I can’t imagine the type of person who would get a kick out of this Valentine’s Day suggestion from San Diego North Convention & Visitors Bureau:

Night Moves – take an animal-courtship-centered caravan tour at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park and see how rhinos, giraffes and other animals handle mate selection. Guests ride in an open-air safari truck through the park’s field enclosures, while learning about the mating behaviors of the animal residents. The guide shares tales of animals’ courtship escapades, while participants feed the rhinos or giraffes. At the secluded Amani Point, desserts and specialty beverages are served while listening to more tales of the birds and the bees.

To find out why, read on. (Video very NSFW.)

My recent interview with NYT columnist Roger Cohen appears in this week’s Jewish Chronicle.

Jewish journalists have spent a good part of this year criticizing Cohen’s articles on Iran and Israel.

Cohen believes that the widely-held view of Iran as a pariah state, ready to launch a nuclear missile at Israel the first chance it gets, is mistaken. He also regularly lays blame for the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Israel’s door.

Though I had plenty of space for the interview, there was still much that had to be left out. Among those edited comments, he told me:

I don’t buy the view that the Israelis just want peace and we just don’t have an interlocutor. I think there’s plenty of blame to go around and I don’t see reasonable Israel on one side and unreasonable Palestinians on the other.

I think there’s been a tremendous daily humiliation of the Palestinians from the Israeli side and there’s been the absolute prioritization of security over any risk for peace.

And on Iran:

I don’t believe in the victory of the West and Liberalism over political Islam. I don’t think political Islam is going to disappear. I think one reason Iran is so important is they have lived [inaud] for 30 years and they are not dreaming of a Caliphate in Iran. They are not dreaming of what the Al Qaeda cronies are dreaming of. They know it is give and take. It’s compromise. That’s the reality of the Middle East.

You can read the interview here.

My other story this week is a juicy tale concerning the unexpected resignation of a leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi from a powerful US organization called Eternal Jewish Family. It seems that posters have been popping up around Jerusalem threatening Rabbi Leib Tropper to step down from the group he founded or have “his disgrace” revealed. You can read my story here. The more salacious version doing the blog rounds can be found here.

Finally, I will be taking part in a panel discussion about Jewish Heroes at the 92Y Tribeca on Saturday evening. I’d love to see you there.

I have three stories in the JC this week: an interview with philanthropist Charles Bronfman, who talks about how he avoided investing with Bernie Madoff; a story about how Williamsburg’s Chasidim may have won a temporary victory in a battle over bike lanes; and a piece on the Jewish side of the continuing US debate on gay marriage.

The New York State Senate rejected a bill last week that would have seen New York join neighboring Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont in allowing same-sex marriage. In my piece, I mention the religious arguments in the Jewish community for and against gay marriage and I also quote part of an emotional speech to the State Senate by Manhattan senator Liz Krueger, which I have included here because I think it is worth watching in full.

Finally, it’s the first night of Hanukkah tonight. So Happy Hanukkah to all those who will be celebrating! If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to watch Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch’s Hanukkah song (which has a very interesting backstory). And, if you have time, check out David Brooks’ opinion piece today, warning that the festival of Hanukkah is not the simple tale of a struggle for religious freedom that many Jews are brought up to believe.

It looks like the answer to my last post, disappointingly, is no. I hope Salita can come back from this.