Safe for Tiger Woods - No Women Members at the Masters' Augusta National Golf Club

The most famous US golf tournament, and it is held at Augusta National, a club that does not allow women to join as members.

We call it a Tiger Woods safety zone.

Ian O'Connor in the Bergen Record:

...No, sameness isn't always a virtue at Augusta. Nobody here stands accused of being an overly progressive thinker, and the guardians of this all-male sanctuary won't make this tournament everything it can be until its membership goes coed.

Billy Payne, chairman, is moving toward that inevitable day when a woman is invited to join. He's taking baby steps in Hootie Johnson's wake, hoping to avoid embarrassing his Jurassic-minded predecessor any more than he has to...

[Annual repost updated for Tiger!]

Times: Page One Man Bites Dog Story of the Week - Jew Loves Pope Pius XII

Jews is news every day and when a Jew loves Pope Pius XII, that is a front page feature in the Times.

The strange tale of Gary Krupp of Long Beach unfolds in "Wartime Pope Has a Huge Fan: A Jewish Knight," by PAUL VITELLO,

...It is a compelling tale in itself: how Mr. Krupp became only the seventh Jewish papal knight in history, dubbed by Pope John Paul II in 2000 for persuading American manufacturers to donate $12 million worth of high-tech medical equipment to an Italian hospital.

But the more curious and complicated story is the transformation Mr. Krupp has undergone since. With no previous training or special interest in history, he has emerged as the Vatican’s most outspoken Jewish ally in a heated debate at the crux of tensions between Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders and historians: whether Pope Pius XII, the pontiff during World War II, did as much as he could have to save Jews from the Holocaust...more...

Diaspora Jews Merit One Day of Yontiff

The diaspora of the Jews is over. Jewish Globalization lives. We Jews all over are one world with Israel. Jet travel to Lod in ten hours. Phone calls to Israel at $.04 a minute. Video streaming from the holy land. Satellite Israeli TV.

The idea of the Galut, the exile or dispersion of the Jews around the world separated from Israel - that weakens every day.

Free Birthright trips to Israel for every Jewish child. What do they bring back? They bring back five days of productivity. They come back wanting to know why we don't cut five days out of our festivals.

Reports are Misleading: Yes Orthodox Women Can Be Ordained Rabbis

It has been reported that after objections from many Orthodox Rabbis, unfortunately that Rabbi Avi Weiss has agreed not to ordain Orthodox women with the title Rabba. He will still grant them the title Maharat.

We want to make sure that Orthodox women know that they can still be ordained rabbis with the full title - not maharats or rabbas - at the following serious theological seminaries - which represent the great majority of America's Jews and where they will be welcomed with opened arms.

• Jewish Theological Seminary of America
• Hebrew Union College
• Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
• The Academy for Jewish Religion
• Hebrew College 
• Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies 

Good luck on your applications, future rabbis!

Not one of our teachers was a champion

Elizabeth Green, a Spencer fellow in education reporting at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, has written a feature story "Building a Better Teacher" in the NY Times Magazine about a book by Doug Lemov to be published in April, “Teach Like a Champion: The 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College.”

It's an enlightening and stimulating article about what must be an equally challenging new book.

It made us think about how many very poor teachers we studied with over the years. Yes, even some of the teachers whom I have extolled in the past were as terrible at the art of teaching as they were brilliant in their cognitive mastery and presentation of their disciplines.

We don't know if this is part of the Lemov taxonomy, but on occasion we imagined that the champion exceptional teacher will know the interior nature of each of his or her students and teach to them according to their individual styles of learning, to draw out and develop their native talents. (Um, we wonder why it is that we cannot recall meeting such a teacher.) And we wondered how successful we have been at trying to do those champion things.

Reuters: Burqas are not a Berakhah for Women

Forcing women to wear prison-clothing is not anything we would associate with spirituality. Forcing women to wear burqas is surely no blessing for them.

Reuters Faithworld agrees.

Opinion: Why France is right about the burqa

...In truth, many Muslim women seek relief from the pressure to cover themselves. It is these sentiments that led to France’s initial law in 2004 that banned all exterior religious signs, not just Muslim ones, from public schools. And it is these sentiments that have pushed France to currently consider the partial burqa ban in public spaces — and rightfully so...

New Yorker Cartoon: God's Funny Blog

WSJ: When Orthodox Rabbis Burned a Sabbath Prayer Book

An Orthodox rabbi neighbor of mine likes to use the epithet, "naval birshut HaTorah (the degenerate within the Torah’s framework)" to demean and disparage people he does not agree with.

We were reminded of that phrase when we read this recent article which recalls what some "degenerate" "rabbis" did to the prayer book of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan in 1945.

Invented the Bat Mitzvah, Rejected a Supernatural God
Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and his Reconstructionist ideas.
By DIANE COLE

In June of 1945, with memories of Nazi book-burning still vivid, a group called the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada excommunicated Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, after which they burned his newly published Sabbath Prayer Book. Although Kaplan is less known (and less read) today than his contemporaries Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel, he was in many ways the most radical Jewish philosopher or theologian of his era. So it is good to see that his first book, the influential "Judaism as a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life," has just returned to print. Published by Rabbi Kaplan in 1934, it is a masterpiece of 20th-century Jewish thought...more...

Charity Appeal for JFS

It's coming up on Pesach and time for us all to make an extra effort to give to charity.

We recommend to you our most favorite tzedakah, the Jewish Family Services of Bergen County.

Give a tribute or a meal or just give.

• Kosher Meals On Wheels
• Friends Campaign
• Tribute Cards
• President's Emergency Project

Is Howard Stern Jewish?

Yes, Howard Stern is a Jew and his Hebrew name is Tzvi.  Here is Wikipedia, saying he calls himself "half-Jewish."

Howard Stern was born on January 12, 1954 in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City. His parents Ben and Ray Stern (née Schiffman) are children of Austro-Hungarian immigrants. Ellen, his elder sister of four years, is described by Stern as "completely opposite" though they maintain a good relationship. Though born into a Jewish American family (his Hebrew name is "Tzvi"), Stern claims on the radio that he is just "half-Jewish". Five months after Stern's birth, the family moved to the suburban area of Roosevelt on Long Island.

As E Online reports, Howard does not like Jay Leno.