Great rivalries have existed since the beginning of time and it appears that we are now living in the era of Dershowitz vs Finkelstein. The New York Times posted a great article today about these two professors that seem to just keep bumping heads over Zionism, Israel, Judaism…

“If the longstanding fight between two professors, Alan Dershowitz and Norman Finkelstein, was under the jurisdiction of family court, a judge could issue restraining orders and forbid inflammatory statements. But, alas, this nasty and zealously pursued feud is taking place in scholarly precincts, so each protagonist is continuing his campaign, unhampered, to destroy the other’s professional reputation and career.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“Views of the Old City and of the Dome of the Rock are a must,” Mr. Tzuberi said, “even though they can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of a home.”

“But seldom is the juxtaposition of homeland and new home, of faith and background, so stark. And nothing brings out the contrasts like a bat mitzvah, as formal a declaration of identity as any 13-year-old can be called upon to make.”

Really cool article. Check it out.

• Israel Studies on Campus: A group of 31 American Jewish organizations are working hard to increase access to Israel studies on college campuses across the county. “In 386 institutions surveyed, including a varied sample of top universities, state schools and community colleges, 53 percent didn’t offer a single course on Israel. Not even [a course on] comparative politics that includes Israel among other countries.” Boo.

• What’s This All About, Israel?: According to a new study released today, the average woman’s salary in Israel was less than half of that of men. Seriously, boo.

• Ladino, Dead?: There’s a movement in Istanbul to revive Ladino, a beautiful Serphardi language that takes inspiration from Hebrew, Old Spanish and some Arabic. Salom, a weekly Jewish newspaper currently publishes a portion of its news in Ladino — advocates of this program hope it will help to keep Ladino alive.

• Obama on Israel: Interesting op-ed from Haaretz on Barack Obama and his views on Israel. Are a few votes enough for us to trust him???

• Is the BBC too Pro Israel?: Interesting view on how Israeli news sources view American and British news sources. Intersting sidenote, you can’t read the BBC in Hebrew.

• Elie Wiesel Attacked: Famous Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel was attacked outside his hotel room last week in San Francisco by a Holocaust denier. Police haven’t identified any suspects but, Wiesel is unharmed. Thank God.

• Polish Jews – Our Blood is Like Our Vodka: Polish Jews will take another step towards revival today with the reopening of a historic synagogue in Lublin.

“It shows that Hitler did not succeed in destroying the Jewish religion,”Friedenson said by telephone. “It’s not as strong as when I grew up,” he said, adding, “but in the end, we survived.” Read the rest of the article here.

• Money Money Money!: The Adelson family of New York City announced yesterday a $25 million donation to the Taglit Birthright Israel program. Birthright was established in 2000 and provides free 10-day trips to Israel for young Jews from around the world.

• Super Bowl, Super Sucks: The Jerusalem Post published this interesting article on the Indianapolis Colts yesterday.