Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

The four-part Netflix series Unorthodox is the latest in a growing mini-industry of books and television programs depicting the inner working of the Hasidic community to an apparently vast market of fascinated observers. It has justly been praised for the attention to detail paid in accurately depicting clothes, haircuts, furniture, Hebrew accents and, in a particularly ground-breaking move, the Yiddish language. Not every detail is perfect, but I a Hasid born and raised was genuinely impressed by details like the plastic-covered rococo chairs, the foil-plastered Pesach kitchen, and the size of the Rebbes gartel that accurately conjured up my world. There is no doubt that the producers spared no labor in trying to make their depiction visually realistic. When the depiction veers from reality, therefore, it is reasonable to infer that something more than mere error is at work, especially when pulling at this loose thread unravels one of the major themes of the series.

On multiple occasions, the main character, Esty, and her hapless but well-meaning husband, Yanky, are depicted attempting to consummate their marriage. This culminates in a truly grimace-inducing scene in which he, after berating her about her duty to procreate, successfully completes the conjugal act while she is visibly in agony. In every single one of these scenes both partners are fully dressed, in Yankys case replete with tzitzit. I doubt this oddity would have escaped the notice of anyone watching, but, just in case, the show emphasizes the point, depicting Yanky carefully buttoning up his shirt post-shower before moving to the marital bed. Juxtaposed against this, when Esty later finds sexual liberation in the arms of a smoldering but friendly musician, she furiously kisses him, expecting to leap into action, but he pauses to undress her, to which she responds with evident but delighted surprise, discovering for the first time both that intimacy can be fun and that bare skin has something to do with it.

Theres only one problem with this theme: its not remotely true. Hasidim, be they Satmar or anyone else, do not have a custom of doing it with their clothes on. As it happens, Hasidic theology frowns on the practice based on a mystical interpretation of the biblical verse, they shall be of one flesh, something it has in common with other streams of Orthodox Judaism. So why did a team that put so much effort into getting every tiny detail right put the same degree of effort into getting this detail wrong?

The answer is that the clothes are a motif used to convey a wider theme of the series, namely portraying the Hasidic community as sexually aberrant. Esty suffers from Vaginismus, a serious medical condition that affects around 0.5% of all women with frequently disastrous results for their ability to maintain successful relationships. Estys case is particularly severe since after nearly a year of trying, their marriage remained unconsummated. During these miserable months, Estys mother-in-law and kallah teacher provide her with some medical home remedies, but to no avail. However, only minutes after entering her young musicians bedroom, everything is solved. No fuss, no muss; all it took was a little romance.

Why then, according to this dystopian tale, did Yanky, in nearly a year of misery and frustration, not take the elementary step of kissing his wife? Apparently, it had never occurred to him to act like an ordinary husband and no one had thought to suggest it. We find Yanky in a Berlin brothel (dont ask), questioning a German prostitute about what women want from a man and being surprised to learn that they like having their faces touched. A few scenes later, he is watching TV in his hotel room, observing a seduction scene with curious fascination, further underscoring the message that after a year of marriage he is learning for the first time how men and women kiss. How unfortunate for him that he is a member of a cult devoted to producing babies to make up for the Holocaust that perversely insists that this furious procreation be done without any sensitivity, tenderness, or human emotion.

I think at this point I have said enough; it brings me no joy to discuss this topic in such detail, and not a little discomfort. I know, though, how ordinary Hasidim feel mortified that outsiders might think we conduct our married lives in such an inhuman way. This portrayal of the sex lives of Hasidim is not accurate, it is not even close to accurate. It is a hateful libel of a community as a real-life Handmaids Tale, imposing unimaginable and completely avoidable misery on women in its morbid obsession with self-replication that turns even the miracle of childbirth into a sort of death.

From where, then, did the shows creators, Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski draw their surreal vision of the Hasidic world as a system based upon the twisted denial of ordinary marital intimacy? We dont have to speculate too much because they tell us themselves. Unorthodox is based on a memoir of the same name by Deborah Feldman, who approached the Berlin filmmaking duo with the idea of turning her life story into a miniseries. As Frieda Vizel has pointed out, Winger and Karolinski did not demonstrate much interest in learning from others in the so-called Off-the Derech community choosing instead to lean almost solely on Feldmans testimony. While they freely admit that the story after Estys escape to Berlin is mostly fictional, they insist that the Williamsburg narrative is true to the book and thus Feldmans lived experience.

Deborah Feldman, however, is well-known for spending the past decade weaving a gruesome tapestry depicting a sick and dysfunctional world, summed up in this quote from a 2016 interview:

This is, quite simply, a description of evil. If it was true, then the Hasidic community would deserve to be forcibly disbanded with all the ferocity once directed at it by the Soviet Union, but it isnt true, its a warped fantasy. Some of the claims Feldman has made are so lurid and obscene that they recall allegations made by medieval converts like Johannes Pfefferkorn to a public equally eager to hear stories of the ghastly and grotesque. Such stories tell us little about the Satmar community, but a great deal about the dark recesses of Feldmans imagination, or, at least, what she thinks her audience wants to hear.

Indeed, in its mania to depict the Satmar community as sick and twisted, Unorthodox actually forfeits the opportunity to make accurate criticisms. It is, indeed, very difficult to leave the Hasidic world, not just because of the benefits that you lose, but because of the gap you will typically start with in terms of skills, education, and simple ability to communicate normally with outsiders. In Unorthodox, however, everyone speaks pitch-perfect English whenever they need to and Esty casually strikes up conversations with a perfect stranger of the opposite sex in a coffee shop. The real mechanics that keep people inside the community, happily or otherwise, are replaced with pure mental terrorism. All Esty has to do to start a new life is free her mind; after that, its easy peasy.

Other overlooked topics include the adversarial relationships that Satmar, in particular, cultivates with both gentiles and Jews of different stripes, as well as the way the Hasidic community has lagged behind others in combatting child abuse. All of this is completely ignored in favour of conjuring up utterly crazy scenes designed to depict a manically evil cult, such as the one in which Yankys thuggish cousin, Moishy, sent on a mission by the Rebbe. hands the pregnant Esty a gun and encourages her to perform a double termination.

Overall, Unorthodox is just another ambitious television project that doesnt quite come off. The plot development is so rushed that one minute Yanky and Moishy are davening at graves, the next they are in a brothel. The scene in which Esty discovers search engines and is surprised that her inquiry as to whether G-d exists doesnt return a single answer is just the most obvious example in a string of clunky and heavy-handed symbolic sequences that persistently interrupt the narrative. The over-the-top obsession with the supposed paradox of Jews living in Berlin is just bizarre. But Unorthodox, is more sinister than this. Its power, such as it is, rests entirely on the illusion that it gives you genuine access to a world normally closed to outsiders. It does not merely claim to be an individual story set in the 21st century period-dress of Williamsburg, but rather bills itself as the first realistic portrayal of Hasidic life, while presenting a horrifying portrait that does not even rise to the level of a caricature.

Whenever you truly want to dehumanize a group of people, the first and last resort is to characterize their sex lives as foul and disgusting. Because of the great emphasis on modesty in the Hasidic world, it is uniquely hard for us to challenge such claims. There is, however, already ample and easily available evidence that much of Deborah Feldmans depiction of Hasidic life is fictional, much of it coming from friends in the ex-Hasidic community. Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski have chosen to act as willing dupes for a woman whose twisted fabrications are now beamed into the homes of anyone with a Netflix subscription.

I firmly believe that criticism and scrutiny of the Hasidic community is an important tool for curbing our excesses and fining off our rough edges, but the superficial realism acts of Unorthodox as a vehicle for a salacious, voyeuristic libel that I am duty bound to call out. I do not need to mount a defense of the Hasidic world or its way of life to argue that it does not deserve this kind of treatment: no one does.

Eli Spitzer is a school principal and a member of the Hasidic community in Stamford Hill, London. He blogs at elispitzer.com

See the original post here:

The Unorthodox portrayal of sex is hateful and wrong - Forward

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on The Unorthodox portrayal of sex is hateful and wrong – Forward
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

Masbia Soup Kitchen has partnered with Mordy Getz, the owner of Eichlers Judaica Bookstore, to offer free groceries to any Boro Park family which has lost a breadwinner to coronavirus.

The novel coronavirus has devastated tight-knit Hasidic communities in New York. And for families, grief over a parents death is compounded by anxiety about fulfilling basic needs.

No one wants to see someone who lost a loved one struggling with the additional burden of feeding their family, Getz said.

The initiative, which launched on April 22, will function using grocery taps, a common system in Hasidic communities that allows families to shop on credit at their local supermarket, settling the bill at the end of each month. Families served by the new initiative will shop at a tap at a Boro Park grocery store, administered by Masbia with funds provided by Getz.

Alexander Rapaport, Masbias executive director, said he had chosen the tap system because of the dignity and discretion it affords to families, most of whom had been self-sufficient before losing a breadwinner. He said he understood how hard it was to accept charity for the first time, especially after a loss.

You could hear mothers choke up leaving a voice message, he said of the first women who contacted him for help.

Any Boro Park family who lost a breadwinner after Purim is eligible for the service, which will last until Rosh Hashanah. Rapaport expects to serve between one and two dozen families in the neighborhood.

Getz, a cancer survivor who now counsels cancer patients, said that in his years of charitable work hed noticed how much people underestimate the importance of food security in the wake of a tragedy. Groceries go a long way towards determining how well families cope during such a crisis, he said.

Rapaport hopes that more members of the Hasidic community will come forward to sponsor groceries in other affected neighborhoods. As of April 22n

Rapaport said he was hoping that other members of the Hasidic community would come forward to spearhead similar initiatives in other affected neighborhoods. As the project launched, Itzy Laub, Chair of Masbia of Queens, announced that he would sponsor groceries for all needy families in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood.

Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at connelly@forward.com.

Read this article:

Soup kitchen and Hasidic philanthropist provide free groceries to Boro Park families affected by COVID-19 - Forward

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Soup kitchen and Hasidic philanthropist provide free groceries to Boro Park families affected by COVID-19 – Forward
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

Since Russ & Daughters opened in Manhattan in 1914, the family-run store has weathered the Spanish flu, two world wars, recessions and the Great Depression. With the new coronavirus pandemic sweeping the country, the current generation, Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, is doing what the family has always done: deliver bagels and cream cheese, lox and herring to people craving the emotional sustenance that the traditional Jewish favorites bring.

At Katzs Delicatessen, Jake Dell begins his mornings making matzoh balls to keep up with the spike in orders for matzoh ball soup as his customers seek comfort in uncertain times. The deli whose slogan became Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army during World War II is now delivering matzoh ball soup to seniors, low-income residents and New York City health care workers.

Theres something very reassuring about it, something very normal about it, Dell said.

The owners of the two Lower East Side landmark institutions are among the chefs and scholars, historians and cookbook authors who are featured in the newest online course to be offered by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. A Seat at the Table: A Journey into Jewish Food will be launched on May 1 and because of the coronavirus pandemic it will be free.

Two years in the making, the course provides a history of Ashkenazi food, or the cuisine of Eastern Europe, looking at it from its origin in religion and texts to its spread through diasporas around the world. The lectures use food as a way to teach history, with one on borscht, for example, exploring how borders and concepts of national identity change, and others looking at differences among traditions of the Ashkenazi, the Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal and the Mizrahi Jews of the Middle East and Central Asia.

Darra Goldstein, a retired Russian professor who taught at Williams College and a cookbook author, leads the course with more than 20 chefs, writers, culinary historians and others. There are cooking demonstrations by Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz of The Gefilteria in New York City, virtual visits to Russ & Daughters and Katzs Delicatessen and short video lectures by Ilan Stavans, the Mexican-American essayist who writes on American, Hispanic and Jewish cultures. Michael Twitty, known for exploring the legacy of Africa in American Southern cooking and his blending together of kosher and soul food, is also among those participating.

Goldstein conceived of different mini-lectures and thought of who should present them. She talks about cookbooks as social documents, rich in what they can say about how society changes, and about how corporations advertised products to Jewish households. Objects from the YIVO archives help to tell the story: packaging for Streits kosher chow mein from the 1950s, a pushcart permit issued to Israel Bloom of New York Citys Delancey Street in 1923, and a photograph of women and children in Bialystok, Poland, in 1932, carrying pots for cholent, a slow-cooked stew that conforms with a prohibition against work on the Sabbath.

The roots of Ashkenazi cooking lie in if not quite poverty, then certainly not in abundance for most people, she said. Obviously there were wealthy people who could eat more lavishly, but its a lot of very basic foods that would be prepared by putting more than one ingredient together, so that what you end up with is a really delicious dish that is more than the sum of its parts. And so I think that thats something that we can learn to do in our quarantine times.

Goldstein herself had gotten black radishes from a friend, was planning to grate them and combine them with onions, salt, and schmaltz or rendered chicken fat, and then refrigerate the mixture for four or five days. The result is a spread, one that her father really loved and would put on black bread, she said.

I think its about trying to find a way to make something really special out of what might be very basic, she said.

A Seat at the Table is made up of seven units, which will come out in installments once a week and which include about 100 videos. As of last week, about 1,000 people had registered for the course and more than 2,000 for all of YIVOs online classes, which have been free since mid-March.The food course was to have cost $55 for YIVO members and $60 for non-members.

One idea is to reclaim the cuisine from a stereotype of heavy, heartburn-inducing meals, said Ben Kaplan, YIVO's director of education. Whats been lost is its original character, its roots in fresh vegetables and fruits tied to the land of Eastern Europe, he said.

It actually can be eaten in a way thats healthy, it can be eaten in a way that connects people to local farms, he said.

That is what motivated Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz to open The Gefilteria. They shared a passion for Ashkenazi food even as it was dismissed as bland, boring and flavorless, Alpern said.

We took gefilte fish out of the jar, she said, because for them nothing better symbolized how bad things had gotten. They turned their attention to making a high-quality version before moving on to all the other foods of the Ashkenazi canon pickles, chicken soup, borscht and handmade matzoh, she said.

A lot of Jewish food was victim to mid-century industrialization and they set out to make it relevant and hip and sexy, Yoskowitz said, with fresh flavors and local and thoughtfully sourced ingredients. They traveled to Eastern Europe, read old memoirs and cookbooks, saw the resourcefulness that had been such an element of Jewish cooking before it was lost to the abundance in America and explored fermented vegetables, sour pickles and sauerkraut brine that is probiotic, he said.

That was a huge part of the wisdom of Jewish life, preserving food from times of abundance to times of scarcity and not just preserving them but actually improving their nutritional quality," Yoskowitz said.

Russ & Daughters has seen a surge in orders from people stocking up not only for themselves but also sending care packages across the country of bagels and lox and babkas and latkes, said Niki Russ Federman.

"All the things that we bake and are known for are stand-ins for people to be able to say, 'I cant be with you right now but Im sending you love,'" she said.

Like Katz's Delicatessen, the store is also delivering to the community, to hospitals, nursing homes, churches and community centers.

"So every week, we're feeding a couple of thousand people on the front lines," she said.

Kaplan said the course does not shy away from poverty or how people ate in the displaced persons camps after World War II.

You see how resilient and resourceful and creative people can be and those to me feel like very relevant themes for this time, he said.

See the original post:

A Seat at the Table: Jewish Chefs, Writers Share Recipes, Stories, History of Ashkenazi Cooking - NBC Connecticut

Category: Sephardic | Comments Off on A Seat at the Table: Jewish Chefs, Writers Share Recipes, Stories, History of Ashkenazi Cooking – NBC Connecticut
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

(Jewish Journal via JNS)On Thursday night, as sundown falls on the holiday of Passover, Sephardic Jews everywhere will celebrate the centuries-old tradition of Mimouna. This is the night when Jews open their doors to their neighbors, offering tables lavish with sweets to usher in a year of sweetness and good fortune.

If theres a Jewish ritual that calls for maximum social connection, Mimouna is it. As I wrote in acolumnyears ago, Mimouna represented the love and intimacy of a neighborhood. Theres nothing like popping in to see 10, 20, 30 different neighbors on the same night, most of whom you see all the time.

This year, after centuries of continuity, Mimouna parties around the world will come to a stop, conquered by a tiny virus.

I know, there is still livestreaming, there is still Zoom, there is still FaceTime and all those magical digital instruments that help us approximate reality.

But not for Mimouna.

Not for a ritual where the very essence is the physical gathering of people.

Not for a ritual that tingles with the excitement of real-time human connection.

Not for a ritual where the smell of moufletas, those mouth-watering Moroccan crepes gently caressed with butter and honey, are central to the experience. (Does Zoom have a new aroma feature?)

Mimouna is also about romance. As I wrote: According to folklore, Mimouna was known as the ideal night to meet your sweetheart. It was a night when doors and hearts were open, and young men and women, dressed in their finest, would move and mingle like butterflies from one party and sweet table to another.

As my friend Rabbi Daniel Bouskila discussed on mypodcastthis morning, none of that human connection can be captured on a digital platform. This is hardly a criticism of technology, which has kept humanity connected during these pandemic times, when much of the world is under social distancing lockdown.

I bring up the Mimouna exception because sometimes its healthy to accept our limitations. Were used to being able to do pretty much everything we want. Not having a Mimouna party? Unthinkable.

This year, COVID-19 has quarantined Mimouna parties. Sure, the sweet tables will be made, the blessings will be given (Rabbi Bouskila will be livestreaming Mimouna on theSEC Facebook page), the Zoom parties will do their best, but everyone knows it wont be the same.

As with so many other areas of our lives, the pandemic times are forcing us to accept a new reality.

As we feast on our moufletas this year and show them off on Zoom, and as we wish one another blessings of sweetness and good fortune, we can hope that those blessings will come to fruition before Mimouna 2021.

That hope is Jewish resiliency.

David Suissa is editor-in-chief and publisher of Tribe Media Corp and Jewish Journal. He can be reached atdavids@jewishjournal.com.

This article was first published by theJewish Journal.

View post:

imouna: The very opposite of social distancing - Heritage Florida Jewish News

Category: Sephardic | Comments Off on imouna: The very opposite of social distancing – Heritage Florida Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

Members of numerous religions take part in an historic interreligious prayer meeting in Jerusalem.

By Francesca Merlo

Different religions were represented at the exceptional community prayer that took place on Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem. There were representatives of Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze denominations. In their own liturgical languages including Hebrew, Arabic and English they prayed:

Hundreds of thousands died, millions have fallen sick. Save, we beseech thee, O Lord. We entreat thee, O Lord, send prosperity! Send complete recovery to the sick, avert the plague from Your world.

The three-minute-long event was streamed on the internet to allow the faithful to participate despite the restrictions imposed by the quarantine.

It was with the words of Psalm 121 that the pilgrims from Jerusalem placed themselves under God's protection and asked for His blessing. In Israel, this psalm is also prayed on the day of commemoration of the Israeli soldiers who fell victim to terrorism, which will be celebrated next Tuesday, April 28th.

"The coronavirus doesnt know borders said said Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of Jerusalem. There are no borders between religions, races or political parties, he explained. The prelate described all these religions saying the same prayer in Jerusalem as a rare event, and expressed the hope that this bond could continue even after the Coronavirus crisis has passed.

British Rabbi David Rosen, who is deeply engaged in interreligious dialogue, described this prayer meeting as historic. "The religious leaders of this land and this country have come together for the first time ever to recite a joint prayer for divine mercy and compassion of the Lord at this historic moment when we are challenged by a pandemic," he said, introducing the meeting

This live, interreligious prayer was an initiative that involved various authorities and organisations. These included the Grand Rabbinate of Israel and the World Council of Religious Leaders, as well as the Sephardic and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis Jitzchak Josef and David Lau; the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III; Archbishop Pizzaballa; Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif; Imam Sheikh Gamal el Ubra and Imam Sheikh Agel Al-Atrash.

The Joint Global Prayer:

God of the first and of the last, God of all Creatures, Lord of all generations, He arouses those who sleep and awakens those who slumber, He heals the sick, opens the eyes of the blind and raises those who are bowed down. We come before you with a bowed head, and with bent stature, and plead.

Hundreds of thousands died, millions have fallen sick. Save, we beseech thee, O Lord. We entreat thee, O Lord, send prosperity! Send complete recovery to the sick, avert the plague from Your world.

Please God, You who have nourished us in famine and provided us with plenty, You have removed us from pestilence, and freed us from severe and long-lasting disease Help us.

Until now, Your mercy has aided us and Your kindness has not abandoned us, therefore we plead and request before You to heal us, Lord and we will be healed, Save us and we will be saved, for You are our glory.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before you, O Lord, my rock and redeemer.

As in the words of Psalm 121 A song for ascents:

I turn my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot give way; Your guardian will not slumber; see, the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps! The Lord is your guardian; the Lord is your protection at your right hand. By day the sun will not strike you, nor the moon by night. The Lord will guard you from all harm; He will guard your life. The Lord will guard your going and coming now and forever.

Read the rest here:

Interreligious meeting in Jerusalem shows unity in times of trial - Vatican News

Category: Sephardic | Comments Off on Interreligious meeting in Jerusalem shows unity in times of trial – Vatican News
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and impact our country and our world, Kinneret Apartments and the Kinneret Council on Aging continue to intensely focus on preventing the spread of the virus within its 280 apartment independent living community. Collectively, they released the following statement regarding the heightened infection prevention protocols:

"We are all aware of the extraordinary impact that the coronavirus is having on our communities, country and world. Today, we assure you that we are focused on the health and wellbeing of our residents as well as our employees.

Already in place at Kinneret were strict health and safety guidelines, carried out by our front-line staff and management team. As part of a statewide collaboration through our membership in LeadingAge Florida, we are working closely with the governor's office, the Florida Department of Health, the Department of Elder Affairs, the Agency for Health Care Administration and other state agencies to monitor COVID-19. Our focus has been and continues to be on prevention, education and training. We are continuously gathering information to ensure we are as prepared as we can be, and to ensure the continued safety and wellbeing of our residents. We are attending daily calls with public health officials and clinical and quality experts to discuss best practices for preparation and response to the virus. We are following the CDC and local and state health mandates and continue to monitor the most up-to-date information on how we need to care for and protect our senior residents and employees."

In response to the crisis, here are the key, critical protocols that have been implemented:

Beginning on March 12th, ongoing communication has been distributed to each resident including precautions to promote health, suggested travel restrictions, promoting social distancing and a no visitor policy. All communication is provided to residents in English, Spanish and Russian.

Signs have been posted throughout the two-building complex with reminders on healthy habits along with the no visitor policy posted at each entrance.

Additional materials have addressed the cancellation of numerous onsite events including Bingo, exercise classes and the Tuesday Cafe as well as cancellation of all offsite excursions. A modified food delivery system has been implemented for the twice a month Food Pantry to limit contact amongst residents.

Information was sent out that addressed symptoms of COVID-19 and what to do if you suspect you are ill.

A Facebook page was created for Kinneret Residents so that they may communicate with other residents and adult coloring books and other individual activity items are being distributed to residents as to address the mental health aspect of social distancing.

Common areas are cleaned daily with additional hand sanitizers now located throughout the complex.

Kinneret Apartments and the Kinneret Council on Aging will continue to communicate with residents to keep them informed on up-to-date news and mandates as it relates to the virus and CDC and local and state directives.

Located in vibrant downtown Orlando, Kinneret Apartments provides affordable, independent senior housing with amenities and social activities that enhance the lives of our residents. Kinneret Council on Aging provides additional support and enrichment through educational, spiritual and social programs that further create a warm and loving atmosphere. For more information on the facility or to find out how you can donate to the Kinneret Council on Aging please go to http://www.kinneretliving.org or contact Sharon F. Weil at sweil@kinneretcouncil.org or Laurel MacDonald at lmacdonald@cateretmgmt.com.

See the article here:

Kinneret Apartments and KCOA issue heightened COVID-19 protocols - Heritage Florida Jewish News

Category: Jewish Heritage Month | Comments Off on Kinneret Apartments and KCOA issue heightened COVID-19 protocols – Heritage Florida Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

(JTA) Shulem Lemmers singing career took a wildly positive turn over the past year.

He went on a major stadium and arena tour, playing to packed houses at Fenway Park in Boston, Citi Field in New York and Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City. For Shulem he goes by one name like those other famous Jewish singing sensations Matisyahu and Drake these were significant achievements, even if the fans were there to see the Red Sox, the Mets and the Utah Jazz, not him.

Shulems travels were a function of a genuinely unique feat: He became the first person raised Hasidic to sign with a major label, Decca Gold, which is part of the Universal Music Group. (The once-bearded and payes-wearing Matisyahu was brought up as a Reconstructionist Jew, later turned to Orthodoxy and has now mostly left the fold.)

Decca Gold released Shulems first album, The Perfect Dream, late last year. Its a collection of traditional Jewish and secular songs, from Jerusalem of Gold to Rodgers and Hammersteins Youll Never Walk Alone to the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey hit When You Believe (from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack).

Shulem sings in a rich, passion-filled tenor that carries obvious traces of his roots in the haredi Orthodox Belz community and his work as a cantor, a position he still fills during the High Holidays at Ahavath Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey. He also makes numerous guest cantor stints throughout the year at various synagogues.

Shulem was raised in Brooklyn, the youngest of eight children in a house where he was always surrounded by music, but not by singers neither of his parents carried a tune well. Yet both Shulem and his brother, Yanky a highly regarded cantor at the Orthodox Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan somehow inherited the singing gene.

My father jokes that all the talent comes from him and that he gave it all away and kept none of it for himself, Shulem says.

Shulem built a level of local renown for both his cantorial skills and performances before Jewish groups. But a YouTube video is how he came to the attention of Graham Parker, president of Decca Records US.

What follows are condensed excerpts from separate interviews with Parker and Shulem covering an array of subjects ranging from the meaning of success to anti-Semitism.

JTA: How did you start singing?

Shulem: I always enjoyed the music playing in my house. My father listened to a lot of cantorial music. My late sister, she passed away when she was only 23, encouraged me to sing and learn songs. At my brothers wedding, she pushed me on stage. And at that moment I was in a happy place. I was a shy kid and that was kind of an awakening.

My brother, Yanky, and I had the same birthday and we convinced my father to buy us a drum set we shared and later a guitar I taught myself to play. When I went on to study in Israel, I quickly made connections [in the music business] there and sang some backup vocals on recordings. When I came back I joined the [haredi] Shira Choir [in Brooklyn]. I did some solos for them and soon requests came in for me to do more. I released an album in 2015 [titled Shulem] and started to build a fan base not only in the secular Jewish world but with a lot of Christians, as well.

How did you become aware of Shulem and what was your immediate reaction?

Parker: I found Shulem on YouTube, specifically the Chad Gadya video that he did a few years back. I was immediately aware that Shulem was Orthodox and Hasidic, but I didnt know which sect of Hasidim he belonged to. It was the combination of his spectacular voice, his personality and being a man of deep faith that made him a compelling person to meet.

Shulems first album, The Perfect Dream, features traditional Jewish and secular songs, including the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey hit When You Believe from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. (Decca Gold)

Youre Jewish. How did that impact your thought process?

Parker: Yes, I am Jewish and my Judaism is very important to me. Professionally, being Jewish didnt sway me in making the decision about Shulem, although it certainly helped that I knew a fair amount about being observant, traditions, dos and donts. I grew up Jewish, married a Jewish man who grew up very observant and we raise our two children Jewish, too. We keep a strictly kosher home and observe Shabbat and the holidays in a way that makes sense for us as individuals and as a family.

How would you define success for this project?

Parker: Signing Shulem was a fairly bold move. My goal is to see if Shulem, through his voice, his music and his message of faith, can reach beyond the Jewish community and appeal far more broadly to audiences of all faiths and traditions.

Shulem, what is your definition of success for yourself?

Shulem: First of all, success means being able to provide for my family. [Until recently, Shulem worked part-time as director of marketing for a tech startup.] But also success means being able to reach out and inspire as many people as possible. Music is a universal language, a way to start a dialogue, sending a message of unity, of positivity and hope. I want to spread a message of love between human beings through music.

Of course but what about personal music industry aspirations?

Shulem: I never dream about becoming a celebrity. Im not looking to become one specific thing. One opportunity leads to another, and Im happy with everything that comes along.

Does being Hasidic limit those opportunities?

Shulem: There will be limitations and challenges. Of course, Im not going to perform on Shabbos, but there also will be issues that arent necessarily that black and white. I would ask my rabbi, based on the situation. I have it in my contract that I can say no to anything that isnt OK with me religiously. I wont perform a duet with a woman, for example. They wanted me to do that for the theme song for the movie Quezons Game [about Philippines President Manuel Quezons plan to shelter German and Austrian Jews during World War II, not yet opened in the U.S.]. I said no and so they let me do a solo version.

Do you ever get tired of being gawked at in public? Is it worse now as a public figure?

Shulem: Its always something that happened, even when I was a little kid. But it depends where I am. If Im in the tristate area, people are already familiar with Hasids. Elsewhere I get stares and people ask me how I get my curls that way.

Worse than that are the online people who hide behind a screen. I started getting a lot of anti-Semitic hate messages. At first I thought it was just words, but then came Jersey City and Monsey. It became a reality and its scary. I know its just a small number of people, but it doesnt take many. We do have security. And I know a lot of people, friends and colleagues, are getting armed. Thats the vibe going around.

How do you get the curls that way?

Shulem: Mousse, and I just twirl them around my fingers.

Visit link:

The musician Shulem on being the first artist raised Hasidic to sign with a major record label - JTA News

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on The musician Shulem on being the first artist raised Hasidic to sign with a major record label – JTA News
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

Shulem Lemmers singing career took a wildly positive turn over the past year.

He went on a major stadium and arena tour, playing to packed houses at Fenway Park in Boston, Citi Field in New York and Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City. For Shulem he goes by one name like those other famous Jewish singing sensations Matisyahu and Drake these were significant achievements, even if the fans were there to see the Red Sox, the Mets and the Utah Jazz, not him.

Shulems travels were a function of a genuinely unique feat: He became the first person raised Hasidic to sign with a major label, Decca Gold, which is part of the Universal Music Group. (The once-bearded and payes-wearing Matisyahu was brought up as a Reconstructionist Jew, later turned to Orthodoxy and has now mostly left the fold.)

Decca Gold released Shulems first album, The Perfect Dream, late last year. Its a collection of traditional Jewish and secular songs, from Jerusalem of Gold to Rodgers and Hammersteins Youll Never Walk Alone to the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey hit When You Believe (from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack).

Shulem sings in a rich, passion-filled tenor that carries obvious traces of his roots in the haredi Orthodox Belz community and his work as a cantor, a position he still fills during the High Holidays at Ahavath Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey. He also makes numerous guest cantor stints throughout the year at various synagogues.

Shulem was raised in Brooklyn, the youngest of eight children in a house where he was always surrounded by music, but not by singers neither of his parents carried a tune well. Yet both Shulem and his brother, Yanky a highly regarded cantor at the Orthodox Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan somehow inherited the singing gene.

My father jokes that all the talent comes from him and that he gave it all away and kept none of it for himself, Shulem says.

What follows are condensed excerpts from separate interviews with Parker and Shulem covering an array of subjects ranging from the meaning of success to antisemitism.

JTA: How did you start singing?

Shulem: I always enjoyed the music playing in my house. My father listened to a lot of cantorial music. My late sister, she passed away when she was only 23, encouraged me to sing and learn songs. At my brothers wedding, she pushed me on stage. And at that moment I was in a happy place. I was a shy kid and that was kind of an awakening.

My brother, Yanky, and I had the same birthday and we convinced my father to buy us a drum set we shared and later a guitar I taught myself to play. When I went on to study in Israel, I quickly made connections [in the music business] there and sang some backup vocals on recordings. When I came back I joined the [haredi] Shira Choir [in Brooklyn]. I did some solos for them and soon requests came in for me to do more. I released an album in 2015 [titled Shulem] and started to build a fan base not only in the secular Jewish world but with a lot of Christians, as well.

How did you become aware of Shulem and what was your immediate reaction?

Parker: I found Shulem on YouTube, specifically the Chad Gadya video that he did a few years back. I was immediately aware that Shulem was Orthodox and Hasidic, but I didnt know which sect of Hasidim he belonged to. It was the combination of his spectacular voice, his personality and being a man of deep faith that made him a compelling person to meet.

Youre Jewish. How did that impact your thought process?

Parker: Yes, I am Jewish and my Judaism is very important to me. Professionally, being Jewish didnt sway me in making the decision about Shulem, although it certainly helped that I knew a fair amount about being observant, traditions, dos and donts. I grew up Jewish, married a Jewish man who grew up very observant and we raise our two children Jewish, too. We keep a strictly kosher home and observe Shabbat and the holidays in a way that makes sense for us as individuals and as a family.

How would you define success for this project?

Parker: Signing Shulem was a fairly bold move. My goal is to see if Shulem, through his voice, his music and his message of faith, can reach beyond the Jewish community and appeal far more broadly to audiences of all faiths and traditions.

Shulem, what is your definition of success for yourself?

Shulem: First of all, success means being able to provide for my family. [Until recently, Shulem worked part-time as director of marketing for a tech startup.] But also success means being able to reach out and inspire as many people as possible. Music is a universal language, a way to start a dialogue, sending a message of unity, of positivity and hope. I want to spread a message of love between human beings through music.

Of course but what about personal music industry aspirations?

Shulem: I never dream about becoming a celebrity. Im not looking to become one specific thing. One opportunity leads to another, and Im happy with everything that comes along.

Does being Hasidic limit those opportunities?

Shulem: There will be limitations and challenges. Of course, Im not going to perform on Shabbos, but there also will be issues that arent necessarily that black and white. I would ask my rabbi, based on the situation. I have it in my contract that I can say no to anything that isnt OK with me religiously. I wont perform a duet with a woman, for example. They wanted me to do that for the theme song for the movie Quezons Game [about Philippines President Manuel Quezons plan to shelter German and Austrian Jews during World War II, not yet opened in the U.S.]. I said no and so they let me do a solo version.

Do you ever get tired of being gawked at in public? Is it worse now as a public figure?

Shulem: Its always something that happened, even when I was a little kid. But it depends where I am. If Im in the tristate area, people are already familiar with Hasids. Elsewhere I get stares and people ask me how I get my curls that way.

Worse than that are the online people who hide behind a screen. I started getting a lot of anti-Semitic hate messages. At first I thought it was just words, but then came Jersey City and Monsey. It became a reality and its scary. I know its just a small number of people, but it doesnt take many. We do have security. And I know a lot of people, friends and colleagues, are getting armed. Thats the vibe going around.

How do you get the curls that way?

Shulem: Mousse, and I just twirl them around my fingers.

Original post:

Shulem on being the first Hasidic musician to sign with major record label - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Shulem on being the first Hasidic musician to sign with major record label – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

You might think Unorthodox and The English Game have nothing in common, apart from the fact both are on Netflix. And at one level youd be right: the former is about a young woman in a Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in more or less the present day; the latter is about a Scottish soccer player in the north of England in the early 1880s. But both are about escaping dire, life-limiting circumstances. What could be more of the moment than that?

Unorthodox is based on the memoir of Deborah Feldman, who broke free of her Satmar community a decade ago (they practise a branch of Orthodox Judaism whose roots lie in the 18th century observances of a single Hungarian village).

Israeli actress Shira Haas is superb as Esther Shapiro in Unorthodox.Credit:Netflix

In real life Feldman edged away, by attending college, by changing the way she dressed, by slowly engaging with the outside world and coming to realise that is where she belonged. In the series, Esther Shapiro (Shira Haas) flees, in a dramatic and daring escape, to Berlin. She goes there because thats where her mother - also an escapee - lives, but theres a fierce irony in the choice: the relentless focus on procreation in her faith stems from the belief that Jews have a moral obligation to repopulate because of the Holocaust.

Israeli actress Haas is superb. She is 24 (Esty is 19), and tiny; she appears both childlike and fierce as she tries to find a way to protect her core self in the religious world, and grapples with what is true and untrue, safe and unsafe, in the world outside.

Originally posted here:

Netflix's Unorthodox and The English Game share a similar theme - The Age

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Netflix’s Unorthodox and The English Game share a similar theme – The Age
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 24, 2020

ISRAELI Health Minister Yaakov Litzman has reportedly offered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to leave the Health Ministry and take up the Housing portfolio instead.

Channel 12 reported on Thursday that Litzman had told Netanyahu of various unspecified considerations for the move, which he asserted was not tied to recent public criticism of his handling of the coronavirus crisis.

The report said Litzman had apparently been instructed by Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, the head of the Gur Hasidic sect, to change ministries.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman at a press conference about the coronavirus at the Prime Ministers Office in Jerusalem on March 11, 2020. (Flash90)

His office said it wasnt familiar with the matter.

It has been alleged that Litzman,who this week was said to have recovered from COVID-19, has interfered in attempts to extradite alleged child sexual abuser Malka Leifer to Australia, by pressuring psychiatrists to state she was unfit to stand trial. Litzman denies the allegations.

In a tweet, alleged victim Dassi Erlich said the announcement was Good news for Israel. Good news for us!

Litzman, who leads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, has been the de facto head of the Health Ministry since 2009, except for a period between 2013 and 2015 when he was out of the government.

He has been largely absent from the public eye over the two months of the coronavirus crisis (the past three weeks of which he spent being treated for a COVID-19 infection alongside his wife). Though he appeared in some earlier briefings, the face of the Health Ministrys response has been its director-general, Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, leading some to speculate on the level of Litzmans involvement in the ministrys decision-making.

Litzman came under heavy criticism when a television report said he took part in group prayers in violation of his own ministrys guidelines shortly before he was infected with the coronavirus.

The Health Ministry was floated during coalition negotiations as potentially going to the Blue and White party, but Litzman was said to have vetoed the option, insisting on keeping hold of the portfolio as part of any coalition deal between UTJ and Netanyahu.

Get The AJN Newsletter by email and never miss our top storiesFree Sign Up

Read more here:

Litzman reportedly offers to leave Health Ministry - The Australian Jewish News

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Litzman reportedly offers to leave Health Ministry – The Australian Jewish News
Tags: