Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

(June 25, 2024 / JNS)

It seemed like a Jewish version of Wheres Waldo?

Zack Raab, former merchandise marketing manager for Team Israel, was presenting a tour around the five-floor offices of the commissioner of Major League Baseball in the former Time & Life Building in Midtown Manhattan.

Its sensory overload for a baseball fan.

The walls are etched with quotes that define the game. You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball was painted in one hallwaythe words of Cal Ripkin Jr., baseballs Iron Man.

I tell people I get to work in an office thats decorated like how I would decorate my bedroom, said Raab. Baseball from head to toe, conference rooms named after Hall of Famers, baseball quotes on every floor and every wall.

Mammoth glass cases are embedded in the walls, filled with old baseball cards. You can almost smell the stick of bubble gum that would be included in those card packs.

Theres paraphernaliaballs, bats, gloves, jerseysfrom legends and legendary moments, around every turn.

Raab allowed a peek into Major League Baseballs replay review center, where crews of umpires and assistants watch every game each night, waiting to jump in with help should umpires on the field need it. A baseball fan could look inside, even as it stands empty, and imagine a manager ready to explode on an umpire in Milwaukee or Minneapolis because of a decision thats made in that room in a New York skyscraper.

Even the cafeteria is loaded up with ballpark-style favorites.

But Raab has his eyes open for something truly special. If youre not focused, you may miss it among the hyperstimulation of the place. For Raab, it jumps out.

Among the seemingly thousands of pieces of team gear and memorabilia donning the walls, offices and personal cubicles of the 1,250 employees in the office, Raab cant help but grin ear to ear every time he comes across a Team Israel product, whether its laying on a lawyers desk or hanging above a graphic designers screen.

It gives me a smile every time I see a Team Israel hat sitting on someones desk in my office, said Raab, senior coordinator of Minor League Baseball club services. I would put my hat on my desk in my office too, but I wear it a lot.

And for good reason.

Its a combination of my passions

The 32-year-old native of Boca Raton, Fla., and lifelong baseball fan was just out of high school in 2012 when a young Team Israel program competed in Jupiter, Fla., in a qualifier for the World Baseball Classic, which has become baseballs premier international competition.

I went to those games and was immediately hooked. They didnt actually qualify for the World Baseball Classic, but I knew all the players names, and I sat right above the dugout, Raab told JNS.

He was back again above the dugout for Team Israels qualifier in Brooklyn in 2016 in the company of family and friends having the time of my life, he said.

That time around, they made it to the big tournament in 2017 in Seoul. And Raab, the super-fan, took off with them.

I went alone to Seoul, and my friends thought I was crazy. I said, Just watch. And then Israel swept all three games, said Raab. I didnt declare it, but I became sort of that crazy Team Israel fan, that at any time there was a high-level game, I was there.

He went on to Tokyo to cheer on the team in the next round before the darlings of that World Baseball Classic bowed out. He hasnt missed a game since.

Its a combination of my passionsfor Israel, Jewish baseball and baseball in general, he said.

When it was coming time for Team Israel to compete in the Olympics in 2021, Raab put another component of his background into play. He had been living in Israel at that point, having worked for a couple of e-commerce startups.

There was just a need for Israel baseball merchandise, there was a need for Jewish baseball fans to wear something with pride and to show their love for Israel baseball, and so I pulled a few strings, made a few things happen and created a line of merchandise, he told JNS.

That included everything from player T-shirts to branded kippahs, hats and hoodies. He even helped produce what was almost certainly the first baseball bobblehead with the athletes name in Hebrewone of popular pitcher Shlomo Lipetz.

It was just an absolute passion project for six months before the Olympics, Raab said.

He managed to parlay that into a job in the beating heart of Major League Baseball after hitting a few professional speed bumps in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Raab had moved to Israel after high school intending to study there for a year. He stayed for almost eight years after that, earning two degrees from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan.

He was holding down a steady job at an e-commerce startup in the coastal city of Herzliya when in early 2019, he dropped everything and said Im going to move back to America to pursue a career in baseball. Nothing more, nothing less.

Minor League Baseball completely shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic. Aside from that, Raab ruled out taking a role with any of the individual teams.

I realized from a personal perspective that keeping Shabbatand not being able to work Friday nights and Saturdayswould make it very hard for me to work at a club level because those are the two busiest most important games of the week, he said.

His faith didnt waver, and he now finds himself roaming the baseball-decked halls of the commissioners office.

Having that dream

Raab now works on the Minor League Baseball business operations team, dedicated to the 120 minor league clubs around the country. He helps them with all things under the sun business-relatedfrom marketing and ticketing to sponsorship and his familiar grounds of merchandising.

He was hired in August 2021 for a newly created role following a complete revamp of the relationship between Major League Baseball and its minor league clubs. Raab was promoted at the start of 2023.

While he does spend time in the office making calls, he gets to travel to the teams under his area of responsibility, mainly in the eastern part of the country.

We visit them at their ballpark, see their communities, see what they do on the ground there. Were a resource for them and Major League Baseball, here to build relationships with them, help them, and be a place where they can give feedback and facilitate idea sharing, Raab told JNS.

It also allows him to see minor-league players trying to make their way up the ladder and realize their big-league dreams.

That is probably why deep down I love my job with Minor League Baseball because everyone from players to staff are really doing what Ive done over the past couple years, which is just having that dream, having that passion, and working their way up to try to achieve bigger goals and make a bigger impact, said Raab.

He says the learning curve has been steep but especially rewarding with a baseball-focused education in everything from intellectual property to on-field entertainment.

Ive gained a wider appreciation for just the greater scope of what it takes to put on a baseball game and to run a website, to run the merchandise offering for your club, run social mediaa better scope of how everything works to make a baseball team operate and to show a good time to your fans when they come out, said Raab.

Why would I change who I am?

The Wheres Waldo? analogy goes for Raab himself.

He says other Orthodox Jews are working in the commissioners office. But no matter how high and low one searches, Raab is the only one wearing a kippah.

I know there are other Orthodox Jews, and I know there are so many other proud Jews in the office, Raab told JNS. But as for wearing his kippah, its a sense of pride for me. I wear it not for any specific reason, other than Ive worn it my whole life.

His job in the commissioners office was his first job in America, and he was asked by some if he would keep wearing a kippahsomething he never needed to contemplate in Israel.

Of course, I am. Because thats me. Why would I change who I am? Raab said.

He said hes received nothing but support from his co-workers, and outside of the lack of kosher food available among the offices concessions selections, his observance doesnt affect his job one way or another.

But his Team Israel fandom does, slightly. Raab told his manager that he needed to be in Miami for Team Israels 2023 World Baseball Classic appearance.

He wasnt even surprised, and he understood, Raab said of his boss, who allowed Raab to work remotely.

And Raab told JNS that he intends to continue his attendance streak, God willing, whenever Team Israel competes on a big stage again.

In the meantime, he says he wants to use his position to help others who may be looking for the same inroads he searched for three years ago.

I know it is a bit unique based on how many people reach out to me and say, we didnt know an Orthodox Jew works at Major League Baseball, and when I was a kid, I didnt have anyone to look up to like this, Raab said.

He noted that he gets messages on LinkedIn and social media from followers impressed by his journey, some of them looking to make the same one. I just try every day, every week, every month to pay it forward to one person or another, to try to make an impact, he said. This is more than a dream come true. Its a dream I never even knew could come true.

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

Why 12th century Andalusia and the rise of Almohad fundamentalism is a more apt parallel to our time.

As a contemporary Jew with a passion for Jewish history, I am a particularly dyed-in-the-wool Zionist. After retiring from the practice of law in Canada, my Israeli-born wife and I now spend our winters in Tel Mond. I still get an incredible charge by living (part-time) in Israel, and every day that I am there, I revel in the modern Jewish miracle of the ingathering of the Exiles in Zion, the flourishing of Hebrew culture, and the return, after 2000 years of wandering as a diaspora minority, to Jewish sovereignty in our ancient homeland. But you only have to read the headlines in The Times of Israel and The Globe & Mail to be keenly aware of the existential peril that Israel is in, isolated internationally, a nation that dwells alone, with millions around the world who hate her very existence, and powerful religious extremist enemies with proxies and missiles and, sooner or later, nuclear missiles who publicly yearn and openly call for Israels destruction. We live with the poignant awareness that despite our vows of Never again!, there are no guarantees for Israels survival.

But as a Diaspora Jew, with a half-completed MA in Jewish history from the University of Toronto, I am also interested in the fate of the Jewish community in which I grew up. Discouragingly, my study of Jewish history shows that almost every major Jewish Diaspora community from Moslem Andalusia to Catholic Spain to the Eastern Orthodox realms, from Weimar Germany to the post-War Arab and Muslim lands ended badly: in extreme discrimination, convert-or-die, death or exile.

Will North America be the exception?

I had always thought so, based (as the young people say) on my lived experience. Born in 1957, I grew up in the North American Jewish Golden Age after World War II. Until quite recently, I thought that Jews, although a tiny minority in Canada, were highly favoured, and despite the unfortunate record of previous Jewish Golden Ages, the Canadian Jewish Golden Age would continue. But now I am less hopeful about my childrens future, even less so about my grandchildrens. Seemingly overnight, the demographic and ideological landscape has changed. A kind of climate change. Canadian Jews, the vast majority of whom support Israel, are learning once again what Jews in past Diasporas experienced, of no longer being part of a favoured minority, and instead, being part of what the 12th century Andalusian Hebrew poet and Arabic philosopher of Judaism, Yehuda HaLevi, called (in the sub-title of his book, The Kuzari,) al-din al-dhalil, a despised belief system.

Maybe Im being spooked by the 100% rise in anti-Semitic crimes the May 25, 2024 shooting at a Jewish school in Toronto, the May 29, 2024 shooting at a Jewish school in Montreal, the May 30, 2024 arson at a Vancouver synagogue. Or the February 13, 2024 nighttime trespass, loud chanting in Arabic in front of the polite Canadian HOSPITAL Quiet sign, as two unidentifiable males scaled scaffolding to plant a Palestinian flag on the front entrance roof of Torontos Mount Sinai hospital. Or the November 10, 2023 blood-red paint on the glass doors of the midtown Toronto flagship store of Canadas largest booksellers, which is owned by a pro-Israel Jewish woman.

But maybe to find out what Canadians really think about Jews requires looking past the violent actions of what may be only a few?

In early 2024, Robert Brym, a University of Toronto sociology professor, conducted an attitudinal study to find out. Rather than counting incidents, Brym, in collaboration with EKOS Research, asked a group of 3,000 Canadians a series of questions about what they thought of Jews, and of Israel, after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. There were also questions in light of the Hamas Health Ministrys reports about tens of thousands of Palestinian casualties as a result of Israels ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

With qualifications, Brym concluded that most Canadians actually have strongly positive feelings about the Jewish community.

Weve still got 83 percent expressing positive attitudes towards Jews. The number of people who express extremely negative attitudes towards Jews is very small, Brym told the Canadian Jewish News Daily on May 9, 2024.

Sounds like good news. Whats the bad?

Brym found that in Canada in 2024 there certainly ARE more antisemites but almost all of the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate is coming from a small section of Canadian society: Muslims, political extremists on both sides of the left-right spectrum, university students, and French Canadians in Quebec.

Given that there are now 2 million Muslims in Canada (vs 400,000 Jews), French Canadians in Quebec are about 20% of Canadians, and university students are tomorrows Canadian elites, thats not exactly reassuring news about the Jewish future in Canada.

I am also less hopeful because of my history-based understanding of human commonality. True, humans have a remarkable ability to cooperate that seems to be baked into our DNA. But also baked in human tribalism, even if contemporary us vs them is based on an alliance of ethnic, religious and ideological tribes, united against a common enemy. The history of humanity is one part progress towards cooperation, and one part a long unrelenting story of conflict.

I dont think the correct historical parallel to what is happening to the Jews in Toronto and throughout the West is Berlin in the 1930s. Nazism was a racial antisemitism. If even one of your grandparents was racially Jewish, there was nothing you could do. Even the most assimilated anti-religious anti-Zionist Jew in Germany was to be deported to the East. By contrast, the current anti-Israel version of antisemitism is more religious in that it is only about your beliefs. If you are racially Jewish, (better yet if you grew up in any sort of Jewish environment, extra points if youre a descendant of Holocaust survivors), then so long as you publicly denounce Israel as a white colonial settler entity, and publicly declareyourhostility to Zionism, (like members of Jewish Voices for Peace, or Vancouver psychiatrist Gabor Mate and his children), then you are not only acceptable, but especially welcome. You can be a spokesperson.

In light of this distinction, the proper historical parallel is not the end of the German Jewish Golden Age in the 1930s but the end of the Arabic Jewish Golden Age in Andalusia Moslem Spain in the 1150s, when the fundamentalist Almohads swept into Southern Iberia and overcame the relatively moderate get along go along Muslims of Cordoba, Granada and Seville. If Arabic-speaking Andalusian Jews were willing to publicly convert to Islam, they could stay. And some the Gabor Mates and Norman Finkelsteins of their day didpublicly convert. However, most Andalusian Jews fled, either to the relatively more accepting Christian north of Spain, or across the Mediterranean to North Africa, Italy, Egypt. The wandering minority Jew off to a new exile.

Another reason 12thcentury Andalusia and the rise of the Almohad fundamentalists is a more apt parallel to our time is because the persecution of the Jews by the Almohads, (specifically, no longer allowing Jews to have dhimmistatus by paying the jizya head tax for the privilege of being allowed, in a Muslim polity, to live openly as Jews), was just one plank of the Almohad program. The Almohads, who had crossed over the Mediterranean into southern Iberia from the mountains of North Africa, were zealous Islamic fundamentalists, chiefly opposed to Andalusias mainstream Muslim ascendancy, which the Almohads judged as insufficiently righteous.

The Almohads condemned the taifa kingdoms of Cordoba and Granada for engaging in trade with Christian kingdoms, for sometimes even going into alliance with Christian kings to defeat rival Muslim taifa kingdoms. And Almohads condemned taifa kings for employing Jews as doctors, just because of Jews knowledge and skill, while ignoring their religious adherence to a non-Islamic faith.

Like the woke movement now, Almohads had a binary Manichean vision of the world, divided simplistically between, on one hand, Gods chosen path of righteousness: a pure fundamentalist kind of Islam; and the evil ones, being those who, in todays parlance, were complicit in support of the system that opposed their program. The 12thcentury Arabic-speaking Jews, who had to choose between public conversion to Islam, or exile, were not even the Almohads primary enemy. Muslim moderates who werent sufficiently religious were as much a hated enemy as the Jews. But through violence and political consolidation, Almohad ideology came to dominate Andalusia, and as a side effect, it spelled the end of the Jewish Golden Age of Muslim Spain.

As has been widely noted, springing from once obscure academic theories, today among young Western elites there now prevails a purist fundamentalist Manichean worldview that divides the world into two camps: white European colonialist settler oppressors, who are powerful and evil, and any actions they take, no matter how justified, are pure evil (killing civilian shields, for example, is genocide); and across a sharp moral divide are dark-skinned non-European indigenous victims, who are weak and are thus pretty much purely good, and therefore any actions they take, however violent or apparently evil, are justified (murder, taking hostages, rape, for example, is resistance).

In Canada, when anti-Israel protests are held by Palestinian-Canadians, I can understand, as they naturally identify with family members and fellow Palestinians in Gaza. I naturally identify with my brother and sister and their kids, and other fellow Jews, in Israel. I can even understand how non-Arab Muslims, from Pakistan or Afghanistan, are supportive of Hamas, and hate even the idea of a Jewish state in lands once conquered by Islam. After all, Hamas is a fundamentalist Islamic movement, not merely a national liberation movement. When they killed Jews in Kfar Aza, they didnt shout: Two State solution Now!. They shouted Allah Akbar!. When the young Palestinian called back on his victims cell phone to his Gaza parents, he didnt say: Mom, Dad youll be so proud of me, I killed 10 Israelis! but I killed 10 Jews! So while to me its deeply regrettable, its understandable that Palestinian-Canadians, or Arab-Canadians, or even Muslim Canadians, would participate in anti-Israel demonstrations.

But as a Canadian Jew it is much harder to see ultra-liberal college students, who in every other context are vehemently opposed to even verbal violence against women, let alone rape; who on abortion are strictly pro-choice; who are queer-friendly and trans-friendly; joining forces with those who support an Islamic fundamentalist movement violently opposed not only to Jews but to equal rights for women, homosexuality, even the playing of music. And how ultra-liberal college students, who will take great offence if the wrong pronoun is used, as it might make a trans listener feel unsafe, can engage in chants and actions that definitely make another minority (namely Jews) feel unsafe.

I have my own dime store psychology explanation. For non-Arab non-Muslim demonstrators, who are anti-Israel because Israel is an evil white European colonialist settler project which commits genocide against pure dark skinned non-European indigenous victims, a good part of the emotional energy behind those strongly taken positions is a displacement of their own white guilt. After all, it is not clear that Israeli Jews, of whom 60% are descendants of dark-skinned refugees from Arab countries, and a significant portion of the other 40% are descendants of refugees from an actual European campaign of genocide, who returned to their historic homeland, are really the best model of white European colonial settlers.

On the other hand, Canada and America ARE, without a reasonable doubt, white European colonial settler projects. But here white college students are in a bind. They certainly cant call for the return of Canada to the indigenous population. They wont chant: From the sea, to the sea, Turtle Island will be free! They cant call for millions of colonial settler immigrants, and their descendants, most of whom were born in the settler colonial project known as Canada, to go back to Poland! (or to Pakistan! or to China!). For one thing, theres 39 million non-indigenous colonial settler immigrant Canadians; thats too many. And also, they themselves dont want to go back to Poland, Pakistan, or China (even if they, or their parents, came from there) because, as Canadians say to each other, Canada is the best country in the world. They really enjoy the political, legal and educational systems that white European colonial settlers imposed on the land. Besides, before every public event, dont they always make solemn land acknowledgments about how were living on the territory of the Wendat and the Chippewa? So since they cant do anything about these big settler colonial countries where they enjoy living, they join cause with their politics-makes-strange-bedfellow Muslim allies, and go after the Jewish state.

In the Western Diaspora, where demography is democracy, Jews are an increasingly small and marginal minority, swimming upstream against a strong ideological and demographic current. Canadian Jews are daily confronted by the media-amplified public performance of a Manichean narrative about Jews and the Jewish state that seems to be in the air, fueled by a new world of instant communication, TikTok messages, and rhyming group chants (Four legs good! Two legs bad!) that make old-fashioned soundbites seem, by comparison, like full-fledged essays.

In Canada, October 7, 2023, is just a date among other dates, like June 21, 2024, National Indigenous Peoples Day; or November 5, 2024, the presidential elections in America. World history moves on relentlessly. Just as, in Iberia, history moved on after the Almohad fundamentalist takeover. During the Reconquista of the next century, Muslim strongholds fell to Christian armies, in the decisive battles of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), the siege of Cordoba (1236), and the siege of Seville (1248), leaving only the small Muslim enclave of Granada as a tributary state. After Granadas surrender in January 1492, Christian rulers controlled the entire Iberian Peninsula.

And as the Christians were, by military conquest, reducing the physical territory of Muslims, they were tightening the screws on the minority Jewish community that lived in their midst. Over four days in July 1263, in the royal palace of King James of Aragon, there was The Disputation of Barcelona, over then-burning questions of the Christian belief system. Defending the Jewish position was Nachmanides, the leading Jewish scholar of his day. On the other side, the most vociferous in attacking the mainstream Jewish belief system was the Gabor Mate of his day, Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani, a convert from Judaism to Christianity. In the aftermath, James I forced Nachmanides to leave Aragon, and ordered the censoring of the Talmud. And this was two centuries before the Edict of Expulsion in 1492.

As a student of history, as a dyed-in-the-wool Zionist, how do I find hope?

I have a sustaining messianic vision (like late 19thcentury Zionists) that despite present dire circumstances, turmoil in the world, and the rise and fall of empires, nevertheless, the prophetic in-gathering of Jewish exiles in Zion, the rebuilding of the Jews ancient capital Jerusalem, and the post-Enlightenment creation of the State of Israel will persist and flourish. That the power of Israels Almohadian Jewish fundamentalists will be replaced by a renewed liberal Zionist ideology. And most messianically modern Israel will flourish in conjunction with a post-Enlightenment Arab world, and a post-Islamic Reformation Muslim world, led by economicallysuccessfulmoderate Arab Gulf states and by the Israeli Arab minority. Some would say that is a dream. I would respond with Herzl: if you will it, it is no dream.

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Toronto 2024 is not Berlin 1930. It's Cordoba 1150 | Benjamin Rubin | The Blogs - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

A sixth suspect has been arrested in the brutal and unprovoked gang assault three years ago on a Jewish man, and is expected to be arraigned at Manhattan criminal court Thursday.

Joseph Borgen was beaten and assaulted in an antisemitic hate crime attack on May 20, 2021, near Times Square that was caught on video and went viral. Five of the attackers have received prison sentences, but according to Mr. Borgen, the alleged ringleader of the group, Salem Seleiman, was still on the run.

They did not know where he was, Mr. Borgen told the Sun on Wednesday, but within the last month they found him and arrested him in Florida. Mr. Borgen further said Mr. Seleiman was flown to New York from Florida on Wednesday morning for his arraignment, which was originally scheduled forWednesday afternoon and then moved to Thursday.Mr. Borgen told the Sun he believes the delay was caused due to a broken finger printing device.

I am not 100 percent sure, but I am pretty certain that this is the guy who started the whole incident. The one who started chasing me initially, Mr. Borgen told the Sun.

In the evening of May 20, 2021, at about 6:30pm, Mr. Borgen, who is now 32 years old and wears a yarmulke, was on his way to a pro-Israel rally, during an outbreak of violence in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas that had caught the worlds attention.

After he stepped out of the subway, a few blocks away from the rally, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a group of young men and a minor.

Before I could even react, Mr. Borgen told the court in his victim impact statement in November last year, the young men beat him to the ground, pepper sprayed him, and hit him with metal crutches, while calling him a dirty Jewand a filthy Jew, and telling him, Hamas will kill you and go back to Israel.

Mr. Borgen said he feared he was potentially going to die. The New York Police Department arrived, though, broke up the scene, and took him to the hospital. He suffered a concussion, psychological trauma, and an injury in his right wrist, which needed surgery and still causes him pain.

Text messages found on the phone of one of the attackers proved that the hate crime had been planned. A group chat showed that the group of young men had explicitly set the goal to stop pro-Israel demonstrators from having a peaceful demonstration. Video footage showed the attackers arriving at the demonstration at midtown Manhattan in a pick-up-truck.

One of the attackers, Mohammed Othman, is seen throwing a lit firecracker into a crowd, causing an innocent woman to suffer second degree burns. The video further shows how Mr. Borgen was chased, brought to the ground, pepper sprayed, and beaten.

Four attackers received prison sentences, a fifth was put on probation, but violated the terms of his release and also landed in jail. 23-year-old Waseem Awawdeh was arrested a few blocks away on the same day of the attack, still holding the metal crutch he used to beat Mr. Borgen.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Mahmoud Musa, 25, pled guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime in September 2023, two and a half years after the attack, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Othman, 26, who also pleaded guilty to the second degree assault charge, received a five year prison sentence.

Faisal Elezzi, who threw two punches at Mr. Borgen, had the chance to avoid going to prison. He was offered three years of probation including attending an anti-bias program.

Yet shortly before the judge sentenced him, Elezzi was arrested at Staten Island for allegedly running an illegal smoke shop and possessing several pounds of marijuana. Though the new charges were dropped, the judge added 60 days of prison time onto his three-year probation period.

On January 31, a fifth attacker, Mohammed Said Othman, 29, was sentenced to three years. Besides a minor, whose case is being handled in Family Court, there was one more assailant on the run, Mr. Seleiman.

According to Canary Mission, an organization that documents individuals that promote hatred against Jews, Mr. Seleiman has burned an Israeli flag and was also arrested at Fort Myers, Florida, for selling narcotics.

Mr. Seleiman appeared briefly in criminal court on Wednesday, wearing handcuffs, before being taken to get fingerprinted. Mr. Borgen saw his attacker in the courtroom for the first time since the incident three years ago.

Its not easy seeing him, Mr. Borgen told the Sun outside the courthouse, but the hardest part is when the prosecution starts showing the evidence and playing the videos. Then I begin to associate who he is with what happened. Thats when its really, really difficult.

The jewish activist and influencer, Lizzy Savetsky, 38, came to support Mr. Borgen, wearing a Justice for Joey cap. Ms. Savetsky met Mr. Borgen three years ago and has been coming to all the court hearings.

I do everything I can to fight hate crimes against Jews. Without consequences no one will be deterred from committing these acts of violence.

Mr. Seleiman is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.

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Possible Ringleader Arrested in Brutal 2021 Attack on Jewish Man Near Times Square - The New York Sun

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

As French Jews, Maury, and Alain Fischler feel trapped between equally unpalatable extremes as France rushes into a snap election with the far right ahead in the polls, followed by a left-wing bloc they say harbors antisemites.

President Emmanuel Macron called the parliamentary election on June 9 after his centrist Together alliance was trounced in European elections by the anti-immigrant National Rally (RN), which is now the frontrunner to form France's next government.

This is profoundly worrying for the Fischlers, who detest far-right ideology and see the RN's transition from a party that once flirted openly with antisemitism into one that denounces it as a cynical ploy to create a veneer of respectability.

"Just because they've painted the door glossy and produced 10 good-looking people with impeccable rhetoric, that doesn't mean we should believe them," said Alain Fischler, 61, a furniture designer, speaking in the couple's apartment in Paris.

RN leader Marine Le Pen has worked hard to detoxify the party's brand since taking the reins from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party founder, who was convicted of inciting racial hatred for saying the gas chambers used to kill Jews in the Holocaust were "a detail" of World War Two history.

She joined protesters marching through Paris in November to denounce a surge in antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel's retaliatory assault on Gaza. The RN has adopted a strongly pro-Israel stance.

Her efforts have won over some French Jews, including prominent lawyer and Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, 88, who said on June 15 that in a run-off between the RN and the left, he would vote for the RN which he described as "pro-Jewish".

But for others, including Fischler, the son of a Holocaust survivor, this doesn't wash. He accused the RN of courting Jews as cover for stigmatizing Muslims.

Just as frightening to the Fischlers is the New Popular Front, a leftist coalition hastily assembled to counter the far-right surge. It is currently in second place in the polls, ahead of Macron's centrist camp.

The group includes La France Insoumise (France Unbowed). This hard-left party opponents say has repeatedly crossed the line between criticism of Israel's military action in Gaza and antisemitism, which it denies.

"I feel like I'm caught between plague and cholera," said Maury Fischler, 61, an optician, using a colloquial expression to describe a choice between equally unpleasant alternatives.

Tensions over Gaza were already running high in France, home to Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities before the unexpected election exacerbated political tensions.

Antisemitic incidents ranging from insults to vandalism and physical assaults rose by 300% in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year, according to figures released by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. The number of anti-Muslim incidents has also risen, though less steeply.

France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said earlier this month that antisemitism was "residual" in France, one of a long list of comments by him and others in his party that critics say have stoked and normalized anti-Jewish hatred.

After a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped and insulted with antisemitic slurs last week, protesters in Paris held placards with slogans like "Antisemitism is not residual" and "Have you got used to antisemitism? We haven't".

Protester Sidney Azoulay, himself a Jew, described the political stances of some parties as akin to "the pyromaniac-turned-firefighter."

"It's a shame that in 21st century France, Jews are still making the headlines for this kind of reason," Azoulay said.

Melenchon, who denies being antisemitic, condemned the rape, as did politicians from across the spectrum, including the RN. A police investigation into the incident is ongoing, and three teenagers have been arrested.

Taking part in a protest after the incident, Yonathan Arfi, head of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jewish groups, called on voters to rally around the values of the French republic and reject both extremes.

"Our responsibility for now is to ensure that neither France Unbowed nor the National Rally come to power," he said.

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Jews in France caught between political left and right in elections - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

A Jewish man who had a bag of dog feces hurled at his face by a bike-riding bigot predicted his attacker wont spend a day in jail if hes eventually arrested.

RealisticallyI do know if the guy is caught, there is no chance he will be going to prison or getting something big, the 32-year-old Hasidic father of four told The Post, railing against what he said are soft-on-crime policies enabling Big Apple criminals.

When it comes to prosecution, thats the biggest issue. People are not scared, he said of a recent spate of hate attacks on Jewish victims.

The point is if the City Council will take it seriously or if the justice system would be a little bit stronger, the chances of it happening will be less.

The victim, who requested anonymity out of fear, just left work on June 4 in Soho when a man on a bicycle allegedly yelled fk you, Jew before throwing the bag at his head and speeding away.

He threw a bag straight at me, the victim said in a phone interview. It basically sideswiped my face and went into my car.

The disgusting incident left the lifelong New Yorker shaken.

I dont feel comfortable coming out too late from the office, he said.

It was the second time he was attacked for being Jewish after he was punched about 12 years ago, he added.

It was a month or two after I got married, he recalled, adding he was on his honeymoon in Los Angeles, California, at the time.

We were just walking and this random guy walked up, he said. I had a coffee in my hand. He punched my coffee and punched me.

The June 4 incident came as antisemitic attacks skyrocket across the Big Apple in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

In May, anti-Jewishhate crimes surged by 150% compared to the same month in 2023, according to NYPD data.

I never thought I would get to a point where I would be part of a statistic, the victim said.

Since Oct. 7, his Jewish coworkers have refused to take the train, fearing theyll be avictim.

But hes not willing to change his routine.

Someone mentioned to me that I should wear a cap and cover my yarmulke. Im never going to do that.

His attacker remained on the loose Wednesday.

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Victim of NYC antisemitic dog poop attack predicts attacker will get slap on the wrist if caught - New York Post

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

This story was also published on The Forward.

Days after October 7, when America still seemed united in its revulsion at Hamas massacre and kidnapping of Israelis, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein spoke at a mournful event in Raleigh and wrote a letter of solidarity to the Asheville Jewish community, which was also gathering to grieve.

Dates like December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, are etched in our minds forever as Americans. Now, October 7, 2023, will forever be indelibly marked in the hearts of Israelis, he wrote, ending with, We stand with Israel.

This was personal for Stein: Hes a member of Temple Beth Or, a Reform Jewish congregation in Raleigh, and would be the first Jewish person elected governor of North Carolina if he wins in November.

But soon, and for months, most of the headlines and TV news footage would be about deep divisions within the Democratic Party over Israel, the ongoing war in Gaza, and pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.

Republicansincluding Stein opponent Mark Robinson, who has made antisemitic comments in the pasthave sought to exploit this split. Theyve rebranded themselves as the real supporters of Israel, and called on Stein and other Democrats to criticize antisemitism in their own ranks.

This uncharted territory has been particularly perilous for Democratic candidates.

Starting with President Joe Biden, they cant afford to lose the votes of any group thats traditionally been part of their partys coalition, including those who have an emotional and spiritual bond with Israel and havent forgotten the Holocaust; progressives who are critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus right-wing government and aghast at the thousands of Palestinian civilian casualties; and young people and people of color, many of whom see Israelis as colonizers and the Palestinian cause as akin to the Black Lives Matter movement. There are Jewish voters in each of those groups.

How is Stein responding to it all?

Carefully.

He appears to be threading the needle on reacting to the most contentious developments, with nuanced statements from him and his campaign and on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand answers during infrequent interviews.

When pro-Palestinian protesters marched across the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in May, Robinson stressed law and order, and praised interim Chancellor Lee Roberts for calling in the police.

Stein offered a more even-handed reaction, saying in a statement to reporter Bryan Anderson: The right to free speech is fundamental, and students should be able to exercise it peacefully. But any antisemitism, violence or other acts of hate are unacceptable. The safety of all students is critical.

Contrast his judicious tone with that of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, another prominent Jewish politician. According to a recent New York Times profile in the wake of the campus protests, the outspoken Shapiro has dived headfirst into subjects that have wrenched apart his party.

Unlike Stein, though, Shapiro is not on the ballot this year.

Asher Hildebrand, a Duke University public policy professor who previously worked for Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price, told The Assembly that Stein is doing everything he can to remain above the fray of some of the more divisive [foreign policy] debates that, as attorney general or as governor, he has very little say over. He doesnt need to be out there either leading the battle charge or defending against the battle charge when it comes to U.S. policy over Israel or Netanyahu.

That local and state public officials and candidates usually have little or nothing to do with foreign policy hasnt stopped those determined to make Israel and Gaza an issue at city council meetings, in the halls of the legislature, at state party meetings, and even in encounters between voters and campaign volunteers.

That has been especially tricky and even dispiriting for North Carolina Democratic politicians who, like Stein, are Jewish and sometimes get criticized from both sides.

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, who is Jewish and had her rabbi at her swearing-in ceremony, estimated that protestors had demanded the city council adopt a cease-fire resolution at six meetings. At one meeting, a group of Asheville residents in their 20s chanted, Intifada revolution! Intifada is an Arabic word for rebellion or uprising.

When I hear somebody calling for intifada revolution, its like somebody calling for violence against Jews, Manheimer said. When I condemned them for saying that, I got a lot of pushback from them. They said, Whats wrong with that? It just means revolt. It doesnt mean anything bad.

She also heard from some in the Jewish community, who told her, You didnt go far enough. You need to condemn people who said this word or that word, used this phrase or said that thing.

In Mecklenburg County, Nicole Sidman is the Democratic state House candidate trying to unseat Republican Tricia Cotham, formerly a Democrat. Sidman is Jewish and works as the director of congregational life at Charlottes Temple Beth El, the largest synagogue in the Carolinas.

In her campaign, Sidman said, shes mostly talked about appropriating more money for public schools, opposing restrictions on abortion, and helping support vetoes by, she hopes, future Gov. Stein.

But, Sidman reported, two friends helping her on the campaign encountered voters who seemed more interested in her Judaism and her views on Middle East tensions.

One of the voters told her friend, I would never vote for a Zionist, Sidman said, referring to the term for someone who favors a homeland for the Jewish people in the Middle East. And I had a friend, she was working at a polling place, and someone said to her, What is [Sidmans] position on Gaza? And my friend said, I literally have no idea, before offering her positions on matters a state legislator would typically deal with.

The first in a series of headlines that showed the North Carolina Democratic divide on Israel and Gaza came shortly after the Hamas massacre. The General Assembly doesnt often debate foreign policy, but 16 Democratic legislators refused to back a resolution supporting Israel and condemning the Hamas attacks.

He doesnt need to be out there either leading the battle charge or defending against the battle charge when it comes to U.S. policy over Israel or Netanyahu.

Some of those who opposed it said it made no mention of the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, whose homes and hospitals were being bombed by Israeli forces. Hamas, hiding in underground tunnels, has used civilians as human shields.

A month later, the state Democratic Partys executive committee voted 17-16 against recognizing the Jewish Caucus. I sent an email to chair [Anderson Clayton], saying What are you doing? I cant believe this! said Manheimer. What a betrayal.

Stein told radio station WFAE in Charlotte that he was disappointed the caucus wasnt approved, but signaled that he would work behind the scenes with Clayton to find a path forward and embrace North Carolina Jewish Democrats who feel silenced and isolated during a time of rising antisemitism.

A month later, the Democratic committee reversed itself, welcoming the Jewish caucus.

Putting out one fire did not extinguish the intraparty tensions over Israel. They have remained, and they mirror the story with the national Democratic Party.

Hildebrand told The Assembly that the Democratic politics of U.S. policy toward Israel have been evolving for a long time.

The biggest changes, he said, were for more supporteven among American Jewsfor the idea of a Palestinian state, and more criticism of Israeli policies from Netanyahu and others who undermined that so-called two-state solution. What October 7 and its aftermath did was to put that [Democratic] diversity of views on full display for the public, he said.

Including, he added, the more critical stance toward Israel among younger voters, who have grown up, with their entire lived experience of Israel not as a beleaguered victim within its region, but as a powerful force that has, in their experience and in their views, been as much the aggressor as the victim.

Stein told the News & Observer last year that a two-state solution was the answer to a permanent resolution in the region. And, with heart-wrenching scenes of dead or malnourished Palestinian children in bombed-out Gaza landing in American living rooms, he offered, again, a carefully-worded view of what should happenone that echoed Bidens.

Hamas represents a real threat to Israel, he told the N&O. Israel is justified to try to address that threat. They have to do it in a way that minimizes the impact on civilians because there are a couple of million Palestinians who live in Gaza who have nothing to do with Hamas, and are just trying to live their lives.

In more recent months, as American politics have been buffeted by images from a war 6,000 miles away in Gaza and police battles with campus protesters in Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and across the country, Steins main focus has been elsewhere.

Hes been on the road, meeting with voters, raising campaign cash, firing up Team Stein supporters, promoting his record as attorney general, listing the ways hell fight for families as governor, and ripping Robinsons job-killing culture wars agenda. Hes also campaigned in several Republican-leaning small towns and rural areas in search of potential ticket-splitters.

The Assembly wanted to interview Stein about his faith and related issues. His campaign said no. But we were able to ask him a question at a recent event in Charlotte.

Q: If youre elected, youll be the first Jewish person to become governor of North Carolina. And youre running at a time when weve seen a rise in antisemitism, a divided Democratic Party over Gaza, and campus protests. How do you navigate that changing political terrain?

His long answer began this way: Im running to fight for people and make a difference in peoples lives, not to make history.

He then added: If you show voters who you are and what youve been about and let folks know that Hey, hes going to look out for me. He did it as attorney general and [with] the issues hes talking about in the governors race. Thats how I think you win elections.

The rest of his answer was a list, repeated often in his polished stump speech, of fighting for communities devastated by opioids, children who want to go to good public schools, people who desperately need health care, women who should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, and families whose drinking water has been poisoned by polluters.

He didnt mention Israel, divisions in the Democratic Party, or campus protests.

Stein appeared to have his campaign roadmap planned out by January 2023, nearly two years before the actual election. His pitch, his targets, even how he wanted to couch his faitheverything was spelled out in a three-minute video he released that month to announce his run for the states top job.

It opens with images of two shadowy figures lighting a match, then igniting a Molotov cocktail. The stark background music, which sounds like somebody repeatedly stabbing a piano key, heightens the sense of menace.

It was a couple of hours before dawn, a cold February morning in 1971, in Charlottes west end, said Stein, who goes on to tell the story of the firebombing of law offices shared by three civil rights crusadersJulius Chambers, James Ferguson, and his father, Adam Stein. These members of North Carolinas first racially integrated law firm were targeted, he added, for leading the legal battle against discrimination and for equality.

The camera then cuts to Stein, dressed casually in a brown coat, blue sweater and open-collar white shirt. I learned early on that some things are worth fighting for, he said. No matter the opposition.

The video then segues to images of what Stein called modern-day bomb-throwerstorch-carrying antisemitic marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, raucous insurrectionists invading the U.S. Capitol, and politicians [who] spark division, ignite hate, and fan the flames of bigotry.

On cue, clips of Robinson speaking at conservative churches in North Carolina appear, with the states first Black lieutenant governor dismissing LGBTQ people as filth, saying God called mennot womento lead, and railing against abortion.

Then theres a series of testimonials trumpeting Steins record as attorney general, all casting him as a caring fighter who took on corporate greed, tackled the rape kit backlog, and stood up for devastated families by attacking the opioids crisis.

Finally, Stein wrapped it up by echoing some of the core missions of the Raleigh synagogue he and his family attendTemple Beth Or, Hebrew for House of Light.

My faith teaches me that were all children of God, he said over a scene of him walking outside with his wife, their three grown children, and their dog. And that were called to make a difference.

Steins campaign has some similarities to the one Democrat Josh Shapiro ran two years ago in Pennsylvania. Shapiro was then the states attorney general and, like Stein, stressed his success in going after opioid manufacturers and other powerful forces on behalf of those whove been wronged, as he put it in his first campaign ad.

Shapiro also faced a far-right MAGA Republican opponent, Doug Mastriano.

We beat a dangerous extremist like Mark Robinson here in Pennsylvania in 2022, Shapiro said in a social media post in March, after Stein, who had worked with Shapiro when both were attorneys general, won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. It took a hell of a lot of work and support from folks like youand now, we need to do the same thing in North Carolina. Chip in to help my friend Josh Stein defend our fundamental freedoms.

Shapiro, who is being called a future presidential candidate, has leaned into his faith. As The New York Times put it recently, his Jewish identity is intertwined with his public persona to a degree rarely seen in American politics.

Shapiro began that first campaign ad in 2022 with video of him and his family sharing a Shabbat, or Sabbath, meal, complete with challah, the Jewish bread blessed and eaten each Friday night. Wherever he starts his day, Shapiro said in the ad, I make it home Friday night for Sabbath dinner, cause family and faith ground me.

This year, Shapiro has been outspoken about the anti-Israel protests on college campuses, blaming universities for failing to teach students information that is necessary to form thoughtful perspectives. He told The New York Times last month that too many of the protests spilled over into antisemitism: If you had a group of white supremacists camped out and yelling racial slurs every day, that would be met with a different response than antisemites camped out, yelling antisemitic tropes.

Stein has been more cautious in speaking out and in sharing the particulars of his faith with the public, although he hasnt hid his Judaism. From our Seder table to yours, he posted on social media in April, we hope folks celebrating across North Carolina have a meaningful and happy Passover.

Shapiro governs a state that has far more Jews than North Carolina433,660 to 48,935, according to The American Jewish Year Book 2023. And he is the states third Jewish governor, not its first.

Several people interviewed by The Assembly said that Steins career in public service and his stance on issues reflect Jewish values. Stein, 57, grew up in Chapel Hill and graduated from Dartmouth and Harvard Law School before teaching English in Zimbabwe and working for the Durham-based Self-Help Credit Union. He later served in the state Senate, led then-Attorney General Roy Coopers consumer protection team, and is now completing his second term as attorney general.

We beat a dangerous extremist like Mark Robinson here in Pennsylvania in 2022. It took a hell of a lot of work and support from folks like youand now, we need to do the same thing in North Carolina.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a Greensboro Democrat and the only Jewish member of the states congressional delegation, said Shapiro and Stein demonstrate their Judaism in different, but equally authentic ways.

For Governor Shapiro, the critical importance of his Judaism to him and living outwardly a very Jewish life is who he is, said Manning, former board chair for the Jewish Federations of North America. Josh Stein has authentically been a public servant and he leans into his Jewish values. They are the values that led him to emphasize the importance of education, health care, working to combat discrimination, working to make sure that everybody has the right to vote and the opportunity to get ahead.

Stein is active in a synagogue in Raleigh that adheres to the tenets of the Reform movement, the largest stream of Judaism in the United States. Its known for a more liberal approach to Jewish law and for its commitment to social justice issues.

That commitment is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible, said Rabbi Judy Schindler of Charlotte, who has been serving the Jewish and broader community for 25 years. From Abrahams fight in defense of the innocent of Sodom and Gomorrah to the Prophets who envisioned and called for justice for allespecially those who are most vulnerable in the margins of society.

On a Sunday afternoon in May, Stein came to Reeder Memorial Baptist Church in Charlotte for a Faith Leaders for Stein luncheon.

There was a local rabbi at one of the round, blue-clothed tables in the churchs fellowship hall. But it was mostly a gathering of African-American preachers, the local leaders Democrats often rely on to turn out the partys most loyal voters.

And Steins guest speakerthe one who really fired up the crowdknew politics: He is a Black preacher who also happens to be a U.S. senator from Georgia. Not only that, Sen. Raphael Warnock is the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Churchthe house of worship in Atlanta once led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Josh Stein has authentically been a public servant and he leans into his Jewish values.

But before the crowd could hear from the speakers, there was an opening prayer invoking Jesus and then it was time to eat. Warnock, Stein, and the preachers lined up to fill their plates with steaming hot portions of jerk chicken, curry chicken, rice and beans, mac and cheese, and cabbage. To be washed down by sweet ice tea and lemonade.

Stein was first at the lectern. On this day, he was more warm-up act than star.

He gave an 11-minute version of his stump speech, though he added some allusions from the Hebrew Bible, which the Christian preachers looking on knew better as the Old Testament. Just like when David slew Goliath, Stein told them, we know that some things are worth fighting for.

Next up was Warnock, and it didnt take long before the preachers in their seats were seconding his words with short shouts of yes sir! and thats right!

It soon became clear why Warnock was such an inspired choice to make the case for Stein. He reminded the crowd of how African Americans and Jews have historically been both victims of discrimination and partners in the fight for equality.

He started by telling the story of the election, on the same day in 2021, of himself and Jon Ossoff to the U.S. Senate. Georgia, a state in the old Confederacy, did an amazing thing, he said. It elected its first African American senator and its first Jewish senator in one fell swoop.

The two victories gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.

I think somewhere in glory Martin Luther King Jr., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel were giving each other the high five, Warnock said, reminding the crowd of a famous pairing of two civil rights titans who marched together in the 1960s.

Then Warnock brought it back to North Carolina for a third example of African Americans and Jews working together for justice.

Josh is a great guy. He comes from great stock. Im inspired by the story of his father, the senator said, referring to the Charlotte legal team Stein, Chambers, and Ferguson, who sat in the audience that day. They brought and won landmark cases targeting discrimination, including the racial segregation of public schools.

Warnock dismissed Steins opponent with a quip: Donald Trump and Mark Robinson are two peas in a pod.

North Carolina will make history in November no matter who wins the governors race. Stein would be the first Jew to lead the state; Robinson would be the first Black governor. So far, that story has gotten more attention from the press outside North Carolina, including CNN and MSNBC, both of which interviewed Stein.

The national media and the Jewish presseven newspapers in Israelhave also focused on Robinsons long list of controversial comments about Jews and others. A headline in The Jerusalem Posts world news roundup: Governor race pits Jewish Democrat against Republican accused of antisemitism.

In a Facebook post before Robinson entered politics, he called reports of the Holocaust hogwash. In another, he said an agnostic Jew in Hollywood had made the movie Black Panther to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets, using a Yiddish racial slur and the word for money in Israel.

Salisbury lawyer Bill Graham, one of Robinsons opponents in this years GOP gubernatorial primary, ran TV ads calling attention to the lieutenant governors denial that the Nazis had killed six million Jews.

Robinson, who is popular with the large MAGA wing of the GOP, ended up winning the primary with 65 percent of the vote. But a recent episode of The Focus Group podcast that interviewed North Carolina voters suggests that the ads did break through enough to cost Robinson votes in November, among even some 2020 Donald Trump voters.

Robinson has downplayed his past comments, saying there may have been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded.

At a Republican rally in Greensboro in March, Trump nodded to Robinsons ability to stir a crowd, calling him Martin Luther King on steroids. (Actually, Robinson has called King a Communist on social media and in his 2022 memoir.)

Steve Schewel, Durhams second Jewish mayor and a Stein supporter, isnt buying the idea that speechifying talent will erase the stink of Robinsons extremist comments with most voters. Yes, Robinson is a thundering orator, but hes a thundering orator whos an antisemite, a homophobe, a misogynist, said Schewel, who served as mayor from 2017 to 2021.

In a recent ad, the Stein campaign used a clip of Robinson shouting other controversial words. Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers, Robinson said. It is about killing the child because you werent responsible enough to keep your skirt down.

Still, Robinsons personal storyhe grew up poor, the ninth of ten childrencould attract some voters. And in the Bible Belt, his very public Christian faith could win over others. Robinson starts every speech by thanking Jesus.

Hes also embraced and spoke about the history hed make if elected the states first Black governor. Then theres his close identification with Trump, who leads Biden in the latest polls in North Carolina.

The Rev. Ricky Woods, pastor of First Baptist-West, Charlottes oldest African American church, told The Assembly hes less worried that Black voters will cast a ballot for Robinson than that theyll stay home. And for young Black voters, he added, the threat is that theyll sit out the election partly because of their simmering objections to the cost of Israels war on Palestinian civilians.

The way theyre going about executing this war is problematic from a justice standpoint, said Woods, who stressed that he is not pro-Hamas. Id be interested in hearing more [from Stein] in terms of what his ideas and thoughts are.

In Marchs Democratic primary, 89,000 votersnearly 13 percentchose No preference over Biden, a sign that many were unhappy with the presidents decision to send U.S. arms to Israel. More recently, Biden has challenged Netanyahus conduct of the war, even proposing a cease fire. But he is still in danger of losing the support of many young voters.

Hildebrand, the Duke professor, said while Gaza is more Bidens problem than Steins, the president needs to be competitive in the state come November, even if he doesnt ultimately end up winning North Carolinas 16 electoral votes.

Stein can win North Carolina even if Biden loses it by a couple of points, said Hildebrand. But if Biden loses it by too much, then its awfully hard for Stein to overcome that. So I do think thats the way [Gaza] becomes a broader [threat] for down-ballot Democrats.

In late May, the Cook Political Report, the gold standard among election prognosticators, changed its forecast of the North Carolina governors racefrom leans Democratic to tossup.

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In N.C., Jewish Democrats Navigate a Difficult Election Year - The Assembly

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

WHEN I CHOSE to make aliyah, I was still single and it had little to do with this weeks parsha. Even though I could not have imagined living in Eretz Yisroel for the rest of my life just a year earlier, after one year of yeshivah here, I realized there is no better, no easier place to be a Jew. I just felt so at home, and if it could happen to me, it could happen to just about any Jew.

I hadnt even seen the gemoros, of which there are many, yet extolling the virtues of living in our ancestral home. I hadnt yet come to appreciate the spies sin for rejecting the land in this weeks parsha, or the Kabbalah behind what they did. There was just something very reassuring and supporting about walking the streets of a country that you know actually belongs to you, filled with brothers and sisters.

Despite all the wars over the last 40 years, nothing has changed. Sometimes you have to fight to live on your own land. Despite all the political upheaval since then, nothing has changed. This reassurance and support are not tied to what my fellow Jews think or do, but to the land, and more importantly, the Divine Presence that dwells on it.

Besides, its the media that distorts and perverts the true reality. In the hands of Leftists, manipulated by their money, and having the biggest media mouths, they paint a political picture to their liking, completely disregarding how the majority of the country truly feels about all things Jewish. They try and do to the political Right what the Arabs do to the Jews: wear us down through a war of attrition.

All of it is really just a distraction. It always has been. Its the Sitra Achra, a.k.a. the Satan, once again keeping the Jewish people out of Eretz Yisroel to hold off the redemption. He needs to because, if ever the entire Jewish nation were to cross the Jordan River, physically or today, metaphorically, to settle on the land, the geulah would come. He would not only be out of a job, but out of an existence.

In Moshe Rabbeinus time, that meant keeping all, or at least some, of the nation out of the land. He did that, succeeding in distracting the tribes of Gad, Reuven, and half of Menashe, with pasture land to keep them on the east side of the Jordan River. As a result, it pushed off the geulah shlaimah in their time.

That was in Moshe Rabbeinus time, because everyone was frum then, even the spies. They werent fighting against God, Torah, and for a more secular way of life so they could be more like the rest of the nations around them. So the only way to keep them out of the land was to physically keep them out of the land.

But today it is a different story. Today the Left is so anti anything Jewish, so focused on be just another European nation, that they can be kept out of the land without ever leaving it. The Sitra Achra owns them because its either Gods way or his way, and if it is not Gods way, then it is his wayno matter how independent they believe they are.

Because, like everything in Creation, Eretz Yisroel clearly has the potential for two sides. It can either be Eretz Canaan, which it was before the Jewish people came and conquered it, or it can be Eretz Yisroel, something we had to make it, but often fell short of. Even people who work on themselves to become tzaddikim have their bad days, and some have even gone in the other direction when conquered by their yetzer hara.

The difference between the two potentials is obvious, and actually, only minutes apart. Thats how long it takes to go from downtown Tel Aviv to Bnei Brak, two extreme ends on a religious continuum. Tel Aviv can be quite physically beautiful, but much of it lacks a Jewish soul. Bnei Brak however has a lot of Jewish soul but, unfortunately, is not the most aesthetically pleasing city to visit or live in. Fortunately, today, thank God, there are many places where you can get the best of both worlds.

One thing is clear. To live in Eretz Yisroel, and not Eretz Canaan, you have to be in touch with your Neshamah. That does not just mean learning Torah and performing mitzvos because the entire generation in this weeks parsha did that better than we do. It means living more in your inside world than the outside one, which talks to our bodies and not our souls. Thats when thinking about making aliyah triggers a personal war of attrition between a Jews body and their soul.

Then the argument begins all over again, and the sin of the spies goes unrectified.

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It's Time Torah.org - Torah.org

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

Jews are known for our hats. Theres the kippah (or yarmulke), which can be knit, made of felt or satin, be in the Bukharian, Yemenite or Breslov style. There are also larger hats favored by the Haredi community like shtreimels, fedoras or kashket. The Jews of North Africa favor a fez (or tarboush). And dont forget about head coverings worn by married Orthodox Jewish women!

But whats a Jew to do if you want to wear a cute, Jewy baseball cap? Dont worry, we here at Hey Alma have got your head covered.

Below are some of the cutest and most summer-y Jewish hats Etsy has to offer.

No need to thank us for this adorable recommendation.

Let everyone know that you are an NJG, NJB, NJThey or whatever else with this fashion choice.

Well have what shes having. (If shes buying this cap.)

Yes, this is a bucket hat. But we couldnt resist adding it to the list. Just look at that shayna punim (pretty face). Plus, click here for the Jewish history of bucket hats.

If youre a Jewish Dodgers fan and youve had enough, this ones for you.

In Yiddish, the phrase alter kocker basically means old fart. So get this hat if you have a good sense of humor about yourself, or get it for your frenemy! And while were on the subject, click here for a list of more Yiddish insults.

Hi, Jewish Trucker Barbie!

Challah at this hat!!

It feels like this hat was made specifically for Hey Alma readers.

Its a seven-branch menorah!! Made out of pickles!! What more could you want?

This hat is perfect for warding off bad luck at the park, the beach or just about anywhere else.

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These Baseball Hats Scream 'I'm Cute' and 'I'm Jewish' - Alma

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

Is it still okay to Punch a Nazi? Im asking for a friend. In fact, Im asking for many friends who watched those violent protests outside a synagogue in Los Angeles over the weekend and wondered to themselves if that old left-wing slogan about walloping bigots still holds. If it was acceptable to punch alt-right Jew-haters back in the 2010s, then why not the keffiyeh-wearing variety of today who taunt Jews at their very place of worship?

What a thin excuse for mobbing a synagogue

Punch a Nazi was the cry of every self-styled anti-fascist a few years ago. It was mostly bluster none of these coddled, vegan kids of privilege was really going to raise a fist to a Proud Boy or even one of those alt-right loudmouths whod turn up on campus to make fun of feminism. But they sure liked saying they would. In response to the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, antifa counterprotesters chanted: Punch a Nazi in the mouth!

Where are these big talkers now? Where are these progressives who were so horrified by the Unite the Right slogan of Jews will not replace us that they threatened to smack anyone who uttered it? Why are they not now puffing up their thin chests in response to the new breed of protester who doesnt only say disgusting things about the Jews but actually turns up to their temples to mock and terrify them with talk of intifada?

Thats the thing: its the old antifa types who are doing this. Yesterdays self-styled defenders of Jews are todays persecutors of Jews. The Nazi-punchers have become the Nazis. They had better hope their old rallying cry doesnt still apply, otherwise they might need to pound their own faces.

To be clear, I dont want to see anyone punched outside a synagogue. But then, I dont want to see protest of any kind outside a synagogue. What happened in LA at the weekend was horrifying. It took place at the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish area of Pico-Robertson. Pro-Palestine protesters turned up with Palestine flags. They chanted about intifada. One was heard saying, There is only one solution intifada revolution.

Lets be clear about what this was: the intimidation of Jews masquerading as political protest. The protesters said they picketed the synagogue because a real estate event was taking place inside, at which people were browsing houses for sale in Israel. They were bartering in stolen land, the keffiyeh crowd insisted. What a thin excuse for mobbing a synagogue. The fact is this: if you are screaming at Jews as they enter their house of worship, you are not one of the good guys.

In fact, you are reminiscent of some of the worst guys in history. To holler at Jews about intifada eight months after an intifada claimed the lives of more than a thousand Jews in Israel is Jew-baiting, plain and simple. It is cruelty, not activism. It is more a mini-pogrom than an act of protest. If being progressive now means rubbing Jews noses in an act of apocalyptic violence that claimed the lives of a thousand of their co-religionists, then I guess Im not progressive anymore.

The gathering at the Adas Torah synagogue was worse than anything the old alt-right did. Yes, those hard-right edgelords and neo-Confederates who were big in the 2010s were an enemy of moral decency. They were anti-women, anti-black and anti-Jewish. The neo-fascists who marched in Charlottesville in 2017 chanted openly anti-Semitic slogans.

But they did not start actual, physical fighting outside synagogues, leading to the grim sight of Jews with bloodied faces in the city of Los Angeles in 2024. No, it was the left that did that. A left which, bizarrely, seems to have thrown its lot in with Hamas. Which seems intent on hounding Jews. Antifa now feels, well, fa.

It feels to me that there is insufficient outrage over the intimidation of Jews in LA. The anti-racists are silent. Millennial leftists for whom Charlottesville was a radical awakening seem nonplussed by the horrendous events at the Adas Torah. Perhaps Jew-taunting is okay so long as you wear a keffiyeh while youre doing it. Clearly thats where the alt-right went wrong.

President Joe Biden has condemned the protest at the synagogue. It was appalling, unconscionable and anti-Semitic, he said. It is good to hear these strong words. But one cannot help but wonder why he hasnt devoted himself to rooting out this modish, leftish anti-Semitism, like he did with the alt-right anti-Semitism of the 2010s. In response to the Unite the Right rally, Biden promised to combat the venom and violence of this new hatred and save the soul of our nation. And todays Jew-hating? Will you go to war with that, too?

Anti-Semitism is reaching crisis levels in America and Europe. Attacks on Jews have shot up. Synagogues have been mobbed and graffitied. Weve seen pro-Palestine protesters hunting for Zionists on the New York subway and marchers in London demanding further jihad against the Jewish State. It seems one pogrom wasnt enough. Its time we got serious very serious about this hatred that hides itself in the Palestine colours.

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Why do some anti-fascists have a problem with Jews? - The Spectator

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Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

The snap elections decided upon by President Emmanuel Macron after the poor results in the European elections are a major shock for France and causing major turmoil.

There are three potential outcomes to these elections none of them are reassuring for French Jews:

Victory for the far Right with the Rassemblement National (RN)

The victory of a left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front The absence of any stable majority

Marine le Pen has wanted to normalize her party since taking it over in 2011, and antisemitism was both an imperative and a very good way to achieve this goal.

It would actually be wrong to deem todays Rassemblement National as the exact equivalent of the Front National of Marines father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. In many ways, the RN is going through a normalization process that other parties in Europe went through, like the Italian Social Movement (MSI) in Italy. Antisemitism is non-existent in the Rassemblement nationals platform, and it has also turned into a pro-Israel party, maybe the most pro-Israel party in France.

Despite that, many French Jews, and the major Jewish institutions, remain wary of a party that never broke up officially with its past nor denounced its founders; many of its top members have some antisemitic tendencies.

Beyond that, the party is seen as not equipped to handle major issues like the economy or foreign policy.

The very notion of an extremist party worries Jew who are wary of the turmoil and unrest that such power would mean, on top of lack of readiness of its leaders who have never served in any governmental capacity.

The arrival of a far-right party could also create some massive demonstrations, with the possible eruption of political violence fomented by the far Left, for the first time in decades. Some are also fearing that some fringe far-right antisemitism may surge again, emboldened by the victory of the RN.

The antisemitic threat may not come directly from the far Right, but it has not disappeared. It has just moved in some ways to the other extreme of the political spectrum.

92% of French Jews are now saying that the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) is the most antisemitic party in France. This is a major development, which explains why French Jews are so worried over the second scenario the victory of the Left in the elections.

New Front Populaire is an alliance where LFI is the dominant element. It was founded by Jean-Luc Melenchon, an ex-socialist, friendly with former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, fascinated by strongmen like former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez or Cubas Fidel Castro, and more likely to criticize US President Joe Biden than Russias President Vladimir Putin or Chinas President Xi Jinping.

In other words, La France Insoumise (LFI) is led by a would-be strong man, who likes to be victimized and blame many of the issues he or France is facing on them, the elites, and the powerful. Sometimes he cannot hide that he is talking about the Jews.

Melenchons cynicism and unhealthy obsession with the Jews have led him, and thereby his party that he controls entirely, to make Gaza and the genocide of the Palestinians the major topic during the last European election.In a country where antisemitic acts have multiplied tenfold since October 7, a choice of spokespeople and words that were sometimes outright antisemitic, this political strategy has infuriated Jews who are now wary of this party.

What is also troubling Jews, beyond its antisemitism, is that LFI would probably, as the leader of a left-wing government, take radical measures out of ideology, without thinking about the consequences. Since Melenchon is a strongman, it is unclear that all freedoms would be truly respected tomorrow. Knowing his background, it is possible to imagine that the failures would be blamed on others: the central bankers, the financial markets, and even possibly the Jewish lobby, which he has blamed in many instances though being careful not to call it as such.

The left-wing coalition is aware of Melenchons toxicity and is saying that Melenchon would not be prime minister if the NFP were to win the elections, but if LFI had the most seats, which is likely, he would be the likely choice.

In this case, knowing Melenchons inclination for strong leaders, and because the far-right could react violently in the streets, violence in the streets and agitation could take place quickly.

The left wings arrival to power, if LFI is the dominant player, worries Jews not only because of its antisemitism but because of the chaos this would cause. In that, they are actually at the forefront of what their fellow non-Jewish citizens think, and explains why the third scenario is not a good one either.

Neither the NPF nor the RN will likely get a stable parliamentary majority, which leads to the likeliest outcome: the absence of a clear majority in the French parliament. This will cause some major political and social instability, which worries not only a lot of French people but also the business community and foreign investors.

This would be unprecedented in the Fifth Republic, founded by De Gaulle, precisely to avoid instability that caused many problems for France in the Third and Fourth Republics.

If that were to materialize, it would be almost impossible to have any budgets passed, and planning for anything would become virtually impossible, hence penalizing France gravely on all fronts, including foreign policy.

WHAT THE three outcomes have in common is that in each of these scenarios, there could be a major wave of uncertainty and instability in France, with possible massive demonstrations, strikes, or even riots. If a power is deemed as extreme, or illegitimate, or unstable, then the street takes over and the authority of the power is weakened.

Instability means that at some point the desire for a strong man or a strong woman emerges, and with them the programmed end of democratic institutions and checks and balances that have always been the best protections for Jews. Their absence has made possible the worst possible disasters in their history, be in Tsarist Russia, Nazi Germany, or some Arab countries.

Macron has opened a Pandoras box that leaves French citizens disoriented, worried, and angry. French Jews, always the canaries in the mine, are particularly exposed to instability and turmoil, which could well take place following the presidents risky and irresponsible bet.

The writer is a correspondent in the US of Cahiers Bernard Lazare, a magazine based in Paris aimed at French Jews.

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French Jews face hard choices as antisemitism shadows elections - The Jerusalem Post

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