Tattoo Jews

It’s hard to know exactly where to begin breaking down the monumental absurdity that is the NYTimes piece today about Jews and tattoos. For the record, I am among those who find tattoos incredibly sexy, on Jew and Gentile alike, so probably the best that can be said is that the Times has manufactured a wonderful excuse for some pics of nice Jewish body art. Here, in no particular order, are my gripes.

*The Times does an admirable job of demolishing the oft-cited myth that inked Jews can’t get buried in a Jewish cemetery. This is an old-wives tale, though one that still seems to scare some into keeping their bodies ink-free. But why oh why would someone so unobservant as to break the Torah’s rule against tattoos (more below) actually care about where they’re buried? There’s no real significance to burial in a Jewish cemetery. It just means you’ll lie next to other Jews for eternity. And who wants that?

*The article claims Jewish law on tattoos is “slippery.” Er, no. There are multiple sources in the Torah for the prohibition. What is “slippery” is only whether one considers those rules to still be applicable or if they are merely relics of an earlier age and therefore needn’t be applied, as one (presumably Reform) rabbi says in the article.

*Finally, why the hell is this piece in the Times to begin with? It’s not news, and it barely even qualifies as style. Susan Jacobs of the Jewish Journal, where I used to be editor, reported on changing Jewish attitudes towards tats years ago. If the newspaper of record wanted to also be the Jewspaper of record, at least stay ahead of the curve.

Oh, where to begin?

So much to say, so much to say. 

Ok, so Utah. Pretty rocky. Pictures are here and here. 

In other news, big doings on the kosher meat scandal, including links to JTA from New York magazine and Gawker, both courtesy of yours truly. The Gawker one is particularly exciting. Here’s the story that got every one in a huff this week, about PR execs impersonating rabbis online. Not good. 

Hope to get back on my rigid blogging routine now that vacations are over. But it’s summer so bear with me.

Rubashkin saga continues

My exclusive interview last week with the Rubashkin family patriarch at his Brooklyn store has gotten a lot of play. The Des Moines Register was originally going to run the piece, but instead they did their own story on it. There’s also a good blog post (or so I like to think), including some audio snippets, that got some attention. More good stuff to come on this, I’m sure.

Welcome to … Iowa

So last week I returned from five days reporting on the massive federal raid of the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. As always, I came home totally beat, and now, Sunday afternoon, I’m more or less back to myself, except for this nagging pain in my back that seems connected to, well, nothing. Doesn’t matter what I do, what position, what stretch, I even got a massage, and to no effect. Literally, no effect — the pain comes, it goes, with no apparent rhyme or reason. I must have a little demon living in my back who keeps odd hours.

But I digress. Iowa — wow! There’s like totally nothing there. Farms, and corn, and grain silos, but that’s pretty much it. Even the “cities” are pretty sad. My last night, I was drinking alone in what passes for a swanky establishment in Cedar Rapids, when I asked the bartender if there was any part of town that was “happening.” Guffaws all around. He suggested a piano lounge across the street, but when I ducked my head in there a few minutes later, there was a dude belting out Elton John on stage and more bartenders than patrons. Um, yeah.

Anyway, here’s what I did.

Article on on the raid’s aftermath here.

Article on emerging details on working conditions here (sexual harassment, underage workers, all real nice stuff).

Postcast interview with Ami about criminal proceedings here.

Podcast interview with Des Moines Register reporter on the raid itself here.

Down with love

This is something I think I might like to try. Lance Stelzer, a twice-divorced Jewish lawyer and single dad in Miami, was down on his luck. He was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. Then his girlfriend left him, while he was sick, for another man. So, he sued her.

The Miami New Times has some choice details. Here’s what Lance requested in discovery:

“Each and every page of your ‘journal’ which mentions, references, or contains name Lance R. Stelzer.”
“Copies of all photographs … which portray you dressed (fully or partially) in red negligee.”
“The full name and current address of your mother, sister, and new boyfriend’s mother.”

And these are the interrogatory questions:

“In your opinion, is it ever really right to abandon your best friend when he or she is undergoing horrible cancer treatment and is suffering major complications from the treatment?”
“Did you, in 2004, provide pornographic pictures of yourself and pornographic ’scenarios’ … to Lance Stelzer? If so, please state why you did this.”
“What was the last date upon which you loved Lance Stelzer? (Note: If you cannot give an exact date, please state your best approximation.)”

The full story is well worth reading.

Is Israel finished?

That was the question the Atlantic Monthly ostensibly sought to answer in its cover story this month, pegged to Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Its author, Jeffrey Goldberg, who penned what I still consider to be one of the finest pieces of Mideast journalism ever, doesn’t really answer, but he does paint a pretty bleak picture. I asked him about it in this podcast yesterday.

Beating a dead horse

After the events of this weekend, beating a dead horse is probably in bad taste. Still, I can’t resist one final word about Greg Levey’s book. Levey is starting to get some less than glowing press. The Jewish Week ran a review last week that cited my book review, though in trying to get at how closely Levey was hewing to the truth the article failed to note my observation that Levey’s recollections seem, to my memory, pretty much right. Anyway, Levey has failed to cite either review on his blog. Apparently, not everyone is as excited by scathing criticism as I am.

Shut Up, I’m Blogging

Last week I published a piece about a new memoir written by Gregory Levey. I thought I was uniquely suited to write this piece because Levey’s memoir was about his time writing speeches for the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., and once upon a time, I had done the very same thing.

The piece went live last week and I sat back to await mention on Levey’s blog, where he has been studiously linking to every article written about him.

Except mine.

Well, I’m fed up with waiting. Come on Greg — you’re not mad because I suggested you had betrayed the sacred trust of U.N. speechwriters, are ya?

He’s back

The blog has returned. More than two years have elapsed since my last blogging effort and much has changed, most significantly I’m now employed (yay!) by the folks at JTA and back in NYC. Since writing has actually been paying my bills these past two years I’ve been less inclined to spend time on the blog, but that too has changed. So has my approach to this thing. There will be less pontification, less random linking. I hope instead to provide some deeper stuff on the beats I cover — these days, mostly religion and academia, but given that I seem to be JTA’s go-to guy in New York for all things uncategorizable, sometimes some other weirdness crops up. Like this story from last week about the American Jew accused of spying for Israel. I spent the afternoon Tuesday packed into a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan with other curious reporters and Reuters snapped this shot of me outside afterwards, seeking the perfect angle for a photo of Mr. Kadish’s bald pate. Ok, maybe this doesn’t qualify as “deeper stuff,” but bear with me.