Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

This has been a summer involving several transitions at Congregation Bet Haverim (which means House of Friends), located at 1715 Anderson Road in Davis.

* At the end of June, Rabbi Greg Wolfe, who has been with Congregation Bet Haverim since 1995, transitioned into a new role as rabbi emeritus.

* In July, Rabbi Bess Wohlner and Rabbi Jeremy Simons (who are married, and coming to Davis as a team) started at Congregation Bet Haverim. They came to Davis from Tennessee, where they served on the staff of Temple Israel in Memphis. Temple Israel is generally regarded as the largest synagogue in the South, serving some 1,500 families.

Wohlner is a native of Kansas City and attended the University of Missouri in that city. Simons was born in Providence, R.I., but his family moved to Nashville when Simons was a fifth-grader, and then to Columbus, Ohio, when he was an eighth-grader. He went on to attend Ohio State University. Wohlner and Simons both also studied at Hebrew Union College.

* In recognition of Wolfes nearly three decades of service at Congregation Bet Haverim, a new set of stained glass windows has been commissioned and installed, and will be dedicated on Sunday, September 18. (Details can be foun Bd on the Congregation Bet Haverim website and Facebook page.)

Wolfe reflected on his many years with Congregation Bet Haverim during a mid-summer interview with The Enterprise. When I came to Davis in July 1995, I was 34-years-old, he said. He had attended Hebrew Union College, and then lived in Jerusalem, Los Angeles and New York. He then served for three years as an assistant rabbi with a congregation in Milwaukee, which is where he met his wife Julie.

Two babies (daughter Julie and son Noah) entered the family equation, and when Wolfe was picked to serve at Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis, it was a match made in heaven, he recalled. Julie and I have been here for 27 years. Our children grew up here. Julie also became a prominent cello teacher (several of her Davis students have advanced into professional musical careers, including cellist Eunghee Cho, who organizes the annual Mellon Music Festival in Davis, and as on the faculty at the University of Houston in Texas).

Having grown up in San Francisco, Wolfe was aware when he moved to Yolo County that Davis was a university town with a large (and growing) UC campus, and hed visited Davis occasionally while he was based in the Bay Area.

Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis had formed in 1961, and by 1995 was operating out of an attractive but smallish building on the corner of Oak Avenue and Covell Boulevard, and served about 100 families.

Flash-foward to the present. Congregation Bet Haverim operates out of a much more spacious set of buildings on Anderson Road, serves about 275 families, and hosts a much more diverse set of activities and community programs. We have a larger staff now, including a youth advisor, Wolfe said.

Wolfe was one of the local religious leaders who helped organize this communitys annual Celebration of Abraham multifaith religious service, which brings together Christians, Jews and Muslims (all three of those faith traditions venerate Abraham as a patriarchal figure, which is why they are sometimes referred to as Abrahamic traditions.) Wolfe noted that We developed relations with the Muslim community and the Christian community in Davis during the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York. It was an amazing experience.

He also recalls how members of Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis helped organize rallies and raise money for repair and restoration of three Sacramento synagogues that were firebombed by white supremacists in 1999. It was a very powerful moment, and it opened up more lines of communication between religious leaders, Wolfe said. Sometimes a traumatic experience can lead into something positive afterwards.

He also helped lead Congregation Bet Haverim through the recent pandemic, which has transformed life in so many ways, including the way houses of worship operate. We had to pivot and become media producers, use video cameras and an online platform like Zoom. The pandemic has been hard in many ways, but I think weve pivoted pretty well and helped people stay connected.

All in all, I feel like Im leaving the congregation in good shape. There is still a lot of work to do, of course, and plenty of challenges. But there are no major crises at the present time.

And what will he do in retirement? I dont have a lot of definite plans But I want to explore my artistic side painting, woodwork and photography. And I want to do some writing. I have a big stack of books that Id like to read. A grandchild (the first for Wolfe and his wife Julie) is due in December.

You know, theres a story about a young man who spots an elderly gentleman planting a young carob tree, Wolfe recalled. A carob tree takes around 70 years to mature. So the young man asked the elderly gentleman why hes planting the carob tree. And the elderly gentleman replies I came into the world that my parents and grandparents had planted for me, and now Im planting for the people who come after me.

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Rabbi reflects on nearly three decades with Bet Haverim - Davis Enterprise

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

Two Maple Heights men have been indicted on 10 federal counts by a grand jury in connection with three carjackings in Solon, Cuyahoga Falls and Streetsboro Aug. 9, according to a Sept. 16 news release. The victim in the Solon carjacking was a 62-year-old rabbi from Beachwood.

Donteze Congress, 18, and Thomas J.D. Williams,18, both of Maple Heights, are accused of using a firearm to steal vehicles during the incidents.

They are both charged with carjacking, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and aiding and abetting possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Williams is also charged with attempted carjacking and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.

Both were previously arrested and charged in the incidents. Congress was arrested at his home in Maple Heights and charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, Solon Police Lt. Bill Vajdich said in an Aug. 22 news release.

Williams was arrested and charged shortly after the carjacking took place. He was initially charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; receiving stolen property, a fifth-degree felony; and having a weapon under disability, a third-degree felony, Vajdich had said.

The rabbi was driving a black S90 Volvo sedan south on Glenallen Avenue in Solon when his vehicle was bumped from behind by a gray Kia SUV, according to police. When the rabbi stopped and got out of the car to investigate the crash, he was approached by two young-looking males who were armed with handguns, police had said. One of the suspects demanded his personal belongings and the victim complied, then both suspects left the scene in the stolen Volvo. The Volvo was followed by the Kia, which was driven by another young male suspect. All of the described suspects wore medical face masks, police had said.

Solon police followed the Volvo using the tracking system in the car. Garfield Heights police found the Volvo backing into a parking spot behind a building in its city. The gray Kia SUV was not recovered. The driver ran as officers attempted to stop him, but was caught a short time later, police said.

According to court documents, it is alleged that on three separate occasions on Aug. 9, police officers in Solon, Cuyahoga Falls and Streetsboro were called to respond to an armed carjacking incident. In both Cuyahoga Falls and Streetsboro, the suspects were alleged to have struck the victims vehicle from the rear, brandished firearms and confronted the victims after the victims exited the vehicle to assess the damage, police had said.

In the Streetsboro incident, it is alleged that the suspects approached the victim as the victim exited their vehicle, brandished a firearm and demanded the vehicle keys. However, court documents state that the suspects were unable to get away with the vehicle.

Congress and Williams were later identified and arrested following an investigation into those carjacking incidents.

The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Cleveland FBI, Solon Police Department, Cuyahoga Falls Police Department, Streetsboro Police Department and Garfield Heights Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter E. Daly and Christopher J. Joyce.

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Two men indicted on 10 federal counts in carjacking of rabbi, others - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

(September 18, 2022 / Jewish Journal) Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the foremost American Jewish leader of the 1930s and 1940s, is widely remembered as a staunch supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But on Rosh Hashanah in 1935, Rabbi Wise delivered a stinging public critique of FDR.

What could move Roosevelts most devoted Jewish supporter to boldly challenge the president whom he so deeply revered?

This remarkable episode began on July 26, 1935, when a German ocean liner, the S.S. Bremen, sailed into New Yorks harbor, proudly flying the flag of its countrythe swastika flag, the notorious symbol of Adolf Hitlers Nazi regime. That evening, as the crew and passengers enjoyed an onboard party, several thousand anti-Nazi protesters gathered on the dock.

Trouble was brewing. The New York City Police Department alerted the Bremens security officer that some of the demonstrators had snuck aboard accompanied by well-dressed women, Peter Duffy writes in his book The Agitator. One of the protesters, William Bailey, climbed up the mast pole, tore off the swastika flag and hurled it into the water below. Bailey and five others were arrested.

The six defendants appeared before New York City Magistrate Louis Brodsky on Sept. 6. Since Bailey and company had been caught red-handed, there was every reason to expect they would be convicted. Yet Judge Brodsky dismissed the charges on the grounds that tearing down the Nazi flag was justified.

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It was the S.S. Bremen that was guilty, the judge declared. The ship had engaged in gratuitously brazen flaunting of an emblem which symbolizes all that is antithetical to American ideals. Hitlers ship was the equivalent of a pirate ship with the black flag of piracy proudly flying aloft, ruled Brodsky.

The German government-controlled press was furious. Der Angriff, the newspaper founded by Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels, called Judge Brodsky an Eastern Jew who promoted Jewish-communistic agitation. The Berlin newspaper Boersen Zeitung accused Brodsky of incomparable impudence and brazen-faced provocation of the honor of the German people. The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung blasted Brodskys ruling as an unheard-of insult to Germany.

Hitlers ambassador in Washington, Hans Luther, demanded an official U.S. government apology. And he got one. Secretary of State Cordell Hull sent the Hitler regime a note expressing regret at Judge Brodskys ruling.

Many American Jews, including Rabbi Wise, were shocked and dismayed by the Roosevelt administrations action. When Rosh Hashana arrived later that month, Wise rose to address his congregants at Manhattans Free Synagogue, and for the firstand lasttime, publicly challenged FDRs policy concerning the Nazis.

Wise told his congregation that the horror of the Nazis recent adoption of anti-Jewish laws was made more full of horror by the act of our own government in apologizing with exaggerated profuseness and abjectness to the Nazi regime for a word of disrespect and contempt for that regime, uttered in the course of a judicial decision from the bench of the lower criminal court of our city.

Such apology would have come more fitly, Wise continued, if our government had ever uttered one brave word in condemnation of the program and the practices of the Nazi regime.

Wise was referring to the fact that President Roosevelt had not uttered even one brave word against the Nazis persecution of the Jews since Hitlers rise to power two years earlier. And that silence would continue. During the entire period from 1933 until after the Kristallnacht pogrom in late 1938, FDR never publicly criticized Hitlers anti-Jewish policies.

The reason for President Roosevelts silence was that he was keenly interested in maintaining friendly diplomatic and economic relations with Nazi Germany. That was a higher priority for the Roosevelt administration than Hitlers persecution of the Jews or the Nazis aggressive actions against Germanys neighbors.

Thats why Hull apologized to the Nazis again in 1937 when New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia called Hitler a fanatic who is threatening the peace of the world. Thats also why Roosevelt compelled Interior Secretary Harold Ickes to remove critical references to Hitler and Nazism from several of Ickess speeches in the 1930s. Political expediency trumped all other considerations.

The question is: Why was Rabbi Wise willing, in 1935, to challenge Roosevelts policy, something Wise had never done previously?

Mostly it was a matter of timing. In the autumn of 1935, Wise had not yet developed the relationship with the president for which he would later become known. The doors of the White House were opened to Wise only in 1936, following the death of FDRs senior adviser Louis Howe, who disliked Wise.

Rabbi Wises personal meetings with the president in 1936 and later changed everything. Wise was charmed by FDR, historian Richard Breitman has noted. Known for his monumental ego, Rabbi Wise loved being considered a Washington insider and enjoyed the flattering level of familiarity Roosevelt permitted him to enjoy. Any further criticism of the president would have jeopardized that relationship.

But on that particular Rosh Hashana, the charm and flattery were still months away. So on Judaisms solemn Day of Judgment, Rabbi Wise rendered his blunt judgment on the presidents inexcusable policy toward Nazi Germany. It was a brief expression of boldness that Wise would never repeat.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about the Holocaust and Jewish history. This essay is based in part on the research for his most recent book The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and the Holocaust.

This article first appeared in the Jewish Journal.

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

We live during an amazing season of prophetic fulfillment. Just think about all of the things that have come to pass just in the past 75 years.

It seems things that the prophets foretold are coming to pass one right after another, right in front of our eyes, and at an increasing speed. This is why there has been such excitement about the five red heifers being flown to Israel recently, in hopes that one of the five would qualify as the flawless red heifer required for the temple purification rituals.

Just think about it: what if one of these heifers is the one? The identification and acceptance of one of these cows as qualified for this sacrifice would set into motion a whirlwind of activities, events which we read throughout the prophetic books of the Bible both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. These events are the precursors for the return of Yeshua to set up His kingdom on the Earth, what some call the Millennial Kingdom.

As I read with great interest, along with many believers, articles concerning these heifers, a Scripture came to my mind found in the book of 1 Corinthians 13:9-10:

For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is partial will pass away.

With all of the discussion about these heifers, the words when that which is perfect has come seemed highlighted on the page of my Bible. The word translated perfect in this text is teleios and is defined as perfect, (a) complete in all its parts, (b) full grown, of full age.

Look at the text from the Torah describing the Red Heifer in Numbers 19:2: This is the statute of the Torah which Adonai commanded saying: Speak to Bnei-Yisrael that they bring to you a flawless red heifer on which there is no blemish and on which has never been a yoke.

We see the Hebrew word which is translated flawless is tamim, which can also be translated as perfect or complete.

What if these two verses are connected to one another? What if the perfect thing that was to come was the perfect Red Heifer? An animal which would be offered as a sacrifice, so that its ashes could be used to purify the temple and the priesthood, and used in the return of Yeshua to Jerusalem, so He could rule and reign as the prophets foretold. Just think about it: if we are in the end of days and prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes, what if one of these heifers is the perfect thing that needs to come?

These are exciting days to live in, and thinking about the fulfillment of Bible prophecies is and should be intriguing to all believers in Yeshua. When we see things come to pass, such as the rebirth of Israel and the reunification of Jerusalem, our hearts should leap within our chests. Because the truth is that as each prophetic event takes place, we draw one day closer to the return of Yeshua. How exciting is that?!

However, although the language used in both verses above allow for the possibility that the Red Heifer could be the that which is perfect and will come, it is more likely that when Paul was writing those words in 1 Corinthians, he was thinking about the words Yeshua spoke in Matthew 5:17-18:

Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass.

Just take a moment to think about the connective context between what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 and what Yeshua said in Matthew 5. Is it possible that that which is perfect is the fulfillment of the Word of G-D that will come to pass, and once it does, that which is partial will pass away? What if the that which is partial is our limited understanding of biblical prophecy?

And is it also possible that when Paul said the words we read in 1 Corinthians 13:9,12, For we know in part and we prophesy in part and For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known, he was talking about our discussions and excitement about things like these red heifers?

Eric Tokajeris the author ofOvercoming Fearlessness, What If Everything You Were Taught About the Ten Commandments Was Wrong?,With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer, Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to ItaliansandGalatians in Context.

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Messianic Rabbi: The Increasing Excitement of the Red Heifers in Israel - Charisma Magazine

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

While studying to become a rabbi at yeshiva, Rabbi Shlomie Deren probably wasnt aware that a set of strong lungs would be required.

The Pittsburgh native, who recently returned to his hometown, will test those lungs this High Holiday season as he walks a Rosh Hashanah route that includes UPMC Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, UPMC Presbyterian/ Montefiore Hospital and UPMC Shadyside Hospital.

If the travel by foot isnt enough for the rabbi, who served as the spiritual leader of Ezrath Israel Chabad in Ellenville, New York, before moving back to Pittsburgh, he also will blow the shofar during each of his visits as well as conduct brief services.

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Deren is the director of Chabad of the Hospitals, a new organization under the auspices of Chabad of Western Pennsylvania. Led by Deren and his wife, Mushky Deren, Chabad of the Hospitals is new to Pittsburgh but not unique, according to the rabbi, who said it exists in other cities, sometimes under names like Chabad on Call.

Part of his plan includes getting board certified as a hospital chaplain, a process, Deren said, that includes a year of education, as well as a certain number of volunteer hours spent with patients.

When a Jewish person is in the hospital, primarily patients but also staff, were going to be available to help them with their spiritual, religious and emotional needs, he said.

The idea, he said, came about during a conversation with Rev. Gaea Thompson, the manager of pastoral care at Presbyterian/Montefiore Hospital.

When I mentioned I wanted to offer a Rosh Hashanah service, she jumped on the idea, he said. Not only that, but she emailed chaplains from the other UPMC hospitals to let them know about the idea. That got the ball rolling.

Patients unable to attend the service can contact the chaplain on duty and request that the rabbi visit them in their room.

The Rosh Hashanah hospital visits are the start of outreach for the rabbi who plans on growing the organization, both organically and through the help of other Jewish organizations, like Bikur Cholim of Pittsburgh and its director, Nina Butler.

Ive been working with her, sending people to her; shes been sending people to me, he said. Were working together to let people that are coming from out of town know whats available. If youre in the hospital and you need help, well do whatever we can to meet your needs.

Butler, Deren said, has helped him spread the word beyond the UPMC hospitals.

She mentioned that she knew the names of some Jewish patients at West Penn, so I contacted them and added them to the list, he said.

Growing up, I always was inspired by the spirit of chesed (kindness) and caring I saw in the Pittsburgh Jewish community, Deren said. I find a lot of meaning and support and comfort in the teachings of Judaism. When people are in the hospital, thats the time they need that support. Im excited to share what Judaism has to offer in a way Im sure will be appreciated by people.

He plans on continuing his chaplain training after the High Holidays and expanding the reach of Chabad of the Hospitals.

If Derens lungs and feet hold out, he plans to visit Magee Womens Hospital at 11:30 a.m.; Presbyterian/Montefiore Hospital at 12:45 p.m.; Childrens Hospital at 2:45 p.m.; and Shadyside Hospital at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 26 and Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Those interested in scheduling an in-person visit with Deren can do so by emailing him at rabbi@chabadofthehospitals.com. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

Rabbis across Greater Phoenix, like rabbis the world over, are sitting down right about now to put their thoughts to paper as they prepare to address their congregants for High Holidays.

More than at any other time of the Jewish year, these sermons represent the best of long-form writing and deep thinking. While some rabbis are just putting the finishing touches on their sermons, some procrastinators might be starting to sweat a little. For example, Scottsdales Congregation Or Tzions Rabbi Andy Green puts himself in the latter camp.

Im a notorious procrastinator, he told Jewish News. What I have to say and how I end up saying it wont be finalized until closer to the big day, but it will be ready the morning I deliver it.

He already knows some of the things he will be talking about: how the Jewish community has responded to the challenges of COVID-19 and how social division has fragmented our communities in a way that didnt exist before.

In Paradise Valley, Temple Solel Associate Rabbi Debbie Stiel also plans to discuss toxic polarization. Though its a very tough issue, she said, it is an important topic to face so that we keep connections with others, even if we disagree with them. We need to continue to see the holy in others despite our differences.

Green, Stiel and other local rabbis intend to use the time and space theyre given each year during this period to provide thoughtful analysis of many complex ideas. They want their congregants to take this time to listen and reflect on their messages. While so much of everyday life seems to consist of simple and short bursts of ideas and thoughts, many programmed by social media algorithms, rabbis use these sermons to slow things down, think about timely topics and encourage others to do the same.

For example, after two years of mostly online High Holiday services, many of Greater Phoenixs rabbis will be emphasizing the importance of community to their large and primarily in-person congregations.

Chabad Jewish Center of Mesa Rabbi Laibel Blotner said this is the perfect year to talk about community. He pointed out it is the hakhel year, a time when Jews have historically gathered following the shmita, or sabbatical year. He sees the timing as opportune.

The fact that the first year in three years that Jewish people have an opportunity, uninhibited for the most part, to come together and be in our synagogues is also a year associated with gathering, is divine providence, he said.

God has given us this year that we can come to the synagogues and feel, for the most part, safe, and we should try to make sure that this is the largest Rosh Hashanah and the largest Yom Kippur.

Temple Chai Associate Rabbi Bonnie Koppell in Phoenix will also be emphasizing the importance of community, especially the synagogue. She plans to talk about the present by invoking the past, that of her childhood Jewish community in Brooklyn.

As we walked to one of the two local shuls on the High Holidays, it was a joy to see the streets fill with more and more people and to sense the deep connection that we all felt to each other, she described in one sermon.

With so many members coming to Temple Chai in person after two years of live streaming, Koppell will tell her congregants: We, all of us here together, are the creators and sustainers of this fragile and precious community.

Rabbi Alicia Magal, spiritual leader of the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, is developing her sermon with the idea of waking up. She, too, will talk about new ways of creating community in, what hopefully, will soon be a post-COVID world.

Weve been in a kind of sleep over the past two years and are just now slowly awakening, she plans to tell her congregation. While we arent out of the woods yet, she will encourage people not to remain spiritually asleep to new possibilities.

It is time to wake up to new ways of interacting and showing up in our family, our community and the wider world, which includes our responsibilities as citizens of a world that is imperiled on many levels, with the poor, refugees, the war-wounded, the choking environment and the melting icebergs.

Cave Creeks Congregation Kehillah Rabbi Bonnie Sharfman will talk about how all of these same problems and responsibilities can leave many of us feeling overwhelmed, which sometimes leads to paralysis.

There is so much for us to do to heal the injustice and pain in the world and also to heal the earth. Small things, in the communal aggregate, do move us forward. Kindness, compassion, commitment, teshuvah, as always, are sorely needed.

Temple Solel Rabbi John Linder said, At a time of great despair, Jews must do what weve always done lean into hope, The hope that he will speak about will be focused on our temples youth and families, our countrys democracy and our obligation to be agents of change.

Temple Kol Ami Rabbi Jeremy Schneider in Scottsdale will be discussing mental health and the toll two-and-a-half years of a pandemic and its pursuant isolation have taken on his congregation. While we did a pretty good job of checking in on others, have we checked in with ourselves? What steps are we taking to address anxiety and depression?

He will tell his audience how important it is that in our annual gathering to make atonement, we also make sure we are at-one-ment with our mental health and ourselves.

Chabad of the East Valley Rabbi Mendy Deitsch plans to address the multi-dimensional human being and its inner strength to deal with todays world issues.

Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan will talk about spiritual renewal and how to achieve it through prayer and positive psychology, which studies the traits that help people thrive. It is based on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work and play, he explained.

Temple Brith Shalom Rabbi Susan Schanerman in Prescott will be celebrating her first High Holidays with her new congregation. She looks forward to meeting the entire congregation and plans to focus on personal themes of self-forgiveness, crafting the self and coming home to Judaism.

In Chandler, NefeshSoul Congregation Cantor Roger Eisenberg, who will be writing and delivering his first ever High Holiday sermon, will focus on the concept of gratitude.

Even in times of grief, we can be grateful for the compassion of those who comfort us. Even in times of fear, pachad, we can find hope in yirah, in the humility of awe, he will tell his congregants.

Rabbi Stephen Einstein, who will be leading services for Congregation Beth HaMidbar in Yuma for his eighth year, will talk about change and remembrance.

The above is only a small sampling of what will be discussed in synagogues across the city. Much of it is serious fare, but on the lighter side, Einstein also will talk about Yom Kippurs 100-plus rules for practicing business. JN

There are many rabbis and temples in Greater Phoenix, more than we had room to include. Please visit our digital Community Directory 2022for a comprehensive guide to all of our local spiritual resources.

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Community, mental health and gratitude all have a place in this year's High Holiday sermons - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

NTheres a Jewish day school near Sacramento that, unlike some others in Northern California, is having a growth spurt. Thats because it serves a specific population in the area that is also growing: the sons and daughters of Chabad emissaries.

The student body also includes children of baalei teshuvah, or newly observant Jews, and of families growing stronger in their Judaism, said Rabbi Yossi Korik of Chabad of Placer County. But the needs of Chabad families have been the driving force in the schools population, reflecting the expansion of Chabad in the region.

Started as a homeschool nine years ago, the Sacramento Jewish Academy now enrolls nearly 100 children, pre-K through eighth grade.

Rabbi Mendy Cohen, the schools dean who has directed Chabad of Sacramento since 1994, said a full curriculum of Jewish texts is complemented by secular learning, including a STEM program.

There is a strong emphasis on that, he says, noting a recent New York Times story that criticized Hasidic schools in Brooklyn for neglecting such studies. Thats how you get kids who will change the world.

Just last month, the school closed on a $2.5 million, 9,000-square-foot former church compound in Granite Bay, about a half-hour from Sacramento, for its newly expanded facility.

It wasnt the first place they selected. But, says Korik, who is also the schools director, hes glad it worked out this way.

We began to notice the [student population] growth and that wed have to grow, and the local Chabad house property, on 1.3 acres, was going to be where we were going to build, said Korik. A beautiful plan was developed and was all approved and ready to go, but then Covid happened and everything was delayed.

Also, the goalposts kept moving as building material prices continued to rise, he said.

Then in late April, we came across this property, and it was really a miracle, Korik said. It was a former church, which had folded during Covid. They were having problems finding the perfect buyer/user, and we went to look at it, and it really was the building we had designed. Its literally move-in ready.

We closed Aug. 17 and started classes Aug. 29, he said. It was crazy. Its tremendous; miraculous.

The academy draws students from as far away as Vacaville, South Lake Tahoe, Stockton and Folsom. There are 13 staff members, and state accreditation is in the works, Korik said.

Cohen says the school fills a need in Jewish education that did not exist previously for these Hasidic children, who would leave home at an early age to attend Chabad schools in far-away cities with larger Lubavitch populations.

For Rabbi Cohens wife, Dinie, the school has been a blessing. Before the small home operation began in their Chabad house, her two older boys attended a Chabad school in Los Angeles. It wasnt easy to let them leave, certainly not at first.

Ill never forget, when it came time to send away our older sons, there was my child on this airplane, and it just became this speck, this dot, she says in the promotional video at sjacheder.org. Now we dont have to do that anymore.

A school to serve their children anchors the community, said Korik.

Everything else is built on the foundation of Jewish education, he said. This is laying the cornerstone for the expansion of Jewish life in this region, where there are 14 Chabad centers in the Sacramento region alone.

Chabad of Solano County Rabbi Chaim Zaklos, whose eight children make the hourlong trip every day to attend the school, agreed.

Statistically, he said, its been proven that Jews who had Jewish education as children are more likely to hang on to their Jewishness into the next generation.

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

It should not be a matter of surprise that so much of the playbook and fault lines of Indian politics are being reproduced among the Indian diaspora. Perhaps what people are surprised by is the fact that these fault lines are no longer at the level of just the coarsening of discourse or cultural fissures, but are taking overtly confrontational forms. In some ways, this is not surprising. Long-distance diasporic nationalisms have always been a feature of global politics. Culturally, these have often been more intractable than the politics in home countries for a variety of reasons. Diasporic nationalisms and identities are often more abstract, eschewing all complexity, and able to indulge in those abstractions because there is no skin in the game. They often do not have to face the consequences of the violence and dislocations of that identity-mongering. But in some ways, we may be entering a new phase of the ways in which these nationalisms play out. The recent clashes in Leicester in the United Kingdom, and the building polarisation in New Jersey are two recent instances of how diasporic politics, especially on the Hindu-Muslim axis, is taking a new and deeper turn.

That the cultural tensions of South Asia spill over or are even magnified abroad is not news. The proximate cause of the Leicester clashes was ostensibly tensions after an India-Pakistan match. This is ironic. I remember older veterans of what used to be called race relations in Britain telling us when we were students in the Eighties that there apparently used to be separate collection drives and mobilisation during the India-Pakistan wars but it never spilt over into conflict between the two communities. In the late Eighties, there was a lot of British Sikh anger against the Indian state, but it was seldom publicly, as far as anyone can remember, directed against other non-Sikhs. If anything, intra-Sikh jostling was far more pronounced over matters of doctrine and institutional control.

The decisive change came in the wake of two developments. The first was the violence in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babari Masjid in India. That moment in Indian politics saw widespread violence in Britain especially in Bradford, Sheffield, Leeds, with temples attacked and a petrol bomb thrown at a Mosque. Many of the current Hindu leaders of the diaspora came out of that moment. The second was the increasing focus on Islamic fundamentalism. The idea of using Britain as a launch pad for jihadi ideology was present in some groups. That in turn licensed full-blown Islamophobia amongst many non-Muslim communities. In this context, the Hindu-Muslim fault line became far more visible, and began to define the contours of diaspora politics more visibly. The clashes in Leicester are not unprecedented.

But there are three things that make this moment in diaspora fractures more distinctive both in the US and the UK. In the Eighties, after clashes broke out, there will still an attempt across communities to see their respective states, or mainstream politicians in those countries, as a relatively neutral arbiter; in fact, the whole point was not to draw politicians in the UK or US in accusations of partisanship in Indias communal conflicts. We are still awaiting a full, authoritative account of the events at Leicester. But in the discourse, at least, one is struck by the fact that the narrative of Hindu victimhood is even pointing fingers at the local state, as if it was somehow partisan in failing to protect Hindus.

In the US, Hindu-Muslim politics is spilling into the inner core of the Democratic party. The Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee may be a small entity. But it has called for investigation of domestic branches of foreign hate groups, especially those aligned with Hindu Nationalism. Hindu nationalists now openly loathe the so-called Left Wing of the Democratic Party. Some of these narratives may be self-serving. But increasingly, you will find diaspora politics accusing the politicians of their adopted country of communal bias, in a conflict that has little to do with them. Imagine the situation of New Jersey or Leicester politician who now has to be judged on whether they are, in an Indian context pro-Hindu or pro-Muslim, whether they take Hindu phobia or Islamaphobia more seriously. This is unchartered territory in many ways.

The second big change is the explicit involvement of the Indian state. The Indian states statement condemned the violence perpetrated against the Indian community in Leicester and the vandalisation of premises and symbols of Hindu religion. Notice no appeal to Hindus not to take out intimidating marches, or the acknowledgement that marches chanting Jai Shri Ram might be adding to the tension. While the statement begins with violence perpetrated against the Indian community (not clear who the non-Indians are who perpetrated it), the purpose of the statement was to subtly signal out the Indian state as a protector of Hindus. In short, the Indian state itself is now going to intervene in a partisan manner in these conflicts. It will not be a party of peace but of more polarisation. After all, a Vishwaguru wearing a robe of Hindutva cannot but export all the divisions that come with it.

We need to await verified and authoritative accounts of what happened in Leicester, and which groups were involved; there may also be Islamic organisations fishing in troubled waters created by Hindutva. The playbook seems familiar to anyone who knows Indian riots: The use of rumours, groups from outside the local community, and marches to create polarisation in otherwise peaceful communities.

The locals may have an investment in peace. But the third big change is that their global ideological patrons of conflict will have an investment in politically milking these incidents, in a context where all inhibitions on ethnic nationalism are gone. Now, we are not in the realm of long-distance nationalism, but in a global political market that is looking to construct narratives of victimhood that can be used in any global context. The surveys by Milan Vaishnav, Devesh Kapur and Sumitra Badrinathan, of Indian diasporas in the Anglophone world, paint a complex picture. But there is no doubt that cultural polarisation is growing. There is also no doubt that Hindutva is not about the defence of Hinduism or Hindu interests, but a global ideology of hate and asserting cultural dominance. It is bizarre to think you can have this much dissemination of hate without it having violent political consequences. Now that inhibitions have been broken, brace for more conflict.

The writer is contributing editor, The Indian Express

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Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: From Leicester to New Jersey, the diaspora is reflecting the divisions of Indian politics - The Indian Express

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

By Omaris Z. Zamora

As a second-generation Black Dominican born and raised in Chicagos Puerto Rican Humboldt Park neighborhood, I understand that there are contexts in which my dominicanidad is invisible or misread at best.

My experience as a Black Dominican woman in a Puerto Rican neighborhood has meant that my accent in Spanish at times was more Puerto Rican than Dominican. However, it also meant that because I was read as being too Black to be Puerto Rican or even Mexican, racism within the Latino community haunted me at every corner.

My experience is not unique. The importance of an Afro-Latinx identity in the diaspora is often at the crossroads of invisibility and misrecognition rooted in anti-Blackness and white supremacy.

Moreover, Afro-Latinx womanhood is hyper-visible, yet in the same ways invisible and unrecognizable in spaces where Latinidad or Blackness must meet certain standards or check off certain requirements.

When we dismiss or make invisible the experiences of Afro-Latinx women, we render them into the realm of social and physical death meaning they do not exist; hence the gendered and anti-Black violence they have experienced never happened.

To push this thought further, we can ask: How can we count demographic statistics in public policy, health, education, economics, gendered violence, and anti-Blackness if we do not know how to account for Afro-Latinx women?

Often, we gather data about Black American women or Latinas. Still, Afro-Latinx women are erased from the data, from the census, and ultimately from transnational narratives around gender, migration, and anti-black dialogues.

My scholarship is dedicated to recovering and re-integrating the importance of Afro Latinx narratives into an interdisciplinary field of study that challenges notions of Blackness, Latinidad, gender, sexuality and transnational migration.

As Afro Latinidad becomes a concept that the broader public engages with, I urge us not to lose sight of the political and socio-economic realities that Black Latinx move, live and breathe within.

Afro Latinx studies are not just about the definition but situated knowledge; not just about history, but about world-making; not just about Black Latinx experiences, but the possibilities and portals that the contributions of Afro Latinx open and make possible. Doing and supporting Afro-Latinx Studies and Afro-Latinx scholars and communities is a political commitment, and we should never forget that.

Omaris Z. Zamora is an assistant professor of Afro Latinx studies with the Departments of Latino and Caribbean Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

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Hispanic Heritage Month: The importance of Afro-Latinx identity in the diaspora. | Opinion - NJ.com

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Posted By admin on September 21, 2022

Language rights, an expression of national and ethnic identity, have long been a focus for Tibetan human rights advocates. That focus has sharpened in recent years as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ratcheted up its efforts in restricting Tibetans under its control from exercising their language rights. This language restriction is part of a longer trend of ethnic cleansing and minority suppressionseeking to strike at Tibetans ability to access their heritage and identity through their language.

In 2018, a Chinese court sentenced a Tibetan man, Tashi Wangchuk, to five years of prison because he advocated for Tibetans right to their own language, a right by Chinese law. In 2019, another Tibetan man, Tsering Dorje, was detained for a month in a so-called reeducation facility for discussing the importance of the Tibetan language with his brother over the phonethe Chinese authorities framed this as a political crime.

The spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lamahimself living in exilehas emphasized the issue. He has implored Tibetans to study their own language, despite conceding it was not a hugely useful one professionally. While there are many learned non-Tibetan scholars studying the language, the Dalai Lama stated, Since Tibetan is our mother tongue, we are the ones who should preserve it.

Language rights, an expression of national and ethnic identity, have long been a focus for Tibetan human rights advocates. That focus has sharpened in recent years as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ratcheted up its efforts in restricting Tibetans under its control from exercising their language rights. This language restriction is part of a longer trend of ethnic cleansing and minority suppressionseeking to strike at Tibetans ability to access their heritage and identity through their language.

In 2018, a Chinese court sentenced a Tibetan man, Tashi Wangchuk, to five years of prison because he advocated for Tibetans right to their own language, a right by Chinese law. In 2019, another Tibetan man, Tsering Dorje, was detained for a month in a so-called reeducation facility for discussing the importance of the Tibetan language with his brother over the phonethe Chinese authorities framed this as a political crime.

The spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lamahimself living in exilehas emphasized the issue. He has implored Tibetans to study their own language, despite conceding it was not a hugely useful one professionally. While there are many learned non-Tibetan scholars studying the language, the Dalai Lama stated, Since Tibetan is our mother tongue, we are the ones who should preserve it.

Today in Lhasa, Tibetan teachers are almost wholly prevented from teaching in Tibetan to students; Tibetan students are taught almost all of their subjects (except for their Tibetan language courses) in Chinese. The CCPs ideology is also forced into curriculums. Instead of education that appreciates and preserves their heritage, Tibetans face psychic attacks against their very existence in an educational curriculum that is imposed upon them.

The diaspora has thus been charged with carrying the flame of the languagebut the pressures on minority communities can be intense. The literacy rate of Tibetan refugees is higher than of Tibetans residing in occupied Tibet, and Tibetan schools in India educate thousands of Tibetan youths every year. With the highest population of Tibetan refugees residing in India at approximately 100,000, Tibetan children there have access to Tibetan education that far surpasses the education available to them in other diaspora communities.

Tibetan associations provide a home away from home. Some Tibetan associations boast robust community centers that serve as a nexus for community engagement. In North America, over 30 Tibetan associations exist, and about 24 of them dually function as Tibetan weekend schools. These associations also serve as a common venue for birthday parties, graduations, and charity concerts. Through weekend schools, volunteer educators teach Tibetan youths the Tibetan language, culture, and performing arts. Much of the curriculum taught at language schools is formulated by the Central Tibetan Administrations Department of Education, and the Central Tibetan Administrations holds several annual events to try to enhance Tibetan associations and general Tibetan outreach. A lack of institutional direction is not the main hindrance for language preservation in diaspora Tibetan communities.

However, a lack of permanent spaces severely inhibits the chance to teach in a genuine classroom and students ability to learn. About 14 Tibetan associations are dependent on renting classrooms, as those associations do not own a community center, and, in some instances, relatively small and poor communities cannot afford a physical space. This is the case for the Tibetan Association of Philadelphia (TAP), in a city with about 160 Tibetans. TAP used to rent space through the Kalmyk Brotherhood Societys community center, but that center was sold during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the TAP community can rent spaces, it can now only afford to do so occasionally.

Without a physical space, the children dont get to communicate with each other in Tibetan, said Phuntsok Lhagyal, the secretary of TAP. It is harder to teach them traditional Tibetan dances, and without a physical space, there is no engagement within the students.

According to Lhagyal, Tibetans in Philadelphia are largely working-class people in the construction, housekeeping, and nursing sectors, and only about 10 percent of the adult population has a U.S. college degree. In the past few years, TAP set itself the daunting task of raising money for a permanent community center. Without a physical space, TAP has relied on Zoom video calls for weekend schools, which pales in comparison to physical education, to the detriment of the Tibetan children who rely on these schools to receive a cultural education.

When asked about the other challenges of Tibetan language preservation among the diaspora, Lhagyal said: [A]ll the younger generation grow up and go to school with all American student so they naturally neglect Tibetan culture and traditions. Another thing is most of the parents are working full time, so they dont have enough time to spend with their children and teach them Tibetan language.

Tibetans face the same problems other immigrant communities have in terms of affordable and accessible education. Tibetans today are growing up in the United States at a time when Tibetan-childrens books are still nascent and without standardized Tibetan American textbooks. And the Tibetan association fees can present a prohibitive barrier for some Tibetan Americans while simultaneously not being enough to cover the associations costs.

Tibetan American youth, in addition, face a unique struggle between practicality, feasibility, and intense dutyan intense duty cemented by the ongoing erosion of the Tibetan language by the CCP. Although that duty rests on many Tibetan youths consciences, Tibetan youths realistically still cant master the Tibetan language without strenuous effort.

In a small survey of Tibetans in their teens and in early 20s, all the participants said that they first began attending Tibetan schools out of familial obligationnot pure choice. This is a sentiment that is widely but quietly held among the Tibetan community. Many diaspora Tibetans, including elders and youth, strongly desire language preservation, but this desire is stiffly met with the realities of living in a country far from Tibet.

All the survey participants said that learning Tibetan is difficult in the United States. Growing up, there was certainly a lack of urgency in Tibetan cultural preservation among Tibetan American youth, said Kunsang Dorjee, a 21-year-old Tibetan. Looking at learning Tibetan as more of a chore than a cultural necessity made it difficult for teachers to motivate the students to learn and practice beyond the classroom.

Tibetan American youth split their time between English-based school and their once-a-week Tibetan school. Because of the scarcity of time, these youth must weigh the opportunity cost of studying one language over another: One language is the language of mainstream culture, politics, and business in the United States, while the other language is scarcely heard outside of the home. All of the survey participants primarily use their Tibetan language skills to speak to family members, especially to older Tibetan relatives who may not have a strong grasp of conversational English.

But for the vast majority of jobs in the United States, Tibetan proficiency is not applicable, and Tibetan youth feel more incentivized to prioritize English. In the survey, many participants expressed dissatisfaction with their weekend school educationwhich is often taught by old-school volunteers who have no prior teaching experience. While English speakers have the luxury of regimented public schooling and a society that demands English proficiency, Tibetan learners must seek out a Tibetan education and adjust to often not ideal conditions.

Language politics plays a tangible pressure in motivating and demotivating Tibetan students. Many of the survey participants poignantly noted that they felt an acute pressure to study the Tibetan language because of the language rights repression in Tibet, as expressed by 23-year-old Tibetan American Tenzin Rabga Chomphel: Some Tibetans among the diaspora may feel extra pressure/guilt to learn the mother tongue due to being aware of how repressed our language is in the mainland. Many Tibetan youths have grown up in households where elders mourn the loss of Tibet and Tibetan rights. Although Tibetan proficiency among Tibetan American youth is left to be desired, vibrant Tibetan communities exist in U.S. cities, such as New York and Minneapolis. Though Tibetan youth may struggle with speaking perfect Tibetan, Tibetan communities regularly interact with one another and engage in annual cultural and political actions.

Despite the preservation struggles of diaspora Tibetans, this is a story of community strength and gumption. Almost all of the survey participants said that they learned later in their lives to truly appreciate learning the Tibetan language. The Tibetan cultural preservation efforts are not perfect, but the Tibetan movement inspires other similarly situated groups; as noted by Hong Kong activist Jeffrey Ngo, Its far more cultural than political if our goal is to preserve a Hong Kong identity.

The volunteer teachers and Tibetan association leadership work for meager or no pay. For many of them, the effort is a labor of love: a love for their people and for Tibet. Many of the Tibetan youth who attend weekend Tibetan schools may never set foot in Tibet. These students will experience Tibet through stories and YouTube videos. Tibetan language schools allow these Tibetan youth the ability to learn Tibetan, and, in those moments, they enter a realm untouchable and precious.

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Tibetans Struggle to Save Their Language - Foreign Policy

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