Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

Under a canopy of trees along the boundary of Edgewater and Rogers Park is a former synagogue that houses what might be, for some, an unlikely occupant. Housing artwork, books, periodicals, personal letters and photographs, as well as a collection of flogs and whips, the Leather Archives and Museum maintains and preserves materials relating to the history and development of the leather and kink subculture.

Founded by Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase, LAM started in a garage more than 30 years ago at the height of the AIDS pandemic. Museum Executive Director Gary Wasdin said Renslow helped start the museum after he saw history being lost when gay men died and their families often threw away everything.

Most research institutions did not collect these kinds of materials, said board member Gayle Rubin, who has researched leather communities for more than 40 years and is associate professor of anthropology and womens and gender studies at the University of Michigan. Sadomasochism and kink were generally treated as psychological disorders rather than living communities and subcultures.

Today, LAM operates under a mission to make leather, kink, BDSM and fetish accessible through research, preservation, education and community engagement. BDSM stands for bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism.

Leather, in this context, is a culture that developed in gay bars and motorcycle clubs in the mid-20th century and, as a form of self-expression, is a style, an identity, a community, and a subculture that celebrates kink, fetish, BDSM and sex, according to LAMs website.

Kink is anything unconventional, which makes it entirely subjective. Everyone is doing something that other people think is kinky, said Wasdin. Although much of LAM is focused on the gay community, its collections pertain to straight, queer, pansexual, bi and other orientations.

Gary Wasdin is executive director of the Leather Archives and Museum, which focuses on the leather and kink subculture. (Victor Hilitski/for the Chicago Tribune)

The library at the Leather Archives and Museum. (Victor Hilitski/for the Chicago Tribune)

LAM is a research library; the only difference, said Wasdin, is its perhaps a little more exciting. Its 2,000 linear feet of collections include a library of more than 6,000 volumes, more than 14,000 issues of 1,900 periodicals, and a database of nearly 60,000 objects of artwork, photographs, personal correspondence, flyers, motorcycle club badges and more.

Archivist Mel Leverich notes that the collection includes records of nonsexual activities, spaces and events (like those from gay campgrounds) because, culturally, the majority often views those as perverted and lumps them with sex. This means research can expand into broader topics, like consent, activism and fundraising for leather clubs; how kink created spaces for trans women writers; and even fashion.

As a result, people from all over the world visit Chicago to research queer and gender studies, sexuality and more, whether for a dissertation, a documentary film project, art projects, or just personal curiosity. As part of its mission, LAM offers an annual fellowship for a visiting scholar to research at the archives. The museum and collections are open to everyone.

Its critical in telling the story and maintaining the historical relevance of the leather and kink community, especially as a subsection, radicalized, sexually-free portion of the LGBTQ community. We are a counterculture within the LGBTQ mainstream, said board member Dionne Choc-Trei Henderson.

Rubin sees LAMs capacity to shift conversation: Most of the scholarly literature on (leather and kink) tended to focus on individual psychopathologies, she said. (LAM) has been a key aspect of shifting research attention to histories and social organizations, as well as art and literature.

Leather jackets, vests and other clothing inside the Leather Archives and Museum. (Victor Hilitski/for the Chicago Tribune)

Pins of the leather pride flag, right, and the rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBTQ movement. (Victor Hilitski/for the Chicago Tribune)

Board member Heather Raquel Phillips sees additional value in this history when addressing diversity and inclusion. As a former LAM scholar and person of color, she uses her documentary project Margin Margin to shed light on a dire need of space for people of color and beyond in the leather and kink community along the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.

Theres often a diminishing of what has come before this generation right now, Phillips said. If we dont look at the full history, we dont realize what has been done for us and what people have put in.

Choc-Trei Henderson, who identifies as a queer person of color, joined LAM because of its goal to ensure its collections are inclusive and accurately represent the community. Although it was founded by gay white men, Choc-Trei Henderson doesnt believe LAM intentionally omitted people of color. But its collections do show a historic lack of POC voices. Part of this imbalance, according to Choc-Trei Henderson, reflects societal wealth disparity. Not only is leather itself expensive, creating a class issue, but preserving that history also requires money.

If as a person of color, Im told my history isnt important and I dont keep it, that can create a catalyst that requires course correct, said Choc-Trei Henderson. Although she sees LAMs history as reflective of society at large, Choc-Trei Henderson notes that LAM has worked intentionally to balance the historical membership base with newer voices and actively look for those collections (from nonwhite groups).

Brendan Fernandes is a queer dancer who observed how both ballet and BDSM fetishize and challenge the body. Fernandes, born in Kenya and raised in Canada, attributes his sense of politics to punk rock and counterculture. I think a lot about post-colonial histories, he said. How do we dismantle systems? How do governments get challenged? Finding a space of community in counterculture and BDSM and kink as a queer POC, ... I still find a system of hierarchy.

LAM served as an important resource because it makes visible queer leather identity, which sometimes gets tabooed and hidden, Fernandes said, and it helped him research how, in BDSM, one finds freedom within restraint.

In ballet, Fernandes wanted to explore new ways to move and challenge a hierarchy that said theres only one way to do it. His projects The Master and Form, Restrain and Ballet and Kink stemmed from this research.

LAM offers significantly more than a peep show into a marginalized subculture. Its archives offer insight that extend beyond leather and kink, often in unexpected ways. Leather creates commonality out of our relationships in a way that popular culture hasnt done, Choc-Trei Henderson said. The bigger lesson that pop culture has to learn is how leather has built our culture from consent and intention.

Phillips sees how LAM offers tremendous potential in the removal of shame. If we demystified kink and removed shame from the conversation, then everything else is also able to be demystified and destigmatized, she said.

John W. Bateman is a freelance writer.

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

(July 24, 2022 / Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) The events surrounding the taking of hostages at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15 by Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British Pakistani armed with a pistol, received considerable attention and live coverage in the United States.

Following the escape of the hostages and the subsequent storming of the synagogue by law enforcementwhich resulted in the death of Akramdialogue and discussion ensued regarding issues of anti-Semitism in the United States, synagogue security and the Jewish communitys general sense of safety.

We undertook two simultaneously administered surveys of Jewish and non-Jewish Americans between February 1 and February 6, 2022, close enough to the Colleyville events for them to remain fresh in peoples memory and far enough away to allow for reflection and internalization of the ramifications of the experience.

Our data, on the whole, suggest the following:

The underlying trend in our data appears to show, in contrast to conventional wisdom and our previous research, an increased recognition that theideology of left-leaning sourcesspecifically woke ideology, and especially in the Jewish American samplebears some responsibility for anti-Semitism in the United States.What makes these data more convincing is that this behavior is not a shift away from blaming right-wing ideology and especially Trump-associated sources, but rather an expression of additional responsibility.

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This would be consistent with a recent study we conducted on U.S. campuses: Israeli campus professionals assessed that liberal and progressive groups represent the most significant source of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiment on campuses, rather than more conservative groups, who are viewed as generally supportive.

The relationship between Israel and the Jewish American community remains somewhat vague. While expressing general support for Israel, Jewish Americans still wish to exercise choice in distancing themselves when they disagree with Israeli policy or behavior. That alone may seem reasonable, but when combined with our data showing that most also see support for Israel as a reason for anti-Semitism, and a sizable minority (20%) do not equate anti-Israel behavior with anti-Semitic behaviora claim made by many anti-Israel organizations and individualswhat support actually means is unclear.

This finding is consistent with the conflict some see between support for Jewish nationalism in Israel, namely Zionism, and aversion to the concept of seeing Jews as a whole as a national identity, or as noted by James Loeffler, the obvious presence of Jewish nationalism in America coupled with the putative absence of a Jewish nation.

Gol Kalev touches on how anti-Jewish behavior is expressed today in his conceptualization of Judaism 3.0,where he posits the transformation of Judaism from a more religious element to a more national one (as in Zionism).As societies have evolved, so has the expression of anti-Jewish behavior. As Judaism has moved more into the national realm with the establishment of Israel, so has anti-Jewish behavior. Our data show that a sizable portion of people, including Jews, see a separation between anti-Jewish and anti-Israel behavior, even though a much lower amount calls for an unconditional separation from actual support for Israel.

So, it is possible to claim no apparent or stated objection to the Jewish religion while expressing anti-Jewish attitudes through objection to the Jewish national entity, namely Israel.By denying a Jewish connection to nationhood, one can declare immunity from charges of anti-Semitism. Both secularand religiousJewish and non-Jewish anti-Zionists have made and debated that claim.By institutionalizing the separation between religious and national definitions of Judaism, national-based anti-Jewish behavior is given a free pass and can claim not to be anti-Semitic, as we see in statements made by the BDS movement.

All this only amplifies the striking finding in our data regarding the widespread lack of awareness among Americans, including Jewish Americans, of any specific programs or efforts targeting anti-Semitism. This is despite the stated concern regarding anti-Semitism from Jewish organizations.While many Jewish and Israeli advocacy organizations claim to undertake these efforts, the impact on public consciousness remains low. We cannot offer a definitive explanation for why this is so, but one possibility that needs to be considered is that if such programs exist, they are not effectively applied in practice or carried out as efficiently as they should be.

As noted earlier, the interpretation of data is variable, but the data themselves are not. Our respondents were anonymous, which may account for the open expression of sentiment that is not always acceptable in some social circlesfor example, among those who may self-identify as liberal. Anonymity can sometimes create the opposite problem in survey research; for example, if group sentiment is present to intentionally mislead, as claimed in the case of Israeli elections. Our samples had no such motivation, and the consistency of their responses would lead one to conclude that they are, in fact, both valid and reliable. As such, this research is agnostic towards the data and ultimately apolitical, representing neither a right-wing nor left-wing orientation or analysis.

Irwin J. (Yitzchak) Mansdorf, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs specializing in political psychology.

This is an edited version of an article originally published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

Browse > Home / Featured Articles / Should an adopted child say Kaddish for their adoptive father or mother?

July 25, 2022 by Rabbi Raymond Apple

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Ask the rabbi.

DUCHANING IN THE DIASPORA

Q. Why dont the kohanim duchan (or duchen) in synagogue every day in the Diaspora like they do in Israel?

A. The kohanim blessed the people from a platform in the Temple known as a duchan, hence the word duchaning to describe the ceremony.

In Israel, people are used to daily duchaning; in the Diaspora it generally takes place only on festivals. Reasons include the following:

The kohen must be ritually pure when he duchans, and there is more likelihood of this on festivals.

The festival prayers say, Bestow on us the blessing of Your festivals, which suggests a link between festivals and blessing.

The kohanim have to bless the people with joy, and festivals evoke this emotion since the Torah says, vsamachta bchaggecha you shall rejoice on your festival. Why can there not be joy every day in the Diaspora? Because it was often a bitter experience to be a Diaspora Jew.

Some advocate duchaning when a festival falls on Shabbat, especially Yom Kippur. Some, especially Sephardim, duchan every Shabbat, though Ashkenazim note that peoples joy tends to be affected on Shabbat by thoughts of the problems which they will face the next day.

There is further concern that some of those who claim to be kohanim may be in error. Jews in the Diaspora were often confused about their lineage, whereas in Israel, greater care was exercised.

Rabbi Nathan Adler had thoroughly researched his kohanic background and duchaned every day. The Vilna Gaon wanted to institute daily duchaning but could not change the accepted practice.

The Baal HaTanya, the teacher of Chabad Chassidism, also saw no real reason not to duchan daily.

ADOPTION & KADDISH

Q. Should an adopted child say Kaddish for their adoptive father or mother?

A. The answer requires an understanding of the status of adoption in Jewish law.

Adoption of some kind was known from Biblical times; Moses was brought up by Pharaohs daughter, Ruths son by Naomi and the sons of Merab (Sauls daughter) by their aunt. Judaism sees it as a great act of piety and humanity to rear a neighbours child (Meg. 13a, Sanh. 19b).

But though poetically, the sources say that one who performs this mitzvah is as if they gave the child birth, adoption is not a halachic institution and the birth relationship is not eliminated. Thus the childs religion is determined by its natural mother, and in theory, Kaddish is required for a natural parent if their identity is known.

There is no strict duty of saying Kaddish for an adoptive parent, but as a mark of love and respect, an adopted child will certainly want to undertake it.

Rabbi Raymond Apple served for 32 years as the chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, Australias oldest and most prestigious congregation. He is now retired and lives in Jerusalem where he answers interesting questions.

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

Michal was 21 when she went for help with infertility to Rabbi Ezra Sheinberg an Israeli kabbalist who had a massive following of people seeking blessings and supernatural healings. After a year of counseling, the rabbi began hitting on Michal. You are not holy enough, he said, when she refused his advances. Maybe I made a mistake trying to help you. I thought you were on a higher level. In 2018 he was convicted of sexually molesting eight women, but gained early release in 2021.

Michals story is one of more than 80 anecdotes of abuse and harassment in the new book by Dr. Elana Sztokman, When Rabbis Abuse: Power, Gender, and Status in the Dynamics of Sexual Abuse in Jewish Culture (Lioness Press).

Sztokman never set out to write a book about sexually abusive rabbis.But when the anthropologist, who grew up Modern Orthodox in Flatbush, Brooklyn, started researching general abuse in the Jewish community,she says she was startled to discover how many of the abusers described by interviewees were rabbis.

Long before the #MeToo movement outed high-profile celebrities and clergy in American society, the Jewish community had suffered sexual abusers and predators of their own, many of them making newspaper headlines: A ritual-bath peeping rabbi, Bronx rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, who had naked sauna chats, a predatory top Reform rabbi, and two Yeshiva University rabbis accused of molesting boys in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

A rabbi in my high school molested schoolmates, and he was simply removed from my all-girls school and placed in the boys school, says Shlomit, who told Sztokman she had witnessed several rabbis abusing her classmates when she was in school. He then went on to become my community rabbi and had sexually inappropriate relationships with congregants. He was only removed a decade ago after a synagogue investigation.As an Orthodox Jewish educator in her 40s, Shlomit now witnesses this same sort of abuse happening to her peers.

Ironically, many of the 84 victims interviewed were themselves studying to be rabbis.I have been sexually harassed and sexually assaulted, attempted date rape, all the things the women experience in their lives, said Daliah, now a rabbi.

Of course, not all victims are women and not all abusers are men. Daniel, also a rabbi, offered a car ride to a director at his rabbinical school. But he wanted sex with me, and he argued back after I declined his multiple sexual advances. Finally, he asked for a hug I thought it was to say goodbye. The next thing he remembers is being sexually assaulted by him.

Rabbis who abuse have many tactics at their disposal, Sztokman writes, such as using spiritual and religious language to lure their victims and get them to do their bidding. She notes that they have retaliatory weapons, in synagogue that can deprive victims of things that are important to them.

After years of teenage involvement in her Conservative Jewish community, Leanne worked as a camp counselor in a Jewish summer camp when she was 19. Thats where she encountered an Orthodox rabbi who kept asking her out, cornering her alone, following her around camp, and writing sexually explicit songs for her. When she told the head of camp, to her surprise, everyone knew about him. The director told her, As a rabbi, he has a lot to offer, and suggested she just avoid him. I was so frustrated and fed up with that experience and with the tolerance for him that when I left camp that day, I essentially left any serious Jewish life.

In Hannahs first week in rabbinical school, she was invited to the apartment of an influential rabbi more than twice her age. When she walked in, the rabbi took his hand, put it on his crotch and said, See what you do to me?

Reporting abuse can be brutal in religious settings, given the prohibition against gossip and fear of anti-Semitism. Reactions of disbelief, blame-shifting, silencing, and sweeping under the rug seem quite consistent among Jewish settings, Sztokman writes. Case in point: half the Bronx naked sauna rabbis synagogue community supported him before he stepped down.

Many Jewish communal organizations seem to not have any reporting or training mechanisms whatsoever, she adds, though some believe this is changing and the systems are getting better with organizations combating abuse in the Jewish world. Still, safe reporting, protecting victims, and holding abusers responsible needs to be the norm, she writes.

As abusers make their comebacks in Jewish life despite allegations against them, Sztokman also includes recommendations for a better Jewish community.

As long as sexual abuse takes place in our community spaces, nothing in our culture can be trusted. And no place is truly safe. This should alarm anyone who cares about Jewish life, not just those who have been abused.

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How abusive rabbis prey on their own congregants: No one is safe - New York Post

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

SERRASTRETTA, Italy (AP) From a rustic, tiny synagogue she fashioned from her familys ancestral home in this mountain village, an American rabbi is keeping a promise made to her Italian-born father: reconnect people in this southern region of Calabria to their Jewish roots, links nearly severed five centuries ago when the Inquisition forced Jews to convert to Christianity.

In the process, Rabbi Barbara Aiello is also helping to revive Serrastretta, one of many small southern towns struggling with dwindling population, as young people leave in droves to find work and where each year deaths far outnumber births.

Besides the chatter of visitors who come to her synagogue, curious to learn about Judaism in predominantly Catholic Italy, the laughter of newly arrived children resounds in the town. This spring, the rabbi helped bring Ukrainian refugees, including some with Jewish roots, to live here for now, and Serrastrettas mayor hopes maybe permanently.

On a small wooden table near the synagogues entrance sits a yellowed family portrait. In the photograph, is the rabbis father, Antonio Abramo Aiello, as a child. Born in Serrastretta, he was studying for his bar mitzvah, the rabbi said, but before that religious coming-of-age ritual could take place, the young Aiello left with his family for the United States in 1923.

His daughter, Barbara, would be born in Pittsburgh and ordained a rabbi at the Rabbinical Seminary International in New York at age 51. Her synagogue is a recognized affiliate of the Reconstructionist movement, a small branch of American Judaism.

Before studying to become a rabbi, Aiello taught special needs children for many years, creating a puppet show to help teach kids about tolerance. After being ordained, she served at a synagogue in Florida for a few years before moving to Italy, where she first worked as a rabbi in Milan from 2004-2005. Then she realized her passion in serving as a rabbi in her late fathers native town.

When visitors arrive from abroad for ceremonies at her synagogue, Rabbi Aiello, who is 74, shows them the house in what had been the Jewish quarter in the nearby city of Lamezia Terme, where her father had been learning about his Jewish faith.

She points out a plaque which reads: In this quarter was active an industrious community of Jews from the 13th till the 16th centuries.

One recent summer evening, as Aiello, who wears a yarmulke and necklace with a small Star of David, walked by en route to the ancient neighborhood, a local resident, Emilio Fulvo, 73, leaped up from a bench to greet her. When he was 15, Fulvo recounted, genealogical research discovered that his family has Jewish roots.

Learning about his background made me feel free, Fulvo said. I knew something was missing while raised as a Catholic in southern Italy.

Families like his are known as Bnai Anusim, descendants, of those who were forced to accept Christian baptism and to publicly renounce their Judaism, the rabbi said.

In her family, legends were passed along that we were Jews, and we were expelled from Spain in 1492, as the Inquisition gathered steam, Aiello said. Eventually, the Aiellos made their way to the southern end of the Apennine mountains, where Serrastretta sits, perched atop a road winding through slopes thickly forested with beech, pine and chestnut trees.

The remoteness of many villages in Calabria, coupled with Italians tendencies to live in the same places for generations and the strength of oral traditions, helped keep alive what Roque Pugliese, a Jew in Calabria, calls the spark of Judaism even among those who dont realize they have Jewish heritage.

A physician who emigrated from Argentina, Pugliese recalled once hearing residents of a care home in Calabria sing an ancient song about Passover, softly, as if afraid to be overheard.

On a stone wall along a walkway that leads to Aiellos home and synagogue is a Star of David.

On a recent Friday afternoon, she set out a bowl of cherries and a tray of miniature pastries for those coming for a bat mitzvah sought by the Blum family of Parkland, Florida. They chose Aiello despite the great distance because, before becoming a rabbi, she had worked as a special needs educator, and their daughter, Mia, has autism.

Pushing a childs stroller up the steep street that leads to the synagogue was Vira, one of five Ukrainian mothers, who, with nine children among them, were brought to Serrastretta thanks to efforts by Aiello and logistical help from a Serrastretta native. Transportation and housing costs have been paid by donors, most of them Jewish, in Britain, the United States, Australia and Canada, the rabbi said.

Two of the women have since returned to Ukraine, including the wife of an Orthodox Christian priest. But Vira, who asked that her surname not be published because her husband, still in Ukraine, works for a government ministry, said she is considering settling in Serrastretta.

The first thing is my son, my only son, his life, his future, his safety, Vira said of 2-year-old Platon. Barbara invited us to a safe place. It was like really a miracle.

Vira is also grateful for the opportunity to learn about Judaism. Her grandmother, born in Crimea, is Jewish. But her father, a Russian, would take her to church, so she had never gone to a Jewish house of worship, she said. Aiello invited me to a bar mitzvah. It was a very beautiful experience that she opened her house to me.

The rabbi said she tells those curious about their past to embrace those (traditions) that make sense to you embrace all, embrace some, but understand that you were once Jewish (in your family) and we can connect you, reconnect you, if you so choose.

Mayor Antonio Muracca hopes at least some Ukrainians stay. These guests have created in a certain sense more vitality in our town, he said. Serrastretta has seen a shocking depopulation, the mayor said. There are so many old people, few children.

The towns population shrank from 4,000 in 2001 to 2,900 in 2020.

Serrastretta was long called the city of chairs, because generations of artisans handcrafted furniture from beech wood with seats fashioned from woven reeds. But demand for cheaper, mass-produced furniture decimated the trade.

Serrastrettas parish pastor, the Rev. Luigi Iuliano, invited Aiello to read a Psalm at Easter vigil services in April. With the rabbi there is no competition, jealousy.

We brought the First Communion kids to show them the Torah, the synagogue, to become aware that our faith in a certain way comes from the Hebrew faith, said Iuliano, a Serrastretta native.

Aiello, who describes herself as the first female rabbi in Italy and who runs Calabrias only synagogue, relies on destination weddings and bat and bar mitzvahs to boost her synagogues finances.

She is cut off from funding that derives from taxpayer donations in Italy. The Italian government only recognizes the Orthodox Jewish communities in Italy, whose official members number about 23,000, nearly half of those living in Rome and barely 200 living in southern Italy.

___

This version corrects that her synagogue is recognized by the Reconstructionist movement, and Aiello describes herself as the first female rabbi in Italy.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

Rabbi Mendel Goldstein, left, with his father Yisroel Goldstein at a National Day of Prayer service at the White House in May 2019. Yisroel was secretly cooperating with an FBI investigation at the time. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

By Louis KeeneJuly 20, 2022

The leadership of Chabad in San Diego asked the rabbi now leading the embattled Poway synagogue to resign this week after he rejected their oversight proposal. But the rabbi refused to step down.

The synagogue experienced both a shooting and a corruption scandal in recent years.

Rabbi Mendel Goldstein, who took over at Chabad of Poway after his father was named in an FBI investigation, has been locked in a battle with regional leadership for control of the synagogue for months. He says hes leading the fractured community out of turmoil.

But in a letter sent July 12 and obtained by the Forward, Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, who oversees Chabad institutions in the San Diego area, accused Goldstein of noncooperation with state and local Chabad leadership, which sought to implement direct supervision over him. The letter asked Goldstein to resign by 5 p.m. Monday, saying, We are sorry that it has come to this point.

Goldstein, who is in his early 30s, said on Tuesday he had not complied and has no plans to.

At stake is a Chabad community that has hardly strayed from the national spotlight since the attack during Shabbat services on Passover 2019 that killed a woman and injured three other worshippers. Among the injured was Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, the synagogues founder. He was honored at the White House, but he later turned out to be at the center of a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. That triggered a lawsuit over whether the synagogue was appropriately secured before the attack and in-fighting over governance.

After the FBI announced Yisroel Goldsteins guilty plea in July 2020, some congregants left the synagogue and tried to wrest power from Mendel Goldstein, one of his sons, who had taken over the pulpit months before the indictment became public. Yisroel Goldstein was sentenced in January to 14 months in federal prison, though he was released to house arrest after three months under a pandemic program to reduce prison populations. Hes believed to now be living at his old hilltop mansion in Poway.

His son Mendel Goldstein was not a subject of the federal investigation, and initially enlisted three outside advisers an accountant, a lawyer and an insurance agent to serve as the synagogues board of directors. But after Goldstein hesitated to yield control of Friendship Circle, a related nonprofit that his father had exploited in his scheme, the board resigned. Goldsteins father-in-law, Rabbi Yisrael Greenberg, became the synagogues chief financial officer.

The Vaad of San Diego, the umbrella organization for San Diego Chabad institutions led by Fradkin, sent Goldstein a letter April 1 informing him of its plan to appoint a senior shliach that is, another rabbi to oversee him for an undetermined period of time.

The timing will be simple and straightforward, reads the letter, which was obtained by the Forward. If Rabbi Mendel Goldstein does a good job in rebuilding the community, bringing it together and growing it, all while meticulously adhering to the policies of Chabad of S. Diego and Chabad of California, he will be placed in charge of Chabad of Poway as the Senior Shliach sooner.

The letter implied that Chabad of California, led by Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, supported the decision.

Goldstein appealed to Chabad International Headquarters a few days later, saying in an April 4 letterthat Rabbi Fradkin and other San Diego Chabad leaders have been trying to marginalize him since he took over in 2021.

Goldstein said the congregation has been growing steadily under his leadership. He said he told the Chabad leaders that more than 200 people attended a Purim carnival; that the kiddush after Shabbat services at the synagogue was consistently sponsored; that he has been officiating weddings and bnai mitzvah; and that there is a waiting list for the synagogues preschool.

I have been met with opposition and obstruction at every turn from Rabbi Fradkin and every member of the Vaad that ever dealt with Chabad of Poway over the past 18 months, Goldstein wrote in his letter, and I have consistently sought to find a path forward in a responsible and practical manner.

Two people familiar with the situation have said that Goldstein sees the move to appoint a shliach to oversee him as a path to pushing him out.

Reached for comment, Goldstein said he was proud of the transparency we have instituted within every element of our organization. This includes, of course, lay leaders who are familiar with all the monetary aspects, along with stringent financial controls.

He added: No doubt there are people who feel hurt by the events of the past years. I remain hopeful that with time and effort, we will regain trust and continue to build a thriving and welcoming community.

In requesting Goldsteins resignation, the Vaad, which comprises Fradkin as well as Rabbis Dovid Smoller and Yeruchem Eilfort, said Goldsteins refusal to allow two Vaad designees to provide oversight was impeding the communitys ability to heal.

The ultimate power cannot lie in one persons hands, as it did with Yisroel Goldstein and now lies with you, and you alone. This is obvious, their letter said. Our Vaad and constituents believe this. Past Chabad of Poway supporters and members agree. Common sense dictates the same.

Fradkin did not return a phone message left on his voicemail Tuesday.A message was left with Cunins secretary on Wednesday.

Current and former congregants remain split over the synagogues leadership. Some never gave Mendel a chance, saying the family name was tainted.Others think the son is aptly steering the community out of his fathers mess.

And a few who remained members of the synagogue after Yisroel Goldsteins guilty plea have since left, saying Mendel lost their trust by failing to follow through on his promise of transparency for example, by not hiring a forensic accountant to audit the synagogues finances as he said he would.

For some people it took a while to sink in, said Solomon Pinczewski, an early member of Chabad of Poway who left the synagogue after the FBI announced the investigation.

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Chabad asked the new rabbi in Poway to resign. He said no. - Forward

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

When Jews mourn the two destructions of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple on the 9th of Av (August 7 this year) they begin by reading the Biblical Book of Lamentations, and feel tears of sorrow, pains of grief, and the agony of loss.

But in Hebrew the Biblical Book of Lamentations is named EaichaHow? So we also should silently think about: How did it happen? How come it happened? Who was responsible: our foreign enemies? our political and religious leaders? our own hate filled, inflexible, sectarianism? our God?

Thus we add to the Biblical Book of Lamentations; the rabbinic anthology of Midrashim (traditional glosses) about how, why and whoEaicha Rabba.

The rebirth of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel makes it more important than ever for our generation and its leaders to turn from 9th of Av mourning to seeking an understanding of the lessons our Rabbis learned from these two national historical catastrophes.

The Talmud (Gitten 56a) reports: The destruction of Jerusalem came through a Kamtza and a Bar Kamtza in this way. A certain man had a friend Kamtza and an enemy Bar Kamtza. Once he made a banquet and said to his servant, go and bring Kamtza. The man went and brought Bar Kamtza.

When the host found Bar Kamtza there he said, You gossip about me, what are you doing here? Get out. Bar Kamtza replied, Since I am here let me stay and I will pay you for whatever I eat and drink. The host refused. Then let me pay you for half the cost of the banquet. No! Then let me pay for the whole banquet. The host refused and took Bar Kamtza by the arm and pulled him outside.

Bar Kamtza said to himself, Since the Rabbis were sitting there and did not stop him, this shows that they agreed with him. I will go and inform against them to the (Roman) Government. He went and told the Governor that the Jews were disloyal.

The Governor asked how he could test them. He replied, Send them an offering (to the Temple) and see if they offer it. So he sent with him a fine (unblemished) calf. On the way, Bar Kamtza made a small blemish on the calfs upper lip, in a place where we (Jews) count it as a blemish but they (the Romans) do not.

The Rabbis were inclined to (compromise and) offer it (on the Alter). Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulos said to them, People will say that (we approved) blemished animals to be offered on the alter. Then they proposed to kill Bar Kamtza so he could not go inform against them, but Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulos said to them, Is a person who makes a blemish on a consecrated animal to be put to death?

Rabbi Yohanan (ben Zakkai) thereupon remarked, Through the humility (scrupulousness) of Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulos; our sanctuary was destroyed, our Temple burnt, and we ourselves exiled from our land.

According to the Talmuds account, what or who was responsible for the catastrophe? Was it just bad luck; the servants unintentional mistake in bringing the wrong man? Was it the hosts stubborn rigidity or unrelenting hostility to someone who gossiped about him? Why didnt the rabbis who were there intervene? Shaming someone in public is considered akin to murder in rabbinic thought.

Perhaps, like some ultra-orthodox Rabbis today, they didnt rebuke the hosts refusal to have anything to do with someone he looked down upon, because they were busy checking if the food was kosher enough? Perhaps those Rabbis thought there is no reason to compromise with transgressors.

Bar Kamtza is the pivotal character in this tragedy. His intention was to humiliate the Rabbis, as he was humiliated, by slandering them to the governor (he was a gossip, which is also akin to murder). But a charge of disloyalty is a dangerous charge since the governor will demand proof.

Did it occur to Bar Kamtzah that the priests would refuse to offer the calf? The Rabbis are willing to compromise the ritual purity of the offering and desecrate the alter to avoid insulting the government, but Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulos objects. Is he a man of principle, a dangerous fanatic, or a fool? The Rabbis propose killing Bar Kamtzah to shut him up, but Zechariah ben Avkulos again objects. Does he lack the guts to do whatever is needed to prevent a war which will kill tens of thousands?

Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai says Rabbi Zechariah ben Avkulos humility (a lack of willingness to act decisively to transgress the Torah in order to save it) doomed the Temple. Does humility prevent Orthodox Rabbis today from solving the problems of thousands of Orthodox women whose husbands will not give them a divorce? Do they lack the guts to prohibit their followers from smoking and overeating while they keep adding stricter and stricter rules for food and female dress?

This Rabbi is known today only from his role in this catastrophe. He is called Rabbi Zechariah ben Eucolus in an account in Eicha Rabba where it is said that he was present at the party and could have prevented Bar Kamtzahs humiliation but did not intervene.

Rabbi Yose says that Zechariah ben Eucolus meekness burnt down the Temple. But Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that Zechariah ben Amphicalleus was a leader of a group of extremist priests who half way through the revolt overthrew the more moderate rebellious priests. Perhaps Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, who lived in Jerusalem during the rebellion, used humility ironically to indicate a legalistic, narrow minded extremism dressed up as modesty.

Perhaps this is why the Talmud says that while the first Temple was destroyed because of three evils: idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed; the Second Temple was destroyed at a time when people occupied themselves with Torah, with Mitsvot, and with giving charity. Yet unfettered hatred prevailed. This should teach us that unrestrained hatred is deemed as evil as all the three sins of idolatry, immorality and bloodshed together. (Yoma 9b)

How could people who occupied themselves with Torah study, Mitsvot and Tsadakah (charity) engage freely in hate? The Talmud records this amazing statement, Rabbi Yohanan said: Jerusalem was only destroyed, because they judged by Din Torah (rigorous/strict Law). Should they have judged by the brutal (Roman) laws?(no,) but they judged by strict law, and did not go Lifnim miShurat haDin (beyond the letter of the law). (Bava Mezia 30b).

Strict halakah and narrow minded zeal easily lead to anger and hate, which unfettered and unrestrained lead to disaster. It is not surprising that Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai openly criticizes the failure to judge people with understanding, flexibility and loving tolerance. He was the only Rabbi in the Talmud to openly declare a Torah commandment abrogated due to changed circumstances.

All the rest of the Rabbis accomplished the same thing by legal reinterpretation rather than an open ruling. The Jewish people, especially in Israel today, need another Yohanan ben Zakkai to liberate the thousands of women who cannot get remarried because their husbands have disappeared or are refusing to give them a get (divorce).

The Quran refers to Prophet Abraham as a community or a nation: Abraham was a nation/community [Ummah]; dutiful to God, a monotheist [hanif], not one of the polytheists. (16:120) If Prophet Abraham is an Ummah then fighting between the descendants of Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is a civil war and should always be avoided.

If all Arabs and Jews can live up to the ideal that the descendants of Abrahams sons should never make war against each other is the will of God; we will help fulfill the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.In thatdayIsrael will joina three-partyalliance with Egyptand Assyria,a blessing uponthe heart.The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.(Isaiah 19:23-5)

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The 9th Of Av: On Failures Of Political And Religious Leadership OpEd - Eurasia Review

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

Rangers new signing Rabbi Matondo is a huge talent and could become a huge player for the team if his pre-season is anything to go by.

The Gers signed the Welsh international from Schalke for an undisclosed fee and has impressed in the two games he has played for the club, already scoring a goal and providing an assist.

Former Rangers frontman Jermain Defoe revealed that he told the winger that he could not pass up the opportunity to sign for the club, and told him how the club will help him progress as a player.

Defoe said: I actually messaged Rabbi because he is part of the same agency as me.

I messaged him before the deal was done and said good luck, and just make sure you sign a contract because you will love it.

As a young lad, its such a good experience for him to come here and I think that will help him in the long run.

Huge talent

The early showings are looking promising for Matondo, who if all goes to plan, could become a hugely important for Giovanni van Bronckhorsts team.

The Welsh winger has frightening pace and uses his electric speed regularly to create threatening situations and set up teammates.

However, the winger is more than just a speedster, as he is also equipped with neat skill and close control beyond his years, making him a threat to opposition defences.

He is calm in possession and can beat full-backs with ease as well as make dangerous runs in behind defences to get onto the end of through balls.

The winger, who was born in Liverpool, has been a talent since his youth team days but one thing that was missing from his game was consistent goals, having only scored more than five goals in a season once before last year.

Despite this, he did score nine goals and provide two assists in 26 appearances last season in the Jupiler Pro League, and will be looking to build on the 11 goal contributions he had last season.

If Rangers can turn him into a goal-scoring winger, while his pace and creativity continue to improve, the 21-year-old could become a huge success at Ibrox.

In other Rangers, news, the club are looking to announce the signing of Ridvan Yilmaz.

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View: Rangers have a real talent on their hands with Rabbi Matondo - Ibrox News

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

A cross-denominational group of rabbis has said this weeks extreme weather is down to climate change and urged British Jews to do all they can to help meet the net zero carbon target.

In a statement, the Rabbinic team at EcoJudaism pleaded with communities to work with us in raising the profile of getting to net zero as soon as possible and certainly by 2050. They quoted the great sage Hillel, saying: If not now, when?

It follows a week of record high temperatures in the UK, the heat having led to several deaths across the country. Climate change, specifically the increase in atmospheric temperatures caused by fossil fuel emissions, are contributing to the present extreme weather we are facing, they said.

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Extreme weather may be something we experience more often, and in a more intense way. This is a time for us all to be absolutely clear about the effects of climate change on our lives, livelihoods, and communities. The knock-on effects on health, employment, and prosperity will not be long in coming.

The EcoJudaism team includes the United Synagogues Rabbi David Mason, Liberal Judaisms Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich, Sephardi Rabbi Jeff Berger, Senior Masorti Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, and Reform Rabbi Mark Goldsmith.

They asked community members to make sure that their synagogues had committed to a pathway for lowering its carbon footprint while writing to their MPs to ensure the governments continued commitment to the 2050 pledge.

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UK Rabbis: this week's heatwave offers nightmarish glimpse of future - Jewish News

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Posted By admin on July 25, 2022

Yet, there was a familiar feel about the main takeaways from a hugely impressive 3-1 friendly victory over West Ham. With the sales of Calvin Bassey to Ajax - the 19m up-front deal yet to be confirmed - and Joe Aribo to Southampton, the Ibrox club lost two of their integral players from last seasons Europa League final push. But the gains must outweigh any concerns over these departures. On that front, it helps that Rabbi Matondo - essentially a replacement for Aribo following the Wesh wingers 2.5m move from Schalke - proved so exhilarating on his Ibrox bow.

The 21-year-olds half-time introduction along with Tom Lawrence, which instantly led to his tearing down the flank and teeing up his fellow summer arrival to neatly side-foot in the opener before Matondo lashed in from 10 yards to make it 3-0 just before the hour mark, allowed Rangers to do what Rangers did in coming within a penalty shoot-out of claiming a European trophy a mere two months ago. That is, they not only proved capable of being robust when confronted by a leading side from one of the big five leagues but able to give such an opponent a bloody nose. Even as the long-term injury absence of Alfredo Morelos was felt - as in the latter stages of the Seville run - with new central striking addition Antonio Colak giving the impression he will need time to find his feet.

The Croatian doesnt have that with the Champions League third round qualifier first leg away to Union Saint-Gilloise little under a fortnight away. But Giovanni van Bronckhorst wont be reliant on Colak for goals in that tie, on the evidence of the West Ham filleting. As Ryan Kent suggested in battering the ball past Lukasz Fabianksi from an angle on the left to quickly double the advantage Lawrence had given the home side.

Friendlies can be a notoriously unreliable barometer - Celtic were taken apart 6-2 by David Moyes men last summer before going on to win the cinch Premiership - but the Rangers manager will be content with assurance shown by John Souttar alongside Connor Goldson on the day Ben Davies 4m move from Liverpool was confirmed. Indeed, the Londoners 70th minute consolation counter bundled in by Tomas Soucek came subsequent to Souttar giving way to James Sands.

Rangers may be desposed champions, but conversely have rarely appeared in better shape overall. And rarely have their support appeared as bullish over their teams prospects as title runners-up. There is genuine promise in the astute-looking acquisitions of Matondo, Lawrence, Davies and Souttar, in particular, but also in the Bassey and Aribo deals. That they could net Rangers 34m represents stupendous asset management for two players signed for under 600,000 combined. These allow a giant tick to be placed in the sound business model column that previously tended to remain blank. And that could be a swoosh giving the Ibrox club further crucial revitalising potential in the remainder of the window.

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Rabbi Matondo exhilarates as West Ham win shows Rangers in fine fettle on and off the park - The Scotsman

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