• Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington today, and thanked her for the country’s tough stance on Iran. [Haaretz ] • Jared Kushner is reportedly trying to buy the L.A. Dodgers, too . Read More »

A sharp-eyed Tablet reader pointed out that according to an official bio for Cora, the character played by Elizabeth McGovern on the smash hit show Downton Abbey , the countess of Grantham was the daughter of one Isidore Levinson from Cincinnati, and, therefore, a Jew. Read More »

Today in Tablet Magazine, senior writer Liel Leibovitz argues that the Israeli left needs to understand and embrace religion in order to advance its agenda. Read More »

Two senior members of Hadassah’s executive board have been accused of fraud, Josh Nathan-Kazis reports in the Forward . Read More »

Today in Tablet Magazine, senior writer Allison Hoffman discovers , through firsthand experience, that pregnancies are fertile ground for superstition. Read More »

The Bialystoker Nursing Home , established by Jewish immigrants from Bialystok and a longtime presence in the historical landscape of the Lower East Side, faces an uncertain future. Read More »

It looks like this morning’s question , why hasn’t anyone resigned from the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, has been answered : Karen Handel, vice president for public policy has announced her resignation from the organization. Read More »

Today in Tablet Magazine, Allan Nadler writes that the new book, Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition , is a sophisticated historical companion to the popular HBO Prohibition-era series, Boardwalk Empire . Read More »

Purim, it seems, has become the new Halloween. The World International Zionist Organization has called for parents to boycott companies that sell revealing costumes marketed to young people, specifically naming Shoshi Zohar, a retailer whose 2012 Read More »

• It’s happening. Filmmaker Abel Ferrara has confirmed reports that he is making a film about Dominique Strauss Kahn. Starring Gérard Depardieu . [NYT ] • The Hamas-Fatah unity deal could jeopardize aid for the Palestinian Authority, Rep. Gary Ackerman pointed out, since the U.S. won’t give money to Hamas. [NYT ] • The U.S. Read More »

The Jewish people, it turns out, are on very good terms with God. Eighty percent of Jewish Israelis say they are believers, and 70 percent agree with the proposition that Jews are the Chosen People, according to a survey released in Israel last week. Read More »

The name was obviously perfect as soon as it came out of my mouth, during a sleepy bedtime conversation with my husband about what we plan to call our son. Read More »

A devoutly puritanical FBI agent and his Jewish partner, staking out a suspected marine bootlegging operation, stumble instead onto a rural black church’s river baptism ceremony. Read More »

• Sheldon Adelson will reportedly continue to be generous with his friend, Newt Gingrich, but will eventually back likely nominee Mitt Romney: his foremost commitment is to unseat President Obama. [NYT ] • The United States formally levied the new sanctions on Iran’s central bank. [AP/Vos Iz Neias? ] • The U.S. Read More »

Well they were both our teams, but we picked the New England Patriots, so in that sense, we lost. A huge mazel tov to the New York Giants, now one of only five franchises (can you name the others?*) to have won four or more Super Bowls. Read More »

Today in Tablet Magazine, editorial assistant Stephanie Butnick suggests ways to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, The Jewish new year for trees, which falls this Wednesday. Read More »

What’s the bigger news related to Syria this weekend? Of course, it was the failure of the U.N. Security Council to take action after Russia and China vetoed a U.S.- and Europe-backed resolution, based on an Arab League plan, that would have called for regime change (while not authorizing outside military force). Read More »

• From Qatar, Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’s Khaled Meshaal announced they had achieved the second plan for Palestinian unity in the past 12 months. Abbas will be president of the joint government. More later. [NYT ] • Prime Minister Netanyahu will address the AIPAC conference next month in Washington, D.C. Read More »

When Valentino sent models down Milan runways last month to show off the new fall collection for men, the clothes were informed not by Lisbeth Salander’s trendy gothic grunge , but by classic Ivy League aesthetics, from oversized lettermen jackets to classic trenchcoats in shiny leather. Read More »

This Wednesday is Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish holiday known as the New Year for Trees , which, regardless of what Punxsutawney Phil may or may not have seen, marks the beginning of spring in Israel. And wherever you are, there are many different ways to get inspired by the holiday. Try a new fruit , late bloomers . One step at a time. Read More »