Latest news with #Judaism
India.com
12 hours ago
- General
- India.com
Chicken, mutton or...: Which animal meat is preferred by Israeli soldiers? The answer will SHOCK you, it is...
(File) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which is currently giving a tough time to Iran in the ongoing Israel-Iran war, is ranked among the world's most professional and lethal armies, and it stands to reason that the Israeli Army ensures that its soldiers are well-fed with a protein-rich balanced diet. But which animal meat is the most preferred by the IDF soldiers? No, its not beef or mutton as many would have imagined. The answer is chicken. Here's why Israeli soldiers prefer to eat chicken the most. Favorite meat of Israeli soldiers A majority of IDF troops are staunch followers of Judaism, while a tiny minority consists of Arab Muslims. Both these Abrahamic religions have somewhat similar religious edicts when it comes to food. Thus, any food prepared for Israeli soldiers is strictly Kosher (or Halal for their Muslim troops). The IDF soldiers are allowed to eat beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, goat, and fresh water fish, while pork and shellfish are strictly prohibited in both Judaism and Islam. But the savored meat preferred by Israeli troops is chicken, primarily because it takes less time to prepare, tastes good, and is readily available basically everywhere. What about vegan soldiers? While a major portion of IDF soldiers eat meat, a small yet significant number are vegan. Special vegan food is prepared for the soldiers who do not eat meat or any animal products. These include delicacies like falafel, sabich, and Israeli salad. What do Israeli soldiers eat for breakfast, dinner, and lunch? According to media reports, IDF soldiers are served Tunisian sandwiches, shakshuka, hummus, falafel, muesli, energy bars and cereal for breakfast, while lunch for non-vegetarian soldiers includes protein-rich foods like grilled chicken, shawarma and beef hamburger. Vegan or vegetarian soldiers are served tofu schnitzel, tofu shawarma, vegetarian hamburger, rice, potatoes, yogurt, along with an assortment of fruits and vegetables. Dinner has usually same menu as lunch, but the quantity served is slightly less to ensure soldiers sleep with a light stomach, and become quickly mobile if required. What about alcohol? Unlike many armies around the world, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have strict prohibition on the consumption of alcohol, and no soldier or officer is allowed to consume any alcoholic beverage while on active duty or in the camp. There are no exemptions to this rule.
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First Post
13 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
Clash of lions and legends: Netanyahu, Khamenei weaponise history in Israel-Iran war
As the Israel-Iran conflict continues to intensify, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to be using an old tactic, referencing history to justify their present actions read more Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei (R) have one thing in common, both use history to justify their present. AFP/ AP West Asia continues to remain in a constant state of turmoil as Israel and Iran hurl missiles at each other. One common trend that has emerged from this conflict is how leaders of both sides are using history to justify their ongoing actions against each other. While Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the name of Operation Rising Lion against Iran from the Bible, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei evoked his religious symbol and traditions, pledging to retaliate against what he called the 'Zionist regime'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is not the first time world leaders have used history and nationalistic sentiments to justify war or any form of conflict. The tactics have been used by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to justify his invasion of Ukraine, a war which has been raging on for the past three years. Here's how both Netanyahu and Khamenei tapped into the commonly used playbook. Netanyahu's Operation Rising Lion After Israel struck several top military and nuclear targets of Iran, the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the strikes were conducted under Operation Rising Lion. Netanyahu noted that the name of the operation came from a biblical verse that promises a 'victorious future for a powerful Israel.' A day before the operation, Netanyahu was photographed putting a handwritten note into a crack of Jerusalem's Western Wall, which is touted as the holiest prayer site of Judaism. On the day of the strike, his office released a photo of the note, which said, 'The people shall rise up as a lion'. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was photographed putting a handwritten note into a crack of Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site. AFP It is pertinent to note that the expression comes from erse 23:24 of the Book of Numbers in the Bible: 'Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.' The verse is part of the first oracle of Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner, who foretells the strength and power of Israel. Balaam compared Israel to a lion that will not rest until it has satisfied its hunger. Khamenei's war cry Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, took to X to declare 'the battle' against Israel. 'In the name of #Haider, the battle begins. Ali returns to #Khaybar with his Zulfiqar.' Khamenei wrote in Farsi, referring to Islam's first imam, Ali, who won the Battle of Khaybar with the sword Zulfiqar. What makes it relevant is the fact that Khaybar was a fortified Jewish stronghold in Arabia that Ali ibn Talib was known to have conquered during a crucial battle in Islamic history. This is not the first time Khamenei has used history to justify his current actions. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This very year, during nuclear deal talks with the US , Khamenei likened nuclear diplomacy—or temporary détente—to the 7th-century Treaty of Hasan ibn Ali with Muʿāwiyah. He called it a strategic 'trial', emphasising that it is a 'temporary pause to safeguard long-term interests. In the same year, hardliners called the current rounds of negotiations the Prophet's Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (628 CE). The implication: moments of temporary peace can yield long-term strategic advantage. Apart from this, the Iranian supreme leader is known for his anti-Semitic remarks. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On several occasions, he questioned the certainty of the Holocaust—an argument aimed at undermining Western moral authority and reinforcing distrust of the West. Old playbook This is not the first time world leaders have been referencing history to justify bombing their adversaries. Throughout the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin used history to justify the invasion of eastern Ukraine. In an interview with far-right media figure Tucker Carlson, Putin gave a lecture on Russian history. In the 2-hour-long interview, the 71-year-old Russian leader spent more than 20 minutes showering a baffled Carlson with dates and names going back to the ninth century. After his rundown of history, Putin gave him a folder containing what he said were copies of historical documents proving his points that Ukrainians and Russians historically have always been one people, calling Ukraine's sovereignty merely an illegitimate holdover from the Soviet era. Commenting on the interview later, Carlson said he was 'shocked' at being on the receiving end of the history lesson. Meanwhile, former US President, who often referred to Putin as his 'friend' used, George W. Bush also used the same strategy during the Iraq war. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Former President George W. Bush takes the field with his wife, Laura Bush, before an NCAA college football game between Florida State and SMU. File image/AP In June 2003, Bush told Palestinian officials that he felt 'driven with a mission from God,' as he recalled the Iraq war. 'God would tell me, 'George, go … end the tyranny in Iraq.' And I did," he said at that time. While the White House eventually said that Bush never made the claim, calling it 'absurd,' multiple Palestinian officials confirmed that the former president made these remarks. In 2002, Bush labelled Iraq part of the 'axis of evil,' drawing on World War II parallels—a powerful historical framing that equated Iraq with ideological tyranny. Among religious conservatives, Iraq was even likened to ancient Babylon, reviving the Biblical motif of righteous conquest over an oppressive regime. Hence, both Netanyahu and Khamenei seemed to be using the old playbook.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Bad Shabbos' is a mediocre movie
Advertisement Jordan's favorite tenants are Ellen (Sedgwick) and her husband Richie (Paymer), who reside in apartment 10B with their slacker son, Adam (Theo Taplitz). Their other children, Abby (Milana Vayntrub) and David (Jon Bass), and David's fiancé, Meg (Meghan Leathers), are arriving for Shabbat dinner when the film opens. The title of the movie is a play on the 'good Shabbos' greeting everyone offers as they arrive. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Method Man in 'Bad Shabbos.' Menemsha Films The entire neighborhood, including Jordan, knows that Meg's Catholic parents, John (Lloyd) and Beth (Catherine Curtin) will be meeting David's family for the first time at this dinner. They're not happy about their daughter converting to Judaism, and Ellen is equally unhappy that her eldest son isn't marrying a nice Jewish woman. Meg's folks are coming all the way from Milwaukee. Abby's boyfriend, Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman), is coming from Williamsburg, which is a far shorter commute. Benjamin and Adam have a vituperative hatred of one another, which will prove fatal before a single loaf of challah is broken. Advertisement In the screenplay by director Daniel Robbins and Zach Weiner, Jordan serves the same purpose as Winston Wolf: There's a dead body that needs to be disposed of before John and Beth arrive at the house, and time is running out. 'Bad Shabbos' shoots itself in the tuchus by telling us what happens to the dead body in the opening scene, robbing the frenetic goings-on of any suspense. The body belongs to Benjamin, who cracks his skull when a prank pulled by Adam goes horribly awry. From here, 'Bad Shabbos' becomes an endless series of scenes where these unlikable characters bicker and fight while trying to dispose of the body. Once Jordan gets involved, the film manages some laughs and a hint of cleverness, especially during the dinner scene that serves as the centerpiece. David Paymer and Kyra Sedgwick in 'Bad Shabbos.' Menemsha Films Dead body disposal comedies like this either lean into their darkness, like the dreadful Christian Slater movie, 'Very Bad Things,' or go for broad situation comedy laughs like 'Weekend at Bernie's.' This film is too chicken to aim for the former, so it has to make Benjamin a bigger louse than Adam so that our loyalties remain with a family covering up involuntary manslaughter. That ploy doesn't work, and the constant family bickering yields only intermittent chuckles instead of the desired cringe comedy shudders. Paymer seems to be having a ball as the self-help book quoting patriarch. Bass and Vayntrub are convincing as siblings, but Taplitz is too off-putting to generate any sympathy. Sedgwick is saddled with a stereotypical role, but her character's disproving facial expressions and passive-aggressive attitude toward her future daughter-in-law ring true. Advertisement I didn't expect the characters to turn on one another like in Danny Boyle's darker dead body comedy 'Shallow Grave.' But I also wasn't expecting the rather offensive deus ex machina or the resulting tacked on happy ending that followed it. Neither did the film any favors, because these elements felt like a cheat. Thank goodness for Method Man, who understood the assignment and made the film watchable and fun whenever Jordan showed up. When he isn't on screen, 'Bad Shabbos' is a mediocre movie. ★★ BAD SHABBOS Directed by Daniel Robbins. Written by Robbins, Zach Weiner. Starring Kyra Sedgwick, David Paymer, Jon Bass, Meghan Leathers, Cliff 'Method Man' Smith, Theo Taplitz, Milana Vayntrub, John Bedford Lloyd, Catherine Curtain, Ashley Zukerman. At Coolidge Corner. 84 min. Unrated (profanity) Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump's Religious Liberty Commission meets for the first time: What to know
Show Caption President Donald Trump has said during his second term "religion is coming back to America" and has launched a new Religious Liberty Commission in his administration. The creation of the commission followed the establishment of the White House Faith Office in February, which replaced former President Joe Biden's White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. According to the White House, the commission will advise the faith office and will reflect a "diversity of faith traditions, professional backgrounds and viewpoints." But some groups and experts are skeptical, suggesting the commission could serve as a platform for a specific Christian agenda. The commission will have its first meeting, which is open to the public, at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Monday. Here's what to know about the group ahead of the event: What is the commission? The commission is a group of up to 14 people appointed by Trump who are tasked with advising the government on religious liberty issues. The executive order says the members' terms, and the commission itself, will end on July 4, 2026 – the 250 th anniversary of American independence – unless Trump extends it. Members are not paid for their work, though they may receive travel expenses. The commission also has three advisory boards composed of religious leaders, legal experts and lay leaders. Who's involved and on the commission? Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who offered up to $1 million to individuals who could provide proof of Trump's baseless claims of widespread election fraud in 2020, and Dr. Ben Carson, who ran for president in 2016 and later served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Trump's first administration, were appointed to serve as the commission's chair and vice chair, respectively. Other longtime Trump allies are on the commission, including the Rev. Franklin Graham and pastor Paula White, who leads the White House Faith Office. The commission also includes Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York whom Trump recommended for the papacy after Pope Francis' death, and Carrie Prejean Boller, who stirred controversy by saying 'marriage should be between a man and a woman' during the Miss USA 2009 competition. The religious advisory board includes Christian and Jewish members from traditions including Catholicism, evangelicalism, Greek Orthodox Christianity and orthodox Judaism. They include: Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros, who attended Trump's inauguration and later offered the president a holy cross as a sign of 'divine guidance,' according to the Catholic News Agency. Pastor Jack Graham, who leads Prestonwood Baptist Church in the Dallas area and previously served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Graham has referred to Trump as a 'warrior for the word of God.' Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, who has criticized 'wokeism' and said that Judaism 'teaches the principles that made America great' in an April interview with the Orthodox Jewish media outlet VIN News. Legal experts include Jason Bedrick, a research fellow in the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, which crafted the Republican policy playbook known as Project 2025, South Texas College of Law Houston professor Josh Blackman, and Alliance Defending Freedom president, CEO and general counsel Kristen Waggoner. Lay leaders include Alveda King, an anti-abortion advocate and niece of the late Martin Luther King Jr. and 'Heaven Meets Earth' podcast co-host and Christian Broadcasting Network reporter Abigail Robertson Allen. Also on the board is activist Sameerah Munshi, who has supported Maryland parents seeking a right to opt their children out of reading books with LGBTQ characters in public schools in a case before the Supreme Court. What will the commission do? The commission's purpose is to 'safeguard and promote America's founding principle of religious freedom," according to the White House. Trump's May 1 executive order that established the group said Americans 'need to be reacquainted with our nation's superb experiment in religious freedom in order to preserve it against emerging threats.' More hearings will follow its initial June 16 meeting over the next year, the White House said, and the commission is tasked with publishing a report on the history and state of religious liberty in the nation by July 4, 2026. That report will highlight 'parental rights in religious education, school choice, conscience protections, attacks on houses of worship, free speech for religious entities and institutional autonomy," according to a White House fact sheet. What is the 'anti-Christian bias' they're referring to? The fact sheet also accused the Biden administration of '(targeting) peaceful Christians while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.' When asked for further details about the claim, a White House spokesperson referenced the nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists whom Trump pardoned in January. The group included individuals charged with conspiring to storm a reproductive health clinic in Washington in October 2020. Among their charges were violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which prohibits individuals from interfering with another's access to reproductive health services 'by force, threat of force or physical obstruction.' The Office of the Associate Attorney General said in a Jan. 24 letter that charging individuals under the act '(has) been the prototypical example of this weaponization.' In a speech following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, which revoked a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and prompted nationwide protests, Biden said he '(calls) on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful.' Why are some experts concerned? The White House touted what it described as the diversity of the commission. "President Trump welcomes, honors and celebrates people of all faiths in the White House,' the White House spokesperson said, pointing to the president's commemorations of the religious holidays of Ramadan, Easter and Passover. The commission includes Protestants, Catholics and Jews, but no Muslims or members of other minority religious groups. There is Muslim representation on the advisory board of lay leaders. Given that composition, some experts were skeptical that the commission's work would uphold religious liberty for all in practice. 'Saying, 'we have a Catholic and a Protestant and a Jew on the committee' does not mean that we have balanced viewpoints or a wide array of viewpoints if you've gone through and chosen people who share and reflect the administration's favored religious beliefs and favored political beliefs, and that's what we have here,' Duke University law professor Richard Katskee said. Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor and dean of Berkeley Law, noted the commission appears to be 'an extremely conservative group' primarily focused on 'using government to advance religion,' particularly a Trump-friendly branch of Christianity. That, he said, is 'very troubling.' Eugene Volokh, a professor of law emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said time will tell if the commission lives up to its stated goal of protecting all religious groups and practices in the United States. "I think the commission's job is to protect everybody and they may very well take quite seriously that job," he said. "We'll see." BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at USA TODAY. Reach her at bjfrank@
DW
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- DW
Drag queen rabbi provokes with human message – DW – 06/16/2025
The documentary "Sabbath Queen" follows Amichai Lau-Lavie, the first openly queer rabbi in a long Orthodox rabbinic lineage, in his identity quest and calls for peace. "Being gay and demanding my place at the Jewish table gave me the permission to talk back to Judaism over homophobia and racism, over Gaza and over misogyny," says Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie. The Israel-born social activist and New York City community leader has been hailed as a "maverick spiritual leader" by The Times of Israel and "one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world" by the Jewish Week. He is portrayed in the documentary "Sabbath Queen." Lau-Lavie and director Sandi DuBowski were in Berlin to attend film screenings at the Doxumentale film festival, which runs until June 22. Amichai Lau-Lavie and Sandi DuBowski in Berlin for the Doxumentale (formerly Dokumentale) film festival Image: Elizabeth Grenier/DW Finding his own voice as a spiritual leader amid a rabbinic dynasty Lau-Lavie was still a young man when he decided to leave Israel for New York in the late 1990s. His move was prompted by the backlash over a newspaper profile of him. The nephew of Israel's then-chief rabbi, the young man said he was exploring a path outside the Orthodox community before the piece outed him — without his consent. In New York's gay subculture, Lau-Lavie found his chosen family, particularly an activist group known as the Radical Faeries that fused radical queerness and spirituality. But beyond this freethinking community, Lau-Lavie also strived to honor his family's religious legacy. He is the heir to a 38-generation Orthodox rabbinic lineage going back to the 11th century. One of his grandfather's last wishes before being deported to a Nazi concentration camp was that this rabbinic dynasty be upheld. The grandfather, along with many other members of the Lau-Lavie family, didn't survive the Holocaust. From drag queen to Conservative rabbi Lau-Lavie's quest to find his life path is the subject of "Sabbath Queen," a documentary created over 21 years — the period director Sandi DuBowski spent with his subject. "In the beginning, I was just very entranced by Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, the drag character," DuBowski told DW, referring to Lau-Lavie's female alter-ego, the wise widow of six Hasidic rabbis. In her performances, Gross humorously and insightfully challenges patriarchy. But beyond the colorful drag character, the film shows how Lau-Lavie developed various formats as a spiritual leader. These include Lab/Shul, an experimental community for sacred Jewish gatherings open to everyone where "God is optional," and the ritual theater company, Storahtelling. Later, in order to take part in a larger conversation with Jewish thinkers beyond the progressive community, Lau-Lavie went a step further: In 2016, he got ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), a Conservative Judaism institution. As a young man, Amichai Lau-Lavie found his voice through queer and spiritual artistic performances Image: ROCO Films Testing boundaries with interfaith weddings That didn't stop Rabbi Lau-Lavie from exploring the boundaries of traditional Judaism and pathways for religious renewal. He officially broke with the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis, by officiating the wedding of two Buddhist gay monks — only one of them was also Jewish. While Conservative Judaism has been approving same-sex marriage ceremonies since 2012, the movement continues to prohibit its rabbis from performing interfaith weddings. It's a topic of ongoing debate within the Jewish community, as some view mixed marriage as a threat to the future of Judaism. But Lau-Lavie instead envisions a faith that embraces "plurality and pluralism." He calls it "a healthy ecosystem of different ways of being Jewish." His publications and scholarly research also drive the conversation, including exploring the Hebrew Bible through a queer perspective in a project called "Below the Bible Belt." "I'm trying to retrieve from the Bible the lineages and the narratives and the strands of justice and love and morality and humanity and dignity and fluidity that have always been there," he explains, aiming to offer a counternarrative to the "Jews first" policies of supremacist Jews. Among his numerous projects, Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie offers a queer re-reading of the Hebrew Bible Image: ROCO Films 'Horror must stop' The film ends after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Already in the early months of war, Lau-Lavie was critical of the Israeli government's reaction. "I hold the pain of my Israeli family," he said. "And our trauma and need for safety do not justify Israel starving and killing tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the continued occupation. This horror must stop," he says in "Sabbath Queen." On a political level, Lau-Lavie tells DW that he aims to "meet in the messy middle, not in the polarities." But when he meets people without any empathy for Gazan children, he feels there's no longer room for debate. "It's not unlikely that we're going towards a cultural war, like a civil war in Israel. I can't see how it's avoidable." A board member of different human rights groups and networks of Israeli and Palestinian peace advocates, Lau-Lavie regularly returns to Israel. He will soon be holding three weeks of back-to-back screenings of "Sabbath Queen" in different community centers, congregations and Israeli-Palestinian peace groups. The discussions held there are not only helpful to others, but also help ground him during an "increasingly painful situation." Referring to his peace activism and calls for compassion toward all Palestinians and all Israelis, he wearily points out: "What I'm saying is so old news. It's like so cliche: 'Both sides' 'Team Human.' But the erosion of empathy is just unbelievable." Still, no matter how repetitive his message may feel, he has noticed that there is a strong interest in the discussion sparked by the documentary, especially in the current context where "the supremacist Jewish has hijacked the conversation," he said. "I'm bringing the side of Jewish that so many people want," he adds. Amichai Lau-Lavie finds solace in the idea that he represents "a particular Jewish lineage that has always prioritized morality, and love of each other and universal values. And I'm not a minority." Edited by: Stuart Braun
