Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of Chicago has busted out of their small 1902 synagogue and moved into bigger, better digs, once a former safehouse for Martin Luther King, Jr. The congregation traces back to 1915, is predominantly African-American and has grown to 70 families strong in recent months.
Gary Tobin, president of the San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish & Community Research, says: “We fully expect over the next 20 years for the face of Judaism (in the United States) to change dramatically from largely a white, Eastern or Central European group to include many more Asians, Latinos and blacks.”
We think the suburbanites all our local JCC might find black people in yarmulkes shocking, but we’re looking forward to a more diverse face of Judaism. That’s what Jmerica’s all about, brothers and sisters.

Second Lieutenant Jason Rubin of the United States Marine Corps wants us all to remember that not all nice Jewish boys hold scalpels and Palm Pilots: some of them have a machine gun in one hand and a hunk of challah in the other. Lieutenant Rubin also has extra hand for the Internet (no, not for that, perv,) as shown by his informative and entertaining Jews In Green, the “ultimate resource for Jewish service members.” Rubin chats with Jewschool’s Daneil Sieradski in this Q&A for Jewsweek, and gives Jews in camo a good name. Until there’s peace on Earth, we’ll sleep tight knowing there’s a few proud men and women out there doing their jobs.

Patricia Gallagher Newberry of the Cincinnati Enquirer isn’t Jewish, but she’s calling for bar and bat mitzvahs for all teens. Certainly, plowing through the Hebrew alphabet and meditating on the Torah gives kids a discipline others waste on Playstation skills. But wouldn’t seventh grade turn into an even bigger zoo if Jewish kids didn’t have some ritual to call their own? Muffy Wasp and her Christian cohorts have enough over the Naomi Nettlebaums of the school without usurping what’s ours. Newberry’s heart is in the right place with her desire to connect to her children who are at an age when slamming the door is considered polite conversation, but let her find her own way to introduce them to adulthood. For the last time, it ain’t about the party!

A recent trip to the world’s largest and most evil corporate toy store in the world (‘U’ know who it is) left us longing for nice, well-made toys that aren’t made of plastic, spit bullets or dress like a tramp. We were delighted to learn that Moscow’s ‘Mesivta’ Jewish High School will produce a series of Jewish toys, starting with two tiny puppet theaters, a bedroom with a doll, and a miniature synagogue building.

“The range of toys may vary and increase in accordance with the requests of customers. We are planning to produce toys made of wood, various puzzles, lotto, and other essential things needed for the successful functioning of Jewish kindergartens. These toys may also foster positive Jewish self-identity for a child within his or her family”, said Rabbi Golovchiner.
They’re super cute, and even if we have to learn Russian to order them, these toys ‘R’ all right with us.

Leonard Kravitz, would-be uncle and namesake of rock icon Lenny Kravitz, went to Korea in 1951 and never came back. This Jewish soldier went apocalyptic defending his platoon against Chinese soldiers and was recommended for the Medal of Honor by his company commander. “But in what many attribute to longtime prejudices against Jews in the armed forces,” writes The Sun Sentinel’s Howard Goodman, Kravitz ended up with the nation’s second-highest medal for bravery, the Distinguished Service Cross.”
Of more than 3,400 Medals of Honor awarded since 1861, only 17 have gone to Jews, despite studies by Jewish groups saying that Jews, who make up about 2 percent of the U.S. population, constituted about 5 percent of the U.S. military in during WWII and the Korean war. But our forgotten soldiers have an ally in U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, who offered a bill that passed in 2001 requiring the Pentagon to “review the records of under-recognized Jews.” They should be finished around 2006, when Lenny can dedicate a shredding guitar solo to his brave, ass-kicking uncle.
For more info on Jewish soldiers in American wars, check out www.gijew.com.

Someone has a lot of time on their hands at Fark.com, much to our delight. Other highlights include “Fast Times At Sodom and Gomorrah” and “Punk’d” starring Jesus on the cross with Ashton Kutcher snickering nearby. The funny thing is, as Steven I. Weiss points out in his blog, is that the level of Biblical knowledge displayed by these lampooners the Great Book is quite impressive. We always knew Hebrew school would come in useful someday.

After slamming shredding Madonna’s reign as Queen of Kabbalah last week (see “Perverted Priorties” blog post on 5/28, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach caught some flak from Madge’s mad-as-hell PR agent Liz Rosenberg. Rabbi Cranky stands by his “she’s a slut” comment and adds in today’s SomethingJewishUK that
“It would be downright scandalous for Jewish religious leaders not to object to Madonna being promoted as the foremost practitioner of Judaism in the world. Judaism and Kabbalah are, above all else, moral disciplines that demand a striving for moral excellence. Stripping on stage and calling oneself a Kabbalist are mutually exclusive.”
Oh dear, better tell Britney, Paris, Posh and all those other sluts the rebbitzim are onto ’em…

We can only imagine what our poor mothers would do if we were arrested on felony charges (sitting shivah would only be the beginning). But getting sent to the pokey for smuggling various forms of shellfish, well that’s just more than any Jewish mother could take.