Daily Shvitz

Happy Godwin Day, From Our Home To Yours

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:40:35 -0500

Author: Jewcy Staff
Posted to Jewcy: April 30, 2008 3:40 pm
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Newsflash: Hitler is dead. In fact, today is the 63rd anniversary of his death. Alas, since World War II, Jewish discourse on absolutely every single matter of import to Jews has been crippled by the rhetoric of comparing perceived enemies and threats to Hitler. Whether it's intermarriage, Israel, matrilineal succession (i.e. "who is a Jew?"), whether Jews should retain their separateness, how America should deal with Iran, or whether we should care about Jeremiah Wright's sermons, again and again and again, Nazism and Hitlerism are invoked on every side. In 1990, a guy named Mike Godwin noticed a similar problem in the online community Usenet. He formulated what's now known as Godwin's Law: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." In the intervening eighteen years, Godwin's Law spread far beyond Usenet to became a bona fide Internet meme. It's now shorthand for any conversation riddled with useless comparisons to Hitler or the Nazis. It's fine to be sensitive to the historical lessons of WWII, but the tragedy of Godwin's Law is that the Hitler fetish doesn't improve our understanding or insight into any problem. Instead, it diminishes our ability to discuss it. The preoccupation with Hitler and WWII prevents us from honestly considering the opposing side of any debate. We dehumanize our opponent as complicit in genocide, and isn't that very dehumanization and strawmanning and simplifying of people's motives...sort of like Hitler? In honor of the anniversary of Hitler's death, we looked for some unexpected personalities to Godwin. It's surprisingly easy! More are on their way, so check back often. Hitlery Rodham Clinton propels herself to...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/happy_godwin_day_our_home_yours

Jewcy’s Guide to Passover

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:54:10 -0500

Author: Izzy Grinspan
Posted to Jewcy: April 17, 2008 1:54 pm
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Passover has taken quite a hit this year: First Manischewitz announced that it wasn’t going to produce any Tam Tams this year, and then Charlton “Moses” Heston passed on to that great gun range in the sky. Luckily, Jewcy’s here to help you cope. We’ve rounded up everything we’ve ever run on Pesach, then salted the mix liberally with some helpful links from outside sources. Need something you don’t see here? Leave a comment, and our readers just might be able to help you out. THE BASICS Not totally solid on the whole no-bread thing? Curious about whether having a Iraqi grandmother means you're allowed to eat rice? My Jewish Learning provides all the background information you could possibly need, while Interfaithfamily.com offers resources for Pesach and Easter. THE SEDER How To: Clean For Passover Must Have: Laura Cowan's Space Age Seder Plate 5 Alternative Seder Styles for a Personalized Passover Must Have: The Passover Box of Questions Ganja is Off the Seder Plate THE TEXT We Rate Ten Haggadahs Saying Dayenu to the Maxwell House Haggadah THE FOOD Dozens...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/jewcy_s_guide_passover

Max Mosley Thought He Was Paying for Discretion, Not Dehumanization

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:29:51 -0500

Author: Melissa Gira
Posted to Jewcy: April 11, 2008 8:29 pm
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Max Mosley: discretion, or dehumanization? Henri is a Jew. He operates a semi-private BDSM bar in Berlin. The first night we met, he wept into my camera. We drank shots of Campari and I promised to keep rolling as he kept talking. The bar was loud, had about a half dozen other kinky people in it flirting and drinking, and some details of our conversation were lost in the classic rock soundtrack. Henri told me, "My parents took part in a mapping project. This was right before the war. They knew what it was for. How else were they going to get the money to get me out of Germany? When I came back, in the '60s, no one in the community would speak to me. The perverts were the only people who took me in." He told me that he doesn't believe there's such a thing as a really dominant woman. "They're only acting what men tell them to, even bossing the men around." Would apparent Nazi roleplay fetishist and (soon to be former) Formula One mogul Max Mosley agree? Would he also tease me, the (almost former) professional fetish mistress, the fair-skinned, blue-eyed, passably WASPy blonde who can carry off a whip? Would he want to hire me, too? I very rarely whipped anyone, and of all my clients, only one ever asked me to play the "cold German type"—nervous and novice submissive client code for "Nazi She Wolf." That client's name was David, and he used to make appointments with me from a number identified...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/max_mosley_thought_he_was_hiring_discretion_not_dehumanization

Five Famous Sex Strikes, from Lysistrata to the Current Israeli Mikvah Workers' Boycott

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:16:31 -0500

Author: Tamar Fox
Posted to Jewcy: April 11, 2008 3:16 pm
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Pay Up: or pull outIsraeli mikvah attendants—the women who supervise dunks into the ritual baths to make sure they’re kosher—haven’t been paid in five months, so Kolech, an Orthodox feminist organization, is working to organize a mikvah boycott until ladies of the bath get paid. Without dunking in the mikvah after her period, a woman isn’t supposed to have sexual relations with her husband, so the boycott would effectively deprive Orthodox couples of intimacy until the issue is worked out. On the Kolech website (Hebrew) Batia Kahana-Dror writes: "Let's drive them crazy, all those who wait restlessly for the night that their woman goes to the mikvah. All those who make up the majority in the religious councils, the Treasury, the Religious Services Ministry and the Knesset, the rabbis and the leaders. Stop. No more sex." Kahana-Dror is echoing an ancient theme of women withholding sex for the good of their communities. Here are some examples: Lysistrata: First and foremost, we have Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata, in which the women of Athens decide to withhold sex from their husbands until peace is declared—a strategy that proves entirely effective. In that vein, The Lysistrata Project began staging readings of the play in 2002. They sponsor events and encourage activism to seek inventive solutions...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/orthodox_feminists_pull_lysistrata

The New Jew Canon: A Tale of Love and Darkness

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:19:37 -0500

Author: Helen Jupiter
Posted to Jewcy: April 07, 2008 2:19 pm
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The New Jew Canon is a long-term project that seeks to canonize essential Jewish (and some Non-Jewish) reads as recommended by extraordinary rabbis, experts, and cultural leaders. Suggestions are welcome via comments or email. Title: A Tale of Love and Darkness Author: Amos Oz Description: I can think of no better book to introduce a reader into the layered, fragile, complex, and painful truth of what it means to be an Israeli. Amos Oz, already an intellectual hero, taking his own people and his own history to task over the past 30 years, elevates his writing to a level that very few get to experience over centuries of writing. His storytelling is sharp and clear. This beautiful book offers an extraordinary insight into the Israeli psyche, painting it as feverishly idealistic, mortally wounded, and bitterly optimistic. One comes away changed after reading A Tale of Love and Darkness, swearing that the scent of Jerusalem has been seared into their souls forever; knowing Israel in a way never known quite that way before. I feel a sense of tremendous pride and joy that I am part of a nation that gave birth, witnessed, and nourished such a writer, and that...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/new_jew_canon_tale_love_and_darkness

A Sweatshop-Free, Jewish-Owned Clothing Company Is Creating Jobs in Palestine

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:36:54 -0500

Author: Helen Jupiter
Posted to Jewcy: March 24, 2008 5:36 pm
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Saving The World Is: no sweat. especially in cool kicks like these.You may have heard about No Sweat: A little apparel company aiming to make a big difference in the Middle East. Run by CEO Adam Neiman, No Sweat is more than just 100% union made apparel. In addition to creating sweatshop-free, organic and vegan products, Neiman is dedicated to creating jobs in Palestine. Unlike a lot of clothing manufacturers, No Sweat is upfront about their sources and production sites, such as the Arja Textiles factory in Bethlehem, Palestine. So, why did a Jewish guy from Boston want to source from a textile factory in Palestine? I'll let him tell you in his own words: "While economic development is no substitute for a diplomatic settlement, no settlement can survive without a sustainable Palestinian economy. So while waiting for a diplomatic resolution, we have created a mechanism for ordinary citizens of good faith to build goodwill on the ground, and support the peace to come. The concept is simple. When faced with an apparently irresolvable conflict, if there is any one thing all parties agree on, do that one thing and see what happens." Neiman's optimistic ideals and goals for No Sweat have garnered...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/jewish_owned_clothing_company_creating_jobs_palestine

On Being Black, White, and Jewish

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:27:38 -0500

Author: Lacey Schwartz
Posted to Jewcy: March 21, 2008 3:27 pm
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Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr. The news this week has been saturated with issues of race, otherness, and problems of identity in a society that's most comfortable drawing boundaries and lines. On Sunday, the New York Times ran a story on Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr., the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis. On Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama gave a landmark speech on race relations that took the country by storm. We asked documentary filmmaker Lacey Schwartz to weigh in on these two stories by sharing her own parallel experiences as a Black, Jewish woman who is working to incorporate and make sense of her dual identities. Here's what she had to say: Like any typical upper-middle class Jewish girl growing up in the Eighties, my life revolved around the Bar Mitzvah party circuit, Gap clothing stores, second base, and Madonna. Something was off, though: From a young age, I encountered people who pointed out that I looked different from my white parents because of my darker skin, tightly curled hair and thicker features. From a little boy in nursery school who made me show him my gums because he claimed they determined my race, to my classmates in high school who would verbally accost me in the halls...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/black_and_white_and_jewish_all_over

Jewcy's Comments Policy

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:55:29 -0500

Author: Jewcy Staff
Posted to Jewcy: March 19, 2008 11:55 am
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If your comments are blatantly racist, sexist or homophobic, we'll probably dialectize them into Elmer Fudd or Swedish Chef. Or babelfish them into Korean and back to English. The same goes for anything personally defamatory or insulting, because who needs that? Also, don't copy-and-paste a whole damn article. It makes our eyes tired. God invented hyperlinks for a reason! OK, carry on. ...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/jewcys_comments_policy

Board Game Controversy! Where's Jerusalem Again?

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:17:40 -0600

Author: Helen Jupiter
Posted to Jewcy: February 26, 2008 1:17 pm
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Mr. Moneybags: he doesn't know whether Jerusalem is in Palestine or Israel Hasbro, maker of the game Monopoly, is set to become a world leader in political geography: After a recent promotion for their forthcoming "World Edition" created some controversy, they swiftly and deftly nipped the problem in the bud. The international crisis began when the company asked players to vote on what cities should be featured on the new board. Urban centers were listed alongside the countries in which they reside--which created a crisis in consciousness for Palestinians who claim Jerusalem as their own. With arguments erupting over whether the location should be listed as "Jerusalem, Israel," or "Jerusalem, Palestine," Hasbro reacted the way any fed-up parent or teacher would in the face of squabbling children: "Fine," they all but said. "If you're going to fight over the countries, then you won't have any countries at all." Perhaps John Lennon's "Imagine" played in the background as the countries were swiftly removed from the site. "Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too..." Too bad real life isn't dealt with as simply as board games. Related: Do...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/post/imagine_theres_no_countries_it_isnt_hard_do

Jewciest Week Ever: From Christopher Hitchens to JDate

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:12:26 -0600

Author: Emily Gould
Posted to Jewcy: February 01, 2008 6:12 pm
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This week, we paid a visit to the 92nd Street Y, where Shmuely Boteach and Christopher Hitchens got to the bottom of the whole 'is there a God' thing. People discussed our take on the Huffington Post, as well as here and here. Two weeks into writing our JDater Of The Week column, Izzy had an ethical crisis and vowed to be nicer. Boinkology noticed. Our comic artist Eli Valley took on Antisemitism in British textbooks; the Kvetcher wasn't crazy about it. We watched the new HBO series 'In Treatment' and talked about our troubled childhoods. We thought about what Barack Obama's potential presidency means for Jews. And we got drunk at a Brooklyn Yeshiva turned bar named Deity. ...

Read this article in its entirety at: http://www.jewcy.com/posts/2008-02-01/jewciest_week_ever_christopher_hitchens_jdate