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| A notable omission
In a New Jersey Jewish News exclusive, Andrew Silow-Carroll reports on a presidential proclamation welcoming May as "Jewish American Heritage Month" and what appears to be an unprecedented omission of the formulaic phrase "in the year of our Lord" in its closing paragraph. Jewish leaders tell NJJN that they hadn't complained about the phrase, which refers to the birth of Jesus, but said they found the gesture, at a time of high tensions between Jews and the White House, "sensitive" and welcome. Read More
Northern light
Irwin Ravin was born in Newark, grew up in Hillside, and graduated from Rutgers and New York University Law School. But he made his mark in Alaska, where he became one of the nation's key advocates for legalizing marijuana and defending Alaskans' right to privacy. In celebrating the life of the attorney, who died April 11 at age 70, his NJ family remembers an iconoclast who fought hard on behalf of people "who prize their individuality and who have chosen to achieve a measure of control over their own lifestyles." Read More
Raising Arizona
New Jersey's two United States Senators are urging a broad overhaul of federal immigration laws, racing to preempt Arizona's controversial new crackdown on illegal immigrants. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez joined other Senate Democrats April 28 in signing a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to give priority to legislation that would increase border security, crack down on "unscrupulous employers" of undocumented workers, and prevent "future flows of illegal immigrants." Meanwhile, local immigration activists joined a national outcry over the Arizona statute. Read More
Subject to debate
An adviser to J Street and an Israeli professor from the College of Judea and Samaria clashed at a local forum on United States-Israel relations, reflecting a wider debate over the appropriate role of the United States — and American Jews — in the Mideast peace process. Organizers of the dialogue, including Drew University Hillel and several Jewish community relations councils, said they wanted to show "how big the tent of the Jewish community is at this pivotal point in history and if there is space for a wide range of viewpoints." They certainly got the wide range of viewpoints they were looking for. Read More
Yours, mine and ours
For a man who grew up in Forest Hills, a multi-ethnic area of Queens; was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi at Yeshiva University; and received a doctorate in Catholic theology from Fordham University, the subject of Alan Brill's new book seems predestined. In Judaism and Other Religions, the Seton Hall University professor examines a wide range of Jewish texts reflecting on other faiths, from biblical and Talmudic views to contemporary approaches. Among the questions he asks: Can only one religion represent the "truth"? Is God to be found in other religions? Is there a "universal monotheism"? Read More
Plus: A bookstore owner writes a new chapter for the disabled
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