Why Obama's Popularity Is Rising In Israel

Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 20:23 | Political Insider

Remember when President Obama's approval rating among Israelis was in the single digits? That was August 2009 when it bottomed at 4%. A lot has changed since then, and a Pew Research Center survey released this week showed Obama "enjoys the confidence of 61% of Israelis." Among Israeli Jews, 64% rate Obama favorably vs. 48% of Arabs.

A Synagogue Service That Doesn't Distress Parents Of Children With Autism

Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 11:30 | The New Normal

For my dissertation research, I have focused on studying Jewish parents of children with and without autism. During these interviews, many parents of children without autism discussed the importance of taking their child to services so that he or she could experience a Jewish environment. Parents of children with autism talked about how they often felt distressed when attending services with their child.

Two Israeli Painters To Watch

Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 10:38 | Well Versed

This year’s MFA exhibition at The New York Studio School, which opened on Wednesday night, includes two Israeli painters working with specifically Jewish or Israeli themes. Leah Raab paints large-scale images of Jerusalem that are tender and intimate, but sometimes communicate a sense of foreboding. Shany Saar paints narrative works, often of biblical themes. Both create strong images through an inventive sense of form and color, vigorous brushwork and an achieved sense of pictorial space.

Time For Arab League To Put Up Or Shut Up

Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 10:21 | Political Insider

Arab League leaders were in Washington last week doing what they do best: talking. Trouble is they're all talk and no walk. This time they endorsed the concept of land swaps as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. They made it sound revolutionary but in fact it was old stuff for the two parties who'd been discussing that for more than a dozen years.

When A Meltdown Lasts Five Hours, A Mom Needs More Than A Break

Posted: Thu, 05/09/2013 - 17:24 | The New Normal

I need a break. Every mom says that. But my doctor also says this about me.

It's Not About What The Community Can Do For Us, But What We Can Do ...

Posted: Thu, 05/09/2013 - 15:04 | The New Normal

Upon reading two articulate, impassioned and well-reasoned earlier posts, In Memory of My Son, A Plea and a Plan to Make Synagogues Wheelchair Accessible and Jewish Schools: You Have a Moral Responsibility to Kids with Disabilities, by my friends and colleagues, Shelley Cohen and Meredith Englander Polsky, respectively, I became increasingly concerned about the effectiveness of their arguments in advancing our cause.