Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times has an article today on the funeral services for former mayor Ed Koch.  It particularly examines his Jewishness and how he lived it on his own terms.  Here is an excerpt:

“As with everything else in his life, Mr. Koch did being Jewish on his own terms. He was a fierce defender of Israel and extremely proud of his Jewish heritage, often speaking about the many Nobel Prizes and other accolades fellow Jews had earned. He felt strongly that he had a Jewish soul. But he did not keep kosher, and was not traditionally religious.

His funeral, at 11 a.m. Monday, will be at Temple Emanu-El, At 1 East 65th Street on the Upper East Side. Mr. Koch chose the Reform congregation for his funeral in part because an Orthodox rabbi would not officiate at the ensuing burial in a non-Jewish cemetery, and in part because of Emanu-El’s large capacity — it holds 2,500 people, and Mr. Koch wanted a full house. The funeral will feature three flags, for the United States, New York City and Israel. Ido Aharoni, Israel’s consul general in New York, will be among the speakers. So will Bill Clinton.

On Tuesday, mourners, led by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, will sit shiva for Mr. Koch at Gracie Mansion. Mr. Koch sat shiva there for his own father while he was mayor, Rabbi Schneier said.

“He is the quintessential New York Jew,” said Rabbi David M. Posner, Temple Emanu-El’s senior rabbi, who will preside at the funeral. “Strong and passionate, just like everything else about him. He’s not necessarily Orthodox, but he certainly is observant in his own way.”

Mr. Koch, in a 2007 video interview with The New York Times, which was not published until after his death, repeatedly made it clear how central his Judaism was to his identity.

“I’m just this little Jewish kid from the Bronx!” Mr. Koch said. And then, asked how he wanted to be remembered, Mr. Koch said, “I want to be remembered as being a proud Jew, who loved the people of the City of New York, and did his best to make their lives better.”

Among the phrases he chose for his headstone were the chilling last words of the slain journalist Daniel Pearl: “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) set off a firestorm by declaring that an “educational elite” has taken over colleges,  and lashed out over what he says are worthless courses that offer “no chances of getting people jobs.”

In a national radio interview Tuesday with Bill Bennett, U.S. Education Secretary during the Reagan administration, McCrory said there’s a major disconnect between what skills are taught at the state’s public universities and what businesses want out of college graduates.

“So I’m going to adjust my education curriculum to what business and commerce needs to get our kids jobs as opposed to moving back in with their parents after they graduate with debt,” McCrory said, adding, “What are we teaching these courses for if they’re not going to help get a job?”

McCrory said he doesn’t believe state tax dollars should be used to help students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill study for a bachelor’s degree in gender studies or to take classes on the Swahili language.

“If you want to take gender studies that’s fine. Go to a private school, and take it,” McCrory said. “But I don’t want to subsidize that if that’s not going to get someone a job.”

Bennett added his own take, which seemed to echo former presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s controversial statements about higher education.

“We’ve really created this elitist cult of hierarchy where people who know how to do things, do things with their hands are looked down upon,” Bennett said

The first term governor said he’d propose legislation to change the higher education funding formula in the state “not based on how many butts in seats but how many of those butts can get jobs.”

As Louisiana Governor Bobbly Jindal said recently:   Republicans have to stop being the “stupid party”.

Tony