The Forward

The U.S.-Israel bond is unbreakable, but the United States will keep both sides accountable for their actions, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said.

A friend, knowing how dense my Haggadah is — much of the traditional text, my own interpolations, sundry gems from here and there — asks whether by now I can’t just take for granted that the people at my Seder table know what needs to be known about slavery, about memory, about elements large and small. She wonders, therefore, what the point of it is. Must we yet again discuss and debate whether to include the shfoch chamatchah, that venting petition to God to “Pour out Thy wrath on the nations that knew Thee not”? Or whether, since we seem to be programmed to always want more, we actually mean with each verse of the Dayenu that we’d really have been satisfied? And so forth.

In this week’s podcast, Forward editor Jane Eisner has a roundup of the stories in the March 12 issue of the Forward and Arts and Culture editor Dan Friedman interviews Efraim Zuroff. Known as “the last Nazi hunter,” Efraim Zuroff is more properly described as the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem and coordinator of Nazi war crimes research worldwide for the Wiesenthal Center.

For many Americans, and most Israelis, the words “United Nations” conjure up an image of an albatross at best, and a vulture at worst. Anti-Israel agendas, advanced by Islamic nations, routinely dominate the General Assembly and the U.N. human rights entities. Without the American veto, Israel would long ago have been the target of hostile binding resolutions in the Security Council.

Should Jews first take care of our own, or first serve the needs of society as a whole?

There may be one point in the Middle East conflict on which we can all agree: It’s complicated.

Friends of Israel got a nice lift in late February when the Gallup Organization released a new poll showing that Americans favor Israel over the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict by a margin of more than 4-to-1 — fully 63% believe Israel is more in the right, while just 15% back the Palestinian side. That’s the second-highest pro-Israel margin ever, topped only by a 64% showing in January 1991, when Israel was under Iraqi missile attack.

Maybe Agency Should Call it Quits: Sometimes organizations should declare victory and close (“Embattled Jewish Agency To Promote Identity Over Aliyah,” March 12). If the Jewish Agency has achieved the best it can on immigration, if it is not being supported by Jews around the world, that might be the honorable choice. Why manufacture some vague new purpose to continue?

There were the expected handshakes and bear hugs, the slaps on the back and supportive words amiably expressed before the media. Just what ought to happen when Israel welcomes the vice president of the United States, the second in command of its greatest ally and the highest-ranking official of a still-new administration to visit Jerusalem.

The diagnosis is correct. The prescription is troubling. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wise to be concerned about the weakening Jewish identity of many Israelis, an issue for Jews everywhere but especially poignant in what is supposed to be the national homeland. The powerful collective identity forged during the early years of Israel’s modern existence has given way to a splintered sense of self, particularly among the young.

Jacob Dayan, Israel’s consul general in Los Angeles, is dreaming of an Israeli “Lord of the Rings” movie. “I want people to see the movie and say, ‘Wow, I want to go to that place.’”

The small kosher falafel joint called Soom Soom, on West 72nd Street in Manhattan, was bubbling with activity on a recent afternoon. In the kitchen, glimpsed through an open door, falafel balls were frying and a giant pot of hummus was being stirred, as half a dozen Latino employees fielded orders yelled out from a front counter covered in a rainbow of Israeli salads.

For the first time since they came to Israel, all 10 Jewish communities displaced from Arab countries have agreed on a course of action to address their grievances — and triumphed in the political arena.

A sophomore leaning toward a major in political science, Charlie Wohlberg was walking home from a Yonkers, N.Y., synagogue one night three summers ago, when a group of young men approached him.

The news that the leading Orthodox advocate for female spiritual leadership reversed his decision to embrace the title “rabba” seemed at first a major setback for Orthodox feminists.

A feud between Hadassah and its hospital in Jerusalem has finally been resolved, though the circumstances surrounding the dispute remain mysterious.

Deteriorating relations between Turkey and Israel led Jewish groups to step back from active lobbying this year against a congressional resolution declaring the 1915 Turkish slaughter of Armenians a case of genocide.

In the category of “Latest Yiddish Word To Find Crossover Appeal,” the March 7 Academy Awards telecast produced a dark-horse winner: mishegas, which roughly translates to “madness or folly.” While introducing this year’s Oscar nominees for cinematography, actress Sandra Bullock — who took this year’s leading actress Oscar for her role in “The Blind Side” — dropped the word to describe the esoteric techniques employed by directors of photography.

It’s hard to imagine a cartoon monkey saving the day anywhere other than in storybooks. But Curious George, the signature monkey of author and artist duo H. A. and Margret Rey, did just that, according to “Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey,” an exhibit of 80 original drawings and letters by the creators of the animated character. The exhibit opens on March 14 at the Jewish Museum in New York and runs through August 1.

The ultimate heavy metal band Metallica does whatever the hell it likes, right? Well not when faced with disgruntled Israelis.