Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

Tick tock, tick tock.

HBO

Now that Watchmen has come to its conclusion, we can finally pry open the back of Damon Lindelofs newest show and study the intricate clockwork that powers it. Like the comic books its modeled after, Lindelofs Watchmen is built around a central mystery that takes about a month to unfold (September 2019 in the TV show, October 1985 in the comics). But in both cases, that month sits atop decades and decades of carefully plotted alternate history, conveyed through flashbacks, dialogue, and documents from the world of Watchmen, either shown on screen or provided as extra reading. Its a richly detailed world thats a blast to get lost in, but if you arent a superhuman who experiences all moments of time simultaneously, it can be difficult to figure out what happened when. So we did it for you. Here are the most important things that happen in Lindelofs Watchmen, dated as precisely as possible, in chronological order. (Since theres no shortage of timelines obsessively covering the events of the Watchmen comic books, they are mostly not included here.) Start your watches!

Obie Williams is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Obie Williams reads a German propaganda flyer while serving in the U.S. Army.

May 25, 1921: Director Oscar Micheauxs Bass Reeves feature Trust in the Law! premieres at the Williams Dreamland Theater.

June 1, 1921: June Abar and Will Williamslater, Will Reevesare smuggled out of Tulsa during the Tulsa Massacre.

Jon Osterman and his father, Hans, flee Heidelberg for England, where they briefly stay in a manor whose owners are providing refugees a place to stay before traveling on to the United States.

Nelson Gardner is honorably discharged from the Marines after serving under Smedley Butler in the Banana Wars.

March 26, 1938: Graduation ceremonies for the NYPD Police Academy Class of 1938. Will Reeves is one of the cadets; so is Hollis Mason.

May 1938: Action Comics No. 1 hits newsstands.

Fall 1938: Will Reeves arrests a businessman named Fred T. for firebombing a Jewish deli.

Oct. 13, 1938: Will Reeves becomes Hooded Justice.

Oct. 20, 1938 (one week after Will puts on his mask): Hooded Justice raids Freds Original Market in Queens, discovering the first clues to Cyclops plan. Apropos of nothing in particular, Fred Trump founded and briefly ran a grocery store in Queens in the mid-1930s, though in our timeline he quickly sold it to King Kullen.

Captain Metropolis meets Will Reeves and convinces him to join the Minutemen.

Cyclops tests a curious new film projector at a screening of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in Harlem. Will Reeves, investigating, sees a projector loaded into a truck labeled F.T. & Sons. W.Washington Market, New York, NY. Reeves follows the truck, kills F.T. and everyone in his warehouse, steals their technology, and burns it to the ground. Apropos of nothing in particular again, in our timeline, Fred Trump Jr. was born in 1938, Donald Trump in 1946.

Hooded Justice disappears.

June 1, 1955: Sheriff Dale Dixon Crawford, Judd Crawfords grandfather, is given a leadership position in Cyclops.

June 2, 1955: John David Keene, who will later become Senator Keene, gives Dale Dixon Crawford Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship, a painting by George Catlin.

Adrian Veidt exposes a plot by right-wing extremists in the U.S. military to test biological weapons on the unsuspecting citizens of Nairobi. (In our timeline, the military conducted its biological weapons tests on the unsuspecting citizens of New York City, among other places.)

Edward Blake, aka the Comedian (and Laurie Blakes father), burns down Bian Mys village in Vietnam.

May 31, 1971: Nelson Gardner changes his will, naming Will Reeves his sole beneficiary.

June 1971: VVN Day: The United States wins the Vietnam War.

Aug. 9, 1974: Nelson Gardner dies in a traffic accident in New York. He is decapitated after flying through the windshield, but his head is never found.

Angela Abar is born in Saigon.

Judd Crawford marries Jane Lestley Alexander.

Will Reeves buys the movie theater where he used to work.

The Keene Act makes masked vigilantism illegal.

June 1977: Sister Night is released in Vietnam.

Adrian Veidt builds the memory-erasing device. (Approximate date; in 2009, he says he built it 30 years ago.)

Judd Crawford joins the Oklahoma County Sheriffs Department. He officially meets Sen. Keene Sr. while assigned to his security detail. (His family history means this might not actually have been their first meeting.)

October to November: The main events of the Watchmen comic books.

Nov. 1, 1985: Adrian Veidt records his video message for President Robert Redford. Bian My steals semen sample 2346 and uses it to conceive Lady Trieu.

Nov. 2, 1985 (11:59 p.m. Eastern): The Dimensional Incursion Event.

November 1985: Dr. Manhattan creates life on Europa.

March 21, 1986: The New Frontiersman begins publishing excerpts from Rorschachs journal.

August 1986 (approx.): Lady Trieu is born.

June 1987: Angela Abars parents (and Will Reeves son and daughter-in-law) are killed.

Sometime later, June Abar briefly meets Angela.

Jan. 20, 1993: Robert Redford is inaugurated president, succeeding Gerald Ford.

Jan. 21, 1993: Redford views Adrian Veidts video message.

Redford signs the Campaign Finance Reform and Donor Disclosure Act, which stops Veidt from using his wealth to further influence the Democratic Party.

Redford also signs the Tech Recall and Reintroduction Act, which outlaws technologies thought to be responsible for the squid attack.

Matthew Wayne Crawford, Judds father, dies in the line of duty as an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer.

Laurie Juspeczyk and Dan Dreiberg solve one last case together, killing Timothy McVeigh before he can bomb Oklahoma City.

April 25, 1995: Special Agent David Latimer, of the FBIs Vigilante Operations division, interrogates Laurie Juspeczyk about the killing of Timothy McVeigh. Juspeczyk cooperates, Dreiberg does not; he is sent to prison and is still there in 2019.

April 28, 1995: The FBI raids MerlinCorp, Dan Dreibergs company, and seizes the blueprints for Excalibur.

Adrian Veidt regains the wealth he lost in the aftermath of the Dimensional Incursion Event by licensing the technology to clone pets.

Lady Trieu graduates from MIT with four Ph.D.s. Not Massachusetts, though, per Peteypedia: Myanmar.

Jude and June Crawford move to Tulsa.

Dec. 13, 2004: The 10th Circuit decides Greenwood Survivors v. State of Oklahoma, laying the legal groundwork for reparations.

December 2005: Dale Petey publishes Fogdancing: My Summary in Nothing Ever Ends, a literary journal that publishes an annual issue dedicated to the novel by Max Shea.

Trieu Industries introduces Nostalgia to the market.

Adrian Veidt makes his last public appearance, to receive an award from Kenya for his actions in 1967.

Lady Trieu visits Veidt at Karnak and asks him to fund the Millennium Clock.

June 2009: Dr. Manhattan meets Angela Abar in a bar on VVN night.

June or July 2009 (two weeks after Abar meets Manhattan): Dr. Manhattan adopts the appearance of Calvin Jelani.

Dec. 14, 2009, approx. 1:15 p.m. (24 years, 41 days, and 13 hours since Veidt and Dr. Manhattan met at Karnak in the early hours of Nov. 3, 1985): Dr. Manhattan visits Adrian Veidt in Karnak and teleports Veidt to Europa. Later that afternoon, he visits Will Reeves at Nelson Gardners apartment and forms an alliance. Reeves begins investigating Sheriff Judd Crawford.

December 2009: Angela helps Dr. Manhattan try on some new jewelry.

Dec. 23, 2009: Angela Abar takes Calvin Jelani to Rampart Memorial Hospital in Saigon to seek treatment for his amnesia.

Trieu Industries begins launching space probes.

Dec. 14, 2010: Adrian Veidt begins writing his play The Watchmakers Son. That night, he celebrates his first year on Europa with champagne and cake.

Dec. 14, 2012: After a failed test of a spacesuit design, Adrian Veidt exchanges nasty letters with the game warden, then goes hunting at midnight in his full Ozymandias outfit.

Dec. 14, 2013: Adrian Veidt celebrates four years on Europa by murdering his entire staff, then stays up all night training their replacements.

Sometime before March 13, 2014 (5 years, 72 days, 9 hours, and 17 minutes after Lady Trieu and Veidt meet on an indeterminate date in 2008, but after Dec. 14, 2013): Adrian Veidt takes a walk, writes a message, and gets himself arrested.

Adrian Veidts yearlong trial ends. He is found guilty, despite a stunning closing argument.

Dec. 14, 2016: Veidt is given a horseshoe hidden inside his seventh anniversary cake.

Dec. 24, 2016: The White Night reveals Dr. Manhattans location to Cyclops. Judd Crawford gets promoted.

Dec. 27, 2016: Angela Abar wakes up in the hospital to find Judd Crawford there. A beautiful friendship begins.

Trieu Industries acquires Veidt Enterprises.

The Defense of Police Act, allowing police officers to wear masks, is passed. Sen. Joseph Keene Jr. is a sponsor.

Angela Abar becomes Sister Night.

Will Reeves begins showing Sister Night at the Harlem movie theater he bought with Gardners money. It plays at midnight every Sunday (right after Watchmen!).

Lady Trieu arrives in Tulsa, so at some point before this, Will Reeves met her at Manhattans suggestion and told her Cyclops plan.

Dec. 14, 2017: Lady Trieus rescue spaceship arrives on Europa, on the day Adrian Veidt is celebrating eight years there.

(Approx.) Lady Trieu purchases the Clark farm, shortly before Veidts spaceship lands there.

Aug. 29, 2019: The FBI starts using computers again.

Sept. 1, 2019: Special Agent Dale Petey writes a memo urging the FBI not to declare Veidt dead, for fear of angering right-wingers who want him found and punished for his role in Rorschachs disappearance.

Sept. 3, 2019: Dale Petey sends his second memo.

Sept. 8, 2019: President Redford nominates Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to replace the retiring Justice Grisham on the Supreme Court. Dale Petey writes another memo, this time about American Hero Story: Minutemen. Sheriff Crawford and his wife attend a production of Oklahoma. Officer Charlie Sutton of the Tulsa Police Department is shot by a Seventh Kavalry member during a routine traffic stop.

Sept. 9, 2019: Adrian Veidt is declared legally dead. Angela Abar attends Career Day at her sons school. A squidfall hits Tulsa (and Vancouver, Jakarta, and Leningrad). That afternoon, Angela Abar kidnaps a Seventh Kavalry member to interrogate about the shooting. The police raid the Seventh Kavalry facility at the cattle ranch.

Sept. 10, 2019: American Hero Story: Minutemen premieres. Sen. Joe Keene announces he is running for president.

Sept. 15, 2019: Petey writes another memo. The Crawfords have dinner at Cal and Angelas house. Later that night, Will Reeves and Crawford meet for the first and last time. Angela meets Will Reeves and shows him her restaurant.

Sept. 16, 2019: The Tulsa Police Department finds Crawfords body and rousts the local Nixonville. Angela visits the Greenwood Center for Cultural Heritage and drops off Wills DNA sample. Later, she visits June Crawford and is surprised to discover a wake is in progress, and even more surprised at what she finds in Crawfords closet. Back at the restaurant, Angela arrests Will, but he escapes in a flying car. Really!

Sept. 17, 2019: Laurie Blake captures The Revenger. Sen. Keene visits her that night and asks her to travel to Oklahoma the next morning to look into the murder of Sheriff Crawford.

Sept. 18, 2019: Agents Blake and Petey attend a briefing on the Seventh Kavalry, then fly to Tulsa. Blake visits the crime scene, the Crawford home, a Tulsa Police Department interrogation site, and a motel and then attends Judd Crawfords funeral, where she meets Angela and her family. They talk further while investigating the Seventh Kavalrys attack on the funeral. That night, agents Blake and Petey hook up. Afterward, Blake gives Dr. Manhattan a call, then sees Angelas car fall from the skies. Angela is there to hear it land, because shes been paying a late-night visit to the Greenwood Center for Cultural Heritage. A very busy day for everyone!

Sept. 19, 2019: Cal makes waffles. Angela gives Looking Glass the Klan robe and pills. Lube Man appears! Laurie Blake visits Cal at home. Angela and Blake visit Lady Trieu to ask about her drones. Bian has her nightmare.

Sept. 20, 2019: Looking Glass spends the morning consulting on a PR campaign for New York City. Laurie Blake takes over the investigation into the Seventh Kavalry and sends the Tulsa PD to canvas local churches to find the Kavalrys headquarters. That night, Looking Glass alarm system acts up.

Sept. 21, 2019: Looking Glass consults on a breakfast cereal campaign and visits his ex-wife to find out what Wills pills are. That night, he makes a new friend at a meeting of Extra-Dimensional Anxiety sufferers. She introduces him to Sen. Keene, who asks for a favor.

Sept. 22, 2019: Petey writes another memo. So does Blake. Then Petey writes another one. A big day for memos. Looking Glass consults on an ad campaign for a new perfume, then turns Abar over to Blake. Abar takes Wills Nostalgia. The Seventh Kavalry pays Looking Glass a visit at home.

Sept. 23, 2019: Angela spends most of the day recovering from Nostalgia. Petey visits Looking Glass, but he isnt home; Laurie visits June Crawford. That night, Angela leaves Lady Trieu to go wake her husband up. (Theyre expecting guests.) Lady Trieu, in turn, wakes Veidt. The Millennium Clock is activated, with surprising results for all.

Sept. 24, 2019: In the predawn hours, Angela goes for a swim, sort of.

Oct. 1, 2019: Dale Petey is officially fired from the FBI.

Only Adrian Veidt is arrogant enough to predict the future of the Watchmen universe. Im pretty sure Joe Keene isnt going to be president, though.

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Watchmen timeline: Here are the events of HBO's Watchmen, in chronological order. - Slate

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

Tolerance is a hot topic globally as we head into the festive season. In a recent interview with the Big Issue magazine, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby commented on what he described as a dwindling tolerance towards people from other backgrounds and faiths. "I am not saying we are in a crisis," he said. "I am just saying the direction of travel is not what we want.

His comments serve as a reminder that we in the UAE have many reasons to count blessings we often take for granted. Last weekend my wife and I were invited to attend a party thrown by a friend for the Abu Dhabi-based diplomatic corps. It had, naturally, a Christmas theme there was no Santa and no reindeer but plenty of decorations, along with roast turkey. During the evening, there was a surprise visit from a passing Filipino choir, whose members were welcomed in to sing carols.

Another guest, a recently arrived western ambassador, asked me how the ways of marking Christmas in the UAE had evolved over the years. A few days earlier, he said, a visiting minister from his country had been amazed to see a huge Christmas tree in the lobby of a Dubai hotel, with carols broadcast over the hotels loudspeaker system.

Over the years , Christmas celebrations have definitely become more publicly visible

This was nothing particularly unusual these days, I told him. It simply reflected the way in which the expression of the UAEs philosophy of religious tolerance has taken root over the years. Christians who have relocated from overseas have always celebrated Christmas here, both at home and in the churches. Decorations and displays with a Christmassy theme have also become conventional in many of the malls and hotels too, although there is often been a marketing and commercial element to it.

I myself am not a great observer of Christmas celebrations, although I enjoy the special family-orientated spirit at the parties I attend. Over the years that I have been here, Christmas celebrations have definitely become more publicly visible. An authentically local tradition of marking the occasion has gradually emerged, benignly observed by officialdom and the countrys Muslim-majority population, like the annual Carols by Candlelight in the Desert event in Abu Dhabi. Hundreds turned out for it this year. That is right and proper, reflecting the way in which the multicultural, multi-faith UAE displays its tolerance.

That is a feature of life in the Emirates which will, I hope, continue to flourish and grow.

If Christmas is a time during which the UAEs philosophy of tolerance is particularly visible, it is also perhaps a time when all of us who live here should reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to celebrate in this way, should we choose to do so.

Earlier this month Lord David Alton, a leading British Catholic layman, sent me a report on a visit he has just paid to northern Iraq to visit members of the Chaldean Assyrian Christian community.

In the small town of Al Qosh, on the Nineveh plains near Mosul, he was shown the reputed tomb of a minor Jewish prophet, Nahum, housed in an ancient synagogue. Nahum, whose writings appear in the Old Testament of the Bible, is revered by Muslims, Jews and Christians, Lord Alton said.

After the departure of Iraqs indigenous Jewish community following the establishment of Israel, a local Chaldean Assyrian family committed themselves to doing what they could to protect the tomb, although the synagogue itself gradually fell into ruins. A man called Athra Kado, Lord Altons guide during his visit, continues today to keep the promise made by his great-uncle some 70 years ago.

Like the tomb in Mosul of another ancient prophet of the Abrahamic faiths, Jonah, Nahums tomb would have been destroyed by ISIS if its so-called caliphate had ever extended to Al Qosh.

As Lord Alton noted, ISIS was determined to erase the shared history of the diverse religious communities that lived in Mosul and to replace the concept of different communities living alongside one another by a narrow, unforgiving and cruel ideology.

Fortunately, ISIS never entered Al Qosh and Nahums tomb survives. So too does a much cherished, 7th century Chaldean monastery nearby, another example of the ancient religious diversity of this part of Iraq. Today, Chaldean Assyrian craftsmen are working with Czech conservationists and Arch the Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage to restore both the tomb and the synagogue. The project is due to be completed by May next year.

Id like to think we have a similar religious understanding and spirit of co-operation here in the UAE.

This year the UAEs commitment to the principle of religious dialogue and interfaith tolerance and understanding has been made abundantly clear. Februarys visit by Pope Francis and the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, the issuing of the Document on Human Fraternity and the announcement of plans for the Abrahamic Family House, bringing together Islam, Christianity and Judaism, have been of enormous significance.

As Christmas approaches and our Year of Tolerance draws towards its close, perhaps the efforts of Athra Kado and his family over decades can offer us an example for the years ahead.

Peter Hellyer is a consultant specialising in the UAE's history and culture

Updated: December 16, 2019 07:28 PM

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Christmas in the UAE is symbolic of the nation's religious tolerance - The National

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

A prominent Beverly Hills synagogue was trashed early Saturday in what city officials are calling a cowardly act and police are classifying a hate crime, according to news reports.

An employee at Nessah Synagogue discovered the damage Saturday morning when police said he found an open door and items ransacked inside, Beverly Hills police said in a press release.

Police said the suspected culprit, who was caught on security camera video, is believed to have committed a series of minor acts of vandalism in the area before entering the synagogue at 2 a.m.

The suspect disrupted the furnishing and contents of the synagogue by overturning furniture and distributing brochures and materials throughout the interior, the police release said. The suspect damaged several Jewish relics, but fortunately the synagogues main scrolls survived unscathed.

Images of the vandalism published by Jewish Journal show scrolls and literature are strewn about. One photo shows dozens of tallises on the floor and another shows pamphlets thrown about.

Police said no items appear to have been stolen. They are classifying the vandalism as a hate crime.

This cowardly act hits at the heart of who we are as a community, Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch said. It is not just an attack on the Jewish community of Beverly Hills. Its an attack on all of us.

The entire city stands in solidarity behind Nessah, its members and congregants, Mirisch said. We are committed to catching the criminal who desecrated a holy place on Shabbat of all days and bringing him to justice.

The synagogue was founded by Iranian Jews fleeing the Middle East nations 1979 revolution.

There is a term in law, the thing speaks for itself,' Richard Hirschhaut, regional director of the American Jewish Committee, told the Jewish Journal. And we believe, and we concur, this indeed is a grotesque act of hate and we look forward to the perpetrator bring brought to justice.

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Vandal trashes Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills - New York Post

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

On Dec. 1, a band of assailants opened fire on worshippers at a small-town Protestant church in Burkina Faso, an impoverished West African country where the Christian minority is increasingly a target of attacks. The victims included the pastor and several teenage boys; regional authorities attributed the attack to unidentified armed men who, according to witnesses, got away on motorcycles.

The slaughter merited brief reports by international news outlets, then quickly faded from the spotlight not surprising in a year where attacks on places of worship occurred with relentless frequency. Hundreds of worshippers and many clergy were killed at churches, mosques, synagogues and temples.

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A two-week span in January illustrated the scope of this somber phenomenon. In Thailand, a group of separatist insurgents attacked a Buddhist temple, killing the abbot and one of his fellow monks. In the Philippines, two suicide attackers detonated bombs during a Mass in a Roman Catholic cathedral on the largely Muslim island of Jolo, killing 23 and wounding about 100. Three days later, an attacker hurled a grenade into a mosque in a nearby city, killing two Muslim religion teachers.

The worst was yet to come.

On March 15, a gunman allegedly fueled by anti-Muslim hatred attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand , killing 51 people. The man arrested for the killings had earlier published a manifesto espousing a white supremacist philosophy and detailing his plans to attack the mosques.

At a national remembrance service two weeks later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealanders had learned the stories of those impacted by the attacks many of them recently arrived immigrants.

They were stories of those who were born here, grew up here, or who had made New Zealand their home. Who had sought refuge or sought a better life for themselves or their families," she said. "They will remain with us forever. They are us."

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On Easter Sunday April 21 bombs shattered the celebratory services at two Catholic churches and a Protestant church in Sri Lanka.

Other targets, in coordinated suicide attacks by local militants, included three luxury hotels. But Christian worshippers at the three churches including dozens of children accounted for a large majority of the roughly 260 people killed.

The victims at St. Anthonys Shrine in Colombo included 11-month-old Avon Gomez, his two older brothers and his parents.

The day's biggest death toll more than 100 was at St. Sebastians, a Catholic church in the seaside town of Negombo. Its known as "Little Rome" due to its abundance of churches and its role as the hub of Sri Lankas small Catholic community.

The attacks surprised many in the predominantly Buddhist country, where the Christian community totals about 7% of the population and has long avoided involvement in bitter ethnic and religious divides.

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Six days after Easter, more than 9,400 miles (15,000 kilometers) from Sri Lanka, a gunman opened fire inside a synagogue in Poway, California, as worshippers celebrated the last day of Passover. A 60-year-old woman was killed; an 8-year-old girl and two men, including the Chabad of Poways rabbi, were wounded.

Some congregation members said the slain woman, Lori Kaye, blocked the shooter by jumping in front of rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, whose two index fingers were injured.

The man charged with murder and attempted murder in the attack, John T. Earnest, could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murder, although prosecutors haven't yet said whether they will pursue capital punishment.

At a court hearing in September, prosecutors played a 12-minute recording of Earnest calmly telling a 911 dispatcher that he had just shot up a synagogue to save white people from Jews.

The attack occurred exactly six months after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest assault on Jews in U.S. history.

An additional anti-Semitic bloodbath was narrowly averted in October when an armed assailant tried to blast his way into a synagogue in Halle, Germany, where scores of worshippers were attending services on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.

Unable to break through a locked door, the gunman went on a rampage in nearby streets, killing two people and wounding two others.

Authorities said the 27-year-old German man who has confessed to the attack had posted an anti-Semitic screed before the assault and broadcast the shooting live on a popular video game site. ___

In contrast to the Poway and Halle attacks, where authorities have identified suspects and motives, some of the worst attacks on houses of worship unfold without arrests or claims of responsibility.

In October, for example, more than 60 people were killed in a bombing during Friday prayers at a mosque in the village of Jodari in eastern Afghanistan.

No group claimed responsibility and authorities offered conflicting explanations of how the bombing was carried out.

One common element of all the attacks: Dismay that many people of faith now have reason for apprehension as they gather for worship.

No one should have to fear going to their place of worship, said California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the Poway attack. No one should be targeted for practicing the tenets of their faith.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Hundreds of worshippers killed at churches, mosques, synagogues and temples in 2019 - ABC Action News

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

Posted Saturday, December 14, 2019

In response to Nessah synagogue in Beverly Hills being vandalized the Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN) is calling on local leaders, elected officials, law enforcement, and members of the Persian Jewish, Israeli-American, Russian Jewish and American Jewish communities to stand together to confront this hate and to work together to fight the rising tide of anti-Semitism.

Enough is enough, from the East Coast to the West Coast, Jewish communities are under attack, said Vered Nisim, ICAN California Chairwoman. Just a few days ago Jews were killed in Jersey City, and now today this vandalism, how many Jews have to die and how many synagogues have to be destroyed before serious action is taken?

California community and elected leaders need to take a closer look at what is driving this recent rise in anti-Semitism. Teachers need to engage their students. And all of us need to work together to improve anti-Semitism awareness, increase security, and promote cross-community engagement to foster mutual respect and tolerance, added Nisim.

ICAN will be calling for a town hall meeting to address the rise in anti-Semitism before the end of 2019.

-Statement byDillon L. Hosier,Chief Advocacy Officer,Israeli-American Civic Action Network | Israeli-American Civic Education Institute

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Statement in Response to Nessah Synagogue Vandalism in Beverly Hills - The Beverly Hills Courier

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Rabbi Roy Feldman poses for a photo at Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)

Albany beckons to Orthodox Jews

The video shows a man wearing a yarmulke coffee and newspaper in hand strolling a New York City sidewalk when a rude pedestrian slams into him, splashing coffee on his suit. Suddenly, a passing vehicle rolls through a giant puddle, dousing the luckless guy as pigeon poop plops onto his shoulder.

A message looms on-screen: "Want to save on dry-cleaning? Time to move."

To Albany, Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob hopes.

It's one of many videos designed by the Orthodox Union to coax Orthodox Jews in America's biggest city to think about relocating to much smaller cities, such as Albany, where growing Orthodox communities are eager to welcome newcomers. The video was produced for the OU's Jewish Community Home and Job Relocation Fairs.

Last month, Rabbi Roy Feldman, who leads Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob, and synagogue board member Seth Rosenblum pitched Albany's merits to fair attendees in Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion. Rabbis from 63 other cities including West Hartford, Conn., Harrisburg, Pa. and Louisville, Ky. manned booths festooned with balloons, kosher baked treats and beautiful photos.

A Las Vegas rabbi handed out poker chips and urged Orthodox congregants to consider moving West to enjoy clean desert air.

"We discussed cultural amenities but really, no one is going to move to leave Brooklyn for Albany because Broadway plays come to Proctors," Rosenblum said. "We were explaining Albany is a great place for Orthodox Jews to worship and have a community. We don't drive on the Sabbath. There are affordable homes around Whitehall Road so it's easy for our congregation to walk to synagogue."

Feldman noted additional Albany highlights. Two hospitals are an easy walk from the synagogue should someone want to visit a sick relative on the Sabbath. The nearby Price Chopper on Central Avenue has a section with kosher meats and baked goods. Albany's Orthodox community has a mikveh, a pool used for rituals of purification.

"We don't have kosher restaurants, but most of our socializing involves having dinner at each other's homes and at synagogue events," said Feldman.

He majored in history and linguistics at Columbia University and served as an assistant rabbi at a Manhattan synagogue before coming to Albany. He was impressed by the more modest Albany home prices. Now, his congregation made its own pitch video in which Beth Abraham-Jacob members compare their lives in the Big Apple to Albany. One man marvels that he can always find a parking space.

"That's my favorite line," Feldman said, laughing.

The video also showcases the synagogue's speakers, events, school and youth camp. At age 32, Feldman's the father of two pre-school daughters. He fondly describes how his little girl who's not yet 4 puts away all her battery-powered toys Friday before Shabbat begins and plays instead with dolls, crayons and stuffed toys until Shabbat ends.

"She knows that we don't use electronics on the Shabbat so she puts away toys that contain them until Shabbat is over," he said, smiling proudly.

Feldman is eager to see the synagogue's school grow and hopes Orthodox families with small children will move to Albany from pricier Long Island and northern New Jersey as well as the five boroughs. The synagogue interior comfortably seats the current 80 to 100 who attend morning worship. It's a beautiful space with room to grow. Stained glass windows with bright colors and Pop Art-style images of a lion peeking through a lush wilderness, flowers and forest arch over the altar. They were made by an Israeli artist in 1990 and shipped to the synagogue by a generous donor.

The back wall is a soundproof partition that can be folded back to increase seating. In the three and a half years Feldman has been rabbi there, he estimates "12 new member units" (his term encompasses individuals and families) joined each year.

One of the biggest selling points at the relocation fair is outside the synagogue: an eruv which is a ritual enclosure whose boundaries are laid out by the synagogue. Most non-Jews may never detect an eruv. Rules for creating one are complex.

When there are no physical boundries like rivers or walls to use as a boundary, the Orthodox community will ask the city if it can mark the boundary in some other way like running a line between two poles.

The eruv is a private domain where Orthodox believers can perform actions that normally cannot be done on Shabbat. Feldman offers an example: on Shabbat, an Orthodox Jews is not supposed to carry a child or put anything in his pockets. But within an eruv, he may do so.

The relocation fair may already be drawing new residents within those boundaries. Feldman and Rosenblum invited the families who chatted with them to stay with an Orthodox Albany family, share meals, attend the synagogue, explore the area. Rosenblum said several families want to accept the invitation.

"We suggested they come in spring; relocating to Albany will be an easier pitch to make then than in the winter," Rosenblum said wryly.

lyedwards@timesunion.com 518-454-5403 The Connecticut Post's Dan Haar contributed to this report.

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

He carried off from Yerushalayim all the treasures of the House of Hashem and the treasures of the royal palace; he stripped off all the golden decorations in the Temple of Hashemwhich King Shlomo of Yisrael had madeas Hashem had warned. (Kings 2 24:13)

vandalized Torah scroll (credit Yehuda Meshi Zahav)

Less than a week after the antisemetic terrorist massacre in Jersey City, Head of Zaka, Yehuda Meshi Zahav was on the scene in Los Angeles after the Nessah Synagogue, a synagogue for the Persian community in Beverly Hills, CA ,was vandalized on Sunday morning.

A security camera showed a man who appeared to be in his thirties break into the synagogue and throw Torah scrolls across the floor while ripping at least one of them. Prayer books and prayer shawls were also strewn on the floor as well.

Zahav recalls arriving on the scene saying that all of the tables were flipped over. I saw Torah scrolls strewn across the floor. One of them was even ripped. Other holy articles were also thrown on the floor. There was a great amount of damage that words cannot describe. It disgusts me to see a synagogue vandalized in this manner just because they are Jewish.

Its frightening to imagine that in the United States, land of the free and defenders of democracy, antisemitic incidents are happening one after the other. From destruction of synagogues to the killing of Jews. If its happening in America, it can happen anywhere in the world. The world must wake up! he added.

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Persian Synagogue in Beverly Hills Vandalized, Torah Scrolls Destroyed [Watch] - - Breaking Israel News

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

This week, news outlets around the world reported that President Donald Trump will be signing an executive order that would interpret Judaism as a nationality. This order, pushed by Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, is meant to curb anti-Israel sentiment at U.S. college campuses. As CNN reports:

The move would trigger a portion of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 that requires educational institutions receiving federal funding to not discriminate based on national origin, according to senior administration officials. The Department of Education can withhold federal funding from any college or educational program that discriminates based on race, color or national origin, according to the Civil Rights Act. Religion is not covered in that portion of the law so the administration would have to interpret Judaism as a nationality in order to potentially punish universities for violations.

While there are many conversations to be had about anti-Semitism on college campuses, the criticism of Israel, and free speech, what most Jews should be concerned about is the move by a governmental body defining Judaism. It is certainly possible that the move to define Judaism as a nationality was made in good faith, the repercussions are complicated and dire.

For one, it is not the role of any country or government to define Judaism. In Jewish history, when Jews have been defined as a race, a religion, or a nationality, it has not been for positive reasons. Jews have been classified as certain types throughout the centuries in order to marginalize and remove citizenship. Additionally, Jews do, and should, feel uneasy when a government makes laws about them . From the Laws of Constantine (337-361) to the Nuremberg Laws (1935), governments have targeted Jews with laws and definitions for unsightly purposes. Even if President Trumps order was meant with good intentions to curb anti-Semitism, it very well may lead to a misunderstanding of what Jews in America are, and create more problems than solutions.

Second, the definition of Judaism is one not easily found, nor is it solidified simply by a Christian Presidents executive order. There are entire classes at the highest education levels entitled What is Judaism? It is a question we, as Jews, have attempted to answer throughout the millennia. It would have been prudent for Kushner, and Trump, to discuss the trichotomy of Israel, namely: Am Yisrael (the people of Israel), Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel) and Medinat Yisrael (the State of Israel) before creating such a problematic order, again with arguably good intentions.

Israelites began as a tribe, a patriarchal familial group defined by bloodlines and Near Eastern traditions. Israelites were semi-nomadic, and related to the Canaanites, who created their own history, language, and culture. From there, Israelites emerged as a kingdom, with citizens and subjects, all who (in theory) worshipped the same God. With the destruction of the Temple in 587 BCE, Jews lost their central homeland and were scattered throughout the world, forming communities in multiple countries and inheriting their cultures and customs. Even when the Second Temple was built, not all Jews returned, as they had found a life elsewhere.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, Judaisms cultic personification came to an end, and synagogues and temples were created around the globe, each with their own ways. From the Middle Ages to Modern Times, Jews lived and worked under the reign of non-Jewish governments and countries, building their own families, cultures, and traditions.

Today, Judaism cannot be easily defined. It is not a race, despite what many who wish to destroy us would say, as there are Caucasian Jews, African Jews, Asian Jews, Latino Jews, Indian Jews, etc. It is not a religion, as there exists an undeniable spectrum of observance of Judaism, including secular and cultural Judaism. It is not a culture, as I have stated, as each Jewish diasporic community built its own culture, whether it be Ashkenazi, Sephardic, or others. And finally, Judaism, most certainly, is not a nationality. The best definition I have heard of Judaism, in all my studies, is a peoplehood with a collective memory.

With the State of Israels creation in 1948, Israeli nationality was born (or reborn), but the diasporic community of Jews are not Israeli citizens, or Israeli nationals. Rather, Jews have sought citizenship and nationality in the countries in which they resided and were finally granted such an honor from Napoleon in the early 19th century. Since then, many diaspora Jews have found nationalities in the countries they resided, proclaiming themselves citizens of the country first, and Jews second, starting in Germany and then in America.

This leads me to my third and most important point. American Jews see themselves as Americans. We have refused to be considered a nation within the nation, and strongly reject the anti-Semitic trope of dual-loyalty. Again, I wish that Kushner and Trump had read the history of Jews, especially in the United States, most notably the words of the American Jewish Committee in 1950 who stated that the Jews of the United States, as a community and as individuals, have only one political attachment, namely the United States of America. While support for Israel was profound and clear, America was called the New Zion, a place where Jews could live and practice safely and securely in a country that, as George Washington stated in his letter to the Touro Synagogue in 1790, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

Defining Judaism as a nationality in America, separate from American nationality, is not the proper route to curb anti-Semitism on college campuses. It is a misguided approach attempting to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Israel. Again, there is much to be discussed regarding free speech, Palestinian human rights, and criticism of Israel; however, we must express to our leadership in America that defining Judaism as a nationality comes with terrible baggage, and will lead only to American Jews feeling unsafe, and strangers in this land which we have called home since we landed on its shores in 1654.

Judaism is not a nationality, and American Jews are Americans.

Rabbi Michael Harvey is the spiritual leader of Temple Israel, in West Lafayette, Indiana. He joined the community from his previous position as rabbi of The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ordained by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 2015, Rabbi Harvey earned a Masters degree in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion and a Bachelors degree in psychology from Boston University. Throughout his tenure at HUC-JIR, Rabbi Harvey served congregations, small and large, in Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. Rabbi Harvey was recently admitted to the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, within the Doctor of Science in Jewish Studies program.

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2019

Linda Sarsour, left, and Tamika Mallory during the Third Annual Womens March in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Joshua Roberts.

Weve come a long way as women. Weve fought endlessly for our rights. Were strong, were capable, and we deserve to showcase that.

Calling ourselves feminists and activists means understanding that we have no right to discriminate against other minorities.

Intersectionality is a beautiful concept; it screams, I am hurt, so I will help others who are hurt as well.

However, when intersectionality turns into a game of picking and choosing who we want to defend and when it turns into a platform to discriminate against other minorities it turns from beautiful to disgraceful. When antisemitism and anti-Zionism become a part of the progressive feminist narrative, an immense problem arises.

December 16, 2019 11:37 am

Feminism and Zionism were born through the need of a group of people to challenge the status quo a group of people who fought the power that patronized them, degraded them, and treated them as the other. Feminism and Zionism sought recognition and pride as women and lovers of Israel, respectively.

These two entities seek to create autonomy amongst their communities, where they can be themselves and act according to their values. Feminism and Zionism are liberation movements; they are revolutions.

The main founders of the national Womens March Linda Sarsour, Bob Bland, and Tamika Mallory received multiple accusations of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Sarsour, a public advocate for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which delegitimizes Israels existence, favors a one-state solutionand has tweeted nothing is creepier than Zionism.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Sarsour told a large group of Muslims that her movement had no room for Jews who dont share her anti-Israel values, while discussing BDS. Such a statement evoked a feeling of rejection among progressive Zionists who want to embrace causes such as tolerance and feminism, while maintaining their love of Israel.

Due to the accusations of antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Sarsour, Mallory, and Bland were forced out of the Womens March. Despite this, they had originally been replaced by an individual with toxic views on Israel and Zionism: the lawyer and activist Zahra Billoo.

Billoo tweeted in June 2012, Apartheid Israel kills children as a hobby. Additionally, she made clear comparisons between ISIS and the IDF, saying, Who has killed, tortured, and imprisoned more people: Apartheid Israel or ISIS?

As a progressive feminist, but also a die-hard Zionist, this kind of rhetoric tells me I have no place in the movement according to people like Billoo and Sarsour. Because of the love that I hold for a specific country, I cannot stand up among everyone else and proclaim to the world that I am a woman, and I am proud.

Women have spearheaded the Zionist movement since its birth. The fourth prime minister of Israel was Golda Meir, and she was present at the signing of Israels Declaration of Independence. Today, women comprise almost 27% of the Knesset, and this number is only increasing. Feminism is at the root of the establishment of the State of Israel, and it is an utter shame that the rest of the world seems to disassociate the two.

Billoo has been removed from the Womens March because of her antisemitic remarks, and hope increases as we see improvements for the better in the March and in progressive feminism as a whole. Unfortunately, there are still many members of this organization who are anti-Zionist: Charlene Carruthers and Samia Assad, both board members, have spoken out against Israel.

Carruthers tweeted that BDS can be used to stop the Israeli regime. Assad retweeted a video stating that Israel = worse than the devil.

Feminism is an authentic cause, one that aims to showcase the strength and voices of women. And anyone attempting to tarnish this movement does not deserve to be a part of it.

When we only allow certain women to fight the battle for the feminist movement, we are silencing others and disguising this as change. We must defend others, but not at the risk of infecting the movements original ideals.

This positive change will only come when the vulgar values of anti-Zionism and antisemitism are recognized as a problem; when others notice that these remarks and beliefs have absolutely no place in a movement dedicated to the courage, power, and virtue of women. And once that happens, Zionism and feminism will be able to operate as one.

Sarah Saide is a junior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in NYC, Social Media Chair of John Jay Hillel, and a CAMERA fellow.

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When Feminism and Zionism Meet - Algemeiner

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This is the conclusion of the interview posted last week: Zionism As A Reflection of Jewish History Interview with Alex Ryvchin

Q: You quote a writer describing the attendees at Third Zionist Congress, including a bearded Persian and an Egyptian in a fez. Did Herzl recognize a need for Zionism among Jews in Arab lands?

Hertzl was the quintessential European. He possessed a rare political genius. He looked at Zionism and the Jewish Question through the prism of Europe but he understood that for Zionism to really succeed, it had to capture the imagination of the Jewish world. It had to capture the imagination of the world leaders who could fulfill the mission of Zionism. It would have to be an international movement. He wanted to bring together as many Jewish communities as possible even though the majority of his efforts were centered on Europe. The early Zionist Congresses set the tone for the Zionism movement that was universal. It brought together American Jewry and European Jewry and the Jews of the Middle East. and it united them in a common purpose and a common mission.

Q: Usually, we think of Herzl as the father of modern Zionism and of the Jewish state. You describe 3 men as being leading inspirations of the Zionist movement: Leon Pinsker, Theodore Herzl and Chaim Weizmann with each making a different and unique contribution to the development of Zionism. What did each contribute?

There have been many great leaders, thinkers and theorists throughout Jewish history that have sought to unify the Jewish people, but I focused on Pinsker, Herzl and Weizmann, who were very different figures and each in their own way, represent different strands of the Zionist movement.

Pinsker wrote a landmark seminal text, Auto-Emancipation. What was significant about Pinsker is that he came to the question as an Assimilationist. He believed fervently that by becoming fully immersed in the cultural social scientific and political life of Russia, the Jews of Europe could be saved. He believed that the sort of transformations that were happening across Europe that were granting emancipation and civil rights to Jews would eventually come to Russia. But he was rudely shaken out of his belief by the brutality of the pogroms. These did not come about as a result of peasant rage. They were deliberately and strategically incited by the very people Pinsker believed would bring the reform the leaders, the clerics, the newspaper editors and the lawyers. His book Auto-Emancipation had a scintillating effect on Jewish thought throughout the European continent. But also, he stands for that kind of transformation from assimilation to nationalism.

Herzl was very much his successor in that regard. I spend a lot of time discussing the Dreyfus Affair. It illustrates how extraordinary and unlikely the story of Zionism is. You have the Dreyfus Affair and the story of injustice and you have 34-year-old Herzl there as the Paris correspondent for a Viennese daily newspaper, by chance observing this himself. Herzl was also an Assimilationist, to the extent that he played with the idea of converting to Christianity. He argued that Jews should disappear into the crowd. But then he sees the Dreyfus affair. He sees the public degradation and humiliation of a man who exemplified the qualities of assimilation. He was a soldier, he was civically minded and patriotic. He had given everything to the public and it culminates in his being wrongly convicted, thrown into an island prison. The mob of Frenchmen chanted Death to Dreyfus and Death to Jews outside the courtroom.

Herzl also brings something else to the story of Zionism the idealism and the philosophy of Zionism. Pinsker had done that as well, but Herzl then converted it into extraordinary political and diplomatic outcomes in a very short period of time before his premature death. Herzl is intriguing because he shows the need to not only have great views and ideas, but also to be practical and efficient. He had a frenzied appetite for hard work. He had that Romanticism but he could also roll up his sleeves and work tirelessly.

Then you have Weizmann, who is a different type of Jew altogether. He is sort of part Pinsker and part Herzl. He comes from Russia. He moves across the continent almost the same way that Zionism moved from Russia westward. He had been educated in Switzerland and Germany. He ends up in Great Britain where he becomes a lecturer in Organic Chemistry in Manchester. And again, in an extraordinary turn of events, Great Britain finds itself in a position where it is in desperate need of the chemical compound acetone, which when combined with gunpowder reduces the smoke generated by heavy guns in its naval battles with Germany in WWI. You wonder what that has to do with Zionism and the trajectory of the Jewish People. Weizmann is the one who discovered this formula, and through that work, he becomes associated with people like Churchill, Balfour and Lloyd George the people who had it within their power to grant Jews their National Home. Lloyd George would later write in his memoirs that his conversations with Weizmann at this time were the origins of the Balfour Declaration.

These are 3 major figures who were possessed with a rare political genius, who have an extraordinary capacity for hard work and were able more than anyone else to transform this sort of shapeless journey to go home which the Jews had carried with them for 2,000 years and turn it into a precise political program that could be implemented.

Q: Chaim Weizmann found apparent Zionist-friendly Arab allies in Hussein ibn Ali and his son Amir Faisal both of whom apparently accepted the idea of a Jewish state. How did we get from them to someone like the Grand Mufti who allied himself with Hitler and tried to destroy Jews and the Jewish state?

In the context of the post-WWI peacemaking, the Paris peace conference, the treaty of Versailles, the redrawing of the Middle East after the defeat of the Ottoman empire, there were a lot of negotiations between the great powers and the people who had claims to that land. So you had Woodrow Wilsons 14 points, one of which demanded the decolonization and the autonomous development of the liberated colonies of the Ottoman empire which was basically the Arab world, including Palestine. And then you had the native peoples of that land making claims to that land. And you have the Balfour Declaration, the McMahon-Hussein correspondence, dealmaking and promises (sometimes contradictory), happening.

In that context, Palestine was viewed as a small prize, a sparsely populated backwater, hardly the most sought after part of the Middle East. They were always willing to sacrifice Palestine in pursuit of far greater and grander post-WWI demands. That is why people made agreements with Weizmann and make statements that Jews were native sons of the land and that they should be welcomed back with open arms, that their return will have wonderful economic benefits for the Arab people living there. That is out of a view that can be seen as moderate and tolerant and willing to accept the Jewish claim to Palestine so that their territorial claims to land elsewhere in the Middle East would be met more rapidly and more easily.

Then from the 1920s onward, you have the tactical fulfillment of Zionism taking place. You have Jewish migration and Jewish settlement of the land, the establishment of Jewish industry, and enterprises and trade unions and newspapers and universities and wineries and all this changing the political and economic environment in the land. Some of the Arabs living there felt dislocated and disenfranchised and what was agreed to by the Great Powers and the Arab and Jewish leaders post-WWI did not help. These are people living on the land and see their future slipping away.

Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, who would become the grand mufti of Jerusalem, was remarkably skillful not at soothing peoples concerns and placating them and negotiating and bringing people together, and alleviating violence he was extremely skilled at raising the temperature, and inciting people to acts of violence to his own political ends. He is the founding father of Political Islam, turning political grievances into a way to rally the whole Arab world to his cause. He is the quintessential example of the unflinching, unerring Arab leader who never negotiates, never takes a backward step, and is absolutely dogged in their anti-Zionism.He led his people to disaster.

In 1937, the Peel Commission considered how to deal with the issue of Palestine and the competing claims to the land. The Jews were offered a state on merely 4% of the full Mandate Palestine territory and they were willing to accept that. But al-Hussein rejected it out of hand. The Transjordanian leader at the time was the only Arab leader who had the sense to say you have to accept this, otherwise Palestine will pass into Jewish hands whole. But al-Hussein could not take that into his anti-Zionism and his antisemitism he could not fathom any sort of accommodation with the Jews.

So to explain that shift in the beginning, it was driven by Arab self-interest. They were happy to get their 7 states. And the Jews get Palestine.

Emir Faisal wrote a hand-written amendment that his support of the Balfour Declaration for a Jewish state in Palestine is contingent on the Arabs getting their claIms met. But al-Hussein was so set in his anti-Zionism that he could never take that approach.

Q: People are generally aware of President Trumans support for the establishment of Israel, but US support for a Jewish state goes back to Woodrow Wilson. What role did Wilson play?

Jewish leaders at the time were desperate for Wilson to make some sort of public statement to endorse the Balfour Declaration in 1918 just as the Paris Peace Conference was about to begin and a new path was dawning in the Middle East. He had Jewish acquaintances like Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter and as a result of his own religious Christian background, he had a romantic view of the People of the Book returning to the land from whence they came.

But at the same time, there were forces pushing against that. There were Christian anti-semites urging him not to recognize Jewish national rights. The State Department was hostile to the idea of a Jewish state because of their desire to develop closer economic ties with the Arabs. So just as in the UK, Wilson also found himself torn between his own ideals and the forces trying to compel him against Zionism.

Then there were Woodrow Wilsons 14 points, laying out the conditions for US engagement in WWI. They did not speak about the Jewish people, but they spoke about the autonomous development of the liberated lands of the Ottoman Empire. And that governing principle allowed the Jews to state their claim to what had become Palestine. There was the idea of the development of the native people of the Middle East and the Jews were certainly one of those native people. And by extension, they had rights that should be recognized and were recognized.

And Wilson actually did make a statement in 1918, a very tepid statement that endorsed the Balfour Declaration, that he was happy that the work of the Balfour Declaration was being implemented, delighted to see the foundation be set for Hebrew University. That was a very important signal to the Jewish World about which side of the issue Woodrow Wilson stood. It was highly significant.

Then at the Paris Peace Conference, the US representatives were very clear in there support for the Balfour Declaration and for the establishment for the Jewish National claim to Palestine.

Wilson played an important role in developing an international consensus about Zionism right around that time.

7. The history of Modern Zionism offers a counterpoint to the perceived passivity of Jews during the Holocaust. How do we explain that in contrast to the heroism of Trumpador and the Jews of the Mule Corp who impressed British officers with their heroism in WWI?

There was a view, both inside and outside the Jewish world that the Jews were led like lambs to the slaughter. In some regards, there were episodes where one could say that the Jews did not cover themselves with glory, that they could have resisted more actively and aggressively. The natural capacity of Jews to resist Nazism, to save themselves, to fight back, was mostly non-existent. And I talk about Raul Hilberg the great Holocaust historian, who spoke about a formulaic response to danger that the Jews had honed over 2,000 years of exile.

Basically, their response was to alleviate their pain, to try to lobby governments, to write op-eds and to try to convince the public that the antisemites were wrong. Once the tide had turned against them, the Jews became wholly passive and submitted completely. But at the same time, we have to realize that the Jews had no real ability to defend themselves against a military power of overwhelming strength with the mission of destroying every last Jewish life, aided by collaborationist governments and police forces and populations in almost every place they entered. Jews were unarmed.

But after the Holocaust, you have the Jews in Palestine seeing what happened to their brethren in Europe and saying this is what can happen to Jews who are weak and vulnerable and unarmed and we must never allow that to happen to us.This leads to a sort of rehabilitation of the Jew.

There were events before which had a similar impact. The Holocaust, being on a larger scale, had a bigger impact. The Kishinev pogrom, almost a miniature version of the Holocaust, incited by clerics and policemen and government officials in a terrible massacre of Jews was followed by stories coming out of rapes and murders, making the Jews feel a sense of vulnerability but also a sense of solidarity with their own people. This invigorated the Jewish people and was turned into a major humanitarian concern. Yet also a sense of shame that this is what Jews had been reduced to.

This created in Zionism a redemptive quality: saving the Jews not only physically, but also spiritually and culturally. If you look at Zionism today, it is about a sense of Jewish pride not a grotesque chauvinistic pride but rather a simple pride about belonging to a very special remarkable people, of who we Jews really are, and being willing to stand up for that and assert your rights and not fall prostrate in front of your tormentors.

Q: When it comes to the influence of external forces on Zionism and Aliyah, people think of the Holocaust. But you note that the early writings about Zionism as a political movement largely originated in the Russian Empire. Why would Russia have this influence?

By the late 19th century because of progressive migrations as a result of expulsions from Spain and Great Britain, and pogroms in Germany Jews were moving further and further east. You had shifting borders in that part of the world so that you had more Jews living within the Russian empire than anywhere else. Along with that, you had unsparing brutality generation to generation such as the Chelminsky pogroms.

People look at Israel being a reaction to the Holocaust, but there is a long history and a long continuum that made the Holocaust not only possible, but also inevitable. When people ask how the Holocaust could have happened, the seeds of it can be found in Russia hundreds of years earlier.

Because of the emphasis on the Holocaust we see the view, especially by anti-Zionist activists, the claim that Israel is a burden on the Arabs to atone for European guilt. To assuage the guilt of 6 million killed, a Jewish state is planted in the middle of the Arab world. As if Jews are European interlopers with no claim to the land.

We have Rashida Tlaib with the claim that it warms her heart how the Palestinian Arabs warmly welcomed the Jews of Europe as refugees from the Holocaust. This is a double falsehood because it also claims they welcomed Jews when in fact there were boycotts, violence and strikes at every turn.

The right to a national home in Israel is not only a legal right, but it has also been established in the decades before the Holocaust and it is an existential necessity for the Jewish people.When we look today at the persecuted and abandoned people of the world, Kurds, Syrians and Uighurs it shows us what it means to be stateless and manipulated by the self-interest of others.

People like Sarsour are anti-Zionists and in my view antisemites who claim that Zionism is creepy and racist dedicated to negative purposes. But there are a lot of people who see through this and see Zionism as an inspiration.

Ive seen in my own work, from the Assyrian community in Australia, the Muslims in China, Kurdish leaders. They look at the story of the Jews who have survived through 2,000 years inquisition, pogroms and forced conversions, yet retaining their culture and sense of peoplehood and formed a national movement that is compelling and coherent and actually achieved the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral land.

A lot of these abandoned, persecuted, stateless people are trying to take inspiration from that and are trying to model their own national movements from it.

Q: Before Great Britain became a bitter opponent to Jewish immigration into then-Palestine and successfully cut down the size of the state, there was a time that Great Britain had a romanticized view of Zionism and wanted to help the establishment of a Jewish state. What was that based on?

It came from a number of sources. It came from the Christian beliefs of people like Balfour, Lloyd George and Churchill, that the Jews should have the right to return home. When you compare them to the Christian Zionists of today, you see that it is such a beautiful concept for them. This is not the concept of End of Days or The Second Coming, requiring that Jews be in the land. This is a more benign and beautiful idea, that the Jews are the People of the Book who gave the world Ethical Monotheism. Who gave the Christians their foundation of texts and beliefs. They believed that the Jews who had been harried and persecuted throughout the world should have a national home.

Yes, there are also the realpolitik considerations.

In the early 1900s, there was a concern about a large Jewish refugee problem. This was a unique solution to that.Another consideration that cannot be discounted is the work of Chaim Weizmann. He was able to captivate and engage everyone. He was a dynamic, magnetic personality. As mentioned earlier, Lloyd George in his memoirs credits his discussions with Weizmann as leading to the Balfour Declaration. The truth of that is open to speculation, but it is clear that Weizmann rendered an extraordinary service to the British and they were grateful.

So it was a combination of the practical and the idealistic.

But what you then have over the next 3 decades, is the change in government, waning idealism and of course much more urgent critical considerations. There is the growing Arab violence in the Middle East and the threats from Arab leaders.

When Trump made the recommendation for the recognition of Jerusalem, we heard about the threat of the burning of the streets of the Middle East, which did not transpire. But those threats were there then and they are there now.

And the other great factor that changed the calculations and caused the British to overcome their idealism was WWII. During the leadup to WWII, the Balfour Declaration (which came in 1917, at the end of WWI) had come to be seen as a distant relic of the past and irrelevant when the major new threat was Nazism. The concern for the British, and Chamberlain expressed it, was that if we have to offend one side let it be the Jews. He said that because he wanted the Arabs to be potential allies in the coming European war, which would metastasize the Middle East as WWI had.

This was politics because the Balfour Declaration had been enshrined into international law. Great Britain had a legal duty to bring about a National Home for the Jews, as contained in the covenant of the League of Nations and the San Remo Conference. The Balfour Declaration was not empty words it was a binding legal promise that had been made.

These were jettisoned because there were more pressing political and economic considerations entering into their calculations.

Oil was also a consideration. Chamberlain made comments about that as well, that the center of gravity of oil production had now shifted to the Middle East. These were very real considerations by Great Britain and the US. The State Department was cognizant of the fact the Middle East was becoming crucial in international affairs. You had the Suez Canal, which was an important gateway. The romanticism and idealism became a secondary consideration.

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Modern Zionism: Pinsker, Herzl, Weizmann and Woodrow Wilson - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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