Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 22, 2017

What a simcha to see Shaarei Orahs own Joshua Schulz marry a wonderful young lady, Rachel Lina (Lini) Sassen, this past week in Israel! The young couple returned for sheva brachot in New Jersey this past week, concluding at a seudah shelishit at Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck. It is especially gratifying to see Joshuas beautiful development from a young boy at Shaarei Orah to his emergence as a charismatic, young ben Torah. I had the double pleasure of serving as Joshuas rav at Shaarei Orah and rebbe at Torah Academy of Bergen County, where Joshua graduated in 2009.

The Sephardic standards for sheva brachot, though, are more stringent that those of Ashkenazic Jews. It is well known that the presence of panim chadashot (new faces; i.e., people who have not yet participated in the wedding parties) is required in order to recite sheva brachot during the week after the wedding. Whereas for Ashkenazic Jews, one person suffices for panim chadashot, Hacham Ovadia Yosef (Teshuvot Yabia Omer 3 Even HaEzer 11) insists that Sephardic practice follows the Rambam who requires two panim chadashot (as indicated by the use of the plural panim chadashot).

Moreover, while Ashkenazic Jews follow the Rama, that Shabbat is regarded as panim chadashot even regarding seudah shelishit, Sephardim follow the ruling of Maran that actual panim chadashot are required at seudah shelishit (as noted in the aforementioned Teshuvot Yabia Omer). I was delighted to note that both requirements were met at the seudah shelishit held in honor of Lini and Yehoshuas wedding at Shaarei Orah.

There would seem, though, to be a problem with conducting sheva brachot at Shaarei Orah. After all, Sephardic practice, insists Hacham Ovadia, is for sheva brachot to take place only at the beit chatan, the marital residence. I have been told, though, by a number of knowledgeable Sephardic laypeople and rabbanim, that many Sephardic Jews have not accepted this ruling of Hacham Ovadia. They note that the marital residence is usually a quite small space and woefully inadequate to host a sheva brachot. Moreover, the marital residence is often hardly in order and ready to host a series of parties immediately after the wedding. Had this ruling of Hacham Ovadia been accepted, the recitation of sheva brachot for Sephardic Jews would have been eviscerated. Thus, it is accepted among many Sephardic Jews that the conditions have changed since the time of the Gemara, and sheva brachot may be recited even outside the beit chatan. The Gemara (Sukkah 25b) states that simcha occurs only at the marital residence. Today, simcha is not possible at the marital residence.

We were all ready for sheva brachot when I realized that it might be too late to recite sheva brachot! Lini and Joshua were married the previous Sunday before shkiah (sunset), and thus Sunday counted as the first day of sheva brachot. Since shkiah had already passed, it seemed that we could no longer recite sheva brachot! Although Maran Hachida (Rav Yosef Haim Azulay, a major Sephardic authority) permits the recital of sheva brachot for the entire week (i.e., until 168 hours after the chupah have elapsed), Hacham Ovadia (Teshuvot Yabia Omer 5 Even HaEzer 7:2) notes that the consensus rejects this approach.

However, I was delighted to find that Hacham Ovadia (Teshuvot Yabia Omer op. cit.) and Hacham Yitzhak Yosef (Yalkut Yosef Sova Semachot 1:113) permits recital of sheva brachot in such circumstances before tzeit hakochavim (nightfall). He notes that the time between shkiah and tzeit, referred to as bein hashemashot, is regarded as safek yom safek layla, uncertain as to its identity as either day or night (Ritva and Rav Soloveitchik explain that this means that this time period has elements of both day and night and thus is regarded as both day and night).

Moreover, Hacham Ovadia and Hacham Yitzhak add that there is a safek, possibility, that we follow Rabbeinu Tam that the halachic day continues until 58 minutes after astronomical sunset. Hacham Ovadia and Hacham Yitzhak often take this opinion into account, as do we at Shaarei Orah. For example, we endeavor to wait for the end of Yom Kippur by Rabbeinu Tams standards (72 minutes after shkiah) before we recite Havdalah on that most holy day. Accordingly, Hacham Yitzhak concludes that we recite sheva brachot on the seventh day after the chupah, during the time period of bein hashmashot. We note that we may add, as a third safek, the opinion of the Chida that sheva brachot is recited a full seven days/168 hours after the chupah.

One last halachic hurdle was to be overcome. Once Birkat HaMazon of seudah shelishit is recited, we are not permitted to eat until Havdalah. How could we drink from the kosot of the sheva brachot after Birkat HaMazon?! While there is wide discussion and a variety of opinions on the matter, Shaarei Orah follows the ruling of Hacham Ovadia (Teshuvot Yabia Omer op. cit. and 8 Orah Haim 33) permitting the drinking of the kosot even before Havdalah.

There is no greater joy than witnessing the blossoming of a young congregant from a boy into a very capable young man who is deeply committed to Torah and marrying a wonderful kallah who shares his values. What a joy it was to have the privilege of reciting the concluding sheva brachot for Josh and Lini at one of the chatans spiritual foundations, Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck!

By Rabbi Haim Jachter

Rabbi Haim Jachter is the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck. He also serves as a Rebbe at Torah Academy of Bergen County and a Dayan on the Beth Din of Elizabeth.

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Sheva Berachot for Lini and Yehoshua (Josh) Schulz at Shaarei Orah - Jewish Link of New Jersey

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2017

In the midst of the spring bloom in May, the province of Ontario proudly celebrates Jewish Heritage Month (JHMO) by acknowledging the plentiful and impressive achievements and contributions made by the members of the Jewish community while honouring Ontarios Jewish rich culture & heritage.

Since its unanimously passing in the Legislature on February 23, 2012, the Jewish Heritage Month (Bill 17) has provided all citizens the unique opportunity to learn about the history and culture of Ontarians of Jewish heritage, who have made an impact in communities across the province, from Kenora to Cornwall, as well as appreciate the significant contributions made by the Jewish community in the fields of medicine, law, politics, arts, business and philanthropy.

The Jewish Heritage Month Bill was spearheaded by MPP Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence) and co-sponsored by MPP Cheri DiNovo (ParkdaleHigh Park) and MPP Peter Shurman (Thornhill).

JHMO has gained widespread support among citizens, community leaders, and organizations, including: UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and its advocacy partner, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

Community groups across the province are encouraged to plan celebrations for May 2016, including bringing guest speakers into schools, creating special collections in public libraries, and organizing community celebrations.

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2017

Given that June is both Gay Pride and Immigrant Heritage Month, its fitting that the Tenement Museum last week announced the appointment of Kevin Jenningsa former history teacher who became a nationally recognized advocate for LGBT youthas its new president.

Jennings, 54, will lead the Lower East Side museum as it undergoes an expansion andseeks to widen its audience through new technology. Founded in 1988 by Ruth Abram, the museum fields250,000 visitors per year and brings to life the stories of working class immigrants who lived in the tenement at 97 Orchard St.

The biggest challenge we face is that these are tenements, which means theyre small, and were at max capacity, said Jennings. Were going to look at the emerging technologies of virtual reality to find ways for people sitting in their living rooms in Bozeman, Montana, to visit the museum.

The Tenement Museum, located at the corner of Delancey and Orchard Sts. on the Lower East Side of New York.

This fall, the museum will open a second exhibit next door at 103 Orchard St., which will feature the stories of three familiesone Jewish, one Chinese, and one Puerto Ricanwho occupied the original tenement. Jenningss immediate predecessor, Morris Vogel, completed a $20 million capital campaign to create the exhibit, Under One Roof, and make repairs to the museums existing structure.

Raised in the rural southby a single mother with a sixth-grade education, Jennings began his career as a history teacher at Concord Academy in Massachusetts. During his tenure at the progressive prep school, where I was one of his students, Jennings co-founded the countrys first Gay/Straight Alliance. Prior to that, he majored in history at Harvard, and, he noted, worked his first professional job as a tour guide at Paul Revere House. Its coming full circle from where I started, Jennings said of his new position.

While the fit may not seem immediately obvious to those who know Jennings for his work running the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which he co-founded in 1990 with a small group of New England independent school teachers and built into a national advocacy organization, it makes perfect sense to the new museum president.

I think theres a link between the work I do in the LGBTQ community and the work of the museum, said Jennings, who is openly gay. I believe that stories change peoples hearts, and when we did GLSEN, we used the stories of real life people to help educators understand the issues. And thats what the museum does: We take stories of real life immigrants and humanize them.

In 2009, Jennings was appointed Assistant Deputy Secretary at the office of Safe & Drug-Free Schools in President Obamas administration, where he led an anti-bullying initiative. In that role, Jennings said he took the same tack of humanizing the issue: He would bring the parents of children who had died from bullying to meet the president and Michelle Obama. I knew if they met them, he said. They would want to do something.

A self-described history nerd who spent his childhood visiting historical sites and museums with his mother, Jennings went on to run the Arcus Foundation, which focuses on conservation and LGBT rights, before accepting the Tenement Museum job. Now, as he takes the helm there, Jennings is once again tackling a heated social issue. Immigration is probably the single hottest topic in America right now, and its very polarizing, said Jennings. What history can do really beautifully is to help people understand issues as human issues, and I hope the museum can help people understand that immigrants are not evil, theyre just ordinary people.

Related: The Garment Districts Bustling Past and Uncertain Future

Rebecca Spence is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. She is currently at work on her first novel.

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Given that June is both Gay Pride and Immigrant Heritage Month, it's fitting that the Tenement Museum last week ... - Tablet Magazine

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Posted By richards on June 22, 2017

An online petition asking the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to deny entry to an American Holocaust denier and conspiracy theorist has garnered more than 2,000 signatures to date.

Circulated by Bnai Brith Canada, the petition asks the CBSA to bar Kevin Barrett from speaking at the annual Al-Quds rally at Queens Park in Toronto, which is slated for June 24.

Its a bid to protect Canada from foreign hatemongers, said Bnai Brith.

Barrett left his teaching position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006, after he supported the notion that the Sept. 11 attacks were an inside job coordinated by the U.S. and Israel, Bnai Brith wrote in a press release.

Since then, Barrett has repeatedly questioned the murder of six-million Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies during the Holocaust. Barrett has also argued that widespread Holocaust denial in Muslim countries such as Moroccosomehow confirmsthat the Holocaust was fabricated to promote self-serving Zionist assertions, Bnai Brith stated.

This is both outrageous and unacceptable, said Michael Mostyn, CEO of Bnai Brith Canada. Inviting a notorious Holocaust denier to this event demonstrates once and for all that Al-Quds Day is not a mere anti-Israel event, but rather a hate rally designed to demonize and denigrate Canadas Jewish population.

Toronto police must not allow Queens Park, our provincial legislature, to become a platform for Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism, and the CBSA must not allow Kevin Barrett into our country. Enough is enough.

According to Bnai Brith, Barrett was barred from entering Canada in 2015 for having stated that the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, which resulted in the deaths of 12 people, was a false-flag operation.

In a statement to The CJN, CBSA spokesperson Nicholas Dorion said that while the agency will not speak to specifics of any one case or file, we can tell you that the Canada Border Services Agency takes its border and national security responsibilities very seriously. The safety and protection of Canadians are the CBSAs top priorities.

All persons, including Canadian citizens, seeking entry to Canada must present to the CBSA and may be subject to a more in-depth exam. All persons must demonstrate they meet the requirements to enter and/or stay in Canada.

READ: PEEL TEACHER SUSPENDED FOR ANTI-ISRAEL SPEECH AT AL-QUDS RALLY

Admissibility of all travellers is decided on a case-by-case basis and based on the information made available to the border services officer at the time of entry.

Several factors are used in determining admissibility into Canada, including involvement in criminal activity, in human rights violations, in organized crime, security, health or financial reasons, he explained.

Al-Quds Day is an annual event held on the last Friday ofRamadanthat was initiated by Iran in 1979 to express support for Palestinians and opposeZionismandIsraels existence.

In Toronto, in 2013 and 2016, rally speakers called for Israelis to be shot, which lead to police investigations.

Also in 2016, Mississauga Catholic school teacher Nadia Shoufaniwas suspended after she used her Al-Quds Day speech to laud a former leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is listed by Canada as a terrorist entity, Bnai Brith pointed out, adding that in 2014, the PFLP claimed responsibility for themassacre in the Har Nof neighbourhood in Jerusalem that left six Jewish worshippers, including one Canadian, dead.

Toronto police must not allow Queens Park, our provincial legislature, to become a platform for Holocaust denial

In a statement on June 20, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said the Al-Quds Day rally will not take place on the grounds of Queens Park.

As you may know, the use of the grounds of the Ontario legislature falls within the area of responsibility of the speaker of the legislative assembly, Wynne stated. The sergeant-at-arms, who reports to the legislative assembly, has advised that there is no Al-Quds event scheduled to take place at Queens Park.

On their Facebook page, organizers of the rally say participants are scheduled to walk from Queens Park starting at 3 p.m., to the U.S. consulate on University Ave.

A map indicates the rally will begin between Charles and Bloor streets, at Avenue Road, just south of Queens Park.

The Jewish Defense League called Wynnes letter a lie, saying the rally will begin on Queens Parks north side.

But JDL Canada director Meir Weinstein told The CJN that the event is probably outside the boundaries of the provincial capital grounds and that organizers, therefore, do not require a permit.

He said last years rally started from the same place as this years.

The Jewish Defense League will confront the supporters of radical Islam on that day, Weinstein promised on Bnai Brith Canadas Facebook page.

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B'nai Brith launches petition to keep Holocaust denier out of Canada - Canadian Jewish News (blog)

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Posted By richards on June 22, 2017

In a time when lying seems to matter less than it used to, when truth is questioned, when history is turned on its ear, its no wonder that Holocaust denial is emerging from the dung heap, brushing itself off and continuing to go about its evil business.

Holocaust denial the odious suggestion that the Holocaust was made up, that world Jewry created this fiction to secure monetary reparations from Germany to help establish the State of Israel is a malevolent lie thats been perpetrated by neo-Nazis and other assorted anti-Semites.

Yet, like a blood stain on a white garment, its hard to erase. In every generation, the lie resurfaces. New and better methods must be found to rid us of this malicious virus.

Last year, Holocaust historian Prof. Deborah Lipstadts seminal work on Holocaust denial was transformed from a book onto the big screen. Denial documents the trial of David Irving, a British Holocaust denier who brought a libel suit against Lipstadt.

The movie captured the essence of Lipstadts book with both urgency and grace. One would have hoped the effort to prove the authenticity of truth would now lay to rest the evil of denial. And yet, we know that just around the corner lurks the anti-Semitic serpent ready to spew its poison.

READ: BNAI BRITH LAUNCHES PETITION TO KEEP HOLOCAUST DENIER OUT OF CANADA

Thus, the recently opened exhibition The Evidence Room in Torontos Royal Ontario Museum (June 25, 2017 Jan. 28, 2018) is so vitally important. And once again, as in the movie Denial, Canadian academic and forensic architect Robert Jan van Pelts work on the historicity of the largest and most efficient death camp ever, Auschwitz, turns evil and truth into reality. (Full disclosure: I sit on the advisory council of this exhibit).

Van Pelt takes his original written work documented as an expert witness in the Irving trial on the design, construction and workings of the notorious Auschwitz death camp to the next level. Along with Donald McKay and Anne Bordeleau, academic colleagues from the University of Waterloo, a concept was developed wherein the team built, as Van Pelt explains, a replica of a Zyklon-B gas column, a gas-tight door with a peephole and other replicas of evidence of the genocidal purpose of the Auschwitz gas chambers and ovens. Thus were the seeds of The Evidence Room planted.

The exhibitis an indictment of the architects whose designs enabled the machinery of mass murder

This exhibit is like none before. It speaks in an unprecedented way of the role played by architects of the Nazi Third Reich in the murder factory that was Auschwitz. Actual size reconstructions, reproductions in plaster cast relief of architectural drawings, architects correspondence, death camp construction photographs, along with drawings from inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, were all meticulously created and presented as part of this stark and captivating exhibit. The entire display is in white. When finally built, it opened at the prestigious Venice Biennale in May 2016.

By the time it was all done, there were dozens of architects, historians, museum professionals, Holocaust survivors and others who played a role in its creation. Different from a movie or theatre, this exhibit allows visitors to not only see Hitlers madness up close and personal, but it also allows visitors to feel the construction of death. Visiting The Evidence Room, you can actually touch the gas columns, the gas-tight door and the other instruments of genocide.

Elly Gotz, himself a Holocaust survivor and a professional engineer saw an early version of the project. He was stunned.

By removing colour, sound and interpretation from The Evidence Room, we are forced to rely on touch to elicit meaning. Most people are by now aware of the Holocaust. It is possible to know things, to be aware of them, but not to feel them. This exhibition lets people touch the metal of the gas column, run their fingers over the drawings and connect in that mysterious way that sometimes happens when reality overwhelms us by becoming part of us.

Many played their role in the genocide of our people. The Evidence Room is an indictment of the architects whose designs enabled the machinery of mass murder.

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Posted By richards on June 22, 2017

Belz is a Hasidic dynasty founded in the town of Belz in Western Ukraine, near the Polish border, historically the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The Hasidut was founded in the early 19th century by Rabbi Shalom Rokeach, also known as the Sar Shalom, and led by his son, Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach, and grandson, Rabbi Yissachar Dov, and great grandson, Rabbi Aharon, before the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. While Rabbi Aharon managed to escape Europe, most of the Belz Hasidim were killed. Rabbi Aharon re-established the Hasidut in Tel Aviv, Israel. Today, Belz is one of the largest Hasiduts in Israel, and has sizable communities in England, Brooklyn, New York, and Canada.

The founder of the dynasty was Rabbi Shalom Rokeach, also known as the Sar Shalom, who was inducted as rabbi of Belz in 1817. He personally helped build the city's large and imposing synagogue. Dedicated in 1843, the building resembled an ancient fortress, with 3-foot-thick (0.91m) walls, a castellated roof and battlements adorned with gilded gold balls. It could seat 5,000 worshippers and had superb acoustics. It stood until the Nazis invaded Belz in late 1939. Though the Germans attempted to destroy the synagogue first by fire and then by dynamite, they were unsuccessful. Finally they conscripted Jewish men in forced labour to take the building apart, brick by brick.

When Rabbi Shalom died in 1855, his youngest son, Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach (18551894), became the next Rebbe. Belzer Hasidism grew in size during Rebbe Yehoshua's tenure and the tenure of his son and successor, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach (18941926).

Unlike other groups which formed yeshivas in pre-war Poland, Belz maintained a unique yoshvim program, developed by Rabbi Yissachar Dov, which produced many outstanding Torah scholars. The yoshvim were married and unmarried men who remained in the synagogue all day to study the Talmud, pray, and derive inspiration from their Rebbe. They were supported by local businessmen and their food and other necessities were brought to them so they wouldn't have to leave the synagogue for even a short time. Some yoshvim even slept in the synagogue on benches. They typically remained in this program until the Rebbe would tell them to return home to their wives and families.

With the death of Rebbe Yissachar Dov in 1926, the mantle of leadership fell on his eldest son, Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, who was 49 years old at the time. A deeply spiritual, almost mystical man, who studied much and slept and ate little, Rebbe Aharon was known for his saintliness and his miracle-working capabilities. Many of his followers reported experiencing miraculous recoveries or successes after receiving his blessing, and flocked to his court by the thousands.[1]

Some of the most learned scholars of the generation were Hasidim of Belz, such as Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Schwadron (Maharsham) and Rabbi Chanoch Dov Padwa (Cheishev Ho'ephod), who was very close to Rebbe Aharon of Belz.

With the outbreak of World War II and the Nazi invasion of Poland (1939), the town of Belz was thrown into turmoil. From 1939 to 1944 it was occupied by Nazi Germany as a part of the General Government. Belz is situated on the left, north waterside of the Solokiya river (affluent of the Bug river), which was the German-Soviet border in 19391941.

Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, known as the "Wonder Rebbe" was at the top of the Gestapo's "wanted list" of rabbis targeted for extradition and extermination during the Nazi occupation of Poland. With cash inflow from Belzer Hasidim in Palestine, England and the United States, the Rebbe and his half-brother, Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgoray, 22 years his junior, managed to stay one step ahead of the Nazis in one escape attempt after another. Notwithstanding the watchful presence of Gestapo patrols at every turn, the pair was spirited out of Premishlan into the Krakw Ghetto, and then to the Bochnia ghetto. In their most hair-raising escape attempt, the brothers were driven out of occupied Poland and into Hungary by Major General Istvn jszszy, head of the Vkf2 Hungarian counter-intelligence who was friendly to Jews and acting on orders of Hungarian Regent Admiral Mikls Horthy. The Rebbe, his brother, and his attendant, shorn of their distinctive beards and payot (sidelocks), were disguised as Russian generals who had been captured at the front and were being taken to Budapest for questioning.[2]

Rebbe Aharon and Rabbi Mordechai spent eight months in Budapest before receiving highly rationed Jewish Agency certificates to enter Palestine. In January 1944, they boarded the Orient Express to Istanbul. Less than two months later, the Nazis invaded Hungary and began deporting its 450,000 Jews.

Although he had lost his entire familyincluding his wife, children, grandchildren and in-laws and their familiesto the Nazis, Rebbe Aharon re-established his Hasidic court in Tel Aviv, where there was a small Hasidic community. Both he and Rabbi Mordechai (who had lost his wife and daughter) remarried, but only Rabbi Mordechai had a child, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, in 1948. Rabbi Mordechai suddenly died a year later at the age of 47. Rebbe Aharon took his brother's son under his wing to groom him as the future successor to the Belz dynasty.

Like nearly all of the other groups originating in Poland, Belzer Hasdism was nearly wiped out by the Holocaust. Some Hasidic followers from other communities joined Belz after the war and following the deaths of their rebbes. Belz, like Ger and Satmar, was comparatively fortunate in that its leadership remained intact and survived the war, as opposed to many other Hasidic groups which suffered losses both in terms of rank-and-file supporters, as well as the murder of their leaders.

Rebbe Aharon became an acknowledged leader of Haredi Judaism in Israel. He laid the groundwork for the spread of Belzer Hasidism through the establishment of schools and yeshivas in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak and Jerusalem. In 1950 the Rebbe moved his court to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Katamon and established a yeshiva there. His sights set on expanding Belz, he drew up plans for a large yeshiva and study hall in downtown Jerusalem, on a hill behind the original Shaarei Tzedek Hospital. The cornerstone was laid in 1954 and the building was completed in the summer of 1957. One month later, however, the Rebbe died.

Tens of thousands of admirers followed his casket to his burial site in Jerusalem. His nephew, Yissachar Dov, was nine years old at the time. For the next nine years the movement did not have an active Rebbe. Yissachar Dov married at the age of 17 to the daughter of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, and moved to Bnei Brak to be close to his new father-in-law. A year later, he returned to Jerusalem to assume leadership of the Belz movement. His son and heir, Aharon Mordechai Rokeach was born in 1975.

Since 1966, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach has presided over both the expansion of Belz educational institutions and the growth of Hasidic populations in Israel, the United States, and Europe. Like other Hasidic groups, the Belz community has established a variety of self-help organizations, including one of the largest patient-advocacy organizations of its kind, a free medical counseling center, and an affordable medical treatment clinic in the New York area.[3]

Under the Rebbe's leadership, the Belz Hasidut has grown from a few hundred families at the time of his accession to leadership in 1966, to over 7,000 families as of 2011.[4]

In London, the Belz community is now centred in Stamford Hill.[5] In the 1930s, an early Belz synagogue was on Commercial Road, Limehouse, in the East End.[6]

In 2015, its community leaders, in accordance with guidance from the Belzer Rebbe in Israel, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, stated that women driving was against traditional rules of modesty. In conjunction with Belz educational leaders, a policy was introduced of not allowing pupils to attend the school if their mothers drive.[5][7] The Department for Education launched an investigation, and the Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan stated that any such restriction is "completely unacceptable in modern Britain". In response, a Belz community spokesman said it never intended to "stigmatise or discriminate against children or their parents", and that the issue had been misrepresented.[8][9]

Belz in the USA was founded in the 1800s in the time of the Third Belzer Rebbe: Yissachar Dov Rokeach z"l. the first Belz synagogue was rented in East Side Manhattan. Today the largest number of Belzer Hasidim outside of Israel are living in the USA, mostly in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, which has eight Belzer synagogues and ten Rabbis. Belz is one of the bigger Hasidic communities in Borough Park, exceeding Bobov, Munkatch, and Ger. Belz in the New York metropolitan area has also communities and synagogues in Williamsburg, and in Staten Island. some more Belz communities in New York State are located in Monsey, New york, and Spring valley, New York. A new Belz development site was built 2015 in Lakewood New Jersey. Belz is operating 3 summer camps in the Catskill Mountains. Belz in the USA and Canada counts over 3000 families, Belz operates 4 local Yeshiva ketanas, two in the New York metropolitan area, one in Monsey, New york, and one in Montreal Canada. In Dec 2015 Belz bought A half-acre property in West Brighton Staten Island for $1.8 million to develop a new Yeshiva Ketana complex.[10] Belz hosted NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio 2013 at an annual Dinner. The dinner took place in Brooklyn.[11]

In the 1980s, Rabbi Yissachar Dov spearheaded plans for a huge synagogue to be erected in the Kiryat Belz neighborhood of Jerusalem. The building, which would have four entrances accessible to each of the four streets of the hilly neighborhood, would be an enlarged replica of the structure that the first Rebbe of Belz, the Sar Shalom, had built in the town of Belz. It would include a grandiose main synagogue, smaller study halls, wedding and Bar Mitzvah halls, libraries, and other communal facilities.

Funds for this ambitious project were raised among Belzer Hasidim and were supplemented by various fund-raising projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Like the original synagogue of Belz which took 15 years to complete, the new Beis HaMedrash HaGadol (Great Synagogue) that now dominates the northern Jerusalem skyline also took 15 years to construct and was dedicated in 2000. Its main sanctuary seats 6,000 worshipers (though crowds on the High Holy Days exceed 8,000), making it the largest Jewish house of worship in the world.[citation needed] A huge ark has the capacity to hold 70 Torah scrolls. Nine chandeliers in the main synagogue each contain over 200,000 pieces of Czech crystal.

In stark contrast to the majestic synagogue, the simple wooden chair and shtender used by Rabbi Aharon Rokeach when he came to Israel in 1944 stand in a glass case next to the ark.[12]

Rabbi Sholom Rokeach, the founder of the Belz dynasty, was a disciple of the Seer of Lublin. The Seer was a disciple of Rabbi Elimelech Lipman of Lizhensk, author of Noam Elimelech. Rabbi Elimelech was a disciple of the Rebbe Dovber, the Maggid (Preacher) of Mezeritch, the primary disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism.

Belz maintains 10 yeshivas in Israel: 5 yeshiva gedolas (including two in Jerusalem, and one each in Bnei Brak, Ashdod, and Haifa); 5 yeshiva ketanas (in Telzstone, Bnei Brak, Ashdod, Beit Hilkia, and Komemiyut); and 6 other yeshiva ketanas around the world, in Belgium, England, Montreal, Monsey, and two in Boro Park.

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Belz (Hasidic dynasty) - Wikipedia

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Posted By simmons on June 22, 2017

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June 21, 2017, 7:00 PM EDT

The worlds largest online poker company will soon enter the fastest-growing smartphone market.

PokerStars ownerAmaya Inc. -- soon to be renamedThe Stars Group Inc. -- plans to start services in India with a local partner by the end of this year, lured by the countrys 1.2 billion mobile users. The Montreal, Quebec-based company is aiming for at least half the Indian market, which it estimates could reach $150 million over time.

Its a booming country, Chief Executive Officer Rafi Ashkenazi told reporters after an annual meeting in Montreal Wednesday, where shareholders agreed to rename the company and move its headquarters to Ontario. We want to be there in time and we want to make sure that we are, as usual, the market leader when it comes to poker.

The venture into India and proposed legislation that could make online poker legal in some U.S. states could help offset expected revenue loss in Australia, which Amaya will exit to comply with upcoming legal changes. While India too has a lack of legal clarity, some states have given licenses to online poker companies on classifying their products as "games of skill."

Ashkenazi said his chief operating officer is currently in India to finalize details of the agreement with the local partner, which already has a license. He didnt name the company. The deal will give PokerStars access to all of India except "a couple" of states, Ashkenazi added.

KPMG estimates that Indias online gaming industry will more than double to $1 billion by 2021, adding 190 million gamers with the majority on mobile devices. Amaya shares have climbed 22 percent this year year as Ashkenazi focused on paying down debt, installing a new management team and growing the casino and sports betting business.

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World's Largest Online Poker Company Heads for the Fastest-Growing Smartphone Market - Bloomberg

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Posted By richards on June 22, 2017

Many physicians don't connect race or ethnicity to genetics and clinical decision-making

With the availability of home genetic testing kits from companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry DNA, more people will be getting information about their genetic lineage and what races and ethnicities of the world are included in their DNA.

Geneticists, meanwhile, are also getting more tailored information about disease risk and prevalence as genetic testing in medical research centers continues.

Physicians accept that cystic fibrosis, for example, is much more common in people with Northern European ancestry and that sickle cell disease occurs dramatically more often in people with African origins. These commonly accepted racial and ethnic differences in disease prevalence are just the tip of the iceberg when looking at clinical differences that vary based on genetics.

But there's a problem, a recent study from the National Institutes of Health found. Many physicians and other providers are uncomfortable discussing race with their patients, and also reticent to connect race or ethnicity to genetics and clinical decision-making, the study suggested.

Overall, physician focus groups asserted that genetics has a limited role in explaining racial differences in health, the authors added.

As a primary care physician who teaches urban health to medical students and as a state minority health commissioner who advocates for health equity, I see this as a problem that health care systems, and their providers, need to address.

Commercial DNA tests, such as those provided by 23andMe, not only give people their racial and ethnic lineage but also can provide a weighted risk for diabetes, stomach ulcers, cancer and many other diseases. In April, the FDA granted approval to 23andMe to sell reports to consumers that tell them whether they may be at heightened risk.

These companies already have the data that describe the risks for health problems based on the percentage of their ancestry composition. Those differences have been published and known in academic circles for many years. With the widespread availability of DNA tests, patients will now know their increased individual risks.

For example, Ashkenazi Jews, a specific Jewish ethnic population originating from Central and Eastern Europe, are known for having a disproportionate occurrence of a number of diseases, including Tay-Sachs disease, amyloidosis, breast cancer, colon cancer and many more.

The BRCA1/2 gene mutation greatly increases the propensity for breast and colon cancer and occurs in 1 in 40 people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, whereas 1 in 800 Americans in general carry that mutation. This 20-fold increased risk should prompt more aggressive screening for the gene, and more frequent and earlier mammography and colonoscopies in Ashkenazi Jews compared to the general population.

Relatively higher rates of these cancers occur in certain populations, such as Ashkenazi Jews, and demonstrates the need for more nuanced care based on data that is already available. But this information is too infrequently accessed by providers.

African-Americans are another group with higher rates of certain genetically driven diseases. African-American men have an increased occurrence of prostate cancer, kidney failure, stroke and other health problems. Prostate cancer in African-American men, for example, grows faster and metastasizes four times as often than in European-Americans.

But despite this increased risk for prostate cancer, doctors' use of the PSA (prostate specific antigen), a test that works well with identifying prostate cancer in African-Americans, has steadily decreased due to recommendations aimed at majority patients who come from European-related heritage. In European-Americans, prostate cancer can be more indolent and occurs at a lower rate than African-Americans.

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Genetics Should Play a Bigger Role in Clinical Decision-Making - Monthly Prescribing Reference (registration)

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Posted By richards on June 22, 2017

BBC News

Missing babies: Israel's Yemenite children affair BBC News One of the disturbing aspects of the Yemenite Children Affair is the way the darker-skinned immigrants appear to have been treated as second-class citizens. The founders of Israel were mostly Ashkenazi Jews, of European descent, some of whom expressed ... and more »

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Missing babies: Israel's Yemenite children affair - BBC News

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Posted By admin on June 22, 2017

Males with a singular genetic mutation are likely to live about 10 years longer than their peers without the change, shows a new study appearing in the journal Science Advances.

Researchers have linked a mutation in the growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene to longer life in a number of populations, ranging from Ashkenazi Jews to Pennsylvania Amish.

Our study provides the first consistent evidence linking the GHR to human longevity, report the study authors from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and other institutions.

The authors believe that their findings may support interventions on a genetic level that can impact the human lifespan.

These results may have implications in devising precision medicine strategies, such as GH-related interventional therapies in the elderly, the authors write.

The new findings come as one of the first clear associations between a populations genetic makeup and overall lifespan. Much previous work on population-level DNA has come up empty.

Its been a real disappointment, Nir Barzilai, a geneticist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who led the current study, told the New York Times.

Yet researchers have begun to take cues from approachable physical evidence, rather than first burrowing deep into the genome to try to find the magical gene thats tied to a longer life.

Related:Running May Increase Life Expectancy

If you look at dogs, flies, mice, whatever it is, smaller lives longer, Gil Atzmon, a geneticist at the University of Haifa in Israel, explained to the New York Times.

That observation has led researchers to investigate growth hormone, a substance created in the brain that is directly tied to human growth and size. At a microscopic level, growth hormone attaches to cell molecules via the growth hormone receptor, and this connection guides the ability of the body to keep or stop growing.

The next step in comparing a persons size to longevity took the researchers on a course through history.

The researchers decided to investigate a specific population Ashkenazi Jews (AJ), whose history gave the researchers something of a clean slate from which to work.

To a large extent, this population exhibits both cultural and genetic homogeneity. For these reasons, the AJ population has been successfully used in the discovery of many disease-associated genes, report the study authors.

Among this population, most of whom were born or migrated to the United States in the years preceding World War II, the link between the GHR gene and longevity held true the genetic mutation was present in about 12 percent of men who were over the age of 100. Among those 70 years old, the rate of the GHR mutation was about three times less.

When observing data from an Amish population in Pennsylvania and a group of notably long-living people in France, the researchers found the same genetic trends the GHR mutation was again linked to longevity.

Although numerous genes have been shown to influence longevity, certain genes appear to affect life span across diverse organisms, conclude the researchers, who believe that plausible therapies are not too far off.

Richard Scott is a health care reporter focusing on health policy and public health. Richard keeps tabs on national health trends from his Philadelphia location and is an active member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.

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Men With This Genetic Mutation May Live 10 Years Longer - - Vital Updates

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