Dec. 1, 2008 Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings Mark Steyn: Whodunit!? Nov. 28, 2008 Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now? Nov. 26, 2008 Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership Andrea Simantov: Shades of life Nov. 25, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast! Nov. 24, 2008 Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!' Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends Nov. 21, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters? Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank Nov. 20, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto Nov, 19, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them? Nov, 18, 2008 Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster? Nov, 17, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit? Nov, 14, 2008 Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead Nov, 13, 2008 Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla Nov, 12, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks Nov, 11, 2008 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad? Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate Nov, 10, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built? Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist Nov, 7, 2008 Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy Nov, 6, 2008 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes Nov, 5, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie Nov, 4, 2008 Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East Nov, 3, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart? Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything? March 22, 2007 J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !) Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 6, 2005 / 5 Kislev, 5766 2 MCH 4 THS BK RDR By Leonard Pitts, Jr. http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Do u lk bks? I lk bks lotz. Dats y dis sux. OK, I'll stop now. The copy editor is giving me the stank eye. If you are below a certain age, the foregoing is probably clear as Aruban seas. If you are above that same age, it is likely as murky as Mississippi mud. For the benefit of the latter, what you've just read is a few words written as a text message — or at least, my best approximation thereof. I can only be so fluent after all, given that I am of middle age and this quasi-language of symbols and truncated words is mostly used by Kids These Days to communicate electronically with their peers. A translation in English would read as follows: "Do you like books? I like books lots. That's why this sucks." "This" being the recent news that a cell phone company in Great Britain has enlisted a former English professor to create text message synopses of great works of literature as an alleged study aid for college students. That's right, Great Britain, the nation that gave us Dickens, Chaucer, Milton and Shakespeare, now gives us "text books," a new service offered by Dot Mobile, the aforementioned cell phone company. By April, it expects to have amassed a library of great English literature reduced to text message outlines. This would include John Milton's "Paradise Lost," "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" and, yes, the complete works of William Shakespeare, wherein the most famous speech of a certain melancholy Danish prince would be rendered as follows: 2b? Nt2b? ??? For the benefit of the text-challenged, that's "To be or not to be, that is the question." The cell phone company says this will be a "valuable learning tool." I'd have chosen another description. Yes, I'm being a little snotty here. But I swear, it has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Jacobs making us slog like a death march through "Pride and Prejudice" back in high school, without any fancy high-tech shortcuts to help us. OK, so maybe it does have a little bit to do with that. But the other reason, the main reason, is the one I already gave. I like books. There is wisdom and insight in them that cannot be readily reduced to a few characters on a cell phone screen. There is music and cadence in them that you simply cannot transmit with symbols and emoticons. Yes, I know what it's like to be a time-pressed college student. Heck, I was once one myself. And I'll confess that I probably cracked a Cliff's Notes or two when I was too jammed up — or, dare I say it, lazy — to do the assigned reading. I will even concede the class of '06 faces pressures we couldn't conceive back in the days of human receptionists and rotary dial telephones. For all that, though, I find it hard to believe the real issue here is time. How busy do you have to be when Cliff's Notes are too demanding? No, for my money, this is simply another example of a growing stupidization — put your dictionary away, I made it up — that infects our culture like a virus, rendering it faster than ever before, but also dumber and more shallow. And apparently not just our culture. I mean, I had always thought of stupidization as an American affliction, so I don't know whether to be relieved or appalled to see it also showing up in Britain, where erudition was raised and eloquence keeps a summer home. 2b? Nt2b? ??? Give me a break. Better yet, give me a book. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment on JWR contributor Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s column by clicking here. Leonard Pitts, Jr. Archives © 2005, The Miami Herald Distributed by TMS

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