Roundup Roundup from page 10 restaurant Solo, where the men dined, told the Post. Tyson decided last spring to begin fol- lowing a strict vegan diet, which he says gives him more energy. Plaza Renovations JERUSALEM (JTA) Israel's Cabinet approved a $23 million plan to renovate the Western Wall Plaza and part of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter. The five-year plan approved Sunday will preserve and improve accessibility to archeological findings, upgrade infrastruc- ture and provide a place to hold educa- tional activities for students and soldiers, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. Work is expected to start next year and be completed in 2015. Some 8 million people visited the Western Wall in 2009, up from 4 million in 2004. The plan will be administered by the Prime Minister's Office and will be imple- mented through the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. It will be financed by the inte- rior, transportation, tourism, public secu- rity and education ministries, as well as by the Israel Land Administration, according to the statement. New Cabinet Level Director WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The U.S. Senate con- firmed Jack Lew, an Orthodox Jew, to the Cabinet-level position of the director of the Office Jack Lew of Management and Budget. Lew, who was confirmed in a voice vote Nov. 18, will reprise the job he held late in the Clinton administration. Currently the deputy secretary of state, he succeeds Peter Orszag, who left for the private sector. Lew has close ties to the capital's Jewish groups and often speaks at public events of the difficulties of reconciling 24/7 govern- ment jobs with his Orthodoxy. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., had held up Lew's confirmation for months while she sought assurances from the administration that it would reissue oil-drilling licenses in the Gulf of Mexico after wells were shut down in the wake of the summer's cata- strophic oil leak. Like many other such Senate holds, Landrieu's objections had nothing to do with the target. Ban Circumcision? SAN FRANCISCO/j the Jewish news weekly of Northern California -- San Francisco- area Jewish organizations condemned a proposed ballot measure to outlaw Jewish 12 November 25 • 2010 JN ritual circumcision in the city. The Anti-Defamation League, the local Jewish Community Relations Council, the Board of Rabbis of Northern California and the American Jewish Committee together issued a statement expressing "great concern" about the proposed mea- sure, which would make the practice of brit milah, or ritual circumcision, on anyone younger than 18 a misdemeanor carrying a $1,000 fine. "For thousands of years, Jews around the world have engaged in this important religious ritual, which is of fundamental importance in the Jewish tradition:' the statement said. "The organized Jewish community is deeply troubled by this initiative, which would interfere with the rights of parents to make religious decisions for their own families." San Francisco resident Lloyd Schofield is spearheading the effort to collect enough signatures to get the anti-bris measure on the ballot next year. At least 7,100 signa- tures are needed to qualify. Schofield wants to ban the practice of male circumcision, including for Jewish religious purposes; female circumcision is already illegal. Likewise, Schofield argues, male circum- cision on boys under the age of consent should be illegal, too. "People can practice whatever religion they want, but your religious practice ends with someone else's body',' Schofield said in a recent interview with CBS. "His body doesn't belong to his culture, his govern- ment, his religion or even his parents. It's his decision." Iran Policy Limited WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The U.S. focus on "dialogue, engagement and sanctions" in dealing with Iran is the right focus for now and military force remains an option "in the future,' the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Adm. Mike Mullen, meeting at the Pentagon with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi, was asked about demands by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States make a "credible military threat" against Iran to get it to stand down from its suspected nuclear weapons program. "Right now, the focus is on dialogue and engagement and sanctions:' he said. "The sanctions are actually taking a fairly significant bite; and that's the current path. We've all been pretty clear here that all options remain on the table, includ- ing military options, and will — and will remain on the table in the future." Ashkenazi agreed: "We still have some time to watch it and see what will be the final outcome',' he said of the sanctions. Cantor: New Majority Leader WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives elected Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., their majority leader in Eric Cantor the next Congress. Cantor won the elec- tion uncontested, paving the way for him to become one of the highest-ranking Jews in U.S. government history. When the 112th Congress convenes in January, Cantor will be the second-ranked member of the House after the likely speaker, Rep. John Boehner, R-Va. That would make Cantor the highest-ranking Jew in congressional history. It is difficult to assess the relative power of senior positions across the three branch- es of U.S. government — the legislature, the executive branch and the judiciary. There have been numerous Jewish associate jus- tices of the Supreme Court, and a number of Jews have occupied senior Cabinet posts, including secretaries of state, defense and treasury. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the outgoing House speaker, was elected minority leader in a 150-43 vote. As a party leader, Pelosi made Jewish outreach a priority, designat- ing Reva Price, a senior adviser and former executive of a number of Jewish organiza- tions, as her point person. Comatose Sharon Visits Ranch JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Ariel Sharon was returned to a Tel Aviv hospital after spending a weekend at his ranch for the first time since Ariel Sharon he fell into a coma in January 2006. The former Israeli prime minister spent the Nov. 12-14 weekend at the ranch in the Negev desert, according to reports. Since shortly after suffering a massive stroke when he was prime minister, Sharon has remained in a Tel Aviv hospital. He is expected to be returned to the ranch in coming weekends to test the possibility of moving him back home permanently. Lord's Prayer Jewish? LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- The Lord's Prayer, widely considered to undergird the founda- tion of Christianity, "is utterly, totally, fully Jewish — there's nothing in it that is par- ticularly Christian:' a theological expert said. John Dominic Crossan, a former Catholic priest and now professor at DePaul University, articulates this thesis in the latest of his 26 books, The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer, released by HarperOne. Crossan is one of the foremost theological interpreters of the historical Jesus. The opening words of the Lord's Prayer are "Our Father, who art in Heaven" and the first two words are key to Crossan's reinter- pretation. In traditional Christian thinking, the prayer is seen as establishing a relation- ship between the individual petitioner and God, but Crossan takes a different view in his book and in recent media interviews. Within the context of Judaism in the 1st century CE, the term "Father," or Abba in Aramaic, would connote a householder who must provide equally for all members of his family, according to Crossan. In that sense, God is "The Big Householder in the Sky" who exercises "distributive justice" and who would be appalled by the huge discrepancy between rich and poor, Crossan argues. That concept "reflects the radical vision of justice that is the core of Israel's bibli- cal tradition',' Crossan writes. "The Lord's Prayer comes from the heart of Judaism to the lips of Christianity." There is "a huge discrepancy between what most people think Christianity is real- ly about and what Jesus thinks Christianity is really about:' Crossan said in an inter- view with the Religion News Service. Crossan is an old hand at questioning Christian dogma and is one of the found- ers of the Jesus Seminar, a liberal Christian group. The Seminar has proposed that many of the miracles attributed to Jesus did not occur, at least not as written in the New Testament, and that Jesus did not physically rise from the dead. U.S. Weapons In Israel WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The United States will store an additional $400 million in emergency military equipment in Israel. The new equipment, which will arrive in Israel over the next two years, will be available to Israel in the event of an emergency. It will bring to $1.2 billion the amount of American military equipment being stockpiled in Israel by 2012. Congress approved the storage of new weapons in Israel last month, but the story was first reported this week in Defense News magazine by its Israel-based reporter, Barbara Opall-Rome. The agree- ment between Israel and the United States includes the conditions under which the Israel Defense Forces may use the equip- ment, Haaretz reported. Israel used some U.S. stockpiles of weapons during the Second Lebanon War. The new equipment includes smart bombs and other precision weaponry, according to reports, and can be used by U.S. troops anywhere in the world.