Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

Like a metastasizing cancer, anti-Semitism has again shown its ugly head, spreading its ignorance-borne intolerance.

And its escalated from words to deeds, which has forced Jews everywhere to rethink every aspect of their daily lives.

After seeing to his daughter Avas bat mitzvah a few years ago, state Sen. Barry Finegold planned on doing the same for his younger daughter, Ella. However, this time, he had another important detail to consider: security.

Unfortunately, its become a fact of life for many in the Jewish community.

Locally, we just witnessed the latest example of this mindless, racist hatred.

That occurred on Saturday in Billerica, when a mother taking her son to a town-owned playground off Andover Road discovered a swastika sprayed on a container storing baseball equipment.

The woman, a member of the Jewish faith, contacted Rabbi Susan Abramson of Temple Shalom Emeth in Burlington on what steps to take.

She went to the police and then contacted other town leaders, who along with the Billerica Interfaith Association released a joint statement Tuesday condemning the racist graffiti and offering support to the Jewish community.

Members of the Jewish faith have been targets of hateful acts in the past. In March 2014, the town of Bedford tried to come to grips with a series of anti-Semitic incidents involving elementary schoolchildren, which included a game called Jail the Jews.

Recent attacks in New York and New Jersey have heightened security concerns at synagogues and other community gathering places.

In 2018, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents in this country, the third-highest total since the organization began tracking incidents 40 years ago. Of that number, 265 occurred in synagogues, Jewish community centers and Jewish schools, according to the audit.

In Massachusetts, the number of reported hate crimes including crimes motivated by race, religion and ethnicity increased by almost 10% to a 10-year high in 2017. The ADL said 2018 was the second-highest year for anti-Semitic incidents in Massachusetts on record, ranking second only to 2017.

Thats why Sen. Finegold supports the Commonwealth Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which provides security enhancement funding from the state for nonprofit organizations at high risk of terrorist attack or hate crimes.

On Jan. 6, Gov. Charlie Baker held a ceremonial signing of sections of the supplemental budget for fiscal 2019, which boosts the programs available funding by $1 million.

Several area synagogues are considering applying for grants.

Congregation Agudat Achim in Leominster has already made efforts to increase security, according to President Scott Zibel. The grant program may allow the synagogue to be reimbursed for some of those costs, he said.

For Robin Frisch, president of Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley in Lowell, its heartening to see the state standing against hate.

But both Frisch and Zibel said its a challenge for Jewish faith organizations to prioritize safety while remaining open and welcoming to the community. Its something Congregation Shalom in North Chelmsford has been grappling with as well, said Rabbi Shoshana Perry.

Like Finegold, Perry said she never expected to see this level of anti-Semitism in the United States during her lifetime.

While we can allocate state funds to bolster security, we cant legislate ignorance and hate out of existence.

But we can all stand up and say it wont be tolerated.

Read the rest here:
Taking a stand against vile acts of bigotry - Boston Herald

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Taking a stand against vile acts of bigotry – Boston Herald
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

The US House Financial Services Committee has been discussing the use of Bitcoin in domestic terror financing, with some experts claiming it is now being used by neo-Nazi groups.

Jared Maples, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Director, has said domestic terror groups are likely to ramp up their use of the cryptocurrency to fund their nefarious activities.

He was joined by Anti-Defamation League Senior Vice President George Selim and Congressional Research Service finance expert Rena Miller.

The trio predicted that with the rise of crypto awareness, it will become more widely used by white supremacists and other hate groups.

Infamous crypto sceptic Congressman Brad Sherman was in agreement, saying: If it works for Hamas, it will work for the Nazis too.

Maples likewise referenced Hamas and suggested domestic terrorists had taken a page out of its playbook in using Bitcoin for both secrecy and privacy.

He alleged there had been a $60,000 donation in BTC given to Andrew Anglin, publisher of far-right media outlet The Daily Stormer, following the attack in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

When asked about how to counter terror groups, Maples said it was important to be mindful and to get the processes right.

Interestingly, it isnt just Bitcoin they are using to finance their attacks.

Recent reports suggest as many as 54 white supremacist groups are utilising Apples iTunes, earning roughly 70 cents for each song downloaded on the music platform.

Selim has recommended agencies pursue more rigorous prosecutions of domestic terror funding sources and utilise data from various fields such as finance, technology, civil rights, and civil liberties groups alongside studying new forms of money such as digital currencies.

Interested in reading more cryptocurrency and terror-related stories? Discover more about the UKs FCA becoming the anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing supervisor for businesses conducting cryptoasset activities.

The post US officials claim neo-Nazi groups are using Bitcoin to spread terror appeared first on Coin Rivet.

More here:
US officials claim neo-Nazi groups are using Bitcoin to spread terror - Yahoo Finance

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on US officials claim neo-Nazi groups are using Bitcoin to spread terror – Yahoo Finance
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

The situation in Iran has changed drastically since Trump left the deal. So we went searching for the details of what the leading Democrats would do to contain the Iranian threat amid the new tensions brewing between Iran and the U.S.

Spoiler alert: Theres not a lot out there. But in no particular order, heres what the top seven candidates have to say. (Were adding Michael Bloomberg because his polling numbers would qualify him for the debates, but his self-funded campaign has him below the outside campaign contribution threshold.)

Bernie Sanders

As you know, the nuclear deal with Iran was worked on with a number of our allies, the Vermont senator said at the debate. We have got to undo what Trump did, bring that coalition together and make sure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.

Sanders also sees rejoining the nuclear deal as a means of containing the escalating non-nuclear tensions.

Joe Biden

As he said in the debate, Biden believes the Iran deal was doing its job.

It was working. It was being held tightly, he said. There was no movement on the part of the Iranian government to get closer to a nuclear weapon.

If Tehran returns to compliance with the deal, President Biden would re-enter the agreement, using hard-nosed diplomacy and support from our allies to strengthen and extend it, while more effectively pushing back against Irans other destabilizing activities, his website reads.

Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg in the debate said he would rejoin the Iran deal as a means of keeping Iran from becoming nuclear and, like Sanders, suggested that the agreement would also stem escalating non-nuclear tensions.

By gutting the Iran nuclear deal one that, by the way, the Trump administration itself admitted was working, certified that it was preventing progress toward a nuclear Iran by gutting that, they have made the region more dangerous and set off the chain of events that we are now dealing with as it escalates even closer to the brink of outright war, he said.

This agreement was concluded not to do Iran a favor, but because it is in our national security interest just as a parallel policy of confronting Irans support for terrorism and abysmal human rights record reflects our values and security interests, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said.

Amy Klobuchar

Klobuchar during the debate said she would rejoin the deal, but also suggested that she wanted some improvements related to the expiration dates of some enrichment restrictions and on what the nuclear inspectors are allowed to do.

I think there are changes you can make to the agreement that are sunset, some changes to the inspections, but overall that is what we should do, she said.

We need a realistic long term strategy for Iran that will contain its aggressive actions and prevent it from gaining nuclear weapons, the Minnesota senator said, but did not add details.

Tom Steyer

During the debate, Steyer cast the Iran nuclear deal as having stemmed Irans nuclear ambitions and its adventurism.

What worked with President Obama was an alliance of our allies and us putting economic pressure on them for them to give up their military tactic, he said. That, to me, is called strategy.

Elizabeth Warren

We also need to address serious concerns about Irans policies beyond its nuclear program, including its ballistic missile program and support for destabilizing regional proxies, she said. The [Iran deal] made addressing these problems easier by taking the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran off the table.

Mike Bloomberg

In 2015, Bloomberg said he had deep reservations about the Iran deal, especially with its sunset provisions, and in an op-ed on Bloomberg News he accused President Obama of playing politics and smearing critics.

In Other News

Impeachment trial

A tale of two hearings

Watching the hearing was like seeing two movies simultaneously, one about the recent physical threats to Jews, and another about the nuances of how to confront Israel boycott movements.

Another two witnesses called by the committees Republican minority seemed to come prepared for a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

You talking to meatball?

How concerned is Bloomberg that hes missing the debates? Not so concerned, considering the photo mashup of his face and a meatball that his campaign posted during the debate on Tuesday.

Worth A Look

Tweet So Sweet

Tom Steyer is the waiter walking over with mozzarella sticks 30 seconds after the couple starts the breakup convo. https://t.co/SY5QN4CCeC

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) January 15, 2020

Stay In Touch

See the original post here:
Where the top 7 Democratic candidates stand on Iran - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Where the top 7 Democratic candidates stand on Iran – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

More than 120 members of Congress privately issued letters of support to a controversial Islamic-American advocacy group known for its involvement in one of America's most prominent terrorism financing cases, according to a copy of these official communications obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group with deep ties to the anti-Israel movement in America, touted its support among congressional leaders during its 2019 gala conference in November in Washington, D.C. Prominent opponents of the pro-Israel community, including anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), headlined the conference.

A copy of CAIR's conference agenda, obtained by the Free Beacon and published here for the first time, includes well over 100 letters from Democratic and Republican members of Congress, all of whom expressed their support for the controversial organization. Democrats issued the majority of the letters, with only two coming from Republican members of Congress.

David Rutz breaks down the most important news about the enemies of freedom, here and around the world, in this comprehensive morning newsletter.

Sign up here and stay informed!

The breadth of congressional support for CAIR is likely to generate concern in the pro-Israel community, which has long been at odds with the advocacy group due to its promotion of anti-Israel activists and causes.

Democratic 2020 presidential contenders Sen.Elizabeth Warren(D., Mass.), Sen.Amy Klobuchar(D., Minn.), and Tom Steyer all penned letters of support. Prominent Democrats such as Omar, Reps.Adam Schiff(D., Calif.), Rashida Tlaib(D., Mich), and Eric Swalwell(D., Calif.) also lent their support to CAIR's agenda, according to materials reviewed by the Free Beacon.

CAIR has long been central to the anti-Israel movement in America.

"CAIR's anti-Israel agenda dates back to its founding by leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), aHamas affiliated anti-Semitic propaganda organization," according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which combats anti-Israel bias. "While CAIR has denounced specific acts of terrorism in the U.S. and abroad, for many years it refused to unequivocally condemn Palestinian terror organizations and Hezbollah by name, which the U.S. and international community have condemned and isolated."

CAIR is also known for its involvement in a fundraising scheme tied to the Muslim Brotherhood that sought to support the Hamas terror organization. That case, known as the Holy Land Foundation trial, unearthed evidence that CAIR and its founders sought to lend backchannel support to Hamas.

In fact, "the Federal Bureau of Investigation has distanced itself from CAIR over the years," according to the ADL. "In an April 2009 letter to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, the FBI explained that it suspended contact with CAIR because of evidence introduced during the Holy Land Foundation trial,demonstrating that CAIR and its founders were part of a group set up by theMuslim Brotherhoodto support Hamas."

Additionally, in 2014, CAIR was placed on the United Arab Emirates's terrorism list for alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood organization.

The full conference agenda, list of speakers, and congressional letters can be viewed here:

Cair PDF Full by Washington Free Beacon on Scribd

Adam Kredo is senior writer reporting on national security and foreign policy matters for the Washington Free Beacon. An award-winning political reporter who has broken news from across the globe, Kredos work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary Magazine, the Drudge Report, and the Jerusalem Post, among many others. His Twitter handle is @Kredo0. His email address is kredo@freebeacon.com.

Read the rest here:
More Than 120 Members of Congress Issue Letters of Support to Leading Anti-Israel Group - Washington Free Beacon

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on More Than 120 Members of Congress Issue Letters of Support to Leading Anti-Israel Group – Washington Free Beacon
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

A former Canadian military engineer who had disappeared after reports came out of his neo-Nazi connections made trips to Silver Creek to meet and train with other members of a white nationalist gang.

Patrik Jordan Mathews had entered the U.S. illegally and, according to an affidavit unsealed on Friday, had been participating in paramilitary training with other members of The Base.

Jordan, along with three other members of the group, were arrested in Maryland on Thursday. A day earlier, three North Georgia men who were also reportedly involved in the same gang were picked up here.

Luke Austin Lane, 22, of 550 John Ingram Road in Silver Creek; Michael Helterbrand, 25, of Dalton; and Jacob Kaderli, 19, of Dacula, were arrested on charges of criminal attempt to commit murder and participating in a criminal gang.

According to the court document:

The plan was to kill what the group identified as two high-ranking Antifa members who are married and live in Bartow County. The couple had an affiliation with a group called the Atlanta Antifacists and were chosen because the couple had no known connection to The Base gang.

The Base and its terrorist ideology is apparently what brought the three Georgia men in contact with Mathews as well as others.

The affidavit describes The Base as a "white racially motivated violent extremist group." It says those arrested plotted to incite a race war and then establish a "white ethno-state." The group was founded in July 2018 to organize and recruit racists for a "violent insurgency" against the United States government as well as non-white groups.

Conversations on a members-only encrypted messenger application describe plans of mounting a terrorist campaign that asked members to form three-man "Trouble Trio" cells.

Members of the group met online in encrypted chat rooms to discuss recruitment and plan violent acts against minorities and rival groups -- in this case, Antifa. They also worked out plans to establish and participate in paramilitary training camps.

Group members used the encrypted chat rooms to discuss how they should react if police showed up with warrants, often stating they'd not be taken alive. They also voiced support for a man who murdered 11 people in a mass shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2018.

Leaders of the group cautioned members to be covert and promoted terrorist strikes.

"No need to wait until all conditions for revolution exist -- guerrilla insurrection can create them. Insurgency begins as a terrorist campaign," read one post, which was accompanied by an image of a armed person watching an explosion.

The gang organized into regional chapters for security and fostered an amount of autonomy in order to have "plausible deniability" for its actions, the affidavit stated.

Previously posted on Jan. 16:

A Silver Creek man linked to the white nationalist terrorist organization The Base was arrested the day before three men from the same group were taken into custody by the FBI in Maryland.

According to arrest warrants obtained from the Floyd County Jail, Luke Austin Lane, 22, of 550 John Ingram Road in Silver Creek, was arrested Wednesday by the Floyd County Police Department on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and participation in a criminal gang.

The warrant for criminal gang participation stated Lane was associated with The Base when he conspired to commit murder between Aug. 2, 2019, and Jan. 14.

Two other North Georgia men were arrested for their part in the plot.

Michael Helterbrand, 25, of Dalton, and Jacob Kaderli, 19, of Dacula, were also arrested.

Helterbrand was in the Whitfield County Jail with a hold on him for Floyd County. Kaderli was transferred Thursday to Floyd County from the Gwinnett County Jail.

Details concerning the arrests were unavailable on Thursday.

The exhibit containing details of the charges is under seal by a Floyd County Superior Court judge.

Floyd County Police Chief Mark Wallace said he could confirm his department participated in the arrest along with other agencies but said he could not comment while the case was under seal.

The Anti-Defamation League said members of The Base and other white supremacist groups have frequently posted online messages advocating for accelerationism, a fringe philosophy in which far-right extremists have assigned to their desire to hasten the collapse of society as we know it.

The term is widely used by those on the fringes of the movement, who employ it openly and enthusiastically on mainstream platforms, as well as in the shadows of private, encrypted chat rooms, the ADL says.

The arrest appears to be in concert with the arrest of three other men in Maryland including a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist who was in the country illegally, Patrik Jordan Mathews. In addition, Mathews had reportedly made trips to Georgia to train with members of the group, the New York Times reported.

Mathews and two other men who are members of The Base were arrested on federal charges in a criminal complaint unsealed in Maryland, according to a Justice Department news release.

Tuesdays complaint charges Mathews, 27, and Brian Mark Lemley Jr., 33, of Elkton, Maryland, with transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony. William Garfield Bilbrough IV, 19, of Denton, Maryland, is charged with transporting and harboring aliens.

The three men were believed to be planning to attend the pro-gun rally planned for Monday in Richmond, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation.

In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices, their military-style training camps and their desire to create a white ethno-state, according to an FBI agents affidavit.

Mathews and Lemley were arrested in Delaware and Bilbrough was arrested in Maryland, according to Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorneys office in Maryland. All three men were making initial court appearances Thursday afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Mathews illegally crossed the U.S. border near Minnesota in August, according to court papers. Lemley and Bilbrough then drove from Maryland to Michigan to pick up Mathews before the three headed to Maryland in late August, investigators said.

Mathews was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army Reserve. Lemley was a cavalry scout in the U.S. Army, court papers show.

U.S. and Canadian authorities had been searching for Mathews after his truck was found in September near the border between the two countries. He was last seen by family members in Beausejour, northeast of Winnipeg, on Aug. 24, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The Canadian militarys intelligence unit was investigating Mathews for possible racist extremist activities for several months, according to the Canadian Department of National Defense.

Authorities say Lemley and Mathews built an assault rifle using several parts, including an upper-receiver that Lemley had ordered and shipped to a Maryland home. In December, the three men gathered at an apartment that Lemley and Mathews rented in Delaware, where they discussed The Base and its activities and members, passed around the assault file and tried to make the drug DMT, a hallucinogen, according to court papers.

A few days later, Lemley and Mathews bought 150 rounds of ammunition and paper shooting targets and Lemley was spotted by an FBI agent at a gun range in Maryland. Court papers say federal agents heard the gun firing in rapid succession and authorities allege that Lemley later told Mathews: Oh oops, it looks like I accidentally made a machine gun.

Federal agents appeared to be tracking the mens movements and set up a stationary camera near the gun range, which captured video of Mathews shooting the gun there on Jan. 5. Court documents say Lemley had also ordered 1,500 rounds of ammunition and he and Mathews visited the gun range as recently as Saturday.

Lemley also is charged with transporting a machine gun and disposing of a firearm and ammunition to an alien unlawfully present in the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more:
UPDATE: Affidavit links former Canadian army extremist to local white nationalist group, target of murder plot was Bartow County couple - Cherokee...

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on UPDATE: Affidavit links former Canadian army extremist to local white nationalist group, target of murder plot was Bartow County couple – Cherokee…
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

Congressional Republicans continue to push legislation that targets the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and their first move of 2020 is the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. The legislation, which was introduced by rabidly pro-Israel Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), would an add an amendment to the Export Administration Act of 1979 that would prohibit boycotts against United States allies (such as Israel) and block requests for boycotts by international governmental organizations.

The bill cites the United Nations and the European Union, groups that have promoted boycotts in recent years. These calls did not encourage a commercial boycott of Israel, but an economic campaign that specifically targets Israelisettlements in occupied Palestinian territory. This means that, despite attempts to frame the legislation as an attempt to stop boycotts of Israel, its actually a bill about settlements. In fact, the act establishes that congress should view the United Nations Human Rights Councils creation of a database that compiles a list of companies doing business in the occupied territories as an act of BDS that should be opposed.

The Export Administration Act of 1979 is federal legislation that was used as a tool to combat the Arab League Boycott of Israel by prohibiting United States businesses from participating in the boycott. In a comprehensive post breaking down the specifics of Zeldins bill, Foundation for Middle East Peace President Lara Friedman points out that it looks to conflate coercive boycotts of Israel (where businesses were forced to boycott the country in order to business with certain foreign organizations) and current BDS activities meant to protest the occupation.

In a statement announcing the bills introduction, Rep. Zeldin referenced recent antisemitic violence as one of the reasons that the legislation must be passed. We have witnessed the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hate throughout the world, in our nation, on college campuses and within the halls of Congress under the guise of the BDS movement, and whether this bigotry is brazen or its blatant anti-Semitism deceptively called legitimate we must crush it wherever it exists, said Zeldin, Too many in Congress have emboldened this rhetoric by accepting the BDS movement whose founder, in referring to Zionism, said I, for one, support euthanasia, and coming off of a Hanukkah which will be remembered for the sick amount of violent anti-Semitic attacks, we must combat this anti-Israel hate wherever it rears its ugly head. This legislation would not only reinforce Congress opposition to the BDS movement, but protects American companies from being forced to provide information to international organizations that peddle this hate-filled movement, and holds those who attempt to violate that protection accountable.

This isnt the only time BDS has come up in Congress this week. On January 15, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism held a hearing on the rise of antisemitic violence. Panelists Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, the Orthodox Unions Nathan Diament, NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism John Miller, George Mason Law Professor Eugene Kontorovich, and president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Cliff May.

In his remarks, Kontorovich admitted that the BDS movement didnt promote violence, but said that it seeks to make anti-Semitism acceptable in polite society. He then called on Congress to pass the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. To anti-Zionists, Jewish lives do not matter, Cliff May told the room.

Zeldins bill is currently co-sponsored by 58 Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York. Last year, when Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-D) criticized the political influence of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Suozzi rushed to defend the organization. AIPAC is a not-for-profit that promotes US Israel relations and specifically does not make donations to political campaigns, he tweeted, My support for Israel is based upon our shared values, our national security interests, and the history of the region.

The Senate passed a different anti-BDS last February, but it hasnt received a vote in the House. Every Senator currently running for the Democratic nomination voted against the legislation, besides Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Read the original post:
Congressional Republicans are pushing an anti-BDS bill that would target the UN and EU - Mondoweiss

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Congressional Republicans are pushing an anti-BDS bill that would target the UN and EU – Mondoweiss
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

/latest/2020/01/us-government-issues-warning-over-nazis-using-bitcoin/

U.S. Government Issues Warning Over Nazis Using Bitcoin

us-government-issues-warning-over-nazis-using-bitcoin

The United States House Financial Services Committee has issued a warning after concluding that Nazis and other domestic terrorists are using bitcoin and crypto to support their activities.

In a hearing held Jan. 15, members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee addressed the issue of cryptocurrency and its role in funding domestic terrorism.

Congressman Brad Sherman of California (D) claimed that white supremacists were using bitcoin.

He said,

If it works for Hamas, it will work for the Nazis, too.

Jared Maples, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Director, said domestic terror groups would likely increase their use of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the years to come. Congressional Research Service finance expert Rena Miller and Anti-Defamation League Senior Vice President George Selim supported Maples claim, predicting that the rise in popularity for bitcoin would contribute to its illicit use.

According to the report, Selim noted that neo-Nazi troll Andrew Auernheimer has already received great sums of money in donated bitcoin.

Featured Image Credit: Photo via Pixabay.com

Read the original post:
U.S. Government Issues Warning Over Nazis Using Bitcoin - CryptoGlobe

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on U.S. Government Issues Warning Over Nazis Using Bitcoin – CryptoGlobe
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

Tiffany Haddish thinks the "word of God" is the "best gift" you can give someone.

The 40-year-old actress was gifted a Bible with a diamond cross on the cover from Beyonc and Solange Knowles' mother Tina Knowles Lawson during her birthday bat mitzvah last month, which she hosted to celebrate her Netflix special 'Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah'.

And although Tiffany is Jewish, she still appreciated the present she received, because she says sharing your "beliefs" with someone is a "blessing".

She explained to Us Weekly magazine: "Now that was a blessing. I think that's one of the best gifts you can ever give someone is the word of God.

"I feel like that's super special and super important. I don't care if it's a King James' Bible, a Torah, [or] a Quran - when you share your beliefs with someone, I think that's the best gift you could ever give someone because that gives them understanding and clarity."

Tiffany's Netflix special aired on the streaming service to mark her 40th birthday on December 3, and the star - whose father was a Jewish refugee from Eritrea while her mother was an American Jehovah's Witness - said prior to the release that she wanted to "honor" her heritage with the show.

She said: in a video shared to Instagram: "What do you mean you're black and you're having a bat mitzvah, Tiffany?' Well, I don't know if y'all know this about me, but I'm Jewish. I'm Jewish by DNA.

"And because of my father, I want to honor him and our ancestors, and I want to do something that represents growth and maturity. And I want to teach. That's what I've been put on this planet to do is teach, and Judaism is all about that!

"It's my black mitzvah, baby! She grown, and she ready!"

Meanwhile, the 'Night School' star recently revealed she has been learning Hebrew ahead of her bat mitzvah ceremony.

She said: "I'm going to read from the Torah and everything."

Original post:

Tiffany Haddish: The 'word of God' is the 'best gift' - Richmond Daily News

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on Tiffany Haddish: The ‘word of God’ is the ‘best gift’ – Richmond Daily News
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

A new art exhibitionin Manhattan depicts the Holocaust's horrors from the perspective of the persecuted, not the persecutors.

There is achilds illustration of Jews in Czechoslovakia being deported to a concentration camp. A prisoners pencil-and-crayon drawings of Auschwitz. A woman'ssecret portrait of a fellow prisoner, made on any paper she could find.

The drawings including by the child, Helga Weissova;the prisoner in Auschwitz, Alfred Kantor; and the portrait artist, Manci Anis are among 21 workson display at Rendering Witness: Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony, which runs from Thursday through July 5 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, 36 Battery Place, at the southwest tip of Manhattan.

Its through the people who lived it. Its the way they depicted it, the way they wanted to depict it, said exhibition curator Michael A. Morris. Its not from, quote-unquote, the Nazi lens.

Many of today's historical photographs and other visual representations of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were slain,have origins inGerman and Nazi material created for the purpose of anti-Semitic propaganda, Daniel Uziel, the head of Yad Vashems photo collection, told theHaaretz newspaper in 2018.

According to the text introducing the New Yorkexhibition, which features 10 artists: It is a miracle that this art survived. Each artwork in this exhibition reasserts the artists humanity and individuality, qualities too often obscured by Holocaust photographs that were taken by the Nazis or their collaborators."

The featuredartwas produced in Poland, Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia during or immediately after the Holocaust.

Get Newsday's Breaking News alerts in your inbox.

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

The exhibition also features what Marvin Halye, an American soldier,depictedin watercolor and chalk after heliberated a camp in 1945 and found thousands of victims who didn't survive ("Liberation of Nordhausen" and "Civilians Covering Corpses").

There are many more artists' worksin a bookkept from 1942 and 1945 by Martha Klein von Peci, a Jewish woman imprisoned in a German ghetto. The book ison display in avitrine.She had invited fellow prisoners to contribute works about their lives to the book.

The exhibition also features the handwritten will of a Czech artist, Johann Eisler, wholefthis possessions to his girlfriend before he died at a concentration camp.

Reported crimes against Jews and vandalism of Jewish institutions has risen in New York City, according to the NYPD. Most of the incidents have been in neighborhoods where observant Jews tend to live.

"Anti-Semitism has arrived on our doorstep again, on your doorsteps in Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Borough Park, Monsey, Jersey City, here in Manhattan," Jack Kliger, the museum's president and chief executive, told a group of schoolchildren from Brooklyn visiting.

Jews have been hit, punched, slapped; a woman has had her wig pulled off her head, according to the NYPD.

Last month, there was a stabbing of Jews celebrating the penultimate day of Hanukkah at a rabbi's house in upstate Monsey, and a deadly shooting at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City.

Standing Wednesday withthe public schools chancellor,Richard Carranza,Kliger announced that all 8th and 10th grade classes 14,000 students in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park would be sent onfield trips to the museum.

Asked whether perpetrators of the crimes are ignorant of the Holocaust's history,Deborah Lauter, who heads Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes said: "When they are interviewed many of them will say, 'Iknew Iwas doing something wrong. Ididn't understand the message that it was portraying.' That being said, we have not caught allthe perpetrators."

Carranza also announced that all families with students 12 and olderin the public schools would be able to visit free.

Also on display is the museum's multi-floor "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away" exhibition, which features hundreds of original objects and photographs, including Heinrich Himmlers SShelmet and his annotated copy of Hitlers "Mein Kampf."

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City Hall.

Read more:

Exhibition of art by Holocaust witnesses to open in NYC - Newsday

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on Exhibition of art by Holocaust witnesses to open in NYC – Newsday
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2020

The Kwanzaa Film Festival presents a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day program, themed "A Kwanzaa Response to a Hanukkah Tragedy" with a program that focuses on African American-Jewish Relations. The feature presentation is this year's "Best Film" winner Soul Doctor - the Broadway movie-musical about the life of the 'rock star' rabbi Shlomo Carlbach and his history shaping relationship with music icon Nina Simone. The film will be shown on Monday, January 20th at 4pm at AMC Magic Johnson Harlem (2309 Frederick Douglas Blvd.) as part of their Gala Awards evening.

Soul Doctor tells the story of the beloved yet controversial father of popular Jewish music, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. A modern-day troubadour, Shlomo ignited the spirit of millions around the world with his soul-stirring melodies, transformative storytelling and boundless love. After his childhood escape from Nazi Germany, the young Rabbi formed an unlikely friendship with legendary jazz singer Nina Simone, who introduced him to soul and gospel music, and a Jewish music and cultural revival was born. Fusing his roots with his new inspiration, Shlomo created a revolutionary musical sound, writing songs that continue to be the main body of Jewish musical standards. The "Jewish Gospel/Soul" experience he introduced to the synagogue worship became the most popular synagogue services across all denominations of Jewish practice.

Soul Doctor show was originally workshopped at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and subsequent New York productions included an off Broadway debut at The Museum of Jewish Heritage; showcase productions at Jazz at Lincoln Center and The Roundabout Theatre Company (which featured India Arie as Nina Simone), two sold out seasons at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, in New Orleans in 2009 and 2010, and subsequent runs at The Colony Theater in Miami in 2011, The Parker Playhouse in Ft Lauderdale in 2012, The New York Theatre Workshop in 2012, and Broadway in 2013 at Circle in the Square Theatre.

The show then played Montreal in Yiddish in 2014 and an off Broadway run in 2015. Soul Doctor was also the feature presentation at the "Israel at 70" Festival in Jerusalem, where the production was filmed.

With music by Shlomo Carlebach, lyrics by David Schechter, book and direction by Daniel Wise, and choreographed by Abdur Rahim Jackson (Alvin Ailey, Beyonce "Halo" music video and Superbowl Show), the film stars Tony Award nominee Josh Young (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita) as Shlomo and Nya (star of the recent Cleopatra, and the upcoming Broadway revival of Caroline or Change) as Nina Simone along with Charlotte Moore (Les Miz, ALW's Wizard of Oz), C.J. Tyson (Broadway's Wicked), Richard Cerato (Soul Doctor BDWY), Rebecca Kritzer (In The Hights), Yovel Moss, Emily Padgett (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Rock of Ages), Allison Poccia (Parks & Recreation), Toni Elizabeth White (Amazing Grace) Luke Wygodny (Once), Jordan Zell and Marc Zell.

Soul Doctor's creative consultant and additional material is by Neshama Carlebach.

Of the stage musical, The New York Times raved, "Inspiring and absorbing! A joyous Leaping Roar!," and The Wall Street Journal cheered, "exhilarating! riveting! Hilarious!" Time Out New York said, "a spectacular cross between Fiddler on the Roof and HAIR," and The Examiner exclaimed, "A certifiable hit...Genius! Five stars." The London Financial Times lauded, "While libraries have been written about the similarities of historical struggle between jews and African-Americans. I have never seen them put across more eloquently than in Soul Doctor."

The event will culminate with a performance of "I Had A Dream", performed by Stephon Ferguson, the only artist licensed by the King estate to perform the historic speeches. Mr Ferguson's riveting portrayal has brought Dr. King to life in theatres, public rallies and royal palaces throughout the world, including three presidential performances at the White House.

The Kwanza Film Festival was birthed out of a need to give voice to filmmakers creating works that embrace the cultural values of African Diaspora people of color." Said Ina Norris, the festival's founder. "After last month's surge of bloody attacks on a Jewish grocery and a Hannuka gathering, we felt compelled to organize a cultural event that celebrates Dr. King's powerful voice in the fight against anti-Semitism and his unique alliance with the Jewish community. This year's Best Film award winner "Soul Doctor" highlights the message fo racial unity."

"The Kwanzaa Film Festival's mission to promote unity, harmony and peace through the arts." The festival's managing director, Billy Robinson explained. "This year's award- winning Best Feature, "Soul Doctor" elaborates the impactful influence of Gospel & Soul on the post-Holocaust Jewish cultural revival and its popular music."

"Soul Doctor's writer/director Danny Wise said, "The award winning post production team was able to create a genuinely cinematic experience while maintaining the energy of the live performance; it's exhilarating to see the movie audiences singing and clapping to the music - dancing in the aisles at the end!"

Soul Doctor was originally produced on Broadway by: Jeremy Chess, Jerome Levy, Edward L. Steinberg, Robert Beckwitt, David Haft, Ken Abramowitz, Brian Murray and Joel Kahn. In Partnership with Michael Steinhardt.

For tickets to see Soul Doctor, please visit: http://www.SoulDoctorMovie.com

Soul Doctor will screen at AMC Magic Johnson Harlem (2309 Frederick Douglas Blvd.)

Admission is free, with a suggested $25 donation to Kwanzaa Film Festival

Go here to read the rest:

Broadway Movie-Musical SOUL DOCTOR to be Shown in Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Broadway World

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on Broadway Movie-Musical SOUL DOCTOR to be Shown in Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Broadway World
Tags: