Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

Conservative

AGUDATH BNAI ISRAEL: Meister Road at Pole Ave., Lorain. Mark Jaffee, Ritual Director. SAT. 10 a.m. 440-282-3307. abitemplelorain.com

BETH EL CONGREGATION: 750 White Pond Dr., Akron. Rabbi Elyssa Austerklein, Hazzan Matthew Austerklein. SAT. 9:15 a.m.; SUN. 8:45 a.m.; WED./FRI. 7:30 a.m. 330-864-2105. bethelakron.com.

BNAI JESHURUN-Temple on the Heights: 27501 Fairmount Blvd., Pepper Pike. Rabbis Stephen Weiss and Hal Rudin-Luria; Stanley J. Schachter, Rabbi Emeritus; Cantor Aaron Shifman. FRI. Shabbat Service 6 p.m.; SAT. Mens Club Shabbat followed by Cholent Cookoff (fee) 9 a.m., 6 p.m.; SUN. 8 a.m., 6 p.m.; MON.-THURS. 7/7:30 a.m., 6 p.m.; FRI. 7/7:30 a.m. 216-831-6555. bnaijeshurun.org.

MONTEFIORE: One David N. Myers Parkway., Beachwood. Services in Montefiore Maltz Chapel. Rabbi Akiva Feinstein; Cantor Gary Paller. FRI. 3:30 p.m.; SAT. Service 10:30 a.m. 216-360-9080.

PARK SYNAGOGUE-Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo Cong.: Park MAIN 3300 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights; Park EAST 27500 Shaker Blvd., Pepper Pike. Rabbi Joshua Hoffer Skoff, Rabbi Sharon Y. Marcus, Milton B. Rube, Rabbi-in-Residence, Cantor Misha Pisman. FRI. 6 p.m. (Park East); SAT. 9 a.m. (Park East), 5 p.m. (Park East); SUN. 8:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m. (both Park East); MON.-FRI. 7:30 a.m., 6 p.m. (both Park East). 216-371-2244; TDD# 216-371-8579. parksynagogue.org.

SHAAREY TIKVAH: 26811 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Scott B. Roland; Gary Paller, Cantor Emeritus. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat 6 p.m.; SAT. 9 a.m.; SUN. Minyan 9 a.m. 216-765-8300. shaareytikvah.org.

BETH EL-The Heights Synagogue, an Independent Minyan: 3246 Desota Ave., Cleveland Heights. Rabbi Michael Ungar; Rabbi Moshe Adler, Rabbi Emeritus. SAT. Morning Service 9:15 a.m. 216-320-9667. bethelheights.org.

THE SHUL-An Innovative Center for Jewish Outreach: 30799 Pinetree Road, #401, Pepper Pike. Rabbi Eddie Sukol. THURS. Toast & Torah at Corky & Lennys 8 a.m. See website or call for Shabbat and holiday service dates, times and details. 216-509-9969. rabbieddie@theshul.us. theshul.us.

AHAVAS YISROEL: 1700 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. Rabbi Boruch Hirschfeld. 216-932-6064.

BEACHWOOD KEHILLA: 25400 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Ari Spiegler, Rabbi Emeritus David S. Zlatin. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat 5:39 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit 9 a.m., Study Group 4:40 p.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:25 p.m., Havdalah 6:42 p.m.; SUN. 7:30 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:45 p.m.; MON.-THURS. Shacharit 6:30 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 7:45 p.m.; FRI. Shacharit 6:30 a.m. 216-556-0010.

FROMOVITZ CHABAD CENTER: 21625 Chagrin Blvd. #210, Beachwood. Rabbi Moshe Gancz. SAT. Morning service followed by kiddush lunch 10 a.m. 216-647.4884, clevelandjewishlearning.com

GREEN ROAD SYNAGOGUE: 2437 S. Green Road, Beachwood. Rabbi Binyamin Blau; Melvin Granatstein, Rabbi Emeritus. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat 5:50 p.m.; SAT. Hashkama Minyan 7:45 a.m., Shacharit 9 a.m., Youth Minyan 9:30 a.m., Tot Shabbat 10:30 a.m., Cholent Cook-Off Noon, Rabbis Talmud Class 4:30 p.m., Minchah 5:30 p.m., Havdalah 6:42 p.m.; SUN. Shacharit 8 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:50 p.m.; MON. Shacharit 6:40 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:50 p.m.; TUES.-THURS. Shacharit 6:40 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:55 p.m.; FRI. Shacharit 6:40 a.m. 216-381-4757. GreenRoadSynagogue.org.

HEIGHTS JEWISH CENTER SYNAGOGUE: 14270 Cedar Road, University Heights. Rabbi Raphael Davidovich. FRI. 7:15 p.m.; SAT Morning Parsha Class 8:30 a.m., Morning Services 9 a.m., Minchah 30 minutes before sunset; SUN. 8 a.m., 15 minutes before sunset; MON.-THURS. 6:45 a.m., 15 minutes before sunset; FRI. 6:45 a.m. 216-382-1958, hjcs.org.

KHAL YEREIM: 1771 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. Rabbi Yehuda Blum. 216-321-5855.

MENORAH PARK: 27100 Cedar Road, Beachwood. Rabbi Howard Kutner; Associate Rabbi Joseph Kirsch. SAT. 9:30 a.m., 4:15 p.m.; SUN. Minyan & Breakfast 8 a.m. 216-831-6500.

OHEB ZEDEK CEDAR SINAI SYNAGOGUE: 23749 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst. Rabbi Noah Leavitt. FRI. Minchah 5:40 p.m.; SAT. 9 a.m., Minchah/Seudah Shlishit 5:25 p.m., Maariv 6:25 p.m., Havdalah 6:42 p.m.; SUN. 8 a.m.; MON. Shacharit 8 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:40 p.m.; TUES.-FRI. Shacharit 7 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:40 p.m. 216-382-6566. office@oz-cedarsinai.org. oz-cedarsinai.org.

SEMACH SEDEK: 2004 S. Green Road, South Euclid. Rabbi Yossi Marozov. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat at candlelighting; SAT. 9:30 a.m., Minchah at candlelighting. 216-235-6498.

SOLON CHABAD: 5570 Harper Road, Solon. Rabbi Zushe Greenberg. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat 5:30 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study 9 a.m., Service 10 a.m., Minchah 1:30 p.m.; SUN. 8 a.m.; MON-FRI. 7 a.m. 440-498-9533. office@solonchabad.com. solonchabad.com.

TAYLOR ROAD SYNAGOGUE: 1970 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. FRI. Minchah 4:40 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit 9 a.m., Minchah/Seudah Shlishit/Maariv 6:50 p.m.; SUN. Daf Yomi 7 a.m., Shacharit 8 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:15 p.m.; WEEKDAYS Daf Yomi 6 a.m., Shacharit 6:45 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:15 p.m. 216-321-4875.

WAXMAN CHABAD CENTER: 2479 S. Green Road, Beachwood. Rabbis Shalom Ber Chaikin and Moshe Gancz. FRI. Minchah 5:45 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit 10 a.m., Minchah 5:40 p.m.; WEEKDAYS Shacharit 7/8 a.m., Minchah 5:55 p.m. 216-381-1770. waxmanchabadcenter@gmail.com.

YOUNG ISRAEL OF GREATER CLEVELAND: Hebrew Academy (HAC), 1860 S. Taylor Road; Beachwood (Stone), 2463 Green Road. Rabbis Naphtali Burnstein and Aharon Dovid Lebovics. FRI. Minchah 5:45 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit (Stone) 8/9 a.m., (HAC) 9 a.m., Minchah 5:30 p.m., Maariv 6:41 p.m., Motzei Shabbat 6:49 p.m.; Shacharit: (Stone) SUN. 7:15/8/8:30 a.m., MON./THURS. 6:40/7:50 a.m., TUES./WED./FRI. 6:45/7:50 a.m., (HAC) SUN. 7:20 a.m., MON./THURS. 6:40 a.m., TUES./WED./FRI. 6:45 a.m. WEEKDAYS Minchah 5:50 p.m. 216-382-5740. office@yigc.org.

ZICHRON CHAIM: 2203 S. Green Road, Beachwood. Rabbi Moshe Garfunkel. DAILY 6 a.m., 6:45 a.m. 216-291-5000.

KOL HALEV (Clevelands Reconstructionist Community): The Ratner School. 27575 Shaker Blvd., Pepper Pike. Rabbi Steve Segar. SAT. Torah Study 9:30 a.m., Hagiga 10:30 a.m., Shabbat Service 10:30 a.m., Philosophical Inquiry 1 p.m., Mindful Jewish Practice 1:15 p.m. 216-320-1498. kolhalev.net.

AM SHALOM of Lake County: 7599 Center St., Mentor. Spiritual Director Renee Blau; Assistant Spiritual Director Elise Aitken. 440-255-1544.

ANSHE CHESED Fairmount Temple: 23737 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbis Robert Nosanchuk and Joshua Caruso; Cantor Sarah Sager; Jordana Chernow-Reader, Rabbi-Educator. FRI. Shabbat Evening Service 6:15 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study 9:15 a.m., Lay-led Shabbat Minyan 10:30 a.m. 216-464-1330. fairmounttemple.org.

BETH ISRAEL-The West Temple: 14308 Triskett Road, Cleveland. Rabbi Enid Lader. Alan Lettofsky, Rabbi Emeritus. FRI. Service 7:30 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study 9:30 a.m., Service 11 a.m. 216-941-8882. thewesttemple.com.

BETH SHALOM: 50 Division St., Hudson. Rabbi Michael Ross. FRI. Shabbat Service 7:30 p.m. 330-656-1800. tbshudson.org

BNAI ABRAHAM-The Elyria Temple: 530 Gulf Road, Elyria. Rabbi Lauren Werber. FRI. Shabbat Service 7 p.m. 440-366-1171. tbaelyria.org

SUBURBAN TEMPLE-KOL AMI: 22401 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Allison Bergman Vann. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat Service 6 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study 9:15 a.m. 216-991-0700. suburbantemple.org.

TEMPLE EMANU EL: 4545 Brainard Road, Orange. Rabbi Steven L. Denker; Cantor David R. Malecki; Daniel A. Roberts, Rabbi Emeritus. FRI. Shabbat Service 6:15 p.m.; SAT. Parshat HaShavuah 9 a.m., Service 10:30 a.m. 216-454-1300. teecleve.org.

TEMPLE ISRAEL: 91 Springside Drive, Akron. Rabbi Josh Brown. Cantor Kathy Fromson. FRI. Service 6:15 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study 9 a.m., Morning Service 10:30 a.m. 330-665-2000 templeisraelakron.org.

TEMPLE ISRAEL NER TAMID: 1732 Lander Road, Mayfield Heights. Rabbi Matthew J. Eisenberg, D.D.; Frederick A. Eisenberg, D.D., Founding Rabbi Emeritus; Cantorial Soloist Rachel Eisenberg. FRI. 7:30 p.m. 440-473-5120. tintcleveland.org.

THE TEMPLE-TIFERETH ISRAEL: 26000 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood. Senior Rabbi Jonathan Cohen; Rabbi Roger C. Klein and Rabbi Stacy Schlein; Cantor Kathryn Wolfe Sebo. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat 6 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study 9:15 a.m., Shabbat Service 4:30 p.m. 216-831-3233. ttti.org.

JEWISH SECULAR COMMUNITY: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, 21600 Shaker Blvd., Shaker Heights. jewishsecularcommunity.org.

THE CHARLOTTE GOLDBERG COMMUNITY MIKVAH: Park Synagogue, 3300 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. By appointment only: 216-371-2244, ext. 135.

THE STANLEY AND ESTHER WAXMAN COMMUNITY MIKVAH: Waxman Chabad House, 2479 South Green Road, Beachwood. 216-381-3170.

This is a paid listing with information provided by congregations.

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Synagogue service times: Week of February 14 | Synagogues - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

Photo Credit: Rudi Weissenstein

Israels Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz congratulated Al-Jazeera presenter Faisal al-Qasim who said that Zionism was the most successful project in the 20thcentury.

Al-Qasim often publishes polls for his 5.5 million followers on Twitter on various issues.

On Saturday he wrote that in a previous tweet of his it emerged that the Zionist project succeeded, unlike the failed Arab projects, an assertion that angered many of his followers who considered the tweet a kind of praise for the Zionists.

Ok, come to the referendum: Who are the most advanced, developed, democratic and successful Israel or the Arab regimes? he asked again.

A vast majority of 82% of his followers agreed that Israel was more advanced, developed, democratic and successful.

The majority of Arabs, if they want to insult you, they describe you as Zionist, knowing that the most successful project in the past century and the present is the Zionist project, while all projects of the Arabs, especially Arab nationalism, have failed. Before you use the word Zionist as an insult you must first reach the shining sole of Zionism, he wrote on Twitter.

Its time to promote cooperation and peace among the peoples of the region, Katz concluded.

Israels ties with several Arab countries have significantly advanced in recent years, openly and covertly, as shared strategic interests, and primarily confronting Irans advent in the region, have brought both sides to the same table.

In October, Katz revealed that Israel is in the process of working on a non-aggression pact with several Arab states in the Middle East to face the common threat emanating from Iran.

See more here:
Israel Welcomes Al-Jazeera Anchor's Declaration that 'Zionism was Most Successful Project in the 20th Century' - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem will award two academic credits to students who volunteer with the right-wing movement Im Tirtzu, despite the institution's bylaws that determine that organizations recognized as "partisan" or "political" would not be awarded points for social engagement.

A spokesperson for the university said the movement had no partisan or political affiliation, and that the credits were given after the movement declared that it focuses on social activities for the needy, elderly and disadvantaged in Jerusalem, including Israeli-Arabs.

Meretz leader MK Nitzan Horowitz said in response to the move that, "Im Tirtzu is an extremist right-wing movement, its 'social' activity amounts to incitement against leftists and marking 'traitors from the inside'.

In response, Im Tirtzu released the following statement: As the largest Zionist organization in Israel and the most active student movement on campuses in the country, we call on all students who want to continue to realize the Zionist vision and promote the values of Zionism in the 21st century as well, to join the activities of Im Tirtzu. Now, students can volunteer and help the people of Israel and their future and receive two academic credits. This is good news for Zionist students everywhere.

In 2010, the group sued five left-wing activists for slander over a Facebook group named "If you want a fascist movement, there's one already." After three years in court, a Jerusalem district Judge threw out a large portion of the claims, explaining that the movement does indeed bear similarities to fascism. However, a few years later the Supreme Court dismissed the Jerusalem court's ruling in favor of Im Tirtzu.

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Hebrew University will give credit for 'right-wing activism' - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

This past November, the Highland Park Borough Council in New Jersey voted downa contentious resolution condemning anti-Semitism. The reason? Israel supporters in the borough insisted the resolution specifically condemn the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

The council was right to reject the resolution with this stipulation. The alleged connection between BDS and anti-Jewish bigotry is a hoax perpetrated by those desperate to silence the growing movement for Palestinian freedom.

In reality, the2005 BDS call, modeled on the earlier BDS call against apartheid South Africa, is a rights-based campaign for justice and equality that explicitlycondemnsanti-Semitism, along with all forms of racism.

BDS demands an end to Israels occupation of the 1967 territories, full equality for Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (today, over65 Israeli lawsdiscriminate against Palestinians throughout historic Palestine), and the right of return for Palestinian refugeesdriven from their homesto make way for the Israeli state during the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948. These demands are the crucial first steps in dismantling anapartheidIsraeli regime where,in the wordsof Israeli academic Ilan Pappe, the value of ethnic superiority and supremacy overrides any other human and civil value.

In short, BDSrejectsZionism asettler-colonial ideologythat demands aJewish-supremacist statein Palestine not Judaism or Jews.

Unable to refute this distinction, Israel supporters are determined to erase it altogether through a sweeping set oflaws, resolutions, and related measures, including several in New Jersey (see proposed senate antisemitism bills4001and4169).

This lawfare campaign is undergirded by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances (IHRA) 2016 Working Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the Trump State Department and Department of Education under which anti-Zionism, or even lesser criticisms of Israel, are classified as inherently anti-Semitic.

Donald Trumps recentExecutive Orderdemonstrates with chilling clarity how the fabricated IHRA definition, which the order explicitly incorporates, will be weaponized to threaten constitutionally protected expressions. Under the ruse of combating anti-Semitism on college campuses, the order effectivelyreframesanti-Zionist advocacy as a violation of Title VI civil rights protections.

The order,writesJoshua Leifer inJewish Currents, makes a mockery of anti-discrimination law, laying the ground for the absurd yet all-too-imaginable scenario in which a granddaughter of a Palestinian refugee expelled from the Galilee in 1948 is held to have violated a fourth-generation American Jews civil rights for claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor one of the IHRAs specific examples of antisemitism.

The rise of genuine anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence in this country is a frightening reality, as the Tree of Life massacre, the Jews will not replace us rally in Charlottesville, and other recent episodes remind us.

But responsibility for resurgent anti-Semitism lies with a white nationalist alt-right movement closely connected to, and emboldened by, the Trump regime. As diaspora Palestinian scholar and political commentator Nada Elianotes, some recent attacks may also result from others having picked up on this energized antisemitic discourse.

The Palestinian rights movement hasrepeatedlydenouncedthese anti-Semitic attacks. Indeed, the alt-rightdrawsinspirationfrom the ethno-nationalism of Israel and Zionism, not the anti-racist struggle of indigenous Palestinians.

Despite the movements denunciations, Zionistshave exploitedthe current climate to further defame BDS. On January 9, congressional sponsors introduced pro-IsraelH.Res.782, which falsely accuses BDS, with neither explanation nor evidence, of exposing students to rampant anti-Semitism on college campuses across the country. The message couldnt be clearer: if you stand up to Zionist apartheid, you will be smeared as a Jew-hater.

Omar Barghouti, BDS co-founder,advocatesa single democratic state that recognizes and accepts Jewish Israelis as equal citizens and full partners in building and developing a new shared society, free from all colonial subjugation and racial discrimination and separating church and state.

BDS helps light the way for this vision of justice for all throughout historic Palestine. Those who slander it understand neither antisemitism nor justice.

This post first appeared as an op-ed at the Star-Ledger in New Jersey last month.

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Linking BDS to antisemitism is a hoax perpetrated by those seeking to stifle growing Palestinian solidarity - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

Photo Credit: Mehr

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi on Wednesday said that Iran would give a crushing response to any aggression or stupid move by the Zionist regime against Irans interests in Syria and the region.

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett warned Irans leadership: You have nothing to look for in Syria, adding: When an octopus tentacles hit you, dont just fight back against those arms, but strangle the head as well. Thats how we must deal with Iran. For generations, we have been constantly fighting the arms of the Iranian octopus in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, and we did not focus enough on weakening Iran itself. Now we are now changing the concept: we are engaged in an ongoing campaign to weaken the Iranian octopus head itself, through economic, policy, intelligence, and military action, as well as other dimensions.

DM Bennett also stressed: As long as you keep trying to build terrorist bases there (in Syria DI), we will only increase the hurt on you. The IDF is prepared and ready for any scenario.

Not something Iran is apparently prepared to take sitting down, never mind the mounting death toll inflicted by Israel on its recruits in Syria, both Iranian and Shiite militias. Spokesman Mousavi said the nature of the Zionist regime over the past 70 years has been founded on occupation of the Palestinian land and neighboring states, killing, looting, assassination and aggression, adding, Iran will not compromise and hesitate for a moment to defend its presence in Syria and also defend its national security and regional interests. Consequently, Iran will give a decisive and crushing response to any aggression or stupid act by the Zionist regime.

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Iran Threatens 'Crushing Response' to 'Stupid Move by Zionist Regime' in Syria, Elsewhere - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

Last fall, Robert Jones, the Chancellor of the University of Illinois, issued a commendable statement on anti-Semitism. He wrote in the wake of two incidents, the painting of a swastika in a school building and the presentation of what a student complainant, with some justification, called anti-Semitic content during a training session for residence hall staff. That presentation, run by a student multicultural advocate, was entitled Palestine & Great Return March: Palestinian Resistance to 70 Years of Israeli Terror.

Appropriately, Chancellor Jones spent most of his statement on the latter incident because it concerned a training program which, though run by a student, was sponsored and mandated by the University. If the complaint was warranted, then the University of Illinois itself had effectively engaged in anti-Semitism. Chancellor Jones was right to assure his community that he took the matter seriously.

He had already been compelled to explain, two years earlier, that anti-Semitic attacks hidden under the guise of anti-Zionist rhetoric are all too common. That was in response to a post, by U of Is Students for Justice in Palestine, which spoke of an unholy union of American fascists, white supremacists, and Zionists, against which violent resistance is warranted.

The student government at the University of Illinois also responded rapidly last fallby denouncing the Chancellor. On the strength of dictionary definitions, and ignoring their lone Jewish fellow legislator, who walked out, student senators voted to condemn the constant conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. The hundreds of Jewish students in the audience who felt otherwise also left, refusing to be schooled by non-Jewish undergraduates in what is and isnt anti-Semitic.

Now, matters have come to their natural conclusion. The same student government has passed a resolution urging the University to divest from companies that profit from human rights violations in Palestine and other communities globally. Despite the nod to other communities and a gesture toward immigration issues at home, the resolution focuses on Israel. Erez Cohen, director of U of Is Hillel, says that it refers to Israel 11 times more than any other country mentioned.

The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign is not an anti-Israel campus. Given the opportunity to participate in referenda on related resolutions in 2017 and 2018, the student body rejected them by wide margins. There is good reason to believe Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, co-director of U of Is Chabad, when he says that this vote does not represent the values and beliefs of students and faculty at the University of Illinois.

In 2017, proponents of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel succeeded, after years of failure, in passing a resolution at the University of Michigan. It was the norm then, and remains the norm now, not to try to reverse these resolutions. Thats a sensible strategy on some campuses, where, after a resolution has passed, anti-Israel activists can struggle to find a new campaign with the same propaganda value as divestment. Resources are often put to better use educating students and faculty on matters distorted by BDS propagandists, such as anti-Semitism, Zionism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But I thought then and think now that, at places like the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois, where BDS has struggled to win victories and has won those only by swaying small numbers of student legislators, its worth mounting a campaign to repeal or otherwise respond to anti-Israel resolutions. Anti-Israel activists benefit from a fight in which their forces return to the field after a battle is lost, confident that, if BDS ever wins, its campus opponents will retire from the field.

It is a challenge for campus BDS campaigns to find their footing after a win. But its also a challenge, as campaigners against BDS know from experience, to go back year after year, even after overwhelming victories of the sort theyd won at the University of Illinois, to hold the ground.

On some campuses, BDS activists, too, should be put to that test.

Jonathan Marks, a contributor to Commentarys blog, is professor of politics at Ursinus College.

Originally posted here:
When BDS Activists Are Put to the Test, They Don't Fare Well - Commentary Magazine

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

The lingua franca in the dining room 17,000 feet above sea level is French. Hebrew is a close second.

A Zionist high.

I find myself in the French Alps, in the exquisite town of Fontcouverte-la-Toussuire. Picture postcards have nothing on this. And for those so inclined, its ski heaven. My husband and I are accompanying our son, daughter-in-law and their four children, including a baby, on their winter vacation.

The language is French. The couture in the shops is French. The cuisine is French. But when the hotelier goes from table to table to ask where the guests are from, they all name towns in Israel. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Givat Shmuel, Holon. The largest and the most boisterous delegation says Netanya, although it turns out that for some at the table Netanya is a future wish. Each Israeli table exhibits local pride when introduced.

Except for the grand-mamas and grand-papas who have arrived from Paris and Geneva to be with their Israeli families, our fellow-travelers are for the most part French Jews who have moved to Israel over the last decade. Because of their French connections, they know well the school calendar year in France, and have all chosen to take their children for a family ski vacation the week before the French schools break for February vacation. One couple had spent their honeymoon here while they were still living in France. Now Israelis, theyre back with four children.

With a slight sense of guilt for revealing its name because our French-Israeli brethren may want to hold on to their secret hideaway, I now tell you that the hotel is called Club J.

J stands for juive. Jew.

Yes, here in France in 2020, tens of children from kindergarteners to teens are headed out to ski slopes six days a week sporting bright orange identifying ski bibs announcing that they are taking skiing lessons from the Club J team of instructors.

No Jewish stars or outlines of Jerusalem decorate the logo. Still, J is J.

Not to mention that when the ski helmets come off, numerous kippot can be seen on Club Jers shopping in the boutiques.

DESPITE EVERYTHING Ive read or heard about the situation of Jews in Europe, and France in particular, no one seems concerned about looking Jewish or speaking Hebrew in public. The French ski instructors, professional and compassionate, catch on right away to the junior skiers non-French names: Matan, Eliana, Ariel.

I understand that everyone is on vacation, that theyve come to ski, not to engage in politics. Still, the relaxed atmosphere is a surprise and a reminder not to believe everything you read. The reports say that nearly 90% of Jewish students in France, the worlds third largest Jewish community, report experiencing antisemitic abuse. In 2018, antisemitic acts reportedly rose by more than 70%.

Standing in the dessert line at the Club J food buffet with its chocolate eclairs and crme brule, I ask the grandparents who still live in France about antisemitism. The question is always greeted with a look of surprise and the same reply: Cest ne pas Paris. This isnt Paris.

In Paris and other big cities, they admit, there is a problem. Not here.

One grandfather I speak with at length is indeed from Paris. He assures me that hes not worried about the future. He already has an apartment in Israel where he and his wife visit every few months. A retired teacher in an ORT school, he says they have prepared their children for the future with a Zionist upbringing. He gestures with pride to the group of ebullient immigrants his own children included filling the dining room. Theyve moved to Israel not out of fear but out of Zionism, he says. We gave our children good Jewish education. They took part in Bnei Akiva. We took many family trips. They fell in love with Israel. Thats the future. We recognize it and were happy about it. Along with the negative, we see this as a positive moment in Jewish history.

The French olim who have returned to Club J for vacation are already different from their contemporaries who are still living in France, says Nahtalie Mamou, who opened Club J together with her husband, the ebullient Stephane, three decades ago. Thats not only because they ask for chopped tomato-cucumbers salads and eggs with their breakfast croissants and brioche.

They have larger families than the Parisian Jews do, says Mamou, They party less. Next week when the Parisians arrive, the lounge will be filled with late-night dancing and entertainment that the Parisians like. The new Israelis go to bed earlier so they get up early and eke out the maximum time on the slopes.

And, she says, there are lots more of them than when she and Stephane opened Club J. 50,000 French Jews have moved to Israel in the last two decades. Absorbed in the workforce education, hi-tech, business they are affluent enough to take a ski vacation with their children back in the Alps. That, and the ubiquity of low-cost flights, has made a big difference, too.

The Mamous also spend half the year in Israel now. Two of their children live in Tel Aviv. Both she and Stephane are Tunisian Jews whose parents were born in Italy. She laughs.

Thats how it is with Jews; weve always been on the move.

On Friday afternoon, the ski equipment has been returned to the rental shops, replaced by white shirts and Shabbat dresses. French wine and hallot are on each table. Time to celebrate. Among the unusual dishes is one called tfina pkalia, a mix of spinach and beans, from the Tunisian Jewish kitchen. But the Shabbat songs are familiar. The one that resonates loudest among all the guests is the one that recognizes the challenges of transitions, Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlavs gesher tzar meod.

The whole world is a narrow bridge and the most important part is not to be afraid.

Crossing bridges feels like the right metaphor here with the Zionist francophones high in the Alps.

The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Womens Zionist Organization of America. Her latest book is A Daughter of Many Mothers.

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A winter in the French Alps with French olim - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

A portion of the 1979 Drobles Plan map. Foreign Policy illustration/Drobles Plan

U.S. President Donald Trump and his top aides pride themselves on thinking outside the box and boldly challenging conventional wisdom. Weve taken an unconventional approach, Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and the architect of the recently released U.S. Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, boasted of his work. If people focus on the old, traditional talking points, we will never make progress, he argued.

But the Trump plan is actually as traditional as it gets. In fact, it bears striking resemblance to another plan published more than 40 years ago. In 1979, the World Zionist Organization released a plan titled Master Plan for the Development of Settlements in Judea and Samaria, 19791983, written by Matityahu Drobles, a former member of the Knesset for the Herut-Liberal Bloca precursor to todays Likud partyand the head of the World Zionist Organizations Settlement Division, the body responsible for planning and building settlements.

His plan was basically a detailed attempt to execute the then-Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharons plan for settlement expansiona task that successive Israeli governments carried out with great zeal over the following four decades, placing 640,000 settlers in key areas throughout the West Bank. Trumps vision is actually Drobles 2.0.

1979 Drobles Plan vs. 2020 Trump Plan

Left: The authors recreation of the Israeli-Palestinian map included in the Drobles plan.Right: The map included in the Trump plan.

Source: 1979 Drobles plan/Trumps 2020 Peace to Prosperity plan

Trumps and Drobless plans share a conviction that there should never be any true Palestinian sovereignty over the land. Trumps plan admits that it necessarily entails the limitations of certain sovereign powers in the Palestinian areas. Or as Drobles put it, it is now important to emphasize, primarily through action, that the autonomy [being negotiated as part of the Camp David Accords] does not and will not apply to the territories but rather to the Arab population alone. In other words, Trump, like Drobles 40 years ago, insists on absolute Israeli control over land, while outsourcing administration of the non-Jewish residents of that territory. Palestinian control over land has never been on the table.

Beyond the issue of territorial sovereignty, both plans agree on permanent Israeli control over the West Bank. As Trump and Kushner put it, the State of Israel will maintain overriding security responsibility for the State of Palestine. Or in Drobless words, There cannot be any shadow of a doubt about our intention to maintain perpetual control over the territory of Judea and Samaria.

In discussing the importance of Israels eastern border along the Jordan River, Trump and Kushners plan justifies perpetual Israeli control over the Jordan Valley: the Jordan Valley provides a steep, approximately 4,600 foot physical barrier against an external attack from the east. Israeli forces deployed along the eastern slopes of the West Bank hill ridge could hold off a numerically superior army until the State of Israel completed its reserve mobilization.

The same discussion about Israels eastern border appears in Israeli planning documents as early as the July 1967 Allon Plana plan created by then-Labor Minister Yigal Allon that recommended the annexation of the Jordan Valley in order to move Israels eastern border to the Jordan River and to create a buffer zone between Palestinians in the West Bank and Jordan. Drobles took this idea and ran with it, referring to the settlements of the Jordan Valley as our first defensive wall in the east. While Trump and Kushner like to present their work as groundbreaking, the groundwork for the Jordan Valleys annexation was in place decades ago.

The similarities expressed in both plans show the extent to which Trumps plan is an extension of decades of Israeli policy. This is nowhere clearer than in Trumps promise that Israel will not have to uproot any settlements. This assertion is nothing but an entrenching of the status quo, making the splintering of Palestinian territory permanent. The reality that Trump wants to enact is a fully fractured Palestinemore of an archipelago than a state.

But this has always been the intention of the settlement enterprise. It is important, Drobles wrote in 1979, to settle the land between the [Arab] minority population centers and their surroundings, in order to minimize the danger of the development of an additional Arab state in this territory. Since it will be cut off by Jewish settlements, it will be hard for the minority population to create territorial contiguity and political unity. Now, four decades later, Drobless dream has almost become a reality if Trumps plan becomes a vision for the future.

Yet there is one difference between Drobles and Trump. Drobles was honest enough to admit what he was doing; he was explicit that what his map described was not a Palestinian state but the means to prevent one. Trump and Kushner support the exact same line of thinking, yet they call this collection of bantustans a plan for two states.

Kushner claims to want new ideas, but the Trump plan has nothing new to offer. The plan ensures there will never be a Palestinian state in the West Bank, which has been the core principle underlying Israeli policy since 1967. What is new is the audacity of calling the leftover bits and pieces of land not taken up by settlements a state.

If the international community does not see beyond this facade, the untenable plan they have laid out will become the baseline for future negotiations. The Arab League and other leaders who havent yet abandoned any hope of negotiated peace in the region must therefore come together in rejecting their plan, refusing to join Trump in swapping out Drobless talk of permanent control for the words State of Palestine.

This is the only way to halt the Trump administrations trampling of international law and its effort to grant Washingtons stamp of approval for advancing annexation and apartheid in the West Bank.

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Trump's Middle East Peace Plan Isn't New. It Plagiarized a 40-Year-Old Israeli Initiative. - Foreign Policy

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Posted By admin on February 14, 2020

Since the White House released its proposal for resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, numerous critics have stepped forward to argue that it will never work. While Michael Doran agrees with them completely, he also believes their position is nonsensical, because it assumes they know that there is a solution out there that will work. He discusses his concerns in depth with Jon Lerner, who, during his tenure in the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018, was involved in discussions leading up to the proposal. In Lerners understanding, its crafters didnt intend to dictate terms to the parties; nor did they expect the outcome to be a signing ceremony on the White House lawn. Rather they wished to reshape the conflict to the benefit of both Israeli and Palestinians, and to create a more realistic framework for future negotiations. (Video, 67 minutes.)

Read more at Hudson Institute

More about: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Peace Process, Trump Peace Plan, U.S. Foreign policy

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The New U.S. Peace Plan Won't Result in a Signing Ceremony on the White House Lawn. But That Doesn't Mean It Will Fail - Mosaic

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Posted By admin on February 12, 2020

Evening to Salute the Past, Support the Future of Jewish Youth

LOS ANGELES More than 250 people are expected to attend NCSY West Coasts 50th anniversary celebration on Wednesday evening, February 26 at THE MARK for EVENTS in Los Angeles. The evening will center around Saluting the Past, Supporting the Future and focus on the organizations work over the last five decades inspiring Jewish teens on the West Coast.

The evening will pay tribute to Steve and Eytan Darrison of the LA Valley and Daphne & Jesse Orenshein of Los Angeles, two parent and child pairs who are involved in various aspects of NCSY and continue to care greatly about impacting the Jewish communities around them. Famed comedian and actor Elon Gold will host an NCSY family gameshow during the festivities.

Stephen Darrison became involved with NCSY while growing up in San Jose, CA. He first connected with NCSY as a teenager growing up in a public-school environment. He moved to Los Angeles to finish high school, eventually attending Valley Torah High School, Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in Israel and later on, Yeshiva University in NY.At one point, he started a Sephardic chapter of NCSY in the Valley. His son Eytan follows closely in his fathers footsteps and has served as a West Coast NCSY advisor for Shabbatonim and regional events.

As a teen, Daphne Orenshein was introduced to all kinds of Jews through NCSY programs and Shabbatons, laying the foundation for her open and giving home. Her son Jesse follows closely in his mothers footsteps and has been involved with NCSY in a variety of capacities, including: president of the West Coast NCSYs City chapter and as a participant of BILT Summer Program. As a recent contestant on NBCs American Ninja Warrior, Jesse furthered this inspiration worldwide.

The West Coast is the largest NCSY region in the United States and is the founding chapter of the first Jewish Student Union Club (JSU) for Jewish teens on public school campuses. Since its successful launch on the West Coast, NCSY has launched 200 clubs on public high school campuses around the country.

NCSYs West Coast region has been a leader in educating Jewish teens and enhancing the spirituality and growth of thousands of our young people through innovative programs and services. We are so proud of their efforts as we celebrate this important milestone, said Orthodox Union President Moishe Bane.

NCSY West Coast has reached and enriched the lives of tens of thousands of teens over the last five decades. This is a tremendous accomplishment that has had an enormous impact on our community, said Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Allen Fagin.

Thousands of students now have a deeper sense of Jewish connection, pride and education, all served on the bedrock of an authentic commitment to living an inspired Jewish life, said NCSY West Coast Regional Director Rabbi Derek Gormin. We are looking forward to continuing the legacy of NCSY and building upon this strong foundation for our future.

Founded in 1898, the Orthodox Union, (OU), serves as the voice of American Orthodox Jewry, with over 400 congregations in its synagogue network. As the umbrella organization for American Orthodox Jewry, the OU is at the forefront of advocacy work on both state and federal levels, outreach to Jewish teens and young professionals through NCSY, Israel Free Spirit Birthright, Yachad and OU Press, among many other divisions and programs.

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NCSY West Coast Celebrates 50 Years of Inspiring Teenagers at its Upcoming Legacy Gala on February 26 - Orthodox Union

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