The Scroll will be dark on Monday, July 4. Have a great long weekend.
• Expect an offensive from the White House, using trusted surrogates in the community, to persuade American Jews that President Obama is staunchly pro-Israel. Which is a sign that they are concerned about recent reports, but also that they think they can put themselves back in a good position with Jewish voters. [The Plum Line]
•From Athens: “Organizers say they see the long arm of Israel behind their improbable woes.” [NYT]
• Jonathan S. Tobin has a good rundown of where most of the likely GOP presidential candidates stand on Israel, concluding that except for Ron Paul, all stand at least a chance of stealing Jewish voters from Obama. [Contentions]
• Oh right, anti-Semitism lives. (Et tu, Switzerland?) [Ynet]
• This Kafka fable is newly translated for reading aloud, and is pretty clearly about the Jews’ Messiah. [NYRB]
• Midway through the season, Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun is a legitimate MVP contender. The rest of baseball’s Jews, not so much (although how about Jason Marquis?). [Kaplan’s Korner]
Second day in a row for Bruce songs, but I mean, what else? Happy Fourth.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.