A Day of Strange News

1. An Ashkenazi Rav won the right to be the Rav of the Ethiopian community of Bat Yam.

Ethiopians are not particularly "sfardi" over "ashkenazi". So it is not that that is strange, though you would think it perhaps more normal for an Ethiopian to have won the position. This fellow is married to an Ethiopian woman and have kids together. So he is definitely as fitting and appropriate as anyone else.

What is strange about this is that Shas is upset, claiming their rep should have been given the position, specifically an Ethiopian Shasnik. Shas is basically saying they are closer to the Ethiopians than Ashkenazim are, though there is not really any basis for that unless you look at the fact that they are both dark-skinned, which in todays world should not matter. Once again, it is Shas who keeps everyone thinking in terms of race, rather than breaking down those barriers.

2. Ahmed Tibi was invited to speak in a yeshiva camp symposium. His participation was "canceled" at the last moment, he claims. Tibi says the yeshiva told him his invitation has been revoked, as supporters of the yeshiva who heard about it told the yeshiva to uninvite him.

Baruch Marzel, also a participant in the symposium, claims that he was told by the yeshiva that Tibi backed out at the last minute, on his own initiative when he found out that Marzel would also be a participant.

I'll take Marzel's word for it over Tibi's any day!

3. Salomon Dweck, a.k.a. the "Shtinker of Deal New Jersey" made an unusual round of phone calls. He called the families of all his victims, in a lightning round set of calls so nobody would be prepared and he would have the element of surprise (I am not sure what he needed that for), and asked for their forgiveness.
He could not speak to most, as the news reports they all hung up on him as soon as he identified himself, but the wife of one victim took the phone call. When he asked for forgiveness, claiming the FBI forced him to do everything he did, she told him the only time she would forgive him is when she would first see his rotting corpse cut up in pieces and distributed around the main street of Deal".

Those Syrians sure have a way with words!