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Sundown: Caught Red-Butted

Caged wisdom, fear of prayer, and a specious search

by
Hadara Graubart
September 15, 2009

• Forget the scarlet letter, some ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel are hoping to brand some transgressors with a scarlet rear end, via raspberry jam smeared on benches to keep naughty boys and girls from hanging out in their neighborhood on the Sabbath. [Ynet]
• Jewish life keeps on going for Jewsin the slammer—some inmates even become closer to their faith, likeGeorge Bluth on Arrested Development (oh wait, that wasn’t actually his faith…), while others celebrate milestones, hopefully not ala Tuvia Stern. [JTA]
• In a post suggesting the hit AMC show should actually be called Mad Mensch (ahem, it would actually be Mad Mensches), The New York Times points out that a reference to “a nosh” on this week’s episode hints at the fact that one character now works at “one of the few mainstream advertising agencies that did not discriminate against people of the Jewish faith.” [NYT]
• A new group dedicated to fighting the “Islamization” of the United States plans to publicly launch on the same day as an Islamic prayer rally in Washington, D.C., which the group says represents a “soft jihad.” [Arutz 7]
• Two Belgian researchers claim to have tracked down distant relatives of Hitler living in New York, using DNA from napkins and cigarette butts; an archivist echoes our sentiment toward the sleuths: “I don’t see what these men are trying to prove or achieve.” [Daily Express]

Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.