Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

It has been a week filled with celebrations of the completion of the 13th cycle of Daf Yomi, as tens of thousands of Jews worldwide completed the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud after studying one page per day for seven-and-a-half years.The most impressive siyum meaning finishing, the word used to describe the celebration of completing a section of Torah study took place at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, where 92,000 people attended to rejoice over this accomplishment. The Barclays Center in Brooklyn held another 20,000, and arenas and convention halls in Israel were also filled on consecutive nights as part of the many celebrations.As inspiring as it was to see so many people completing the entire Talmud and celebrating the study of Torah, the fact that there were so many separate and disconnected siyums demonstrates a disheartening level of polarization in our nation.Shas, the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party, held its own siyum in the Payis Arena in Jerusalem. United Torah Judaism, representing the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox population, held its own celebration in the same arena on a different night. The religious Zionist community held its siyum at the Jerusalem Convention Center, and in an amazing, new development, there was a siyum held for women at the Convention Center a few nights later. When Rabbi Meir Shapiro first proposed the idea of Daf Yomi in August 1923 in Vienna at the First World Congress of the Agudat Israel organization, he told the audience: What an incredible thing. A Jew travels by boat and takes the tractate about blessings under his arm. He travels for 15 days from the Land of Israel to America, and each day he learns the daily page. When he arrives in America, he enters a place of worship in New York and finds Jews learning the same page that he studied that day, and he gladly joins them. Another Jew leaves the States and travels to Brazil or Japan, and he first goes to the synagogue where he finds everyone learning the same page that he himself learned that day. Could there be greater unity than this?There is no doubt that Daf Yomi has generated unity. That everyone participating in this project is literally on the same page as everyone else who is learning it wherever they go is nothing short of remarkable. And I understand that there is no one location that can hold the close to 200,000 people who participated in the various major celebrations. But imagine if all would come together in one major siyum held in different venues but connected to one another via technology. The siyum at Metlife was shown via video to dozens of other locations, and the big screen at the stadium showed footage of people celebrating simultaneously in numerous US cities and Israel.Now imagine if that was broadened beyond the network of Agudat Israel, which arranged that incredible event. Imagine if that celebration connected to arenas and stadiums throughout Israel with mixed crowds made up of Shas, United Torah Judaism and religious Zionist populations. Imagine if at Metlife Stadium and Barclays Center there were rabbis from Yeshiva University and non-yeshivish communities on the dais alongside the Agudah rabbis. That type of unity would be the ultimate fulfillment of the unity which Rabbi Shapiro described. We now have seven-and-a-half years to try to correct this flaw. Despite all the disagreements and differences of focus and approach of the various populations, there is no reason why all cannot come together for one, unified, interconnected siyum of the Talmud. I plan to do everything I can to try to make this happen, and call on anyone who wants to get involved in this effort to be in touch with me.It is likely that we wont succeed. But at least we will be able to say that we didnt remain silent in the face of such polarization, and that we tried to bridge the gaps, heal the wounds and coordinate an incredible sign of Jewish unity at a time when unity is what we so desperately need.The writer served as a member of the 19th Knesset.

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The Daf Yomi celebrations: Inspiring, but more unity is needed - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

My grandfather always used to say to me: "In Russia, I was a Jew; but here, I'm a Russian."

It took me a while to fully grasp what he meant. I guess growing up in a migrant town didn't help. To this day, almost all of my friends from home are either Russian-born or first-generation Israeli from Russian families.

Jews in the Soviet Union boarding a plane to Israel

You never really grasp the idea that somehow you are different. We talk with each other, throw Russian slurs and slang freely and everyone understands. We all eat the same food. Borscht, pelmeni, kvass, and ikra were on everyone's table.

I spoke Hebrew, went to school and learned about David Ben-Gurion and Haim Bialik, wore a school shirt with Hebrew lettering. But inside, it's all Dostoevsky and Russian 1980s culture.

I'm an Israeli Russian. Simple, right?

Unfortunately, that is not good enough for some.

Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef's racist and infuriating statements on Monday are just an example of Israel and the failure and reluctance of its natural-born population to look at us as equals.

I could go on about how I served in the army, that I study at a college in Israel, that my girlfriend is a fifth-generation Israeli and how much I love hummus.

But I certainly don't need to explain myself or my brothers and sisters of former-USSR stock.

Jews in the Soviet Union were always seen as different. When we migrated en masse in the 90s, Israel didn't know how to cope. They dispatched us to various towns and villages on the periphery and thought we would blend in - just as the immigrants who came before us did.

Surprise: that didn't happen.

Soviet Jewry suffered for more than a century a complete disconnect from the Jewish world.

Jews were at the forefront of the Bolshevik movement, not because they were "gentile communists", as the rabbi likes to call us. They joined the socialist ranks because they were scum in the eyes of the tsar.

They founded a new home in the east and began making their lives better. The Bund, the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Sergey Eisenstein; all the result of a new age for the Jews.

But then the hammer and sickle were used against us. First by the Nazis and then by the Russians who we fought to be brothers in the fight for a new world. Our identity was choked and suffocated to almost non-existence. So, we did what Jews do best - we survived.

Three former Prisoners of Zion. L-R: Rabbi Yosef Mendelevitch, Yuli Edelstein and Natan Sharansky

(Photo: David Rubinger)

In our hearts, we knew we were Jewish, even if the anti-Semites in the USSR never forgot to remind us.

Yuli Edelstein and Natan Sharansky gave up whatever freedom they had left for the right to be with their true brethren, the Jews of Israel. They were heroes and when the Berlin Wall fell, we came - all those millions of us.

We came to this new homeland, for my family, a return to what we thought was a loving embrace 2,000 years in waiting.

Slowly reality hit us hard. Working 14 hours a day for peanuts, in jobs that didn't fit our education and the state leaving us to our devices, except when beneficial to them.

We realized the old Soviet reality was back, so many begun to crawl into their shell, the only place where we could be happy. The food, the culture, and the language were an escape for us. A way to remain sane in an insane situation.

Time passed and we thought we had become normal - Israelis like everyone else. We have lawmakers in the Knesset, senior army officials, and academics and doctors.

But for some, it's not good enough. For some, we are a horrible mistake and heresy that should have never descended upon the Holy Land's shores.

We brought with us a rich tradition and culture that might not be Jewish by the book, but what is being Jewish anymore?

A Red Army veteran marches in the Victory Day event in Haifa, May 2019

(Photo: Haifa Municipality)

People such as the chief rabbi need to wake up. This is the inherent beauty of Judaism, its multitude of flavors and variations. No one honestly believes that a Sephardi Jew in Tel Aviv is the same as an Ashkenazi Jew in Brooklyn or a Kochini Jew in India.

I don't care about the primitive thoughts of the rabbi or any of his acolytes. We will keep working hard and keep sacrificing ourselves for what we believe.

I am an Israeli Russian. You can say whatever you want, but I am Israeli and I am a Jew, even if it doesn't fit your mold.

Liran Friedmann is a writer and editor at Ynetnews

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By the Volga, we sat down and wept for Zion - Ynetnews

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

AP photo Chana Blum, 14, recites a blessing after lighting candles for Shabbat dinner Jan. 3 in her family's home in New York. Two days later, Blum joined her older sister at the No Hate, No Fear solidarity march organized by New Yorks Jewish community in response to the recent string in anti-Semitic attacks.

NEW YORK (AP) When a man spewed anti-Semitic slurs and spat on her face, Shoshana Blum remembered her ancestors who survived the Holocaust, and instead of looking down she defiantly stared at him eye to eye.

The 20-year-old junior at City College of New York left the subway in tears. But months after the attack, she continues to wear proudly the same Star of David necklace she wore that day, and on Sunday, she joined thousands of people in a solidarity march against a rise in anti-Semitism and acts of hate.

Its important to stand strong in my Judaism, she said. If this is whats happening when were out being proud Jewish people, whats it going to be like if were afraid and in hiding?

Many young Jewish people in the United States say their generation is searching for ways to cope with an alarming string of recent anti-Semitic attacks across the country.

The No Hate, No Fear march on Sunday came as a response to anti-Semitic violence, including the targeting of a kosher grocery in Jersey City, New Jersey, and a knife attack that injured five people at a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City.

We thought that anti-Semitism was a thing of the past. We learned about it but never thought we would live in it, said Rabbi Jon Leener, 31, who runs Base BKLYN, a home-based ministry that aims to reach out to millennials and Jews of all backgrounds. He attended Sundays solidarity march and published a photo with his three-year-old son on his shoulders. They held a banner that read: I love being Jewish because I love Shabbat.

In the past five years, Leener and his wife, Faith, have welcomed thousands of people into their home-based ministry rooted in openness. Minutes before a class or a Shabbat dinner, he always walked to the front door and unlocked it because the couple believes in a Judaism where no door is shut or locked.

This is all changing now. After Pittsburgh, after Poway, after Halle (Germany), after Jersey City, after Monsey we no longer keep the door unlock(ed), he recently said on Facebook.

Visitors now must buzz in and Leener installed a security camera for the front door.

Im angry that this is our new reality. I hate that anti-Semitism is changing how I practice and share my Judaism to the world, he said.

Anti-Semitic attacks rose worldwide by 13% in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to a report by Tel Aviv Universitys Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary Jewry. The report recorded nearly 400 cases worldwide, with more than a quarter of the major violent cases taking place in the U.S.

The surge of violent attacks on the Jewish community, most recently in Monsey, New York, have caused consternation nationwide.

After the stabbing in Monsey, I told my mom, This is crazy. He was arrested less than a mile from here, while we were at Shul (synagogue) and celebrating Hanukkah, said Blum, who was raised in Chabad-Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic movement.

The first time that Blum witnessed hate against Jews she was seven. The victim was her father, Rabbi Yonah Blum, who was the head of Columbia Universitys Chabad House for 23 years. As they walked from synagogue near the campus, a man came up behind him yelling anti-Semitic slurs and slapped his black fedora and his skullcap off his head.

Were very separated people when it comes to different topics but something that has been coming up since the (Monsey) attack, is that we all stand together, she said on a recent Friday as she prepared for the start of the Jewish Sabbath.

Since the Dec. 10 fatal shootings at a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City, there have been 33 anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., including 26 in New York and New Jersey, according to the Anti-Defamation Leagues Tracker of Anti-Semitic Incidents.

During a recent trip to a conference of young Jewish leaders in New York City, Hezzy Segal, 16, sometimes tucked his yarmulke under his purple Minnesota Vikings snow hat.

Ive never been scared of being Jewish, but with the rise in anti-Semitism, I was more aware of it, said the Minnetonka, Minnesota teen. Its sad, its scary for all Jews.

Forty-five percent of teenagers feel that anti-Semitism is a problem for todays teens, according to the largest study of Jewish teens conducted in North America. The Jewish Education Projects GenZ Now Research Report included 18,000 respondents and was published in March 2019.

Ive already been on my guard a lot, said Thando Mlauzi, 25, a UCLA junior, who is majoring in English.

One of my hopes and dreams is that we live in a world, in a society, where it doesnt matter that Im black and Jewish, said Mlauzi, who converted to Judaism in 2018.

On a recent Friday, Alexandra Cohen, 29, chopped tomatoes before guests arrived for a Shabbat dinner in her studio apartment decorated with menorahs and flags of Israel.

Cohen said that her connection to Judaism grew stronger after someone put an anti-Semitic message on the door of her dorm at Johns Hopkins University, and later when she traveled to Israel. She said she is combating the negative environment by exposing the positive side of Jewish life.

The Anti-Defamation League has worked on initiatives, including its No Place for Hate anti-bias, anti-bullying initiative, which is in place in schools. Another includes working with juvenile offenders who are involved in some of the incidents.

Reformed neo-Nazi Shannon Foley Martinez helps people quit hate organizations. She feels she must spread the message that people can change their lives. She hopes her story is a warning to parents.

People have preconceived notions of who they think violent white supremacists are, said Martinez, who at 15 became a skinhead who spouted white supremacist rhetoric, gave stiff-armed Nazi salutes and tagged walls with swastikas.

I grew up in a family with two middle-class parents who have been married for 51 years, I was one of the smartest kids in my class, I was a championship athlete at one point of my life. I dont fit what peoples ideas are of who is vulnerable to radicalize into these ideas, she said.

My story is important because of that. We have to look at ourselves and our children and think: This could be my child. Am I actively and intentionally taking steps to not find resonance and find resistance to hate?'

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Violent acts weigh on Jewish youth | News, Sports, Jobs - The - Lewistown Sentinel

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

As always, the Golden Globes was a coming together of some of Hollywoods biggest Jewish talents.

There werent many Jewish award winners at the glitzy ceremony on Jan. 5, but these were our favorite Jewish moments from one of the industrys biggest nights of the year.

Quentin Tarantino spoke Hebrew to his Israeli wife. The non-Jewish director won some awards for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and in an acceptance speech sent some love to his pregnant wife, Israeli singer Daniella Pick, who was in Tel Aviv.

Toda giveret, I love you, he said at the end of his speech. The first phrase translates to something like Thanks maam the latter word having a less matronly connotation in Hebrew.

Tiffany Haddish wore her Jewish star necklace. The comedian and movie star recently had a bat mitzvah and showed off her newfound Jewish pride in a Netflix standup special, so it wasnt too surprising to see Haddish rocking a Star of David necklace. But it was still meaningful.

Alma speculated that it couldve been the one that Barbra Streisand gave her recently.

Sam Mendes won best director. The British director, known for acclaimed movies such as American Beauty and Revolutionary Road, won his second Globe for best director of a feature film for his work on the World War I drama 1917. He has said that he inherited his work ethic from his Jewish mother.

Sacha Baron Cohen calls out Zuck. The comic prankster resumed his tirade against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and used the anti-Nazi film Jojo Rabbit to help do it.

The hero of this next movie is a naive, misguided child who spreads Nazi propaganda and only has imaginary friends, Cohen said while presenting an award. His name is Mark Zuckerberg. Sorry, sorry this is an old intro for Social Network. Im actually talking about Jojo Rabbit.

Cohen, who was nominated for best actor in a dramatic TV film or miniseries for his work in The Spy, has criticized Zuckerberg publicly for months over Facebooks policies when it comes to policing ads, hate speech and fake information.

He gave a speech about the faults of social media at the Anti-Defamation Leagues recent conference, at which he received an award.

If a neo-Nazi comes goose-stepping into a restaurant and starts threatening other customers and saying he wants to kill Jews, would the owner of the restaurant be required to serve him an elegant eight-course meal? Of course not! Cohen said in the speech, echoing comments he had made earlier in interviews. The restaurant owner has every legal right and a moral obligation to kick the Nazi out, and so do these internet companies.

Joey King became a fashion star. Joey King was the Breakout Star of the Golden Globes Red Carpet thats just one of several headlines praising the young actress fashion sense at the awards.

King, 20, best known for her role in the Hulu drama The Act for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe is part Jewish and part Christian, but the L.A.-born actress, who broke into the mainstream after portraying Ramona in the 2010 comedy Ramona and Beezus, has called herself mostly Jewish before.

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Top Jewish moments from the Golden Globes: Tarantino's Hebrew, Haddish's necklace, Joey King's dress - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

The decision to take our kids to Sundays No Hate, No Fear Solidarity March did not come easily. At least, not at first.

Its hard to say what, precisely, gave me pause. My kids are no strangers to social activism their elementary school is named for a civil rights leader, after all. One of my main goals as a mom has been to teach them to speak out when something is not right. Since they were very young, Ive schlepped them to Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, various climate change protests, rallies decrying standardized testing in schools, the Womens March, and so on.

So why did I hesitate when the most recent action was about standing up for our fellow Jews? At first, I blamed it on not wanting them to miss Hebrew school, and the feeling that my kids need to get back into the regular rhythm of things after the winter break. (Thats especially true as my older sons bar mitzvah will be later this year, and lets just say a lot of learning needs to happen between now and then).

But if Im being really honest, what made me hesitate was worry. Worry that was not about the potential for violence although that fear is certainly very real, and very present but about who our fellow demonstrators may be, and whether or not theyd reflect the diversity of New York City. The rally was impressively organized in a haste by a number of Jewish organizations, including UJA Federation of New York and the Anti-Defamation League, and I had seen a considerable amount of chatter about it in Jewish circles on social media.

And yet, the discussions outside these circles at least from my experience last week were almost nil. When I asked other social justice-minded friends whether or not they planned to attend Sundays solidarity rally, I was usually met with the response: What rally?

The very fact of the marchs existence seemed to have gained little traction outside the Jewish community, and I worried that the only people wed find there would be Jews. And then, my thinking went, what kind of message would I be sending my children? That we, as Jews, have a responsibility to repair the world and to speak out for those who are voiceless, but when it comes to fighting anti-Semitism, well, thats an issue thats only for Jews?

And so, I dithered about whether or not we should go, and then I dithered some more. And then, after reflecting on all that had happened in recent weeks, I realized how misguided my initial response was. I didnt even have to look far for an attitude adjustment: As the editor of Kveller, Ive worked with writers on powerful responses to the recent rise of anti-Semitism, from Talia Liben Yarmushs moving call for unity to Jordana Horns Jewish take on resistance.

Unbidden, the famous quote from Hillel the Elder popped in my mind: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? I realized, that by attending the rally, wed not only be teaching our kids how crucial it is to stand up for others wed also show them that when its our people who are being bullied, its our duty to stand up for ourselves. Now. And if Sundays march turned out to only be a demonstration of Jewish pride by Jewish people, well, thats a pretty powerful statement in and of itself.

Once we made the decision on Friday evening to attend, I knew it was the right choice. (Even my kids reluctantly agreed, though I think the chance to miss Hebrew school was what sealed the deal.) And then wouldnt you know it by Saturday night, I saw that a wider array of organizations had signed on, including the NAACP. I even saw it mentioned a few times by non-Jews in my social media feed.

So we went to the rally, and at the last minute we made plans to go with friends, a development that markedly increased my kids enthusiasm. We met up on the subway platform and arrived near Foley Square in Manhattan around 11:15 a.m., late enough to be representing the rear. At first, we fell in among a smattering of Guardian Angels, the volunteer crime-prevention group that has been patrolling Brooklyns Jewish neighborhoods since the violence began. As we slowly wound our way through the barricaded streets, we ran into acquaintances and paused for many photos. We stood next to a group of young families singing Hebrew songs together, and later, among a group of teens affiliated with Zionist youth movement, Habonim Dror.

Perhaps the march wasnt as visibly diverse as others we have attended, but it was truly an all-ages affair, from babies in strollers to people easily in their 80s and up, some stoically overcoming physical challenges to complete the 1.5-mile trek. At one point, during our slow approach to the bridge, our kids took to jumping and chanting, just as you see at a soccer match, in order to warm up. An elderly man enthusiastically joined in in fact, he even kept on jumping after the kids gave up.

I cant take him anywhere, a woman who appeared to be his partner quipped.

I dont know what it was like for those at the front of the march, where VIPs such as senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand led the crowd, while my congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, reportedly mixed it up among the throngs of people. For those of us near the back, we spent far more time waiting than walking. It was cold and windy, and the crowd was eerily quiet, generally absent of chants and mayhem. There were several times when I tried to bring the energy something Im normally really good at, just ask my kids but the vibe just wasnt there. As our trudge across the Brooklyn Bridge passed the three-hour mark, I became increasingly focused on when and how Id find a bathroom.

Absent singing or yelling, we quietly plodded along, our feet speaking the words that didnt pass our lips. Perhaps the silence was because the crowd wasnt the typical protest crowd, and didnt have a mental library of chants at the ready. Maybe it was because the reason for our march anti-Semitism was an impossibly polysyllabic word. (At one point, our kids tried to do a lettered call-and-response Give me an A! Give me an N! but, after several spelling failures, gave up.) A friend pointed out that perhaps the silence stemmed from the unprecedented circumstances: For many of us, it was an unusual thing to proclaim our Jewish identity so publicly.

While the diversity of New York was no doubt represented, the solidarity march was first and foremost a Jewish gathering. And it dawned on me that I had never been in a crowd of Jews that large, ever. That simple fact was actually pretty no, make that very cool.

(We are not religious, so the events commemorating the end of the Talmud cycle was not something for us, and I was a bit too young and out-of-touch to have attended the 1987 Free Soviet Jewry March, which drew some 250,000 Jews to the National Mall. As a kid growing up in the Midwest, Washington was a million miles away, anyway.)

By the end of the day, the organizers estimated the crowd at 25,000 people. For an event that was organized in days, it was an impressive turnout, and one in which I was proud to take part.

Would my kids have preferred to stay home and play Fortnite? Absolutely. Would they have preferred Hebrew school? Not a chance. And Im OK with that I believe that hating Hebrew school is a Jewish kids rite of passage, so whatever.

But more than anything, by participating in this historic event, I think we imparted a very important Jewish lesson to our children: Being a Jew doesnt just mean learning Hebrew, reciting prayers, celebrating holidays, or even tikkun olam. Its also about showing up, speaking out, and standing proud about who you are.

Originally published by Kveller, a 70 Faces Media brand

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I was skeptical about the march against anti-Semitism. I was wrong - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

Published 12:20pm EST, Thursday, January 9, 2020

When Jared Kushner said, anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, he was completely accurate.

Anyone who read President Trumps executive order knows it clearly states that it does not diminish or infringe upon the rights protected under any other provision of law, that is, the right to free speech. It does, however, provide a means to address anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism that is destroying free speech on college campuses, where Jewish students and other supporters of Israel have been shouted down, defamed, vilified and physically menaced.

Zionism is the Jewish national movement of self-determination in the land of Israel, where Jews have lived for millennia, even while under occupation by Romans, Muslim Arabs and later Turks. Love of Zion, the biblical term for both the land of Israel and Jerusalem, is embedded in Jewish prayer, ritual, literature and culture.

A Human Rights Watch report found a systematic practice by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas of arbitrary arrest and torture, and there have been no serious efforts to hold wrongdoers to account or any apparent change in policy or practice of Palestinians against their own people who dare to dissent.

Albert Einstein was a Zionist. Another Nobel laureate in physics, Steven Weinberg, has twice refused an invitation from a UK university because of boycotts against Israel. According to professor Weinberg, ... given the history of the attacks on Israel and the oppressiveness and aggressiveness of other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, boycotting Israel indicated a moral blindness for which it is hard to find any explanation other than anti-Semitism.

Anti-Zionism is the camouflage worn by 21st century anti-Semitism.

Julia Lutch

Davis, Calif.

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Letter: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism - New Haven Register

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

Peter Beinart entered the American Jewish communal conversation in 2010 with an article in the New York Review of Books, The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment.

There, the already former editor of the New Republic argued that by ignoring Israels continuing occupation of the West Bank, Jewish leadership was alienating a generation of young American Jews. He expanded his argument in his 2012 book, The Crisis of Zionism.

Mr. Beinart, who now is a professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York and a member of an Orthodox partnership minyan in Manhattan, wrote from the position of the Zionist left, advocating for a Palestinian state while supporting a strong Israel. Now he has made his Zionism official; he is number 14 on the Hatikvah slate for the Zionist Congress elections being held later this month. (He also is speaking in Teaneck this weekend; see box.) The Zionist Congress, founded by Theodor Herzl in 1898, guides policy for the World Zionist Organization and other Jewish institutions, including the Jewish Agency for Israel.

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The Hatikvah slate represents the Zionist left, including such organizations as Truah, Americans for Peace Now, the New Israel Fund, and the National Council of Jewish Women. It has placed opposition to settlement expansion at the top of its priorities. (The Israeli government has long funded West Bank settlement expansion through the World Zionist Organization, making the topic relevant.)

How popular is Hatikvahs position? In the 2015 elections, Hatikvah received eight delegates. In contrast, parties fielded by the Reform movement won 56 delegates, the Conservative movement earned 25 delegates and the Orthodox alliance got 24. The elections are held every five years; votes are cast by self-declared Zionists who live outside Israel and are willing to pay the $7.50 registration fee. (Voting begins January 21 at azm.org/elections.) If Hatikvah does better this year, it will be a sign of growing support for Mr. Beinarts argument that the Jewish community should not continue to sweep Palestinian rights under the carpet.

By running for the Zionist Congress, he said, Im trying to offer a different vision, one that reconciles Jewish national aspirations with Palestinian dignity.

The crisis of Zionism, in 2010 and now, is the situation of the Palestinians in the West Bank, he said. I think its worse than it was in the Jim Crow South. The legal reality for black Americans in the Jim Crow South is that they were legally citizens of the United States but couldnt in practice vote. They couldnt access the rights they were theoretically entitled to.

For Palestinians in the West Bank who live under the control of the Israeli state, theyre not even theoretically citizens of the state in which they live. They dont have the right to due process theyre under military rule. They dont have freedom of movement. If this were not happening in Israel, a country we want to see the best of, it would not be controversial to see it as a profound violation of human rights, he said.

Isnt the occupation over?

Thats part of why its so important for people to visit and see for themselves, he said. A few hours there makes it much clearer where we stand. The Palestinian Authority is best understood as a kind of subcontractor for the Israeli government. The leaders of the Palestinian Authority need permission from the Israeli state to travel around the West Bank. They can be arrested by Israel. The Palestinian Authority handles functions Israel doesnt want to do itself, but the ultimate force at the end of the day is Israel. The Israeli army can enter the West Bank areas A, B, or C any time it wants.

I dont think American Jews really understand at a gut level what its like for people to live their entire lives without the most basic rights we take for granted. No right to move from town to town. To lack the right not to have your land taken. To lack a legal system where you have due process. The fact that your children can be taken in the middle of the night and can be held for days without you knowing where they are.

It doesnt have anything to do with Israeli soldiers being bad people. But any time you create a legal reality where people have no rights vis a vis the state that controls their lives, it has terrible consequences. If more American Jews were to see this for themselves, I think they would understand. In my experience, its true for right-wing American Jews too. A lot of things we say to each other cant survive contact with reality, with actual experience with Palestinians.

Mr. Beinart said that his 2010 predictions about trends in the United States largely have come true.

Theres mounting alienation toward Israel by younger non-Orthodox Jews and younger progressives in general, he said. Thats changing the Democratic Partys relationship to Israel. Were seeing more challenges to the nature of Zionism itself than we have seen in the past.

In his book, Mr. Beinart had called on American Jews to join him in boycotting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and their products. He was echoing a call issued decades ago by Israeli anti-occupation activists such as the author Amos Oz. But since the book was published, Israel has gone on the warpath against all boycotts including not only those of Israel proper, but of territories under its control, in the language of the Israeli law that has been replicated in anti-boycott legislation supported by mainstream American Jewish groups and passed into law in several states.

Does that mean Mr. Beinart wouldnt be allowed in Israel?

Its a little more complicated, he said. It applies more if youre the leader of an organization. But its an example of what Ive been worried about: the toxic way the fundamentally undemocratic and unjust control of people who lack basic rights spills across the Green Line of 1967 and threatens Israeli democracy.

On the other hand, Mr. Beinart said that his predictions that Israels policies in the West Bank would lead to the countrys international isolation have proved wrong.

I did not foresee the degree to which rising authoritarianism and nationalism in other parts of the world would make Israels international position stronger, he said, citing the strengthening of Israels connection to India and China.

With both China and India now trying to suppress their Muslims, isnt Israel now in good company? Why worry so much about Israel?

The fact that there are other countries around the world that are acting in ways we abhor does not seem like a very good reason to act in a way we abhor, Mr. Beinart said. If my neighbor is stealing and murdering, I should do it too? I thought Jews were supposed to have some kind of ethical mission in the world.

Still, why should Israels actions register in the face of whats going on elsewhere?

One answer is that the horrors that are being done by China in Xinjiang and India in Kashmir are not being paid for by the American taxpayer, he said. The U.S. is complicit in what Israel is doing in a way its not in other human rights abuses. Israel is by far the largest beneficiary of U.S. military aid.

Mr. Beinart disputes the view, put forward by the current Israeli and American administrations, that Israels relations with the Palestinians arent relevant to Arab states that are growing closer to Israel politically.

Theres a sleight of hand there, Mr. Beinart said. Theyre talking about a number of corrupt tyrannical regimes that dont represent their people at all. Are there a number of regimes that dont really care what Israel does to the Palestinians? Sure. Thats not new. Arab government have been screwing the Palestinians since before Israel was created. But in terms of popular opinion, its wrong. Look at polling in the Arab world and youll find that one of the biggest drivers of hostility to the U.S. is American policy toward Israel. Part of why its hard for the U.S. to support democracy in the Middle East is because, davka, a more democratic government that reflects the popular will more would take a tougher stand on Israel.

Mr. Beinart wrote The Crisis of Zionism as a call to the American Jewish center; that center, he said, is much weaker than it was a decade ago. Thats part of the general trend in American politics these days, he said.

J Street is a lot stronger. Its close to as influential in the Democratic Party as AIPAC. That was not the case when I wrote the book. Groups to the left of me, Jewish Voices for Peace and the BDS world has grown stronger. The far right has also grown stronger; ZOA has benefited from sharing an ideology with the Trump administration.

And for the future? What does he see from his perch as a 49-year-old college professor?

There is a broad generational difference, he said. Young people are further to the left than older people. It has to do with the long-term impact of the Great Recession on their prospects, on their ability to get economic security. And because so much of the gain from American economic activity is going to the very rich. And we have a welfare system that provides most of its benefits to the elderly rather than the young. Its taking young people who might be liberal and making them more radical.

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

The elections of 2019 administered various shocks, one of them to the Religious-Zionist sector. There is a real possibility that in the next government, even in the next Knesset, the Religious-Zionist camp could find itself without representation.This new political reality appears to reflect a long-term erosion of the Religious-Zionist position in Israeli society. Writing in Makor Rishon on November 15, Ariel Schnabel cited a survey indicating that only 54% of the children of Religious-Zionists retain that affiliation as adults (for secularists it is 90%, for haredim/ultra-Orthodox 94%).It is time to consider the causes of this trend, and what if anything can be done to reverse it. Four main factors come to mind. First, the weakening of the Right as a whole, and of Religious-Zionism in particular, may be a Stockholm/Oslo syndrome response to increasing hostility from without. In the face of the possibility that any step in self-defense will lead to a war crimes charge, Zionist ideology feels unsafe. Since the settlements in Judea and Samaria incur so much hostility, perhaps we might be better off divesting ourselves of same. Against this instinctive reaction, even the lessons of experience (e.g., the results of the Oslo agreements and the Gaza withdrawal) do not always appear compelling. Second, global techno-capitalism whose influence has amplified in recent years through the spread of the smartphone is inherently hostile to Religious-Zionism. The large corporations oppose any commitments that restrict the uninterrupted operation of commerce, hence the increasingly-successful assault on Shabbat restrictions. Moreover, Religious-Zionism is an inescapably local phenomenon, and global techno-capitalism tends toward homogenization. It has no use for any sense of place. Third, Israels territorial setbacks in recent decades have disproportionately affected the Religious-Zionist community, both materially and spiritually. The ruins of Gush Katif represent not only labor lost but unanswered prayer. That message is not lost on the younger generation of the movement, nor on the Israeli public at large. And fourth, Religious-Zionism is a more complex phenomenon than either secularism or haredi orthodoxy. It involves a constant effort to strike a balance. This makes it harder to maintain. However, this is also why it is important to maintain. Amid the tensions between secularism and orthodoxy in Israeli society, Religious-Zionism is the center that must be made to hold.Is there, then, something that could be done, that has not yet been done, to strengthen Religious-Zionism?IF WE go back to the founding thinker of Religious-Zionism, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, we see that his philosophy has not been fully implemented in three areas: First, Rav Kook set us the task of integrating Torah study and observance with secular knowledge. In Orot he says that matters connected with the state must now be regarded as Torah subjects, and many statements to similar effect may be found in the letters and unedited writings. The task there is enormous, and work on it critical examination of all fields of knowledge in the light of Torah has scarcely begun. (Bar-Ilan University, founded with such aim in mind, is today just another secular university.) Second, Rav Kook wrote in Orot: Israel and its essence are not confined to a restricted private circle. They are concentrated in a unique circle, and from that center they exert an influence on the whole circumference. For him, universality was not contradicted by the particularity of the chosen people and the Promised Land. This challenges us to create a different globalism, not placeless and faceless, whereby our survival enables us to radiate an influence on the rest of creation. Such an enterprise could help Zionism to recover spiritually from those territorial setbacks (may there be no more of them). Third, the religious institutions devoted to Rav Kooks teaching have yet to take seriously his belief in the importance of art and especially poetry that is, to treat this belief as an integral part of his world-view, and to develop a poetics consistent with the Religious-Zionist vision. Part of what poetry does is to strengthen awareness of the connection between the particular and the universal. It can also strengthen imagination and will, which are sorely needed.To rebuild the Zionist dream would entail, as Motti Karpel wrote recently in Makor Rishon, a national creative effort that will take a generation. For this to happen, some people would have to be willing to leave their comfort zones, to oppose the inertia of institutions and habits, to do things that will seem, at least at first, inconvenient.I have one specific suggestion: the national creative effort needs a time slot. I propose that motzei Shabbat, the time immediately following Shabbat, be devoted to brainstorming sessions toward the national creative effort. Hopefully at this time, when the work week with all its pressures has not yet set in, secular affairs could be contemplated in the spirit of unity which lingers after Shabbat.The logistics would need to be worked out. But if a number of persons were to set aside this time between the sacred and the secular, it would be a clear signal. It would mean that something has begun.The writer runs the The Deronda Review.

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Analyzing the Religious-Zionist debacle - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

In 1884twelve years before Theodor Herzl published The Jewish State, and thirteen before the First Zionist Congressthe Russian rabbi Shmuel Mohilever joined the secular Jewish physician Leon Pinsker in founding the ibat Tsiyon, an organization dedicated to building a Jewish homeland in Ottoman Palestine. But it was Mohilevers disciple, Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines, who laid the foundations for religious Zionism as it is known today. Channa Lockshin Bob describes Reiness thought in light of newly discovered unpublished manuscripts:

Rabbi Reines brought together the sacred and the profane in many areas of his life. He founded a yeshiva that combined traditional talmudic study with secular subjects, an innovation at the time. His scholarship combined talmudic virtuosity with broad interests including mathematics, philosophy, and logic. So he was perfectly cut out to initiate close cooperation between traditional Judaism and secular Zionism.

Rabbi Reines first got involved in the Zionist movement in 1899, when he participated and spoke at the Third Zionist Congress in Basel. In the coming years he continued to participate in Zionist Congresses. He met Herzl and corresponded with him until Herzls death in 1904. In 1902 Rabbi Reines founded the Mizrahi movementa religious faction within the Zionist movementwith Herzls support.

Reiness lectures from the years 1908 to 1911 are collected in a manuscript titled Yalkut Arakhim. . . . [One] of these lectures, [delivered on the anniversary of Herzls death], examines the topic of immortality. Surprisingly, Reines presents a fairly [rationalistic] view of life after death: When we see that even after ones death, his achievements are recognized, that is a sign of his immortality. Later in the lecture, he adds that those whose help is recognized even after their death have been made to be like God. The last words of the speech are: All signs of mourning are signs of immortality.

Could it be that Reiness final sentence about signs of mourning is not only a general statement, but also a reference to himself, as he continues to mourn the loss of Herzl even years after his passing?

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The Unpublished Writings of a Pioneering Religious Zionist Thinker - Mosaic

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Posted By admin on January 11, 2020

A Jewish truck that was attacked by Arab irregulars on the main road to Jerusalem, 1948. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

This Hebrew month, Tevet, marks the 24th anniversary of the death of Dr. Israel Eldad, Zionist philosopher, confidant of Menachem Begin, and co-leader with Yitzhak Shamir of a 1940s Zionist paramilitary organization that fought against the British army.

Dr. Eldads memoirs of Israels battle for independence, titled The First Tithe, was published in English for the first time in 2008. The book is primarily about Eldads experiences as a leader in the Zionist underground LEHI (the Hebrew acronym for the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, better known as the Stern Gang or Stern Group), but begins in Europe. The subtitle of the book is Memoirs and Edifying Discourses of the Hebrew War for Freedom.

Eldad originally published this volume of memoirs in Israel in Hebrew in 1950. It went through five editions. The memoir covers the period between 1938 and 1948, and the title is a reference to the 10 years when so many Zionist fighters sacrificed so much for Jewish independence.

The final part of First Tithe contains Eldads penetrating and contrarian look at the early history of the Israel Defense Forces. He covers the failure of the Israeli army to capture Jerusalems Old City in 1948, the decision of the LEHI to disband and integrate into the IDF, and the brutal attack on the Irgun arms ship Altalena by Palmach forces. Eldads account of it is heart wrenching.

January 10, 2020 11:14 am

One of the interesting tales Eldad relates early in the memoir is the story of, when at the Betar World Conference in Warsaw in 1938, he publicly clashed with the great pre-World War II Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky during a debate following Menachem Begins proposal to call for an immediate armed revolt against the British Mandate. After leaving Warsaw subsequent to the citys fall to the Nazis, Eldad and his wife shared an apartment with Begin and his wife in Vilna. In his autobiographical book White Nights, Begin recalls playing chess with Eldad when the Soviet NKVD came to arrest him. Here we get Eldads take on the same event.

In 1944, Eldad was seriously hurt while attempting to escape from British custody in Jerusalem. He was finally freed after a dramatic prison break engineered by the LEHI. He was still wearing a cast on his back from the injuries he sustained during his first escape attempt. This story may be as close as First Tithecomes to the recollections of armed actions that the reader may expect to find in an underground army leaders memoir.

A far more important passage in the book is Eldads memories of celebrating the Passover seder in a British prison camp for two consecutive years. The emotions the prisoners felt that as they yearned both for their personal freedom to rejoice at the holiday table with their families and their longing to be free in a strong and independent Jewish state are brought to life. The story of the seders are interwoven with Eldads commentary on the Haggadah and how he related it to Zionist independence in front of both the prisoners and the British jailers as he led the seders.

Zev Golans translation brings Eldads distinctive voice to English successfully. No easy task. The English edition was published by the Tel Aviv-based Jabotinsky Institute and distributed through Geffen. This translation also includes a short biographical sketch of Eldad by Golan. Golan knew Eldad personally and interviewed him many times.

Geula Cohen, the veteran Israeli politician and journalist who passed away last month, had a longtime association with Dr. Eldad. The two worked together on her underground radio station broadcasts for the LEHI. Eldad wrote much of what Cohen delivered on air. Later, they collaborated on Eldads Zionist journal Sullam, created after Israels independence. Sullam was a full-throated critique of Israeli society and the young Jewish states government.

In Cohens book Woman Of Violence (later known as The Voice Of Valor), she wrote, It was Eldad who, in article, essay, and poem, chiseled on walls of stone the gospel of war. And these stones pierced hearts, coursed through veins, and emboldened men to fight.

Cohen was right. Eldad was one of a kind, and First Tithereflects his uniqueness as well as his passion for Zionism and Israel.

Moshe Phillips is national director of Herut North Americas US division and a candidate on the Herut slate in the 2020 World Zionist Congress US elections. Herut is an international movement for Zionist pride and education and is dedicated to the ideals of pre-World War II Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky. Heruts website is https://herutna.org/.

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The Mind of a Zionist Revolutionary | Jewish & Israel News - Algemeiner

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