Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

A handful of years ago, I was walking down a sidewalk on State Street in Portsmouth when I noticed a small tree-lined courtyard tucked to the side of Temple Israel.

On a sun-drenched summer day, the partially shaded alcove looked inviting against the backdrop of the historic brick synagogue and its arched glass windows. The small trees lining the stone walkway threw flickering shadows on a walkway of square paving stones and green plantings outside the synagogues adjacent community center.

But what had captured my attention was an unusual focal point two large bronze hands reaching up from a stone base. Up close, there was something unexpectedly compelling about it the palms were grooved with time-worn lines, but they didnt seem to hold that weary tension about them. The fingers gently stretched upward, the pinkies partially overlapped. A single word was inscribed on the base: Hope.

The late sculptor Sumner Winebaum, who was a longtime member of Temple Israel, created the piece, and its become something of an interfaith symbol of unity over the past decade.

Every year we have a community candlelight vigil for peace during Hannukah, said the synagogues interim rabbi, Ira Korinow. We all gather together and share some thoughts on peace. This past year there were about 100 people there. There are a few dozen members from Temple Israel there but also a good deal of people from the Portsmouth community and several ministers who share some thoughts on the (concept) of peace. We recite blessings and sing songs.

A canopy of trees over a small courtyard to the side of Temple Israel and in front of the synagogue's community center off State Street in Portsmoiuth sends dappled sunlight over a stone walkway and an unusual bronze sculpture of a pair of hands.

Korinow, who plans to retire at the end of the month, stepped into his role at the synagogue when Rabbi David Ross Senter died in 2017. Two years later, at another memorial, Korinow remembered longtime temple member Winebaum as a man guided by a spirit of enthusiasm and optimism.

He was a creative, free-spirited motivator who made an indelible impression upon so many during his lifetime, as a journalist, writer, businessman, sculptor and philanthropist, Korinow said in his 2019 eulogy of Winebaum.

Winebaum grew up in Portsmouth, where his family owned a newspaper and magazine delivery service, Korinow said. After studying at the University of New Hampshire, University of Southern California and the University of Michigan, Winebaum headed to New York, where as a copywriter and account executive for the advertising company Young and Rubicam, he worked on early TV commercials for clients Johnson and Johnson, General Foods and General Electric.

Later he returned to Portsmouth to lead the business his father, Harry, had started Winebaum News, which represented national and regional publications including The Boston Globe, New York Times, Hearst Magazines and TV Guide. Winebaum retired in 1994.

The fellow with a gift for gab was active at Temple Israel, serving on its board of directors and making a major contribution to the renovation of the community center, social hall and Hebrew School wing at Temple Israel in the early 2000s with the donation of the so-called shmoozatorium.

Later in life he took up art, especially sculpture, said Korinow.

In this archived picture, the late Sumner Weinbaum, left, who sculpted the bronze piece known as the Hands of Hope, stands in the courtyard of Temple Israel on State Street in Portsmouth, along with Barry Krieger, who served as rabbi there from 2009 to 2013.

In addition to sculpting the Hands of Hope, Winebaum crafted a metal Hanukkah menorah to fit into the open hands. Winebaum also created commissioned pieces for Young and Rubicam in New York City, and York Hospital and the Japanese American Society.

I havent seen any of those pieces, but I still make it a point to stop in that courtyard for a few minutes whenever Im on the Seacoast.

On a recent visit, two people are reading on benches near the sidewalk when I make my way into the empty alcove. The familiar sight of the oversized hands strikes me as especially poignant in a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has had people both avoiding handshakes and searching for connection.

Though Temple Israels doors have been closed since March 13, when programming went online in the midst of the pandemic, the Hands of Hope sculpture can be seen outside the synagogue at 200 State St., Portsmouth.

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Holding out hope: Sumner Weinbaum's intriguing hand sculpture in Portsmouth - The Union Leader

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

When Beth Shalom Synagogue resumed in-person services June 12, those who attended had extra cause for celebration two of the synagogues Torah scrolls had returned as well.

The scrolls, each older than Beth Shalom itself, had been sent for restoration in January. By the time they were ready, the coronavirus had caused the suspension of public gatherings.

To commemorate its 75th year, Beth Shalom had raised $17,000 to restore the scrolls, which were in need of repair from the wear and tear of use.

We couldnt think of a better way to use this fundraising that we enlisted for our 75th than to use that to make sure this would be a lasting legacy for future generations in the synagogue than to restore them to top shape, said Natan Trief, rabbi at Beth Shalom.

Sofer on Site, a company in North Miami Beach, Florida, restored the scrolls and evaluated their origins. It estimated that one of the scrolls originated in the former Czechoslovakia and is about 120 years old; the other scroll is from Germany and is about 90 years old.

The scrolls contain the first five books of the Bible. In keeping with biblical directions and tradition, each is made by an elaborate process. Torah scrolls may only be written on parchment made from the skin of kosher animals. A scribe writes the 304,805 Hebrew letters in black ink by hand with a feather or reed pen, a process that can take months. The parchment sheets are sewn together to form one long scroll. Only scrolls made by this process are considered kosher, or acceptable to Jewish law.

Youre physically able to read from it, but the spiritual meaning is much more important, Trief said. Jews view these Torah scrolls as very sacred. They contain not only the word of God as revealed thousands of years ago, but they also teach us wisdom to live our lives now."

When Torahs fall into disrepairstained, faded words, loosened stitching and seamsthey are no longer kosher, Trief said.

To restore them, a scribe uses the same methods used originally to copy them.

If we dont value the divine image that we see in those scrolls and uphold them and treat them as carefully as possible, it reflects very poorly on us and were not fulfilling that partnership that we have with God to be a treasured people, to really live by the precepts that are written within those lines, the rabbi said.

The restored scrolls are among six used at Beth Shalom. They are taken out and read during weekly services and at other celebrations.

We view these scrolls with great reverence and great care, and yet, its called the Tree of Life, so we want it to be a vibrant and active part of synagogue life, Trief said. When Jewish children become young adults at age 12 or 13, one of the big rituals is theyre called up to the scroll and in some ways simulate this amazing act of revelation at Mount Sinai thousands of years ago where the Torah was actually given. So, we want them to hold it. We want them to engage with it.

The restoration process took several weeks, but Trief had Sofer on Site hold on to the scrolls until it became apparent that Beth Shalom was ready to resume regular services.

Whenever a Torah scroll is introduced or reintroduced into a Jewish community, its viewed as an act of rebirth, Trief said. Its viewed as making good on this eternal promise that we have from generation to generation. Now, were marking 75 years, but even as we mark and remember the 75 years that weve been through, thats not the important thing.

The important thing is that were around for 75 more years to really instill this love of Judaism and the values that help us to lead lives of meaning and lives of deep partnership with God. Thats what the Torah represents. Its not about us. Its about having these refurbished scrolls to give to the next generation.

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Two restored Torah scrolls help Beth Shalom celebrate 75 years, return of in-person services - The Advocate

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

NEW YORK (JTA) As a biracial Jew, there is an expectation that I must have something to say in this historic moment. Unlike at any other time in my life, people are treating my opinion as though it deserves a stage, or a glass case for passersby to take in as they walk through a new exhibition on the lives of various Jews of Color.

When I tell people that I do not have much to say about my experience as a Jew of Color, I see faces drop just a smidge. I sense that people want to hear about the time I was rejected because of the color of my skin, or when I was sitting in services at a synagogue and somebody came up and asked what inspired a nice non-Jewish girl like me to visit a synagogue, unaware of the fact that I am an observant Jew.

The truth is that nothing like that has ever happened to me, thankfully. There have been moments when a persons curiosity got the better of them, and they cant help but probe into the personal details of my life within a minute of meeting me in hopes of figuring out how somebody who looks like me ended up in a Jewish environment. Ive heard comments like Is it hard for you to date in the Jewish world because, you know, youre not the stereotypical Jew? or You cant meet his family yet because you grew up in a broken home and thats not something that people in his community are used to Heres my personal favorite, which came up while I was living in Israel: Can you rap for us, you know, like Jay-Z!

Yes, all of these moments and a few more like them have happened to me, and some of them were painful. But they are not the moments by which I choose to define myself.

My mother is white and my father is black. I have lived as a proud Jew in a variety of Jewish communities, including Kansas, Israel, North Carolina and New York City. Aside from those few standout moments, I have always felt at home in the Jewish world. It is the only world I know and, more than that, it is an expression of all that I am.

The 20th-century German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig defines Judaism as a persons most impenetrable secret, yet evident in every gesture and every word. To call myself a Jew of Color would be to ignore that indefinable trait inside of me that is expressed in all that I do and unites me with my fellow Jews throughout the world.

The very term Jews of Color designates a portion of the Jewish population as different from the rest. It is a catchall for those in the Jewish world who look different, whose stories are worn on their bodies.

The idea behind it is not a bad one. It is a term that people can use to feel seen in a world where they can feel unseen and we know that many people have had the experience of feeling unseen in Jewish settings.

But that hasnt been my experience and still, no matter how much I want people to consider me a Jew, when people see me, they label me a Jew of Color. They will do so more now than ever. I want to tell you that calling me a Jew of Color means defining me by negative moments in my life the moments when my Judaism, and in turn my humanity, is brought into question.

I choose not to define myself by those moments because doing so would mean belittling the far more numerous moments in my life when I have felt a part of the Jewish world at large.

I choose not to walk into a room and call myself a Jew of Color because I refuse to see myself as different from any other Jew. I choose not to overanalyze the fact that my skin is slightly darker than parts of my family or the people in my community. That does not matter. I have no unique traditions because of my skin color. I was born and raised an Ashkenazi Jew, and I plan to do the same thing for my children that my mother did for me teach them that we are more than any label cast onto us by others or any label we put on ourselves.

The Jewish world is changing, and people who look like me are becoming the face of the typical Jew more and more by the day. I beg you to look up Malka Groden, Chavie Bruk, Nissim Black and Yaffy Newman to see just a few examples of where the Jewish world is headed.

Jews of Color is a term that does not signal progress. Instead, it holds us back. It keeps us from seeing what makes every individual Jew unique. We all have a story to share whether we hint to it on our skin or not.

Kylie Unell is s a Ph.D. student in Jewish thought at New York University. She is also the founder of Rooted and Models of Faith.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the AJP or its publisher, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona.

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My mom is white and my dad is black. Don't call me a 'Jew of Color.' - Jewish Post

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

David Andelmanexecutive director of the Red Lines Project and a 75-year-old, lifelong asthma patientis at high risk for complications and death if he develops Covid-19. And although states have lifted stay-at-home orders and relaxed social distancing guidelines, Andelman fears that he and millions of Americans like him will be locked down for the rest of their lives, he writes in an opinion piece published by CNN.

At 75 years old, Andelman's age puts him at high risk for developing a severe case of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. And with "lifelong asthma" and 30% lung capacity, "I'm likely a goner if I get [Covid-19]," he writes.

So to protect himself from the virus, Andelman for the last three months has lived in isolation in a "cabin in the woods in northeast Pennsylvania." The time has allowed him to "reflec[t] on some hard, and very sad, facts of life," Andelman writes, for both him "and others in [his] position" as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout America.

For instance, Andelman writes, even as New Yorkhis home state for about 50 yearshas begun easing measures that officials had put in place to curb the new coronavirus' transmission, he doesn't feel he'll be able to return to his New York City apartment any time soon. In fact, Andelman writes that he "recently arrived at the disturbing conclusion that [he] may be unable to return to [his] apartment, or visit [his] family in Paris, for years."

But that's a reality for him and hundreds of millions of other Americans at high risk of developing a severe case of Covid-19, including the more than 50 million Americans who are older than 65, 121 million who have heart disease, 25 million who have asthma, and 34 million who have diabetes, according to Andelman.

And it's not just people who are at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from Covid-19 who are considering a more sheltered existence, Andelman writes. He notes that a recent New York Times poll of 511 epidemiologists revealed that more than 50% of respondents planned to wait up to a year before once again eating in a dine-in restaurant, working in a shared office, or sending their children to school, day care, or camp. In addition, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would delay attending sporting events, concerts, and plays for another year, and more than 40% said they would wait more than a year to go "to church or synagogue" or "atten[d] a wedding or funeral," Andelman writes.

Ultimately, Andelman writes, "for most life is a long way from returning to normal" because of Covid-19's risks.

Andelman writes that, until there's a vaccine against the new coronavirus vaccine or a treatment for Covid-19, "the risks of death simply outweigh any of the pleasures of [his] daily pre-Covid life."

But even if researchers develop a vaccine, Andelman fears he and other high-risk Americans still would be fated to a life of isolation.

According to Andelman, some researchers are questioning whether a potential coronavirus vaccine will be effective enough to protect people against the virus. For instance, he notes that yearly influenza vaccines typically reduce a patient's risk of developing a severe case of the flu by between 40% and 60%, according to CDC, but they do not provide complete protection. And for asthmatics, who already have damaged lungs, researchers are wondering whether that level of efficacy would be high enough to adequately lower patients' risk of experiencing severe symptoms of Covid-19, Andelman writes.

According to Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson, the efficacy target rate for a vaccine against the new coronavirus is 70%, Andelman writes. "But even if it reaches that level, do I really want to roll the dice on a 3 in 10 odds of contracting a disease that will almost certainly prove deadly?" he asks.

Andelman writes that, particularly as states scale back measures intended to curb the coronavirus' transmission, "there must be millions of" high-risk Americans like him "asking themselves, is this my life until the end? Must we feel marginalized as our friends and relatives return to work and pick up their lives?"

But although he is missing "friends and relatives and the ability to watch [his] 7-year-old grandson grow up in person, rather than on the end of a Zoom call," he concludes that the best thing he and others who are at high risk for severe Covid-19 can do right now is to continue self-isolating.

"Life will not emerge for many of us," he writes, though he notes that he and others going through this difficult time are "hardly alone" (Andelman, CNN, 6/23).

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'I fear I'll be isolating for years': What it's like to be at high risk of Covid-19 - The Daily Briefing

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

The protest movement in the wake of police killings of African Americans that has targeted monuments to the Confederacy has also targeted statues of Christopher Columbus (including one in Tower Grove Park), Thomas Jefferson, a Texas Ranger (not one of those that lost a World Series to the Cardinals) and others.

These historical figures did many great things and benefited our nation,but they also perpetrated or contributed to atrocities such as slavery, racism, violence and genocide.

Some who want to topple the statues and some who want to keep them share something in common: They want the statues to serve as stimuli for exploring history more deeply, looking beyond the myths that all societies create to describe their collective memories.

Several years ago, I was privileged to visit Kyiv, Ukraine, with Tim Stern, then the campaign vice chairman of Jewish Federations board in St. Louis, and other members of national Federation leadership. We experienced several of the programs funded by our Federation and other federations and donors. Simply put, I was blown away.

One of my memories of that trip is seeing an awesome statue of Bogdan Chmielnicki, leader of the Cossack uprising against Polish rule in Ukraine in 1648, dominating the citys main square. Chmielnicki (also spelled Bohdan Khmelnytsky) is undoubtedly a hero to many Ukranians. But he scapegoated the Jews of Ukraine, sought to expel them, led pogroms that killed up to 100,000 people, and tortured and tormented many, many more.

The stories of what the Cossacks did to the Jews are truly terrifying, and the Chmielnicki massacres were considered among the bloodiest tragedies in all of Jewish history until they were overshadowed by the Holocaust. I had known about the massacres, but seeing that statue inspired me to learn more.

Seeing that statue made me reflect on St. Louis and our statue of King Louis IX St. Louis on Art Hill. I was struck by the fact that Kyiv and St. Louis proudly display magnificent statues of the murderers of thousands of Jews. Perhaps we should take a moment to consider some of King Louis IXs greatest accomplishments.

As Matthew of Paris, a non-Jewish French historian and contemporary of the king, wrote of the Jews: The French king hates and persecutes you.

As an ardent and pious follower of the Catholic Church, King Louis banned Jews from lending money and collecting interest. When the economic realities set in, Louis simply wiped out one-third of the debts that Catholics owed to Jews and ruled that the rest be paid to the royal treasury. He also paid Jews to convert to Catholicism.

Louis undertook two crusades, including one to the Holy Land: the Seventh Crusade, which some believe healed Louis of a serious illness. In order to fund his crusade, he expelled the moneylending Jews and confiscated their property. And, manybelieve that Louis actively failed to protect Jews persecuted by the crusaders on their way to the Holy Land.

In 1240, the Talmud was put on trial in the court of King Louis in Paris. Nicholas Donin, an apostate Jew, translated parts of the Talmud and argued that they were blasphemy against the Catholic Church. Four distinguished Parisian rabbis defended the Talmud, led by Rabbi Yechiel of Paris. (One of the claims was that the Talmud related a story that a Jesus was sent to hell to be boiled in excrement for eternity. The rabbis explained that this was not the Jesus of Christianity and that not every Louis in France is king.)

The outcome of the trial was predetermined. King Louis ordered that the Talmud be burned. Our tradition tells us that 24 wagonloads of Hebrew manuscripts, 10,000 volumes, were destroyed June 17, 1242 (778 years from the date that I am writing this). Recalling that this was two centuries before the invention of the printing press, anyone who has seen a Talmud can appreciate the amount of effort and time that went into handwriting those 10,000 volumes. Simply put, King Louis tried to erase Jewish wisdom and learning.

Louis friend and biographer, Jean de Joinville, wrote that after the trial and annoyed by the stalwart defense of the Talmud by the rabbis, Louis decided that rather than discussing questions of faith with a Jew that French Catholics should plunge a sword into the Jew instead. In 1269, Louis ordered all Jews in France to wear a distinctive badge.

I am not suggesting that the Jewish community in St. Louis call for the toppling of the statue of King Louis IX on Art Hill. But, with the rise of anti-Semitism throughout the world and among political movements,this is a good time for Jews in St. Louis to reflect upon the history of our great citys not-so-great namesake.

MichaelOberlanderwas the Chief Philanthropy Officer of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis from 2016-2019. He and his family moved to Israel in 2019, after living in St. Louis for many years. He is still an avid reader of the St. Louis Jewish Light.

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What do we do with Art Hill statue of King Louis IX? - St. Louis Jewish Light

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

NEW YORK (AP) Right up to the end, the status message on Saadya Ehrenpreis WhatsApp profile read: Having the time of my life.

And he was, Ahava Ehrenpreis said of her son, one of more than 110,000 lives claimed by COVID-19 in the United States so far.

Born with Down syndrome, Saadya was not expected to be able to become independent, and doctors said he might not even learn to talk. He proved them wrong, graduating from high school and enrolling in Yeshiva Universitys Makor College Experience, a program for young men with special needs.

Saadya was beloved on the campus in New York City for his joyful spirit, and classmates paid tribute to him during Yeshivas graduation via videoconference Sunday a ceremony in which he himself would have walked virtually if not for the new coronavirus.

The secret of his popularity is that he was so positive, so happy and so anxious for you to be happy, too, Ahava said. This is a very selfless happiness: I wont be happy unless youre happy too.

For years she wrote about her sons inspiring milestones in a magazine column. In the last one, Dear Saadya ... Love, Mom, she asked readers to pray for him as he fought the disease. On April 28, two days shy of his 36th birthday, he became the first student at the Jewish Orthodox university to die from COVID-19.

Hundreds attended his funeral remotely the following day.

EDITORS NOTE: This is part of an ongoing series of stories remembering people who have died from coronavirus around the world.

As he grew up in his native New York, Saadyas family never wanted him to feel like he was different from his five sisters and two brothers, and he was close to them, his mother said.

I give his siblings a lot of credit because they really included him. He was always one of the guys, she said. And I think that attitude sort of played out for the rest of his life. If you said to him, You have a disability, he would have said, Really?

Saadya wanted to prove he could do anything, and from the time he could walk, fences and locks did little to hold him back, his mother wrote in a column. There were times he insisted he be allowed to take driving lessons -- one instance where he had to be told no -- and he was prone to going on solo jaunts exploring the bustling city without warning.

The NYPD records show Saadyas fearless sense of adventure, documenting just how many times they were called in to search for him, Ahava wrote in Mishpacha magazine.

In 2006 he traveled to Israel for Yeshivat Darkaynu, a gap-year program for young men with special needs, and ended up staying in the country for four years.

Returning to the United States, he focused on a lifelong but seemingly unattainable dream: attending Yeshiva University, where his late father, Leon Ehrenpreis, had been a mathematics professor.

But that became a reality when Makor College Experience launched in 2017, with Saadya part of its inaugural class. During the three-year program, young men with special needs live in dorms and apartments and do coursework in Jewish studies and other fields, along with training in life skills like dating and applying for jobs.

Saadya was thrilled to be a college student. In a photo taken at the Washington Heights campus, he can be seen proudly holding up his university ID.

Best dorm ever. I like the cooking class, he said of his Yeshiva University experience in a 2017 school video. My father was staff at YU. I want to be like my father.

Last year, before more than 200 people at synagogue, he read a prayer in Aramaic in homage to his father, who was also a rabbi, a Torah scholar and a marathon runner.

He went up there and he said it beautifully, Ahava said of that morning, which she chronicled in a piece titled Miracle on East 18th Street.

Eventually Saadya moved into an apartment in Brooklyn with other Makor students, learning to ride the subway from there to school during rush hour. He joined the welcoming committee at the university's beit midrash, or study hall, where he greeted all who came to pray, debate and learn the Talmud.

Saadya was an exceptional young man, university president Rabbi Ari Berman said. He had a radiant smile and brightened the day of anyone that he interacted with.

At home and at school, Saadya was known for being tidy. At times that got him into trouble because hed organize anything, even if it belonged to others.

Saadyas mother recalled the times he wore a superhero mask and cape, and when he sang in front of the mirror. He loved the Miami Boys Choir and the Maccabeats, an Orthodox Jewish a cappella group founded at Yeshiva University. He was fond of pizza, especially a slice from Jerusalem 2 on Avenue J in Brooklyn.

Makor has launched a scholarship program in Saadya's memory, calling him a personification of the type of student for whom the program was founded.

A few days before commencement, Stephen Glicksman, Makors director of clinical innovation, said he took comfort in knowing Saadya would want his peers to celebrate and to be happy and to live in the moment like he did.

He was the best. I miss him, classmate Jonah Goldstein said Sunday, wearing a cap and gown as he watched the graduation ceremony on a screen from his backyard in Woodmere, New York. He was a great person, a great heart.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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COVID-19 claims Yeshiva University student with Down syndrome months before graduation - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

Another birthday gone, and when a old horse see the end of the track ahead, and already forgot how far back the gate was, he bound to ask himself, no matter what place he in: Why they keep whipping me?

Right up front: Im not talking about working for Courthouse News. Im talking about being an old workhorse and what I seen in our summaries of millions of lawsuits in the past 16 years.

And if you think Im faking black English, to be cool or something, lemme tell you this: I aint faking it. I learned it fair and square, on the South Side of Chicago and in Harlem and on the bandstand, and I prefer it, like Sam Clemens did, and Mezz Mezzrow and Stan Getz.

Im speaking it like I heard it, and learned it, and if yall dont like to hear it, yall dont have to listen nor read no further. You might could want to go off where you all alone and apart and try to attempt an anatomical impossibility.

Since I quit the music business, 42 years ago, I been unemployed for maybe six months and they were the worst, miserable months of my life. Except for some others, which I could tell you about but wont.

Many moons ago, when I was on the bum (back before those 42 years ago), a black family took me in when I was hurtin me and my saxophone. They taught me a whole lot real quick before they booted me out.

One thing I remember was the young man who saw me, alone and forlorn, on a street corner in Berkeley. He took me to his house half a block away, and introduced me to his mom and sisters, and they showed me into a room where I could lay down my weary head. He was younger than I was, and I was a young young man.

I remember their living room, where that wonderful family greeted me. I wisht I could remember their names, but I dont. The whole house was immaculately clean, with religious photos and icons on the walls and in ever corner. And Mama and her daughters bustling in the kitchen. My savior and I were the privileged sons.

Thats right: savior. The Talmud says, if a man save one life, it is as though he has saved the whole human race. (Emergency update for today: And if you destroy one life ?)

You know, my savior told me, showing me around, black folks like to have things nice.

That was news to me. I didnt know that black folks liked to have things nice.

Id never thought about it.

I suppose if I had thought about it I coulda guessed, but Id never thought about it.

So whats the point of this rambling story?

Nothin, I guess. cept that if you aint never been there, you aint gonna understand nothing about it.

Whatever It is.

And that is my point.

I know: This is a news page. But this is an op-ed column an opinion, not the neutral editorial function. Thats what op-ed means.

You white folks out there, you Confederate battle flag-loving, Evangelical, so-called Christian supporters of a lying, whore-mongering vindictive, greedy, little-guy stiffing, racist neo-Fascist of a president: What do you know about any of this?

If you dont know nothing about it, here is my suggestion for you on November 3: Dont vote.

Stay home. Protect yourselves from the virus. All kinds of viruses out there.

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Another Year Done Gone - Courthouse News Service

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

Heeding a pressing need of families with young children for baby essentials since the coronavirus outbreak, of New Yorks Young Sephardic Women committee organized a donation drive that brought in nearly 120,000 diapers and other baby products, valued at nearly $40,000.

The diapers, as well as more than 1,800 packs of wipes, more than 500 canisters of formula, 50 teethers, 200 baby toys, 50 containers of ointment, 205 bibs, and 50 sets of baby soap, were collected for partners Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty and the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, which do not typically spend funds on baby products.

Marks JCH required supplies to support 50 families, many including single parents and victims of domestic violence who experience financial burdens and struggle to afford basic items for their children. Since the pandemic, Marks JCH has seen a staggering increase in domestic violence cases, heightening the need for the products from the diaper drive.The majority of parents receiving the goods have received cash assistance through UJA grants to Marks JCH. The parents are given the baby essentials in addition to the cash assistance, which frees up funds for the families to spend on rent, food, and other household expenses.

Met Council, which normally supplies food to 40 pantries, has been distributing to over 100 sites each month since the pandemic, and has been regularly seeing pantry clients asking for baby essentials, amplifying the need for the products from the diaper drive. Of the 100 sites, dozens that serve families will receive diapers, wipes, and formula, in addition to the food they receive monthly. The products will also be delivered directly to hundreds of families through Met Councils Domestic Violence Program. Met Council is serving hundreds of thousands of clients each year, and thousands will benefit from this program.

Families are struggling to afford baby products, and as a community of mostly moms ourselves, we felt it was imperative to help provide these essential items for their households, said Esther Hedaya, a Young Sephardic Women Committee member. At the same time, were giving parents the dignity of being able to care for their children.

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SEPHARDIC COMMUNITY MOBILIZES TO COLLECT NEARLY 120,000 DIAPERS AND OTHER BABY ESSENTIALS FOR FAMILIES AFFECTED BY CORONAVIRUS - The Jewish Voice

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

(JTA) Rick Landman still remembers how nervous he felt. Just 18, he had traveled to downtown Manhattan from his parents home in Queens for a march to mark the one-year anniversary of the violent police raid on the Stonewall Inn gay bar an event that had kicked off extended advocacy for gay rights in the United States.

Landman feared that the anniversary event could also turn violent, as protests he had joined in the previous year had he had even been tear-gassed.

I didnt want to tell my parents I got arrested or something, Landman recalled in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. I started walking on the sidewalk from Christopher Street, then we turned up Sixth Avenue, but by the time we got to 13th Street, everyone was screaming Off of the sidewalk and into the street. So I got off the sidewalk and walked into the street.

That evening became the first Pride march, an event that has been repeated annually for 50 years and replicated in hundreds of cities around the world. Landman, 68, has missed only a handful.

This year is one of them, but hes not alone: New York Citys Pride march, like all others, have been canceled or made virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the international movement for racial justice that reignited last month is driving the current conversation about equality. Together, the pandemic and protest movement mean that the 50th anniversary of Pride is unlike anything that Landman or others might have predicted.

We reached out to LGBTQ Jews to ask them whats on their mind during this unusual Pride month. Heres what they told us. Their answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Daniel Atwood is the first openly gay person to be ordained an Orthodox rabbi.

Rabbi Daniel Atwood (Courtesy of Atwood)

This Pride month definitely feels different than other Pride months both because of the pandemic and because of the awareness of racial justice that has really been on the forefront for the past month or so. I think this is a good opportunity for the LGBT community, the Jewish LGBT community, to make sure our movements are also committed to things like racial justice and social justice in America more broadly.

In the Orthodox community, it feels like were at a bit of a stasis. I havent seen much movement to really embrace queer people as something that needs to be at the forefront. Were still in this era of tolerance in the Orthodox community and not all of the Orthodox community but more the one that I come from theres still the sense that queer people are a side thing.You can come to our space, you can come to our synagogue and well include you. We need to debate your existence. Were still not sure about whether you can be a role model or a leader in the community.

Im a little disappointed. If you would have asked me five years ago, I wouldve said I think were going in a really great direction, and then there has been a more conservative voice over the past few years. Thats been the cultural context in America having Donald Trump as president in a cultural milieu where its cool to push back against being politically correct and its seen as acceptable in society to discriminate now. So I think there isnt as much of a push from parts of the Jewish community to really take those steps, and to be frank it doesnt feel like theres an urgency.

Yelena Goltsman is a Kyiv-born activist and the founder and co-president of RUSA LGBT, an organization for queer immigrants from Russian-speaking countries.

Yelena Goltsman (Courtesy of Goltsman)

This Pride is obviously so, so different from any other Pride of recent history because we are in COVID world, which is very different from the world we knew and the world we enjoy. So everything is now from this perspective.

Pride for the Russian-speaking community and also the Russian-speaking Jewish community is always colored with a lot of feelings, including anxiety, because in Russia and other post-Soviet countries it is not allowed.

So for Russian-speaking immigrants its the only time to be at Pride, and we have marched since 2012 in New York City Pride as a group and every time we march theres always a group of people who cry when we walk because its such an overwhelming feeling. When I walked the first time I also cried because we dont take the freedoms like this for granted. So its a very different feeling to march in Pride.

Four years ago, we decided to have a Russian-speaking pride on Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. This year we did it virtually.

Joy Ladin is a professor of English at Yeshiva University and the first openly transgender person at an Orthodox institution.

Joy Ladin (Courtesy of Ladin)

Pride is not the most pressing thing that Im thinking about. Last Pride month it was kind of a crescendo of attention it was the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. I had so many invitations from Jewish communities to talk that I actually had to turn some down. This year, Im still doing some talking definitely but I think everybody is focused on what are we focused on, are we focused on the pandemic? Are we focused on the killings of Black people? Are we focused on the demonstrations and efforts to bring about social justice and overthrow white supremacy? Are we focused on the upcoming elections on which so much depends?

Last year I felt that it was a lot easier and it felt right to focus on the LGBTQ community and situations and struggles. This year it doesnt feel right or even possible to me to maintain that kind of narrow focus.

Because I teach in an Orthodox Jewish school and travel to and through a lot of different Jewish communities, I feel like Ive gotten a sense of how the Jewish world in general is changing in terms of LGBTQ inclusion. And everywhere, including in my Orthodox school, there is movement, there is change. Its extraordinary and its something to remember because its pretty easy these days to feel overwhelmed or hopeless.

Rick Landman is a New York-based tour guide and educator who teaches about LGBTQ and German Jewish history.

Rick Landman, center (Courtesy of Landman)

Im a child of two Jewish German refugees. My grandfather brought a Torah to America. I was supposed to donate it on my bar mitzvah in Queens, but I had a fight with my Hebrew school teacher over gay marriage, in 1965, because I didnt want to marry a girl. And they yelled at me, so I said to myself theyre not getting the Torah. I was beaten four times and twice severely for being so openly gay back in the 60s and 70s. I couldnt be a lawyer until 1980 because openly gay people like myself couldnt pass the moral turpitude requirement because we were criminals.

This year was the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march because the first march was the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and yes I was there. I was 18. In the beginning I was nervous, even though I had been tear-gassed and went to Washington for anti-Vietnam War protests. I didnt want to tell my parents I got arrested or something. I started walking on the sidewalk from Christopher Street, then we turned up Sixth Avenue, but by the time we got to 13th Street, everyone was screaming Off of the sidewalk and into the street. So I got off the sidewalk and walked into the street.

Of course its better now for most lesbians and the gay community. Bisexuality is still not really understood or discussed, but a lot of people are bisexual and they exist. And the transgender community right now is under attack; especially trans women of darker skin are being murdered. So theyre not at the same point as the other parts of our community.

Lesla Newman is the the author of Heather Has Two Mommies, which was published in 1989 and was one of the first childrens books to feature lesbian characters.

Lesla Newman (Courtesy of Newman)

Truthfully, its been a bit difficult to focus on Pride Month this year, as I continue to be preoccupied with current events surrounding the pandemic, police brutality, Black Lives Matter, the upcoming election and the state of the world. As a Jewish lesbian, I have never felt so much fear in my life. I realize that I have the privilege of unintentionally passing, i.e. it is not obvious that I am a Jew or that I am a lesbian, which gives me some degree of safety in the world. However, when we have a president that refers to the Secret Service as the S.S. and publishes ads using Nazi symbolism (the upside-down red triangle once used to identify political opponents), all bets are off when it comes to my feelings of safety.

I am of an age where I have enjoyed many Pride marches and events. I feel sad for LGBTQ youth who are coming out at a time when we cant hold in-person events to celebrate our community. And I feel angry that we have fought so hard for so many years, only to be where we are today, with the Trump administration planning to roll back health care protections for transgender people. And I feel hopeful because the Supreme Court has recently granted federal job protections to LGBTQ workers. So my emotions are all over the place. I find solace and strength in the Jewish community, as we believe passionately in putting health and the sacredness of life above all else, we have always held social justice as a high ideal, and so many of us are working so hard to make the world a better place because as Emma Lazarus so famously said, Until we are all free, we are none of us free.

Abraham Riesman is a bisexual, Brooklyn-based journalist writing about arts and culture.

Abraham Riesman (Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage via Getty Images)

Pride Month has been the last thing on my mind. The world just seems so scary and off-kilter right now that it feels almost like it doesnt have a real manifestation this year. Pride for me has to do with actual communal activity and, sure, you can be communal online, but theres something about the presence in a physical space of other people who dont quite fit into a normative box that can really create something special and we just cant have that this year.

I only came out to myself and the world when I turned 31, so that doesnt mean I wasnt engaged in queer stuff prior to that, but it was always perceiving myself as an outsider. Usually Pride is something where I maybe go out to a party, maybe go to a parade.

What I pray for in the Jewish community is greater egalitarianism, and I get why thats a really hard lift for people who are more traditional in their beliefs. I get where it comes from that people are reluctant to allow people who dont fit into a gender box, or people who are quote-unquote the wrong gender for a given event. I dream of a world where everybody can participate in every kind of Jewish experience.

Ruben Shimonov is the c0-founder and executive director of the Sephardic-Mizrahi Q Network, a group for LGBTQ Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews.

Ruben Shimonov (Courtesy of Shimonov)

My organization works to build a vibrant and supportive community for an often overlooked segment of the Jewish world: LGBTQ+ Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. American Jewish institutions are becoming increasingly cognizant of the diversity within the queer Jewish world and the importance of highlighting the voices of marginalized LGBTQ+ Jews, like Sephardim and Mizrahim, as well as Jews of Color. They are becoming more aware of the presence of ashkenormativity. Similarly, Sephardic and Mizrahi communities are beginning to have healthier and more inclusive conversations about LGBTQ+ members in their midst although these conversations rarely occur on official, institutional levels. Clearly, a lot more work has to be done.

This years Pride month has looked very different than in years past. Like many others, the SMQN community is holding so many emotions, thoughts, reactions right now. To name a few: 1) We are thrilled by the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark decision to protect LGBTQ+ workers. 2) At the same time, we are outraged by the Trump administrations reversal of healthcare protections for transgender people in the U.S. an announcement that came on the anniversary of the Pulse massacre. 3) As a grassroots movement of LGBTQ+ Jews including Jews of Color, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews we lovingly stand with our Black community in the fight against racial injustice. In this crucial moment, we raise and amplify our collective voice against bigotry, erasure and racism. 4) We are continuing to feel the pandemics impact emotionally, psychologically, financially, and communally. As an already vulnerable group a minority within a minority many of us are in more urgent need of community.

Yet this is exactly what has become that much more elusive during this time, especially for an organization like ours that has flourished through in-person gatherings. For example, a mainstay of our programming since day one has been our monthly LGBTQ+ Sephardic Mizrahi Shabbat dinners. The sensory experience of these gatherings cannot be replicated via Zoom.

Michael Twitty is a James Beard Award-winning food historian and the author of the Cooking Gene, which explores his Jewish, Black and gay identities as they intersect with food.

Michael Twitty (Clay Williams)

Theres a teaching about Sukkot that has always struck me. Every part of the lulav has a purpose and without them you dont have a kosher lulav. The same goes for the spice mixture that was made for incense in the holy Temple. If one ingredient was missing, it was incomplete. We have to look at LGBTQ inclusion in the Jewish community the same way. We have been here, we will be here, we are here. Not one Jewish soul to be lost. And just like the lulav bundle and the holy incense our community, our people, our family is not whole unless we stand together for each other and dont shut people out.

Krystle Wright is a Black queer, nonbinary Jew working for a furniture company in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Krystle Wright (Courtesy of Wright)

I have been silently observing what is happening in the world. I have been watching the protests against police brutality, and silently doing my own work. I have been watching what is happening with the current pandemic and trying not to panic as the U.S. is opening its economic door recklessly. I have been cheering along with the decision of the Supreme Court to decide that I cannot be fired for my queer identity a common-sense ruling, to be honest. I have been silently watching the Jewish community, my chosen family, reeducate itself on racism in America and join its voice in the fight against police brutality. With all of this happening, I am exhausted. There are too many things calling for my immediate attention.

The Jewish concept that reminds me to take a moment to enjoy Pride is tselem Elohim. What does it mean that I am that we are tselem Elohim, the image of G-d? My idea is that each of us has a G-d-like quality to our lives. What I mean is this: We are each in control of our common human destiny. When we look at ourselves and each other, we are looking at the only creatures who can make life on this planet better for everyone. I am proud that each part of my identity has a history, albeit imperfect, of striving to make this planet a good place for everyone to live.

This Pride Month, I am reminded that there is no reason for me to be ashamed of any part of my identity. Each part of me can and does work to make the world a better place so that all can be liberated. This Pride Month, I take a moment to raise a glass to the potential in each of us to make this world a place where my Black self, my Queer self and my Jewish self can live out loud or live quietly, with a good book and lots of restorative naps. Either way, Lchaim!

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Pride Month isn't the focus for LGBTQ Jews this year - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2020

Week of June 28, 2020

By Laurie Baron, Ph.D

(All times Pacific time)

Sunday, June 2811 a.m. Aviva Ben-Ur, Suriname: Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society, Sephardic World

12 p.m. Raphael Zarum, What Did Churchill Really Think of the Jews?, Orange County Community Scholar Program

12 p.m. The Lady in Number Six: Music Saved My Life-Oscar Winning Documentary about Alice Herz Sommer followed by performance by Arianne Brown, Stephan Kirchgraber, and Neely Bruce, Sousa Mendes Foundation and University of Miamis Holocaust Teacher Institute

Monday, June 29,9 a.m., Daniel Shapiro, West Bank Annexation: The Impact on US-Israel Relations, Americans for Peace Now.

1:30 p.m. Eve Jochnowitz, Eating Right and Left: Food and Political Alignment in the Yiddish Press, (In Yiddish), YIVO,

Tuesday, June 309 a.m., Andrew Rehfeld, Whats Jewish about Jewish Political Thought? Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

9:30 a.m. Joy Landin, Arthur Slepian, and Arya Marvazy, A Jewish Conversation for Pride Month: How Far Weve Come and What Happens Next, Forward: Talks for Trying Times.

11 a.m. Philippe Nielsen, Jews and the Right in Germany 1871-1935, Leo Baeck Institute.

11 a.m., David Roet and David Makovsky, Developments in Israel and the Middle East, Magen David Adom,

12 p.m., Deborah Riley Draper, Olympic Pride, American Prejudice (1936 Olympics), Seattle Holocaust Center for Humanity.

4:30 p.m., Lynn Avadenka, Jewish Artist Experience, Vilna Shul and Hadassah Brandeis Institute.

Wednesday, July 112:30 p.m., Joshua Garroway, The Development of Jewish Views on Jesus and Christianity, Orange County Community Scholar Program,

7 p.m., Marc Dollinger, Jews, Race, and American Jewish History, Congregation Rodef Sholom of San Rafael.

Friday, July 312 p.m., Peter Boyer, Ellis Island: The Dream of America, Orange County Community Scholar Program.

*

Laurie Baron, Ph.D, is professor emeritus of European History at San Diego State University; a humor columnist (in his own name and in that of his dog Elona), and is an authority on Jewish-themed movies, particularly those dealing with the Holocaust. To see an archive of his stories, please click on his byline at the top of this page. He may be contacted vialawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com

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Streaming Jewish films and lectures - San Diego Jewish World

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