Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

Your Talmudic advice column

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

Im getting a little dizzy trying to figure out when to schedule my bat mitzvah. My synagogue recommends that both boys and girls celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs at age 13. Id like to celebrate it when I am 12. I am ready for it. My parents support me. What should I do?

Coming of Age in Clifton

Dear Coming of Age,

Its probable from what you say that the tasks of preparing for the chanting of the Torah and haftarah in the synagogue likely are not what is making you dizzy. Planning and deciding on all the related logistics for your bat mitzvah day are challenges to young and old alike. You appear to be involved in the ordeals of scheduling and negotiations, perhaps with your parents, siblings, and friends, and with the calendars of your synagogue and the demands of caterers, DJs, and wardrobe, just to list the most obvious factors that come into play in approaching a bat mitzvah.

Do not fret. Yes indeed, you can get spun around trying to sort out the best practices and options for our major Jewish rituals and observances. True, many of our religious actions are rigorously defined and there is nothing to think about. But in the case of bat mitzvah, the rules are less clear and hence the choices are more complex.

Why is this ritual different from many of our other rituals? Lets review just a bit of background about the origins of the bar and bat mitzvah, because that will help you understand why the instructions are less well defined for those practices.

Its commonly accepted that the dos and donts of Judaism, the rituals and restrictions, are mandatory for adults and optional for children. By a longstanding convention, the rabbis of the Talmud decided that the automatic age of majority is 13 for boys and 12 for girls. But there is no recorded discussion back in ancient talmudic times of any major public ritual or celebration of this transition.

Lets look for a moment at the larger world, beyond our Jewish communities. Anthropologists call those human activities marking personal life cycle transitions rites of passage. They recognize the four major ones, marking birth, coming of age, marriage, and death.

In many world cultures and religions, there is a fixed set of activities to demonstrate the coming of age passage. In some native American cultures, there is a rite of puberty to mark girls first menstruation, which may occur when they are about 12. In some cultures in Africa and the South Pacific, boys are initiated into manhood by performing acts of bravery, survival, or athleticism. Malaysian Muslim girls recite from the Koran at the mosque at 11 to mark their maturation. That seems somewhat akin to our Jewish bat mitzvah practice.

In the recent past American teens have marked the passage to adulthood more informally, with sweet sixteen parties, with taking their driving tests, and perhaps with getting a new car.

Your dizziness over what to do probably revolves around the two elements of our current bat mitzvah practices. First you need to know when you should have the synagogue part of the rite. Thats for you and your family and community to mark your maturity in religious terms. And second you need to plan for your party, the time that you and your friends get together for a formal social celebration of your coming of age.

As I suggested, itd be easier if the rules were hard and fast, as they are for many of our ritual observances in Judaism. Yes, you have found out that there is more flexibility in the scheduling of a bat mitzvah than you might have expected.

The laws are not so rigid for these mitzvahs partly because the bar mitzvah concept was developed in the middle ages. At that time, it began to be the custom that as soon as a boy turned 13 he was called to the Torah in the synagogue to mark his maturation.

And the bat mitzvah for girls is a later development. Some historians of Judaism trace its origin to American rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplans celebration of the bat mitzvah of his daughter almost a century ago. On March 18, 1922, Judith Kaplan was called to the Torah at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in Manhattan. In Reform Judaism in Europe and America decades earlier, girls and boys were confirmed in the temple; bar and bat mitzvah milestones were not celebrated.

If you and your family are members of a Conservative synagogue where egalitarianism is an important concern, then the aim sometimes is that boys and girls have equal rights and equal rites and celebrate coming of age at 13. But some Conservative families, as well as Orthodox families who celebrate bat mitzvah, do so at age 12.

This past year I attended my granddaughters bat mitzvah celebration party in Israel, which took place a few weeks before she turned 12 to allow her friends to attend and celebrate with her before the summer school break.

So dizziness at some point becomes a likely possibility when you are trying to please everyone involved, family, friends and community.

My advice dont agonize too long over this. Decide what you want. Listen to what your parents want. Find out what your synagogue wants and offers. Availability there for events may be tightly contested and restricted.

If you cannot get your first choice of a date for your bat mitzvah, be prepared with alternatives. Remember that this should be a joyous occasion, and do not let the constraints of others diminish that happiness.

Indeed, you show your bravery and maturity as a young adult when you manage to navigate through the ordeals and the choppy seas of your bat mitzvah selections and decisions. Mazal tov to you in advance on this important milestone.

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

I am a practicing Conservative Jew who was brought up in the Orthodox tradition. Im thinking of buying an aboveground crypt in a Jewish mausoleum so that I can be laid to rest there after I die. It makes sense to me, but I know that it diverges from the age-old Jewish practice to be buried in the ground. What is your advice for me?

Above Ground in Boca

Dear Above Ground,

It sounds to me like you prefer to arrange for a mausoleum, but are willing to go along with the Jewish funeral traditions of in-ground burial.

Thats good. As I noted above for the previous question, there are four essential rites of passage in Judaism. Our marriage and funeral practices are without doubt old and venerable.

Some background related to your question may help you think further about this important end of life choice.

The Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement issued an opinion in 1983 that opened the door to mausoleum use with this somewhat wavering message. It starts: Although there does not seem to be any impediment in Jewish law to using a mausoleum for burial, it should not be encouraged. Indeed, it should be actively discouraged since it is an obvious change from methods universally accepted today and its general publicized approval may create confusion.

Then the opinion continues with permissions and qualifications: While it should be discouraged, we must recognize that it is permitted and that a rabbi may therefore officiate at an interment in a mausoleum. Although a mausoleum is halakhically permissible, certain restrictions applicable to a cemetery should be applied to the mausoleum. The mausoleum should be used exclusively for those of the Jewish faith. If a non-sectarian mausoleum is used, definite and easily recognizable demarcations should be imposed, such as its own central hall and entrance, clearly indicating its Jewish nature.

In contrast, Orthodox practice is clear on this. Chabad for instance has stated an unwavering Orthodox view: Jewish law is unequivocal in establishing absolutely, and uncompromisingly, that the dead must be buried in the earth.

As best as I can tell, Reform Jews have no official objection to mausoleum use.

Given these variations in American Judaism, you should choose with a main principle of Conservative ideology in mind namely do what makes you comfortable within the parameters of what is permissible.

Perhaps you are okay with a mausoleum, but you imagine that your Orthodox relatives would be offended by that choice and would not visit your crypt. If that is important to you, then you ought to choose the most traditional option, in-ground burial.

Meanwhile, I extend to you the traditional hope and blessing that you may live to be 120 years old, giving you plenty of time to mull over your decision.

Tzvee Zahavy received his Ph.D. from Brown University and his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University. He is the author of many books about Judaism, including Jewish Magic. The Book of Jewish Prayers in English, Gods Favorite Prayers and Talmudic Advice from Dear Rabbi which includes his past columns from the Jewish Standard and other essays.

The Dear Rabbi Zahavy column offers mindful advice based on talmudic wisdom. It aspires to be equally open and meaningful to all the varieties and denominations of Judaism. You can find it here on the first Friday of the month. Please email your questions to zahavy@gmail.com

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

The projectile that slammed into an Indiana synagogue last weekend didnt do much physical damage. A photo of the hole in the glass window of a synagogue classroom shows no more than a pockmark in the glass.

The intent, however, was to terrify, according to the synagogues rabbi. And it comes at a time when incidents targeting minority religions in the small Indiana city of Evansville are on the rise.

Just days earlier, an unidentified man barged into a nearby Islamic center, harassed women preparing food in the centers kitchen and boasted that he had been leaving pork outside centers door.

These things have increased in intensity and frequency, said Dr. Mohammad Hussain, a lay leader at the Islamic Center of Evansville, a city of 100,000 near the borders of Kentucky and Illinois. He said that the incident at the center last week had left members frightened, but that it wasnt the only time in recent months that members of his community have faced harassment. He told the Forward that women have been shouted at outside the center, and that one young law student visiting from out of town was approached at a Wal-Mart and told to go back to your country.

The incidents come as communities across the U.S. and Canada face what seems to be a wave apparent wave of attacks on minority religious sites, including a rash of bomb threats to Jewish centers, a deadly shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, an arson attack on a mosque in Texas, and vandalism at Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis and Pennsylvania.

In Evansville, a few months ago, someone scrawled racist threats on an African-American church across town.

Amid the rash of attacks on minority religious sites, local police have stepped up patrols. Sergeant Jason Collum of the Evansville Police said that officers are now regularly patrolling the citys Jewish cemeteries, something that hadnt previously been a part of their routine.

Evansville is a wonderful community, Hussain said. There is a large majority of people who are very nice and wonderful, and there are obviously some bad apples. Its really hard to tell if this is something thats been done schematically or its just random incidents.

Rabbi Gary Mazo, spiritual leader of Evansvilles Temple Adath Bnai Israel, the synagogue victimized in the recent vandalism, said that the incidents in Evansville were local manifestations of the nationwide trend.

I think its just a product of living in a society where hatred and bigotry have been given a voice thats larger than life, and people feel emboldened and empowered to act on the hatred, the bigotry, he said. Anyone who is a minority religion, culture, ethnicity, is going to wind up on the receiving end. We hoped that nothing like this would ever happen here.

And yet, it has. Religious groups in Evansville, which is also home to two universities, have engaged in robust interfaith dialogue for years. The synagogue and the Islamic center victimized in recent weeks have participated in an ongoing educational and cultural series with a nearby Presbyterian church, called One God One Community.

Now, the pastor of that church, Kevin Flemming of Evansvilles First Presbyterian, said that the religious community is coming together in the wake of the attacks. We have all responded, said Flemming.

In a statement on Thursday, Bishop Charles C. Thompson of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville offered his support to the synagogue. I speak for the Catholic community across Southwest Indiana in condemning this hate crime and all acts like it and in offering prayers for everyone involved, he said.

Mazo said that since the synagogue damage was discovered, non-Jewish clergy friends have dropped by the synagogue every day. He expects a big crowd of non-Jewish supporters for Friday night services this week.

I think this place is going to be packed, he said.

Police say that the incidents remain under investigation. Collum said that initial evidence suggested that the projectile fired at the synagogue was not a bullet, but rather a pellet shot from a bb gun. He said there was no indication that the incidents are connected.

Hussain, meanwhile, said that while he appreciated President Donald Trumps condemnation of anti-Semitic bomb threats and cemetery desacrations. But he said he hoped for more. I think it needs to be much more forceful and much more clear, he said.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

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Hate Crime Hits Synagogue, Mosque And Church In One Small Indiana Town - Forward

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

Synagogue spreads message of hope in response to hate

Updated: 11:05 PM EST Mar 2, 2017

The congregation of Ohev Shalom was joined by people of many synagogues across Central Florida, as well as people who practice other faiths, to answer words of hate with songs of love and joy.

A rise in threats and vandalism at places of peace, Jewish centers and cemeteries, has given way to rising fears of antisemitism across America.

In Central Florida, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando in Maitland was targeted with bomb threats three times in January alone, and other local centers also received threats since then.

That's why Rabbi David Kay opened Ohev Shalom's doors to the public, inviting people to come together with a simple message.

"Answer closed minds with open hearts," Kay said. "The purpose of hiding behind anonymity and threatening people is to disrupt their lives and we are going on with our lives, and more than that, we are enjoying ourselves."

The rabbi said it takes people of all walks of life, standing together, to stomp out hate.

"I remain convinced that the number of people who are of goodwill and have love in their hearts outnumber the haters hundreds to one, thousands to one. We just need some of those folks to stand forward and we will be OK," he said.

WEBVTT >> FOR THE CONGREGATION OF OHEVSHALOM, WORDS OF HATE, AREANSWERED WITH SONGS OF LOVE.KAY, WE'RE NOT GOING TO BEINTIMIDATED.REPORTER: A RISE IN THREATS ANDVANDALISM AT PLACES OF PEACE,JEWISH CENTERS AND CEMETERIES,HAVE GIVEN WAY TO RISING FEARSOF ANTI-SEMITISM ACROSS THECOUNTRY.HERE, IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, THEJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OFGREATER ORLANDO IN MAITLAND WASTARGETED WITH BOMBS THREATSTHREE TIMES IN JANUARY ALONE AND OTHER LOCAL CENTERS HAVERECEIVED THREATS SINCE THAT'S WHY RABBI DAVID KABROUGHT HIS CONGREGATIONTOGETHER, WITH A SIMPLE MESSAG>> ANSWER CLOSE MINDS WITH OPENHEARTS.THE PURPOSE OF HIDING BEHINDANONYMITY AND THREATENING PEOPLEIS TO DISRUPT THEIR LIVES, ANDWE ARE GOING ON WITH OUR LIVESAND MORE THAN THAT WE AREENJOYING OURSELVES.REPORTER: THE RABBI TELLS US ITT]HE RABBI TELLS US IT TAKESPEOPLE OF ALL WALKS, STANDINGTOGETHER, TO STOMP OUT HATE.>> I REMAIN CONVICED THAT THENUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO ARE OF GOODWILL AND HAVE LOVE IN THEIRHEARTS OUTNUMBER THE HATERSHUNDREDS TO ONE, THOUSANDS TOONE.WE JUST NEED SOME OF THOSE FOLKSTO STAND FORWARD, AND WE WILL BEOK.REPORTER: MANY PEOPLE FROMSYNOGOGUES ACROSS THE AREA, ANDEVEN PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENTFAITHS, TOOK PART IN THE SERVICEAND RABBI KAY TELLS US LEADERSOF SEVERAL OTHER FAITHS,CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS, OTHERRELIGIONS, AND PEOPLE WITH NOPARTICULAR FAITH, HAVE REACHED

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Synagogue spreads message of hope in response to hate - WESH Orlando

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

Danya Shults Photo by Bridget Badore

Julianne was raised by Catholic and Presbyterian parents, while Jason grew up culturally Jewish. At first, it was simple to mark their different backgrounds. In December, the couple celebrated Christmas with Juliannes relatives and lit a menorah and served latkes at Christmas dinner.

But now that theyre thinking of having kids, the Kanters have started to talk religion more seriously. And they realized they needed a space to learn about Judaism without the expectations that came with joining a synagogue.

To talk about how are we going to incorporate Judaism into our lives what does that mean? What will that look like? Julianne Kanter said. I didnt know enough about it to feel comfortable teaching my kids about it.

Since last year, the Kanters have found Jewish connection through a range of initiatives targeted at intermarried or unaffiliated couples. Last June, they went on a trip with Honeymoon Israel, a Birthright-esque subsidized tour of Israel for newlywed couples with at least one Jewish partner. And in the months since, they have built community at home in Brooklyn through two discussion groups where intermarried couples get together to meet, eat and talk about shared challenges and experiences.

In one group, called the Couples Salon, five to six couples sharea light meal, introduce themselves and drop questions they have prepared in advance into a bowl. A moderator who can also participate picks out a question and the group talks whether about how to deal with familial expectations, how to celebrate holidays or how to share a ritual with your kids. The salons have happened once a month, with different couples, since August.

We wanted the perspective of people who were in similar situations, which the synagogue is not, Jason Kanter said. It was nice to go to a group where everyone was in the same sort of boat. Theres real dialogue rather than someone telling you their opinion of what your situation is.

A growing number of initiatives are giving intermarried couples a Jewish framework disconnected from synagogue services and outside the walls of legacy Jewish institutions. Instead of drawing them to Judaism with a preconceived goal, these programs allow intermarried couples to form community among themselves and on their own terms.

I wanted to find a way to create a space for couples that come from mixed religious backgrounds to ask questions in a safe space, said Danya Shults, who runs the Couples Salons as part of Arq, a Jewish culture group, and organized her fifth salon earlier this month. Im not a synagogue. Im not expecting them to join. Im not expecting them to convert.

The salons began last year, as did Circles of Welcome, a similar initiative by JCC Manhattan, where five to seven intermarried or unaffiliated couple meets monthly, usually in someones home, to learn and talk about Judaism with a rabbi or rabbinical student who serves as mentor. In Northern Californias Bay Area, two somewhat older programs, Jewish Gateways and Building Jewish Bridges, offer group discussions, classes and communal gatherings for intermarried couples.

The programs are at once a reaction to rising intermarriage rates and to the rejection that intermarried couples have long experienced from parts of the Jewish community. While most Jews married since 2000 have wedded non-Jews, the Conservative and Orthodox movements do not sanctionintermarriage, while the Reform movement, the most welcoming to intermarrieds of the three largest Jewish denominations, encourages conversion for the non-Jewish spouse.

Because of the history of interfaith families not being welcomed and not being accepted that has meant, in some instances, for interfaith families that want to experience Jewish life, they have to figure that out using other resources, said Jodi Bromberg, CEO of InterfaithFamily, which provides resources for intermarried couples exploring Jewish life and inclusive Jewish communities.

Often, said Honeymoon Israel co-CEO Avi Rubel, intermarried couples also have friends from a range of backgrounds. So theyre uncomfortable with settings that, by their nature, are not meant for non-Jews.

When it comes to building community and meeting other people, people want to bring their whole selves into something, Rubel said. Which often in America means being inclusive of non-Jews and other friends. When theyre at a Jewish event, they dont want it to feel exclusionary.

Mainstream Jewish organizations have become more supportive of including intermarried families. Several Conservative rabbis have voiced support for performing intermarriages, and the movement is set to allow its congregations to accept intermarried couples as synagogue members. Honeymoon Israel, launched in 2015, is funded by various family foundations and Jewish federations.

But organizers of the independent initiatives, and intermarried couples themselves, say even a welcoming synagogue can still be an intimidating space. The couples may not know the prayers or rituals, may feel uncomfortable with the expectation of becoming members, or may just feel like theyre in the minority.

Its a privilege of inmarried Jews with children in any social circumstance, said Steven M. Cohen, a Jewish social policy professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, referring to synagogue membership. The people that fit the demographic of the active group are the people who feel most welcome.

Rabbi Avram Mlotek, a Circles of Welcome mentor and Orthodox rabbi, says his movements staunch opposition to intermarriage doesnt come into play as he teaches couples about Judaism.

Because of my own commitment to my understanding of halacha, there will be areas in which the couples and I will not see eye to eye, he said, using a Hebrew term for Jewish law. But thats like the 10th or 15th conversation. Thats not the first or second or third or even fifth. Theres so much more to learn about them, and for me to be able to share also about myself, before even getting to that point.

That doesnt mean intermarried Jews will remain forever separate, said Rabbi Miriam Farber Wajnberg, who runs Circles of Welcome at the JCC Manhattan. She sees the program as a stepping stone to a time when the larger community is more open to non-Jewish spouses.

We expect and hope that this program wont need to exist in the future, that we wont need to create a special program to help couples get access to Jewish life, she said. It will just be happening automatically.

But Julianne Kanter, who facilitated her own Couples Salon on Feb. 8, isnt sweating over which synagogue to join. She said that for now, she and her husband feel a sense of belonging in the intermarried groups that have formed.

To me, I feel like these are the people who get us, she said. This is our community, and were just really lucky.

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Outside the synagogue, intermarried are forming community with each other - thejewishchronicle.net

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

Rabbi Dr. Herbert C. Dobrinsky, Vice President for University Affairs, Co-Founder of Sephardic Studies Programs and Consultant to Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies and all other Sephardic Divisions

Rabbi Moshe Tessone, Director of Sephardic Community Program, YU Jewish Studies Faculty (teaches courses at Yeshiva College and at Stern College for Women), and Faculty at the Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music (teaches Sephardic Liturgical Music and Cantillation)

Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Haim, Sephardic Rosh Yeshiva Chairholder, Maxwell R. Maybaum Chair in Talmud and Sephardic Halakhic Codes (teaches Talmud class for 20-24 students (majority 65-75% are Sephardim) a leading Sephardic Rabbinic Authority for the Greater Sephardic Community)

Rabbi Abraham Sarfaty, Faculty member of YU's Mazer Yeshiva Program and an assistant to Rosh Kollel, Rabbi Hershel Schachter of the Marcos and Adina Katz Kollel. Also, instructor of Sephardic Halakha and Codes to Maybaum Fellows at RIETS.

Professor Daniel Tsadik, Assistant Professor of Sephardic and Iranian studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. (Noted scholar of Iranian Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern Countries and Jews Living under Islam). Also teaches undergraduate courses at YC and SCW.

Professor Ronnie Perelis, Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Assistant Professor of Sephardic Studies at BRGS (teaches Judeo Spanish history and literature, and history of Balkan Jewish Communities)

Rabbi Hayim Angel, Faculty YC, Professor of Bible

Rabbi Dan Cohen, Edmond J. Safra Sephardic S'gan Mashgiach at RIETS.

Rabbi Yosef Yanetz, Shoel UMaishiv, Sephardic Beit Midrash and is a member of the Yadin Yadin Kollel.

Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, Jewish Studies Faculty, Stern College for Women

Rabbi Richard Hidary, Faculty, Stern College for Women, Assistant Professor of Jewish History

Rabbi Nissim Elnekaveh, Library Consultant on Ladino and Sephardic Materials

Rabbi Steven Schneid, Faculty Belz School of Jewish Music, teaches Safrut (Torah calligraphy according to Sephardic tradition)

Joseph Angel, YC, Assistant Professor of Bible

Rabbi Gideon Shloush, Faculty, Stern College for Women, Adjunct Instructor of Judaic Studies

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

by Ellie Cohanim Special to NJJN

March 2, 2017

If the Jewish community is to unite during these troubled times, bridge-building is necessary between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities around policy issues and the election of Donald Trump. What I am finding as someone with a foot in each of these communities is that while a significant majority of my liberal Ashkenazi friends are horrified by the election results, and feel part of the resistance movement, many of my Sephardi friends and family are equally passionate in celebration of Trumps win and the implementation of his campaign promises.

Many of us Middle Eastern Jews either were born in the Middle East, as with many Persian Jews, or are perhaps second- or third-generation Americans, more common in the Syrian or Iraqi communities. Typically, there is at least one generation within each family that has personally experienced living as second-class citizens in a Muslim country. Stories we have all heard inevitably include everything from the kind of daily anti-Semitism my mother experienced, walking to school and being called a dirty Jew and witnessing her schoolmates being beaten, to experiencing actual pogroms involving property damage, violence, rape, and forced conversion. In many cases a familys business and assets were stolen, and they were exiled from the countries they called home often for centuries, often dating back to the period before Mohammeds Muslim conquests.

To be clear, the experience of Jews in Muslim countries was not distressing all the time. In our home countries, we were friends, neighbors, and business associates with Muslims, so of course we do not believe that all Muslims are bad. But we do take quite seriously the threat of radical Islam. We have lived in countries once known as the French Riviera of the Middle East, only to see them disintegrate into war zones with Jews and Christians no longer welcome and Sharia (Islamic law) strictly enforced. We lived in countries that were bastions of culture and education, which were overcome by Islamic Revolutionary zeal and quickly devolved into theocratic dictatorships demanding all citizens live under the yoke of Sharia.

So when some Muslims state that Islam requires domination of the West, we believe them. When ISIS leaders say they plan to infiltrate refugee populations in the United States to commit acts of terror against Americans, we believe them. This threat perception seems to be the heart of the cleavage between the Sephardi and liberal Ashkenazi communities and our diverging responses to the Trump administration.

For many of us Sephardim, a 90-day temporary ban on the entry of citizens of countries that are either state sponsors of terror or overrun by terrorists is only common sense. In contrast, we see many of our Ashkenazi co-religionists react to this same policy by calling it and its supporters racist and Islamophobic, comparing the policy to the U.S. rejection of Holocaust refugees, and even comparing Trump to Hitler, and Jared Kushner to the kapos.

This worldview bewilders many Sephardim. We simply cannot fathom how a policy attempting to protect U.S. citizens from a potential terror attack somehow warrants comparisons to the Holocaust.

Our concerns about Muslim immigration are not limited to the current refugee issue. It is no secret that in Western countries where Muslim populations have seen recent growth there has been a correlating trend of Jews facing violence. Nowhere is this clearer than in France, where attacks by Muslims against Jews included the torture and murder of Ilan Halimi and the killing of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

We in the United States fear not only for the Jewish community, but for society as a whole. One need only read the 2013 worldwide Pew Survey of Muslim attitudes to find, for example, that 74 percent of Muslims living in the Middle East and North Africa and 64 percent of Sub-Saharan Muslims wish to be governed under Sharia, which limits the rights of women, including abortion, and supports honor killings. (The report notes that many say Sharia should only apply to Muslims, and there is debate about various aspects of Sharia.)

We, Middle Eastern Jews, wonder what the consequences for American society would be should immigration from Muslim majority countries go unchecked, and the United States finds itself confronted by large numbers of Muslims unwilling to melt into the American melting pot, a trend evidenced across Europe today.

I believe many in the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities share the same values, including freedom of religion, womens rights, and the rights of members of the LGBT community to live free of violence and harm. For many Sephardim, the perception of the greatest threat to our civil society is radical Islam, while for many Ashkenazim the greatest threat is the Trump administration. I urge our two communities to engage in open dialogue so that we may reach understanding and peace among ourselves, for without a doubt, we as a people, are in for turbulent times.

Ellie Cohanim is a correspondent for JBS (Jewish Broadcast System).

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Why Sephardim and Ashkenazim clash over Trump - New Jersey Jewish News

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

Ratatouille, as you most likely know, is a Pixar film about a French rat who longs to cook fine food. The climax arrives when the most famous, influential, and reputedly cold food critic in Paris samples the rats cooking. Rather than serve an ornate dish of the kind the critic is accustomed to disparaging, the rat elects to serve ratatouille, the humble vegetable stew.

The criticsfirst bite transports him back to childhood and the memory of his mother serving him a fresh bowl of ratatouille. He is overcome by both the warmth of childhood happiness and what drove him to love food in the first place. His review the next day glowingly declares the rat to bethe greatest chef in all of France; the critic then risks his career to follow the rat to the small restaurant he opens.

Recently I had a not completely dissimilar experience, only with fried chicken skins filling the role of ratatouille.

Gribenes, Yiddish for crisp chicken cracklings, appears in the cookbook of the 2nd Avenue Deli (the best deli in New York, hence the world) only as a side effect of the creation of shmaltz, and only then in the roman numerals section of the book. While used sparingly today, shmaltz was used commonly for centuries by Ashkenazi Jews as a substitute for butter, whose use in meat dishes is forbidden by kashrut. One way of producing shmaltz is to saut chicken skins down into crispy bits, leaving a hot liquid fat that is easy to collect and store. The leftover skins remained as a treat to pair perhaps with a slice of bread and salt, to mix in with a matzo ball, or to devour on the spot.

The 2nd Avenue Deli, a place I escaped to as often as I could during the years I lived in New York, was where I was first introduced to gribenes. I enjoyed perusing the menu, trying out odd-sounding foods I had never heard of (like gribenes), and hoping for them to be delicious.

As you may be able to imagine if you are not familiar, gribenes do not disappoint. Served by the 2nd Avenue Deli at room temperature, they were a khaki-colored crispy mound draped in onions blackened by what appeared to be days on a skillet. I enjoyed them as a substitute for soup nuts in the split pea soup, or challenging myself to use them in exchange for french fries.

Earlier this week, my shul in Charleston, South Carolina, held a fundraiser called Not Your Bubbes Shakshuka, which was billed as an Ashkenazi Vs. Sephardic cooking competition. I decided to cook gribenes, both because they are delicious and, though I had never made them before, was most likely easy to make.

On the day of the competition, I dropped 20 lbs. of chicken skins into a giant tilting skillet in the industrial-style kitchen at my shul. A bit of oil. A pile of chopped onions. Some salt and pepper applied liberally. A couple of hours spent pushing the mash around in an effort to keep it from burning while avoiding getting burned myself by the popping oil.

I expected the dish to be a hard sellfew people hear the words fried chicken skins and want to dive right inbut I assumed that those who tried it would like it. As I served the food, there was a clear demarcation in the willingness of the clientele to try the gribenes that fell around the age of 50.Most people younger shook their heads at it and passed. But time and again the eyes of people older lit up when they saw the food. I havent had this in 40 years, one after another told me, each recalling that they had been served it last by their mother when they were a child.

Do you want some? I would ask them, my serving spoon hovering over the pan of cracklings, black onions layered on top.

Do I want some? they would sarcastically reply, eagerly putting their plate in front of me.

Most could not wait to move down the line or to their seat to try, and I watched Jew after Jew bite into the crisp mess and close their eyes to savor both the flavor and a memory from long before. The delicious and special treat that came only on occasion from their own mother when they were a child, and that they had not tasted since.

After the event, Gerry Katz, a member of my shul, still basking in the joy of eating gribenes, wrote me an email to tell me that he had calculated out the last time he had eaten gribenes: 1952. It had been 65years since hed tasted gribenes, since hed had tasted his childhood, with all of his mothers love encapsulated in each crispy bite.

Needless to say, I won the competition.

And I realized I had seen my own version of that feeling Pixar had portrayed in its movie about a rat who cooks. The manner in which food is a connection to our past and our heritage, the way in which it serves to elicit primal memories of family and comfort that perhaps can not be touched in any other way, how food connects us across generations and reminds us who we are and where we come from, perhaps especially when the food in question is delicious and even a bit sinful to eat.

Matthew Ackerman lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

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Gribenes: Ratatouille for the Jewish Soul Tablet Magazine - Tablet Magazine

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Posted By richards on March 3, 2017

Amid a surge of bomb threats and vandalism at Jewish institutions nationwide, members of Atlanta's Jewish community have felt a familiar wave of apprehension about what may come next.

Because all of that, and worse, has happened there before.

Six decades ago, during the civil rights era's turmoil, 50 sticks of dynamite blasted a ragged hole in Atlanta's largest synagogue. A generation earlier, in 1915, Jewish businessman Leo Frank was lynched during a wave of anti-Semitism.

Some in Atlanta fear history is once again arcing toward the viperous climate that set the stage for earlier violence.

"It's heartbreaking to see the attacks and threats and desecration of Jewish cemeteries in recent days," said playwright Jimmy Maize, whose play "The Temple Bombing" is on stage this month at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. "I have to say that writing this play feels too much like history repeating itself."

His play, which addresses anti-Semitism, fear and courage through the drama of the 1958 explosion, was inspired by a book by Atlanta author Melissa Fay Greene.

"We learned over several decades the power of hate speech," Greene said. "It can lead to people being harmed and killed."

This past weekend, more than 100 headstones were discovered toppled or damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. Jewish community centers and schools in several states were also targets of recent bomb scares.

Atlanta has played a prominent role in American Jewish life since the late 1800s. Jewish immigrants began some of its most successful businesses, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

Atlanta was at the forefront of the new, industrial South, and many of its factories were Jewish-owned, said Jeremy Katz, archives director at Atlanta's William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

Jewish businessmen gained respect and became community leaders. But their success also led to anti-Semitism from Southerners who felt left behind by the changing economy, said Stuart Rockoff, the former historian for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

"There was this push and pull, and it was kind of a powder keg that ignited with the Leo Frank case," Katz said. "Before the Frank case, Jews were fairly accepted in the community because social lines were drawn by color of skin rather than religion, so Jews really flourished in the South."

Everything changed on a spring day in 1913, when 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan was found strangled in the cellar of Atlanta's National Pencil Company. Frank, the factory's manager, was arrested and put on trial. As newspaper articles inflamed anti-Semitic passions in and around Atlanta, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Gov. John Slaton, convinced Frank was innocent, commuted his sentence to life in prison. In August 1915, a mob snatched Frank from the state prison in Milledgeville and drove him to Marietta, where Phagan had lived, and hanged him from an oak tree.

"The Leo Frank case showed that Jews were not immune from that type of violence and discrimination," Rockoff said.

In the following years, many Jews didn't speak of the Frank case.

But by the late 1940s, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild at The Temple had begun speaking out against racial injustice in Atlanta, said his son, William Rothschild. Some believe that made the Temple a target for extremists, he said.

The bomb exploded around 3:30 a.m. Oct. 12, 1958. A few hours later, during Sunday morning classes, "there would have been hundreds of children in the building," said Peter Berg, now the Temple's senior rabbi. But the children hadn't yet arrived, and no one was injured.

"I remember feeling emptiness," recalls Carol Zaban Cooper of Atlanta, who was 14 when her synagogue was bombed, and went on to become active with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. "I felt hollow, numb."

Alfred Uhry, author of the play and movie "Driving Miss Daisy," attended the Temple as a child and had just moved to New York when it was bombed. He recalls the horror of seeing a photo of the destruction in The New York Times.

"It showed a side of the building blown off, and I had gone to Sunday school there," Uhry said.

A bombing suspect's first trial ended with a hung jury and the second with an acquittal.

Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield said "every political rabble-rouser is the godfather of these cross burners and dynamiters who sneak about in the dark and give a bad name to the South."

Atlanta Constitution editor Ralph McGill called it a harvest of hate. One day after the blast he wrote, "It is the harvest of defiance of courts and the encouragement of citizens to defy law on the part of many southern politicians."

"To be sure, none said go bomb a Jewish temple or a school," he added in the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial. "But let it be understood that when leadership in high places in any degree fails to support constituted authority, it opens the gate to all those who wish to take law into their own hands."

Racial hatred put everyone in danger, McGill wrote.

"When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe."

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Posted By simmons on March 2, 2017

Email a copy of "Zionism Is a Racist Political Ideology, Says UK Professor Who Chaired Anti-Israel Event" to a friend

University College London. Photo: website.

A UK professor who moderated a panel that kicked off Israeli Apartheid Week at University College London (UCL) this week toldThe Algemeinerwhy he considers Zionism a racist ideology.

Dr. Saladin Meckled-Garcia, director of UCLs Institute forHuman Rights, explained that Jewish statismputs nationalism of aparticular group above the basic human rights of others. I do notbelieve anyone has a right to do that.

I have never challenged the right of the state of Israel to exist, and hope that one day it lives up to the ideal of being a democratic state that upholds the human rights and equality of all its citizens, he added.

March 2, 2017 9:29 pm

Meckled-Garcia also saidthatheopened the UCL IAW program titled Apartheid: Stories From The Ground, and hosted by the schoolsFriends of Palestine Society withcomments critical of the British governmentsrecently adopted definition of antisemitism, and accompanying examples of what constitutes [it]. He has expressed this view publicly, he added,such as when he recentlysigned his name to a letter, together with 243 other UK academics, statingthe definition which includes demonization and delegitimization of Israel silenced free speech.

UCL Jewish Society president Joshua Gross called Meckled-Garcias suggestionthat Israel is not a democracy and does not strive to uphold human rights a vacant charge.

Anyone with an objective view need only take a quick glance at thestate of Israel and they can see it is a bastion of democracy in a region bereft of such, Gross said. Israel is a state thatendeavors to protect the equality and fundamental human rights of all its citizens.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) told The Algemeinerthat Mondays program which was organizedby a student currently under investigation for antisemitism and included a panelist who reportedlyshared a video alleging Jews control societys power structures is an example of howUCL has failed its Jewish students again.

AUCL spokesperson insisted,IAW is a student society initiative; it is not the universitys. They have a code of practice on what is permissible and what is not, but basically it will be free speech within the law. But again it is not our event as a university.

Last year, UCL was the scene of an extreme protest of an Israel-related event, in which Jewish students were forced to barricade themselves in a lecture halland wait for a police escort to bring them safely out of a building filled with demonstrators, The Algemeinerreported. UCL recently concludedan investigation into the incident, determining thatsome protesters had been violent and chanted slogans that could be considered antisemitic.

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Posted By simmons on March 2, 2017

The leader of the Anti-Defamation League said President Trump's steps to combat the recent spate of anti-Semitism should include not changing the mission of thecountering violent extremism program to exclude white supremacists.

As of Wednesday, 122 bomb threats have been called into 97 Jewish institutions in 36 states and two Canadian provinces. Twelve Jewish day schools have received threats. The ADL received bomb threats at two of their offices. (See full list)

Multiple Jewish cemeteries have also been the target of vandalism, with headstones knocked over -- the most recent in Rochester, N.Y.

The JCC Association of North America said they spoke with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on a Wednesday conference call about the threats to Jewish community centers.

"DHS has promised that its protective security advisers, stationed in all 50 states, will be in contact with JCCs within the next week, offering their expertise on protective measures, threat reporting and security awareness," said David Posner, director of strategic performance at the JCC Association."We look forward to working with DHS through this unparalleled level of assistance, which comes as very welcome at an extraordinarily stressful time for JCCs and the diverse communities they serve."

The ADL issued a security advisory Monday to all Jewish institutions in the country, calling on them to review security procedures.

ADL CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt lauded President Trump for mentioning the attacks at the beginning of his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. "So the real issue here is, how does the president pivot from words to actions?" he added.

Greenblatt told CNN on Wednesdaythat first theDepartment of Justice should "launch a fully resourced civil rights investigation so the culprits are brought to justice."

"Number two, we want to see the president convene an interagency task force; maybe the AG could lead it. But I think there's a need to get all the federal agencies' folks on how you fight hate," he said. "Number three, Homeland Security should clarify that their program in countering violent extremism is not going to be reduced to just radical Islam."

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to rename the program "Countering Islamic Extremism" or "Countering Radical Islamic Extremism," and exclude other extremists such as white supremacists who have carried out violent attacks in the country.

Islamic extremism, Greenblatt said, is"a problem, but let me be clear: neo-Nazis and white supremacists, the alt-right, that is a big problem as well."

"Number four, it's crucial that the FBI get state and local law enforcement trained up on how to deal with hate crimes," he continued. "And then, finally, I think education is the best preventative medicine. So Betsy DeVos, Department of Education, should emphasize the value of anti-bias, anti-hate education."

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ADL Wants to See 5 Things from Trump Administration in Response to Anti-Semitic Incidents - PJ Media

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