Avos-like wisdom and comfort. And failing that, to paraphrase Herzl, if you will it, and you have a van, a pocketful of wishes, and a fistful of roofies, it is no dream.

Posted in Sarah Palin | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Luke and Sarah, Sittin

Vegetarianism Is Now The Cutting Edge Of Fashion

Posted on September 9, 2008 by Luke Ford

David Deutsch emails:

Luke Ford is certainly no stranger to virtually prescient, uber-trendy fashionableness. After all, Luke was a dreamy Aussie expat with a heretical father and a complicated relationship to California’s Jewish community long before Mel Gibson made it cool. He was certainly blogging long before the average American idiot (and I include here Heeb Magazine’s entertainment writer, Jewdar) discovered that pawing at your keyboard and ranting about whatever minor issue irked you that makes you part of something called “the New Media.” And he started wearing a beard long before some big Hollywood hotshot decides to, or Jesus shows up, or whatever. So it should be no great shock to learn that Luke is on the blood stained cutting edge of what may be the next big trend in the Jewish world—vegetarianism.

To be sure, it will take a lot to get America’s engorged Ashkenazi mega-meat eaters to push themselves away from the pots of the red stuff, but considering the degree to which America’s leading kosher meat producers are revealing themselves to be the sort of Jews that make you think maybe Julius Streicher couldn’t have been wrong all the time, that day of reckoning may be coming. Not only is there the ongoing nightmare that is Agriprocessors, but this week’s Forward offered a not terribly pleasant portrait of some other Kosher mega meat marketers.

While shills like Young Israel’s Pesach Lerner might keep spreading the good word about Agriprocessors as long as there’s steak on the table, one can’t help but imagine that some people may come to the conclusion that there’s more to Luke Ford than glossy hair and vegemite. Certainly, considering the indictments that just came down, Luke can rest assured that the Rubashkin family wishes they’d paid more attention when Luke decried the evils of illegal immigration (you know, other than the kind that provides him with cheap labor to whisk away his dishes, park his serial killer van, and help him put the “man” in “manicure.”)

Posted in Agriprocessors, David Deutsch | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Vegetarianism Is Now The Cutting Edge Of Fashion