Submitted Stories by Peter Ephross RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Peter Ephross
New Sandy Koufax bio
“Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy,” isn’t a typical biography of the great Dodger pitcher. In addition to charting his meteoric rise in baseball, author Jane Leavy also examines the way that America reacted to a Jewish sports star. Read more »
Were there Jews in Hitler’s army?
The book "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers," about the strange-but-true story of wartime German soldiers with Jewish roots, is making waves in both the media and academia. Read more »
Yiddish radio retrospective hits the airwaves
Beginning next week, National Public Radio will broadcast "The Yiddish Radio Project," which tells the story of Yiddish radio´s heyday. Read more »
A comic-book look at Jewish life
"Hoppel Poppel," a new comic book for adults, is filled with sometimes funny, sometimes bawdy tales about Jewish life. Read more »
Texas Jewish publisher dies at 85
Jimmy Wisch, a journalist and businessman who ran the Texas Jewish Post for 56 years, died in his sleep at the age of 85. Read more »
Holocaust exhibit proves controversial
Even before it opens, an upcoming exhibit on the Holocaust at the local Jewish museum is causing controversy in the Jewish community. Read more »
Widow helps case against camp guard
Testimony from an Austrian farmer´s widow has helped convince a U.S. court to uphold a decision revoking the citizenship of a former Nazi concentration camp guard. Read more »
Holocaust hero dies at 90
Gerhart Riegner, who first alerted the world to the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews, died of pneumonia Monday in Switzerland at the age of 90. Read more »
Sharpton under fire for meeting Arafat
For a trip that was not supposed to involve foreign policy, the Rev. Al Sharpton's visit to Israel has turned out to be pretty political — and controversial. On his three-day visit to Israel this week, Sharpton visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial a Read more »
Sharpton under fire for meeting Arafat
NEW YORK (JTA) — For a trip that was not supposed to involve foreign policy, the Rev. Al Sharpton's visit to Israel has turned out to be pretty political — and controversial. On his three-day visit to Israel this week, Sharpton visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and an Ethiopian immigrant absorption center, and met with Israeli politicians, one of Israel's chief rabbis and relatives of terror victims. Yet his most noteworthy meeting may turn out to be the one without any Israelis. Sharpton, who is trying to improve his public image after years of controversy, also reportedly passed on some diplomatic messages from Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. When Sharpton announced his trip to Israel last week, he indicated that he would not be meeting with any Palestinian officials. But after telling Peres that he wanted to meet with Arafat, Peres agreed, urging him to press Arafat to end violence against Israeli civilians. "The Rev. Sharpton met with Yasser Arafat and conveyed a very clear message to him: Put an end to violence," said Ido Aharoni, the spokesman at the Israeli Consulate in New York. "We welcome any leader who wants to send such a message." Despite the official approval, some U.S. Jewish leaders are upset about the meeting. "If I were looking to reconcile with the Jewish community, my first overture would not be sitting down with Yasser Arafat," said Rabbi Marc Schneier, president and co-founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. Schneier was supposed to be one of Sharpton's chaperones, but says he pulled out after he sensed Sharpton was wavering from his original intent to visit Israel in order to build ties to the Jewish community. Sharpton was accompanied on his trip by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who is known primarily for his books about Judaism's teachings on romantic relationships, particularly the best seller "Kosher Sex." Boteach said that to focus on one meeting was unfair, saying that Sharpton was visibly moved after spending time at the Ethiopian center. "For an African American leader to see that Israel will extend phenomenal resources and military sophistication to help those who are part of our ancient nation, irrespective of skin color, gives the lie to conferences like Durban that says Israel is a racist country," said Boteach, referring to the recent U.N. World Conference Against Racism. But for some, the meeting with Arafat undermined the stated goal of Sharpton's visit — to understand how Israelis live under the constant threat of terror. Sharpton announced his desire to travel to Israel in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called it "offensive" for Sharpton to "play diplomacy, to grandstand, rather than making the visit one of education and reconciliation." Foxman added that Israel had little choice about the Arafat meeting once Sharpton raised the issue with Peres. Jews have been angered by Sharpton's role in the 1991 Crown Heights riots, when some say he whipped up black antagonism against Jews. In addition, some people say that a 1995 speech Sharpton made incited rioters to burn down Freddie's, a Jewish-owned clothing store in Harlem. Many also were outraged by Sharpton's support for Tawana Brawley, a black girl found to have fraudulently accused four white men of raping her and smearing excrement on her. Making matters worse, critics say, is the fact that Sharpton's meeting with Arafat came at the expense of a visit with Israeli survivors of the June 1 terror bombing at the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium. "What message does that send out to the young victims of terror?" Schneier asked. Boteach did not participate in the meeting with Arafat, and distanced himself from it. But he noted that Sharpton did meet with several terror victims, including relatives of Nachshon Waxman, an Israeli soldier killed by Hamas kidnappers in 1994, and several others who are recuperating in Israeli hospitals. Boteach also defended Sharpton's overall visit. "We in the Jewish community have to be gracious when a man comes all the way at a very dangerous time, when Israel needs friends and international understanding, and meets with civilians and victims of terror," Boteach said. Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 05/24/12 @ 04:11PM EST
- Jewish groups called on Israel to protect African migrants in Israel after riots in Tel Aviv.
- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel is returning campaign donations under investigation by federal authorities.
- A new survey suggests that Germans have lost some love for Israel over the past three years.
- An Arab-Israeli immigrant to the United States was found guilty of murder in Michigan.
- Israel's Arava Power Company has closed on financing for eight solar power projects worth $204 million.
- U.S. Jewish groups condemn anti-African violence in Tel Aviv
- Mandel returns funds under investigation
- Obama’s same-sex marriage nod echoes historic Catholic-Jewish debate
- Survey: Israel losing ground with Germans
- Israeli Arab guilty of murder in Michigan
- Israel’s Arava firm finances $204 million for solar projects
- Israel will solve African migrant problem, Netanyahu assures
- Senate distinguishes between Palestinian refugees and descendants
