Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 2, 2017

Greenblatt is CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.

Last weekend, organizers of a gay pride parade in Chicago ejected three people carrying pride flags emblazoned with a Jewish Star of David. Subsequent bizarre statements attempting to rationalize their action, claiming that Zionism is an inherently white supremacist ideology only exacerbated the sense that the organizers were deaf to the concerns of the Jewish community and engaged in anti-Semitism denying Jews the same rights that were extended to other participants, basically to celebrate their identities as Jewish queer women.

While this incident could be dismissed as one fringe group in one city, the fact is that it does represent a wider school of thought that is fueling a trend of creeping anti-Semitism among some segments of the political left.

Over the past year, we have seen other examples that have raised eyebrows as intersectional intolerance has sprung up among the progressive community. Similar stories to the one in Chicago were reported at the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City earlier this month.

Last summer, a plank in the platform of the Movement for Black Lives bizarrely accused Israel of genocide .

Linda Sarsour , a leader of the womens rights movement, has lambasted Zionism as incompatible with feminism and advocates for the exclusion of pro-Israel Jews from activist groups. And some in the anti-Israel movement have accused Israel of pink-washing, claiming that Israel and its supporters celebrate freedoms enjoyed by the LGBTQ community in Israel to divert attention from Israels treatment of the Palestinians.

For an organization like the Anti-Defamation League, which was founded both to combat anti-Semitism and protect the Jewish people but also to secure justice and fair treatment to all Americans, these manifestations are upsetting. Frustration with particular Israeli policies does not excuse an irrational hatred of Jewish people who support its existence. But this occurs all too frequently, which provides an opportunity to make clear certain moral and practical distinctions.

For starters, the agenda of the civil rights community is the agenda of ADL. We are committed to this work because it is core to our mission.

For example, we do not agree with every tenet in the Black Lives Matter platform. We were outraged by the baseless accusations made against Israel in the M4BL platform released last summer. However, we find common cause with many in the BLM movement around the quest to achieve educational equity, end the school-to-prison pipeline and stop the use of excessive force and the killing of unarmed African Americans by some in law enforcement.

In the case of the Muslim community, we work to combat discriminatory laws such as the Muslim Ban, to call out Islamophobia whenever it happens, such as the recent use of scare tactics to stoke fear that Sharia law is taking over this country and to promote greater understanding of their faith through intergroup work.

And regarding the LGBTQ community, we were proud to stand against discrimination of HIV/AIDS patients decades ago and, more recently, to champion marriage equality. We continue to fight housing and workplace discrimination targeting people based on who they love or how they self-identify their gender. And while great progress has been made in recent years, we continue to resist efforts to turn back the clock under the guise of religious freedom.

On the other hand, when hatred comes from individuals in those very communities or organizations for whom we advocate, we are duty bound to raise our voice. In recent times, anger over specific policies of the Israeli government has been used by some activists to excuse broad anti-Semitism directed at members of the Jewish community. In some cases, we have seen painful rhetoric unfold on college campuses or outright exclusion of self-identified Jews from progressive circles simply because of their faith. All of it is inexcusable.

At ADL, we work with various communities not only because it is the moral thing to do but also because our freedoms are bound to theirs. That said, even as we fight alongside other groups on issues of mutual concern, we should not sacrifice our principles, and we will forcefully denounce those who would slander our community and resort to stereotypes.

This does not mean we need absolute ideological alignment with every prospective partner. But it does mean that we need to draw lines in a clear manner and demand that our allies observe those fundamental values that we also seek to live by: equality, fairness and respect for all.

Read the original here:
Anti-Semitism Is Creeping Into Progressivism - TIME

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Anti-Semitism Is Creeping Into Progressivism – TIME
Tags:

Posted By richards on July 2, 2017

The White House. (photo credit:REUTERS)

NEW YORK The Trump administration has a responsibility to appoint a special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, as has been done by every administration since 2004, those who held the position under president Barack Obama say.

The former envoys at the US State Department, Hannah Rosenthal and Ira Forman, who occupied the position during the first and second terms of the Obama presidency, spoke on Monday during a briefing held by the Anti-Defamation League to discuss the Trump administrations failure to name their successor.

The position was created under the Antisemitism Awareness Act signed into law by president George W. Bush and is now vacant.

The Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism will be unstaffed as of July 1, when its remaining two employees, each working part-time or less, are to be reassigned.

One of the first things I noted when I got to the State Department is that if people arent being rounded up and sent to their death, many in the department, Congress and many places felt that there isnt antisemitism, Rosenthal, who served in that office from 2009 to 2012, said. So it became very important for me to make sure we defined what antisemitism is and we have trainings for the people who are about to go out to various foreign posts. If they dont know what antisemitism is they dont know what to report.

Rosenthal said that leaving the position vacant would be a huge step backward and a huge opportunity missed.

Lets remember that this position was created with unanimous support from the Congress, she pointed out. It has well moved beyond anyones ability to make this a partisan issue, and how now it is being put forward with a partisan angle is very tragic.

Antisemitism is a very virulent form of hatred and this administration has a responsibility to confront that and all other hatred, Rosenthal said.

Forman, who was the State Departments envoy on antisemitism in 2013-2016, said that through this office, the United State has taken a leadership role on the phenomenon.

Moreover it is the US leadership which has encouraged European and other countries to appoint their own special envoys for antisemitism, and in the last year or two weve seen a major increase in these positions, he said.

How can we continue to encourage that if we dont have a special envoy? Forman continued. We are greatly concerned by what we heard from Secretary [of State] Tillerson in the last week or so, but Congress, in a very bipartisan way, has always spoken out, and I am confident will continue.

But while Rosenthal and Forman are appalled by the administrations failure to fill the post, they both said they believe that when the issue comes to Congresss attention, it will make sure the job is filled and the office remains.

I have reached out to many members of Congress, Rosenthal said. This just is not on their radar yet. The importance of fighting antisemitism has yet to be discussed at the congressional level and so it may not be happening tomorrow, but soon we will see them talking about the budget and then you will see the advocacy work we are doing.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, has been advocating for the appointment to be made. He said in his statement that the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism has played a critical role in responding to and monitoring antisemitic events and instances around the world.

The threat of antisemitism certainly is not abated, he added.

Today it remains a real and present danger for some of the worlds most vulnerable Jewish communities and yet it seems that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in no hurry to fill this vital position.

Greenblatt added that Tillerson has remained opaque about his motives and inexplicably continues to kick the can down the road.

Budget speak louder than words about priorities, he added. Cutting these resources for the office and delaying the decision to hire an envoy is a serious mistake.

Reports earlier this year had revealed that President Donald Trump is considering cutting a number of special envoy positions.

The position of White House Jewish liaison has also remained vacant since the administration took office. According to a White House senior official who spoke to the Post earlier this month, the administration has no plans to fill it, breaking with a tradition dating back to Jimmy Carters presidency.

Last week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote a letter to Trump urging him to appoint a liaison.

Share on facebook

See original here:
Leaving antisemitism envoy post vacant would be 'huge step backwards' - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Leaving antisemitism envoy post vacant would be ‘huge step backwards’ – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 1, 2017

The Balfour Declaration, currently accepted by many as the founding legal statement for the establishment of Israel is really nothing more than a letter. It was a letter of policy between government personnel and became a major part of foreign policy then, and its shadow effects have continued on rather effectively to now. Balfours Shadow is a well written outline of the history of events after the letter: the immediate short term effects on British policy after WW I; the medium range policies that continued until after WW II; up to Britains current policy of advocating for and dealing with Israel. It is not a pretty story.

The letter was not necessarily well intended. Balfour himself was anti-Semitic. Yet the letter offered support to the Zionists for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine. Several factors accounted for this, one of them being this very anti-Semitism, as many British felt that Jews would never assimilate into their society.

Several other factors came into play: Jewish support in the war effort was considered necessary; the British wanted to protect the Suez Canal as the main route through to its then colonies of south Asia, mainly India; and natural resources, oil, became a major interest after oil was discovered in abundance in the Middle East. A colonial outpost would, Britain believed, help consolidate control of the region against Arab interests in an era when British racism ran rampant throughout its colonial networks.

From that beginning, Cronin highlights the major factors in the relationship between Zionists, Jews, and the British government. He deals specifically with events pertaining to the government, and does not detail all that transpired during Britains occupation via the Palestinian Mandate. But the general thread of the history is exposed throughout the work, accessible to both those with a strong background in the history and those just entering into the discovery process of Middle East history. For the latter, Balfours Shadow provides enough detail that a reader should be motivated to research more information through other works (of which there are many).

In general, Cronin reveals that the methods used by the British to control the indigenous population of Palestine laid the foundation for the ethnic cleansing and later suppression of the Palestinian people. Much history has been written about the Haganah, Stern, and Irgun gangs fighting against the British, but the general trend of British behaviour was to support the increasing settlement patterns, evictions, and land grabs of the Zionist settlers.

After the nakba, Britain continued to supply Israel with military support ranging from hundreds of tanks, many planes, up to and including nuclear systems, in particular the sale of heavy water through Norway. This period was a transition from British global power to U.S. global power: after the fake war for the Suez Canal and the later pre-emptive war of 1967, the U.S. had clearly taken the lead in supporting Israel. Britain however did not let go.

Indeed, Britain became one of the strongest voices in support of Israel as military trade and financial/corporate interests continued with mostly behind the scenes activities. Additional information is provided showing how the British worked to sideline the PLO by effectively recruiting Arafat as leader of a recognized PLO government, leading to the false promises of the Oslo accords and the continued annexation, settlement, and dispossession of the Palestinians.

For contemporary events, Cronin highlights the bizarre career of Tony Blair. At this point in time Blair was truly a loyal lieutenant for the U.S., adopting and promulgating U.S. policy for Israel and the Middle East in general. Bringing the work up to current events, Partners in Crime outlines the corporate-military ties between Britain, Israel, and the U.S.. Most of the corporate interest is military procurement going both directions hardware to Israel, spyware and security ware to Britain. As always, these corporations (Ferranti, Affinity, Elbit, Rafael, Rokar, Lockheed-Martin) changed British views at least of the elites from tentative support to solidarity. These friendly relations also helped tie Israel into the EU more strongly.

Today, official British policy remains as an ardent supporter of Israel, with a lasting pride in Israels founding. The British colonial heritage rages on in the Middle East.

This is an excellent work most specifically for its focus on British attitudes concerning the development of Zionism/Israel, a history of war crimes and apartheid. Kudos to Cronin for his extensive use of many personal diaries and notices and of official records from War and Colonial office files as well as Foreign and Commonwealth files for more recent materials. It is concise and direct, an accessible read that can serve as a prerequisite for Middle East studies/Zionist studies and as a general guide to British policy for Israel. [1]

***

Title: Balfours Shadow A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel

Author: David Cronin

Publisher: Pluto Press, London

Click here to order.

Notes

[1] Many books cover the development of Zionism and the creation of Israel. For a more highly detailed development of the historical situation preceding and leading up to the Balfour letter itself, the best I have read is:The Balfour Declaration The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Jonathan Schneer. Anchor (Random House), Canada. 2012.

This review was first published in Palestine Chronicle, June 29, 2017.

Featured image from Book Depository

Read the original post:
Balfour's Shadow A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel - Center for Research on Globalization

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Balfour’s Shadow A Century of British Support for Zionism and Israel – Center for Research on Globalization
Tags:

Posted By simmons on July 1, 2017

One hates to give a provocateur the negative attention he seeks, but sometimes theres no help for it. For example, when said provocateur occupies the space that hosts ones blog.

Mr. Denis Prager chose to launch a coded attack, based on a false premise, against a colleague for whom I have great respect, Rabbi Becky Silverstein, who has emerged as an important teacher and leader in the Southern California Jewish community, and against Rabbi Silversteins congregation. (I cant bring myself to link to the offending article, but you can find this bit of clickbait easily enough.)

It is certainly true that Rabbi Silverstein identifies with the transgender community and that he is supported and respected by his congregation at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center. Heres what is not true (a quote from Mr. Pragers article): How many non-Orthodox Jews, when deciding what position to take on an issue, say: Before deciding, I first want to know what the Torah says? Undoubtedly very few.

This is slanderous nonsense. We who are engaged, although not Orthodox, Jews want very much to know and act on what Torah says. Of course, by Torah, we do not simply mean the written Torah, the five books contained in a Torah scroll. We mean the entirety of our Bible, the Tanakh. We mean the oral Torah, our Talmud, on which our tradition is based Judaism is a Talmudic, not a Biblical tradition. We mean the centuries of commentary and rulings, from the great medieval philosophers to the scholars of today. We mean the divrei Torah from each of our bnei mitzvah students. We mean the living, breathing tradition of engaging with our textsthe trace of encounters between the human and the Divineand applying them to the worlds in which we live.

So, coming from a rabbinic tradition, many of us are interested to find out how many gender attributions one finds discussed in the Talmud. Here is a comprehensive list prepared by my brilliant former chavruta Rabbi Elliot Kukla. The rabbis did acknowledge male and female. They also noted that some people combine what are called male and female characteristics (the androgynous) and some people are what we might call intersexed (the tumtum). They note that some people who are designated female sport some masculinities (the Aylonit. Thanks with all my heart, HaShem, for those folks especially). And so on. Our rabbis and sages knew the written Torah by memory better than any of us. They know that the first thing we learn about ourselves in Bereshit/Genesis is that we are created in the image of God and that , (male and female God created it (the human).

(Incidentally, there is no punctuation in a Torah scroll, and the rabbis teach us to read associatively, anti-literally and anti-linearly, to find, in re-punctuation and even re-voweling (changing the tenses and cases of words), new meanings. Thus, we can read legitimately: In the image of God, God created it (the human): male and female.)

The rabbis who founded Judaism knew this text. They also looked at the world. They could see empirically, that man and woman is an inadequate menu of choices for describing the variety of human beings. in Mishnah Bikkurim, Chapter Four, for example, we find an extended discussion about the androgynous and the tumtum. We learn from Rabbi Yose that the androgynous is a creature unique unto itselfa particular creation of the Holy oneand the tumtum, the intersexed person, is, for some purposes regarded to be like a man and, for other purposes, regarded to be like a woman.

Why did the rabbis designate people with such categories? Were they naming them to be shunned or condemned? Not at all. Having looked at the real world, at how human beings actually are, they used the brains God gave them. They understood that people combine male and female in different mixtures. They also, as persons of their time and place, lived within and reinscribed, patriarchal social norms. Men had some responsibilities, women had others. Everyone had a place in the community. Therefore, the responsibilities, the place within the community, for the androgynous and the tumtum, had to be defined clearly as wellnot to shame them, but to include them. They simply had to be accounted for to insure that they were not left out.

My dear friend and teacher, Rabbi Doctor Rachel Adler, likes to remind me, in the name of Rabbi Doctor Sarra Lev, that these Talmudic designations were based on ancient Greek science and, therefore, are perhaps not adequate for todays understanding. That may be. After all, the Aristotelian cosmology on which the rabbis base much of their astronomic understanding certainly does not stand. To me, the lesson we can derive from our rabbis example is this: They knew Torah and lived by Torah and they also applied the best scientific thinking of their own time to the world as they observed it.

Judaism today is greatly enriched by the participation and leadership of Jews for whom the gender they were assigned at birth is not one that their soul can, uncritically, live with. Such Jews are teaching us all to make Torah, to apply our vital, living tradition to the world in which we live. They are our leaders and our friends, and I am proud to know and learn from them.

Read the original here:

Torah, Transgender People and Truth - Jewish Journal (blog)

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Torah, Transgender People and Truth – Jewish Journal (blog)
Tags:

Posted By richards on July 1, 2017

Britain's chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. (photo credit:TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS)

The United Kingdom's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has been warned by a number of British rabbis that if he fails to remove a controversial rabbi from his position "he will be responsible for the splitting of Anglo-Orthodoxy."

Mirvis reportedly received a letter from several Sephardi as well as Ashkenazi Rabbanim of London Friday morning urging him to sack Rabbi Joseph Dweck following controversial comments he made regarding homosexuality, according to The Jewish Chronicle. The letter stated that If Joseph Dweck is maintained in office as a rabbi, whether it is fully or even partially, in spite of all the letters received from highly respected Orthodox Rabbinical authorities in Gateshead and in Israel and worldwide, Chief Rabbi Mirvis should realize that he will be responsible for the splitting of Anglo-Orthodoxy and lose his credibility as a Chief Rabbi to a large consensus of Orthodox communities."

Dweck, leading rabbi of the S&P (Spanish and Portuguese) Sephardi Community in London, found himself at the center of a communal tumult last month after delivering a lecture in which he argued that Judaism allows for two men to love each other despite its prohibition in the Torah.

The senior rabbi latter sought to clarify his statements, saying that although some of his phrasing may have been exaggerated, he stands by his belief that a change in social attitudes had brought benefits by helping society be more open to the expression of love between men, The Jewish Chronicle reported.

Dweck's lecture was swiftly denounced by leading Sephardi rabbis in Britain and abroad. Rabbi Aaron Bassous, head of a Sephardi synagogue in Golders Green, called his comments "dangerous."

Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, who is Dweck's uncle by marriage, also stated that such views were "heretical" to Jewish law after responding to concerns raised by rabbis in America.

After weeks of attempting to mitigate the situation behind closed doors, a Mirvis spokesperson said that the UK chief rabbi would be assuming full "responsibility for bringing this episode to a suitable conclusion."

As such, in the coming days, he will establish a dignified and appropriate format which will allow for concerns relating to a wide range of Rabbi Joseph Dwecks teachings and halachic rulings to be considered and for a way forward to be set, the spokesperson added.

That decision came after Yosef ceded responsibility to Mirvis in a letter published Thursday, writing if he [Rabbi Mirvis] finds it necessary, he may appoint a Beth Din, or any other suitable format, which will enable him to bring the matter to a final resolution."

Mirvis has described the Dweck affair as "an urgent communal priority."

Share on facebook

More:

UK Chief Rabbi warned Dweck affair could split Orthodoxy - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on UK Chief Rabbi warned Dweck affair could split Orthodoxy – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 1, 2017

What does that control look like? First, it means that the prayer area is divided into a mens and womens section; the womens section is far smaller. The partition that divides the two is seven feet high and modesty regulations, enforced by security guards and ushers paid by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and controlled by the Western Wall rabbi, are medieval. Women are given rags to cover their pants, and sleeves to cover their elbows. The same guards expect women to pray silently so that their voices dont send men on the other side into a sexual frenzy.

The National Menorah, where Hanukkah candles are lit in a televised ceremony (like a Christmas tree lighting) stands at the mens section. Only men can light it. Women, be they politicians or Supreme Court Justices, are forbidden to do so. When Tzipi Livni was Minister of Justice (2013-2015), she was sent to light the candles elsewhere.

The fact that this is the religious reality for women in a country that prides itself on being a bastion of liberal ideals in an illiberal neighborhood is unacceptable. Its also an untenable situation for a country that is the homeland of the Jewish people. The Jewish people come in all different religious stripes, and American Jews, critically, are overwhelmingly non-Orthodox: Only one in 10 is Orthodox. For the majority of Jews to feel at home in the Jewish homeland, they cant feel like they are invisible or worse, punished for praying according to their custom.

All of this is the reason Women of the Wall, the Reform and Conservative movements, and the Jewish Federations of North America entered into negotiations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus representatives beginning in May 2013. The process was painstaking and demanded sacrifices from both sides, but ultimately we struck an agreement that the Western Wall rabbi signed off on.

The agreement called for an egalitarian prayer plaza, south of the traditional prayer area, in a place called Robinsons Arch. Here, families would be able to worship together, girls could read from the Torah for their bat mitzvah and women wouldnt be forced to pray quietly. The agreement also called for an independent governing body to oversee this egalitarian prayer plaza, with its own regulations, budget and policies.

The greatness of this agreement was that it didnt take anything away from anyone. It created an entirely new space, keeping the status quo at the current mens and womens sections.

The government of Israel approved the agreement by a 15-5 vote on Jan. 31, 2016. But in the 17 months since, it had taken no steps to implement it, despite a petition by Women of the Wall and others to the High Court. Roughly three weeks ago, the justices patience ran out and they refused to grant the government another extension on implementation. On Sunday, June 25, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who initiated and approved this agreement, succumbed to political pressure by ultra-Orthodox members of his coalition and called a quick, unscheduled vote. The ministers who voted for the deal 17 months ago now voted to repeal it. This from a prime minister who stood before a room of American Jewish leaders in November 2015 and promised: I will always ensure that all Jews can feel at home in Israel, Reform Jews, Conservative Jews, Orthodox Jews and that his government would ensure that the Western Wall will be a source of unity for the Jewish people, not a point of division.

Mr. Netanyahus broken promise is a disgrace and a betrayal of Israelis committed to religious liberty; of diaspora Jews who are being told that they dont matter to the Jewish state; and of Judaism itself, which insists on loving your neighbor as you would love yourself.

This betrayal put me in mind of the first time I was arrested and led to the police station, which has been there since the early 1800s under Turkish rule and, later, under the British. There is a plaque on the wall there commemorating the bravery of a Jewish boy who dared to defy the British by sounding the shofar on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. I felt a deep sense of kinship with that boy, who was arrested and led to the same place years before me for the same type of crime: worshiping according to our faith. But he was rising up against a foreign regime. Im a woman fighting against her coreligionists and her government.

I wont ever give up. It is thanks to generations of relentless women that I can wear pants, vote, drive a car and lead an organization. I want my daughter and the next generation of girls to stand on my shoulders as I stand on those of the women that came before me. I want what is forbidden for me to be most natural for them: to pray out loud.

See the rest here:
Jewish Women vs. the Jewish State - New York Times

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on Jewish Women vs. the Jewish State – New York Times
Tags:

Posted By simmons on July 1, 2017

The Anti-Defamation Leagues Southeast Region awarded its Stuart Lewengrub Torch of Liberty Award on Thursday, June 22, to Atlanta Public Schools and Superintendent Meria Carstarphen at the annual Torch of Liberty Corporate Breakfast.

This award recognizes the incredible work that Atlanta Public Schools has done over the past two years to implement ADLs No Place for Hate program throughout the entire school district, said Shelley Rose, the ADL interim regional director.

The ADL offers No Place for Hate free to schools to rally them around the goal of creating a welcoming community committed to stopping all forms of bias and bullying. In 2012, as the Austin Independent School Districts superintendent, Carstarphen announced plans to bring the program to the entire district.

She brought that commitment to Atlanta when she became the superintendent in July 2014, and in 2015, Atlanta Public Schools introduced the initiative systemwide. The school system has seen progress in addressing and preventing bullying and cyber bullying and educating about all forms of hatred.

The No Place for Hate initiative provides our district with a clear framework to fight bias, bullying and hatred, leading to long-term solutions for creating and maintaining a positive climate, Carstarphen said. We are sending a clear message that hate, bullying and disrespect have no place in our schools. We want our schools to be places where students, staff and families feel safe, welcomed and respected.

Visit link:
ADL Honors Atlanta Schools - Atlanta Jewish Times

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on ADL Honors Atlanta Schools – Atlanta Jewish Times
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 30, 2017

Such modern day humanitarians have played misery with unparalleled cynicism and cruelty, exploiting needs to advance the disappearance of a people.

It is often that Palestine, and those who have defended its peoples right to sit themselves sovereign on the land which they inherited from their forefathers and their fathers before that have limited their calls for justice to the denunciation of Zionism, thus failing to see that other parties have had a hand in that genocide we all seldom attest to.

RELATED: Hezbollah Leader Blasts Israelis, 'Weak' Saudis on Al-Quds Day

If Palestinians remain a hot topic of discussion, mainstream media has yet to frame this struggle within its true parameters: that of a people robbed of their national identity, their history, their tradition, their religious freedom, and more importantly, their rights to a dignified future away from oppression.

It needs to be said that Palestine is not a symbol of anti-semitism!

Palestines existence does in no way, shape or form equate to the negation of Judaism!

Those arguing against Palestine are really making the case of its disappearance.

The truth of this conflict lies beyond any and all religious or political spats. The truth of this conflict lies in this blood mighty men choose to shed so that empires could be risen and ambitions fed.

Palestine, we should realize, is where fascism came to reinvent itself a grand enemy of democratic pluralism and freedom at a time when new systems of governance were being formulated away from western imperialism. Beyond that, one may posit that Palestine has become together a neo-fascist project and a blueprint for future genocides.

In his address to Parliament on Al-Quds Day, Irans Parliament Chairman, Ali Larijani, referred to Israel as the source of all terrorism in the world, pointing to the ideological construct beyond the political agenda.

Zionism, we ought now to grasp, exists beyond Palestine. The Middle Eastern country was but the first victim of a vengeful ideology which seeks to bow men to its will.

In the same vein, Zionism has had many expressions to its hatred not all linked to Judaism, but rather the political reality it has worked to manifest in the Greater Middle East.

What do I mean? Simply that Zionism is not a Jewish monopoly, it is a way of thinking anchored in supremacism and exclusionism, not a religion. Whereas Judaism exists as a faith, a belief system inspired by Zionism came to claim the religion to justify its intolerance while calling it holy.

RELATED: 'Ongoing and Loathful': Bolivia Condemns Israeli Settlements

Zionism cannot be fully understood if divorced from its other expression: Wahhabism. Just like Israels military occupation of Palestine cannot be divorced from attempts by Saudi Arabia to occupy Palestines civil space by laying siege to its non-governmental organizations.

I will quote here the work of Vanessa Beeley, an investigative journalist whose courage and dedication have permitted for the rise a new narrative one weaved around the idea that Freedom is a natural and inalienable right to our human condition.

We live in a world governed by propaganda where the majority of media mouthpieces are gagged by those who own them and only permitted to release information that serves the narrative of the ruling elite or imperialist powers, Beeley said.

So what does the machine create? It creates a power for good in its own image. It creates the non-government organizations and the not-for-profit industrial complex to give us the illusion, not only of this power for good, but of our own empowerment, our own stakeholding in reducing the misery being inflicted upon humanity.

In Palestine, this has manifested in a covert campaign for control of civil development.

Beyond Israeli pointed guns and barbwires extends another shadow, one just as nefarious and insidious since it has precluded Palestinians from asserting themselves outside the narrative of occupation. Worse still, Saudi Arabias philanthropy in Palestine has more often than not been tied to hyper-radicalisation, or as you may prefer to call it, wahhabization.

There is a pattern here that should not escape us. Saudi Arabias humanitarian efforts are not motivated by an imperious need to offer relief to the victims of Israels brutality, but rather a mean to assert financial dependency to buy loyalties and indoctrinate communities.

RELATED: Will New Saudi Crown Prince Usher in Open KSA-Israeli Alliance?

Beeley argues that when the soft power missionary complex is in the same hands as the hard power industrial/military complexthey are two sides of the same coin, overtly opposing and covertly combining to achieve imperialist aims in any given target region or nation. The NGO complex is the most insidious tool of empire and arguably the most damaging.

Such modern day humanitarians have played misery with unparalleled cynicism and cruelty, exploiting needs to advance, promote and accelerate the disappearance of a people.

Palestine is no longer Zionism and Wahhabisms only war theater. Others have fallen prey to such hunger. Many others still stand to fall should we fail to reframe conflicts within the reality of a system we refuse to formulate for fear of facing it.

Imperialism is really but the branding behind which neo-fascists have come to hide.

The real game, the only game that has been played and continues to be played, is that of socio-political enslavement and sovereign erosion.

Again, Palestine sits together a cautionary tale and the tip of the iceberg. It is what lays below, what we wish not to see, that should command our attention.

More here:
Exposing Saudi Arabia's 'Humanitarianism' in Palestine - teleSUR English

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Exposing Saudi Arabia’s ‘Humanitarianism’ in Palestine – teleSUR English
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 30, 2017

Idaho Statesman

Passionate beliefs, civility can coexist Idaho Statesman The Talmud recounts the resolution of their disputes as follows: A Divine Voice announced: '[The views of] both are the words of the living God, but the law is in agreement with the rulings of the school of Hillel.' Since, however, 'both are the words ...

Continued here:

Passionate beliefs, civility can coexist - Idaho Statesman

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Passionate beliefs, civility can coexist – Idaho Statesman
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 30, 2017

Overview

The haftarah for the portion of Balak is the only one taken from the book of Micah. Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah, and lived about a hundred and thirty years before the destruction of the first Temple. His prophecies are similar to Isaiahs, in that he foresees the destruction and the terrible exile, but also carries prophecies of redemption and rebuilding. In his rebuke, Micah particularly calls out the people for their failings in the realm of social justice.

The reading begins with prophecies regarding the time of Moshiach. The remnant of the Jewish people at the time will be compared to dew and rain: just as these cannot be hoped for from the hand of man, so too will the Jews not cast their lot with any human power, only with Gd. According to many commentaries, this is a reference to the time following the war of Gog and Magog: the Jews at the time will be subdued and weakened, and will have no one to turn to other than to Gd Himself.

Following this, however, the Jews will have a meteoric rise. They will rule at will over their enemies, just as a lion does over the animals in the field. The enemies of the Jews will be obliterated, and what will follow will be a time of peace and tranquility. Weapons, chariots or fortified cities will not be necessary anymore. Spiritually, the people will also experience a revival. Gdliness will be open and revealed, hence there will be no temptation for seeking witchcraft and foreign powers in the form of idolatry.

After this uplifting prophecy, the verses take a change of tone. Micah, on behalf of Gd, begins to contend with the people. Listen now to what Gd says, Micah calls. Gd is aggravated. The Jews seemed to totally forget the kindness Gd had showed them throughout their history. He had taken them out of slavery in Egypt, provided for them, and given them magnificent leaders. Moses gave the Jews the Torah, Aaron atoned for them in the Sanctuary, and Miriam was given the gift and ability of leading the women. In particular, the prophet invokes the story of this weeks Parshah, when Gd subverted the curses of Balaam and turned them into blessings. Although the Jews had sinned right afterwards with the daughters of Midian, Gd still kept His word and brought them to the promised land. Now, a great number of Jews had just walked away from Gd and His Torah. What wrong did I do to you! the prophet thunders in the name of His creator.

As if speaking on behalf of the people, the prophet proceeds to pose their probable answer. He wants to bring out a point, and does so in an ingenious way.

The response of the people is posed as their backing down in the face of their great Gd. But in doing so, they demonstrate their unfortunate spiritual state, one on par with the contemporary pagans whose culture they had so mindlessly imbibed. If Gd was grieved, then they obviously had to do more for Him. But what might that be? Thousands of rams? Rivers of oil? Their very own children as sacrifices? Just what does He want?

Indeed, they were barking up the wrong tree. The true Gd is not bought off and appeased with gifts and donations, however lavish they may be. He has told you, O man, what is good: what does Gd require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your Gd. That is what He wants.

The injunction to walk humbly with your Gd has been one of the hallmarks of character that Jews have aspired to for all time. The Talmud understands this instruction to be particularly pertinent when performing two mitzvot: providing for the needs of a funeral, and helping with the needs of a wedding. Now, these are mitzvot that are almost impossible to conceal from others: there are usually several people involved with these endeavors, and at least some of them will usually know where the assistance is coming from. What the verse is telling us is that even in such a case, care should be taken that the mitzvah be done in a discreet manner. The Talmud concludes: If this is the case with mitzvot that are usually done in the open, how much more so does this apply to deeds which are usually done discreetly.

The Talmud records an aphorism that the sage Abayei was accustomed to say: A person should always be artful in piety. Chassidic thought interprets this artfulness to lie in the quest that ones own piety not be noticed at all by others. Many stories are told of great sagesas well as ordinary peoplewho took great measures in concealing their true virtues, and who, if these were discovered, were greatly distressed. There is nothing more beautiful than modesty, states the Midrash.

It is important to note, however, a caveat about this virtue. Often the yetzer hara (evil inclination) will push a person in the direction of doing something that on the face of things is pious, but in the long run will be counterproductive. In this case, opting to conceal ones own mitzvot can have a negative effect in the following ways:

1. People often lead their lives by the example of others. When it comes to a mitzvah cause, people often look towards others and see whether, or to what degree, they should participate. Choosing to remain absent from the public eye may very well weaken others view of the importance of this cause. This applies especially to a person who is respected in his or her community. The more influence a person has, the more they have to be careful that their actions should not have a negative effect on their peers.

2. The yetzer hara is a master at his work. Going off the right path begins one step at a time. Human nature is that we feel accountable to others; but if we choose to keep private what we do, then we may have no one whom we feel we have to answer to. Any good resolve which is kept away from the knowledge of others will be highly susceptible to losing momentum, and eventually to total disappearance. On the other hand, if a person is accustomed to doing mitzvot publicly, he can be held to account by his friends and peers.

In this day and age, we suffer from spiritual weakness. Humility is a virtue; but as with all virtues, it must find its rightful place.

Read more from the original source:

Balak Haftarah Companion - Chabad.org

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Balak Haftarah Companion – Chabad.org
Tags: