In the J-Papers This Week

by Christian Niedan

So, what exactly do the words “natural growth” mean for the expansion of 120 Israeli settlements in the West Bank? The Forward delves into the ambiguous phrasing of this policy, examining Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vague answer (he prefers the term “normal life”) to calls for clarification from American envoy George Mitchell.

Congressman Gary Ackerman (who chairs the House subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia) has echoed the Obama administration’s call for a total settlement freeze. But in an Op-Ed for The Jewish Press, Joseph Schick takes Ackerman to task for what he sees as policy flip-flopping on settlement issues. Meanwhile, the youngest member of Israel’s Knesset, Tzipi Hotovely, gives an interview to the JP, saying “I think and believe that if the Palestinians really want to have peace it shouldn’t mean Israel has to withdraw from the settlements, because the settlements are part of our Jewish history.”

The Cleveland Jewish News reports that around 600 people got a media insider’s analysis of the settlement situation last week when CNN’s chief national correspondent, John King, gave the keynote address at a CJN Foundation event. King, who converted to Judaism 13 months ago and claims to keep kosher, noted that he expects Netanyahu to arrive for talks in Paris with 60% to 70% of the settlement concessions asked for by the Obama administration.

Vail Daily managing editor Matt Zalaznick penned an apology last week for allowing a story about a string of local burglaries to run in his paper with the suspect’s description reading “of Jewish or Eastern European descent.” The Intermountain Jewish News chronicles local reaction to the controversy, and gets comment from Eagle County Sheriff Joe Hoy, who admits that beyond the anti-Semitic aspect of the description, its vagueness is something that “a lot of the officers out here wouldn’t be able to do much with.”

It’s been 40 years since hippies journeyed to Yasgur’s farm in upstate New York for the musical event of the 1960’s. Now, The New York Jewish Week sits down with “The Father of Woodstock,” Artie Kornfeld (born Avraham ben Yisroel Kornfeld) who tells some harrowing stories about organizing and promoting the event, while noting how Jewish values have touched his career.

Four years ago this Thursday, Adam Greenberg was beaned on the first pitch of the first at-bat of his Major League Baseball debut with the Chicago Cubs. Once primed to join stars like Kevin Youkilis and Ryan Braun as one of MLB’s few Jewish players, he has yet to make it back to the majors. The New Jersey Jewish News caught up with Greenberg, now playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League, about his quest for another chance at a big league at-bat.

Ryan Botwinik knows plenty about second chances. He works at the Helping Up Mission in a former bank building that’s next door to what used to be the Baltimore Talmud Torah school, but where people now come to beat substance addiction. In an extensive cover story for The Baltimore Jewish Times we learn about the long road Botwinik took from an uncomfortable secular Jewish upbringing, to addiction and arrests, and finally to a spiritual reawakening whose symbol just happens to be… Yoda?

There has been a dramatic turn of events in the case of a Cherry Hill, N.J. rabbi convicted of having his wife murdered. According to a January 2009 affidavit, the chief witness against Fred Neulander has recanted his testimony. That witness, Len Jenoff, had previously stated that Neulander promised to pay him $30,000 in exchange for the murder, but now says he made up the story to get a lighter sentence. The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent gets reaction from members of Neulander’s synagogue, M’kor Shalom, and others in the South Jersey Jewish community.

Israeli expatriates were once looked upon negatively back home for abandoning the Holy Land. But according to The Los Angeles Jewish Journal, several local groups are changing Israeli perceptions about former citizens living in the diaspora (of which L.A. reportedly has more than 150,000).

Still waiting for changes to Florida law that would recognize same-sex marriage, more than a few gay couples responded to a recent ad placed by a Conservative temple in The Florida Jewish Journal offering a “commitment ceremony for those who cannot marry.” Rabbi David Mark of Temple Sholom in Pompano Beach tells the paper why he is offering “Jewish covenant of love” ceremonies to any and all as a way of circumventing the Conservative movement’s rejection of same sex-marriage and commitment ceremonies. Meanwhile, rabbi Gregory Kanter of Reform Temple Sinai in Delray Beach, states that he performs same sex marriages because “it’s recognized by God and by our community and by me.”