Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

Qassem Soleimani's funeral in Kerman, Iran

Reuters

Sponsored by ZOA

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Iranian funded terror must be stopped. While the American media attacked President Trump for killing Qassem Soleimani, they blatantly chose to ignore that Soleimani was the leader of Irans Quds Force, a U.S. designated terrorist organization responsible for wounding hundreds of American and Israeli citizens. To paraphrase United States Senator Mike Lee, Soleimani was likely responsible for any wounded veteran seen in the streets of America today. Since the Ayatollahs came to power in 1979, Iran has worked to harm and antagonize both the United State and Israel at any moment they can.

The world was first introduced to the wrath of the Ayatollahs radical ideology in 1979, as Iranian Revolutionaries took control of the American embassy and held fifty-three American citizens hostage. These hostages were held for 444 days and, tragically, eight American servicemen lost their lives in a failed rescue attempt.

The Iranian hostage crisis represented the hatred that the Ayatollahs felt when they first came to power, and that hatred continues until this day. An Israeli government official has recently revealed that Iran currently spends at least $7 billion a year in support of terrorism abroad. This includes the terror group Hezbollah, located in Lebanon, Hamas, located in Gaza, and pro-Iranian militias located in Iraq and Syria. Iran is using these terrorist organizations to weaken the presence of the United States in the Middle East, and ultimately hopes to establish a de facto Iranian state at the Israeli border.

While the Iranian citizens lack basic amenities living in a crippled economy, the message to the world is clear: the Iranian government has chosen to invest in terrorist organizations abroad rather than investing in their own citizens.

Lastly, Iran, a nation who openly threatens to attack both the United States and Israel, is actively seeking nuclear weapons. Imagine, the same country that literally shot down a passenger plane with a short-range rocket, killing 187 on board, now claims they are responsible enough to obtain nuclear weapons.

Rather than accepting complete responsibility for attacking a passenger plane, Iran chose to blame a technical error for this attack. In an instant, 187 men, women, and children perished, leaving behind a gaping hole in the heart of those mourning the loss of a loved one. If this is the damage Iran has caused with only a short-range rocket, imagine the danger in allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

I refuse to stand in silence as Iran works to harm the state of Israel. I urge you to take part in the election for the World Zionist Congress, which will be ending on March 11, and to vote for the ZOA Coalition, slate #11. The World Zionist Congress was founded by Theodore Herzl in 1897, is the leading Parliamentary body of the Jewish people, and implements policies that will affect the state of Israel for the next 5 years.

The ZOA Coalition is made of up 27 distinct organizations (such as Students Supporting Israel, World Likud, and Aish Hatorah) that are dedicated to combatting global anti-Semitism and countering those who work to harm the state of Israel at any moment they can. In 2019, the ZOA Coalition initiated every single pro-Israel resolution at the World Zionist Congress. There are only a few days left to vote, and your vote can be the one that decides this election. As a proud Jew and a lifelong supporter of Israel, I urge you to not let the final moments of this election slip away and to help protect the State of Israel by voting for the ZOA Coalition, slate #11.

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The Iranian threat and the World Zionist Congress elections - Middle East - Arutz Sheva

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

When it comes to Trumps Deal of the Century, all of my family in the besieged Gaza Strip feel disappointed, but not surprised. Being survivors of Israeli apartheid and blockades has taught them to focus on one thing: Palestinian liberation.

Palestinians learned early on how colonial powers do not support our liberation. They only want to weaken us, destroy our agency to struggle and our hopes for freedom and equality. Trump and his allies seek to weaponize our extreme vulnerability to try to keep us from demanding a just resolution. Meanwhile, they watch Palestinian Sumud and resistance grow in the face of the Israeli Apartheid practices, of which the BDS movement is one of the greatest examples.

The day the plan was announced I called my parents who said, as long as you and your siblings are alive, the dream of Palestine continues. My father added, we are ready for a one state and that what we were advocating for ages; this is the Zionists biggest fear. My mother, Halima, continued by saying, they think that the Palestinians will forget but they never will.

This language of ongoing struggle for liberation has been very present in the everyday life of Palestine for the last century, and especially in Gaza, despite all the misery and the never-ending attacks. One sign of this has been Palestinians refusal to submit to peace plans that normalize Palestinian ethnic cleansing. Anything that minimizes the Palestinian struggle and includes anything less than the complete array of human rights should be rejected by any moral state. The Oslo Accords were the greatest betrayal along these lines. Capitalists were made neo-colonial promises, and we continue to see the results on the ground with a neoliberal authority that is fully corrupted without any agency but built to administer security to protect settler colonial practices. The same plans continue to be introduced today but without Palestinians even being at the table; plans that will only delegitimize Palestinian aspirations and the basic collective calls for self-determination and the right to return. Yet, despite the vulnerability of Palestinians in colonized Palestine and the diaspora, we continue to speak up and challenge Israeli Apartheid in all spaces, connecting the Palestinian struggle to every anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-imperialist struggle worldwide.

My parents, grandparents, and every Palestinians answer to the Trump deal is nothing less than intensifying the resistance for our legitmate rights and right to return, and exposing the international communitys complicity in Israeli Apartheid. In those moments, I feel the memories of my grandparents. Their spirits are looking at me and telling me, resist Majed, resist, there is only one way.

My parents and my grandparents have always had the same response to whatever brutality they were living under; they called for more grassroots resistance until Palestine is completely decolonized. My grandmother, Tamam, died 13 years ago when the Israeli army invaded near my uncles home where she lived. She hurried down the stairs and dug a hole behind his home to hide one thing the official papers proving our family owned our lands and property in a village named Beit Jirjabefore the 1948 Nakba. Those are the official papers which we refugees in Gaza and in the diaspora consider as the real deal of the century. This would be a deal that gives the right of return to the millions of refugees worldwide who have dreamt and resisted for decades to achieve this recognition which is granted by international law. My grandmother Tamam had a heart attack the same day she hid those papers. I believe it was her panic and fear of a massive bombardment from the Israeli military that killed her. My grandmother was 85 years old when she died. At that time she was much older than the country of Israel, as were many of the survivors of the Zionist ethnic cleansing of our people that took place during Nakba and after.

My grandmother Tamam, or in Arabic Sitti Tamam, taught me one thing, never trust the Zionists. She always referred to them the proper way, and she meant it clearly. They will always betray us and want our lands, she would say, and therefore our only option was to resist the colonial Zionist power as much as we could. Sitti Tamam always referred to Jaffa, Haifa, Nazareth, Safad, Akku, and Alkarmel mountain as places in Palestine. She was not educated in school but she knew Palestine well. She understood the Zionist colonial policy, and she knew well that she was a refugee who had to resist the colonizers. She knew her identity well, and celebrated it everyday with her embroidered dresses. Sitti Tamam did not appropriate anyones identity with dresses or food. She was afraid to use a dress even from the next village because she was proud of her village heritage, and she used to respect other villages dresses and food even though they were very close. Until she died Sitti Tamam was a good, kind, and caring human being who loved the diversity of our Palestinian heritage from river to the sea.

Sitti Tamam never accepted the two-state solution, she always said those who would surrender 22% of our Palestinian lands are traitors. She was always saying that Jewish Israelis were cowards for accepting to be led by Zionists. Sitti always spoke of the neighboring village to our village where there was a Jewish farmer who was a friend to everyone in our village and there was no trouble, but the Zionists brought the troubles to historical Palestine. I think that Sitti Tamam would have been a great believer in one-state solution, she always said Zionists are the trouble-makers. I have no doubt Sitti Tamam would have created a better deal than Donald Trump.

Sitti Tamam grew up resisting British and Zionist colonizers. She broke every Zionist curfew in our camp, and even made headlines for challenging soldiers. She attended every solidarity protest with Palestinian prisoners, she called them her sons and daughters. She committed her life to our community as a compassionate and passionate woman who was clear about her demands. She always said, I do not know Lenin or Karl Marx but I know injustice and oppression must end. She advocated for her six sons and two daughters to resist Zionist colonialism and participate in political protests until all of them were imprisoned for their political struggle against Zionism and settler colonialism. The last one of her children to be jailed was my father, Ismael, who was imprisoned for being a political leader in the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) for 18 years. She was a proud Palestinian grandmother. She did not learn politics from Princeton or Georgetown but she knew the truth, and advocated for only the truth. I believe her truth should be the official Deal of the Century.

The spirit of my grandmother has been planted like seeds in dozens of children who will never forget the Palestine we learned in the stories of our grandparents and other elders. They taught us the truth that many Westerners and Israelis refuse to hear. Can we soon begin to work towards absolute equality in Palestine/Israel? Arent we courageous and revolutionary enough to be radical dreamers? I believe we can do it. It will be the leaders turn to accept the grassroots deal, the deal of the people.

The following video is an interview with Sitti Tamam from the film And Still They Dance:

More here:
Resisting Trumps Deal of the Century as I learned from my Sitti Tamam - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

This week began badly for those vying for an end of the Netanyahu area, and ended on a more positive note as the disappointment with the election results was replaced by a sober view of reality.

Recognizing the moment as the point of no return in terms of their own political futures, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman and Blue & White head Benny Gantz reached an understanding - if not an actual agreement - on their strategic objectives going forward.

Avigdor Liberman and Benny Gantz

(Photo: Moti Kimchi)

The two party leaders must stop reacting to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's agenda or find themselves fading away over the next election cycles.

They must create a coalition supported one way or another by the Joint List alliance of Israel's Arab parties. There is no other viable option.

The Joint List will live on regardless of who the next prime minister is, but neither Gantz nor Liberman may last without the support of the Joint List.

Joint List leader Ayman Odeh

(Photo: AP)

The ultimate target for both Israel Beytenu and Blue & White is a unity government with Likud minus its current leader, but to reach that target they must carry out a complicated political maneuver that requires manipulation and political agility.

They must replace the Knesset speaker, enlist 59 Knesset members to recommend Gantz to President Reuven Rivlin to be the next premier, pass a law blocking Netanyahu from the Prime Minister's Office because of his criminal indictment, have that law upheld by the Supreme Court, form a minority coalition that can last for a while and only then extend an invitation for Likud minus its leader to join.

Will they succeed? I doubt it.

With the national debt as large as it is and the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic expected to be severe, the IDF's demand for additional budget reaching into the billions, the promises made to voters during the last campaign and the demands that coalition partners are sure to make, Netanyahu is the only uniting factor the center-left parties still have.

Arab voters came out in great numbers to support their political leadership despite attempts by Netanyahu and his allies to bully them into Isolationism and extremism.

A woman votes in the Arab town of Tamra, March 2, 2020

(Photo: AFP)

The Blue & White party made a massive mistake in following the advice of campaigners who told them they would stand to gain votes from the right-wing if they shunned the Arabs.

Now that the party has internalized the importance of Arab support, they are still unable to overcome the opposition of two among their number, namely former Netanyahu aides Gideon Hauser and Yoaz Hendel, who are persistent in their opposition to any political attachment to the Joint List.

Overlooking and discounting Arab voters is not new in Israeli politics. In the past, Knesset members used the distasteful term "the Jewish vote" to diminish the importance of 21% of the Israeli electorate. Now a more politically correct term has been chosen: "the Zionist vote."

But who makes up the Zionist parliamentary bloc? The ultra-Orthodox parties? Their religious leaders hate the notion of Zionism more than they hate Arabs, subscribing to the belief that only after the coming of the Messiah could the Jewish people establish a Jewish government.

Ultra-Orthodox protesters face off with police over the arrest of a draft dodger

And the far-right? Their Zionism is far different from the acceptable democratic definition of the term. Even the post-Zionists scattered among the Labor-Meretz supporters could find themselves confused when included in the "Zionist vote."

With all due respect to the Zionist movement, coalitions are formed by agreeing on basic principles.

At this time in Israel's history, it would be unlikely for Joint List to be part of a cabinet that launches raids on Gaza, but the seeds of cooperation between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority in Israel have been sown and Netanyahu's racist campaign should perhaps be given the credit for that.

More here:
On politics and pretenses - Ynetnews

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

Palestine My Land, Kofia, Album Cover. (Photo: Supplied)

By Louis Brehony

Since the Nakba, Palestinian art and culture have walked a fine line between maintaining tradition and absorbing other modes of expression. After leaving Palestine for Sweden during Israels colonizing war of 1967, Nazareth-born songwriter George Totari began to chart a new artistic path, forming the band Kofia with other Palestinians and leftist Swedish musicians.

Between the bands inception in 1972 and the 1987 outbreak of the Intifada in Palestine, Kofia released four albums, three vinyl records, and one cassette, all without record industry support or major label attention. As a new short film shows, the Kofia story presents a unique mode of grassroots action. This article offers a brief introduction to their recorded work.

Palestine My Land (1976)

Fire on the Zionists, imperialists and reactionaries. Kofia opened their debut album with a militant and daring message, backed up by a powerful rhythmic unison of oud, Greek bouzouki and percussion. Lyrics in Swedish and Arabic sent a defiant message to both the Israeli regime and to its allies among the European ruling classes; Swedish politicians had rolled out the red carpet to Golda Meir, who had recently declared that the Palestinians didnt exist.

Continuing in the same musical scale maqam kurd, the second song Pansar Och Canoner/Midfaiyya Wa Dubabat (Artillery and Tanks) took direct aim at Zionist military leader Moshe Dayan, singing from the perspective of a woman whose husband had joined the guerrillas: long live the peoples revolution!

If the music and message were relentless, the album notes and photographs offered historical context. They record the words of a refugee woman, Umm Ali on the condition of near-starvation in the Jordanian camps after the 1948 Nakba, saying she encouraged her children to confront the imperialists, Zionists and Arab reactionaries.

There were songs of commemoration for the massacres of Tel el-Zaatar (1976) and Kufr Qassem (1956), the latter ending with lost ones finding love and protection in the earth. In Dom Ddar Vra Kamrater/Yiqtilo al-Rifaq (Theyre killing our comrades), Totari sings in Swedish, I long for stones, mountains and valleys.

The urban soundscape of Gothenburg was a far cry from the rural surroundings in which the Palestinian musicians had grown up, but the blend of instruments, voices and activism offered strength in numbers. The second half of the album was recorded live at Sprngkullen, a leftist cultural center at that time frequented by thousands, and the energy and enthusiasm of the concert participants is audible. Flutist Bengt Carlsson recalls:

When you came to these concerts, they provided people with rhythm instruments and said, play with us people could take part in the concert, which was quite nice.

On the song Palestinas Dotter/Ibnat Falastin (Daughter of Palestine), a female vocalist leads the battle cry, No, no, no, no, we will never submit. On this first album, the musicians identities were kept anonymous: We were doing our duty, our names were not important, explains Totari.

The album ends with Baladi (My homeland), a traditional song with new lyrics by Totari focusing on the right to return to Deir Yassin, Galilee and Yafa. A repeated melody evokes the improvised sung poetry of Palestinian turathi (heritage) songs. The live recording gives a taste of a vibrant underground music scene, with rhythmic clapping, zaghareet (ululations) and effervescent violin.

Earth of My Homeland (1978)

Thinking back to discussions on the cover of Kofias second album, singer Carina Olsson is proud that they chose a photo of a strong Palestinian woman baking bread. With no lack of militancy, the band now sang about the fertility of the land, of Palestines towns and villages and the strength of steadfast refugee women.

The title track is the first of two odes to Galilee, referencing olives, greenery, and soil. Totari sings in Arabic, calling on the youth of Palestine to rebel against the colonizers, oppressors, and sell-outs (Sadat had just signed a deal with Israel and the US). Next, the Sng om Galilen/Ughniyya an Jalil (Song for Galilee) sees the oud backing up a female chorus, singing of the vibrancy of Land Day. Totari explains:

I lived in Sweden and decided that it was my duty to help the Swedes understand our cause. They didnt know anything about Palestine. Our songs told the stories of historical events, from the voices of mothers who had lost their sons, daughters and everything.

In Nasaret/Al-Nasira (Nazareth), lyrics by an unnamed 48 Palestinian are set to oud-led music, with flute lines responding melodically to Totaris singing of the town he left behind in 1967. The writer describes Nazareth under siege, while I sang to the winds of a storm, and promises that Palestinians would one day celebrate their return with a mawwal melody.

The album was also characterized by a strong sense of internationalism; many of the musicians had also been involved in Vietnam and South African solidarity movements. Kofia sang or arranged anti-imperialist anthems dedicated to the people of Chile, Oman and Iran, where the group were invited to perform in February 1980 on the anniversary of the revolutionary overthrow of the Shah.

Earth of My Homeland ended with what is now Kofias best-known song, with the Swedish hook Leve Palestina (Long Live Palestine) and entitled Demonstrationssngen (Demonstration Song)/Tahiyya Falastin on the album. With a catchy repeated chorus, Totaris composition was simultaneously a manifesto for liberation and right of return, a connection to a homeland and a defiant call for solidarity.

Depicting the wheat and olive harvests, stone and rocket-throwing confrontations with colonization in a now world-renown struggle, female singers led the call and response:

And we will free our land

From imperialism

And we will rebuild our land

For socialism

And the whole world will witness

Long live Palestine!

Crush Zionism!

As if to underline the vitality of the message, Leve Palestina became a staple of left and pro-Palestine protests in Sweden for years to come.

On International Workers Day 2019, marchers in Mlmo were attacked by the Swedish Social Democratic government for singing the song: prime minister Stefan Lofven labeled his own party members as anti-Semites for singing the anti-Zionist lyrics and called for the song to be banned.

As in Britain, Germany and other heartlands of capitalism, Palestine solidarity is under attack, yet the songs and stories of resistance continue to resound.

Mawwal to My Family and Loved Ones (1984)

The words and music to Kofias third record were composed in dark times, with Beirut ablaze and Israeli-sponsored fascist massacres of Sabra and Shatila still painfully fresh in the memory. But, like the embrace of traditional song, dabke or tatreez embroidery (featured on the album cover) with the renaissance of Palestinian nationalism since the 1960s, Totaris songs carried a sense of life-affirming celebration:

Clap your hands and dance with me

Your husband is returning today

Drink the arak Ramallah

And eat the tabbouleh, wallah

Klappa dina hnder/Zaaf wa ras maya (Clap your hands and dance with me)

The song gave space for improvisation by the melodic instruments, offering a vision of freedom with the release of a loved one from prison, with subtly reverbed violin soaring over a droning, pulsating rhythm.

Thematically, Kofia blended vocal support for the armed guerrilla struggle with stories upholding the resilience of the Palestinian masses. In Bomba inte mer/La Tiqtilu al-Atfal (Dont bomb/Stop killing the children) youngsters are depicted playing together in peace, building new lives and homes for future generations. There are parallels between Totaris writing and the stories of PFLP leader Ghassan Kanafani, which the songwriter readily admits:

I got to know his work intimately in Al-Hadaf magazine. Of course, I was influenced strongly by what I read and interacted with.

The catastrophes of Lebanon weighed heavily on Kofias repertoire around this time, mediated through the voices of Palestinians on the front line. The song Sdra Libanon/Ijtiyah al-Janub al-Lubnani (The invasion of southern Lebanon) was like an eyewitness report, according to Carlsson. For percussionist Michel Kreitem, whose family fled their Jerusalem home in 1948, every song was a story.

Bombs came from all directions

From the west, from the east

They want to burn all that exists

We shall fight with all our courage

We shall prevail against fascism and Zionism

Against the devil and all his friends

Long Live Palestine (1988)

A fourth album was recorded amidst the upheaval of the uprising in 1988 and, like the Palestine-based guerrilla musicians of the intifada, Kofia operated on a budget, releasing through the vulnerable medium of the cassette. Totari reflects that the problem was always resources, no money and so on.The only help we got was from the Swedish musicians themselves.

Its cover carried the dedication in memory of the fallen leaders of the Palestinian revolution and of the heroic Palestinian people and featured Sliman Mansours illustration of a dove breaking through the bars of a prison.

Unusually for Kofia, all of the songs were sung in Arabic, with stripped-back instrumentation focusing on Totaris voice. The lyrical content and can be read as a postcard to those who remained in Palestine, to a land left behind and showing hunger to be involved.

Send greetings to the loved ones and relatives,To Palestinian eyes and Nazarene eyelashes

Sallem (Greetings)

Love and art

Your beauty, Yaffa

The lighthouse on the beach swaying and seducing

Jafa

Other tracks are dedicated to Gaza, Jerusalem and Galilee, remembering the community spirit of small-town life, villages, and valleys, and praising the bravery of the youth.

While it would be unfair to earlier musicians to say that the involvement of activist guitarist Mats Lundlv took the Kofia sound to a new level from their third album, there was certainly a difference to the musical arrangements of the fourth.

The 12-string and electric guitar layerings of the riff to Eshtana (Ive missed you) gives the track a propulsive quality and Lundlv plays a leading role in Malak Ya Assmar (Youre an angel, dark-skinned one), with Mahmod Abu-Elkheirs Arabic tabla carrying the driving rhythm from song to song.

For Dalal, Peter Janssons bowed bass intro borrows from Arabic ornamentation, followed by Carlssons vibrato flute and Totaris oud, which subtly carries the vocal. The lyrics are bittersweet, but hint at the optimism at the heart of the Kofia project:

Salam to your eyes, Dalal

On the wings of a bird, you come to safety

With the blood of the martyr, our soil is watered

Kofia: A Revolution Through Music

At the time of writing, George Totari is leading work on a new Kofia album. The short film Kofia: A Revolution Through Music narrates part of their radical history, as another illuminating example of how Palestinians have dealt with exile, leading a fierce critique of Zionism, imperialism and compliant Palestinian leaders.

By becoming musically and linguistically bilingual, Totari and other leading musicians have led the transmission of Palestinian militancy and socialism. On one level, the coexistence of diverse influences is nothing new, but the dispersal of refugees by the Zionist project has accelerated the process, unintentionally planting seeds of opposition to its own existence.

The Kofia story is still being written. This music will not be silenced.

Louis Brehony is a musician and activist from Manchester, Britain. He is currently planning research for a book on Palestinian music.

Link:
'Fire, fire!': A Guide to the Music of Palestinian-Swedish Band Kofia - Palestine Chronicle

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

(JTA) On a typical Friday, some 200 people show up for services at Temple De Hirsch Sinai, a Reform congregation in Seattle.

But last week, there was no one in the pews as Rabbi Daniel Weiner welcomed Shabbat in the synagogues smaller sanctuary. Instead, some 1,500 people watched Weiner lead the prayers on their computers.

The synagogue hasnt been holding any services for 10 days due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed 21 lives in Washington state and thousands around the world.

Though there wasnt a physical minyan, the quorum of 10 people required to say certain prayers, Weiner realized that in the virtual space we were well above a minyan.

It felt unusual but I think we are all in vastly unusual circumstances, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday. We are all kind of rewriting how we do things.

Indeed, Jewish communities around the world are engaging in the same kind of rethinking as the coronavirus spreads, turning long-standing communal practices into potentially dangerous behaviors. Synagogues are reconsidering every aspect of their offerings, from whether to hold services to how to serve food to exactly how congregants should encounter ritual objects.

The changes are being made rapidly, with limited and shifting guidance from health authorities, and different communities are coming to different conclusions. Whats clear, however, is that the epidemic could have long-lasting consequences for communal Jewish life.

People wearing masks to protect from the coronavirus in New Yorks Union Square, Feb. 28, 2020. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

Ordinarily, the worshippers who attend Friday evening services at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, an unaffiliated synagogue in New York City, are asked to touch each other during the Hamotzi, the blessing over the bread. But the synagogue sent community members an email on Monday instructing them to instead focus on our spiritual connection.

Beit Simchat Torah has recruited members who are scientists and doctors to serve on a team to make recommendations for the community.

In the email, members were told to take a number of precautions when attending services. They include avoiding the custom of kissing ritual objects such as mezuzahs, prayer books and the Torah scroll.

As an alternate greeting to kissing and handshakes, members were told they should instead touch elbows, or wave, or do the Spock live long and prosper Priestly hand blessing!

The synagogue already livestreams its Friday evening services, but now will also be making its Saturday services available online. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum is also reaching out to older members who may not be safe attending services in person.

It saddens me for some of our folks who are older they might not have a partner, they dont have children, so self-quarantining means real isolation, she said. My goal is to make sure all the folks who are in that situation are getting contact from us and being connected to community.

Kleinbaum said her congregation draws on its history in how to deal with the current situation.

CBST, as the LGBT synagogue in NY, has gone through a plague before, she said referring to the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, during which 40% of its membership died. We have a lot of wisdom and spiritual depth about dealing with these kinds of situations and were doing everything we can to follow all the protocols recommended by science and by the CDC.

Similarly, Mishkon Tephilo, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles Venice Beach, is still holding services but is taking steps to reduce the spread of germs.

The synagogue is installing automatic hand sanitizer pumps in the building and worshippers have been asked to wave at the Torah rather than touch it with their tzitzit fringes, as is customary. Individual rolls are being served instead of a large challah, and there likely wont be any candy thrown at a bat mitzvah that is planned for this weekend, according to Rabbi Gabriel Botnick.

Its a little weird being a loving warm community where we cant actually be in touch as much, but the biggest concern we have is for the elderly in our community, Botnick said.

Many synagogues are making the decision to cancel or scale back gatherings, including regular services. Rabbi Barry Leff of Herzl-Ner Tamid, a Conservative synagogue just outside Seattle on Mercer Island, Washington, said he examined each event individually before deciding whether to proceed.

Purim celebrations were canceled and people were urged to watch the synagogues megillah reading online rather than attend.

But the rabbi decided to go ahead with a bat mitzvah celebration last weekend because he felt it was harder to nix the bat mitzvah girl had spent a year preparing her Torah portion and since there is a new portion every week it would not be possible to delay it. Canceling it would also mean her family would incur substantial financial costs, he said in a sermon on Shabbat.

Still, turnout at the bat mitzvah was lower than usual. And the synagogue hired servers for the luncheon following the service to avoid a buffet-style setup where germs could more easily spread.

These decisions are difficult because these are things that people look forward to and theyre important to use as a community, but our priority is keeping everyone healthy and safe, Leff said.

Leffs congregants had spent significant time working on a Purim spiel a satirical play traditionally performed as part of the holiday celebration. Instead of doing it without a live audience, the members will perform it next Purim.

For many congregations, Purim posed a difficult question: whether to go forward with the festivities associated with the one-day holiday at a time when most communities have no documented cases of the coronavirus.

Some landed on compromises. At Skylake Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation in North Miami Beach, Florida, the megillah reading proceeded as usual, but the party and costume contest afterward were canceled.

During the megillah reading, people are just seated. They listen to it, then they go home, Rabbi Ariel Yeshurun said. [During] the party, people are crowding and just standing very close to one another, they are mingling, they are coughing, they are drinking, they are eating, and also the costume contest is canceled because people get really close to one another and they crowd and we decided that its just not safe.

Other synagogues went forward with their plans.

Ohev Sholom-the National Synagogue in Washington, D.C., an Orthodox congregation, held its regularly scheduled Purim celebrations both Monday and Tuesday. But it also livestreamed the megillah readings for those who were unable to attend and recruited volunteers to give out hamantaschen using serving utensils so that fewer people than usual would touch the pastries directly.

One has to strike a very careful balance with this type of thing between being safe and enacting proper precautions but also not inducing panic, and we feel that we should follow government guidelines, that we should not be doing more than they recommend, said Maharat Ruth Friedman, a clergy member at the synagogue. We completely understand what has led communities to make that decision [to cancel], it was just not something that we felt was essential.

Communities without choices came up with other innovations. Members of Young Israel of New Rochelle, an Orthodox synagogue in the suburbs of New York City, have been ordered to self-quarantine after a member was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

To make sure members could still hear the megillah reading, Rochel Butman, a local Chabad emissary, enlisted 20 rabbis to go house to house and read the megillah from the outside for those who are quarantined inside.

To minimize the spread of germs, congregants at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley are using disposable chopsticks in lieu of a shared yad when reading from the Torah. (Courtesy Alan Sokoloff)

Some Jewish clergy say the crisis is drawing their attention to aspects of their communities that they dont want to see change.

On Saturday, Rabbi Mira Rivera led services for about 10 people at Romemu, the Jewish Renewal synagogue in New York City where she serves as a rabbinic fellow. Usually at least 100 worshippers show up for Saturday morning services, but instead they were asked to watch via livestream.

I really had to take a moment of appreciation for our crowds, for community, for those things that we take for granted, she said. We take for granted that were going to be many. We take for granted space.

But others see a silver lining in the fact that the public health crisis has caused them to take a hard look at practices that were ripe for revisiting.

Last Shabbat, congregants who read from the Torah at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley, a Conservative synagogue in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, each used a chopstick rather than everyone sharing the yad, the pointer that is traditionally used to follow along in the text.

Passing the yad from one to another is the same as shaking hands. The germs pass, too, Cantor Alan Sokoloff wrote on Facebook, explaining why he had substituted chopsticks. After each reading, the reader took his chopstick home and/or disposed of it. After Shabbat, one of my readers sent me a picture of his memorialized chopstick [hed written the] parsha and date. A new trend perhaps?

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From 'Spock' greetings to chopstick Torah pointers, synagogues are getting creative amid the coronavirus outbreak - JTA News

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

The Young Israel synagogue of New Rochelle is at the center of a new "containment area" announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday. New York Governor's Office hide caption

The Young Israel synagogue of New Rochelle is at the center of a new "containment area" announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday.

Updated at 4:20 p.m. ET

New York is creating a "containment area" around a community in New Rochelle, in an attempt to limit the spread of coronavirus in an area that quickly became the state's largest source of COVID-19 infections, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday.

Residents would still be allowed to move around but the new policy effectively blocks any large public gatherings in the area, to prevent further transmission of the virus.

"It is a dramatic action, but it is the largest cluster in the country," Cuomo said. "And this is literally a matter of life and death."

"New Rochelle is a particular problem," Cuomo said. "The numbers have been going up, the numbers continue to go up, the numbers are going up unabated and we do need a special public health strategy for New Rochelle."

A synagogue in the city has become the epicenter of an outbreak in Westchester County which accounts for 108 of New York state's 173 coronavirus cases. Hundreds of people in the Young Israel congregation have already been under a voluntary quarantine order that was issued last week. The congregation's rabbi has confirmed that he is among those who have tested positive for the virus.

As of Tuesday, that synagogue is also at the center of a circle that extends for a 1-mile radius, marking the state's containment area.

The governor is calling on the National Guard to help support the containment area. Cuomo said the troops will be deployed "to deliver food to homes, to help with the cleaning of public spaces."

At a news conference and in a statement posted online, New Rochelle Mayor Noah Bramson stressed that the National Guard would play only a limited role, saying, "The Guard will not be engaged in military or policing functions."

Bramson also said several public and private schools are in the containment area.

Schools and large gathering places will be closed for two weeks inside the containment area, Cuomo said. Officials will use that time to clean the schools, he added.

Student volunteers walk through New Rochelle to perform a Purim reading at homes on Monday. Some residents there are already under self-quarantine. John Minchillo/AP hide caption

Student volunteers walk through New Rochelle to perform a Purim reading at homes on Monday. Some residents there are already under self-quarantine.

The new policy will take effect Thursday and remain in place through March 25.

To reduce contacts between the containment area and the outside world, a new coronavirus testing facility will also be placed inside the area in New Rochelle.

"This is an evolving situation," New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said. "We have moved from a containment strategy to more of a mitigation strategy."

People will still be allowed to go in and out of the containment zone, Cuomo said. But any facilities that would bring large gatherings of people, such as schools and synagogues, will be closed.

"This will be a period of disruption for the local community, I understand that. Local shop owners don't like the disruption; nobody does. Local politicians don't like the disruption. I get it," Cuomo said. He added, "This can't be a political decision. This is a public health decision."

Saying that the decision reflects a recommendation of Dr. Zucker, Cuomo added, "In a situation like this, whether you're president, mayor, or governor, let the experts decide. And let the science drive the decision. When you politically interfere in science, that's when you tend to make a mistake."

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Coronavirus: New York Creates 'Containment Area' Around Cluster In New Rochelle - NPR

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

Families of Pittsburgh synagogue victims to get $3 million from donated funds The Forward

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(JTA) The three congregations housed at Pittsburghs Tree of Life synagogue will distribute more than $5.4 million donated in the aftermath of the deadly October 2018 shooting there.

In a news release Monday, the congregations announced that they planned to distribute just over $3 million to the families of the 11 people killed in the attack by a lone gunman and two seriously injured worshippers. Another $1.2 million will be directed toward the rebuilding of the Tree of Life building.

Most of the remaining funds will go to support memorialization and honoring first responders, as well to the two congregations that rented space in the building, Congregation Dor Hadash and New Light Congregation.

The funds were donated between the attack on Oct. 27, 2018, and the end of April 2019, and are separate from those collected by the Pittsburgh Jewish Federations Victims of Terror Fund, which were distributed by April 2019.

The distributions were based on the recommendations of an independent committee convened by the federation that delivered its report in February.

One of the principles that guided the committees deliberations relative to the funds received by Tree of Life was shalom bbayit the need to arrive at recommendations that would foster healing in the congregations, among victims families and harmony throughout the wider Jewish community, said Barbara Caplan, co-president of New Light Congregation.

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Families of Pittsburgh synagogue victims to get $3 million from donated funds - Jewish Journal

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Posted By admin on March 10, 2020

AMSTERDAM (JTA) The rapid spread of the coronavirus throughout Europe may be affecting Jewish communities there, but it hasnt dampened their sense of humor.

On Friday, the Jewish community of Raalte in the eastern Netherlands shared a video of a French congregant showing off his invention: a kippah with elastic bands that can be moved from the top of the wearers head to cover ones mouth and nose, like the now ubiquitous face masks being worn around the world in the wake of the virus.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! the Masorti Jewish Community of Beth Shoshanna wrote on its Facebook page two days before Purim, the Jewish holiday celebrating the Jewish peoples deliverance from their enemies as well as foolishness and joviality.

Due to the coronavirus, we are requesting the male visitors to our synagogue services wear their kippahs as seen in the photo. Were asking also the female visitors to wear a kippah in this way, in egalitarian fashion. The executive board of the community and the health department of Raalte thank you in advance for your cooperation! the communitys post reads.

The announcement contains a link to a video of a Jewish man saying in French that I found the solution while wearing what appears to be a white face mask before he shifts it back to the top of his head and it is revealed to be a kippah.

What is less funny are the shortages of surgical masks, disinfectants and other products being reported in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. Hospitals in the Netherlands have been instructed to use hygienic masks for multiple purposes to conserve their stocks.

Jewish communities throughout Europe have canceled some events and postponed others out of fear of the virus spread. The March of the Living event, which brings together thousands of Jewish community members from across Europe and beyond for a Holocaust commemoration march in Auschwitz, Poland, was postponed indefinitely on Friday.

The European Conference of Rabbis earlier this week warned worshippers not to kiss Torah scrolls, mezuzahs or each other, and to avoid shaking hands in synagogue.

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In Purim coronavirus joke, Dutch synagogue asks congregants to wear kippahs over their mouths - JTA News

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Posted By admin on March 9, 2020

When the television channels presented the results of their exit polls, there was much joy at Yamina headquarters: The right won. In Ofra, residents were invited to celebrate. But Yamina only won six seats you call that victory? Yes, victory, wrote the organizer from Ofra the right beat the left.

Yamina is the successor of Hapoel Hamizrahi, Hamizrahi and the National Religious Party. The latter joined the Zionist socialist camp that included Mapai, Mapam and the various incarnations of Ahdut Haavoda, and under its leadership made a modest contribution to the founding and establishment of the state. Over the years, especially after the advent of Gush Emunim and the revolutionary spirit it infused into religious Zionism, this contribution became more significant. In classic Zionist spheres, such as settlement and military service, it even became the leader.

Bibi limps to election 'victory.' But he didn't winHaaretz Weekly Podcast

But while the number and status of religious Zionists grew, the institutions that represented them on the political level contracted. In the 2009 election for the 18th Knesset, this representation fell to an all-time low of just three seats. Professor Asher Cohen, an expert on voting patterns in this camp, believes that religious Zionist voters now typically account for four or five seats for Likud, two or three for Shas, one or two for the center-left, and, lately, some measure of support for United Torah Judaism.

The electoral blow suffered by Labor-Gesher-Meretz, the party that is the successor of the socialist Zionist camp, was even worse. This camp, which once enjoyed lengthy periods of hegemonic rule, has ended up on the edge of the abyss.

Presumably, in the kibbutzim and moshavim of Labor and Meretz, no one was calling for celebrations. There, unlike in some of the denial-bound Judea and Samaria communities, they admit the truth. However, one thing will happen to both of them: Their continuing decline will put an end to the age of the ideological parties from the time of the Yishuv and the first three decades of independence. The end of history, to borrow a phrase.

The ideology of the last election was a mishmash of personal impulses, vengefulness, spite and bruised feelings of discrimination. More than any solidly formed worldview, this is what affected the question of which slip to place in the ballot box.

These voters belong to four main camps: The first temperamental, idolatrous and, mainly, ecstatic is the Just Bibi camp. Opposite it we have at first energetic, now beaten and battered the Just Not Bibi camp. It turns out that negating Netanyahu wasnt enough to bring this camp to power, and, being an ad hoc assemblage, it may now cease to exist.

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The third camp, the union of the Haredim, is a stable one in terms of its institutions and has been growing moderately in strength from one election to the next. Internal Haredi interests, and not a fight against post-Zionist (or anti-Zionist) trends are what keep it in the right-wing camp.

And in this election, we also saw the birth of the fourth significant camp: the Just Not Bibi, Just Not Benny (Gantz), Just Not Zionist Jews camp the Joint List.

If not for Netanyahus errors, Kahol Lavan would not have come into existence. If not for his provocations, masses of Arabs and Jews would not have gone in droves to the polls to give 15 Knesset seats to a party that has some members who openly support terror and other members who are good at hiding this and only deny Israels right to exist as a Jewish state. If Netanyahu hadnt fulfilled nearly all of their wishes, from budgets for yeshivas to the effective exemption from military service, the Haredim would not have permanently anchored themselves in the right. And Avigdor Lieberman would be somewhere else today. The credit for all of these upsetting developments, and many more like them, belongs to one man alone Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Toward the end of history - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on March 9, 2020

Joe Biden told the Israel lobby group AIPAC this week that it is dangerous for Israel to become another issue that divides Democrats and Republicans. But he warned that Israeli moves to build more settlements and annex occupied territories were threatening that divide by alienating young Americans.

The former vice president and now Democratic frontrunner made a video statement to AIPAC on March 1 and advocated for the two-state solution and against steps on both sides that take us further from peace. He condemned Palestinian incitement and refusal to accept, once and for all, the reality and the right of a secure, democratic and Jewish state of Israel in the Middle East before criticizing Israel:

And Israel I think has to stop the threats of annexation and settlement activity, like the recent announcement to build thousands of settlements in E-1. Thats going to choke off any hope for peace. And to be frank, those moves are taking Israel further from its democratic values, undermining support for Israel in the United States, especially among young people of both political parties. Thats dangerous! Thats dangerous! We cant let that happen! We cant let Israel become another issue that divides Republicans and Democrats in the major parties. We cant let anything undermine the partnership that has grown and flourished from the moment of Israels founding.

Bidens comments won approval from Jeremy Ben-Ami of the liberal Zionist organization J Street, which has warned against Israel support becoming a partisan issue. Biden also pleased conservative Israel supporter Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post:

the only candidate still in this thing that would offer a stable and normal relationship with Israel and close allies around the world. Someone should ask Sanders what in that speech he disagrees with or does he just loath AIPAC in principle?

Bernie Sanders said that AIPAC has fostered bigotry against Palestinians and was among several Democratic candidates who said they would not attend AIPAC this year. Though most of them later did address the conference by video. And Elizabeth Warrens staff reportedly met with an AIPAC delegation after all.

Biden has long bragged that he is a Zionist, and a friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, and that the first country he visited as a Senator was Israel, in 1973. But as vice president he was embarrassed and then critical when Israel announced new settlements just as he was visiting the country.

In his remarks to AIPAC March 1, Biden praised the Jewish and democratic state of Israel and said it faces an existential threat from rockets fired from Gaza.

You know, a two state solution is the best way to assure a secure and peaceful Israel future, for the Jewish and democratic state of Isrel. Thats the goal we all share. You know, Israelis wake up every morning facing an existential threat from its neighbors. A rain of rockets from Gaza, just like this past week.

He went on to say that American security is threatened by these rockets

Thats why Ive always been adamant that Israel must be able to defend itself. Its not just critical for Israeli security, I believe its critical for American security. Its why Im so proud of the Obama-Biden administrations unprecedented support for Israels security.

Biden was vague about what peace means for Palestinians. The legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people include efforts to expand economic opportunity, pursue justice, and protect their dignity. He also said, We all need to work together to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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Thats dangerous! Thats dangerous! Biden says of Israel becoming a partisan issue in U.S. - Mondoweiss

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