Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on July 12, 2015

Coordinates: 31N 35E / 31N 35E / 31; 35

Israel ( or ), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: , Mednat Yisr'el, IPA:[medinat jisael]( listen); Arabic: , Dawlat Isrl, IPA:[dawlat israil]), is a country in Western Asia, situated at the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It shares land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip[7] to the east and west, respectively, Egypt to the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south. It contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[8][9] Israel's financial center is Tel Aviv,[10] while Jerusalem is both its designated capital and the most populous individual city under the country's governmental administration. Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is internationally disputed.[note 2][11]

On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine. This UN plan specified borders for new Arab and Jewish states and also specified an area of Jerusalem and its environs which was to be administered by the UN under an international regime.[12][13] The end of the British Mandate for Palestine was set for midnight on 14 May 1948. That day, David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel," which would start to function from the termination of the mandate.[14][15][16] The borders of the new state were not specified in the declaration.[13][17] Neighboring Arab armies invaded the former Palestinian mandate on the next day and fought the Israeli forces.[18][19] Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states,[20] in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula (195657, 196782), part of South Lebanon (19822000), Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. It extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank.[21][22][23][24]Efforts to resolve the IsraeliPalestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed. Israels occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the world's longest military occupation in modern times.[note 3][25]

The population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2014 to be 8,146,300people. It is the world's only Jewish-majority state; 6,212,000 citizens, or 74.9% of Israelis, are designated as Jewish. The country's second largest group of citizens are denoted as Arabs, with 1,718,400 people (including the Druze and most East Jerusalem Arabs).[26][27] The great majority of Israeli Arabs are settled Muslims, with smaller but significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins; the rest are Christians and Druze. Other minorities include Maronites, Samaritans, Dom people and Roma, Black Hebrew Israelites, other Sub-Saharan Africans,[28]Armenians, Circassians, Vietnamese boat people, and others. Israel also hosts a significant population of non-citizen foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia.[29]

In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and Democratic State.[30] Israel is a representative democracy[31] with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage.[32][33] The Prime Minister serves as head of government and the Knesset serves as Israel's legislative body. Israel is a developed country and an OECD member,[34] with the 37th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2012. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with the one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.[35][36] The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the fifth highest in Asia,[37][38][39] and has the one of the highest life expectancies in the world.[40]

Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel" (Medinat Yisrael) after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel ("the Land of Israel"), Zion, and Judea, were considered and rejected.[41] In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "Israeli" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett.[42]

The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish nation respectively.[43] The name "Israel" in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob (StandardYisrael, Isrl; Septuagint Greek: Isral; "struggle with God"[44]) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he successfully wrestled with the angel of the Lord.[45] Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. Jacob and his sons had lived in Canaan but were forced by famine to go into Egypt for four generations until Moses, a great-great grandson of Jacob,[46] led the Israelites back into Canaan during the "Exodus". The earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word "Israel" is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt (dated to the late 13th century BCE).[47]

The area is also known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bah' Faith. From 1920 the whole region was known as Palestine (under British Mandate) until the Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948. Through the centuries, the territory was known by a variety of other names, including Judea, Samaria, Southern Syria, Syria Palaestina, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Iudaea Province, Coele-Syria, Retjenu, and Canaan.

The notion of the "Land of Israel", known in Hebrew as Eretz Yisrael, has been important and sacred to the Jewish people since Biblical times. According to the Torah, God promised the land to the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people.[48][49] On the basis of scripture, the period of the three Patriarchs has been placed somewhere in the early 2nd millenniumBCE,[50] and the first Kingdom of Israel was established around the 11th century BCE. Subsequent Israelite kingdoms and states ruled intermittently over the next four hundred years, and are known from various extra-biblical sources.[51][52][53][54]

The first record of the name Israel (as ysrr) occurs in the Merneptah stele, erected for Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE, "Israel is laid waste and his seed is not."[55] This "Israel" was a cultural and probably political entity of the central highlands, well enough established to be perceived by the Egyptians as a possible challenge to their hegemony, but an ethnic group rather than an organised state;[56] Ancestors of the Israelites may have included Semites native to Canaan and the Sea Peoples.[57] McNutt says, "It is probably safe to assume that sometime during Iron Age a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'", differentiating itself from the Canaanites through such markers as the prohibition of intermarriage, an emphasis on family history and genealogy, and religion.[58]

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Posted By simmons on July 12, 2015

Claiming that they are an endangered species accounting for a mere 9% of the worlds population, white supremacists are reacting with anger to what they view as societal focus on creating white guilt and hatred against white people, white heritage and Christianity.

The hype spreading through their ranks warns of their cultural cleansing and ultimately white genocide. This rhetoric is not based on any new concepts, but there are some new irritants that are galvanizing white supremacists and revitalizing their notion that without action the white race is doomed to extinction.

The most recent irritant stems from the revelation that racist Dylann Storm Roof, the alleged murderer of nine black parishioners at a Charleston, South Carolina church, used the Confederate flag as a symbol ofhate.

White supremacists are incensed over the recent nationwide movement to rid public parks and buildings, license plates, and retail stores of Confederate flags after the Charleston shooting. One Klan group is planning a July rally to protest of the removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolinas Statehouse.

In addition to white supremacists mounting frustration over public disdain for the Confederate flag are the numerous petitions and efforts to rename dozens of parks, bridges and university buildings which are named after confederate soldiers and/or Klansmen.

The frustration over these attempts is not new. In 2013, approximately 75 white supremacists protested the renaming of three Memphis, Tennessee, parks previously named in honor of the Confederacy, its leader, and a Klan leader. This protest demonstrated unusual unity among white supremacists with three different Klan groups, a neo-Nazi group, and members of several racist skinhead groups in attendance.

Another issue disturbing white supremacists is their perception of the way the media covers crime. Extremists believe black on white crime is under-reported compared to white on black crime. This viewpoint was recently compounded following media reports regarding the killing of black men by white police officers, the black lives matter movement, and the subsequent civil unrest.

One noteworthy reaction by white supremacist to these media reports has been their support for law enforcement officers, which they have normally withheld. In 2014, at least three Klan members attended an Imperial, Missouri, rally in support of Darren Wilson, the police officer who fatally shot unarmed black robbery suspect Michael Brown in Ferguson.

More surprisingly, due to their long standing cultural disdain for police, a small group of racist skinheads recently demonstrated for a week in May 2015 in support of police in Olympia, Washington, after an officer shot two unarmed blackmen.

White supremacists are also mimicking the black lives matter slogan. Not only did white supremacist leaders of the neo-Nazi National Alliance and Traditionalist Youth Network interrupt a May 2015 black lives matter press conference in Cincinnati, but members of the Aryan Renaissance Society distributed white lives matter fliers in Rhode Island and Connecticut lastmonth.

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2015

ATLANTA, capital of the state of Georgia, U.S. General population of greater Atlanta: 4,400,000; Jewish population: 97,000. Atlanta was chartered in 1837 as Terminus and developed as an important transportation center. German Jews lived in the area starting in the early 1840s. The first Jew who lived in Atlanta was Jacob Haas; he opened a dry goods business with Henry Levi in 1846. Moses Sternberger, Adolph Brady, and David Mayer followed shortly as did Aaron Alexander and his family, who were American-born Sephardim from Charleston, South Carolina. The Hebrew Benevolent Society established in 1860 became the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation in 1867. This occurred following a visit by Rev. Isaac Leeser of Philadelphia, who came to conduct a wedding. Leeser was the azzan of Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia in the middle of the 19th century. He established the monthly Occident newspaper in 1844 which became a major media vehicle for American Jewry. He stood for traditional Judaism as Isaac Mayer *Wise began to pioneer Reform Judaism in the U.S. Leeser urged the leadership to form an actual congregation which was incorporated that year. Later the synagogue came to be known as the "Temple." The first rabbi was appointed in 1869, and the first building was constructed in 1877. Although Reform from its inception, several of the rabbis in the late 1800s were more traditional, but with the arrival of Dr. David Marx in 1898, the character of the Temple became almost Radical Reform with even Sunday services substituted for Sabbath services from 1904 to 1908.

East Europeans emigrating in the late 1870s established several Orthodox congregations in the following decade. They merged into the Ahavath Achim synagogue in 1887. After several breakaway shuls were formed and then disappeared, the congregation built a synagogue in 1901. In 1896 a visitor from Palestine came to Atlanta to collect money to issue his new book. When it appeared in Jerusalem in 1898 as ir Ne'eman, the author, Yehoshua Ze'ev Avner, listed the 18 Atlanta contributors, including the Moses Montefiore Relief Society and the Ahavath Achim congregation. The descendants of some of the contributors still lived in Atlanta in 2005. One of the early rabbis, Berachya Mayerowitz (19026), gave his sermons in English. He also led a major fundraising effort at the city's Bijou Theater for the survivors of the Kishniev pogrom in April 1903. On December 56, 1904, he welcomed Jacob deHaas, director of the Federation of American Zionists, on his boom trip of three weeks throughout the south. DeHaas characterized the members of the congregation as "muscular Jews committed to Zionism."

One of the breakaway Orthodox congregations in the early 20th century, Shearith Israel, was incorporated in 1904 and survived. Several others did not. In 1910 Rabbi Tobias *Geffen became the rabbi of the synagogue, which was seeking a rabbi with "outstanding learning credentials" and one whose "sermons could touch the hearts of the people." His 60-year career in Atlanta was a blend of Orthodoxy and modernism. His determination to raise the level of Jewish education succeeded when he and later his children personally taught in the Atlanta Jewish Preparatory School and Shearith Israel Sunday School. Nine Atlanta men and one Chattanooga individual, who boarded, became Orthodox and Conservative rabbis. In two areas, he was the authority not only for Atlanta but throughout the South. He was the mesader gittin, issuing Jewish divorces throughout his career, and he checked the shoetim in Atlanta and 15 other cities. In 1916 in Atlanta 48 Jewish families, who did not live in the "center of the Jewish community," petitioned Rabbi Geffen to permit a slaughterer of chickens to be available in their area, outside of his normal jurisdiction, once a week to do kosher killing at "five cents a chicken." Rabbi Geffen's most notable halakhic decision, giving a hekhsher to Coca-Cola, an Atlanta company, was made in 1934.

In 1919 Rabbi Tobias Geffen met with Bishop Warren Candler, chancellor of Emory, a Methodist college which had just moved to Atlanta from South Georgia. Geffen's concern about Saturday classes prompted Candler to permit observant Jewish students who attended Emory to be present on the Jewish Sabbath and holidays without having to take notes and stand for exams. (Rabbi) Joel *Geffen and (Professor) Moses *Hadas were the first two Jewish students in this category. After a decade the Saturday classes ended, which resolved the issue.

The Jewish student body at Emory remained small until the 1950s. Professor Nathan *Saltz , who graduated from the Emory medical school in 1940, made aliyah in 1949 and established the surgical systems for all the major hospitals in Israel. In 1998 he was awarded the Israel Prize in Medicine. In the 1950s the number of Jewish students in all the Emory University schools was between 150 and 175. By the 1970s Emory's reputation was attracting Jewish students from the entire United States. Hillel statistics in the 1990s suggested that between 30 to 40% of the 5,500 undergraduates were Jewish. Parallel to the student growth was the faculty growth both in academic Judaica and general academia. Professor David Blumenthal was given the Jay and Leslie Cohen chair in Jewish Thought in 1976 when it was established. When the Carter Center came into being in the early 1980s, Professor Ken Stein, a Middle East specialist, was chosen as the academic director. In 2004 there were 12 full-time faculty members teaching in all areas of Judaica. The Dorot Professor of Jewish History is the noted Holocaust specialist, Deborah Lipstadt. A masters program in Jewish Studies exists and a doctoral program was being planned. When Arthur *Blank of Home Depot gave Emory a major gift, the department was given Blank's spiritual leader's name, Rabbi Donald Tam Jewish Studies Department.

In addition to the thousands of new Judaic volumes in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, and many other languages purchased by the Woodruff Library of Emory in the last 25 years, the Special Collections department under the leadership of Dr. Linda Matthews, now head of all libraries at the school, began to receive diverse collections of Jewish interest. The Rabbi Jacob Rothschild papers, Holocaust collections from various sources, the Elliot Levitas papers (Rhodes Scholar and Georgia congressman), the Morris Abrams papers, the Geffen papers, and numerous other collections are all in Emory's Special Collections. Nineteenth century Judaica Americana has both been donated and purchased.

Atlanta's earliest Jews were mostly merchants. Some, primarily members of the Temple, were active in such fields as banking, brokerage, insurance, and real estate and pioneered in the manufacture of paper products and cotton bagging. The East European Jews had small stores, and a large number were pawnbrokers on Decatur Street in the heart of the city. Throughout the 1920s, Jewish lawyers and physicians were not allowed to join most law firms and could only practice at certain hospitals. Prior to World War II those barriers were broken down, and the number of Jewish professionals increased dramatically. The main department store in the city, founded in 1884, was Rich's until it was purchased by a conglomerate in 1991. In 2005 the name Rich's disappeared completely from the store's nomenclature. Starting with its arrival in Atlanta in 1987, the Home Depot became the major Jewish-owned firm in the city.

Jews have held public office in Atlanta since the post-Civil War era. Samuel Weil and Lewis Arnheim served in the Georgia legislature in 1869 and 1872. Aaron Haas became the city's mayor pro tem in 1875. Victor Kriegshaber was president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce from 1917 until 1922. A founding member of the Atlanta Board of Education, David Mayer, was known as the "father of public schools." In the 1930s Max Cuba, Charles Bergman, and Louis Geffen served on the Atlanta City Council and Board of Education. After being a vice mayor of Atlanta from 1961 to 1968, Sam *Massell Jr. ran for mayor against the candidate of the Atlanta power structure, labeled as antisemitic in the course of the campaign. He won the election with 20% of the white vote and 90% of the black vote. After a very successful four-year term, Massell lost to Maynard Jackson, the first black to be elected mayor of the city.

Elliot Levitas was elected to Congress for four terms, the first Jew from Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives. Liane Levitan was the County Commissioner of DeKalb County for 20 years (19832003). The major electoral change in the Atlanta area was in Cobb County. There in 1915 Leo *Frank was lynched by vigilantes in the town of Marietta near the home of the young white Protestant girl whom he was convicted of murdering by circumstantial evidence. Few Jews lived in Marietta and Cobb County until the 1980s. In 2000 Sam Olens, an attorney and active Conservative Jew, was elected chairman of the Cobb County Council. After his reelection in 2004, he was chosen chairperson of the Atlanta Regional Planning Board. Two other Marietta Jews were elected as judges in the county judicial system and statewide to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Dr. David Marx (18721962) was rabbi of the Temple for 52 years. A leader in interfaith activities, Marx was extremely anti-Zionist, helping to found the American Council for Judaism. In 1945 his Yom Kippur sermon was a "tirade against the establishment of a Jewish state." He was challenged publicly by one of his own members, Albert Freedman, director of the Southeastern Region of the Zionist Organization of America. When Dr. Jacob *Rothschild succeeded Marx in 1947, he brought a deep commitment to social justice and also became a Zionist advocate. Rothschild was so outspoken for the civil rights of blacks that in 1958 the Temple was bombed, fortunately when no one was in the building. From the Atlanta mayor to the Georgia governor to President Eisenhower, strong support poured out against the perpetrators of this act. Ralph McGill, editor of the Atlanta Constitution and a visitor to Palestine and Israel in 1946 and 1950, won a Pulitzer Prize for his moving editorials condemning the bombing. In the 1960s Rothschild worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as new federal legislation was passed assuring American blacks their rights. When King was awarded the Nobel Prize, Rothschild organized the dinner in King's honor in Atlanta. Rothschild died a very young man and was succeeded by his associate Dr. Alvin Sugarman, an Atlanta native. Sugarman took the lead in the Atlanta Jewish community in regard to developing closer relations between the blacks and the Jews. The Rich's store, whose owners belonged to the Temple, was the first major Atlanta store to allow its cafeteria to be integrated. Many Jewish firms hired blacks for administrative positions prior to such hiring becoming widespread in the general community. The Anti-Defamation League's southeast region office in Atlanta and the American Jewish Committee's regional office worked diligently to aid blacks in court and through demonstrations. The changing attitude of the blacks toward American Jews was influenced by funding from Muslim groups and anti-Israel propaganda, which reached deeply into the South in general and Atlanta in particular.

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Posted By admin on July 11, 2015

The Anti-Defamation Leagues Pacific Northwest Regional Office provides services and resources to the five states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska. The office is located in Seattle, Washington.

Created over seventy years ago, the Pacific Northwest office is dedicated to combatting anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and bigotry. Our efforts include investigating and exposing extremism, educating law enforcement regarding nuances of hate crimes, and handling victim complaints of anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination.

ADL promotes diversity and respect in area schools by providing programs and resources to help students, teachers, and administrators create positive learning environments where all students feel valued and appreciated. We lobby local and national legislators to protect civil rights and advocate for religious freedom for all individuals.

The ADL is supported locally by an advisory board of forty regional members, representing all five states, and a cadre of committee members and volunteers who work with our staff on a daily basis.

Contact Us Phone:(206) 448-5349 Fax:(206) 448-5355

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2015

The Aims of the BDS Movement

EnoughNews have produced a great report on Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions. The report includes use of Zionism On The Web's Academic Boycott Resource Center

Dr Andre Oboler, Zionism on the Web and the CIE supported Talk Gaza website were featured in a news report by the English language Israel Broadcasting Authority. The report is focused on ROI 5, a high profile conference for young Jewish innovators.

In 2009 London's Jewish Chronicle interviewed Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chair of the Zionist Federation, on online resources for Zionist activists. He said, "one of the best [websites] is Zionism On The Web".

Zionism On The Web has maintained this leading position since it first won a Top Site Award from the Jewish Agency in 2006.

Zionism On The Web has also endorsement and praise from other supporters and content contributions from a range of experts around the world

A dedicated site providing information on the Flotilla to Gaza. We recommend visitors take a look if they are interested in information on this topic.

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Zionism and Israel On The Web: History of Zionism, Facts ...

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2015

Zionism is the Jewish national movement. "Zionism" derives its name from "Zion," (pronounced "Tzyion" in Hebrew) a hill in Jerusalem. The word means "marker" or commemoration. "Shivath Tzion" is one of the traditional terms for the return of Jewish exiles. "Zionism" is not a monolithic ideological movement. It includes, for example, socialist Zionists such as Ber Borochov, religious Zionists such as rabbi Kook, extreme nationalists such as Jabotinski and cultural Zionists exemplified by Asher Ginsberg (Ahad Ha'am). Zionist ideas evolved over time and were influenced by circumstances as well as by social and cultural movements popular in Europe at different times, including socialism, nationalism and colonialism, and assumed different "flavors" depending on the country of origin of the thinkers and prevalent contemporary intellectual currents. Accordingly, no single person, publication, quote or pronouncement should be taken as embodying "official" Zionist ideology.

Zionism did not spring full blown from a void with the creation of the Zionist movement in 1897. Jews had maintained a connection with Palestine, both actual and spiritual. This continued even after the Bar Kochba revolt in 135, when large numbers of Jews were exiled from Roman Palestine, the remains of their ancient national home. The Jewish community in Palestine revived. Under Muslim rule, is estimated to have numbered as many as 300,000 prior to the Crusades, about 1000 AD. The Crusaders killed most of the Jewish population of Palestine or forced them into exile, so that only about 1,000 families remained after the reconquest of Palestine by Saladin. The Jewish community in Palestine waxed and waned with the vicissitudes of conquest and economic hardship. A trickle of Jews came because of love of Israel, and were sometimes encouraged by invitations by different Turkish rulers to displaced European Jews to settle in Tiberias and Hebron. At different times there were sizeable Jewish communities in Tiberias, Safed, Hebron and Jerusalem, and numbers of Jews living in Nablus and Gaza. A few original Jews remained in the town of Peki'in, families that had lived there continuously since ancient times.

In the Diaspora, religion became the medium for preserving Jewish culture and Jewish ties to their ancient land. Jews prayed several times a day for the rebuilding of the temple, celebrated agricultural feasts and called for rain according to the seasons of ancient Israel, even in the farthest reaches of Russia. The ritual plants of Sukkoth were imported from the Holy Land at great expense. A Holy-Land centered tradition persisted in Diaspora thought and writing. This tradition may be called "proto-nationalist" because there was no nationalism in the modern sense in those times. It was not only religious or confined to hoping for messianic redemption, but consisted of longing for the land of Israel. It is preserved inthe poetry of Yehuda Halevi, a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher, who himself immigrated to "the Holy Land" and died there in 1141.

From time to time, small numbers of Jews came to settle in Palestine in answer to rabbinical or Messianic calls, or fleeing persecution in Europe. Beginning about 1700, groups of followers led by rabbis, reached Palestine from Europe and the Ottoman empire with various programs. For example, Rabbi Yehuda Hehasid and his followers settled in Jerusalem about 1700, but the rabbi died suddenly, and eventually, an Arab mob, angered over unpaid debts, destroyed the synagogue the group had built and banned all European (Ashkenazy) Jews from Jerusalem. Rabbis Luzatto and Ben-Attar led a relatively large immigration about 1740. Other groups and individuals came from Lithuania and Turkey and different countries in Eastern Europe.

At no time between the Roman exile and the rise of Zionism was there a movement to settle the holy land that engaged the main body of European or Eastern Jews, though many were attracted to various false Messiahs such as Shabetai Tzvi, who promised to restore Jews to their land. For most Jews, the connection with the ancient homeland and with Jerusalem remained largely cultural and spiritual, and return to the homeland was a hypothetical event that would occur with the coming of the Messiah at an unknown date in the far future. European Jews lived, for the most part in ghettos. They did not get a general education, and did not, for the most part, engage in practical trades that might prepare them for living in Palestine. Most of the communities founded by these early settlers met with economic disaster, or were disbanded following earthquakes, riots or outbreaks of disease. The Jewish communities of Safed, Tiberias, Jerusalem and Hebron were typically destroyed by natural and man-made disasters and repopulated several times, never supporting more than a few thousand persons each at their height. The Jews of Palestine, numbering about 17,000 by the mid-19th century, lived primarily on charity - Halukka donations, with only a very few engaging in crafts trade or productive work.

The French revolution and the rise of Napoleon hastened the emancipation of European Jewry, who were no longer confined to the ghettos of European cities, and became citizens like everyone else. Eventually, the liberalization reached Eastern Europe and Russia as well. The enlightenment of the 18th century and the emancipation of the 19th were a great shock for Jewish culture and identity. Jews split into several groups during the nineteenth century. Ultraorthodox Jews remained faithful to the culture of the ghetto, which excluded the possibility of intermingling in modern society or gaining a modern education. A second group attempted to assimilate completely into European society, converting to Christianity and losing their Jewish identity. A third group believed that they could assimilate as modern citizens, with equal rights and still maintain their Jewish faith, while renouncing any cultural or group allegiance to Judaism. In effect, their Judaism became somewhat like a section of the Protestant religion. They found various euphemisms for their identity, such as Hebrews or Germans of the Mosaic faith. This group founded the Reform Judaism movement. The assimilationist viewpoints took it on faith that once the Jews "became like everyone else" they would be accepted in society as equals, and would become Germans, Italians, Englishmen or Frenchmen. However, it became increasingly evident to many during the nineteenth century that assimilation was not necessarily desirable. Perhaps it was impossible as well, since anti-Jewish feeling did not abate. The newly coined Christians and "Germans of the Mosaic Faith" found themselves the objects of increasing anti-Jewish sentiment, which took on the title of "anti-Semitism" in 19th century Germany.

At the same time, after the French Revolution and the emancipation of European Jewry, the vague spiritual bonds of the Jewish people began to express themselves in more concrete, though not always practical ways. About 1808, groups of Lithuanian Jews, followers of the Vilna Gaon (a famous rabbi and opponent of Hassidism) arrived in Palestine and purchased land to begin an agricultural settlement. In 1836, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer petitioned Anschel Rothschild to buy Palestine or at least the Temple Mount for the Jews. In 1839-1840, Sir Moses Montefiore visited Palestine and negotiated with the Khedive of Egypt to allow Jewish settlement and land purchase in Palestine. However, the negotiations led to nothing, possibly frustrated by the outbreak of an anti-Semitic blood-libel in Damascus. Thereafter, Montefiore continued with less ambitious philanthropic schemes in Palestine and in Argentina. In the 1840s, Rabbi Kalischer in Poland, and Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, a Sephardic Jew, wrote articles urging practical steps for hastening redemption by settling in the Holy Land, to be sponsored by the efforts of philanthropists.

British Zionism - The idea of a Jewish restoration also took the fancy of British intellectuals for religious and practical reasons. The restoration was championed in the 1840s by Lords Shaftesbury and Palmerston, who in addition to religious motivations thought that a Jewish colony in Palestine would help to stabilize and revive the country, Jewish national stirrings were also voiced by novelists and writers such as Lord Byron, Benjamin Disraeli, George Eliot and Walter Scott. (for a detailed discussion of British Zionism click here ).

Role of Sephardic Jews - Through an accident of history, European (Ashkenazy) Jews took the lead in organized Zionism for many years. However, Sephardic (Spanish) Jews and Jews in Arab lands maintained a closer practical tie with the holy land and with the Hebrew language than did Ashkenazy Jews and also influenced and participated in the the Zionist movement from its inception. Sarajevo-born Judah ben Solomon Hai Alkalai (1798-1878,) is considered one of the major precursors of modern Zionism. Alkalai believed that return to the land of lsrael was a precondition for the redemption of the Jewish people. Alkalai's ideas greatly influenced his Ashkenazy contemporary, Rabbi Tsvi Hirsch Kalischer. Alkalai was also a friend of the grandfather of Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Another Sephardi Jew, David Alkalai, a grand-nephew of Judah Alkalai, founded and led the Zionist movement in Serbia and Yugoslavia., and attended the first Zionist Congress in Basel (1897).

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A History of Zionism and the Creation of Israel - the ...

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2015

Vintage Media of Leo Frank: Photograph from the Bain News Service, see the retouched version for publication in the New York World-Telegram, 26th of August in the year 1913. From the New York World Telegram & Sun Collection at the U.S. Library of Congress.

Forensic Time Travelers of the Imagination Presents: We are going both forward and backward in time in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 20th century for a true crime epic saga and we will look at the case with new 21st-century eyes

One Hundred Years in the Making The Leo Frank Research Library is meant to be more than just the worlds foremost educational adult learning archive about the infamous double murder that began as the Mary Phagan Murder Case Mystery and evolved into the case of Leo Frank. It also provides analysis and contextualization of each event in the history of this celebrated double homicide, unleashes its sociological mysteries, ponders the possible permutations of every moment along the plethora of time lines, exploring the theories of both defense and prosecution attorneys and considering possible solutions to questions many still ask one hundred years later. So strap on your seat belt and get ready for the ride of your life. We will be traveling the circle of time.

You are about to enter through a doorway in time and space to unlock the behavioral psychology of the Jewish-Gentile cultural conflict that was unofficially ignited in 1913 and has continued simmering for more than one hundred years, having progressed into an undeclared culture war. This case refuses to gather dust, and the turn of the 21st century has already seen a renewed interest in the Frank-Phagan affair, an intrigue unlike at any time in the last century since the main events began unfolding in 1913 and sensationalized in the American mainstream media for two years.

Anti-Semitism in America

For more than a century, the well-organized Jewish community has established for each successive generation the mainstream cultural orthodoxy and popular-culture social history about the Leo Frank case, propounding the affair as the following Jewish-Gentile morality tale: the conviction of Leo Frank was an unjust anti-Semitic railroading and assassination of an innocent Yankee Jew in a vast prejudiced conspiracy because of racist Southern Gentiles, media frenzies, police corruption, and an unscrupulous district attorney prosecuting the case with political ambitions to become a future governor of Georgia. To understand the Jewish position about the Frank-Phagan affair, we will closely examine, fact-check, and analyze every Jewish work about the case since 1913, including materials by non-Jews supporting the commonly held Jewish positions and narratives of the case.

Anti-Gentilism in American

Many Southerners claim Leo Frank was fairly tried, and every level of the United States appeals courts rejected his frivolous petitions, thus upholding the trials fairness, even with the minority dissent. Numerous Southerners also believe there was more than enough evidence to convict Leo Frank in 1913, well beyond a reasonable doubt, and that there is still sufficient evidence today, via modern standards of analysis, to uphold the verdict in the Leo Frank case in the 21st century and beyond. Southerners are calling for an open inquiry into the primary and secondary sources of the Frank-Phagan case by 21st century academic scholars, law students, researchers, historians, and general public of all demographics and from all backgrounds. The Leo Frank Research Library is calling for a full national inquiry into this century-old complex case that remains as a cultural conflict smoldering under the surface of modern Jewish-Gentile relations.

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Posted By richards on July 10, 2015

Updated March 27, 2015 Israeli citizen Yossi Gurvitz, a former Talmud (yeshiva) student reveals the racism, homicide and child molestation-advocacy in the Babylonian Talmud and subsequent authoritative rabbinic legal texts authored by Rabbi Moses Maimonides and Rabbi Joseph Karo (Shulchan Aruch). He reveals Judaismssympathy for Islam and its undying hatred forChristianity.

Testimony of Yossi Gurvitz, July 15, 2012

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Rabbinic laws intended for access by Judaic persons only, teach thatgoyim(gentiles) are malevolent. For this reason, thegoyimare grouped together with those categories of criminals and transgressors who cannot act as a witness in a court (Shulhan Arukh:Hoshen Mishpat 34).

When the opportunity to save a Judaic human life (pikuah nefesh) conflicts with the observance of the Sabbath, saving the Judaic life takes precedence. However, rabbinic legal authorities distinguish between the obligation to save a Judaic life on the Sabbath and the life of agoy. Israel Meir Kagan (18381933), thehalachicauthority known as the Chofetz Chaim (a.ka. theHafetz Hayyim), condemned the behavior of any Judaic physician who did not discriminate between Jews and non-Jews. Concerning Judaic physicians, Rabbi Kagan wrote, ...to treat a non-Jew...there is no authority for them to do so (Mishneh Berurah:O.H. 330). [The authority of Rabbi Kagan'sMishnah Berurah, was assessed bySimcha Fishbane inThe Encyclopedia of Judaism, whichstates,"His greatest work, which remains the strongest influence on Orthodox practice today and whose authority is considered final, is Mishnah Berurah (1884-1907), in six volumes].

As Yossi Gurvitz reveals in the precedingvideotapedtestimony, exceptions to these bigoted rabbinic laws are permitted where Judaics are in subjection to thegoyimand where news of Judaism's discrimination toward, and second class status of, thegoyim, would cause an uprising of "potential animosity" (mishum eivah) toward Judaics.

Therefore, to avoid a rebellion by thegoyim, devious exceptions to the rabbinic law are made in public for the sake of pacifying (mipnei darkhei shalom) gulliblegoyim. It is to these cosmetic exceptions, formulated for dissemination to inquisitivegoyimwho inquire about the nature of Judaism, that reference is made when Judaism attempts to defend itself from documented charges by objective scholars, regarding racism and bigotry toward non-Judaics in the religion of Judaisms recondite rabbinic texts.

Michael Hoffman, St. Patricks Day, 2015

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"...there are no Jews to be met with who adhere to the Old Bible without Talmud-Traditions...the word Talmud (which makes so great a Noise in the World) it may suffice to observe, that by a sort of Metonymy, it signifies the Book containing the main Doctrines of the Jews...For it is very observable, that the Talmud is oftener brought in Vindication of their religion, than Moses, the Prophets, and Holy Writings: insomuch that they make it, and not the Old Bible, the touchstone of their doctrine, and that into which they resolve the decision of all their casesthe Talmud of Babylon...this later hath obtaind public honor and belief among them: and at this day is universally received as the authentic body of their Law.

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Truth About the Talmud

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Posted By richards on July 10, 2015

There are changes in the wind. Some people may be happy, some may be unhappy. Let's go directly to the Talmud to see its laws on some social concerns.

Judith Levine, author of Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, is a Jewish "bad guy." Critics attacked Ms. Levine's book, saying it advocated sex between children and adults. Newhouse News quoted Ms. Levine on the Roman Catholic pedophilia scandal: "'Yes, conceivably, absolutely' a boy's sexual experience with a priest could be positive."(19) Ms. Levine later said the reporter had misunderstood her.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger, radio talk show host, is a Jewish "good guy." She is one of the most prominent Orthodox Jews in America, and famous for her denunciation of homosexuality. From her radio show, Dr. Laura attacked a study of pederasty, published in Psychological Bulletin in 1998, claiming it advocated sex between children and adults. The US House of Representatives went on to pass a resolution unanimously rejecting the study. (19)

Dr. Laura with her husband, Dr. Louis Bishop, and her rabbi, Dr. Moshe Bryski at the Chabad of Conejo in Agoura Hills, California. An article in defense of Dr. Laura published in the Jewish Homemaker states: "Her approach has earned her the respect of her largely Christian audience, which sees in her a kindred spirit. 'People have a newfound respect and understanding for Judaism,' she says How does she reconcile Jewish law with her largely non-Jewish audience? 'I always say to callers, according to Jewish law, this is the law; let's see how we can extrapolate to your situation.' Dr. Laura admits that she is a novice when it comes to the Jewish view of things. 'Sometimes during a break I call Rabbi Bryski and say, "I have ten seconds; here's the situation. What's the law?"' She professes astonishment at her lack of support from Orthodox Jewish quarters. 'I have been disappointed at how silent the Orthodox community has been. The people to come to my defense, and in defense of G-d's laws, have been basically Christian Protestant.'" (33) Perhaps the explanation for Dr. Laura's lack of Orthodox support is that Jewish law permits and condones many of the behaviors Dr. Laura and her Christian listeners condemn.

Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin, author of America's Real War and director of Toward Tradition, presents himself as a Jewish "good guy" to conservative Christian audiences. He is a favored speaker with Concerned Women for America (CWA), the Christian Coalition, and similar groups. Those groups condemn homosexuality and child-adult sex. "For over three thousand years Jewish tradition and Jewish law have been unambiguous about homosexuality: it is a sin," (9) states Rabbi Lapin. However, Rabbi Lapin fails to quote the Talmud law, which makes it clear that male homosexuality is not an offense if the adult man uses a boy below the age of nine years and a day. Homosexuality is only a capital offense when committed between consenting adult males. Talmud law also authorizes adult men to have sexual intercourse with girls three years old and younger.

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Sex with Children by Talmud Rules - Come and Hear

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Posted By richards on July 10, 2015

Question: I have recently been assigned to complete a project on Hasidic Judaism. I have several questions on the subject I would like to ask; the main queries being (1) what are the rules of membership, (2) what is the interaction within itself and with the general population including how membership is controlled, (3) the status (religious connection and place in the mainline religions) of the group if applicable or the reason the group was created (can be in history), (4) what is the daily life of the group and what are the gender specific roles in the family, (5) what are the special/unique practices, customs, and/or rituals, (6) how does Hasidism perpetuate?, (7) how does the future of the group look and are there any special political issues?, (8) do the Hasidic Jews differ greatly from the surrounding community?, (9) how are the leadership positions filled and how do they govern? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Answer: Thank you for writing to us. (the system you wrote to likes to match up questions to particular answerers so, you might be interested to know, that I am a Hasidic Jew).

Before I answer the question, it has to be noted that Hasidic Judaism (and Orthodox/Torah Judaism in general, which Hasidic Judaism is a subset of) is not a single organization (like, for example, the Catholic Church), but rather a category of several organizations, (comparable to Protestantism which is many different organizations, some aligned, some not, sharing some basic values, but not necessarily associated one with another, however historically based from one individual. However, you can see a great deal of difference between Lutherans and Pentecostals, yet both would be considered Protestant, because of the basic values that they share, as well as basic values that all Christians share, whether Catholic or Protestant. Similarly, you will see many different Hasidic organizations with different practices, and different values, however there are some basic values that they all share, and, that all types of Orthodox Judaism share.)

(1) what are the rules of membership,

A. First of all, to be a Hasidic Jew, one has to be Jewish. There are two ways one can become Jewish. a. being born Jewish this is by virtue of ones mother being Jewish. b. converting to Judaism this must be done according to Orthodox standards.

Next, one must believe in the basic beliefs of Torah Judaism, which were outlined by Rabbi Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), as the 13 dogmas, or principles of faith, of Judaism. These principles are shared by all Orthodox Jews. As an expression of this faith, we Orthodox Jews try our best to keep the laws of the Torah, which are written in the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the Old Testament), explained and discussed in the Talmud, and codified in the Shulchan Aruch (the Code of Jewish Law). A Hasidic Jew is required to believe that the Torah (including the explanations) is literally the word of God, and is expected to keep the laws therein, like all Orthodox Jews. Each Hasidic organization might have their own rules or customs in addition to this, varying from sect to sect. Examples of additional rules might be mode of dress, not owning a television, stricter kosher rules, etc.

(2) what is the interaction within itself and with the general population including how membership is controlled,

They are strong, tight knit communities. Usually social pressure and the honor system is enough to keep people attached to any special regulations. The only power that leaders have to control the community is deciding that someones children cannot attend the particular groups school system. However, there are many choices of schools, and not everyone who identifies with a particular group sends their children to that groups schools. Some Hasidic Jews do not live in any Hasidic community, so are less bound by the pressure to follow the rules, and only do so by their own free will, as many choose to do.

(3) the status (religious connection and place in the mainline religions) of the group if applicable or the reason the group was created (can be in history),

Hasidic Judaism is a form of Torah Judaism, often referred to today as Orthodox Judaism. Today it is recognized as a Kosher form of Orthodox Judaism, however when it began there was some controversy.

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