Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 20, 2022

Two dozen local residents crowded into the city hall in Franklin, New Hampshire, last week to demand that their mayor and council representatives take a more aggressive stance against growing white supremacist activity in the region.

They denounced neo-Nazi groups that have encroached into local council and school committee meetings across the state. Most residents showed up in Franklin specifically to support local businesswoman Miriam Kovacs, who is Jewish and Asian, and has been in targeted on social media by members of NSC-131, one of the white supremacist groups active in the region.

In July, Kovacs took to Instagram and Facebook to denounce a group of neo-Nazis who were demonstrating outside the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine, holding signs reading Keep New England White." Shortly afterward, her catering business, The Broken Spoon, was tagged with a one-star review from someone identifying themself as Rudolf Hess, a clear reference to Hitlers loyal deputy. Other negative, hate-filled reviews followed.

They left a lot of Holocaust references, said Kovacs. Some were as bold as to leave a picture of the train tracks to Auschwitz."

Concerns about white supremacist activity are becoming increasingly common across New England. Public officials and community organizers have stepped up to confront and combat groups described as neo-fascists by the Southern Poverty Law Center such as NSC-131, the Patriot Front and the Proud Boys that have become more brazen, holding public rallies, defacing property with supremacist slogans and targeting LGBTQ events.

In the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain recently, about two dozen people came out in support of a drag performer who had been previously harassed by right-wing protesters while providing the popular Drag Story Hours for Kids.

Patrick Burr, alias Patty Bourree, says he is often the target of extremists' protests. Most recently, NSC-131 rallied outside the historic Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain where people had gathered for the childrens event.

"I felt so much gratitude and respect for the people in [Jamaica Plain] who came out to counter-protest, Burr told GBH News. Walking past a group of neo-Nazis and then walking past a group of police officers, for me, that doesn't cancel each other out."

Burr and other LGBTQ activists, in response to what they perceive as growing street level right-wing extremism, say they are working with anti-fascists as a counterweight.

"There just needs to be a system in place so that if I am in a car driving to story time and I hear that one of these groups has showed up, we don't have to cancel," Burr said. "I know I can message so-and-so and they'll phone tree so that we can have our own community be present. Because that's what I feel like I need to be safe."

Phillip Martin

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GBH News

Central Avenue, the main street that runs through Franklin, is dotted with shuttered businesses like the old Regal Theater and a few bold startups including the Vulture Brewing Company and The Broken Spoon. In the brightly colored front window of Kovacs' catering company, she displays a sign reading You are Loved superimposed over the American flag.

She wears her politics on her sleeve, said Mark Faro, a Franklin police officer and Kovacs' close friend. It's pretty much just putting big targets on the windows to say, 'Here I am. This is the place you hate.'"

Police Chief David Goldstein said he reached out to the FBI about the online messages directed at Kovacs. He said his approach to these groups reflects both his decades on the police force and his Jewish heritage.

"I worry about myself," he said. "I worry about my people. I worry about my communities. I worry about my family and my friends.

Homeless people have set up encampments near Central Avenue, and this tiniest of New Hampshire cities, with a population of 8,741, has not been immune from the opiate crisis in the region. There's fear that disaffected white youth could be susceptible to recruitment by white supremacists.

Franklin Mayor Jo Brown says residents of this working-class community are fiercely protective of their own. But she and city councilors were still surprised by the number of people who showed up Aug. 8 for an emergency meeting in response to the attacks on Kovacs and the rise of white supremacist activity in the area.

Eleven residents went before a microphone, including Kovacs, who called on the council to pass an official resolution condemning white supremacy.

One speaker described her discomfort seeing two Confederate flags flapping from homes along her route to the meeting. A teacher said the council should take action to show local school children that adults will take a stand against hate. Another speaker said she would like to see a greater police presence "showing proactive support" for communities besieged by white supremacists.

Beyond the avowed white supremacists, some local residents also expressed concern about a wave of anti-gay sentiment in Franklin.

In June, some parents went before the city council to complain about rainbow crosswalks painted a month earlier by elementary school children as part of a project to enhance the city.

That was interpreted by a select group as the gay flag, lamented Mayor Brown. I seriously doubt the first graders, second graders and third graders were thinking about that as the sidewalks were painted.

The emergency council meeting was the culmination of efforts by Kovacs and others to get their community to take a stand against hate, much as Dover, New Hampshire, had done in late July, when it passed a resolution sponsored by Councilor Robbie Hinkel Condemning Racial and Religious Supremacist Activities.

The meeting ended with a promise to draft a resolution condemning neo-Nazis and other extremists and supporting those targeted by organized hate groups.

What we've agreed to do is to put together a resolution that that will condemn, just as Dover has done, white nationalism," Brown said. "I will personally contact our federal delegation to get their support as well.

Kovacs was not the only one inspired to respond to the white nationalist demonstration in Kittery.

Dresden Lewis, who runs the Nommunism bakery outside of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, learned about the demonstration and used Instagram to call for a counter-protest. She asked people who supported her business to go to Kittery to reclaim the space for kindness and good and show that, no, we're not going to keep New England white. New England was never white. And this doesn't work for me and it shouldn't work for you. Dozens showed up, holding signs condemning white supremacy and intolerance.

You know, I moved to New England from Texas because I wanted to escape a lot of the hate that lived down South," Lewis told GBH News. "I know that hate groups are everywhere, but I was just maybe hoping that New England would be a little bit more aware."

Kovacs was not at the Kittery counter-protest, but she and Lewis, who knew each other only on Instagram, formed a bond and both became targets of local hate groups and their supporters.

Kovacs and Lewis said the social media excoriation by white extremists has backfired.

"Getting tortured by these guys has totally been worth it for us because it's been great for our business," Lewis said. "We have people all across the state and into Vermont and Massachusetts and even Maine asking us 'Where you are located?'

They also agree they would have taken a stance no matter what the outcome.

My concern isn't so much my business. It's more so my community. Other communities. Not to be dramatic, but, you know, the safety of our nation as a whole, because we've seen what can happen, she said, pointing to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. You know, not wanting it to happen isn't enough to keep it from happening. ... ignoring it isn't going to make it better.

This story was originally produced by GBH News, a partner in the New England News Collaborative.

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How small New England cities are standing up to white supremacists - Maine Public

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Posted By admin on August 20, 2022

When the San Francisco dietician and chef Micah Siva searched last summer for a Jewish counting book for her new niece, she was disappointed by the choices. So Siva, who writes a food column for J., and her husband Josh, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, decided to write and publish one themselves.

1, 2, 3, Nosh With Me (30 pages, for children under 5) teaches counting with traditional holiday foods, including matzah balls, sufganiyot and hamantaschen. (The Sivas dog, Buckwheat, also makes an appearance in the book, which was illustrated by artist Sviatoslav Franko, who lives in Ukraine.)

I grew up in an Ashkenazi family, and my husband grew up in a Sephardic family, so the main decision we had to make [for the book] was which cuisine did we want to lean towards, Micah Siva, 30, told J. We chose Ashkenazi cuisine because that was my personal experience growing up.

Siva, who hails from Calgary, Canada, said she has been surprised by how many non-Jewish parents have bought the book to diversify their childrens bookshelves. Some people have messaged me on Instagram to ask how to sound out words, she said. The more that we can show Jewish joy and excitement around Judaism these days, to both Jews and non-Jews, the better. (Siva will read the book at the JCC of San Francisco on Sept. 17, and she will lead a challah baking class at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette on Sept. 18.)

Another new food-related childrens book, Just Try One Bite (Dial Books, 40 pages, ages 4-8), is a clever role-reversal story about unusually health-conscious children who stage an intervention with their junk-food-eating parents. The kids attempt to bribe the adults into trying broccoli, kale, quinoa and other whole foods not fast food but slooow foods.

Dont be fooled by the fact that one of the authors is Berkeley resident Adam Mansbach, who is best known for his profane childrens books that are actually intended for adults. This is a real kid-friendly book, featuring an adorable multiracial family illustrated by Mike Boldt.

Mansbach co-wrote Just Try One Bite with healthy eating advocate Camila Alves McConaughey, who came up with the role reversal idea. I was brought in to figure out a fun way to do it, and make the words rhyme, Mansbach wrote in an email to J. I hope kids and parents will get some laughs putting the kids in charge is kind of a humor cheat-code, at least in my house and also be inspired to move past the kinds of stalemates we all have and into more fruitful (and vegetableful) territory.

Two phenomenal Jewish women in history get their due in new nonfiction biographies.

Bonnie Lindauer recounts the life of the founder of the National Council of Jewish Women in Hannah G. Solomon Dared to Make a Difference (Kar-Ben, 32 pages, ages 5-9). Born to German immigrant parents in Chicago in 1858, Solomon lived through the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which is dramatically illustrated by Sofia Moore and organized events for Jewish women at the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair.

As the first president of the NCJW, she worked to improve the lives of immigrants and children by agitating for safer housing, free nursery schools and public playgrounds. She also pushed for work training for women and was involved in the womens suffrage movement, alongside her friend Susan B. Anthony.

[She did] all of this while she was still a devoted mother and wife, Lindauer, a San Francisco resident and member of Congregation Am Tikvah, said during a Jewish Community Library virtual event in December. Indeed, like some women of her time, she helped recast the Jewish mother from a quiet guardian of the house to a woman who could be deeply committed to her home life and also make important contributions to society.

The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 264 pages, ages 10-14) is about a Vienna-born physicist who worked with Albert Einstein and discovered nuclear fission with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938 shortly after she fled the Nazis and settled in Sweden. Yet only Hahn was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery. It is an injustice that Marissa Moss of San Francisco highlights in this engaging book, which includes Moss own illustrations at the beginning of each chapter.

A prolific childrens book author who is best known for the Amelias Notebook series, Moss told J. she learned about Meitner from her son, who is studying astrophysics in graduate school. I fell in love with her, Moss said. She was born at a time when women in Austria couldnt even go to high school, and yet she crammed in high school and went to college when the law was changed. She was so determined to study science, which was not something women did. She just had a force of courage and conviction that I find inspiring.

How did Meitner feel about her inadvertent contribution to the creation of nuclear weapons? She was very clear that she never wanted it to be used for weapons, Moss said, noting that Meitner refused to collaborate on the Manhattan Project. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she talked about how there was a duty to make sure this didnt happen again.

Finally, for young readers who are excited by the supernatural, there is much to savor in two Kabbalah-inspired picture books.

Malkahs Notebook: A Journey into the Mystical Aleph-Bet (The Collective Book Studio, 312 pages. all ages) follows a young girl in an ancient city as she learns the Hebrew alphabet and explores the secret meanings behind the letters first with her fathers help, and then, as she grows older, on her own. Author Mira Z. Amiras, an anthropologist who retired from San Jose State University in 2012, draws on sources as diverse as the Zohar and archaeological reports on ancient Near Eastern deities.

A San Francisco resident, Amiras told J. the father character was inspired by her own father, Seymour Fromer, who founded the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in Berkeley and who gave her her first alef-bet book. I still have it, and to tell the truth, I think it shaped my whole life, she said. I wouldnt have said it then, but what I learned was that the alef-bet is animistic, that is, each letter is alive.

Malkahs Notebook includes astoundingly beautiful illustrations by the Israel-based sofer and artist Josh Baum. A companion animated film, The Day Before Creation, can be streamed for free online. (Amiras will discuss and read from the book on Aug. 28 at Afikomen Judaica in Berkeley.)

In David Fankushens My Grandpa Has Superpowers (Fulton Books, 28 pages, ages 5-9), a San Francisco grandfather gains mystical powers through his study of Kabbalah. He uses these powers to help his grandchildren overcome challenges in their lives.

He helps one find his stolen bicycle by casting a spell over the thief, and he helps another win a basketball game by fashioning a new golem teammate out of the mud at Lake Merced.

Ive always enjoyed making up stories for my own grandchildren, Fankushen, a retired physician and former board president at Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, told J. I wrote this book as a fun read for children who have similar problems in their lives, and to teach several aspects of Jewish mysticism and kabbalistic history.

Link:

Children's books by local Jewish authors educate and delight J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on August 20, 2022

Another year of Marvels Voices is gone, full of new characters, beloved characters, in stories meant to highlight their voices and experiences.

Since Marvels first Voices issue, I have had the question: will we ever get a Jewish Voices version? I felt hopeful as Marvel featured voices of diverse groups, sharing their experiences and celebrating them as amazing superheroes fighting for a better world. Folks told me to wait for x holiday; it would make sense for them to announce a Jewish-focused issue in time for Rosh Hashanah or during American Jewish heritage month. But alas. The Jewish new year came and went, the everyone-knows-holiday Hanukkah came and went Purim, Passover, and American-Jewish heritage month heading back towards Rosh Hashanah, And nothing. Not a peep.

But spring gave us Moon Knight, the MCUs first and incredibly flawed attempt at bringing Jewish representation to its universe. Though it had terrific visuals, the show wasted the opportunity to elevate Jewish storytelling. And that isnt to say all of Moon Knight needed to focus on Marc. On the contrary, it would have been nice if they had kept his original backstory of having a father who was a Hassidic Rabbi and a pacifist or the more recent tale of his experiences with antisemitism. The casting of Oscar Isaacs, a non-Jewish actor aside, it would have been cool if they had leaned in more at the possibility of Marc being Sephardic. It would have been amazing. But they needed Sephardic voices in writing and production departments to do that.

Instead, we got an abusive mother, and Marcs connection to Jewishness was jumbled at best and completely unexplained. How does his mom fit into his views on Judaism? What does Judaism mean to Marc? Because Marc is never shown participating in Jewishness. He doesnt attend either Shiva, or his mothers abuse has zero connection to Judaism. Leaving Marcs relationship with his heritage vague and erased at worst. A few well-placed Afikomens do little for Jewish audiences. The closest thing we get to authentic Judaism is the Kippah crying scene in his childhood neighborhood that has zero emotional connection for the audience. Is Marc crying over his Kippah? Is he crying over his dead abusive mom? His lost childhood? His brother? What does the Kippah have to do with anything?

Historically, Marvel had terrific Jewish creators like Jack Kirby and Chris Claremont turning the company and their characters into a household name. We also had incredible Jewish characters who spoke about bigotry and antisemitism. We had a revelation about Magnetos Jewish identity; we had Kitty Pryde talking about antisemitism and stopping a vampire by the power of her faith, written by Chris Claremont. We even had a comic where Magnet fought the Red Skull written by Mark Gruenwald. We had Billy Kaplan identify as a gay Jewish Avengers fanboy in Avengers, the Childrens Crusade by Allan Heinberg.

More recently, Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four (2018). And Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman in Empyre had a Jewish wedding. Both ceremonies included Jewish individuals wearing kippahs, a huppah, breaking the glass, and the same Rabbi. Kudos to Marvel for giving us an official Avengers Rabbi.

Wiccan and Hulklings Jewish wedding.

As Jewish people, we get moments of Jewishness, like weddings or an occasional Hanukkah story woven between Christmas specials. But it has been too long since a story related to a characters Jewish identity. Regarding Jewish history and Jewish identity, Marvel comics are all too happy to flaunt Jack Kirbys work and celebrate the characters he created and co-created. Every documentary mentions Jews who turned Marvel into a household name. And yet, it acts as though antisemitism ended at the same time as World War II when it went nowhere and has increased exponentially, particularly in the last ten years.

So, for all the benefits Marvel and the entire comic book industry have reaped off Jewish men and women, where is the representation? Where are the stories?

There is a distinct lack of Jewish representation behind the scenes and the companys far too easy dismissal of erasure based on oh, well, this is how were writing it or well, thats not central to the story. Unfortunately, this logic is similarly reflected in the MCU, which worries Jewish fans as more Jewish characters are rumored to appear in future projects.

But this isnt just a Marvel problem. Its an industry problem; whether were talking about DC comics or the movie industry, this is a broad issue: lack of Jewish creators, lack of Jewish stories, lack of representation of Jewish superheroes on-screen aside from an occasional Afikomen here and there. DC is bringing Atom Smasher in their Black Adam film. Will the characters Jewish identity be referenced? Probably not. Hes certainly not played by a Jewish actor. When was the last time a Jewish character was featured in a Jewish-related storyline at DC?

Every time a Jewish person mentions that erasing Magentos origin as a Jewish Holocaust survivor is a problem or wanting a Jewish actor to play Magento, the excuses start, each one more ludicrous than the next antisemitism quickly follows.

So what is the answer? What can Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios do to address this problem? First and foremost, they must acknowledge that there is a problem. Antisemitism is a form of bigotry, not unlike many others. Second, recognize and incorporate Jewish identity into Jewish characters. Its doable. Thirdly, hire more Jewish writers who are proud and unapologetic about their Jewish identity; hire them to write and draw the comics and help produce your films and television series for these characters.

Lastly, put a little effort into research, talk to Jewish people, not just the reform temple down the street, but the orthodox temple, walk among the Sephardic communities in California or the Kavkaz communities in New York, and listen to Mizrahi voices, learn from Ethiopian Jewry, or Russian Speaking Jewry, and understand the beauty and diversity of Judaism. It sounds like a lot, but hiring Jewish creators and actors for the MCU will help bridge the gap and create more unique and incredible storytelling. With at least four Jewish characters headed to the MCU, Magneto, Kitty Pryde, Ben Grimm, and Billy Kaplan, the fear of erasure is real. Marvel comics and Marvel studios need to do better when it comes to Jewish representation.

Marvels Jewish Voices: Where Are They?

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Marvel's Jewish Voices: Where Are They? - Comic Watch

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Posted By admin on August 20, 2022

Boudin deserved to go

The Chesa Boudin drumbeat in J. bespeaks a bias unbecoming the Jewish newspaper of Northern California (Ousted San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin will not run this year, citing family needs, online, Aug. 4).

Boudins brief office-holding emanated from ranked-choice voting, which should next year be repealed by San Francisco voters.

Hes a product of billionaire George Soros putsch to elect district attorneys who abhor bail, imprisonment and police. (Virginia-based Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund reported in June that Soros spent more than $40 million from 2014 to 2021 supporting Boudin and other so-called progressive such candidates.)

Even in liberal San Francisco, 55 percent of primary election voters on June 7 ousted criminal defense attorney Boudin. Cant he understand the voters point? And why not mention recall backers who are Jewish, such as campaign manager Lilly Rapson and campaign consultant Rich Schlackman, and donors David Sacks and Shorenstein Realty Services (CEO Brandon Shorenstein)?

Judge Quentin L. Kopp (Ret.)San Francisco

Judy Gumbos apparent failure to show any understanding of the underside of the movement that she so fondly remembers should be challenged (Yippie Girl: In memoir, Judy Gumbo writes about 1960s Jewish activists, the Chicago 7 and defeating the FBI, July 22).

Julius Rosenberg, whom she revered, was the longtime head of a Soviet spy network in the United States. He and others stole nuclear secrets and turned them over to a very hostile foreign power. While Julius and Ethel Rosenberg should not have been executed, there can be no doubt of their culpability in this extraordinary compromise of national security.

The Soviet propaganda films that Ms. Gumbo affectionately remembers came from the regime of Joseph Stalin, the man whose penchant for violence and mass murder rivaled that of Hitler. The facts of history are plain. In 1932-1933 there was the Holodomor, the forced starvation in Ukraine. Later that decade came the Great Terror. Each of these events took millions of innocent lives. Millions more perished in gulags. Our own community should never forget the antisemitic Doctors Plot arrests and trials that went on from 1951 to 1953. One can but imagine the fate that would have befallen Russian Jews had Stains death not intervened.

We should always seek to have a greater understanding of history. Hopefully Ms. Gumbos failure to do so is not shared by many.

Steve AstrachanPleasant Hill

I had to miss the LChaim Jewish Food and Wine Festival on Aug. 7, so Im wondering if there might be another chance to try some of Nina Safdies amazing-looking cookies? (Sephardic cookies at LChaim food and wine fest, July 18)

Your article said she doesnt usually bake, but I had to ask. I was so disappointed to miss them.

Alison DonigerBerkeley

Ashamed to be a San Franciscan by birth what gives? Time off for Muslim holidays but not Jewish? (San Francisco school board votes to close schools on two Muslim holidays, online, Aug. 10)

The board of the San Francisco Unified School District bends backwards so far that it blatantly demonstrates discrimination so obvious it is laughable.

Fairness and equality out the window? Come now, SFUSD board, you can do better.

If a school system closes for one religions holidays, it must shut down for the holidays of other minority religions. I have long been a proponent of minimizing our countrys celebration of the Christian holidays. I am certain there are more worthwhile projects, such as teaching the children of recent arrivals solid English language skills, so they can flourish and succeed. Public schools rely on diversity to maintain their relevance and importance.

Karen LeviPotomac, Maryland

J. is to be commended for reporting that Theresa Montao, co-founder of Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, equivocated when asked if the movement supported the antisemitic genocidal BDS movement. (Hayward school district defends use of offshoot liberated ethnic studies group, Aug. 2).

In fact, Montao has a long antisemitic track record. In a 2021 webinar, she called out by name the Anti-Defamation League as one of several white supremacist, right-wing conservative organizations.

She has also signed on to the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, the only Jewish country on Earth.

Richard ShermanMargate, Florida

This is a sorry situation. Every month, Women of the Wall tries to hold services at the main Western Wall plaza and is still facing harassment (I went to Israel for my bat mitzvah at the Western Wall but an angry ultra-Orthodox mob tried to stop it, online, Aug. 1).

Meanwhile, people who dont approve of egalitarian prayer services (or womens minyanim) are disrupting the services at the Ezrat Yisrael, the area that has been set aside for egalitarian prayer.

It is time for the Israeli government to assert its authority, stating that violence will not be tolerated in holy places and demanding that the police enforce the non-harassment policy.

Anyone wishing to pray in the Haredi controlled portion of the Kotel must follow the rules of the Orthodox Rabbinate, and anyone attempting to disrupt mixed prayers or womens minyanim should be barred from the Ezrat Yisrael.

Toby F. BlockAtlanta

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LETTERS: Sorry situation at Kotel; SFUSD wrong on Muslim holidays J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2022

Israeli soldiers will not be allowed to travel over Saudi Arabia and Oman on route to destinations in the Far East according to a report by the Hebrew language website of Israel Hayoum on Monday.

The report explained that the decision means Israeli soldiers and permanent personnel of the military "will now have great difficulty reaching destinations in the East, including Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, India, parts of China, Seychelles and other destinations in the Far East."

The news website also said that flights from Europe to the Far East travelling over the two countries and Iran will also be off limits to Israeli military personnel.

Last week Israel's national carrier El Al said it expected approval for its flights to use Omani airspace in "a matter of days", in a move that was considered to be a big boost for the flag carrier's Asian routes.

Speaking to reporters after El Al issued second-quarter results, Chief Executive Dina Ben-Tal said the airline had already received approval to fly over Saudi Arabia but also needed to fly over Oman to bypass Iran and save time for journeys to Asia.

Last month, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said in a statement that the kingdom's airspace was now open to all carriers, including those of Israel, following a trip by US President Joe Biden as part of his Middle East tour which included Israel. Israel's El Al and smaller Israeli rival Arkia later said they had applied for permission to fly over both Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Oman is yet to formally approve Israeli planes flying over its airspace, despite maintaining limited relations with Israel.

READ: Qatar: FIFA hospitality site lists Palestine instead of Israel

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Hebrew media: Israel soldiers will not be allowed to fly over Saudi Arabia, Oman - Middle East Monitor

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2022

There are a variety of ways to worship and praise Jesus and our heavenly parents. A common one is through music, song, and poetry, which we use through the songs and hymns of Zion. These were not uncommon in previous dispensations as well. We encounter poetry in a variety of places in the Old Testament, where it is often embedded into the larger narrative. For example, readers of the Old Testament encounter poetry in Exodus 15 (Mosess Song of the Sea), Judges 5 (Deborahs Song), and 2 Samuel 22 (which parallels Psalm 18). Many books of the Bible are primarily composed of poetry, such as the book of Job and the Psalms. In fact, the prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied in poetic forms, meaning that learning to read ancient poetry will make us better able to read prophetic texts. To help us be better readers of the biblical text, it can be useful to learn a little bit about how ancient Hebrew poetry was structured.

Like all languages, Hebrew poetry draws on a wide variety of forms and structures, although these are not always the same as in English. Whereas English poetry is often characterized by distinctive rhyming or metrical patterns, poetry in the Hebrew Bible has no discernible rhyme or meter. Hebrew does use techniques such as acrostic and metaphor. For example, in Psalm 29 the appearance of Jehovah is described in terms of a thunderstorm, where the glory of God thundereth (Psalm 29:3). This thunder breaks tree branches (29:5), brings lightning (29:7), and causes the early birth of animals (29:9). Hebrew also uses acrostic structures, where a psalm or poem will all begin with a specific letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Probably the most famous example of this is Psalm 119, which is actually 21 separate psalms, each one an acrostic where every verse begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. (These are the letters at the beginning of each part of Psalm 119 in the King James Version).

Although Hebrew poetry had a variety of poetic tools at its disposal, the primary marker of poetic material in the Hebrew Bible (especially in English translations) is the use of parallel structures, in which one poetic statement is intensified by the following statement. The use of these structures is called parallelism. As noted, Hebrew poetic structures appear in every book in the Old Testament, but are especially common in Job, in Psalms, and in the Prophetic Books. The best way to explore and understand parallelism is by looking at specific examples from the scriptures to illustrate how this poetry works. In what follows, we will look at examples of parallelism from the scriptures.

Probably the most common form of poetic parallelism is synonymous parallelism, where the intensifying statement is a restatement of the first statement. There are numerous examples of this in the book of Psalms. For example, Psalm 8:4 famously asked, What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? The poetic parallelism is easier to see if the verse is set into parallelistic stanzas, like so:

What is man that thou art mindful of him?

The son of man that thou visitest him?

These two questions show synonymous elements repeated as part of the intensifying process. Man (Hebrew enosh, meaning human being) is parallel to son of man (Hebrew ben adam, also meaning human being). Mindful of him is likewise parallel to visitest him. Instead of being two separate or opposite statements, the Psalmist here is poetically saying the same thing twice.

Often, the parallel restatement can help to clarify how the ancient author understood parallel concepts. For example, Psalm 19:79 is a list comprising the various blessings that come from keeping Jehovahs commandments. The first parallels in the list include various statements about the commandments: The law of the Lord is perfect, the testimony of the Lord is sure, the statutes of the Lord are right, the commandment of the Lord is pure, the fear of the Lord is clean, and the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Note how the Psalmist poetically compares law, testimony, statutes, commandment, fear, and judgments. These are connected to perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous. Poetic parallelism shows how all of these concepts interrelate and help form the Psalmists understanding of Gods laws and commandments.

Emotions and Hard Questions

These intensifying parallels can be quite beautiful, and really serve as a reminder of what the Lord told Emma Smith that the song of the righteous is a prayer unto [him] (Doctrine and Covenants 25:12). One of the beautiful things about the poetry in the scriptures is how it shows how the ancient Israelites felt about and worshiped Jehovah. The Psalmist in Psalm 51 expresses his deep sorrow and contrition:

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions:

And my sin is ever before me (Psalm 51:23).

I love the beauty of the Psalmists confession here. He knows that he has sinned, and there is only one place where he can turn for help.

There is beauty in the willingness of the Psalms to express its feelings and to look for hard questions. The various authors of the Psalms convey the full range of human emotions, from the sorrow of sin to joy to fear to despair. Although Jesus himself famously quoted it, Psalm 22:1 expresses the despair that many of us have felt: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Psalmist goes on to ask in a parallelistic construction:

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not

And in the night season, and am not silent (Psalm 22:2).

Because the Psalms are poetry and are individual expressions of personal feeling, they are great for reading when we feel all alone. There are times in our lives when God feels distant from us. The poetry of the Bible, including and especially the Psalms, reminds that we are not alone in feeling this way.

Parallelism finds it way into many other parts of our scripture. 2 Nephi 4:1735 is often called Nephis Psalm because Nephi uses poetry and poetic structures to express his sorrow over his fathers death and his own struggles. Note the parallelism in passages such as:

Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin

Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul (2 Nephi 4:28).

Similarly in the New Testament we find examples such as in Marys song of praise (historically called the Magnificat), that she begins:

My soul doth magnify the Lord,

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior (Luke 1:4647).

Recognizing the role that poetic parallelism plays in the scriptures, not just in poetic books like Job or the Psalms, deepens our understanding of how the ancient scriptural authors communicated their thoughts about their interactions with a loving God. As with modern Latter-day Saints and the hymns of Zion, some things are easier said through song and poetry. As we read the scriptures and see how many ancients expressed their love and quest for God, it can help us in our own godly walk.

You may also like: Why study Psalms for 3 weeks straight in Come, Follow Me? The reasons might surprise you

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2022

Tel Aviv [Israel], August 16 (ANI): Israeli President Isaac Herzog unveiled the Hebrew translation of the book Indians at Herods Gate written by the former Ambassador of India to the US, UK and Israel Navtej Sarna on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its independence on Monday.

The Indian Embassy in Israel hosted an event attended by several dignitaries, including Israeli political leaders, diplomats and business leaders. Both the Israeli President and current Ambassador Sanjeev Singla gave final strokes to a painting by artist Akanksha Rastogi, marking the completion of 75 years of Independence of India.

75 yrs of vibrant & multicultural democracy! On 75th anniversary of Indias Independence, Embassy of India, Tel Aviv held a reception in Tel Aviv which was graced by the Israeli President Isaac Herzog. During the celebrations, Israeli President Isaac Herzog unveiled the Hebrew translation of the book Indians at Herods Gate, written by Ambassador Navtej Sarna. Imparting the colour of friendship! President of Israel Isaac Herzog & Ambassador Sanjeev Singla gave final strokes to a painting by artist Ms. Akanksha Rastogi, marking the completion of 75 yrs of Independence of India, the Indian Embassy said in on Facebook.

According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, Indian Ambassador Singla in a speech noted that Herzogs father oversaw the transformation of relations between the two nations.

Today we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of Indias independence and 30 years of full diplomatic relations between India and Israel. Mr. President, as we are aware, it was during the presidency of His Excellency Chaim Herzog that our bilateral diplomatic ties were upgraded to full ties, Singla said as quoted by Israel Hayom.

He further touted Indias longstanding embrace of its Jewish compatriots.

Indeed, the civilizational bonds between India and Israel, enrich our contemporary understanding of the relations. Down through the centuries, the Jewish community has thrived in India, in harmony with other communities. And it is rare in Jewish history, that you had a long continuous period where you thrived and freedom and equality as you did in India. And I must say that we Indias are proud of that. For several decades, the Indian diaspora its a word we learn from you in Israel has remained a positive and industrious force supporting Israel and connecting our two countries, Singla said, according to the Israeli publication.

Meanwhile, in his video message, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said, India is a proud democracy rooted in deep history and tradition. It is also an innovation superpower changing the world for the better. Thats why Israelis love India and the people. Thats why tens of thousands of Israelis visit India each year. Lapid also noted that Israel looks forward to the next 75 and beyond. We look forward to seeing the next chapter in India is a wonderful story unfold, and were excited to be a part of the story as a partner, ally, and friend.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday thanked Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid for sending greetings on Indias 76th Independence Day. He also expressed confidence in the ambitious vision of the India-Israel partnership.

Thank you for your warm greetings on Indias Independence Day, Prime Minister Yair Lapid. Confident that our countries will realize the ambitious vision of the #IndiaIsrael partnership, Jaishankar Tweeted today.

India announced its recognition of Israel on September 17, 1950. Soon thereafter, the Jewish Agency established an immigration office in Bombay. This was later converted into a Trade Office and subsequently a Consulate. Embassies were opened in 1992 when full diplomatic relations were established.

Since the upgradation of relations in 1992, defence and agriculture formed the two main pillars of our bilateral engagement. In recent years, relations have seen rapid growth across a broad spectrum of areas and the future vision of the cooperation is of a strong hi-tech partnership as befits two knowledge economies.

India is the only country wherein Israel has the position of Water Attache to help share Israeli best practices and technologies for advancements in Indias water management sector. (ANI)

This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2022

For many, the start of the school year represents a fresh new beginninga time of goals, reunions, and renewed enthusiasm. For Tucson Hebrew Academy (THA), embarking on its 49th school year is an exciting time to look forward to a future of progress, strength, and growth. It is with this in mind that the THA Board of Trustees recently unveiled a new and updated set of Mission, Vision and Value Statements. These updated statements, which more accurately reflect THAs emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, will direct the ongoing development of Tucsons sole Jewish community day school.

Mission:The Tucson Hebrew Academy is our community Jewish Day School, providing differentiated, exemplary secular and pluralistic Jewish education in a nurturing, supportive environment steeped in Jewish values.

Vision: THA graduates will be critical thinkers, inspired to challenge their intellects, educated to support Israel, and lead lives enriched through Jewish traditions, culture, and wisdom.

Values:

The changes came as a result of over a year of careful study and analysis, in conjunction with surveying more than 25 Jewish day schools, collaborating with THAs Head of School, and integrating feedback given during a faculty listening session. The THA Board of Trustees also formed a task force which went on a listening tour, seeking input from teachers, alumni, alumni parents, and current parents. The new statements will feature prominently in both English and Hebrew on Tucson Hebrew Academys website, slated to undergo an exciting overhaul by the end of this year.

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2022

What a gift to discover 150 years of history in J.s newly digital archives. As the papers editor, and others, have encouraged, we here at the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living searched for our own name in the archives. We found dozens of news stories about SFCJL, and the Jewish Home, and the Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled, and the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home Society all names we have gone by in our organizations 150-year history.

The archives illustrate just how deeply connected our history is to that of Jewish San Francisco.

The earliest mention of the Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled was in 1896, an announcement of the organizations annual meeting, in the eighth published issue of The Emanu-El: The annual meeting of the Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled will occur Sunday, Jan. 12, 1896, at 2 p.m., at the Home, No. 507 Lombard St. Matters of urgent importance will be presented for consideration, among which are plans for the erection of a new building, methods by which the membership may be increased, and many other matters, all of which will tend to make this, perhaps, the most important meeting in the history of the Home Association.

A column from 1907 recounts Hanukkah festivities: [T]he first day of Chanukah was celebrated amidst merriment and rejoicing. Miss E. Martin assisted by Mrs. C. Klinger planned an excellent musical and literary program which gladdened and delighted the aged inmates. The old people were served with refreshments by the talented guests and the enjoyable afternoon concluded with appropriate remarks by President Samuel Pollack.

Numerous articles from 1920 to 1923 charted the path toward the Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled opening its impressive new facility on Silver Avenue, including Home Superintendent Gustave Schnees article describing the new building with its various rooms physicians offices, solariums, lounging rooms, kitchens, and more and the services provided within:

Everything conducive to the comfort and welfare of the [residents] was introduced, an auditorium wherein entertainments for their pleasure can be given, a beautiful synagogue where the eternal light will kindle their devotional fealty and spacious grounds where they can commune with nature. The location is one that is easily accessible, so that the friends and relatives of the [residents] can readily visit them, and when the grounds surrounding the home are properly developed the institution will be second to none in the United States, and one that the Jewish community can very well be proud of.

In the 1959 article This Is What Your Dollars Do, Barbara Levy describes how donor generosity makes it possible for a modern home for the aged to provide care in a home-like atmosphere:

Putting the home into the Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled is the primary consideration of its staff and executives. Caring for a capacity load of 207 residents a month half of them in the infirmary section this Jewish Welfare Federation agency is not merely concerned with feeding, housing and giving medical and nursing care to the senior citizens. The Homes philosophy is to get as many oldsters as possible out of bed and back into the mainstream of life, get them to be independent and self-sufficient, enable them to enjoy the golden years.

On the occasion of the dedication of our new Koret Center in 1984, an article titled How We Have Grown! gave a richly detailed history of our organization and its founding in 1871:

Yellowed and withering documents have been discovered authenticating the fact that the Jewish Home for the Aged was actually founded during the 1870s. Its history was obscured for many years by the loss of invaluable records in the disastrous San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906, and by a curious confusion in the overlap of two founding organizations which eventually merged as one in 1919.

As the article goes on to explain, from our origins as the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home Society (part of which continues to champion the cause of child welfare in San Francisco today), we would embark on a 150-year journey to serve elders in our community and innovate medical, rehabilitative and social care for older adults.

Over the years, the paper would cover items as varied as accounts of Jewish Home holiday celebrations in its social column to announcements of campus expansion and the construction of new buildings, and articles about our distinguished record bringing dignity to old age.

Notable names written in the many volumes of SFCJLs Tribute Book a chronicle of donor generosity going back to the early 1900s are frequently found among the notices of bnai mitzvahs, social gatherings, business ventures and charitable endeavors in decades of pages of J.

The stories of SFCJL uncovered in the archives are a chronicle of how senior care has evolved over the last century, and a testament to that which is unchanged SFCJLs deep commitment to older adults dignity, well-being, and sense of self and belonging. Our dedication to enriching the quality of life of older adults is fundamental to who weve always been.

Finding that self in the pages of history is a delightful reminder.

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2022

By Rabbi Adina Allen

Parashat Eikev(Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25)

We should each hold two slips of paper in our pockets, a well-known saying in Jewish tradition goes. On one should be written, The world was created for me, on the other, I am but dust and ashes. Attributed to Reb Simcha Bunem, an 18th century Hasidic rebbe, in its original context this teaching was meant to help us remember, when we feel lowly and depressed, that who we are and what we do matters, and, when we feel high and mighty, to reconnect us to a sense of humility and temporality. These two teachings are there to help bring us back into balance from feelings of self-importance on one hand, and feelings of worthlessness, on the otherto help us recalibrate somewhere in the middle. Yet, in these words we can also hear something elsesomething that, in an age of hyper-individualism and an increasing sense of isolation and loneliness, can help us to reground and reconnect not only to our own psychological center, but to the greater whole of which we are a part, and which is, inextricably, a part of us.

The reminder, I am but dust and ashes is not only a call to humility, but a call back down to earthto the literal matter from which we are made. From dust we came, to dust we shall return. We often quote this verse fromGenesis (3:19)at funerals, reminding us of the ephemerality of life. Yet, this image of dust conjures reminders not only of death, but also, perhaps ironically, of the steaming, teeming aliveness of the earth from which we come. On earth, dust generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources, such as soil lifted by wind and volcanic eruptions. In interstellar space, dust becomes visible in its reflection of starlight. Dust is a tiny piece of garden floating in the sky, a relic of the bubbling, churning inner core of the earth, a tiny mirror catching a momentary gleam of the galaxy. If we are dust and ashes, then we are also part bud and mud, mycelium and microorganisms, dew drops and daffodil, rainfall and redwood, the powder of pollen, and perfume of the freesia, fog and frog, mouse, moisture, mucus, seafoam and starling and all the billions of organisms and intricate systems and interrelationships that, very literally, in every moment, breathe us alive.

On one level dust and ashes is synonymous with nothing, simply a phrase to remind us that we are not so all-important. And yet, on another level we hear this verse teaching us about the incredible interconnection of all life and the processes that turn the dust and ashes of yesterday into the beating hearts of today. Made in the image of a God who self-identifies as Ehyeh asher Ehyeh (I will be that which I will be) we are more process than product, more system than solitary individual. We are not just one thing, but the ongoing aliveness of billions of things. Instead of humbly mumbling I am but dust and ashes, we might rather declare in pride, with praise, But dust and ashes I am!

Perhaps it is from here that true humility comes. Not from falsely lowering ourselves, but rather from reweaving our understanding of who we are into the fabric of life, stitching our self-conception back into the rich tapestry of our true nature: connected, supported, multi-faceted, interdependent. What if, rather than a slip of paper, we instead reminded ourselves with the dust and ashes and abundant treasures of the earth. In our pocket we might put a tiny seashell, a clump of moist soil, a seedpod, or a stonesomething that, when we hold it in our palm or run our fingers over its surface, brings our skin alive with resonance of all our relations and our relationship to the whole. Something that brings us not only mentally, but somatically and spiritually back to who we are and our place in the cosmos.

Perhaps then we wont need the extreme of the world was created for me to regain our sense of self, but rather, The world co-creates me and, in every moment, I am a part of co-creating the world. The world that is created for me is the world that always holds a place for that dust and ashes that I am to return to. It is a place that welcomes that bit of ash that returns to the cyclic rhythm of creation, where it becomes part of the next flowering, like the playful child who runs to the back of the line for another turn. Here the two sayings are knitted back into the tapestry of life and back into connection with each other.

This week inParashat Eikev, the Israelites are preparing to enter the Land of Milk and Honey that they have been wandering and moaning and growing towards for generations. The land is full of bounty and blessing, as all land is, in its own unique way. In preparing the Israelites to live on and tend to this land, God cautions, Beware lest your heart grow haughtyand you say to yourselves, My own power and the might of my own hand have created this wealth for me.(Deuteronomy 8:14& 17). God forecasts not only the self-importance that can come with the accumulation of power and wealth, but also the sadness, loneliness and isolation that come, no matter how much bounty we have, when we stop being able to feel our connection to the whole. Perhaps, then, it is when our hands are not gripped around human-made tools or slipped into our pockets holding human-made teachings, but rather are outstretched into the soil, up to the stars, into the stream, out towards one another, that our heart becomes fullnot of itself, but of love for and connection to the web of aliveness that is the truth of who and what we really are.

Rabbi Adina Allen, cofounder and creative director ofJewish Studio Project(JSP), is a spiritual leader, artist, writer, and educator whose work is dedicated to helping people reclaim their creativity as a powerful tool for spiritual connection and social transformation. A recipient of the Covenant Foundations 2018 Pomegranate Prize, Adina has pioneered a methodology for integrating Jewish learning, spiritual reflection, and creative expression that she has brought to thousands of Jewish educators, clergy, professionals, and lay leaders across the country. Adina wasordained by Hebrew Collegein 2014 where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow.

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