I'm walking on West 90^th Street talking on my cell phone when I spy my friend, Leslie, shuffling toward me in flip flops. Leslie looks up from her introspection, sees me on the phone, lifts a foot revealing chipped toenail polish, and mouths, "Pedicure!" I nod my head up and down, and she flip flops away. We are pedi-buddies, and when we sit in those vibrating chairs - after spending an undue amount of time trying to choose the perfect red or hot pink pedi-color - our conversations veer this way and that, a little lashon ha-rah (gossip) here, a little shtuch (pointed poke) there, whose children have tutors up the wazoo, and whose kid could use a good shrink, whose spouse is clinically depressed but you'd never know it, who has cancer but pooh, pooh, pooh, will be okay, and whose child we suspect might come out as gay in a few years. The usual.

In addition to being a pedi-buddy, Leslie falls into my own personal category of "children of Holocaust survivor" friends. At times, the Upper West Side seems to be one big reunion of "2G's" as my friend Eva would say, the second generation of the Holocaust. Many of those 2Gs are my friends, and because this is the small community that it is, I know their families' stories.

Leslie's mother was hidden as a child in a Polish neighbor's attic. My friend Ulrika's father was taken in by a cold, fanatic, Calvinist family in Holland, a family who didn't love him and forced him to show his circumcised penis to guests, not as humiliation but to re-enforce how strange Jews were, and isn't it wonderful that we are taking care of this little Jewish boy? Eva's mother picked cotton in below zero temperatures in Uzbekhistan, and to this day, even when it is eighty degrees outside in Miami, she will tell her daughter, "Eva, put on a sveder, a sveder, Eva, it's cold outside!" My friend Judy's mother improbably survived several death camps, camps where she'd been sent to be exterminated, but in being moved from one to another, she'd stayed ahead of the game. Her mother is in a home now, and she will curse at the nurses, "You're all Nazis! Nazi bastards! You should all rot in hell!"

It wasn't until I went to college that I met any Jews or had any Jewish friends. Today, I'm hard put to scrounge up many non-Jewish friends. But one friend, Alise, dates way back. She befriended me at church when I was eleven, a few months after my older sister, Abby, had died. Alise confessed not so long ago that the dead sister, not my engaging personality, was the big draw. Luckily, after the initial morbid thrill had worn off, Alise discovered she liked me well enough on my own to continue our friendship, and now, when we see each other we slip into our giggling, girlish ways.

I haven't set out to collect 2Gs as friends, nor do I look at them and immediately see Auschwitz. But initially, I will admit, I was drawn to their stories, much as Alise was drawn to mine. Their stories of loss, of not having extended family, and of their sense of being displaced are so different from my story, for I grew up playing with my brothers and sisters and mob of cousins in the log cabin my great-great grandfather had built in 1850. I've found that 2Gs are tenacious about family and friendships. If I had my appendix out or screwed up my hair color, my 2Gs would come to the rescue. Perhaps they actually look for opportunities to rescue to compensate for their parents not having been rescued.

When I return home several hours later from my various errands, I see Zoe on her cell phone. Zoe smiles and waves really big at me, as I did to Leslie, and then she's on her way. I am both happy and sad to see her. Bittersweet, I guess, is the feeling. She was my daughter Anna's best friend since they were 2 ½. Anna practically lived at Zoe's home, eating Shabbat dinner there almost every Friday night, a proper dinner with proper plates and silverware that included vegetables and fruit. Zoe's father is a 2G, who grew up in Europe and has an old-world, European sense of civility. Anna spent weekends at their summer home in the Hamptons, she and Zoe played dress-up and took baths together and skipped, literally, down West 90^th Street hand and hand. Sunrise... Then they grew up and grew apart. Sunset... Different schools, different friends, different interests. Yet when I look at this seventeen-year-old, tall, graceful, cool-looking, lovely, 3G Zoe chatting animatedly on her cellphone, I still see the four-year-old girl in the bathtub with Anna, white soap bubbles covering their smiling faces. And I see friendship.

Fleet Week in NYC: tattoos, booze, and...jews?My mother recently learned how to text-message. She’s addicted now, and several weeks ago, I received the following message: “JUST RAN INTO SUSIE FEINSTEIN @ SUPER-MARKET. JACOB ENGAGED TO GENTILE! OY VEY!”

Mr. and Mrs. Feinstein are a couple of conservative Jews, long-time friends of my parents, and Jacob is their oldest son. I met Jacob when I was five, so now—almost twenty-five years later—I know a lot about him: I know he’s got a taste for buxom blonds with Southern accents; I know he likes a lady with a tiny gum-drop of a nose. I also know his parents would rather lose a limb than watch him date a gentile.

It’s a familiar situation: Jewish parents spend a lifetime configuring Marriage To Another Jew as the end all be all accomplishment, all the while counter-productively setting the stage for their child’s Shiksa-rebellion. They station us Jewish gals up on the pedestal of proper dating and, in so doing, nuzzle the rest of the female world into the seductive corner. If I had a quarter for every time I’ve had a Jewish boyfriend parade me around at some Briss or Bat Mitzvah and then later, behind closed doors, ask if I wouldn’t mind a little Catholic school girl role-playing action, I’d have, well, a dollar. It’s happened with disconcerting frequency, and I’m getting exhausted.

We Got Married in a Fever, Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout: we've been talking 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went outI want to be the manifestation of rebellion for once! But for whom is a Jew Gal a novelty? Is such a thing possible if you live in New York City?

Well, it is if it’s Fleet Week. Which it was in New York, just two weeks ago.

In humiliating and unrestrained anticipation of the ‘Sex and the City’ movie, and in pathetic homage to the T.V. episode wherein the four characters celebrate fleet week by attending a sailors’ party off Chelsea Piers, I decided to celebrate two weeks ago by trolling for sailors myself. I met one, goy-lifically named Jackson, in a West Village bar. Jackson was 6'3", from West Virginia—“they might both have ‘west’ in ‘em,” he’d drawled in reference to both the village and his native state, “but they ‘sho different!”—and in an effort to keep our belabored conversation afloat—HA!—I tossed off this numb-skulled hypothetical: “Alright Jackson, so let’s say this. Let’s say you’re on your ship and it’s sinking—God forbid!—and you end up stranded on a desert island and you can only take three items with you. What would they be?”

Jackson didn’t seem bothered by my insensitive mention of a sinking ship; it was the equivalent, I later decided, of someone saying to me, “Alright Sara, so let’s say this: you’ve just been diagnosed with Melanoma. Who do you tell first: your mom or your dad?” Jackson considered my question for a moment, then answered, “Well, there’re only two things I’d need, really: a twelve-pack of cold beer, and a good woman.”

“Interesting,” I replied. “And what constitutes ‘good’?”

“Well if I had my pick,” he said, “I guess I’d like a lady with tattoos.”

Sinking Ship: vs melanomaI have no tattoos, of course: I want at least the option of a Jewish burial. (Also, tattoo parlors instill in me an unmatched sense of fear – I can’t handle the idea of people strapped in chairs or the voluntary puncturing of human skin. The by-product is fine—even sexy, as Jackson suggested—but when I see the reality of where the magic happens, I get queasy.) Jackson praised tattoos and all they tend to connote, and I felt disappointed. West Virginian Sailor struck me as being one of the more exotically attractive types I’d ever get the chance to meet (Eskimos or Tibetan monks notwithstanding), and I’d banked on the feeling being mutual, but apparently not.

Or so I thought. See, I told Jackson I was sans tattoo, offered up the aforementioned reasons as to why, and he said, “Jewish, huh? That’s cool. I never met no Jewish gal before.” Then he inched in closer and put his hand atop my knee. I’m not sure this meant I was his forbidden fruit per se; and frankly, I didn’t care to probe lest I unearth some genuine strain of anti-Semitism on behalf of his parents. Instead, I reveled in the moment, this chance to act as someone else’s novelty.

An hour later, Jackson invited me back to his ship, but I declined. I mean, I’d won my Rare Bird status and shouldn’t that suffice? Did I want to chase after the prize of middle-bunk sex in addition? Didn’t that seem greedy? I thought it did. I felt reinvigorated, after all, and so decided: quit while you’re ahead.

This way, when I get Jacob Feinstein’s notice telling me to Save the Date, I’ll have the strength to listen.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer was elected overwhelmingly in 2006 on his promise to finally bring transparency and efficiency to New York, a promise brokered on his glamorous Wall Street-busting successes as state attorney general. Well, it didn't take long for his administration to plow right over public expectations.

First came the disclosure last year that members of his staff had been spying on Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, and using tax-payer dollars to do so. (More distressing to New Yorkers with a nodding acquaintance with Mr. Bruno is that they didn't turn up anything good on him.) Spitzer took a fall, then rebounded, owing, I suspect, to his lantern-jawed, comic book hero visage which you just want to believe in, damn it. Now comes word that he was involved in a prostitution ring. (Batman never paid for chicks.) His career in politics is effectively over today.

The New York Times just posted this story to its website and Drudge and Fox News have gone all woo-woo in their inimitable ways:

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.

The governor’s travel records show that he was in Washington in mid-February. One of the clients described in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, the Emperors Club VIP on the night of Feb. 13.

Which of course doesn't prove anything except that Spitzer was likely getting fucked by someone who isn't his wife for $5,500. That's how much the Emperors Club charges for its finest ladies per hour, and everything the Spitz would have us believe about him suggests he's no compromising, part-time lover.

NBC is also reporting that cell phone records are the damning evidence that makes this a no-spin situation.

The Emperors Club website is down now. If it stays that way permanently, a balanced budget and the end to the Rockefeller drug laws can't be far behind.

UPDATE: Spitzer is apparently listed as "Client No. 9" in the prosecutor's brief against the Emperors Club. I just heard on CNN that the call-girl frequented by him said one of their sessions went "very well." So the day hasn't been all bad for the governor, after all.

Congratulations! You’ve managed to get through the first 2.5 weekdays. To help you get through the second half of your week, Jewcy is happy to present you with Hump Day Art. Think of it as an opportunity to devote your attention to the more cultural things in life, or at the very least, to zone out at your desk for a few minutes while you look at some pretty pictures.

I've loved Maira Kalman ever since I first read her children's book, Max in Love, as a kid. A native of Tel Aviv, but thoroughly a New Yorker, Kalman incorporates color, fantasy, and humor into her art with a style that walks the line between sentimental and strange. Here are a few of my favorites from her year-long project with the Times (recently published as a book), The Principles of Uncertainty.

Last week: Peace Through Graffiti?

Te’DeVan “Rocketman” Kurzweil is the quintessential Jewish New Yorker bohemian weirdo. A six-foot-seven-inch faith healer, freestyle rapper and former nude comedian, Te’DeVan is a local legend who makes his living in tips from those whom he cures and entertains. (I first interviewed him for New York Press in 2002 when he tried to convince everyone in Times Square that terrorists were operating a Queens grocery store.)

Now he is taking his message to the national stage through a bizarre presidential campaign. He has garnered supporters at numerous music festivals and university campuses—from California to Tennessee to Washington, D.C.—and on the Internet at his personal blog.

Six feet seven inches of presidential candidate: RocketmanAre Americans ready for a six-foot-four Jewish faith healer as their leader? Can you "heal" this nation with your supernatural abilities?

Actually it is six-foot-seven-inch Jew. See how the media is already lying trying to diminish my physical size? Because everyone knows that height matters in political campaigns.

I would not consider my healing to be mine, but rather God's healing. With enough willpower, clarity of mind, and compassion we can all heal this country.

Are you running an actual campaign or is this a work of performance art?

I am not honestly sure if the two differ these days.

When you don't have a lot of money or the high brand name visibility, you have to incorporate a high level of entertainment to get everyone's attention.

Are you registered as a candidate in any state? Can people actually vote for you?

Our team of lawyers is attempting to get me registered as a candidate, but the combination of ageism and anti-Semitism might make this a serious challenge. Since we live in a democracy, of course people can vote for me and my wing-mate Smiley along with our ever-expanding Infinite Cabinet. People are voting for me as a write-in candidate while other people are merely voting for me in their hearts and minds.

Anti-Semitism is keeping you off the ballot? What?

Ageism, not anti-Semitism. The Constitution supposedly says you have to be 35 years old, but the government doesn't really follow the Constitution anymore on most matters. To follow it because I am not of legal age seems absurd to myself and the Infinite Cabinet.

He's no Lieberman: Te’DeVan's running mate Who the fuck is "Smiley"?

He is a lifeguard, Ferris wheel operator, bouncer and philosopher, currently residing in New Jersey until we get the biodiesel buses ready to roll. His first words to me on top of a beach pier across from a police station were: "Hey, you want to start a revolution?"

My response was "Hell to the yeah." A great friendship was forged.

What is your platform?

1) Stop killing people we don't know. Start helping people we do know right at home who are struggling with healthcare, the economy and the price of education.

2) Fess up to global warming and take serious initiatives to clean up the planet. We need clean air, water, and organic apple pie.

3) End the war on drugs. If we can't keep drugs out of prisons, why are we spending billions to keep them out of the country? Decriminalize pot. We have too many people going to jail for this -- it's flooded the courts and it's a waste of taxpayers' money. In many cases, prescription pills are more dangerous gateway drugs.

4) It's insane how many people we have in prison. We went from a prison population of 300,000 in 1981 to 2.1 million in 2004. At that rate, by 2027 we'll have 14.7 million people in prison. That is absurd.

5) Lower the voting age to 12. We will settle for 16. If we're going to turn these kids into pill poppers, we might as well make them lever-pullers, especially if we're going to try them as adults for murder.

6) Bring sexy back to the White House. Justin Timberlake was onto something. All these other politicians don't know how to act.

7) Give out three million college scholarships. Being educated and being in debt should not go hand in hand.

Eyes like Isaiah and a beard like Moses: Te’DeVan the prophetWhat inspired the campaign?

Once the primaries are over, it's business as usual for the major candidates. Issues become forgotten. Voters focus on the next pop star instead. Who can blame them? We have unlimited choices of shampoos and conditioners but only two choices for our world leader.

How are you using the Internet to campaign?

We are using MySpace, Facebook, Tribe, and YouTube, and we're selling the campaign on eBay. Smiley said that if big tobacco and the oil companies can buy a campaign, why not the American taxpayer? So eBay just might save the American democracy.

What do you mean, you're "selling the campaign"?

Politicians are bought and sold all the time. Campaigns are commodities. They spend over $300,000,000 to get a job that pays about $400,000. Obviously something is skewed here. I don't know of any servant position-public or private-that pays less then .013 of what it costs to obtain it. That is total insanity.

We are offering a service to bring back democracy in America. We will spend the money on biodiesel buses, food, and video equipment to document our great adventure.

What is your most memorable campaign experience so far?

I would say the overwhelming response we received at Bonnaroo (a music festival in Tennessee) where the other candidates dared not tread. We got some coverage from Current Television and Country Music Television. A lot of hands were shaken and pictures were taken. A lot of support was pledged.

Are people volunteering to help your campaign? Do you have any kind of staff?

We have staff working around the clock. We can't even keep up with all the different efforts. The staff is affectionately known as the "Infinite Cabinet" and is always expanding.

I think it's gonna be a long long time: On the campaign trail How many states have you campaigned in? How many do you plan to campaign in?

We have Infinite Cabinet members in all the states, including overseas, spreading the word about our campaign and the Infinite Cabinet. I am pushing to focus mainly in Hawaii knowing full well that surfers love us and that victory will be assured. Of course, the Infinite Cabinet in their infinite wisdom have a different plan of action.

How have colleges responded to you showing up and spreading the gospel to students?

We have rocked the college campuses hard, but until last month we were understaffed. We move more rapidly than plates of cocaine through the White House. And sometimes we garner too much attention. We're the bad boys of American politics. Just like the Pistons back in the days of Isaiah.

You have told me that you consult with psychic advisors. What do they say about your political quest?

According to our spiritual consultants, we are certain to be a factor in the outcome amongst the spirits polled in the Gallup poll. There is a margin of error of about three to five percent. We are certainly one of the most unique and all-encompassing campaigns, and we are going the long haul to the finish line.

What do you want to accomplish with this campaign?

We want to galvanize the apathetic, disenchanted, disenfranchised masses. We want to make the election prospects better for politicians who actually want to enact changes. We want to say, "Your vote may not always count but your voice certainly does, so speak up."

Shimon Waronker: the jewish joe clark?Here's the next in the inspirational genre of films that includes classics like Lean on Me, Stand and Deliver, and Dangerous Minds: the story of Shimon Waronker and the South Bronx junior high school that he has singlehandedly brought back from the throes of urban death.

A Hasid originally from South America, he speaks fluent Spanish, has a background in the military, is a former public school teacher, and is Yeshiva educated. Though it took him a while to get a job after graduating from the New York City Leadership Academy, he has worked wonders since becoming the principal of Junior High School 22, where students once "roamed the hallways with abandon" and attendance was a joke.

Despite critics who claim that Waronker is "more concerned with creating flashy new programs than with ensuring they survive," attendance is now above 93%, and Junior High 22 is no longer on the city’s list of the 12 most dangerous. Better yet, Waronker's students now have course options such as French and Spanish dual language programs and etiquette training. He's added "two guidance counselors, one psychologist, two social workers, three family workers, and one attendance teacher to the school staff."

Students and parents at Junior High 22 have even learned a thing or two about Jewish stereotypes: "One parent, Angie Vazquez, 37, acknowledged that her upbringing had led her to wonder: 'Wow, we’re going to have a Jewish person, what’s going to happen? Are the kids going to have to pay for lunch?'"

Just like your best friend in junior high school who returned from summer vacation with boobs and a haircut, two New York Jewish landmarks are getting some extra attention due to recent makeovers. The Eldridge Street Synagogue, once home to pigeons and decay, has been refurbished to its 1907 glory, while the Kaufman Center has a new airy redesign thanks to Robert A.M. Stern. For more, check out this article in New York Magazine, or better yet, go catch a glimpse of these historic places in person.

This week's New York magazine is the annual "Reasons to Love New York" issue. Last year, Jewcy mocked. This year, we were asked to contribute:

Last year, Michael Weiss, an editor at the hip online magazine Jewcy.com, thought that our list of “Reasons to Love New York” was, to use his word, “malnourished.” So he solicited his friends to come up with their own. Their reasons ranged from simple, straightforward appreciations—“Because New York has the highest per capita rate of beautiful women on the planet”—to decidedly backhanded ones—“Because even the most obnoxious, shallow, empty-headed dickwads around here are at least pretty intelligent.” We asked him to solicit more for 2007. Here’s what he and his readers/friends came up with.

80. “Because understanding the dullness and poverty of contemporary art is made easier once you know that it gestates in Chelsea. But mostly I love New York because there are few places that can make you suspicious of high proportions of 'cool' people, where everybody has an informed opinion about Proust or Gravity’s Rainbow, owns records by Brian Eno or John Cage, and endorses the politics of Noam Chomsky. Once such refinement is revealed as canonical, you’re in a great spot to do the work of locating the space where something truly radical might emerge.”
—Josh Strawn, lead singer of Blacklist

81. “Because of the Partisan Review crowd and how the Ansonia reminds me of Bellow’s Seize the Day. Because of the British expats in Brooklyn Heights who try to blend but still occasionally talk as if Zabar’s were located somewhere east of Suez. Because of the late senator Pat Moynihan and the fishbowl-size Bloody Marys at Sarabeth’s (oddly related in my mind). Because Morrissey just decides not to show up at the Garden one night and everyone’s cool with it. Because the subway series extends to presidential races, too. Because my older sister took the Preppy Killer’s high-school-yearbook photo and knew then he was no damned good.”
—Michael Weiss, your humble compiler

82. “Because when I’m on the subway trying to read a book about zombies, and a man gets on and starts talking really loudly about how he’s found Jesus and Jesus is what’s kept him from performing fellatio on the side of the BQE, and I say to him 'Excuse me, I’m getting toward the climax of this book, so do you think you can ‘reel it in’ a bit, like, you know, ‘take it down a notch’?' he nods and says, 'Why, certainly, I meant in no way to disturb your reading pleasure,' and continues his spiel in a delicate whisper.”
—Eli Valley, cartoonist

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Mystical reflections of Yom Kippur When: Saturday, September 22, 3:45 PM Where: Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th St Why: Explore the oneness of time, space and consciousness with a totally far-out discussion by Rabbi Yossi Brackman on the mystical dimensions of Yom Kippur.

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Yom Kippur meditation and break-fast When: Saturday, September 22, 9 AM Where: 1404 Greenfield Ave #1

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Yom Kippur services with special speaker Cindy Sheehan, followed by vegetarian potluck break-fast When: Saturday, September 22, 9 AM Where: St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farell St. Why: This might just be the ultimate hippie Yom ...

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Interactive Yom Kippur services When: Friday, September 21, Kol Nidre 7:30 PM; Saturday, September 22, Morning Service & Yizkor, 10 AM; Neilah, 4 PM Where: The Lincoln Theater, 541 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Why: The Mosaic club’s goal is to bring Jews together and promote environmental awareness through worship and outdoor activities. They’ll all be at these services in the ...

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Maayan Tikvah's Yom Kippur services and break-fast When: Saturday, September 22, 4 PM Where: Rabbi Allen's home (email for address: rabbikza@verizon.net) Why: Like you, ...

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and BagelsWhat: Tashlich drum circle and nature hikeWhen: Thursday, September 13, 4 PM and Friday, September 14, 9 AM Where: “where Venice Beach meets the sand”Why

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and BagelsWhat: Kabbalistic erev Rosh Hashanah servicesWhen: Wednesday, September 12, 8 PM Where:

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and BagelsWhat: Jewish Drum CircleWhen: Sunday, September 9, 2 PM Where: North Lakeside Cultural Center, on Sheridan Rd just north of GranvilleWhy:

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and BagelsWhat: Interactive Rosh Hashanah ServicesWhen: Wednesday, September 12, 7:30 PM through September 14 Where: The Lincoln Theater, 541 Lincoln Road, ...

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and BagelsWhat: Tashlich, a nature work, and a pot-luck vegetarian dinnerWhen: Friday, September 13, 5:00 PMWhere: Meet up at Rabbi Katy Z. Allen’s home (e-mail ...

Diverse Jewish events abound around the holidays, but they tend to concentrate around certain cities (especially New York), and they’re none too easy to find. Luckily, we’ve done the legwork for you. To match our readers up with the best Rosh Hashanah events in the country, we’ve identified seven common Jewish archetypes and found events for each of them in six major U.S. cities: New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. From traditional services to drum circles to the ubiquitous Chabad hoedown, there's something on this list for every Jew. Which one are you? Options below: The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels ...

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Vegan Rosh Hashanah dinner at Sacred ChowWhen: Friday, September 14, 7:30 PM Where: ...

March 2007 must be one of the worst months in recent history for the New York City Police Department. Despite figures released this week showing a further drop in crime, the city's cops keep coming under attack.

As if the death of two auxiliary officers in a Greenwich Village shooting wasn't enough, March has also witnessed the shooting of one officer in the foot and the stabbing of another officer in the head. Yesterday, an officer was attacked by a man wielding a railing from a hospital bed where he was supposed to be under guard.

Miguel Gabriel, 19, had his feet shackled and his arm cuffed to the bed, but he somehow managed to wrench the railing free, attacking officer Mikhail Vinitsky who was supposed to be guarding him.

Vinitsky tried to subdue Gabriel with pepper spray and a baton before finally drawing his gun and shooting him four times. According to the New York Daily News:

Even after Gabriel was shot, cops answering Vinitsky's radio call for help had to use a stun gun and pepper spray to subdue the attacker, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

"Even though he was shot, he was still standing, and fighting," Kelly said after visiting Vinitsky, who was in stable condition. He suffered a concussion and required six stitches to close a gash on his head, police said.

Gabriel was in stable condition at the same hospital.

Money grubbing Jews as depicted by Lodz artists.The Jewish Theater of New York's season debut, "Last Jew in Europe" opened yesterday. The play is described as a tragicomedy and follows the story of one interfaith couple in Lodz, Poland on the road to wedded bliss. The comedic part ensues when the couple, a Polish Jew and his Catholic fiancee, meet a Mormon who has come to Lodz (which also happens to be the anti-semitic capital of the world in this play) to reveal the town's Jewish families. As the husband-to-be has concealed his religion from his fiancee, you can see where all of this convoluted, foiled plot is headed.

What makes the play all the more surreal is that is based on a true story. I'm assuming liberties were taken with the Mormon subplot, but perhaps not in the disclosure of the play's location.

The Jewish Theater of New York invites New Yorkers on a trip, lasting one-hour, twenty-five minutes, to a city that’s an anti-Semite’s Paradise, existing today, and located right in the middle of the EU. Welcome to Lodz, Poland, where anti-Jewish declarations are graphically exhibited in almost every street corner and calls for sending Jews back to the gas chambers go unchallenged.

New York: You know you want it…Summer is coming, and with it the season of low-level commitments… Ahhhhh! The summer internship!

Now that I’m a “grownup” I sometimes get sad when I stumble onto interesting opportunities for smart young people. Because I’m not so young (or so smart) as I used to be. And I’m no longer eligible for these brief visits into other worlds.

That, for me, is the beauty part of an internship—that it’s brief, that (unlike crappy desk jobs that pay too much to walk away from) it gives you a chance to dabble. Be warned—grownups don’t get to dabble so much, so you should take advantage while you can.

Today, this posting came across my desk, and I thought it sounded Jewcy. Maybe you’ll apply?

Areyvut 2007 Summer Internship Program

Areyvut is a New York based national non-profit organization that seeks to integrate the values of chesed (kindness), tzedakah (charity), and tikkun olam (social justice) intoJewish education. Over the summer we will be having interns working in the office on the following areas: website content, funding and prospect research, Areyvut’s “A Kindness a Day” desk calendar, programming, event planning and Bnai Mitzvah Programs as well as helping with general administrative duties.

The internship is full time five days a week and will begin June 4th and continue through July 27th (with options to start before and continue after).

Interns will attend seminars on issues relating to non-profits and Jewish communal organizations during the course of the summer and may be eligible for college credit.

Qualifications:

We believe in working with people who value our mission and are willing to work hard towards that mission. If you are willing to learn, we are willing to teach.

The internship requires a highly motivated individual with strong communication, leadership, interpersonal and management skills who is passionate about Areyvut’s mission.

• Some past non-profit or leadership experience (summer camp, youth movement, Hebrew School, etc.).
• Strong organizational skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Basic computer proficiency (Word, Excel and e-mail).
• Knowledge of Judaism preferred, but not required.
• Experience developing educational materials, implementing programs, desktop publishing abilities, HTML and grant writing experience a plus.

Our ideal candidate:

• Is interested in Jewish education, working in the non-profit world and committed to learning.
• Is committed to actively making a difference.
• Has experience working with tweens and teens.
• Understands the centrality of chesed, tzedakah and tikkun olam within Judaism and Jewish education.
• Has an ability to develop rapport with broad range of people, a sense of humor, strategic thinking skills, creativity and vision.

Application:

Send or fax resume and cover letter to:

Daniel Rothner
Areyvut Founder & Director
147 South Washington Ave
Bergenfield, NJ 07621
E-Mail: daniel@areyvut.org
Fax: 201-244-6702
www.areyvut.org

Veggie MandooThere's the pervasive stereotype that Jews and Kosher Chinese go together like Ren & Stimpy. Translation: There's something undeniably symbiotic about the relationship.

In recent years I've noticed that trend transfer over to other Asian cuisines, specifically Korean. So as I'm perusing various foodie blogs this Friday morning, I came across this montage of yummy, appetizing photos of NYC's Mandoo Bar and lusting for meat dumplings and Bibimbap at 9 AM.

How very traif of me, you might be telling yourself, but go ahead and look for yourself at the scrumptuous gallery and not be tempted. I dare you.

Besides, there's nothing wrong with just looking and abstaining from touch, right?

This is utterly brilliant. Check out Zurnet NYC, a site that lets you download subway routes and local bars (complete with drink price indices!).

You could write a graduate thesis on how the most antisocial device since that rabbit dildo featured on Sex and the City is leading to more sex in the city.

Low Battery = So Fucking Wasted: New fun with your iPod