Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Photo Feature by Ernesto Gonzalez Diaz

HAVANA TIMES The San Isidro neighborhood is located to the east of the Old Havana municipality, between the train terminal and the Alameda de Paula. It is the neighborhood where Jose Marti, considered the most universal of all Cubans, was born. The neighborhood that, in the first two decades of the 20th century, became the center of Havanas prostitution, a lucrative business that involved French and Cuban pimps and where there were regular clients, including politicians and high-ranking Mambises during the early years of the so-called republic.

Just around that time, what became known as the war of zippers took place between the French pimp Louis Lotot and the Cuban Alberto Yarini, which ended with the death of both of them and the exaltation of Yarini as a national hero, because for the first time in Cuba, a Cuban faced and defeated a foreign power.

As a curious fact, San Isidro houses one of the three Jewish synagogues in Havana. In the 1930s and 40s many Jews, mostly Sephardic Jews, settled in the neighborhood when they arrived in Cuba fleeing Nazism in Europe. They set up their businesses and prospered a lot until 1959 when the majority decided to emigrate to the United States due to the expropriation of their businesses.

Today it is a neighborhood of humble, simple people, a neighborhood in which very poor tenements coexist with rentals for foreigners who arrive in luxurious cars to get to know the Cuban people first-hand. You can also see churches and squares from the time of Spain, beautifully preserved and clean, contrasting with the contemporary touch provided by the large amount of graffiti and street murals; in short, a neighborhood where the pulse of todays Cuba is palpable.

In this neighborhood, the MSI (San Isidro Movement) emerged in 2018, a political-cultural project, led by the plastic and performance artist Luis Manuel Otero and made up of other artists and young intellectuals. The groups purpose is to express their ideas and positions through art and culture. Unfortunately, since its inception, it has suffered strong harassment by various state institutions and pro-Communist Party organizations.

Likewise, the official press has mounted a whole campaign of discredit and disrepute towards these young people, describing them as common criminals and mercenaries at the service of the empire, causing many to have had to emigrate. Others, such as Luis Manuel Otero and Maykel Castillo, were tried just a few days ago and sentenced to 5 and 7 years in prison, in a trial without transparency and rather farfetched, for the crimes of contempt, attack and offense against patriotic symbols. I hope that sooner rather than later this process can be reversed and these young people go free and continue developing their artistic and cultural projects without being harassed or persecuted.

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Retracing the Old Havana Neighborhood of San Isidro - Havana Times

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Athens gets the hype and most of the tourists, but Greeces second-largest city Thessaloniki, a major port in the northern part of the country, is more cosmopolitan and diverse and was home to the oldest Jewish populations in Europe before the Nazis ended that.

Called Greeces co-capital, it has a charming a waterfront promenade to allow strolling along the Aegean Sea, unlike Athens where developers and private companies and luxury resorts have taken over public beaches and cut off access, although the law allows you to walk right through them if you know it.

Thessaloniki is known for its festivals, events, and vibrant cultural life, much if of it along that promenade. It hosts the annual important Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) where Prime Ministers give their soon-to-be broken promises, and countries jockey to be the chosen guest to show off.

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival draws acclaim and the city hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek Diaspora, and it has Byzantine architecture, Early Christian and Byzantine monuments, a World Heritage Site, and Roman, Ottoman, and Sephardic Jewish structures.

Its also the birthplace of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of an alleged modern Turkey, and slaughterer of Greeks and the destruction of Smyrna in 1922.

In 2014 Financial Times FDI magazine (Foreign Direct Investments) declared Thessaloniki the best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital, and lifestyle and street photographers flock there.

Its also home to Aristotle University, the largest in Greece and the Balkans.

Along with the thug soccer team PAOK are there are other symbols of a city gone wrong, however, besieged by anarchists, far-leftists, Communists, anti-establishment groups, and hooligans.

Thessaloniki during the COVID-19 pandemic was also a center of defiance against health measures, especially along that promenade where people snubbed police and mostly got away with it.

But that was kid stuff compared to the violence and trouble going on now, with the police and New Democracy government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who promised to end soccer hooliganism and universities being taken over by anarchists, unable to stop it.

Dont ask who the mayor is because nobodys seen him during the growing troubles that threaten his city.

For 34 years, self-styled rebels who reject society and its institutions, apart from the banks where they keep their money, had occupied a squat hangout in Aristotle University until police finally raided it and got them out.

Hows that working out? Not so well, because the anarchists want it back and a big group of them went back with sledgehammers to knock down a wall put up there where the school wanted to make a library.

Thats anathema to the rebels without a clue, so theyre trying to stop it, police being needed to guard construction workers, but now the violence has spiraled out of control.

Clashes with riot police are being fueled by the governments plan for the coming deployment of unarmed campus cops to try to guard grounds of the major universities, drawing fierce street battles with opponents.

There have been a series of pitched confrontations over the New Democracy governments plan to put security forces outside but not inside four major colleges in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Heres whats wrong with that plan: if riot police with an array of weapons, including tear gas and tactical gear, are regularly beaten back, what can the unarmed Keystone Cops do? Use harsh language?

One of the biggest battles saw some 5,000 members of left-wing and anarchist groups march through the center of the city, smashing shop windows and setting rubbish bins on fire. At least eight people were detained.

Unlike hooligans supporting the PAOK soccer team its made up mostly of foreigners and not Greek players they havent killed anyone yet, but theyre trying to take over more of a great city.

The government had also said it would speed prosecutions of troublemakers and those using firebombs but it didnt, and has backed off Mitsotakis vow to end violence at universities and stop hooligans, now allowed back into games.

The government had ended a sanctuary law that was reimposed by the former ruling Looney Left SYRIZA thats made up of veterans of university takeovers and has a hard core element of terrorist and anarchist sympathizers.

Alexandros Sakellariou, a noted Greek sociologist for Hellenic Open University and Panteion University in Athens, told The National Herald that the gangs are a mix of troublemaker breeds and that theres a special antipathy in Greece toward police, who can be brutal, especially against leftists. Thats related to the right-wing Colonel dictatorship in power from 1967-74 when the police had a special division in universities, so any idea of bringing back the police causes aversion to large parts of the society, not only students the reactions are explained but not always excused.

He added that, the government and the media play a tricky game. They exaggerate about the violence in Greek universities there are many other universities around Greece (26) and the problem is found in two or three.

But, he also said that, this doesnt mean that we shouldnt try to solve this problem the presence of the police (armed or not) will cause more conflicts and violence and this is something Greek society doesn t need. It will create a vicious circle.

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Greece Losing Battle of Thessaloniki to Anarchists, Hooligans - The National Herald

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

(July 10, 2022 / JNS)

The Jewish Agency for Israels Board of Governors on Sunday elected IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog as the organizations new chairman of the executive and Mark Wilf as its new chairman of the board.

The vote took place during the quasi-governmental groups three-day Board of Governors event in Jerusalem, where leaders have been addressing challenges including the rescue and immigration to Israel of over 30,000 Jews fleeing war-torn Ukraine; projects connecting Israel with Jewish communities around the world; and the renewal of Operation Zur Israel, which aims to bring 3,000 Ethiopian immigrants to the Jewish state, according to a statement released by the agency.

Almog previously served as the head of the IDF Southern Command (2000-2003). After leaving the military, he founded and served as chairman of the Adi Negev-Nahalat Eran Rehabilitation Village, named after his son Eran, who died at a young age from Castelmans disease.

Eran was named after Almogs brother, who fell in the Yom Kippur War while serving as commander of a tank unit defending the Golan Heights.

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Today I stand here before you as I am making my third commitment, to embark on my third Jewish journeyfor the entire Jewish people, to reach the heart of every Jew on Earth and to instill pride in our Judaism and the State of Israel, Almog told attendees at the opening plenary, referring to the events surrounding his late brother and son as the first two journeys.

The connection between the State of Israel and global Jewry is of existential strategic importance. We will work together to increase aliyah and absorption, to build stronger connections with world Jewry, reinforce mutual commitment and love of humankind, and strengthen the weaker sections of Israeli society, he said.

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Jewish Agency elects new chairs of its executive and board - JNS.org

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Irina McCarthy was living the American dream.

Born in Moscow, she immigrated to the Chicago area atage 2with her parents, Michael and Nina Levberg, who like many so many other Soviet-era emigres sought a better life in the U.S.

Then Irina Levberg, she graduated from DePaul University, got a job in digital marketing and married Kevin McCarthy. The couple lived in the bucolic suburb of Highland Park, two years ago welcomed Aiden, and were planning on having a second child, Michael Levbergtold the Chicago Sun-Times.

They brought Aiden to Highland Parks Fourth of July parade. And in a blaze of gunfire, Irina, 35, was killed during the annual celebration, as was her husband.

Including Irina McCarthy, five of the seven people killed were Jewish or part of Jewish families. Authorities say they do not have any indication that the shooter, Robert E. Crimo III, who lived in the area and confessed Wednesday afternoon, was motivated by bigotry against any particular racial or religious group.

Kevin McCarthy, 37, reportedly died while shielding Aiden with his body. A stranger to the boy, Lauren Silva, found Aiden, bloodied and alone, and held him as he asked about his parents.

A neighbor, Adrienne Rosenblatt who had earlier helped Aiden overcome his fear of her dog, shetold The New York Times saw a photo of him online and alerted his grandparents, who have been involved with a local Chabad in the past.

When they picked the boy up from the police station Monday evening, Aiden asked, Are Mommy and Daddy coming soon? Michael Levberg, also known as Misha,told the Chicago Sun-Times. He doesnt understand.

Aiden is now in the unthinkable position; to grow up without his parents, wrote Irina Colon, a relative, on aGoFundMe pageshe created to support Aiden and his grandparents, who will care for the toddler.

Irina McCarthys childhood friend, Angela Vella, described her as fun, personable and somewhat of a tomboy.

She definitely had her own style, which I admired, Vellatold NPR.

She earned a bachelor of science in finance from DePaul in 2009, according to a spokesperson for the school.She met her husband, who earned the same degree two years later and worked for a gene therapy startup, through her job in digital marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, her father said. They got married about five years ago, hetold the Chicago Tribune.

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than $2.5 million has been raised to assist her son and her parents as they embark on this unexpected journey, according to the GoFundMe page.

Aiden will be cared for by his loving family and he will have a long road ahead to heal, find stability, and ultimately navigate life as an orphan, the page continues. He is surrounded by a community of friends and extended family that will embrace him with love, and any means available to ensure he has everything he needs as he grows.

Days after the shooting, Aiden continues to ask for his parents. How do you tell a boy that Mommy and Daddy are in heaven now? Rosenblatt said toWLS-TV, an ABC affiliate in Chicago.

His grandparents, too, must grapple with the loss. Irina,an only child, was the love of my life, Michael Levberg said. She was everything.

Continued here:

Aiden McCarthy: Highland Park shooter orphaned a Jewish 2-year-old J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

If the Immigration and Integration Ministry would ever need an educated young woman to be an example for a successful Aliyah, they should hire Dr. Alona Katlenikova.

The Jewish doctor from Kazakhstan has been in Israel for eight months, and the only negative thing she can say is that bank officials are a little slow, and they don't bother to serve customers efficiently.

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Dr. Alona Katlenikova and her daughter Anastasia

(Photo: Masa Israel Journey)

Other than that, Dr. Katlenikova thinks the Israeli health system is quite good, the weather is fine, and the local culture helps her connect with her Jewish roots.

If all goes well, she will soon pass the final licensing test of the Health Ministry and will become an Israeli doctor, as she tries to fulfill her dream of working in the emergency room at the Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva.

Dr. Katlenikova, 31, came to Israel as part of the "doctor's journey" program of the Masa Israel Journey NGO which was founded by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government.

As part of the program, some 1,000 Jewish doctors from abroad made Aliyah in the past decade.

This week, the organization announced that in light of the health system's personnel shortage, it decided to expand the program, so in the next few months, 220 additional Jewish doctors are expected to arrive - under the Israeli Law of Return - from former Soviet Republics and 30 others from Latin America.

The Kazakh doctor first encountered the program four years ago, when Israeli doctors arrived in her hometown of Carengde and gave an emergency medicine course where she worked.

The idea to move to Israel was not far-fetched for Katlenikova, as her father and grandmother made Aliyah in the 1990s and settled in the city of Beit Shemesh.

But she couldn't begin the process when it became clear that she would not be able to arrive in Israel with her daughter Anastasia, 10, whom she raises as a single parent.

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Dr. Alona Katlenikova and her daughter

(Photo: Masa Israel Journey)

But when the rules were changed, and it was decided that participants could come to Israel with their children, Katlenikova decided to make the move.

"I felt that our future could be in Israel," she said. "The health system here is much more advanced than in Kazakhstan where only recently a health system was established. Israel has a good health system, and you can see it in the success of cancer treatments and a high life expectancy," she said.

"I thought it was also a good opportunity for my daughter, and I think I was right. I'm happy. Her absorption was smooth. For her, the transition was a lot easier than it was for me. She just told me she didn't understand why we didn't do it before," Katlenikova added.

The two arrived at Be'er Sheva, where her daughter began to attend school, and she began to work in Soroka Hospital. Katlenikova concludes her eight months in Israel as "intense and productive".

Not only did she begin to work as a doctor, but she also studied Hebrew, traveled around the country, and did some medical tours in Israeli hospitals.

Despite the great differences between Israel and Kazakhstan, she did not experience a cultural shock, as her father told her about the country, so she knew what to expect.

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Israel taps Jewish doctors to immigrate and bolster health system - Ynetnews

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

In the dying days of the second world war, a secret meeting took place between the SS chief Heinrich Himmler and Norbert Masur, a German-born Swede and representative of the World Jewish Congress.

Ben Brown bases this tense drama on that encounter, brokered by a physiotherapist, Felix Kersten, who worked as Himmlers masseur. Masur sought to persuade Himmler to free Jews from terror and incarceration in the concentration camps; Himmler was strategising on how to rehabilitate his global reputation in the face of a now inevitable Allied victory, while ostensibly staying loyal to Hitler.

Directed by Alan Strachan, this Original Theatre company production was filmed during its run at the Park theatre in London earlier this year and works well on screen, the camera intensifying and focusing its drama. Nazi history has been well mined for stories but Browns finely researched script rarely falls into over-familiarity and still manages to shock.

Richard Clothiers Himmler is a neat bespectacled man a wolfish, chillingly polite officer in full uniform who insists that he has never had the personal grudge against Jews that Hitler bears. His real antagonists, he says, are the Bolsheviks but soon enough he is railing over the Jewish presence in Germany, calling it alien and blaming it for the losses of the first world war. Clothier gives a striking and sinister performance, keeping a creepily decorous, clipped tone to his voice though we feel the venom beneath. What is most chilling is his unbending, blinded certainty. Ben Caplan, as Masur, emanates silent horror but also a clenched indignation and both mens performances burn with conviction.

The occasionally arty camera shots are rather cheesy but the human drama is gripping enough to forgive these annoyances. The final scene features a personal testimony from Jeanne Bommezjin (Olivia Bernstone), a prisoner who is freed from Ravensbrck as a result of this meeting. Her understated account carries such sorrow but also an exhilarating sense of finally unbelievably being liberated.

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The End of the Night review Himmlers secret summit with a Jewish leader - The Guardian

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff

A vehicle with a swastika painted on its roof has concerned locals on a Wainuiomata street.

A car sporting a painted swastika on its roof has upset residents in a Lower Hutt street and prompted fresh debate about whether New Zealand should move to ban the Nazi symbol.

It was first noticed parked in the suburb of Wainuiomata last weekend, shocking some who live nearby.

"It's not what you want your kid to see when they look out the window," one resident, who did not want to be named, said.

They did not believe the owner of the car was affiliated with the Mongrel Mob, which also uses the swastika as a symbol. He was a young, white skinhead with Nazi symbols all over.

READ MORE:* Nazi flag removed from house opposite West Coast tourist attraction* Nazi symbolism scrawled on Wellington man's car, around suburb* 'Very disturbing': People dressed in Nazi uniforms confront shoppers at Australian supermarket

Residents have filed complaints with Hutt City Council, which issued three tickets for no warrant of fitness, licence on an exemption, and no rear licence plate on Wednesday.

On Thursday, a seven-day removal notice was issued, meaning the owner has a week to move the car or risk having it towed.

The vehicle was not registered in the area, a council spokesperson said.

A police spokesperson said three reports had been received about the car two on Sunday and one on Wednesday. While the image may be offensive, it was not a criminal matter, they said.

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The outgoing chief censor says its important to find the balance between freedom of expression and hate speech to do the job effectively. (Video first published May 2022)

In June, Victoria became the first Australian state to ban the display of the Nazi swastika, following a sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents. Lawbreakers face up to a year in jail or a $24,000 fine.

Three other states are considering similar laws.

Massey University professor Dr Paul Spoonley, who has extensively researched the far-right, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, said a ban was something New Zealand should consider.

We really need to establish whether the use of those symbols is a criminal offence, he said. I do think we need to have that debate about where free speech ends and we get into material that is deeply offensive and a threat to others.

Chris McKeen/Stuff

Massey University professor Dr Paul Spoonley.

Spoonley said it wasnt clear whether the current reforms on hate speech and hate crimes would cover the display of Nazi symbols. The swastika on the vehicle was out there and in your face.

Jewish Council of New Zealand spokesperson Juliet Moses said the symbol was repulsive and threatening.

Actually driving around making a very public display of it is hugely concerning, because what does that say about where we're at in terms of a society, that actually somebody feels able to do that?

The symbol was not only horrifying for those in the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors and descendants, but also for people who lost family members or were injured or traumatised during the fight against Nazism, she said.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Jewish Council of New Zealand spokesperson Juliet Moses.

Displays of the symbol needed to be recorded and those who displayed them monitored, Moses said.

Looking at a persons intentions and the context was important, she said, when comparing the use of the symbol by the Mongrel Mob.

I understand that in many cases these are disaffected people and they're using them for shock value, but they're responsible for their own actions and if they are using a symbol like that they should understand what it means and how it affects other people.

The use of Holocaust analogies and people wearing the yellow star at the Parliament protest showed a misuse and misunderstanding of the Holocaust and a lack of historical literacy, Moses said.

A 2021 survey of anti-Semitism in New Zealand released in March this year, which followed a rise in anti-Semitic incidents, found 63% of respondents agree with at least one anti-Semitic view.

Former New Zealand Chief Science Advisor Sir Peter Gluckman wrote in the survey's foreword the results showed classic anti-Semitism has re-emerged particularly during the pandemic as Holocaust denial had become conflated with conspiracy theories and alt-right politics.

History tells us that whenever societal cohesion breaks down or is at risk, anti-Semitic attitudes, memes and actions soon surface, Gluckman said.

The Ministry of Justice said new minister Kiri Allan was being provided with advice from across her portfolio, including the incitement and hate crime work.

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'Repulsive' swastika painted on car appals residents and Jewish community - Stuff

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

THE BRICK in Brooklyn, NY will present the World Premiere production of ASHKENAZI SEANCE, written by Sarah Sanders (Queer||Art Mentorship Program; BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop), directed by Daniel Krane (Princeton Summer Theater's FALSETTOS), with music by Sofia Geck (PBS's WORK IT OUT WOMBATS), from July 20-23. ASHKENAZI SEANCE will be performed at The Brick (579 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11211) on Wednesday, July 20 at 8pm, Thursday, July 21 at 8pm, Friday, July 22 at 8pm, and Saturday, July 23 at 2pm and 8pm. Tickets are $15 - $30 and can be purchased at bricktheater.com. The performance will run approximately 65 minutes with no intermission.

Sarah Sanders can't decide what to do with a treasured family heirloom, and she's getting desperate - so desperate, she's turning to her dead Latvian Jewish ancestors for advice. Ashkenazi Seance is a solo show and community ritual about American Jewish identity, family, music, and what it means to carry on a legacy. Also, it's funny!

Is Ashkenazi Seance a show? A seance? A group ritual? Am I gonna be asked to SING? Yes. (But if you don't want to, you won't have to.) It takes a village to raise the dead - so come join us this July and see if we can cross into the spiritual realm... together!

This piece was developed, in part, at Fresh Ground Pepper's BRB Retreat in August 2021. An earlier version of the piece was developed through the Queer|Art Mentorship Program, with guidance from Mashuq Mushtaq Deen.

Sarah Sanders (Writer/Performer) (she/her) is a queer Jewish performer, writer, and musician raised in Montana and based in Brooklyn. She writes stories about her insides and sometimes drinks wine and sings songs while she tells them to you. She's fascinated by how we make and find meaning in our lives and identities, and is drawn to storytelling that confronts who we are and imagines who we want to be. She has a BA from Williams College and an MFA in Acting from LAMDA. sarahesanders.com

Daniel Krane (Director) (he/they) is a Brooklyn-based director, playwright, arts journalist, and theater critic. Daniel aims to plant the seeds of connection with fellow New Yorkers through helping people be radically present with one another. As a director, he makes juicy invitations to theatrical parties where people can come into contact with the best versions of themselves, by confronting the worst sides of themselves. Above all, he loves horror plays and food on stage. danielkrane.com

Sofia Geck (Composer/Music Director/Piano) (she/her) is a Filipino-American writer, lyricist, composer, and music director based in Brooklyn, NY. Writing and composing for both child and adult audiences, her work often offers surreal or fantastical takes on themes of self-discovery, wonder, and empathy. She enjoys finding dark humor in fantastical premises and ethical dilemmas, and her characters often struggle with tough decisions about their sense of identity, their place within rigid societal structures, and their moral responsibility to society as a whole. sofiageck.com

The creative team also includes Cate McCrea (scenic design), Jacqueline Scaletta (lighting design), and Grace Oberhofer (sound design). The production is stage managed by Shira Harris.

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World Premiere of ASHKENAZI SEANCE to be Presented at The Brick This Month - Broadway World

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Photo: Nina Firsova (Shutterstock)

It took me a few extra laps around the track of adulthood to find my cooking gene. My life had previously been spent trying to convince those closest to me that the bowl of cereal I poured or the eggs I scrambled was enough cooking. For everything else, there was take outor my wife.

Even typing those words makes me feel like a tremendous schmuck. I never intended to be one of those hopelessly incompetent CBS sitcom husbands who waited on dinner from the comfort of their couch. Sure, I did the dishes, but cooking someone a meal is arguably one of the fullest expressions of love there is in life. And if theres one thing I do share with the dopey sitcom husband, its that I married up. Suffice it to say, I needed to start pulling my weight with the pots and pans.

An awakening happened in my early 30s, brought on by a deep dive into my Ashkenazi Jewish heritage that fired up my culinary genes for the first time, turning me into a mad man with a skillet. Before long, I found myself constantly experimenting with new recipes and even creating my own.

Getting hands-on with my food is one of the many factors that pushed me to reconsider eating meat. Our kitchen quickly became meat-free, and neither of us have missed cooking meat ever since. We found just how versatile and delicious vegetables, specifically legumes, can be when treated with the same love, care, and seasoning as meat. Lentils, in all their savory glory, have become our go-to replacement for minced meat.

In our household, we make Greek bolognese and pastitsioa baked pasta dish with tubular bucatini noodles, minced meat, and topped with bchamel sauce. These are important dishes to my wifes Greek-American family where Aunt Tula from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is regularly quoted. You dont eat no meat!? Thats OK. I make you lamb.

A permanent ban on pastitsio wasnt an option. At the same time, these arent dishes where you can simply drop the meat. You need a replacementand it doesnt need to be some highly processed concoction trying to simulate meat. Lentils will more than do the job.

If youre a baby vegetarian, or someone who is simply trying to reduce their meat consumption, lentils will be your new best friend. Of course they can stand out in a number of dishes on their ownlentil freakin soup comes to mindbut they also work as a tasty substitute for the minced meat wed find in a traditional pastitsio.

We learned the technique in a vegetarian moussaka cooking class. Moussaka is similar to pastitsio in that its a layered dish, usually eggplant and/or potato, with minced meat. Our instructor, an Albanian-Greek woman named Klara, showed us how to substitute the meat with a savory helping of cooked lentils.

The technique is simple: Treat your lentils with the same care you would minced meat. Saut them in your cooking oil of choice for a few minutes over medium heat (usually extra virgin olive oil for us), season them with your spices, and add two cups of liquid for every cup of lentils (ideally vegetable stock). Bring the pot to a boil before lowering to a simmer with the skillet or pot mostly covered.

Check after about 10 minutes for the consistency of the lentils. If youre going to add them to a typically meaty dish where theyll bake in the oven, like pastitsio, then youll want to stop cooking them a few minutes before al dente. Otherwise you risk baking them to a mush. If youre making a bolognese-type sauce, then remove from heat once youre happy with the bite of the lentils.

Greek cuisine may have been our inspiration for using lentils, but they can be used throughout the culinary and cultural spectrum. (Though we do have a go-to vegetarian pastitsio recipe you might want to start off with, featuring a layer of lentils seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, and oregano.)

Put your lentils in stuffed tomatoes, peppers, a spicy stir fry, shepherds pie, lasagnethe possibilities are limitless.

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Lentils Make the Best Fake Minced Meat - Lifehacker

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a noted Pakistani nuclear scientist and respected columnist and academic known for his liberal views, recently wrote an article, titled "Israel's Secret Weapon," stressing the importance of education in the advancement of nations while criticizing a range of conspiracy theories against Israel prevailing in the Islamic world.[1]

In the article, Hoodbhoy said: "Conspiracy theorists have long imagined Israel as America's overgrown watchdog, beefed up and armed to protect American interests in the Middle East. But only a fool can believe that today."

While rejecting conspiracies against Israel and Jews, Hoodbhoy also stressed that the Jewish religious orthodoxy was behind declining academic standards among Israeli children, and somewhat similar "ideological poisons continue to circulate in the national bloodstream [of Pakistan]. Until flushed away, Pakistan's intellectual and material decline will accelerate."

Pervez Hoodbhoy (image courtesy: Dawn.com)

Following are excerpts from the article:

"One Of My Scientific Heroes, Richard Feynman, Was Rejected In 1935 By Columbia University For Being Jewish; Fortunately, MIT Accepted Him"

"[...] European Jews fleeing Hitler were far less welcome than Muslims are in today's America. That Jewish refugees posed a serious threat to national security was argued by government officials in the State Department to the FBI as well as President Franklin Roosevelt himself. One of my scientific heroes, Richard Feynman, was rejected in 1935 by Columbia University for being Jewish. Fortunately, MIT accepted him.

"What changed outsiders into insiders was a secret weapon. That weapon was brain power. Regarded as the primary natural resource by Jews inside and outside Israel it is an obsession for parents who, spoon by spoon, zealously ladle knowledge into their children. The state too knows its responsibility: Israel has more museums and libraries per capita than any other country. Children born to Ashkenazi parents are assumed as prime state assets who will start a business, discover some important scientific truth, invent some gadget, create a work of art, or write a book. Brain power makes teeny-tiny Israel a technological giant before which every Arab country must bow.

"In secular Israel, a student's verbal, mathematical, and scientific aptitude sets his chances of success. By the 10th grade of the secular bagut system, smarter students will be learning calculus and differential equations together with probability, trigonometry, and theorem proving. Looking at some past exam papers available on the internet, I wondered how Pakistani university professors with PhDs would fare in Israeli level-5 school exams. Would our national scientific heroes manage a pass? Unsurprisingly, by the time they reach university, Israeli students have bettered their American counterparts academically.

"There is a definite historical context to seeking this excellence. For thousands of years, European Antisemitism made it impossible for Jews to own land or farms, forcing them to seek livelihoods in trading, finance, medicine, science, and mathematics. To compete, parents actively tutored their children in these skills. In the 1880s, Zionism's founders placed their faith solidly in education born out of secular Renaissance and Enlightenment thought."

"Ironically, Jewish Identity Created Israel, But Jewish Orthodoxy Is Spearheading Israel's Decline"

"But if this is the story of secular Israel, there is also a different Israel with a different story. Ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews were once a tiny minority in Israel's mostly secular society. But their high birth rate has made them grow to about 10 percent of the population. Recognizable by their distinctive dress and manners, the Haredis are literally those who 'tremble before God.'

"For Haredis, secularism and secular education are anathema. Like Pakistan, Israel too has a single national curriculum with a hefty chunk earmarked for nation-building (read, indoctrination). In the Israeli context, the ideological part seeks to justify dispossession of the Palestinian population. Expectedly, the 'Jewish madrassa' system accepts this part but rejects the secular part i.e., that designed to create the modern mind.

"The difference in achievement levels between regular and Haredi schools is widening. While all schools teach Hebrew (the holy language), secular schools stress mastery over English while 'madrassas' emphasize Hebrew. According to a Jerusalem Post article, Haredi schools (as well as Arab-Israeli schools) are poor performers with learning outcomes beneath nine of the 10 Muslim countries that participated in the most recent PISA exam. A report says 50pc of Israel's students are getting a 'third-world education.'

"The drop in overall standards is causing smarter Israelis to lose sleep. They fear that, as happened in Beirut, over time a less fertile, more educated elite sector of society will be overrun by a more fertile, less-educated religious population. When that happens, Israel will lose its historical advantage. Ironically, Jewish identity created Israel, but Jewish orthodoxy is spearheading Israel's decline."

"In Spite Of Suffocating Embargos, Iran Continues To Achieve In Nuclear, Space, Heavy Engineering, Biotechnology, And The Theoretical Sciences; Israel Trembles"

"There is only one Muslim country that Israel truly fears Iran. Although its oil resources are modest, its human resources are considerable.

"The Revolution of 1979 diminished the quality of Iranian education and caused many of Iran's best professors to flee. But unlike Afghanistan's mullahs, the mullahs of Iran were smart enough to keep education going. Although coexistence is uncomfortable, science and religion are mostly allowed to go their own separate ways. Therefore, in spite of suffocating embargos, Iran continues to achieve in nuclear, space, heavy engineering, biotechnology, and the theoretical sciences. Israel trembles.

"Spurred by their bitter animosity toward Iran, Arab countries have apparently understood the need of the times and are slowly turning around. Starting this year, religious ideology has been de-emphasized and new subjects are being introduced in Saudi schools. These include digital skills, English for elementary grades, social studies, self-defense, and critical thinking. Of course, a change of curriculum means little unless accompanied by a change of outlook. Still, it does look like a beginning.

"Israel has shown the effectiveness of its secret weapon; it has also exposed the vulnerability of opponents who don't have it. There are lessons here for Pakistan and a strong reason to wrest control away from Jamaat-e-Islami ideologues that, from the time of [former Pakistani dictator] Ziaul Haq onward, have throttled and suffocated our education. The heights were reached under Imran Khan's Single National Curriculum which yoked ordinary schools to madrassas. But even with Khan's departure, ideological poisons continue to circulate in the national bloodstream. Until flushed away, Pakistan's intellectual and material decline will accelerate."

[1] Dawn.com/news/1697781/israels-secret-weapon, July 2, 2022. The original English of the article has been lightly edited for clarity and standardization.

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Liberal Pakistani Writer And Nuclear Scientist Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy: 'European Jews Fleeing Hitler Were Far Less Welcome Than Muslims Are In Today's...

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