Miriam Shaviv



Why dictionaries should be allowed through the blockade...

By Miriam Shaviv, June 1, 2010

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, again, show a limited understanding of the word 'peaceful':

Protesters demonstrating against the Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship have attempted to storm the BBC in Manchester.

More than 800 people marched through the city centre
and down Oxford Road, where the crowd surged at the BBC's entrance,
smashing its front doors.

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Covering up a shocking crime

By Miriam Shaviv, May 21, 2010

No subject has irritated the Orthodox world more, this year, than sexual abuse perpetrated by its religious leaders.

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Chag sameach

By Miriam Shaviv, May 18, 2010

I'm going to be away for the next week or so - so blogging is going to be light-to-non-existent. See you back here on the 27th.

Meanwhile, chag sameach!

Miriam

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The Lubavitcher Rebbe, frustrated engineer

By Miriam Shaviv, May 14, 2010

A new biography of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by two experts on the strictly Orthodox community is coming out at the end of the month.

Shmuley Boteach, getting in with an early review, gives a sneak preview:

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How the book of Ruth impacted the English language

By Miriam Shaviv, May 14, 2010

Over the past few weeks, in the runup to the festival of Shavuot which falls next week, some friends and I have been studying the book of Ruth.

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George Osborne's alleged Jewish connection

By Miriam Shaviv, May 12, 2010

So we have a new Chancellor - Gideon Osborne.

Yes, that's right. Gideon.

He changed his name to George as a teenager. 

Struggling to come to terms with the personal betrayal, the FT's Gideon Rachman reads perhaps a little too much into this: 

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Lady Jakobovits's grace under fire

By Miriam Shaviv, May 11, 2010

A lovely Lady J anecdote from Nathan Jeffay in the Forward:

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Frum fashion

By Miriam Shaviv, May 11, 2010

 

Introducing the YamulKap, which allows you to wear your kippah while protecting yourself from the sun.

Of course, a visor and a couple of hairclips does the same thing. Or a baseball cap. And you don't look stupid.

Somehow I suspect these are not going to take off.

(Via)

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When rubbish theology backfires

By Miriam Shaviv, May 10, 2010

So the volcanic ash cloud is heading towards Israel, and may force the closure of its airspace.

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Boris's loose grip on Middle East reality

By Miriam Shaviv, May 10, 2010

Our mayor, Boris Johnson, is worrying me. He writes this morning:

The whole thing is unbelievable. As I write these words, Gordon Brown is still holed up in Downing Street. He is like some illegal settler in the Sinai desert, lashing himself to the radiator...

Illegal settler in the Sinai desert? Who on earth can he be referring to - the Egyptians?

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Judge Goldstone responds to death penalty story

By Miriam Shaviv, May 6, 2010

We asked Judge Goldstone to confirm the report in Yediot that as a judge in the South African court of appeal, he sentenced 28 people to death. Here is what he had to say:

I have seen a translation of today's "preview" in Yediot. The facts relating to the death penalty are:

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Judge Goldstone sentenced 28 people to death

By Miriam Shaviv, May 5, 2010

More trouble ahead for that champion of human rights, Judge Richard Goldstone.

According to Yediot Achronot, as a judge on the South African court of appeals in the 1980s-90s, he sentenced no less than 28 (!) black people to death, writing in one of his verdicts: "The gallows is the only deterrent for murderers".

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Anyone fancy some Jew's Ear Juice?

By Miriam Shaviv, May 4, 2010

You've heard of Yinglish - the mixture of Yiddish and English? Now, courtesy of the New York Times, comes Chinglish - the mixture of Chinese and English:

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Kugel: an expose

By Miriam Shaviv, May 4, 2010

Kugel is generally regarded as a 'traditional' Jewish food. But the Conversations in Klal blog is running an exposé: Kugel was not actually that common in the homes of our European ancestors (for those of us who have European ancestors...). The blog explains that it was incredibly difficult to keep food warm over Shabbat and that most food was eaten cold:

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UN sucks up to Iran

By Miriam Shaviv, April 30, 2010

While we're all sitting back, waiting for the UN to impose sanctions on Iran, that august body has elected Iran onto its Commission for the Status of Women, which is supposedly ""dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women".

Meanwhile, in other news this week,

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Sandra Bullock gives her son a 'bris'

By Miriam Shaviv, April 29, 2010

Sandra Bullock - who is not Jewish - has told People magazine that her adopted son Louis had a "bris", soon after  he was adopted in January:

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Goldstone: the UN Human Rights Council is 'hopeless'

By Miriam Shaviv, April 29, 2010

The New Republic is running a thorough account of the internal row over Israel at Human Rights Watch, which culminated in founder Robert Bernstein accusing the organisation of being anti-Israel in the New York Times last October.

Most of it has been covered before - and is totally damning. But it included one particularly interesting paragraph, new to me at least:

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J-Street Europe to launch next week

By Miriam Shaviv, April 28, 2010

Next Monday in Brussels, a European group modelling itself on J Street will be launched. The first action of 'J Call' (subtitle: 'European Jewish call for reason') will be to present a petition criticising Israeli government policy to the European Parliament.

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Should Israel ban the burka?

By Miriam Shaviv, April 28, 2010

According to the Jerusalem Post, MK Marina Solodkin is going to introduce a bill that would ban full-body and and face coverings for women.

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Hamas's code of ethics

By Miriam Shaviv, April 27, 2010

According to this story ,

Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar on Monday night criticized an animated video released by the group’s military wing which depicted Gilad Schalit returning to Israel in a coffin, saying Hamas “would never kill a captured Israeli soldier.”

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