• Supporting findings by French and British authorities, an Israeli general claims that Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime has repeatedly been using chemical weapons against Syrian rebels in the last month. [NYT]
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved Jewish Agency Chief Natan Sharansky’s new plan at the Western Wall that would allow for a permanent egalitarian prayer section. The two discussed the plan when they were both in London for Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. [JTA]
• Joshua Nathan-Kazis investigates the Orthodox town of Lakewood, New Jersey, which recently received larger federal funds for computers than Newark and Jersey City. [Forward]
• Jewish Boston talks with the brilliant Jenifer Goldman Fraser about how to talk to your children about violence and witnessing violence in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. [JewishBoston]
• What do Andy Griffith, poetry, and Jewish comedy have in common? A lot apparently. Check out this compelling essay on mourning and humor by Evan Smith Rakoff. [LARB]
Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.