Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 25, 2022

Holocaust orphan Jackie Young searched painfully and unsuccessfully for the identity of his biological father for most of his life.

He has known for decades that he was born to a Jewish Viennese woman in her early 30s, who was deported in June 1942 to Maly Trostenets, a Nazi killing center near Minsk, Belarus, where she was murdered. The womans name, Elsa Spiegel, appears on Youngs original birth certificate. It was noted that she was unmarried, and the space for the fathers name was left blank.

Young miraculously survived as an orphaned infant for two years and eight months at the Terezin (Theresienstadt) camp-ghetto in Czechoslovakia.

Now, thanks to the help of two specialists in Jewish genetic genealogy, Young knows not only his fathers name but also that he has living relatives on his paternal side in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and possibly Hungary.

Ive been waiting for this news for six decades. Im not alone anymore, said the 80-year-old retired London taxi driver. As far as he knows, he was the only child of his biological parents, and his adoptive parents, Ralph and Annie Young (Yanofsky).

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Young came to the attention of American genealogists Jennifer Mendelsohn and Dr. Adina Newman thanks to a The Times of Israel article on Youngs appearance on the BBC television program, DNA Family Secrets. Mendelsohn and Newman are the administrators of the 10,000 member-strong Jewish DNA for Genetic Genealogy and Family Research Facebook group.

The BBC shows geneticist, Dr. Turi King, was able to allay Youngs long-held fear that his biological father was a Nazi.

Young had theorized that the only way he could have survived Terezin was for his father to have been a Nazi who protected him from mistreatment, and from being one of the 9,001 children deported to extermination camps in the east.

Jackie Young in the UK before his adoption by British Jewish couple Ralph and Annie Young. (Courtesy)

The result was really clear, King said of Youngs DNA test. You are coming back as 99% Ashkenazi Jewish. So we think almost certainly that your father was not a Nazi.

The DNA Family Secrets team was able to locate two second cousins once removed (a brother and sister) on Youngs paternal side. They coincidentally live not far from Young in North London. Young and his wife Lita have since met them and are in regular contact.

Genealogist Mendelsohn told The Times of Israel, We thought that with our specialized knowledge and experience with Jewish genealogy, and Jewish genetic genealogy specifically, we could take Jackies search further.

According to Newman, Jewish genealogical research with historical documents and records requires particular know-how, and Jewish DNA is tricky.

Because Ashkenazi Jews are an endogamous population, people can appear to be closer relatives based on their DNA than they actually are on paper according to historical records and family trees, she said.

Within five days of reaching Young in early June to request his DNA test results and permission to research on his behalf, Mendelsohn and Newman had answers. Not only did they identify Youngs biological father, but they were also able to reverse engineer a family tree based on matches in DNA databases and historical documents. The tree goes back to the early 1800s and Youngs second great-grandparents. The family was based in Lackenbach, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and is in Austria today.

Jennifer Mendelsohn (Matt Mendelsohn Photography)

Let me turn my computer around, a proud Young said as he showed The Times of Israel on Zoom how he had printed out the family tree, framed it, and put it on his wall at home.

Youngs father was named Adolf Kornfein, and he was born in 1894. It seems that Kornfein, a tailor, was in a relationship with the much younger Elsa Spiegel following a divorce or separation from his wife.

We can surmise this from the records showing that Kornfein, his wife Hilda (ne Schlesinger), and teenage son Wilhelm were living together at the same Vienna address in 1938. But in 1942 he was living alone at a different address, Mendelsohn said.

Three-year-old Jackie Young (then Jona Spiegel) with British airmen upon his arrival in the UK after World War II. (Courtesy)

Records showed that on June 2, 1942, Adolf and Elsa were both on a transport to Maly Trostenets. Hilda and Wilhelm were deported to Auschwitz on July 17, 1942.

We have been able to establish that Adolf and Elsa lived within a short distance of one another at that time. We dont know if they were on the same transport because they were together, or simply because the Nazis were rounding up all Jews living within a certain area, Newman said.

Elsa Spiegel handed her baby, named Yona Jakob Spiegel, and born at the Rothschild-Spital (Jewish hospital) on December 18, 1941, to an orphanage before her deportation. Young found two accounts of this, with one saying he was three and a half months old, and another that he was five and a half months old.

Jackie Young (formerly Jona Spiegel) a couple of years after his arrival in the UK as an orphan from the Terezin ghetto-camp. (Courtesy)

Youngwas deported to Terezin in September 1942 and was interred there between the ages of nine months and three and a half years. He has been able to establish that he was the sole survivor among the 15 children without parents who were together with him on the same transport to the camp.

The only explanation I can come up for my being looked after and survival is that I must have been a pawn in the Nazis propaganda campaign to deceive the Red Cross, Young said.

Newman agreed with the supposition saying, Just look at the pictures of him from when he was a boy. He was an adorable child. He could have definitely been used for show by the Nazis.

Whereas Young finally learned about his father and paternal family recently, he incrementally and painstakingly uncovered bits of information about his mother over decades.

As a teenager, a relative let it slip that he had been born in Vienna. However, his adoptive parents hid from him that he was a concentration camp survivor. It was only when he needed proof of his Jewishness to get married in a synagogue that he learned this distressing fact. Even then, his adoptive parents didnt want him to read the relevant documents, and they remained uncooperative for the rest of their lives.

All these years later, he still doesnt know much about his birth mother and her family.

Jackie Young with his adoptive parents Ralph and Annie Young at his bar mitzvah in London, 1954. (Courtesy)

Unfortunately we cant help Jackie at his point with this because there are not as many records to build a [family] tree for Elsa Spiegel, and there are no real matches for Jackies maternal DNA in the databases that we could place, Newman said.

Young recorded his experiences searching for his roots over the years. They have been published online under the title, Lost and Waiting to Be Found at WW2 Peoples War: An archive of World War Two memories written by the public, published by the BBC.

Active in Holocaust survivor groups and eager to engage anyone who might be able to help him, Young has nonetheless faced many hurdles and dead ends as he traveled to Israel, Vienna, Prague, Terezin, and Belarus to find answers. With the steadfast assistance and support of his wife, he has made repeated inquiries at multiple organizations and archives.

Jackie Young with his wife Lita around the time they were married in 1963. (Courtesay)

Unfortunately little has shown up about his mother other than the bare-bones facts about her immediate family. He knows only that she was born in 1909 in Vienna to Emilie (ne Schwartz) and Leopold Spiegel, who were married in Czechoslovakia. Leopold was deported to Terezin from an old age home, and Emilie died before the war. Elsa was a milliner, and she had an older sister named Hilde and a brother named Rudolph, whose fates are unknown.

Young was able to find detail about his early years in records from the childrens homes where he lived after arriving in the UK in the late summer of 1945. Young was among a group of 300 Holocaust survivor children flown to Britain from Czechoslovakia after the war. Most went on to Israel, but 32 of the younger children remained in the UK, with the youngest six placed for the first year at a Sussex home called Bulldogs Bank. There he was looked after by sisters Sophie and Gertrude Dann and Anna Freud Sigmunds daughter who was to become a leading psychoanalyst.

A young Jackie Young (then known as Jona Spiegel), at head of table on right, at mealtime at Bulldogs Bank in Sussex, where he lived during his first year in the UK under the supervision of Anna Freud and sisters Sophie and Gertrude Dann. (Courtesy)

Young was later moved to a home for older Jewish children run by a woman named Alice Goldberger. She arranged for his adoption in London at age nine by the Youngs.

Dr. Adina Newman specializes in Jewish genetic genealogy. (Courtesy)

To confirm their findings, Mendelsohn and Newman needed to find a close relative on Youngs biological paternal side to take a DNA test to prove the genetic match. Adolf Kornfein had four siblings. The genealogists tracked down Adolfs brother Samuels only grandson in the US, Bill Kornfein. He agreed to take the test.

Our daughters are adopted and we always hoped that if they wanted to look for their birth parents, someone would help them in their search, Kornfein said in explaining his decision to provide his DNA.

Then came the wait to see if there was indeed a match with Young.

We sat on pins and needles for four to five weeks until the results came back, Mendelsohn said.

Kornfein, a retired lawyer from the St. Louis area, is indeed Youngs first cousin once removed. Both his parents were Holocaust survivors, and he was born in Switzerland, where they fled during the war. He and his wife are thrilled to discover this new relation and have been calling, emailing, and sharing photos with Young and his wife.

Londoner Jackie Youngs newly found cousin in the United States, Bill Kornfein (Courtesy)

We are so thrilled for Jackie. We hope to meet him and Lita in person in the future, Kornfein said.

Both Mendelsohn and Newman said they were especially pleased to be able to help Holocaust survivors such as Young.

This is a real example of how genetic genealogy can do huge mitzvot[good deeds] in this world. This is the kind of thing we should be doing with DNA, Newman said.

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UK man who survived concentration camp as baby finally learns his familys identity - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on August 25, 2022

A film about a Japanese American family uncovering their forgotten history in the incarceration camps of World War II premiered at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles Little Tokyo on Saturday.

Written and directed by Paul Daisuke Goodman, No No Girl stars newcomer Mika Dyo and Academy Award winner Chris Tashima, along with an ensemble of Japanese American talent.

Goodman, 30, developed the film with his own family in mind. His grandfather was among those incarcerated at the Rohwer Camp in Arkansas and later enlisted in the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

More from NextShark: 'Drive My Car' becomes first Japanese film to land Oscar Best Picture nomination

An enormous amount of No No Girl is influenced by my upbringing as a Japanese American and the experiences of so many in my life, Goodman tells NextShark of his second feature film. It deals with the consequences of the incarceration of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II and how that unlawful decision rippled through our community and history. I grew up not only hearing stories from relatives who were in those camps, but the stories of all my friends parents and grandparents who were also incarcerated.

Goodmans suffering during the production of No No Girl was not limited to revisiting painful memories. In 2016, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which he has since battled with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and, most recently, a bone marrow transplant from his sister Laurie, who then served as producer for the movie.

Prior to his life-changing diagnosis, Goodman had been shooting for documentaries around the world, such as the Discovery Channels Whale Wars. But he said continuing that work became unachievable after his diagnosis, so he embarked on a different path, writing scripts in the hospital and shooting them as an outpatient.

More from NextShark: Sony loses millions after rejecting Chinas demand to remove Statue of Liberty from new Spider-Man' film

No No Girl was different because I began the pre-production as I was undergoing some of the most brutal regiments of my entire cancer, Goodman recalls. When the cancer relapsed, it had spread to my spine and brain, and the initial prognosis was the most intense I had ever experienced.

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They were presenting me with situations and numbers that were hard to comprehend. They told me it was a bone marrow transplant, or I would not recover, he adds.

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Goodmans transplant presented its own challenges. But as he lay sickly in his hospital bed, the Japanese American community stood strong for him, initiating blood drives up and down California, Hawaii, Texas and even around the world.

My bone marrow transplant was unique due to the nature of the science behind donors and my nationality. I am mixed Japanese and European/Ashkenazi Jewish, and to find a match for BMT that was safe, the donor had to have a similar racial identity, Goodman said. My sibling, Laurie, would eventually be a 50 percent match and saved my life. We made No No Girl together and I get emotional thinking about it.

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No No Girl, meanwhile, would become Mika Dyos big screen debut. The emerging actor said most of her other credits come from live theater productions at Long Beach Polytechnic High School and California State University, Long Beach, where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts.

Dyo plays the lead role of Sue, the youngest member of the Hasegawa family, who never gets taken seriously, Dyo says, so she takes the step to uncover her familys past and ultimately becomes the one to bring them together.

Being the novice among the cast, Dyo had moments when she doubted her abilities. But she says everyone involved had helped and cheered on her.

The biggest challenge I faced was dealing with imposter syndrome. This is my first professional film; everyone else in the cast has been doing this for a long time. We have Academy Award winner Chris Tashima, for crying out loud. I was just some nobody college student, trying to apply lessons from my acting classes hours after learning them, Dyo tells NextShark.

The rising star said there was never a moment of arrogance from her and that she learned a lot from everyone.

I was fully aware and honored to be working with people who have clawed their way through this industry, so I could be here. Everyone was incredibly kind and supportive of me throughout the filming process. They trusted me when I doubted myself and cheered me on when I wanted to shrink.

Chris Tashima, who received an Oscar for the 1997 film Visas and Virtue, plays Sues Uncle Bob. The oldest among his siblings, Bob sees himself as a patriarch and feels responsible for the family.

Bob is a Sansei, or a third-generation Japanese American. Tashima told NextShark that he also identifies as one, and he relates with the films take on unanswered questions about the war.

I have found there to be a great many Sansei whose parents, the Nisei, spoke very little about their camp experience during WWII, if at all. As a result, there are a lot of unanswered questions or secrets kept from these children of camp survivors, Tashima says.

It's not the primary focus of the script as it's not what Sue goes through but it was very easy for me to bring a lot of burden to the surface while shooting the climactic reveal in the film. It was an emotional moment which for me represents so much for the children of camp survivors. It is a healing moment for Bob that I wish more Sansei could experience.

Goodman, who is a Yonsei a fourth-generation Japanese American said No No Girl, from Sues perspective, attempts to portray what its like to be removed from history.

As a Yonsei with half a century between me and the camps; identity, family and history are at the heart of No No Girl. The characters in our film discover that their ancestors, like many truly did during that time, chose to bury their valuables in their backyard instead of waiting to watch them be confiscated or destroyed as they were evicted from their homes, Goodman shared.

Eighty years later, when No No Girl takes place, this family has to decide how to get it back or if they even should. Told from the perspective of the youngest in a multi-generational family, I tried to speak to what its like being removed from something so historically defining and yet not being able to recognize its influence. The camps are hard to understand and those in our past that survived them are almost all gone.

Industry veteran Tashima lauded the films crew for their efficiency. He says he is grateful to Goodman for bringing such a story to life.

The fact that this film focuses on a Japanese American family makes this unique, and very special to me. Very few works have examined the after-effects of camp and how that experience impacted the next generations, Tashima says. Post-war was a difficult time for those who lived through the incarceration, and the tendency was to not talk about it, which usually makes things worse. I am grateful that there are Yonsei like Paul who are taking the time to bring this out into the open and have dialogue about the impact of our WWII concentration camps and the lives of Japanese American families.

For his part, Goodman says he hopes to make more films that highlight Japanese American and AAPI stories.

There was a time when No No Girl felt like it was the last thing Ill ever do. But we did it, and now theres more stories and more films to be made and more opportunities to look down at my cancer and succeed despite it. If there is any success to come from this film, my goal is to make another and share it again, Goodman tells NextShark. Im just one filmmaker coming up trying to tell these stories, but given the opportunity, Id tell every one of them.

Can't be harder than cancer, right?

Featured Image via Paul Goodman and Andrew Ge

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Japanese American National Museum premieres cancer-battling directors film on pains of WWII incarceration camps - Yahoo News

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

Jews on Long Island, New York received menacing anti-Semitic flyers at their homes this week, highlighting similar incidents that have been repeated in recent months around the United States.

Jewish residents of Nassau County received the notices with messages saying that Jews own the media and that a Jewish mafia has hijacked our country.

Every single aspect of gun control is Jewish, the flyers also stated.

New York State Sen. Anna Kaplan condemned the anti-Semitic flyer campaign and called for unity across the state against such incidents.

This latest anti-Semitic trash is just another example of the rampant anti-Semitism and hate being peddled by far-right extremists on Long Island, Kaplansaid. We must remain united as a community in standing against these shameful groups and their un-American beliefs.

Nassau County authorities said that they believe the extremist White nationalist group, Goyim Defense League (GDL), is responsible for distributing the flyers as part of an ongoing campaign around the country.

Stop Antisemitism, a U.S.-based non-partisan organization that monitors and exposes anti-Semitism, said the GDL reportedly has been spreading anti-Semitic material for four years under the leadership of Jon Minadeo II.

Members of the organization, which has a website called Goyim TV, are active beyond the flyer campaign. In May, members of the group dressed up as Nazi Brownshirts andreportedlyharassed guests at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills shouting the Nazis are coming as they chased another member of their group dressed as an Orthodox Jew.

In August 2020, Minadeo and other memberspostedsigns on a highway in Los Angeles that said, Honk if you know the Jews want a race war. That same weekend, the group stood outside a Chabad Jewish Community Center in Marina Del Rey, shouting, These Jewish terrorists are the people behind 9/11. The group shouted to passersby, Wake up and understand that Jews have hijacked your country!

It is a small group and we are monitoring them, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakemansaid. If they cross the line, they will feel the full brunt of the law.

The Anti-Defamation League tweeted that it was concerned about this weekends flyer incident in New York.

Extremely disturbed to learn of another incident of anti-Semitic flyer distribution on Long Island, this time in Freeport, the Anti-Defamation Leagues New York and New Jersey chapterwrote. We continue to speak out against this hate and anti-Semitism, which has no place in our community.

The offensive flyers were placed in plastic bags and set in front of private Jewish homes. They are rife with the classic anti-Semitic tropes that claim Jewish domination of politics and the media.

Earlier this month, the GDL distributed flyers in Nashville, Tennessee, stating that Every single aspect of mass immigration is Jewish, while showing pictures of American politicians with Stars of David on their foreheads. The Nashville flyers listed a number of Jewish NGOs, which they accused of promoting mass immigration.

Flyers attributed to the GDL in Redding, California in July contained similar wording and much of the same messaging. In Miami, Florida in January, the GDL used flyers to accuse Jews of being involved in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish, said the notices, which had been packed in hundreds of plastic bags along with stone pebbles.

On Wednesday this week, the word "Hitler" was emblazoned on a New York synagogue. Rabbi Asher Altschul found the graffiti on the Brooklyn house of worship, according to local New York City councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who has been outspoken against anti-Semitism.

"'HITLER' is the message Holocaust survivors who saw and experienced the atrocities of WWII have to see at Congregation Bet Shalom this morning when they go to pray. Happening right here in our own backyards. America in 2022," Vernikov warned on Twitter.

There are Holocaust survivors who attend thisshuland after the atrocities they have seen during World War II, they now have to come to a synagogue in the United States of America in 2022 and see a Hitler sign on the wall, Vernikov said in a video she posted on social media.

Just last week, Root Source Press released a book called The List 2020: Antisemitic Incidents Worldwide, documenting incidents of anti-Semitism from around the world including the United States, Australia, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, in addition to those issued by the United Nations and on the internet.

As of June 28,149 anti-Semitic hate crimes have take place this year in New York city alone.

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Extremist hate group continues to deliver anti-Semitic flyers to American Jews - The New York State Senate

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

Dana Bash, CNNs chief political correspondent and co-anchor of State of the Union. Photo by YouTube/Screenshot

By Jacob KornbluhAugust 21, 2022

When Dana Bash was in her early 20s, her grandfather, Frank Weinman, took her on a family trip through his childhood towns in Vienna, Hungary and Slovakia along with a Nazi ghetto in Czechoslovakia to give them an up-close perspective of the horrors of the Holocaust and the lessons to be learned. Three decades later, now a prominent anchor and the chief political correspondent at CNN, Bash is taking a lead role in amplifying those teachings amid a dramatic rise in antisemitic violence across the U.S.

In the CNN documentary Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America, set to air Sunday evening and available on demand beginning Monday, Bash visits various Jewish communities still reeling from recent attacks, including Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, and the Chabad of Poway synagogue in California. She also spoke with Ruth Steinfeld, who survived a Nazi concentration camp after being taken to safety by a French organization hiding Jewish children, who said she sees the same kind of hate bubbling up in recent years.

In an interview, Bash said she was honored when asked to do the project for the network, but was also sad that it was even necessary. The producer of the CNN documentary, Melissa Dunst Lipman, pitched the idea following the increased attacks and the hostage standoff in Colleyville. The numbers just made it, unfortunately, very newsworthy, Bash said.

In the opening part of the documentary, Paul Abbate, the deputy director of the FBI, confirms that the threat level against the Jewish community in the U.S. is at historic levels, higher than it is toward people of other religions. The Anti-Defamation League tallied in 2021 the highest number of antisemitic incidents since it started tabulating antisemitism in 1979.

I honestly didnt realize how much hate was zeroing in on Jews, Bash said.

Bash, who is Jewish, said that her recent work fits the sense of history and the sense of a family growing up with grandparents who escaped the Nazis. A week after her mother was born, her grandmother learned that her entire family had been killed by the Nazis. Her grandfather told her stories about how the gypsies helped them get across the mountains to Hungary. Very intuitively, I knew that it was severe antisemitism that upended and changed the trajectory of my family, she said.

Judaism has always been part of my life, Bash said. She said one of her vivid memories growing up was going to services on Friday nights and having Shabbat dinner with her parents, Stuart and Frances Schwartz. She went to the Reform movements Camp Harlam in Kunkletown, Pennsylvania, and was bat mitzvahed at Temple Beth Or in New Jersey. Now a member of Temple Micah, a Reform synagogue in D.C., Bash displays a mezuzah at the doorway of her residence.

In an op-ed published on Friday, Bash shared a conversation she had with her 10-year-old son Jonah last Hanukkah in which he asked her to wear a necklace with the Star of David to proudly display her Judaism.

Bash said the feedback she received after publishing the essay including emails from strangers was highly positive. She got more reaction to it than almost anything shes ever done, she said. I have gotten literally no hate mail. Its all been positive. Two people who emailed her said that after reading the story they have committed to wearing the Star of David necklace they kept in their drawer.

Im speechless at the kind of response that Im getting to this, she said.

Bash said she took away that, while Jews have stayed quiet as a defense mechanism to avoid drawing attention and persecution for thousands of years, the right thing to do is, like my young son knew, innately to wear the Jewish star.

If you are observant and you want to wear a kippah, you wear a kippah, she continued. Keep the mezuzah on your door because its all about education, its all about normalization. And its easier to dispense with tropes and conspiracy theories when youre talking to and talking about real human beings.

As chief political correspondent for CNN, Bash covered the antisemitic tropes that dominated the 2016 election and the reluctance of former President Donald Trump to call them out, including attacks on Jewish journalists.

In the documentary, Brittan Heller, the ADLs first director of technology and society, said she saw the largest spike in antisemitism on social media after journalist Julia Ioffe wrote an extensive profile of Melania Trump. In an appearance on CNN, Trump explicitly declined to condemn his supporters who were viciously attacking Ioffe and her Jewish faith. Heller said antisemites took it as a green light to act.

Bash spoke to the two (unrelated) Greenblatts Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the ADL, who has repeatedly criticized Trump; and Jason Greenblatt, a longtime Trump aide and a senior administration official, who said he doesnt buy into the correlation between Trumps rhetoric and the hate that followed but added that he cant explain Trumps doubling down.

In one instance, Jason Greenblatt said that he felt a special responsibility to go to Trump and seek clarification. It was after Trump refused to disavow David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, in an interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper. I saw what was happening, I guess as a result of Jakes interview, and I said, Look, heres what is happening, here is what David Duke actually said; do you stand for this? He said, Absolutely not and he dictated a condemnation, Greenblatt told Bash, adding that maybe Trump didnt understand what was being asked of him. Its hard to say.

The ADLs Jonathan Greenblatt called Trump a complicated figure, given that hes the first president in history to have a close family connection to the Jewish people. Yet his refusal to call out white supremacists and the both sides remarks after Charlottesville turned it into an issue. If he convincingly, consistently, clearly called out the extremists and the antisemites, it wouldnt even matter what he said at that moment, he said.

Bash said she hasnt faced online antisemitism in recent years. The only time she experienced it, she said, was in 2012 when she made some comments that were misconstrued as biased against former Rep. Ron Paul, who was running in the Republican presidential primary. The attacks against her by Pauls supporters turned antisemitic. Someone created a fake Twitter account with her face on it, using her maiden name, Schwartz, and the Israeli flag behind her.

Bash noted that the dramatic rise in antisemitism occurred last year after Trump left office. She said the COVID-19 pandemic and the dire economic situation have fostered the age-old conspiracies against Jews.

Bash said that it is incumbent on people to call out politicians who make insensitive remarks that are perceived as prejudiced. You have to call it out as a journalist, as an American, as a human. Youve got to do it.

Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America will air Sunday at 9 p.m. ET and will be available on demand beginning Monday.

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What CNNs Dana Bash learned reporting on the rise in antisemitism - Forward

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

The scroll of a Torah in a synagogue.

Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions and has been practiced for thousands of years in the Middle Eastern "Holy Land" and beyond. It is one of the main Abrahamic religions in the world today. Since its inception in Canaan, in modern-day Israel and Palestine, Judaism has grown by global scales to boast nearly 16 million followers today. The religion uses Torah as the primary religious text and supplemented by the oral traditions in the Talmud and Midrash texts.

The Judaism religion can be traced back to Iron Age Canaan, which today occupies the territories of Israel and Palestine. The father of Judaism is Abraham, a character mentioned extensively in the Hebrew Bible. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the revered patriarchs of the religion. The belief is based on the Covenant believed to have been made between God and Abraham. The covenant was founded on rights and obligations by each party to the other.

Generations after Judaism was founded, believers of the religion came to be referred to the Jews. The general Sacred text of Judaism is the Tanakh, which is an acronym derived from Torah, Neviim, and Ketuvim. The Torah represents the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Other sacred texts, prophecies, and historical narrations are in the Neviim, Ketuvim, and Talmud. Jews believe in only One God and in a messiah who will come to save the righteous and judge the wicked. Jews also observe the Ten Commandments as written in the Torah.

Due to persecution and displacement, Jews have a worldwide presence of only around an estimated 16 million. Israel is a Jewish majority state, boasting of housing 6.1 million of Judaism's believers. The United States follows closely in second with a 5.7 million-person population of Jews.

Other countries with a substantial population of Jews are France, Canada, Latin America, Britain, Russia, and Germany. Jews have contributed significantly in realms of music, politics, and science.

The spread of Judaism all over the world can be explained by the physical scattering of the Jews. The ancient Israelite Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans. This occupation forced Jews to flee the Kingdom, a dispersion known as the Diaspora.

The most devastating persecution to the Jewish population was during the Second World War, where nearly a third of Jews were killed by the Nazis. The Holocaust caused a large number of Jews to flee to regions all over the world, and facilitated the spread of the faith. Since the war ended, the numbers of Judaism practitioners have been on the rise. The period between 2005 and 2015 experienced a global increase of Jews at an estimated rate of 8%.

Different sects exist in Judaism, a factor which prevents the formation of a unitary Judaism organization. Increasingly, traditional beliefs of Judaism are being challenged by modernization. Two major branches of the Judaism exist, namely Orthodox and Reformed Jews.

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Judaism: Facts and Figures - WorldAtlas

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

Judaism is the worlds oldest monotheistic religion. According to the Bible, Abraham and Sarah were the first to recognize God, and they are considered the ancestors of all Jews today.

Some people think that Judaism is a culture, like being Irish or Indian. Others view it as a religion. Still others say that being Jewish is a nationality, and that the Jewish homeland is the Land of Israel. The truth is, being Jewish encompasses all these things and a whole lot more. The entire span of Jewish life and knowledge is nearly impossible to defineyet exciting to explore.

What do Jews believe?

Different groups of Jews believe different things. Judaism has three main denominations Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform though many other subgroups and philosophies exist within and beyond these (including Reconstructionism, Hasidim, Jewish Renewal, and others). To some extent, all these groups regard the Torah the Five Books of Moses as the central book of Judaism. Some Jews value its stories. Others derive their beliefs and their customs and traditions from the Torahs laws.

What do Jews do?

Judaism has many practices and ethical teachings. Almost all Jews celebrate some form of Jewish holidays, from attending a Passover seder to lighting the candles on Hanukkah. Some Jews keep kosher, and only eat certain foods, or foods prepared in certain ways. Many Jews celebrate Shabbat every Friday night and Saturday, and will attend synagogue and listen to the Torah being read, a different portion each week.

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Judaism | My Jewish Learning

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

I am a husband and father living in Lakewood, New Jersey. On the surface, I look like I live a standard religious life, but underneath, Im on a deep journey of spiritual growth, pain and reconnection thanks to Makom. Makom is helping me in a way I could never have imagined. I grew up in a Frum Yeshivish environment and went through the Litvish Yeshiva system. As a young teenager, I learned full-time and continued doing so for about 10 years. While I thought that Torah learning was going to be my life, I was mistaken. I had no idea where life would really take me and how difficult things would become. During the most difficult times, Makom was there to show me that I had a place within Judaism, no matter how rejected I felt from the world I was once a part of. Let me explain.

As a bochur (young man), Yiddishkeit was everything that mattered to me. I would never miss tefillah btzibur (prayer with the congregation) or zman krias shema (time of saying shema), even during bein hazmanim (in-between yeshiva sessions). I learned with hasmadah (vigor), reviewing every Gemara and shiur (class) until I remembered every Tosafos, and understood as much as I could. Furthermore, during bein hazmanim, I would learn a minimum of half the day. I can say without a doubt that my only focus in life was to become a Torah scholar. I took my Judaism seriously. Maybe too seriously.

Despite my hopes and dreams, things started to dissolve before my very eyes. When I got married, some latent trauma was triggered that pushed me into crisis. I still do not fully comprehend why, but I started sinking into a place of emptiness and despair. No matter how hard I tried to improve things, I just became more and more desperate. Thankfully, through mental health counseling and medication, I got the help I needed. Since then, I have rebuilt my life and am pursuing a meaningful career. However, my relationship with Judaism is a very different story. The hurt was too much and I just couldnt regain connection. My experiences left me too estranged to pick back up again right away. As a result, I felt homeless within the Jewish world.

Time went on, and while I still considered myself frum (religious), I could not daven (pray), learn, or put on tefillin. However, I still hoped that with time I would have the ability to rekindle my Judaism. Unfortunately, the opposite occurred. As time went on, and as hard as I desperately tried, I was only growing more and more distant until it hit me that I no longer wanted to be religious at all. I could not. I needed to save my life. I could not care about Judaism if it did not care about me. As a result, I stopped keeping kosher, stopped keeping Shabbos, and stopped believing in Judaism altogether. I thought I had no option.

I had no idea where my life was headed. How was I to live with my Orthodox family in an Orthodox community when I wanted no part in it? My wife had heard about Jew in the City and Makom and recommended that I join. At first, I was not interested in giving religion another chance, but after a while, I warmed up to the idea and decided to give it a try.

Joining Makom was one of the best things to happen to me. It sparked a new sense of hope I did not think possible. I felt accepted in an Orthodox circle that embraced me the way I am. Moreover, being around other people who have had similar challenges gave me a sense of validation. But instead of viewing Judaism as an unredeemable evil, in Makom, I am learning to see Judaism through a healthy lens where I see so much beauty in life. Through the amazing classes, leadership, and dialogue, I am learning that my negative associations are a result of trauma and I can choose to separate them from our tradition. More importantly, Makom has given me a feeling of unconditional belonging which gives me a fighting chance to pick up the pieces.

Fast forward a couple of short months, I am now keeping Shabbos and kashrus again, and even started wearing tzitzis. Most of all, I have a new sense lot of hope that I will regain a heritage that is truly my own.

If you found this content meaningful and want to help further our mission through our Keter, Makom, and Tikun branches, please consider becoming a Change Maker today.

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How Makom Helped This Lakewood Father Separate Dysfunction From Judaism - Jew in the City

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

Beth Bourlands path to becoming a Jew began in earnest three years ago, when she started working with Rabbi Yonatan Regev toward her conversion. Regev, then of Oaklands Temple Sinai, mentioned that some people keep a journal of their conversion experience, and Bourland took his words to heart.

Rather than record her feelings in writing, the Alameda resident expressed them through art. Many of the watercolors and hand-cut paper assemblages she produced form part of a 17-piece exhibit called Journey to Judaism. The exhibit is currently on view in the social hall of the Reform synagogue and will be up through the High Holidays.

An exhibiting artist who has had both solo and regional shows in the area, Bourland said Journey to Judaism stands apart from the others. This series is the most emotional project Ive ever done, she explained. It really was a project that came from the heart.

Bourland, 60, grew up in a Methodist but secular family in Michigan. As a young woman, I looked for some kind of spiritual path and didnt really find anything, she recalled. Years later, she found Judaism.

A friend invited me to a musical service at Temple Sinai in the spring of 2019, and I was attracted to the synagogue, the siddur, she said. I had tried to find spirituality and hadnt found anything I totally agreed with. That summer, she began meeting with Regev.

I feel now that it was inevitable, she said. I didnt know it till I was in my mid-50s. For me, the core is that Judaism doesnt dictate any one belief or set of beliefs. It doesnt pretend to have all the answers. Judaism welcomes debate. It can accept that there are mysteries and is OK with that, and I think thats intellectually brave.

Bourland studied with Regev from July 2019 until the spring of 2020, when Covid brought a halt to their one-on-one sessions. She also visited synagogues and historical sites, such as the original shul that sits behind Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro, where she observed Tisha BAv in 2019. Several of these places, such as The Little Shul, are depicted in her exhibit.

Her beit din conversion ceremony took place via Zoom in July 2020 and was officiated by Regev, Sinai cantor Ilene Keys and educator Rabbi Ruth Adar. Bourland hasnt yet dipped into the mikvah but hopes to soon.

Though the pandemic interfered with Bourlands studies, it played in her favor by giving her more time to develop the artwork on exhibit. She credits Temple Sinai member Dawn Kepler for assisting her: She was someone that Temple Sinai listed as an outreach-greeter. Thats how I met her. We became friends. Kepler proved to be instrumental in assisting with the project, Bourland said. She helped me navigate the channels of getting this exhibit going, even helping her hang the show.

Kepler was intrigued from the get-go. When we first met, [Bourland] told me that she was going to do a sketchbook, she said. I was really excited and asked, Would you consider doing an art show?

Bourlands works reflect the research she poured into the project. Joyful Shabbat, a paper assemblage showing a diverse group of people clapping and dancing, was inspired by a Friday night Shabbat she attended at Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley.

For Almond Blossoms, Bourland traveled to Modesto to visit a farmer in order to capture the glory of the flowers a Jewish symbol of hope and renewal in full bloom. And she spent time in Vacaville with Maayan Kline and her dog, Benzi, both of whom served in the Israel Defense Forces, after reading about them in J. She titled her painting of the two Heroic Team.

The Memory Garden is a serene scene of the Jewish sacred space at the Eternal Home Cemetery in Colma for those grieving fertility or pregnancy loss, while the ink illustration Kosher Deli is a whimsical take on Bourlands outings to Bay Area delicatessens with a dollop of humor, such as the little boy chasing a live chicken through a deli store. I decided to go in the cartoon direction, she explained.

Does she have a favorite in the series? Yes, she said, Violins of Hope, a watercolor inspired by the exhibit of rescued Holocaust violins and the concert Bourland witnessed when it toured the Bay Area in 2020. Seeing the instruments and hearing them played was intense, Bourland recalled. The program helps preserve the truth. Its very important.

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Artist Beth Bourland's conversion to Judaism in watercolor and collage J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

(August 16, 2022 / JNS) If a candidate for high office were to say that they understood that Jewish communal values stressed the importance of the family and always taking steps to protect the family unit, would you consider those words offensive? If they went on to also note that the community was known for believing in the value of hard work and self-starting and setting up your own business, would you consider that to be praise or merely condescension and stereotyping?

A community that took pride in their achievements might think it was a bit of a generalization and clearly part of an effort to curry favor. But it would also understand that such a statement was also an attempt to give Jews their due and to acknowledge that Jewish success was earned rather than, as anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists would have it, the result of manipulation or shadowy plots.

So, it may have been something of a surprise to British prime ministerial candidate Liz Truss that the reaction from many left-wing Jews, as well as the secular chattering classes, was to accuse her of anti-Semitism when she uttered those words.

The left-wing Guardian newspaper referred to her comments, which were delivered in an interview with The JCBritains oldest Jewish newspaperas offensive.

But just as offensive to some British observers was Trusss vow to change woke civil-service culture that strays into anti-Semitisma not-so-subtle reference to the fact that the Foreign Office that she currently leads is well known to be a bastion of contempt for Israel and hatred for Jews.

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Many on the left, and especially Labours cheering section in the British mainstream media, resented the way the Tories bashed former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn for his own open anti-Semitism. Its stand in favor of completing BrexitBritains departure from the European Unionwas the biggest factor in the Conservatives election victory in 2019. Nevertheless, Labours normalization of anti-Semitism and hate for Israel not only generated enormous pushback from the British Jewish community, but also hurt it at the ballot box.

Truss, who is the first woman to serve as Britains Foreign Secretary, is competing in a two-person race to decide the leadership of the Conservative Party against Rishi Sunak. His resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequerthe United Kingdoms Finance Ministryled to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnsons resignation and necessitated the leadership election, which will culminate in a nationwide primary in which members of the party will vote. Since the Tories hold a large majority in Parliament, which they won in the last British election in 2019, whoever wins this contest will automatically become prime minister.

Part of the problem for Truss was that she preceded her praise for Jewish devotion to family and work ethic by saying, so many Jewish values are Conservative values and British values, too.

That was a bridge too far for left-wing Jews and supporters of the Labour Party, which hopes to unseat the Conservatives at the next general election.

Jewish values are not, of course, inherently political or the property of the Tories any more than they are Labour, whose Socialist agenda is claimed by some Jews to be rooted in the Torah and its admonitions to take care of the poor. The same can be said in an American context in which it is clear that Judaism isnt a Republican religious doctrine or a Democratic one. That doesnt stop many Jews from seeing the Democrats social-justice agenda as a stand-in for their religious beliefs. As the old and somewhat unfair joke goes, most Reform Jews think their religion consists of the Democratic Party platform with holidays thrown in.

But it is hardly offensive or even untrue to say that Judaism prioritizes the family and seeks to strengthen it in ways that contrast strongly with modern secular culture, which has done so much to tear down the basic unit of civilization. The same can be said of most faith traditions.

Nor is it offensive to note that a community that was forged in the immigrant experience in the 19th and 20th centuriesmuch like that of American Jewryprided itself in the ability of its members to work hard and get ahead. Perhaps in the woke milieu of the 21st century, when ideas about the work ethic are labeled as vestiges of racism and white privilege, praising Jews for their achievements is politically incorrect. But Truss or any leader that seeks to push back against such toxic ideologies should be speaking out in favor of families and extolling traditions that prize hard work.

Of greatest interest for those watching the Tory leadership contest from afar was Trusss willingness to speak out against the woke anti-Semitism in the British bureaucracy. She has also mentioned possibly moving the British embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, though whether she will defy establishment opinion by going that far remains to be seen.

During her short tenure at the foreign office which she took over in September, Truss has earned a reputation as a friend of Israel, especially when it came to supporting it in international forums like the United Nations. To her credit, she denounced the U.N. Human Rights Council in her JC interview, saying that it had been, used to peddle a particular agenda which frankly have strong elements of anti-Semitism.

More to the point, she said that the career civil servants that run the Foreign Ministry had opposed her efforts to stand up against this campaign of hate against Israel. In Britain, even more than in the United States, the government is run by the civil service whoas the 1980s classic television comedy Yes, Minister showedtend to lead the politicians around by the nose. The deep state, as many American conservatives refer to the U.S. version in the federal bureaucracy, is no myth. So, it is a measure of her willingness to act on her convictions with respect to supporting Israel that she has had to overrule the civil service at the United Nations when she was told that doing so would isolate Britain.

Speaking of the Foreign Offices long tradition of support for the Arabs against Zionism, every organization has its culture, but its not fixed, it can be changed.

Supporters of Israel may not be entirely happy with everything a Truss government does in the Middle East. Despite her promise to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons and saying that the use of military force is still on the table, Britain is certain to support a nuclear deal with Tehran if President Joe Biden is able to succeed in getting it to agree to a new and weaker pact.

But Trusss willingness to speak not just about the U.N.s anti-Semitism but to continue to push for legislation to outlaw BDS discrimination against Israel makes the Jewish states foes unhappy.

For all of the philo-Semitism of some British leaders throughout the last century, such as those who promulgated the Balfour Declaration, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher (Trusss primary role model), anti-Semitism has always been far more of a factor in British life than in the United States.

British Jews understood the stakes involved when an anti-Semite like Corbyn was a serious threat to become Britains prime minister in the last decade. He was replaced by Keir Starmer, who doesnt share Corbyns hateful attitudes toward Jews and Israel. But the left wing of the Labour Party, which continues to support Corbyn and everything he stood for, is still a potent force in British politics. As is the case in the United States, Jew-hatred is being enabled by woke ideology that is also becoming an increasingly powerful force in that countrys media and popular culture. If, as polls currently indicate, Truss becomes Britains third female prime minister next month, one can only hope that she will stick to her determination to continue to stand up against anti-Semitism in the face of such formidable opposition.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate). Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.

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Is Judaism or any faith tradition inherently conservative? - JNS.org

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Posted By admin on August 22, 2022

(JTA) CNNs Dana Bash has what she calls a very, very Jewish response to the question of why shes hosting a special for her network on antisemitism in America.

The bad news is there is antisemitism in America, Bash told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The good news is I work in a place that wants to shine a spotlight on it, and allow for an investigation into what is happening, why its happening and what are the solutions.

Bash, a member of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., is the great-granddaughter of Hungarian Jews who were murdered at Auschwitz. She told JTA that having the opportunity to report a special on modern antisemitism was one of the most important things Ive ever done.

The hour-long special, Rising Hate: Antisemitism In America, will air on CNN Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. Its a broad overview of the last few years of antisemitism in America, with a particular focus on how it has evolved in the digital age. Other topics include the Coleyville, Texas, synagogue hostage crisis that unfolded earlier this year; the role former President Donald Trumps campaign played in fomenting antisemitic rhetoric; Jewish college students who have reported discrimination on campuses; and the operations of the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit that tracks and responds to antisemitic threats from an undisclosed bunker in the Chicago area.

The topic is a personal one for Bash, in more ways than one. To accompany the special, she authored an essay on CNNs website in which she discusses her own recent apprehension when her preteen son asked her if he could wear a Star of David necklace in public. Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. State Departments special envoy on antisemitism, is interviewed in the special, and also discusses why she wears a Star of David as she works.

My young son showing the world that he is Jewish made me nervous, Bash admits in the essay, because I knew that antisemitism is on the rise in America. But, she later concludes after working on the special, It turns out that normalizing the practice of and pride in Judaism is one of the antidotes to prejudice something that my young son understood innately.

Bash spoke to JTA, which viewed an early cut of the special, in advance of its Sunday premiere.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

JTA: What does it mean for you as a Jew, and as the descendant of Holocaust victims, to be hosting and reporting on the topic of antisemitism?

Bash: Its one of the most important things Ive ever done, for sure. Because Im taking myself out of it, for the most part, and truly researching and talking to people who are experts, who are monitoring it, who are victims of this hate, and trying to understand the origins and, more importantly, the reasons for the rise now.

I have such a, like so many Jewish Americans, rich and sad and storied family history. And you know, the reason most Jews are in America is because we were persecuted wherever we were. Now, thats true for other religions. Thats true for Christians, thats true for Muslims, thats true for others. America is the place where were supposed to be able to practice our religion freely. But we know the truth. The truth is that prejudice is very much alive and well, and has been from the beginning of this country.

Deborah Lipstadt said something to me about why she wears a Jewish star now. She said its because when somebody who is Black or somebody who is brown-skinned, Latina, somebody of color walks in a room, and there is a person who is prejudiced in that room, they know who that person is. When there is an antisemite in a room and a Jewish person walks in the room, its not immediately clear who we are, what our religion is what our race is, if you really want to get down to it. And so she wears a Jewish star so she doesnt hide, and to try to normalize the idea that we are not what the conspiracy theories and the tropes make us out to be.

How did this special come together? When did you start talking about it?

Our senior producer on the program is Melissa Dunst Lipman. She has been pushing the bosses to do this for a while. And unfortunately, the news environment made it clear that theres a need for it, because there was attack after attack after attack. We had Pittsburgh and we had Poway and we had Colleyville, the list goes on. They said, Yeah, we should do this.

And I was really, frankly, nervous. Because its such a big, important topic. But I felt honored, in a really twisted way, to be able to participate in this, because its so important and runs so deep in my soul.

In conjunction with the special, you published an essay on CNN about your sons desire to wear a Star of David necklace in public, and your own nervousness or apprehension around that. Tell me about that.

I feel very, very lucky that our children are who they are. From an early age [my son] was very proud of his Judaism. And he goes to Jewish summer camp that, in his words, unlocked his Judaism even more. Last Hanukkah, he said, I want a Jewish star. Thats what I want for Hanukkah. And I kind of blew him off, because I didnt think he really meant it, and halfway through the eight days, he sheepishly said, Mom, do you remember that I asked for a Star of David? And I said, Wait, you really want one? And he said, Yeah, I do.

And I asked why, and he said, because he feels a very strong Jewish identity, and that kids in high school, who are Christian, are also very proud of their religion, and they wear crosses. So why shouldnt he wear a symbol that shows who he is?

So I said, OK, sure, But I was apprehensive about it. And I certainly didnt say this to him, for all the reasons that made this special a necessity: Because I think hes innocent, and he didnt really realize the millennia that we have to look back on persecution against Jews. He just thought, This is who I am, and its no big deal. I just said, OK. How can I argue with that?

Now Ive heard from Deborah Lipstadt, and also Jeff Cohen, who was one of the hostages in Colleyville, saying that he wears his kippah out in public much more than he did before, even after he was a victim of antisemitism almost died! He said, The way that we combat this is by normalizing Judaism. They normalized hate, well, were going to normalize Judaism.

I learned a lot, and in my sons very I thought naive, but it turns out very wise way, he knew that innately.

Lets talk about the special itself. Its very wide-ranging. What are you hoping people will take away from it?

Im hoping that people take away a couple of things. Number one is that its so easy, especially in the world in which we live, to have a point of view and be dug in and not listen to somebody else.

Lets just take antisemitism that is growing on the progressive political left. What I learned in doing this, which was probably the most fraught, complicated part of this hour, is that people are just talking past each other. Rabbi Danny Zemel, hes a proud progressive and hes my rabbi [at Temple Micah in Washington, D.C.]. I called him, and I said, You have to help me here, because I have to get this right. And I talked it through with him. He completely understood, because not everybody whos on the progressive left, who stands up and says theyre an anti-Zionist, really means that theyre anti-Jewish, that theyre antisemitic. He suggested I talk to Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who runs [the rabbinic human rights group] Truah, and I interviewed her, and shes the one who explained and described that to me.

What she does with her friends in the secular progressive world [is] to try to stop their rhetoric and their approach from devolving into antisemitism. When she hears them say, Well, Im anti-Zionist, she says, What do you mean by that? Explain what you mean by that. If they say, Well, I dont like the policies of the Israeli government, well, thats not antisemitism. Lipstadt says that if you want to hear the biggest criticism of the Israeli government, go sit in a cafe in Jerusalem and listen to the Jews.

What is antisemitism is criticizing the Israeli government with tropes, like, The Jews run the world, the Jews are power-hungry or money-hungry. And then it gets into much more of a slippery slope, which is what happened to this young woman who I profiled who goes to SUNY New Paltz, where she said she is a proud Zionist in an Instagram post and she got kicked out of a group to help victims of sexual assault, that she founded. Because they didnt even want to hear what she meant by that. [The student, Cassandra Blotner, is one of two who recently filed a civil rights complaint against SUNY New Paltz with the Department of Education.]

Really what I want to get across is that its an age-old conspiracy theory. Were now, unfortunately, much more familiar with conspiracy theories. A disease pops up, its the Jews. A thunderstorm pops up, its the Jews, the economy goes down, its the Jews. And it is corrosive when it comes to society.

Education is really the number-one thing that I learned that we have to be aggressive and zealous about. Because thats the way to combat antisemitism, is to educate. There are people who just have hate in their heart, period, and they dont want to hear it. But for the most part, people get caught up in using tropes or using language that is inherently antisemitic and they dont realize it until its pointed out, which is education.

The other thing that I learned is how pervasive this is online. And its not just in the deep dark web. Its on social media. Its in online gaming that our young kids are using, and that we think is a safe space. And thats something that we have to be incredibly aware of.

Youre describing such a central part of the debates within the Jewish community about how to talk about antisemitism, how to frame it, especially when it comes to the left versus the right, and the question of whether theyre equivalent.

And I just want to say, theyre not equivalent. I did not talk to one person who said that theyre equivalent. The extremism and antisemitism on the far right has devolved into real violence, people with semi-automatic weapons going into synagogues and shooting down Jews for no reason other than they were Jews.

On the left, its more discourse. Jonathan Greenblatt at the ADL said to me, On the right, its like a category-five hurricane or tornado and they just come in and that just tears everything apart. On the far left, its more like climate change. Its slow moving, its growing. Some people deny it exists, but it does exist, and if you ignore it, its going to envelop you. And I thought that was a really good analogy.

One of your interview subjects is the Chabad of Poways rabbi, Mendel Goldstein, whose superiors have been trying to get him to resign in the aftermath of a tax fraud scheme involving other members of his family, and hes been resisting pressure to do that. Was that a conversation at all?

No. We went in with one goal, and that is to put a spotlight on what happens when hate goes unchecked. This is a synagogue where a man came in a young boy, really, 19 years old, was radicalized online and went in with a gun and with the intent of killing people. That was the focus: who that person is, why they did it. This is strictly about antisemitism: violent antisemitism, in this case.

On the note of Jewish practice, there wasnt a ton in the special about Jews as Jews. How important do you think it is for understanding antisemitism to understand Jews beyond the context of like victims of anti semitism?

Good question. Let me answer this way: My great-grandparents were secular Jews in Hungary. They werent self-hating Jews. They didnt run from their Judaism, but if you would ask what they were, they would say, Were Hungarian. And then eventually they would get to the fact that they were Jewish. The Nazis didnt care. They still took them to the gas chamber and killed them in Auschwitz.

So religious practice and observance is so important. Its something that is personally important to me and to some Jews, but its irrelevant to the notion of antisemitism.

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Dana Bash says her new CNN special on antisemitism is one of the most important things Ive ever done - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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