Your daily spiel for Friday, Jan. 13

Barack Obama.

Your Daily Spiel is The CJN’s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world.


Cool, Friday the 13th. Here’s some Jewish news:

Did your parents tell you that Jews don’t drink (or smoke, or do drugs….)? The notion that addictions don’t occur in the Jewish community, or are less prevalent, is simply no longer on. This week, The CJN conducted a symposium, addressing issues of addiction and dependency in the community with four mental health experts, plus a rabbi.

From The CJN's Facebook page
From The CJN’s Facebook page

You CJN readers had a fair bit to say about a column this week written by Bernie Farber, in which the long-time social activist argues that it’s disgraceful for Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, to have agreed to lead a prayer at Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration.

 

 

 

Well, this seems ironic. An elite, predominantly Jewish golf club in Maryland is waffling over whether to bar entry to outgoing U.S. president Barack Obama after he leaves office Jan. 21. Some members apparently think Obama should be disallowed from becoming a club member because he chose not to use the U.S. veto against a UN Security Council Resolution critical of Israel′s settlement policies.

While some European countries are seeing an influx in the number of Jews emigrating to Israel, a new study by The Institute of Jewish Policy Research says the numbers are not sufficient to constitute an “exodus” a la the 1930s, The Guardian reports.

Ha’aretz reported that dozens of Israeli Defence Forces soldiers burst into a Palestinian home in the middle of the night last week, waking up the family to warn two boys not to take part in demonstrations.

Birthright gets real niche, like, more. This summer, young American Jewish vegans will have the chance to go on a specifically vegan Birthright trip.