Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 9, 2020

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea argues there is evidence of an organization at times behind some of the protests.

The "boogaloo"anti-government movement describes a group of extremists who believe the nation is on the verge of a second civil war.

The Anti-Defamation League defined boogaloo in Nov. 26, 2019, as being extremists new slang term for a coming civil war.

From militia groups to white supremacists, extremists on a range of online platforms talk aboutand sometimes even anticipatethe boogaloo, the ADL states on its website. Among some extremists, the rise of "boogaloo"may signify an increased willingness to engage in violence.

A Detroit Police officer reads a "The Boogaloo stands with George Floyd" sign held by an armed man during a rally in Detroit, Michigan, on May 30, 2020, against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd.(REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)

Hawaiian shirts and leis sometimes considered the signature look for the boogaloo anti-government movement along with bright colors aredesigned to get attention.

The loose movement, which uses an 80s movie sequel as a code word for a second civil war, is among the extremists using the armed protests against stay-at-home orders as a platform. Like other movements that once largely inhabited corners of the internet, it has seized on the social unrest and economic calamity caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, and now, the riots that arose in the wake of peaceful protests followingthe death of George Floyd, to publicize its messages.

WHAT IS 'KETTLING'?

Its name comes from the panned 1984 movie Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo, which has become slang for any bad sequel. Another derivation of boogaloo is big luau hence the Hawaiian garb.

A member of the far-right militia Boogaloo Bois walks next to protesters demonstrating outside Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department Metro Division 2 just outside of downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 29, 2020. (LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Im

Far-right gun activists and militia groups first embraced the term before white supremacist groups adopted it last year. And while some boogaloo followers maintain they arent genuinely advocating for violence, law enforcement officials say they have foiled bombing and shooting plots by people who have connections to the movement or at least used its terminology.

DEFIANT NYC PROTESTERS MARCH THROUGH CURFEW: 'NOT STOPPING'

Facebook has since updated its policies to prohibit the use of boogaloo and related terms when accompanied by statements and images depicting armed violence, the company said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Posted By admin on June 9, 2020

With the passage and signing of the Never Again Education Act, the federal government is funding Holocaust education for the first time.

As asserted in the very name of the law, the politicians and Jewish organizations who supported the bill and hailed its recent signing by President Trump say education can actually help prevent violent hatred.

The best way to prevent an atrocity like the Holocaust from occurring again is through education, stated Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, a former synagogue president who, along with Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, sponsored the legislation.

Holocaust education has become increasingly widespread since 1985, when California became the first state to mandate it. After a wave of new state laws in the past few years, its now a mandatory feature of public schools in more than a dozen states, including each of the six largest by population.

The new law, signed May 29 and passed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both chambers of Congress, does not include a Holocaust education requirement like those states do. Instead, it provides $10 million over five years to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. to develop and disseminate curriculum materials for middle and high school teachers who are already teaching it, or want to.

Those states that do require Holocaust education usually offer two reasons why: Its an important event in world history, and learning about one of humanitys darkest moments will help students recognize signs of prejudice and inspire them to speak out against it.

Yet after more than thirty years, experts and practitioners disagree over whether students who take Holocaust classes become any more ethical than students who dont or even if they retain the information after the class is over.

Many signs arent promising: Pew found in January that less than half of Americans know that 6 million Jews were killed; in 2018, two-thirds of Millennials told a pollster commissioned by a Holocaust survivor advocacy group that they didnt know what Auschwitz was.

The data that would make the case for Holocaust education just isnt there, said Jonathan Krasner, a professor of Jewish education research at Brandeis University.

Nobody has done any kind of comprehensive study about the effectiveness of Holocaust education writ large, he said.

Two of the largest not-for-profits that provide Holocaust education materials and training to teachers also supported the Never Again Education Act: Echoes & Reflections a partnership of the Anti-Defamation League, the USC Shoah Foundation and Israels Yad Vashem museum and the Massachusetts-based Facing History and Ourselves.

Both Echoes & Reflections and Facing History and Ourselves have sections of their website replete with studies that show that participants see improved empathy and civic-mindedness, but Krasner who stressed that he admired both organizations said that those were less convincing than those commissioned by outside groups or researchers.

Theyre not necessarily going to share things that dont reflect well on them, he said.

Effective research, in which independent scholars measure what students think before and after taking lessons, is pricey, its time and labor intensive, and it ought to be both quantitative and qualitative, said Simone Schweber, a professor of education and Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There arent a lot of those studies generally.

Many studies that do exist paint a grim picture. Holocaust education has been part of Britains national curriculum since 1991, but a 2015 study found that most teens knowledge of the Holocaust came from pop culture and not from schools.

I didnt stop being racist because of learning about the Holocaust Ive always not been racist, said one student interviewed.

One paper from the University of Arkansas did find that middle schoolers who went to a Holocaust education conference were more likely to self-report after the event that they would be upstanders in the face of injustice. But the change was significant only among minorities, not whites.

Whats more, educators do know, despite the patchy research, that students experiences with Holocaust education can vary widely.

What sometimes happens, said Schweber, who has written two books on the subject, is Holocaust fatigue students zoning out because they have watched the same documentaries in multiple classes, or re-learned similar lessons every year from kindergarten through their senior year of high school. Other times, teachers assign books like Elie Wiesels Night, an account of his time in a concentration camp, before students are mature enough to internalize its messages.

The quality of the teaching can be radically different even from classroom to classroom within the same school, let alone different states, she said.

But the Holocaust education organizations say that those inconsistencies provide even more reason to support the education grants created by the law.

Just because theres a mandate that requires something to be taught, it doesnt mean teachers are doing it in a productive way, said Echoes & Reflections director Ariel Behrman.

We know that when you teach high-quality science, students become better scientists. If you teach science thats not up to snuff, students dont, agreed Facing History CEO Roger Brooks. Its the same with history.

Mistakes like Holocaust fatigue are what the educational organizations are there to prevent. Facing History and Ourselves says its worked with 100,000 teachers since since the mid-1970s, while Echoes & Reflections says its trained 70,000 teachers in the past 15 years.

The big national studies that show widespread ignorance of the Holocaust are likewise reasons to do more, not less, Behrman said. Even though Holocaust education is becoming more common, its still the case that most Americans didnt grow up in a time or place when it was mandatory. Polls will be better in coming years, she said.

Other scholars interviewed said that Americans are bad at history in general, and that isnt a verdict on Holocaust education specifically.

One way Facing History and Ourselves and Echoes & Reflections try to make the lessons stick is by emphasizing how the Holocaust is relevant to students lives, said Behrman. We make connections to contemporary anti-Semitism, to the refugee experience in the Holocaust and the refugee experiences today.

But those connections can create more complications.

Last year, for example, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a product of public schools in New York, where Holocaust education has been mandatory since she was five years old compared refugee detention centers on the Mexican border with Nazi concentration camps.

For this, she was condemned by the ADL and Yad Vashem.

Both of those organizations sponsor Echoes & Reflections, which encourages students to make connections to contemporary refugee issues, said its leader, Behrman.

The seeming contradictions reflect a larger debate among Jewish leaders over whether Holocaust classes should emphasize the dangers of prejudice in general, or highlight anti-Semitism and the particularly Jewish nature of the tragedy.

Its inevitable that teachers at schools with small or non-existent Jewish populations will encourage students to focus on the universal lessons, to make it applicable to their lives, Krasner argued.

But that means that as more students who took Holocaust classes grow up and enter positions of leadership, they may be more willing to make Holocaust analogies that Jewish leaders may not like.

Whether this means Holocaust education has been successful or not will depend on who is answering the question, and when.

But even skeptics say that as long as Holocaust education is required by states, teachers should be given easy access to the best materials available.

Here we are 75 years after the end of the war: Were living in the period where the last living eyewitnesses wont be around much longer, and Holocaust denial is resurgent because conspiracy theories can go viral on the internet and go unchecked, said Avinoam Patt, a Jewish studies professor at the University of Connecticut and a former resident scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Thats all the more reason to have these programs.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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Posted By admin on June 9, 2020

A Dundee mural depicting the man allegedly murdered by an American police officer has been defaced.

Dundee graffiti artist Symon Mathieson, also known as SYKE, had shown his support for the Black Lives Matter movement by painting a portrait of George Floyd in the Hilltown.

Symon painted the piece last week in an effort to show solidarity with those protesting police brutality and shine a light on racism in Scotland.

However, today, a white supremacist symbol has been painted over Floyds face.

The Celtic Cross, which has been historically used by groups such as the KKK, was used to desecrate the mural.

The Anti-Defamation Leagues database of hate symbols describes the sign as one of the most important and commonly used white supremacist symbols and highlights its common use by neo-Nazis, skinheads and the Ku Klux Klan.

The word Black was also painted over in white paint, leaving the slogan at the bottom to read simply, Lives Matter.

Mr Floyds surname has also had paint daubed over it.

Symon said: This is clearly someone with a ridiculous opinion, and I think it proves my point that racism still exists here.

This is still a massive problem.

Im ashamed of the people of Dundee.

Joy Gansh, a black activist and protest organiser, has also been left disgusted by the murals desecration.

She said: It is a shock, but honestly Im not really that shocked.

I knew this was going to happen, I just didnt think it would be so soon.

Its a slap in the face that theyve decided to counter BLM with this vandalism.

Mr Floyds death, which autopsies have shown was caused by a police officer kneeling on his neck for close to nine minutes, has provoked outrage in the USA and across the rest of the world.

The artist hoped that his work would show solidarity with those protesting, while shining a light on the existence of racism in Dundee.

Council leader John Alexander and his Conservative colleague for the Ferry, Philip Scott, are among those who have commented on the issue.

Police Scotland have been approached for comment.

Dundee graffiti artist shows support for Black Lives Matter with George Floyd mural

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Posted By admin on June 9, 2020

When an unarmedGeorge Floyddied in Minneapolis on May 25 without an acknowledgment of his humanity, the police officers who held him down and put a knee to his neck apparently saw his skin color as a weapon. The same day, when a white woman,Amy Cooper,threatened to call the New York City police against an African American, even though she disobeyed rules in Central Park, she used her skin color as a weapon to protect herself.

This dichotomy leaves me in anguish, as cities across the nation burn in protest, rage and grief against Floyds death and centuries of racial inequity, all against the backdrop of a pandemic. Communities of color, with limited access to health care, have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak.

It has taken a multitude of events this yearfrom racist actions against people of color to the COVID-19 pandemic exposing inequitiesfor me to question my own skin. Is my brown skin viewed by some whites as a weapon? When I try to speak the language of unity, do some people consider me different and not an equal?

Is there any way to bridge this divide?

A history of inequality

Last year, thePew Research Centerfound that a majority of Americans have dim views about the nations progress toward equality. Blacks in particularmore than eight in 10said the legacy of slavery affected their position in society. Seventy-eight percent said the country hasnt gone far enough when it comes to giving black people equal rights with whites.

Worse still: Half of black respondents in the Pew survey said it is unlikely that the nation will eventually achieve racial equality.

It is well-documented that Rochester remains segregated. In August 2017, a report from ACT Rochester and Rochester Community Foundation titled Hard Facts: Race and Ethnicity in the Nine-County Greater Rochester Area, identified stark racial gaps.For nearly every indicator they measured, theauthors of the report found the region performed more poorly than the state and the nation.

Nationally, leaders and others ponder the question of why African American incomes are only 62 percent those of white residents, the report states. Our challenge is even greater: In our nine-county region, the corresponding number is dramatically lower at 48 percent. These Hard Facts should make it impossible for anyone to ignore the profound entrenchment of structural racism throughout our region.

In 2018, 24/7 Wall St. identified Rochester as one of theworst cities for black Americans. At the time of the report, black median income here was $28,781, or nearly half of white income.

A couple of months ago,Education Weekinvestigated how widening inequities and overwhelmed budgets would hurt schools amid the pandemic. Rochester was among them, with 86 percent of students African American or Latino. Ninety percent of them qualify for free lunches and reduced-price meals.

Blending in

I stepped into this environment two decades ago, without knowing much of Rochesters history on race and inequality. A native of India, I was fresh out of graduate school in the U.S. and eager for work experience here. I walked into an office where, at first glance, I couldnt find anyone who looked like me. I recall telling my parents about that fact. They, like most immigrant parents, urged me to keep my eyes on the prize: a job. (Later, I would meet my only African-American colleague at the time. More would trickle in over the years.)

During my first year in Rochester, I fled to New York City every other weekend or flew to San Francisco, to visit friends and get my fix of diversity in food and ethnicity.

A year after I made my move, the twin towers fell in New York City. My mother called from India and asked me not to ride the Regional Transit Service bus (my main mode of transport) in fear that I would be seen as a terrorist. She asked me, since we are a Christian family, to find my necklace with a cross and place it around my neck in plain sight. I laughed her off.

What my mother did for me is similar to what otherblack and brown mothersdo for their children. They remind us to color within the lines, follow the rules and not bring attention to ourselves. Blend in, they say. Dont let it be known that a person of color failed in some way. Our mothers fear the risks associated with bias and stereotyping.

I wasnt afraid to ride the bus right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but I found that people around me were afraid for me. While I still rode the bus downtown each morning, my coworkers offered rides back to my apartment on East Avenue on their way home. I began to question myself. Perhaps I should be fearful. What did they know that I didnt?

A polarizing issue

I recognize that I am extremely fortunate to know people who havent treated me differently. I dont think of my race or gender when I interact with friends, colleagues and community leaders. I know who I am. However, as Ivewritten before for the Beacon, the last few years have made me conscious of the way I appear to the world. I have learned that as a person of color at times I suffer what are known asmicroaggressions, but I personally compartmentalize it as ignorance or naivete. Many have suffered so much more.

I have witnessed an increased use of the phrase white privilege. Social media posts urge white men and women to use it to help persons of color. People are apologizing that the color of their skin has afforded them societal advantages. Interestingly, astudy in 2019showed that while white privilege lessons can increase awareness of racism, it may both highlight structural privilege based on race, and simultaneously decrease sympathy for other challenges some white people endure.

While it is true that the average white person is likely to be better off than a person of color, the term white privilege cements the separation, creates a need for an apology and a need for acceptance once the privilege is acknowledged. A person of color also seeks acceptance. Equal acceptance.

Racism is complex and polarizing. If I talk about racism as a person of color, Im angry or Im whining, and I will be labeled as such. If I dont say anything, I run the risk of being alienated from black and brown communities for not standing up and saying enough. If I am white, I supposedly dont care and if I do care and acknowledge white fragility, I might be rejected by my friends.

We cannot afford to further the divide.

Differentiation on the basis of color, caste, creed or sex is not unknown to me. I have lived experiences, albeit in another nation. Wherever you come from, racism is dehumanizing. It seeps into language and communication and policies and laws.

Floyds death, for many in the United States and across the world, is an illustration of systemic racism. In particular, how race creates a disadvantage for people of color in the criminal justice system. Over the life course, about one in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police, sayresearchersFrank Edwards, Hedwig Lee and Michael Esposito.

Coming together

This statistic was a big reason for many of my friends to join the protest on Saturday. The cry for change is understandable and very real. I worry that the looting and rioting that followed the protest drowns out that cry. Organizers of the Black Lives Matter rallythis week saidthe assertion that looters came from other citiesvoiced initially byMayor Lovely Warren and Police Chief LaRon Singletaryis a tactic employed to not acknowledge pain and suffering within cities.

It takes away from peoples agency to make decisions, it takes away from peoples ability to rise up and fight back, said Stanley Martin, an organizer of the rally. She added that even if people were agitated, it comes from years of suffering.

I think back to last years Pew Research survey where half of blacks said they believe the U.S. would likely never achieve racial equality. Im certain that belief hasnt changed. In fact, its probably deepened.

Going by the Anti-Defamation LeaguesPyramid of Hate, where biased attitudes like stereotyping and microaggressions form the lowest level of the pyramid, such beliefs grow in complexity from bottom to top, with genocide at the apex. As behaviors escalate, it becomes harder to dismantle bias at each level. And when bias is unchecked, it becomes a normal way of being.

Earlier this week, Brookings InstitutionsCamille Busetteurged governors and mayors to tackle endemic racism by acknowledging its existence, creating equity goals, funding equity measures, and finding innovative ways to close the racial wealth gap and measure the impact of equity. Organizers of the BLM rally in Rochester offered somewhat similar suggestions to Rochester authorities.

Unpacking systemic racism and righting wrongs is a gargantuan task. Yet racism affects all of us; its dehumanizing nature drains us of dignity. To battle against it is to be human.

Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor.

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2020

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Police officers went undercover as Hasidic Jews to monitor protests against racism and police brutality in a majority-Jewish New Jersey town, Mishpacha reported.

The rally in Lakewood, N.J. on Saturday was one of hundreds around the country over the weekend protesting the killing of an African-American man, George Floyd, while being forcibly detained by police. A video captured by Mishpacha showed at least three men in Lakewood dressed in the black outfits typical of Orthodox men. Two of the men were wearing hats and one was wearing a kippah; one of the apparent officers had peyot, long sidelocks.

Unfortunately for the officers, one of them appeared to be holding a cell phone - which would be forbidden to Orthodox Jews on Shabbat.

The apparent officers faulty garb was widely mocked on social media.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink

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Very few people remember the name Lemrick Nelson Jr. today.

Nearly 30 years ago, during a three day rioting spree that began on August 19th 1991, blacks living in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn took to the streets in a violent rampage against the local Jewish community. It was chaos and mob rule. Lemrick Nelson Jr. participated in those riots. On the morning of August 20th, 1991, 29-year-old Hasidic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum was surrounded by a large group of black youths, mercilessly beaten, his skull fractured, and Lemrick Nelson Jr. stabbed Rosenbaum to death. Incredibly, a jury acquitted Nelson but he ended up spending 10 years in prison on civil rights charges. The other youths were never charged.

The Crown Heights riots lasted three days and turned into a pogrom, with enraged black youths shouting: Death to the Jews. Calls poured in from Jewish residents to 911 and were ignored.

What triggered the violence was a tragic car accident on the evening of August 19th 1991. The driver of a motorcade carrying the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson ran a red light and accidentally killed 7 year-old Gavin Cato, and injured his cousin Angela. The driver, Yosef Lifsh, left the car and tried in vain to help the dying child, although there were conflicting accounts of what happened that evening. EMS workers who arrived on the scene said that Lifsh was being beaten by a group of several men.

Yankel Rosenbaum was not the only victim to die that summer in Crown Heights. During the rioting, an elderly Hasidic Crown Heights resident was stabbed in the neck. Two weeks later on September 5th, Italian-American Anthony Graziosi was dragged from his car, savagely beaten and stabbed to death by a mob of black youths. Graziosi was murdered because was mistaken for an Orthodox Jew due to his black beard and clothing.

The racial division that happened nearly 30 years ago was led by a number of known anti-Semitic black leaders who incited the local black youths, causing eruption in a neighborhood that was already fragile and split with racial tensions. Principal among the leaders causing disruptions were Al Sharpton and Sonny Carson, who led a march through the Crown Heights neighborhood carrying anti-Semitic signs andburning the Israeli flag.

Al Sharpton was an agitator and a pervasive influence on young New York blacks in the 1980s and 90s. He does not regret or apologize for his defense of Tawana Brawley, which turned out to be a hoax. It was Al Sharpton who began the chant, No Justice, No Peace in the march that led to the Crown Heights riots. Al Sharptons actions were horrendous. Today he is established as a radio and TV talk show host and frequent commentator on MSNBC. What kind of justice is that?

What happened in Crown Heights showed a failure of Police Commissioner Lee Brown for not immediately sending police to patrol the area and break up the mobs, and of Mayor David Dinkins administration. That is why Dinkins was voted out of office and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a prosecutor known to be tough on crime, won the next election.

To this day, there is still no peace for the Orthodox Jewish community residing inthe area. Last year, The Jewish Press staff compiled a list of vicious attacks against Jews,all occurring in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. There were 15 attacks in four months. On April 14th 2020, there was an attack on Orthodox Jews and it can be seen on a series of videos.

One year after Yankel Rosenbaums murder in Brooklyn, riots broke out in Los Angeles after four police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. Thats when police brutality became a national issue again. Civil unrest, including rioting, looting, arson and murder lasted for six days after the officers acquittal in Los Angeles. It required the National Guard, U.S. Army and Marines to establish normalcy again. Unfortunately, 63 died and 2,383 more people were injured.

Beginning in the 1960s, the American response to riots that went on in America was passivity and permissiveness, and that is largely to blame for the persistent, destructive force that has uprooted oursociety and traditional values. The only difference between the riots today from those of the 1960s is that online social media groups make it easier to foment Anti-American hatred far and wide by going viral and posting multiple locations where protests will take place. Moreover, while the death of George Floyd by Minneapolis ex-cop Derek Chauvin was unjust, so are the murders of innocent helpless Americans.

Initial reports included the tragic deaths of retired St. Louis Police Chief David Dorn and federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood. That number has risen, and 15 people have died during the violent uprisings. Many of the victims are black. Derek Chauvin wrongly killed George Floyd and he is being charged with second-degree murder. Three other ex-cops are being charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin, and all four are being held on $1 million bail. Justice will be served for this crime. Police brutality should never be tolerated. Neither should rioting.

The curfew in New York City has ended. However, violent sex offenders are being released from jails in New York, and67,000 criminalswere releasednationwide. Thats bail reform, courtesy of progressive Democrats. Curfews may become a future fixture of American life, like masks and vaccinations. Police officers are taking a knee in front of angry protestors as a gesture of solidarity because of four bad cops who are going to prison for life. Why?

Watching cities burn, innocent people assaulted, a radicalized media that coddles rioters while giving a pass to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for their ineptitude, questions remain. Why were Christians prevented from attending church services during the COVID-19 crisis? Why did Mayor de Blasio enforce social distancing for a funeral procession held by Orthodox Jews? Why were peaceful pro-lifers arrested for handing out roses to pregnant moms, hoping to save their babies lives? When did religious intolerance become the norm?

Law-abiding Americans deserve answers. The militant left believes that First Amendment rights are only valid for protestors that support their most dangerous ideologies. All others need not reply.

In 1999, Bonnie Chernin founded Jews For Life, the first pro-life website reflecting the traditional Jewish pro-life viewpoint on abortion and assisted suicide. In 2018, Bonnie launched The Jewish Life League. Bonnie believes that life, both born and unborn, is sacred and must be protected. Bonnie is an accomplished classical pianist and prolific writer. She is a Certified Professional Coach assisting women in achieving their life and career goals.

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2020

Netflix'sUnorthodoxcenters on the harrowing journey of Esther "Esty" Shapiro, a Hasidic Jewish woman from Williamsburg, New York who tries to escape her community with her unborn child. The show is groundbreaking in many ways, partly due to its topic, which has not been examined much, and its use of Yiddish, a language rarely seen in the arts.

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There were several moments in this miniseries that were truly spellbinding, particularly if you did not know much about this type of Orthodox Judaism beforehand. Esty's intense struggle both before and after she leaves Williamsburg makes you wonder if you would have been able to go on. Here are 10 of the most shocking scenes from Netflix'sUnorthodox.

Esty's wedding was jarring to some people. Certain elements might be familiar to those who have ever attended a Jewish wedding, but Esty's Hasidic Jewish ceremony features far more traditions and procedures than many have ever encountered.

Other than the myriad elements that go into the entire rigmarole, audiences also saw Esty's mother be shunned by those in the community, who feel that her presence only serves as an unnecessary distraction. It's a lot to take in.

What a significant moment this was. Esty has made it to Berlin and has managed to tag along with a group of young musicians as they enjoy a lake. Esty did not bring a bathing suit; all she has are the clothes on her back and an envelope with some money and important documentation.

She decides to take a leap, though, showing how willing she is to start fresh in a foreign land. Esty submerges herself in the water, but not before removing her wig, revealing the buzzcut that all married women in her community must have.

Esty experiences painful attempts at intercourse with her husband, Yakov "Yanky" Shapiro. They have been unable to conceive a child in the first year of their marriage, which is expected in their community.

Esty is looked down upon due to this. In a frustrated state, Esty finally manages to deal with the acute pain in order to satisfy her husband. It is difficult to watch, a credit to Shira Haas's acting talent.

Esty's direction in Berlin is rooted in music. At the suggestion of a director of a conservatory of music, she applies for a scholarship given to talented musicians that come from extraordinary circumstances. When she notifies her new musician friends of her application, they wish to hear her play.

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She only took piano lessons for a short while, but she is confident in her abilities nonetheless. Esty plays a short, simple piece for them. Then her heart is broken, for one of them tells her that she has no chance of playing alongside them due to her lack of training. It is devastating for Esty.

Esty runs off after her dreams are crushed by her musician friends. It appears that her adventure has come to a close, so she calls one of the few people she feels she can trust, her grandmother.

Their conversation is only brief, however, as her grandmother hangs up on her. Just brutal. The tears flow as Esty calls out for her grandmother, in disbelief that even she has shunned her due to her actions.

One of the main revelations ofUnorthodoxis how many rules and customs Hasidic Jews must follow. One in particular probably stuck in the minds of all viewers; when Esty cleansed herself prior to her wedding.

This is done with supervision to ensure that the bride has been properly cleaned, and takes place in a jacuzzi-like structure aftershe has already showered. Esty is clearly uncomfortable with what is happening, yet she trudges on.

Esty is eventually tracked down by her husband and Moishe Lefkovitch. While Yanky is quite timid and unsure of how to go about bringing Esty home, Moishe is a brute. Once he finally has Esty in his grasp, he forces her into a playground and sits her down to try to talk some sense into her.

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This intense conversation involving the deaths of her community's ancestors culminates in him giving her a gun, so that she can end things when they get too difficult, as he predicts they will for her.

Esty and Yanky finally meet after her escape from Williamsburg. Yanky might have an antiquated view on marriage, female roles, etc., but it is all he has ever been taught. He tells Esty that he is willing to change for her, for he appears to really care for his wife.

It is just too late, though. This emotional breakupbetween spouses features some genuine outpouring of emotion, particularly at the moment that Yanky cuts off his payot, a serious sin in their community. But he's desperate at this moment, willing to do anything to convince his wife that he is worthy of her.

For a few moments, Esty seemed genuinely happy on the day of her wedding. Then her head was shaved, which provided arguably the most memorable image of the entire show; Esty tearfully looking at herself in the mirror as it happens.

Moments like these are completely foreign to most people, which adds even more gravitas to the scene. Luckily for her, this haircut is fashionable in Berlin.

The most climactic scene of the series occurs during Esty's audition. It is apparent that she can't make it on the piano, she is just too inexperienced. She can sing, apparently, which the viewer does not realize until she belts her heart out.

While the judges appreciate her talent, they feel that a different song would be more appropriate for her voice. She sings her second song in Yiddish. The viewer likely does not understand a single word she sings, but the sheer emotion and power she pours into it are mesmerizing.

NEXT: Amazon's Hunters: 10 Jewish Customs The Show Got Right

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Sheehan Planas-Arteaga is a writer based out of Miami, FL. He attended Barry University, majoring in English and playing for the school's baseball team. Sheehan was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 2014 MLB Draft, which led to him playing professional baseball for four years. He enjoys reading, dominating in fantasy sports, music, and movies. His favorite color is green.

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Unorthodox: The 10 Most Shocking Scenes That We Can't Stop Thinking About - Screen Rant

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2020

A crowd of police in riot gear marched down Crown Heights Eastern Parkway one day this week to applause and salutes from some of the neighborhoods Haredi residents.

Another day, amid another Black Lives Matter protest, a Jewish man with side curls offered the throng in Williamsburg a double thumbs-up. Over on Williamsburghs Bedford and Penn Streets, another Haredi Jew handed out water bottles to protesters and police officers alike.

John Kunza

Jews for justice protesters take part in a demonstration at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, June 4, 2020.

Miles and hours apart, these scenes reflect the range of Orthodox Jewish reactions to the roiling demonstrations against the police killing of the unarmed black man George Floyd. Opinions differ by neighborhood and of course by individual some Haredi New Yorkers are applauding the demonstrators, but many feel like they have gone too far. As in all communities, some have conflated the masses of peaceful protesters with the sporadic looting and vandalism, while others are careful to keep the distinction.

But in the ultra-Orthodox enclaves of Brooklyn, there are a few distinct factors stemming from recent and longer-range history that underpin the reactions. The community is frustrated with the mayors lackluster response to anti-Semitism last year and a perceived overreaction to social-distancing violations during the coronavirus pandemic. Their appetite for conservative media and politics aligns many of them with critics of the protesters. And the pandemic disrupted the finely-tuned social and religious rhythm to which they are anxious to return.

John Kunza

A demonstrator holds up a tikkun olam sign at a demonstration at Brooklyns Grand Army Plaza during a Black Lives Matter rally June 4, 2020.

Timing is also, of course, critical. The protests come after weeks in which Orthodox residents have been complaining of unfair treatment and over-policing for social-distancing violations including one hot moment when Mayor Bill DeBlasio went personally to Williamsburg to help break up a funeral for a beloved rabbi. Outrage erupted online when Haredi women and their children were ordered to leave a city park on Monday, while thousands of protesters have gathered with tacit support from the mayor.

Youre allowing people to gather and protest and walk the same city blocks that four weeks ago had the funeral, said Chaskel Bennett, a leader in the Flatbush Orthodox community. People dont like hypocrisy.

Some leaders also expressed concern about the health consequences involved with the mass protests.

Yaacov Behrman, a representative of Chabad and a member of a Crown Heights community board, got married in a backyard at the start of the shutdown with only a few guests, hasnt been to synagogue since March 12, and has been consistently outspoken about the mass funerals. Now he is worried the demonstrations will cause a spike in coronavirus infections just as transmission was subsiding in New York.

I am horrified by what happened to George Floyd, he said. I dont want to minimize that. Black Americans deserve to feel safe and be safe. But we have to find another way to protest.

We all made sacrifices, and yes, I agree, its outrageous, we have to scream, he added. But how is it okay to stand in large groups without social distancing, when it can put this community in harms way?

John Kunza

A demonstrator holds up a sign during a Black Lives Matter march through Downtown Brooklyn, June 4, 2020.

Mayor de Blasio figures prominently in the Orthodox reaction, especially because of his controversial tweet after the April funeral in Williamsburg. The tweet, which lambasted the Jewish community for failing to socially distance, drew ire from many corners of the Jewish world. It generated extra frustration from the Orthodox, who felt singled out by enforcement despite having officially supported de Blasio in exchange for cultural victories like his backing of the citys religious yeshivas amidst a probe into the quality of their secular instruction.

(Police data shows that black and brown people actually have been most frequently targeted by arrests and summonses, but 311 calls complaining about social distancing have been high in Orthodox neighborhoods.)

And the presence of police cruisers patrolling the streets of Borough Park to look for social-distancing violations has special salience for some Jews who felt like the city had not protected them from harm in a time of need during a spike in anti-Semitic violence late last year.

Jews were getting beaten up mercilessly in Borough Park, in Williamsburg and in Crown Heights, and we were screaming and shouting and begging for more police, Bennett said.

Although many Haredi Jews in New York feel burned by the mayor and concerned about protests growing violent, in some areas, such as the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway, Orthodox Jews joined the protest.

John Kunza

Protesters in Brooklyn

Richard Altabe, a principal at a local yeshiva, was photographed at the front of a march alongside black community leaders. In Nyack, N.Y., in Rockland County, Mimi Hecht documented her participation in a march on her modest fashion brands Instagram page.

I am a Jewish woman that wants to confront my own racism, Hecht wrote, alongside a picture of herself in the crowd, wearing a facemask and a headscarf. Im trying to show up. Grow up. Stand out. Stand up. Get it wrong. Make it right. Repeat.

Adina Miles, a social media activist and Orthodox woman with over 46,000 followers on Instagram, faced hostile pushback from followers for posting a photo of herself at a demonstration.

Poor baby has way too much time on her hands and is crying for attention, said one user

In Crown Heights, there is also the lingering legacy of the 1991 riots, sparked by an incident in which a car in the motorcade of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad movement, knocked a stone pillar over onto two Guyanese children, one of whom died. That night, a 29-year-old Jewish student was killed by a group of black men.

The anti-Semitic violence in late 2019, where several of the attackers caught on video or arrested were African American, as well as the civil unrest now have echoes of the racial tension from that period, according to Samuel Heilman, a professor at Queens College who studies contemporary Orthodox movements.

In the Haredi community, there is a general racism and general feeling that is, of course, a part of the legacy of living in the inner city, he said.

In many ways, the Crown Heights riot was the fulfillment of their worst nightmare.

As headquarters for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which is less insular than other Haredi sects, Crown Heights may feel less animosity toward the police, Heilman said, than Williamsburg and Borough Park. They are doing outreach work, he said. They need to have a good relationship with the cops.

And indeed, some Haredi leaders are criticizing people in the community for evoking 1991 as New Yorkers once again hear sirens and chanting into the night.

You cant compare Crown Heights riots to now, said Yaacov Behrman, a Chabad spokesperson. Then, rioters were attacking Jews in the streets, Jewish institutions they were attacking a specific community. And the government was saying, let them vent.

Now, he said, the violence is not targeting Jewish institutions. But the memories of past years linger. There is a lot of trauma, there is a lot of fear here, he said. We know that if a riot gets out of hand, we know what can happen.

In some Haredi circles, chat apps are swirling with racist memes and misinformation. One recent message asked in all caps, WHAT IF ALL THE BLACKS SUDDENLY LEFT AMERICA and offered unsubstantiated statistics about the impact on the nations average I.Q. and rates of sexually transmitted diseases.

There is a lack of awareness, a lack of education about racial issues here, said Elad Nehorai, a Crown Heights resident and a community organizer. Theres this general notion like, We came here to America, we were able to succeed and not be violent. Why cant they?

Some community critics say it is impossible to divorce their neighbors attitudes towards racial justice from their political leanings and support for President Donald Trump, the choice of the majority of Haredi voters in 2016. Many quote President Trumps designation of protesters as thugs.

Shulim Leifer, a Hasidic healthcare executive living in Brooklyn, pointed to a lack of quality education and corrupt leaders who benefit personally from their relationships to power that leads fellow community members to support an authoritarian racist like Donald Trump.

For some Orthodox Jews, past violence is serving more as a motivator to fix the problem, and less as a traumatic experience generating fear.

Devorah Halberstams son Ari was killed in 1994 by a terrorist attack on the Brooklyn Bridge. She said that while the looting and destruction is disturbing, the demonstrators need to be heard.

One thing that I am learning from this myself is that we need to listen, she said. If people obviously are in pain Im talking about the people who are crying out legitimately and protesting we do have to start listening to people.

I think I have a unique perspective on it because my son was murdered, she added. Mothers are suffering. Thats real.

Molly Boigon is an investigative reporter at the Forward. Contact her at boigon@forward.com or follow her on Twitter @MollyBoigon

Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt is the life editor at the Forward. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.

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How New Yorks Haredim are responding to George Floyd protests - Forward

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2020

The only thing it wants is targets, a George Mason University Ph.D. candidate in computer science, Adam Elkus, wrote of the coronavirus in March.

It does not think, he went on, it does not feel, and it lies totally outside the elaborate social nuances humans have carved out through patterns of communication, representation and discourse. And this, above all else, makes it a lethal adversary for the West. It has exposed how much of Western society is permeated with influential people who have deluded themselves into thinking that their ability to manipulate words, images and sounds gives them the ability to control reality itself.

In each stage of the American response to the coronavirus, this delusion has been at work. In the first stage it was liberals and portions of the public health establishment (including, fatefully, key decision-makers in New York City) who treated the virus as something to be spun or narrativized away, trying to define the real contagion as xenophobia or racism rather than the disease itself.

By the time this effort at reality-denial collapsed, the baton of narrative delusion had been passed to President Donald Trump, who spent crucial weeks behaving as though the power of positive thinking could suffice to keep his glorious economy afloat.

Eventually the plunging stock market and the rising infection rate forced even Trump to adapt somewhat to reality. But the next delusion belonged to some of his conservative supporters, who embraced the idea that the economic carnage was just the result of misguided government policy even though many stay-at-home orders only happened after steep drops in dining and shopping and travel, not before and that if the government simply spoke the right magic words of reopening, something close to normal life would immediately resume.

Now finally, amid the wave of protests against police brutality, the baton of words-against-reality has been passed back to the public health establishment, many of whose leaders are tying themselves in ideological knots arguing that it is not only acceptable but essential, after months circumscribing every sort of basic liberty, to encourage mass gatherings to support one particular just cause.

With this last turn, weve reached the end of the progression, because it means the original theory behind a stern public health response that the danger to life and health justified suspending even the most righteous pursuits, including not just normal economic life but the practices and institutions that protect children, comfort the dying, serve the poor has been abandoned or subverted by every faction in our national debate.

Yes, there are ongoing liberal attempts (including from the ridiculous, disastrous Bill de Blasio) to prop up a distinction between mass protests and other forms of non-distanced human life. But these attempts will fall apart: There is no First Amendment warrant to break up Hasidic funerals while blessing Black Lives Matters protests, and there is no moral warrant to claim that only anti-racism, however pressing its goals, deserves a sweeping exception from rules that have forbidden so many morally important activities for the last few months.

For the record, I still believe those rules were mostly right. The lockdowns lasted too long and imposed too much in certain places, and the George Floyd protests reflect pent-up energies that had to be released. But the rules bought time for warmer weather and social adaptations and hopefully a slower spread, they bought time for hospitals and masks and medical equipment, they brought us at least some distance closer to a vaccine and on the evidence of the stock market and the jobs numbers, they did so without creating the total economic calamity that many on the right were prophesying.

That the rules are now dissolving amid ideological double talk from health authorities says something important about the American capacity for political delusion. But it doesnt prove that we were wrong to implement them not when there are thousands of people who are still alive, and whose lives emphatically matter, because we sustained restrictions for a time.

The progression Ive described, though, in which all sides have embraced delusions or found something to value more than public health, does signal that there will be no further comprehensive attempt to fight the virus. Trump and conservatism wont support it, the public health bureaucracy wont be able to defend it, and we didnt use the time the lockdowns bought to build the infrastructure to sustain a campaign of actual suppression.

So in this sense we are back with Elkuss original point. All the virus wants is targets, and if it doesnt ultimately find another hundred thousand victims, or more than that in some autumn second wave, it will not be political decisions or public health exhortations that save us. On the left and right weve exhausted those possibilities, and like the earthlings unexpectedly preserved from alien domination at the end of The War of the Worlds, now only some inherent weakness in our enemy can save us from many, many deaths to come.

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Why the Coronavirus Is Winning - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2020

Practicing social distancing during coronavirus doesn't mean you have to give up TV watch parties with your friends thanks to Netflix Party. USA TODAY

The Oscar-winning South Korean film "Parasite" (now streaming on Hulu) is only one example of the beauty and potential of non-English language entertainment.

With Netflix's recent global expansion, language barriers no longer seem to be an issue for subscribers, as the streaming platform has added several local-language shows, dubbed intoEnglish or subtitled.From the Danish series "The Rain " to Colombian crime drama "Narcos", the international brand offers an impressively diverse array of options from various nations and cultures.

As people are forced to stay at home during COVID-19 shutdowns andin-person movie watching no longer seems like a viable option, now isthe best time to binge those TV shows you were unable to watch before.Whether you're craving a dark mystery drama or a lighthearted teen series, scroll through our list of foreign favorites to watch something other than "The Office" or "Grey's Anatomy."

More: The best new TV shows and movies to stream on Netflix in June 2020, from 'Hannibal' to 'Lady Bird'

"Money Heist," also known as "La Casa de Papel," is a crime drama about eight thieves who attempt to pull off the biggest robbery in Spain.(Photo: Courtesy of Netflix)

Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

Description: The first episode of this crime drama (aka "La Casa de Papel")will immediately engage you with its thrilling plot, as a group of eight robbers plan the biggest robbery in history. Hostages and infamous gang masks are only a part of what makes this show so suspenseful and intriguing.

Premiered: May 2017

Episodes: 23

In "Osmosis," an app uses personal memories to decode mysteries of love.(Photo: Netflix)

Language: French (Dubbed)

Description: "Black Mirror meets Ex-Machina" is Netflix's description of this sci-fi drama. An app promises to help people find their soulmates by probing into their brain and using data in the form of memories, thoughts and desires, but it's not as perfect as it seems.

Premiered: March2019

Episodes: 8

Language: Korean (Subtitles)

Description: An emotional underdog story, this South Korean drama details the life of an ex-convict who opens his own bar to compete with the corrupt man who was responsible for his prison sentence.

Premiered: January2020

Episodes: 16

A young Hasidic woman (Shira Haas) reboots her life in "Unorthodox."(Photo: Photo provided)

Language: Yiddish, German, English (Subtitles)

Description: This inspiring German-American drama documents a young woman from a strict Hasidic Jewish community who flees to Germany to find her place in the world.

Premiered: March2020

Episodes: 4

A fictional town affected by climate change seems to be headed for a Ragnarok, until a teen discovers his superpowers.(Photo: Netflix)

Language: German (Dubbed)

Description: If you enjoy Marvel's "Thor," you might be interested in this teen series that documents a teenage boy's discovery of his supernatural powers. A modern interpretation of Norse mythology, "Ragnarok" combines an intriguing plot with gorgeous scenic imagery. The end of the first episode will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.

Premiered: January2020

Episodes: 6

A group of high schoolers try to uncover the identity of an anonymous hacker who exposes the teens' dirty secrets.(Photo: Ana Cristina Blumenkron, Netflix)

Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

Description: With quick 20-minute episodes, this addicting Mexican teen drama revolves around an anonymous hacker who publicly humiliates and exposes the secrets of multiple high school students.

Premiered: May 2020

Episodes: 8

Doron (Lior Raz) and his team pursue "The Panther," a Hamas terrorist in this Israeli television series.(Photo: Netflix)

Language: Hebrew (Dubbed)

Description: This action-packed Israeli series tracesthe Israel-Palestinian conflict, as an Israeli commander of an undercover Israeli unit in Palestinian territory pursuesasuspected terrorist, who was presumed dead 18 months earlier.

Premiered: February2015

Episodes: 36

4 families discover the hidden truths of their hometown when searching for the disappearance of a child.(Photo: Netflix)

Language: German (Dubbed)

Description: Resembling an adult version of "Stranger Things," the supernatural thriller explores the complexdiscoveries following the suspicious disappearance of two children. Oh, and there's time travel involved!

Premiered: December2017

Episodes: 18

Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-Hoon) and Min Chi-Rok (Park Byung-Eun) set out to learn more about the sudden plague outbreak in this Korean zombie drama.(Photo: Juhan Noh, Netflix)

Language: Korean (Dubbed)

Description: Set after the Japanese invasions of the 1590s, this thriller details a mysterious plague that turns the dead into bloodthirsty killers. Gory zombie scenes combined with political turmoil in the royal dynasty makes this show more complex than "Daybreak" or "The Walking Dead."

Premiered: January2019

Episodes: 12

"Elite" is a teen murder drama about the clash between working-class and upper-class students at Las Encinas, a prestigious boarding school in Spain.(Photo: Netflix)

Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

Description: This teen drama captures the elitism and socioeconomic contrasts of "Gossip Girl" with a dark twist, as three working-class students take extreme measures to retaliate against the wealthy socialites of a prestigious high school.

Premiered: October2018

Episodes: 24

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10 foreign TV shows to binge watch on Netflix right now, including 'Money Heist' and 'Elite' - USA TODAY

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