Navigate to News section

Sundown: Bringing Home the Bacon

Creative hate crimes, Madonna goes wailing, and Ben Stiller as secret weapon

by
Hadara Graubart
June 23, 2009

• A synagogue in Roundhay, England, was scandalized last Saturday to find bacon strips wrapped around its door handles and stuffed in keyholes. The local paper, Roundhay Today, adds insult to injury with a salacious ad for a t-shirt reading “Bacon Makes Everything Better.” [RT]
• “The wailing wall is a very sacred place for anyone with links to the Jewish faith,” a source tells Britain’s Sun. Apparently, Madonna considers herself among them; she plans to take her adopted kids to the holy site in a few months. [The Sun]
• As if the film’s humor wasn’t offensive enough, an Iranian TV spot attempts to expose the 2000 Ben Stiller vehicle Meet the Parents as a tool that “cunningly tries to arouse the viewer’s compassion and sympathy toward Zionist beliefs.” [London Times]
• The latest victim of intermarriage and assimilation? Jewish country clubs. [Golfweek]

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