China gets kosher milk, we all laugh - at first.

China is known for a lot of things: Pandas. Mao. Jackie Chan. That totally-awesome-slash-mildly-frightening drumming display at the Beijing Olympics.

What China is not known for is Jews. Actually, that's not entirely true - during the Holocaust, many Jews fled Europe for China (the term "Shanghailanders" may ring a bell), and for centuries Kaifeng (the ancient capital of China) was the home to a small but thriving…

Westboro: My encounter with people who hold signs that read “God Hates Jews”

Last week, a crowd gathered outside of my office building to gawk and shout at -- and be shocked by -- the posse of Midwesterners holding signs that said "God hates fags" and "Jews killed Jesus."

Ah, Westboro Baptist Church. These are the people from Fred Phelps' Topeka, Kan. church who think they're doing God's work by protesting at soldiers' funerals and shouting hate speech about gays, Jews, blacks — anyone who doesn't look like they grew up on…

Maori or Israeli? Same diff, says one Kiwi

The New Zealand Herald (and about a bazillion other news orgs) reports that New Zealand tour operator Discovery Heritage Group has been banned from the port of Tauranga, in the North Island's Bay of Plenty region, for hiring Israelis and Europeans to pose as Maori (New Zealand's indigenous Polynesian population) and take photos and perform for tourists.

To make matters worse, Terina Puriri, the (Maori) director of Discovery Heritage Group, was quoted as saying that she had to…

Auschwitz death camp sign stolen

Auschwitz death camp sign stolen:

BBC News is reporting that The infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign at the entrance to the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland has been stolen. Click here for full story.

* UPDATE: The Jewish Daily Forward reports the sign has been recovered.

What’s east of Siberia? The Jewish Autonomous Region, of course!

I had no idea Jews ever lived east of Siberia (okay, actually, I had no idea anyone lived east of Siberia given that the term has an end-of-the-earth-like connotation). I began reading about the history of this part of the world, known as the Jewish Autonomous Region, in a Slate Dispatches article published this week.

This Far East town not too far from the China border is called Birobidzhan, and though it has a Chabad and a synagogue and…

Jerusalemites’ opine about Obama

While reading Jewschool today, I happened upon two very interesting/compelling videos in which journalists interivew citizens of Jerusalem about their thoughts on President Obama and the settlements. Most don't like the former, but like the latter. They're particularly interesting now, as Obama is getting ready to host Israeli and Palestinian leaders for a meeting to jumpstart peace talks.

The first video is more recent:

The second one…

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: Poignant Social Science or Racist Pseudoscience?

After reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, I found his theories on culture, race, and class to be equally fascinating and demoralizing. In Gladwell’s latest book, he details a number of cases of financially or intellectually successful individuals such as Bill Gates, Joe Flom, the Beatles, and Andrew Carnegie. The author looks at their success outside of what they did as individuals, and instead focuses his analysis on factor’s beyond their control: the time they were born, their cultural backgrounds,…

What Israel Can Learn from Armenia

The opening of the Turkish-Armenian border this week is something of a historical landmark. Israel would be wise to follow learn from this case of diplomatic reconciliation, as the cultural and historical similarities between Armenia and Israel are strikingly similar.

Armenia, like Israel, is supported by a large diaspora whose politics were shaped by the wars of the early 20^th century. Armenia once had hostile relations on every front with their Islamic neighbors. Like Israel, Armenia holds…

Deborah Peagler to be released from prison after 27 years

After 27 years in prison, Deborah Peagler will be released next week.

The news came late afternoon Aug. 20, when the governor announced he would not review or overturn the parole board's decision to recommend Peagler for parole. (See the governor's letter at below.) It was a tremendous victory for Joshua Safran, a modern Orthodox Jew from Berkeley, who for seven years has worked on Peagler's case on a pro bono basis. "I'm ecstatic," he wrote in an…

UPDATE: Deborah Peagler

As I type this, people are rallying in Los Angeles to advocate Deborah Peagler's release. Peagler has served 27 years in prison and was finally found suitable for release on July 10 by the California Board of Parole Hearings.

And yet she's still in jail.

In three days — by Friday — Governor Schwarzenegger must decide whether to allow her release or deny Deborah her freedom.

And so Debbie's…