Since the election, it has begun to dawn on me that the Jewish community might be facing a reckoning.

It hit me Saturday night, when at the protest at JFK. There were other Jews there, but most surprising to me was seeing a lone Haredi man. Haredim don’t usually come to any protests but their own, and generally stay away from loud activist actions. Usually, the community prefers to fly under the radar and not rock the boat, so his presence there was in its own way extraordinary. He was American and Israeli, and admitted he was there to support the protest against the Ban, and like many Jews I have spoken to, recalled the deaths that resulted when the United States turned away Jewish refugees during WWII. But he still held himself apart from the group, smoking a cigarette, and looking over at the shouting, exuberant crowd. “If I go in there [into the crowd] and start a ‘Free Palestine’ chant, will they chant with me? If they do, then there is no place for me here.”

He isn’t the only Jew who feels this way.

It’s no secret that there is tension between the mostly pro-Israel politics of the American Jewish community, and the mostly progressive politics of the same group. For decades, we have been trying to square the circle— pointing out that Jews have legitimate roots in the area, the multiple international agreements, the belief in a two-state solution, and the altogether nuanced nature of the conflict in the face of the reductive sloganeering so common in politicized spaces.

It’s never really worked — there’s too much pressure from the extremes on the Left and the Right — but I think the jig is up now. There’s no more center ground on which to stand.

It’s not because arguments for nuance are any less true. A two-state solution is still the one supported by the international community, and the one the UN expects and demands. Jews still do and will always have deep-rooted history in the Holy Land, and self-determination is no less of a national right for us than it is for anyone else. But the actions of Bibi’s government make such arguments fall flat. No one wants to hear it when the state is led by a man plagued by corruption scandals, who constantly undermines the two-state solution while pretending to uphold it, who increasingly marginalizes the already crippled center and left parties in Knesset, empowers the extremists in Israeli society, and embarrasses the head of the country by addressing Congress on his own. Simply put, when the head of state continues on with antics like this, no one will care to hear your defenses. It’s kind of like asking the world not to worry about the actions of the USA with Trump at the helm: no one has time to waste with such a request.

On the one hand, the pressure on Diaspora Jews to take the “right stance” on Israel is anti-Semitic. No Iranian national is expected to disavow the actions of their government in order to be welcomed in activist spaces. Nor is any Palestinian, Chinese, Turkish, Saudi, or German citizen. It’s a standard put on no one but the Jews, and it’s hypocritical. We should call that like it is.

On the other hand, we are nonetheless faced with internal accountability to ourselves and each other, whether we choose to deal with it or not (and for the most part, our community is continuing to dodge the issue).

What else are we to make of it when Bibi Netanyahu praises Donald Trump’s repeated intentions to build a wall, when both southern-border walls were built for similar ethnonationalist exclusionary reasons? What else do we expect when we excuse one wall, but condemn the other? Why are we protesting at JFK to allow the entry of refugees, but not at Ben Gurion? We correctly see ourselves in today’s refugees barred entry, recognize in them the ghosts of our pasts, so why don’t we see ourselves in Palestinians? How come Trump’s wall is bad, but ours is OK?

There are real differences between Israel’s desire for security, which is based on multiple wars and even outright genocidal speech coming from its neighbors at different times. Such things are not the case for the United States, and never have been. But if you spend time trying to point this out, you are missing the point. This article is not about how Israel differs from America and should be judged on its own standards, nor is it about the praise-worthy grassroots movements of young Diaspora Jews to address Israel’s illiberalism, like J Street, Open Hillel, and If Not Now; it’s about how leadership in Israel and America are becoming increasingly similar, to the detriment of both. Trump’s supporters are making comparisons between the two states as part of their rhetoric to bolster their opinions and policy preferences. Some of their comparisons only bear the slightest resemblance to facts; other comparisons are a little too on-point for comfort. While they’re half-wrong, they are also half-right.

If Bibi gets replaced with someone dedicated to moving forward with the peace process, maybe the American Jewish community can continue to kick the issue down the road. But I am not so sure that will happen, or that we should try. I think if we don’t expect anyone to give the slightest inch to Trump and his supporters, then demanding it for Bibi due to our own community loyalties is nothing short of hypocritical. If we can see and praise the domestic and international backlash against Trump, and understand that it does not mean the entire world hates America, then we can probably understand similar sentiment aimed at Bibi. (That doesn’t mean we should confuse them for people who want to eliminate Jewish presence in the Levant altogether, but it is a mistake to assume that this Venn Diagram is a circle.) And I think we will be a better, stronger community if we stop enabling the lazy rhetoric among ourselves and avoiding responsibility for it by labeling that support for Israel. Supporting Israel should mean supporting the tough decisions that leave everyone better off, not supporting extremist policies that hurt both Israelis and Palestinians. That kind of “support” only aids the people who want to blow up our bus stops, or worse (much like how Trump’s “Muslim Ban” is a boon for ISIS recruiters).

There are really only two ways this can end. Israel can retreat from its hyper-ethno-nationalist right wing positions. This would be good for the country, good for both Israelis and Palestinians, and good for the Diaspora Jews who increasingly feel alienated from a state that less and less holds the liberal ideas common to the majority of Diaspora, especially American Jews. Or, the country can, like the USA, like Britain, like Turkey, like Hungary, like Venezuela, continue on its regressive path. This will entrench social and political trends that locally will result in hardship, bloodshed, and anguish, as well as increasingly alienate a mostly liberal Diaspora— except for an increasingly hyper-conservative, tribalist, and vocal minority.

This was a trend that was happening before Trump’s election, or his monstrous “Muslim Ban.” But the election helped speed up the collapse of the status quo. And the results can be seen on the streets. Fellow American Jews: do you want to support an Israeli Prime Minister who keeps silent when the American President erases Jews from the Holocaust? Do you want to support a Prime Minister who plays sycophant with Trump over Twitter to support the latter’s harmful and bigoted policies? Why do we let gangsters with an unquenchable thirst for violence against anyone not like them dictate our community’s political position?

We should continue to hit the streets in support of immigrants and refugees, for we too were strangers, and we viscerally understand the high stakes for people fleeing war only to be greeted with closed doors. But maybe we should bring back some of that feeling to our internal community politics as well.

Photo by B. Lana Guggenheim

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After a lot of recent excitement about the new arrangement for the Western Wall, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that no, never mind, what, who said anything about a deal, quick look over there Iran looks suspicious!

What Bibi actually said was that “several difficulties arose” in establishing an “egalitarian” area at the wall, many of those difficulties taking the form of right-wing officials, including Kotel Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz who had originally acquiesced to the deal, and Minister of Religious Affairs David Azoulay refusing to accept it in the first place in a way that smacks of Kim Davis. For them, apparently the idea of legitimizing women reading Torah and laying tefillin anywhere in the vicinity would be an abomination (seriously, Azoulay made comparisons to not committing murder).

Netanyahu asserted that he’s not giving up, and appointed his bureau chief David Sharan to try to work out a solution over the next couple of months, but obviously progressive Jewish groups are discouraged, if not infuriated.

I’m on record as disliking the deal anyway; it was too little for the women who want the right to pray in a way that they find meaningful in the main women’s section of the Wall (a section that is also too small and oppressive, while we’re on the subject).

But the fact that Netanyahu couldn’t even accomplish that is pretty telling.  Once again, he acts powerless in the face of pressure from the religious right, like when he reneged on action that would make Haredi Jews more beholden to Israel’s mandatory military draft.

The odds that Sharan is going to come back with a better deal than the previous one are smaller than the constrained women’s section at the Kotel (which would be 20%, by the way. The women’s section of the Western Wall is one-fourth the size of the men’s section).

See you 60 days to explore further disappointment!

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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He hasn’t even put a ring on it, and every Israeli politician is freaking out. 23-year-old Yair Netanyahu, son of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyu is dating blonde non-Jewish Norwegian university student, Sandra Leikanger. The two love birds met while studying at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel.

Apparently the prime minister was chatting with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and mentioned that his son had just been vacationing North Norway with his Norwegian girlfriend. Vacation photos of them “cheers-ing” shots was lifted from Leikanger’s public Facebook (girl, you gotta private that ish), which further confirmed the SHONDA!

Well, this has ultra-orthodox and those who rally against intermarriage in a serious tiff with the Netanyahu’s. On Monday, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Aryeh Deri, said he believed the relationship actually caused Netanyahu and his wife great “heartache.”

But this is to be expected.

Yossi Sarid, a former Israeli education minister responded, “It’s not fair. You can’t expect fairness from those people,” Sarid said. “They don’t like non-Jews. They don’t like non-Orthodox Jews. They are behaving as fanatics everywhere behave.”

Sucks to be Sandra and Yair right now. Wonder if they will withstand the media scrutiny, or simply not respond and carry on. We shall see.

(Photo by Getty)

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Remember last year when a group of Israelis made a series of “We Love You Iran” YouTube videos in an effort to subvert the de facto enmity between the two countries? The feelings were mutual, and the whole exchange was heartwarming and inspiring and reminded us all that the opinions of a country’s citizens can be quite different from those of their government.

This past week, Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to rally Iranian citizens against their country’s nuclear weapon program by highlighting their lack of civil liberties. In an interview with BBC Persia, Netanyahu attempted to appeal to the citizens of Iran with the following statements:

If the people of Iran were free, they could wear jeans, listen to Western music and have free elections. You, the Persians, will never get rid of this tyranny if it is armed with nuclear weapons. For God’s sake, don’t let them have nuclear weapons.

If this sounds a bit desperate, that’s because it was. But the main problem was that Netanyahu did not really have his facts straight. Just after the statements, Iranians took to Twitter to let the world know that Western music and culture is a part of their lives.

.@netanyahu Here are my #Jeans and #Western music you idiot. pic.twitter.com/pxv2hqv8WV

— Sallar (@sallar) October 6, 2013

@netanyahu I'm wearing #jeans like many other young & old people in #iran pic.twitter.com/OXUsJounwF

— Mohammad HZG (@mohhzg) October 6, 2013

And, if Netanyahu’s statements come across as a #fail, that’s only because his information was a bit outdated. It is true that many progressive Iranians don’t agree with the views of their current leaders who were all preapproved prior to the election. Perhaps a more educated dialogue between the people of Iran and Israel might still prove helpful in the future.

(Photo by Pool/Getty)

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Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party might have been the surprise winner of yesterday’s Israeli election, netting exactly half of the 120 Knesset seats and demonstrating a leftward shift in the country’s political narrative. But the real winner is Lapid, who in his former life as a television personality played the role of the Hugh Grant-esque leading man in the 1994 classic Israeli rom-com, Shirat HaSirena:

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The cartoonishly evil Sheldon Adelson is a Jewish conspiracy theory incarnated. Which is why, no matter how much I despise his politics, election season bankrolling, and ethically dubious gambling empire, I can’t shake a creeping sense of tribal defensiveness when he’s depicted at his worst.

Perhaps my mixed feelings result in a traditional Jewish desire to circle the wagons when faced with outside criticism. Adelson deserves derision, to be sure, but the critiques attract some ugly fellow-travelers spilling anti-Semitic bilge, using Adelson’s love of Israel to brand all of us Israel Firsters.

It’s also hard at times to take Adelson seriously—he seems so ethically bankrupt and misguided that he must have been constructed for our deliberate provocation, a troll out of central casting. After all, the largesse he’s showered on the GOP is almost comical in its lack of discrimination. That Adelson chose to support Newt Gingrich—fatuous, bloviating Newt Gingrich, he of the moon bases and Dynasty-like personal life—makes one wonder if this isn’t an elaborate performance. The uber-rich can’t hunt humans for sport (not yet), so perhaps this game of GOP monopoly is the next best thing.

But maybe I should step back and offer a primer for the uninitiated and some explanation for the extraordinary amount of time I’ve spent wondering about a man who could drown me in his change purse.

An elderly, massively rich, transnational Jew who loudly declaims his love for Israel, Adelson is famous for donating tens of millions of dollars to GOP Super PACs—and for being unapologetic about a single thing he does. Adelson gave at least $105 million to Republican organizations in the 2012 election, and while nearly all of the candidates he supported lost, he recently said he plans to double his donations in 2016.

He can afford much more. Adelson’s fortune now clocks in around $21.5 billion, most of it from his gambling interests. His Las Vegas Sands Corporation operates a number of casinos in Vegas, Pennsylvania, and Singapore, but now makes a majority of its money in Macau, the biggest gambling market in the world. The Department of Justice is investigating whether Las Vegas Sands committed money-laundering, which is in addition to a DoJ bribery investigation and one by Macau authorities looking into possible violations of privacy laws. Working in one of the most corrupt industries in some of the world’s most corrupt cities brings risks, I suppose.

In Israel, Adelson is a great booster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He owns Yisrael HaYom, a right-wing newspaper that, after Barack Obama won re-election, featured the headline, “The US Voted Socialism.” Jingoistic and freely distributed, Yisrael HaYom has become the country’s leading newspaper, devastating the business of competitor papers like Maariv and Ha’aretz (a poor media economy hasn’t helped).

So in sum: right wing, obscenely rich, an aggressive player in a business full of shady operators, mired in legal investigations, throws money around with the enthusiasm of a zayde treating his grandkids to lunch at the deli (except he deals in $10 million checks). If he visited the Upper West Side, one suspects he’d melt on arrival.

I thought a lot—too much—about Adelson during the election season, a numbingly long period that hasn’t so much ended as oozed into its next iteration. And as much as I found him a tempting object of fixation and a disruptive political force—one who, it should be noted, hasn’t been convicted of any crimes—a sour note of sympathy sometimes creeps in. For one thing, Adelson freely admits that it’s his money that makes him a popular GOP figure; speaking to the Wall Street Journal, he referred to his “pocket personality.” There’s a schoolyard sadness to this kind of relationship—a boyish desire to just be liked. But Adelson is rich and powerful and presumably has built up a thick carapace over the years. (His cash-for-loyalty model reminds me of a feudal lord.)

No, what furthers jumbles my view of Adelson are the cartoons of him, particularly when he’s depicted as the most powerful man in the world—this elderly, money-grasping, hook-nosed Jew, a sybaritic smile on his face as he plays with his presidential marionettes. A certain tribal insecurity sets in.

In truth, if anyone deserves the label “bad for the Jews,” it’s Adelson. By proclaiming Israel to be his core concern (that and those dastardly unions of low-paid casino employees), he defiantly refuses to assimilate. He’s vocal and proud about his political machinations in a way that even the Koch brothers, his closest counterparts, aren’t. In this sense, Adelson’s a post-modern figure (the strutting, un-neurotic Jew) who somehow attracts modernist-era prejudice (garish cartoons straight out of Nazi propaganda). I want to defend his right to act within the law, but I also want to take him aside and say, “Don’t you understand how difficult you make things for us?”

In considering Adelson, I’m also reminded of George Soros, another billionaire whose biography resembles that of an anti-Semitic caricature. I find Soros infinitely more respectable—his Open Society Institute does valuable work funding democracy-building initiatives around the world, and he supports socially useful efforts like drug policy reform. But Soros is also infamous for reaping huge profits by speculating on the British pound during a currency crisis and has an insider trading conviction (in France) on his record. He also seems more interested in using his vast wealth to game the political system to his advantage than lobbying for structural change.

Revisiting some of Soros’ past comments about George W. Bush—in 2004, he said he’d donate his whole fortune if it would ensure Bush’s defeat, which was “the central focus of [his] life”—an uncomfortable resemblance develops. It’s not quite symmetry—America’s bifurcated politics too often creates false equivalences—and in Soros’ position, I would’ve said something similar. Even so, I better understand the right-wing paranoia that has long surrounded Soros, with Glenn Beck’s vatic histrionics being the most infamous example.

I’m comfortable with neither Adelson nor Soros being the avatar of America’s broken campaign finance system and, by extension, its entire political system. Of course, as long as this system exists, there’ll be men like them. But there’s an undeniable way in which their Jewishness resurrects ugly stereotypes from earlier generations. In many ways, though, our political culture is equally retrograde—built upon stunning inequality, greased by untraceable cash, dependent on patronage. It just so happens that the most easily locatable villains, in recent years, are Jewish (the Kochs rarely speak to the media).

So is Adelson a great antagonist or just a projection of my (our) anxieties about how the culture has gone astray? Do I resent him because of his politics or because of the uncomfortable spotlight he directs on Jewish politics? I can’t quite answer the question, in part because Adelson is simply operating on a level—of influence, of cashflow—that I can’t comprehend. Instead, I think of Sholom Aleichem, who said that life was a game for the fool and a comedy for the rich. When I hear Adelson brag about how much money he’ll spend in 2016, I realize that he must be both.

(Image credit: ABC News)

Previously: Culture Kvetch: Retweet This War
Culture Kvetch: Women Aren’t Funny? Really?

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Being named TIME Person of the Year is kind of a big deal. While the nature of the award has certainly changed over the years (Hitler won in 1938?) and the official title was amended from ‘Man of the Year’ to ‘Person of the Year’ in 1999 (seriously, guys? 1999?), the honorary continues to be bestowed, according to TIME, “on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”

But for all the hype about Jews taking over the world, we’re a group that’s not been very well represented on this list. Most years the title goes to the president, which pretty much rules us out completely. And sure, we all won in 2006 (literally, the person of the year was “You“), but that felt a little like cheating. But then Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke got it in 2009, and Facebook king Mark Zuckerberg in 2010, and we really felt like we were finally sitting at the cool table in the TIME cafeteria.

This year, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for one of these four Jews to take home the 2012 title. But hopefully not you, Sheldon Adelson. Who will you be voting for? (Not that it really matters—the editors choose the winner anyway.)

Jon Stewart:

“He is an entertainer, but he’s also a fact checker, hypocrisy meter and pundit who affects how people view the major players in America’s messy, vital democracy”

The host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and frequent mention on Jewcy is an interesting pick for an election year. His Emmy-winning campaign coverage was funny, and at times quite poignant, but we’re not so sure he’s got the chops to compete against the stacked group of foreign policy players in this year’s nominee batch. Plus his pal Steven Colbert was also nominated, so there’s that.

Benjamin Netanyahu:

“Now it’s up to him to help his country achieve a lasting peace in one of the most volatile corners of the world.”

We like Bibi for the win, if only because we’re pretty sure it will cause outsize outrage from all sides. TIME likes to make their picks controversial—sorry, conversation-starting—and he’s right up there on that one. But like our fleeting case of Biber Fever last month, we’re just not sure Bibi’s going to make it all the way to the editor’s finish line.

Michael Bloomberg:

“The hurricane’s destruction prompted Bloomberg, who until then had remained neutral regarding the presidential race, to endorse Barack Obama just five days before the election — and to spotlight, as his rationale, another issue he feels the political process has foolishly ignored: global warming.”

If they go with a Sandy-themed pick, Bloomberg’s got a one-in-three shot of making it—he just needs to beat Jersey governor Chris Christie and Obama, who already won in 2008. Otherwise, he seems like too much of a New York-centric choice. We still love you though, Bloomy.

Sheldon Adelson:

“After Barack Obama won re-election despite those efforts, Adelson — a strong supporter of Israel and Jewish causes, whose fortune Forbes pegs at some $20 billion — shrugged off the checks as the price of doing business. “Paying bills,” he told a Norwegian reporter. “That’s how you spend money.””

They missed the very next sentence of Adelson’s quote, though—you know, the part where he said “Either that or become a Jewish husband — you spend a lot of money.” Gross. Disqualification, please?

Who Should Be TIME’s Person of the Year 2012? [TIME]

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SCORPIO (OCTOBER 21-NOVEMBER 20): Shaineh shveigen iz shener vi shain reden: Dignified silence is better than dignified speech.

Ancient Hebrews knew Scorpio as Lesath (Lesha), the perverse. The fixed water sign, Scorpio is the most misunderstood of all the signs. A natural detective, you’re the sign of intensity. Ruled by the stinging scorpion and the majestic eagle, Scorpios are capable of the highest highs and lowest lows—this sign has more extremes than any other.

You are a secret force of nature, best known for your seething magnetism, passion, and mystery. At best, you are quick in critical thought, perceptive, and able to sense the moods and thoughts of others. At worst, you are uncompromising and exacting, suspicious, cruel—as stubborn as the other fixed signs but with a vindictiveness that can spell danger.

Magnetic Scorpio is a sign of attachment. Your feelings of attraction and repulsion are pronounced. But make an effort to be more open; at a distance you fool others, close at hand just yourself—Fun vaytn nart men laytn, fun neont zikh aleyn—it will also reduce miscommunications

Saturn will remain in Scorpio until September 19, 2015. During this time, make an effort to relinquish bad habits. The Taurus full moon on October 29 illuminates relationships, reflecting your emotions back to you and helping you realize the root of your passions. Just in time for Halloween, you devils. Your self-awareness shines through with the new moon solar eclipse in your sign on November 13.  After the Mercury retrograde period (November 6-26), and when Neptune turns direct on November 11, you may experience some breakthroughs. 

Famous Scorpio Jews: Mike D, Ad-Rock, Fran Lebowitz, Winona Ryder, Larry King, Rodney Dangerfield, Drake, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Judge Judy, Fanny Brice, Hedy Lamarr, Benjamin Netanyahu, Henry Winkler, Roy Lichtenstein, Carrie Fisher (half-Jewish), Art Garfunkel, Jeff Goldblum, Maggie Gyllenhaal (half-Jewish).

SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 21-DECEMBER 20): With your ruling planet Jupiter in retrograde from October 4 to January 30, you may find yourself reminiscing about ghosts from your past. Use this time listen to what your instincts are telling you. The full moon on the 29th encourages you to sit back, relax, and put your feet up already—you deserve it!

CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 21-JANUARY 20): The full moon in Taurus, the most sensual of earth signs, urges you to put your work down and go out and play. Your ruling planet, Saturn, is in Scorpio for the next few years, encouraging you to commit to a goal and see it through to the end. Take this with a grain of salt: All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21-FEBRUARY 20): It’s either all or nothing—Oder gor oder gornisht—for you Aquarians. You may be getting cold feet about a current romantic entanglement. Go back to your roots: spending some time with family may offer clues for how you can incorporate romance into your scheme of things.

PISCES (FEBRUARY 21-MARCH 20): Your ruling planet Neptune turns direct on November 11. If you’ve been extra sensitive to the energies around you, you may find some relief when this period of intense inward-looking ends. While you may have to go against your nature and think about the practical, mundane things in life, there are ways to maintain your imagination and optimism throughout.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 20): You Aries have a tendency to put your foot in your mouth. While the headstrong schvitzer (show-off) between your ears may motivate you to achieve your goals, be careful that you don’t work so hard that you burn out. Ambition is a good thing as long as you stay grounded in reality.

TAURUS (APRIL 21- MAY 20): Languorous Tauruses don’t always strike when the iron is hot. Although you have no shortage of dreams, it takes some time for you to bring them to fruition. The full moon in your sign on October 29 cautions you to watch your boundaries with your emotions.

GEMINI (MAY 21- JUNE 20): Mercury turns retrograde from November 6 to 26, frustrating your instincts. That shouldn’t stop you from schmoozing, reading, learning, and doing your Gemini thing. Talk your heart out—Me redt zich oys dos harts—you might not get exactly what you had in mind, but when has that ever stopped you before?

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 20): Ruled as you are by the moon, you are particularly susceptible to full and new moons. While the full moon may create tension for you, remember that every man has a madness of his own—Itlecher mentsh hot zich zein shigoyen. The best way to face the world is head on!

LEO (JULY 21-AUGUST 20): Any sense of limitation you’ve been feeling is reaching its breaking point. Before you succumb to the pressures of reality, take a few moments to breath and assess your state of affairs. You magnetic Leos go straight to the heart of the matter—be true to yourself and go after what you really want. 

VIRGO (AUGUST 21-SEPTEMBER 20): Discerning Virgos may not have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, but with Mercury moving retrograde most of November, be careful you don’t bore your companions. A critical eye won’t necessary save you from the forces of chaos that descend upon us all from time to time. 

LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 20): Venus, your ruling planet, moves into your sign on October 28, neshomeleh (sweetheart). Libra is the sign of partnership, and you’ll find yourself becoming more aware of that special someone. But don’t take this as an excuse to neglect your own personal development—if you got it, flaunt it!

What’s Your Sign?
Jewcy Horoscopes: Lovely, Lawful Libra (September 21-October 20)
Jewcy Horoscopes: Virgo, the Anxious Maiden (August 21-September 20)
Jewcy Horoscopes: Leo, King of the Jungle (July 21 – August 20)

The post Jewcy Horoscopes: Stinging Scorpio (October 21-November 20) appeared first on Jewcy.

• At Politico: Sarah Palin released a video calling the rush to pin blame on conservatives for the Tucson shooting a “blood libel.”  Does she mean that Jews are looking to use Tea Party blood for matzo?  We’re confused.

• At Huffington Post: Natalie Portman goes topless.  Jewish buys buy stock in Dior.

• At YNet: Al-Jazeera producer and reporter Najwan Simri Diab recalls her humiliating security check before meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

• At The Guardian: Is Robert Crumb as good a comic artist as everybody says he is?  One writer doesn’t think so.

The post Daily Jewce: Palin’s “Blood Libel,” Portman Topless, Al-Jazeera Security Check And More appeared first on Jewcy.

• Study for your bar mitzvah while looking at eBay/reading The Awl/whatever you do on the internet.

• A suspected Nazi death camp guard dies before trial.

• We always just figured George W. Bush’s favorite book was The Bible and God wrote that, but guess not.  It was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest adviser who did that.

• Regina Spektor on the big screen and the small one.

• New York Magazine talks to Jonathan Safran Foer about his new book, Tree of Codes.

• The late Norman Mailer’s wife, Norris Church Mailer, has passed away.

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