Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

One of the big moments for Palestinian solidarity this spring came when the Harvard Crimson endorsed BDS as a living breathing movement of great promise for the liberation of Palestine. Not the kind of language you associate with American elites! The newspaper even apologized for its earlier staunch opposition to BDS, saying that it had failed to listen to Palestinians.

We wrote a lot about that editorial because it was an important sign of where the American establishment will inevitably turn over what the Crimson called Israels policy of indefinite statelessness for Palestiniansboycott and divestment that have worked to break up other injustices.

It was a victory that Mondoweiss played a role in.

Between now and July 3rd, we need to raise $50,000 to keep transforming the media landscape and every gift will be instantly doubled! Can you help us today?

As the Crimson editors said, people lose jobs in the mainstream media for advocating for Palestinians (as I did). And therefore the American awakening to Palestinian human rights has happened online: younger people turning to alternative news sites and social media for their information. Weve been online for 16 years for a good reason! And weve grown because of your support and because we were supplying a vital need in the American media landscape.

I wrote about the Crimson editorial for personal reasons, too. I got my foothold in professional journalism at the Crimson nearly 50 years ago. I remember a friend telling me that I was a member of a Jewish boys club. And I remember the discomfort Palestine created in that newsroom back then. Now I am proud of the Crimson.

Theres an important lesson about diversity in that. I was once a happy member of the Jewish boys club at the Crimson, but that era is over. In the last twenty years progressives have insisted that public policies should not be created by the privileged and white. Our website has been an active participant in that discussion. Were thrilled to see Muslims and Arabs finally begin to have a seat at the table.

Were building a newsroom for all of Palestine funded by the people who care about this work the most. Will you chip in today?

Yes, no doubt, we have a long struggle in front of us. But when Rashida Tlaib buttonholed Joe Biden in Detroit in the midst of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza last year, and Biden then called for a ceasefire after 11 days of slaughtermany of us sensed a difference in the power map. The people who have most at stake are finally getting to be stakeholders here.

That goes for Mondoweiss too. This website started as a (navel-gazing!) blog where I talked a lot about American Jewish life. Im sure you saw our announcement this week of our Palestine bureau. Today were a multi-racial, multi-ethnic staff that considers a lot of viewpoints. You helped make that possible.

I feel excited about these steps partly because of how much Ive grown myself in that process. I once exhibited some of the same xenophobia that other privileged Americans expressed when dealing with foreign cultures. Our community has made me a more worldly, thoughtful writer. And I see the same transformation happening all around me. (And btw, The Israel lobby is freaked out.)

Were grateful to readers and supporters for your faith in our work. We have promised again and again to amplify the Palestinian voice in the American discourse, and were following through. And we know were having an effect.

Please, help us reach our urgent summer fundraising match today and support Palestinian journalism from every corner of the global diaspora.

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Amplifying Palestine and changing the discourse Mondoweiss - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

The following is an edited version of a speech delivered by Palestinian analyst and scholar Tareq Baconi at a conference entitled Hijacking Memory: The Holocaust and the New Right, hosted by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin in June 2022. The day after delivering the speech, two fellow speakers, Jan Grabowski and Konstanty Gebert, publicly read a joint statement that misrepresented Baconis talk and condemned his very presence at the conference. In the days that followed, Grabowski continued to denounce Baconi in the right-leaning German newspaper Die Welt.

* * *

Three years ago, U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Hanukkah candle lighting at the Wailing Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. Turning to the assembled reporters, Netanyahu was pressed to address a breakthrough that Palestinians had been celebrating that day.

Hours earlier, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Fatou Bensouda, had announced that there were sufficient grounds to launch an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by all parties involved in the occupied territories, including by Israel. The decision, Netanyahu told the crowd, amounted to Antisemitic decrees of the International Court telling us, the Jews standing by this wall, by this mountain, in this city, in this land, that we have no right to live here, and that if we live here we commit war crimes. Blatant antisemitism.

Almost exactly a year prior, in November 2018, a gunman a white American male named Robert Gregory Bowers stormed into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and killed 11 Jewish worshippers, wounding six others. It was described as the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Although President Donald Trump and Israeli leaders flew to Pittsburgh to offer their condolences, the Pittsburgh Rabbi, Jeffrey Myers, blamed Trump and other politicians directly. Mr. President, said Rabbi Myers, hate speech leads to hateful actions. Hate speech leads to what happened in my sanctuary.

When both the ICC and armed white supremacists are seen as equally peddling antisemitism, definitions are perhaps needed to explain what antisemitism is and how it can be combatted. But what happens when those definitions themselves become co-opted?

Tareq Baconi, Palestinian analyst and writer, delivering his speech at the Hijacking Memory Conference in Berlin, June 2022. (Emily Hilton)

Since the years of the Trump administration, more countries have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, a definition initially assembled by experts to help monitor antisemitic incidents in Europe, and which was then expanded into a tool for addressing antisemitism globally.

The IHRA outlines 11 examples of what it views as constituting antisemitism; eight of those include criticisms of the State of Israel. As one defender of the definition said, where classical antisemitism would have barred the individual Jew from having an equal place within society, modern antisemitism [bars] the Jewish nation-state from an equal place among the nations.

In that nation-state, the State of Israel, the right-wing Netanyahu has been replaced by a politician even further to his right a man who once headed the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing the settlements of Judea and Samaria, in the occupied West Bank. And since that evening when Netanyahu was outraged that Israel would be accused of committing war crimes, the following has happened (and this is not an exhaustive list):

Israel has bombed and collapsed the buildings that housed the offices of the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera in the Gaza Strip during a military assault in which 243 Palestinians were killed, including 67 children, making 2021 the deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014; Israel has assassinated the intrepid journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, one of more than 30 journalists who have been killed by Israeli fire since 2000; the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that it is legal to forcibly transfer more than 1,000 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta in the West Bank, in direct contravention of international law.

And in between these headline news in the daily, mundane grind of the occupation Israel continues to kill, detain, and brutalize Palestinians, including 13 children killed this year alone, and more than 400 detained, the majority of whom were taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Earlier this month, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians across the West Bank in the span of 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed this year to 62.

Today, Israel is acting with renewed vigor, pursuing its colonization of Palestine with confident impunity, armed with strong diplomatic support, and strengthened by the regional alliances it has cultivated through the so-called Abraham Accords, Donald Trumps normalization agreements, which entailed outright bribery in the cases of Morocco and Sudan. But Palestinians, too, have stepped up our mobilization, pursuing the legal track at the ICC and expanding our Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. We, too, have achieved several pivotal milestones since that Hanukkah in Jerusalem in 2019.

Palestinian citizens of Israel confront Israeli police officers during a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza and Jerusalem, downtown Haifa, May 9, 2021. (Mati Milstein)

In 2021, after tireless Palestinian advocacy, Israeli and international human rights organizations finally accepted what Palestinians have been saying for decades: that Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people in our historic homeland. BTselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have all come out with highly detailed and well-researched reports making the legal case that Israel is guilty of committing crimes against humanity.

In May last year, Palestinians overcame the colonial fragmentation imposed on us by Israel and mobilized from the river to the sea, as a single people fighting a single regime of apartheid, in what weve come to call our Unity Intifada. This year as Israeli soldiers beat down the pallbearers carrying Shireen Abu Aklehs coffin, demonstrating to international media the vicious nature of its regime Palestinians saw another image: thousands of people from all walks of life flooding into the Old City, reclaiming Jerusalem to commemorate our fallen hero.

Israels response to expanding Palestinian mobilization, and to our hard-earned success in projecting our narrative onto the global stage, has been predictably intensive. Alongside a mass arrest campaign of individuals throughout Palestine following the Unity Intifada, Israel has also expanded its tactics of delegitimizing Palestinian resistance.

For example, six NGOs that form the bedrock of Palestinian mobilization today some of which are at the forefront of the ICC case have been declared terrorist organizations. This includes Defense for Children International-Palestine, which has been at the core of efforts to document Palestinian children killed and detained by Israeli forces. Despite having provided zero evidence to link any of the named organizations to terrorist activities, and despite European diplomats saying that the evidence submitted doesnt meet the required threshold of proof, the international community has failed to push back against Israels smear campaigns, and these organizations are currently struggling for funding and support.

But these are old tools: Israels hasbara tactics have expanded beyond solely linking Palestinians to terrorism, tools of the War on Terror years. Hasbara 2.0, or maybe 3.0, is now focused on deeming Palestinian resistance antisemitic and this has global reach. More than 30 U.S. states have passed laws specifically targeting the BDS movement for supposedly being antisemitic, as shown in the new Just Vision movie Boycott. More than 35 countries around the world have now embraced the IHRA definition, which has assumed legal form and legal legitimacy, as the scholar Rebecca Gould has argued.

A Palestinian woman walks by a grafitti sign calling to boycott Israel seen on a street in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on February 11, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)

Israeli politicians have called the reports by HRW and Amnesty antisemitic. When the UN Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk, in his final report last March, also conceded that Israel is practicing the crime of apartheid, Israeli leaders again responded with accusations of antisemitism. This report, Israels UN envoy in Geneva said, recycles baseless and outrageous libels previously published by NGOs that share the same goal as the author of this report: to delegitimize and criminalize the State of Israel for what it is: the nation-state of the Jewish People.

The politics of what Im outlining here are clear for everyone to see. The struggle for Palestinian rights using international law, the ICC, and the UN is antisemitic. It is a threat deserving of equal, if not greater, state intervention and combat as the shooting of worshippers in synagogues under the banner of white supremacy. This equalization is made even more sinister and insidious when noting that the overwhelming majority of actual antisemitic incidents can be traced back to white supremacist ideology. This misrepresentation is a product of the synergies between right-wing ideology and Zionism, synergies which are evident in the pairing of support for Israel with increasingly repressive tactics.

This trend is flourishing in both authoritarian regimes and in supposedly liberal and democratic states. In the United Kingdom, where I live, the government is pushing for the IHRA to be adopted by universities, and for anti-BDS legislation to be passed by city councils; in 2019, a bike ride for Gaza was denied a permit by Tower Hamlets Council, which stated there was a real risk that the event would be antisemitic by breaching the IHRA examples.

Using anti-BDS legislation, that same government has now stated, broadly and without specificity, that public-sector pensions may not make investment decisions that conflict with the UKs foreign and defence policy. The government is now celebrating a plan to place migrants and asylum seekers on planes to Rwanda for processing. These anti-democratic policies are strikingly similar to past U.K. government efforts to limit boycotts of apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Palestinians wearing a keffiyeh and commemorating the Nakba are taken in for questioning, losing their jobs, being vilified, and even being compared to Nazis all while the actual neo-Nazi AfD party not so long ago became one of the largest opposition parties in the Bundestag. In France, anti-Zionism is being equated with antisemitism as Emmanuel Macrons government increases efforts to crackdown on French Muslims, including through the passage of a bill giving the state power to monitor Muslim organizations.

Globally, Israel has actively embraced and cultivated bedfellows with regimes such as Viktor Orbans in Hungary, Jair Bolsanaros in Brazil, and Christian evangelicals in the United States, all of whom are simultaneously combining their vile antisemitism with a strongly Zionist vision, embracing Israel as their model, while claiming to safeguard the memory of the Holocaust. In the Middle East, having an apartheid regime cozy up to dictators in the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain is celebrated the world over as an example of agreements which embody peace, coexistence, and religious tolerance. In reality, these deals are nothing more than an affirmation that a counter-revolutionary, anti-democratic regional architecture of surveillance and oppression is in the making.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the UAE Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain attend the Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony at the White House in Washington, USA, September 15, 2020. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

I want to make three broad and interlinked points in relation to these troubling developments.

Firstly, it should be clear to everyone that this is not about antisemitism it is about geopolitics. Right-wing and conservative governments, frequently racist and demagogic, have been useful allies for Israel, a state which is equally resentful of the Western liberal order even as it tries to position itself firmly in that sphere.

Israel is an apartheid, colonial state that has simultaneously managed to maintain strong diplomatic, military, and economic ties with Western liberal democracies. Its ability to do so is an attractive model to illiberal democracies and authoritarian regimes, and the flourishing of these alliances in the region and beyond is both logical and an indication of where the international order is headed, as the legal norms established after World War II are being systematically eroded. The wrongful conflation around antisemitism has also proven to be a useful tool for Western governments seeking to fuel culture wars in the context of their own domestic politics.

Secondly, Israels attacks on Palestinian activism are in no way limited to Palestinians. They are attacks on free speech, and on the international legal order and norms. The anti-BDS legislation has created loopholes that are now becoming another tool in the arsenal of anti-gun control legislation, anti-green energy legislation, and anti-abortion legislation. This right-wing demagogic reality is one in which Israel can thrive and continue to enjoy its impunity. The widespread selling of Israels Pegasus software to authoritarian leaders globally, from Saudi Arabia to Rwanda, is not merely a commercial exercise, but a carefully crafted geostrategic one. It resembles precisely the kind of vast clandestine relations Israel cultivated with apartheid South Africa in the 1960s and 70s to buffer the regime against widening international isolation.

Thirdly, the collateral damage out of this effort to limit free speech, undermine movements struggling for freedom and equality, and allow for illiberal democracies and authoritarian regimes to flourish are in fact Jewish communities, who often end up being scapegoated in pursuit of these larger aims. Israeli claims about BDS being antisemitic, or the UN being a blood libelous organization, makes a mockery of efforts to combat actual antisemitism and other forms of racism which go hand in hand with hatred of Jews.

So what does this all mean for the Palestinians? The answer is simple: it doesnt matter. In this equation, in these calculations, Palestinians are nothing more than a backdrop, silent at best, a nuisance at worst. I sometimes find myself thinking that Palestinians are just the canvas against which Jewish psychodramas play themselves out.

Thousands of young Jewish boys wave Israeli flags as they celebrate Jerusalem Day, dancing and marching their way through Damascus Gate to the Western Wall, May 17, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

We Palestinians have been thrust into the position we inadvertently find ourselves in today simply because we are being colonized by a state which defines itself as Jewish. Let us be clear: if Palestinians were being colonized by a non-Jewish state, we would still be resisting our colonization. In that sense, this is a continuation of the historic Palestinian predicament.

The links between Western guilt following the Holocaust and support for the creation of Israel have been well-researched, as have the roots of Zionism, which was met with ferocious resistance by indigenous Palestinians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Palestinians are the indirect victims, the collateral damage, of European and Christian antisemitism. Viewed as inferior beings and irrelevant people who did not factor into the decision-making of empires and colonial minds, the Palestinian plight in the face of Zionism was a non-issue. There is no need to repeat the tropes of a land without a people for a people without a land.

Fast forward a century, and those same European powers including Germany, because of its own atrocious history are exporting not their antisemitism this time, but their quest for absolution, onto the Palestinians. And Palestinians still do not factor into it; they are unseen.

The demonized Jews those now enjoying full sovereign and national control in the form of a nuclear armed state have become the wonder children, the inhabitants of a state that can do no wrong. And in seeking absolution, states like Germany have once again accepted Palestinians as collateral; their oppression and colonization is a fair price to pay to allow Germany to atone for its past crimes. A blind eye must be turned when it comes to the continuation of Israeli apartheid and colonization, lest the state be aggrieved and old traumas reignited. To do so, all voices speaking about Palestinian liberation or celebrating Palestinian lives must be silenced, even if those voices are themselves Jewish.

This reality is not just about discourse, as the IHRA clarifies that the Palestinian narrative is ipso facto antisemitic. Rather, it is linked to the very material structure of Jewish domination and apartheid in colonized Palestine*, which extends itself to the practices of remembrance and memorialization of the Holocaust. In Jerusalem, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum is literally built on the grounds overlooking the ruins of the village of Deir Yassin, where a bloody massacre was perpetrated by Zionist forces during the 1948 Nakba to facilitate Palestinian expulsion and enable Zionist colonization.

For visitors who do not know this reality, they will walk through a museum curated to document the horrific crime of the Holocaust, onto a viewing deck at the end of the permanent exhibit which looks out onto green fields, without ever realizing that they are gazing at bloody grounds. This erasure of the Palestinian catastrophe in a space where the Holocaust is memorialized is a crude trivialization of the lessons of that genocide. It reflects an elision that Israeli leaders, abetted by Germany and other European powers, have helped to sustain.

Visitors seen at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem on April 26, 2022, ahead of Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

To break with this cycle of Palestinians being viewed as passive agents, as the recipients either of German antisemitism or guilt, I want to end by shifting the center of gravity away from this European and colonial gaze and place it squarely onto the Palestinians, who have always had agency and our own voice.

I want to salute all the Palestinians in Germany, and our allies, who are on the front lines of this repressive trend in Europe. And I want to say that we, as Palestinians, refuse to be singled out to defend against accusations of antisemitism. There is no reason for me to be here, on this stage, in this conference, as a Palestinian. Yet at the same time, we are not voiceless victims, nor mere recipients of European racism and neo-colonialism. And so I want to inject, for clarity and for the sake of moral and political defiance, our own narrative directly into this space.

For over a century, we Palestinians have been struggling against Zionism, a racist settler colonial movement intent on our elimination. In 1948, the Zionist movement declared the creation of the State of Israel, and constituted itself as a regime of apartheid, committed to maintaining Jewish domination in Palestine. Since then, Israel has expanded its persistent colonization of Palestinian land and relentless dispossession of the Palestinian people, a dual process of land consolidation and demographic engineering. Today, Israel is an apartheid state with full sovereign control over all of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, persecuting the Palestinian people at home and in their exile. Every Palestinian carries these simple truths in their heart and bears witness to them on a daily basis.

At this crucial juncture in time, Western democracies seem intent on undermining their own loftily declared commitments to liberal values, deploying McCarthyite tactics to assuage their guilt, to allow Israel to flourish, and to further their own increasingly authoritarian agendas. As they expand diplomatic and military relations with Israel, the task set forth for Palestinians is clear. In our struggle for freedom, we have become the protectors of international law, human rights, and accountability. Although this is a burden and a privilege we have not chosen, we will nonetheless continue to struggle both for our emancipation, for a free Palestine, and for a world where justice, freedom, and equality can be enjoyed by all.

* * *

*Clarification, June 22, 2022: This point is important and merits a clarification on the choice of wording. Israeli apartheid is a system of Jewish domination in Palestine, not of Israeli domination. For one, Palestinians who are Israeli citizens are also subjugated victims Israeli citizenship does not protect the individual from this system. For another, Israeli apartheid offers privileges to Jews who are non-Israeli, through the Law of Return. As BTselem has noted, this is a regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. To avoid innocent misunderstandings, we have added a clarification that this assertion is geographically limited to colonized Palestine, as the title of the talk suggests.

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A colonized Palestine isn't the answer to the world's guilt - +972 Magazine

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

Head of the political bureau of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says in case of a new military confrontation between Palestinian resistance groups and the Zionist regime of Israel, Palestinian missiles will destroy the occupying entity in a matter of minutes.

Ismail Haniyeh made the remarks in a Sunday address to a gathering in Lebanon, during which he also strongly condemned the normalization of some Arab countries relations with Israel.

Since seventy-four years ago, Lebanon has been sympathizing with Palestine. Today, we see [the imminent liberation of] al-Aqsa Mosque, because we are in an era of victory and developments whose course is being determined by our nation and our resistance, he said.

He then reflected on the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip, saying, Gaza is under land, air, and sea blockade, but it used [Operation] al-Quds Sword against Israel, and using that sword, it is getting ready for a strategic confrontation with Israel.

Noting that the operation marked a strategic development in Palestinians confrontation with the regime in Tel Aviv, Haniyeh said, Israel was armed to the teeth, but became a target of missiles attack by al-Qassam [Brigades] and the Gaza-based resistance.

The top Hamas official said in case of a future war with Israel, 150 missiles will destroy the Zionist regime in less than five minutes.

Haniyeh further emphasized that the Zionists and Israeli settlers have no place in al-Quds and al-Aqsa, saying, From Lebanon, Im telling you that we will destroy your dreams and you have no place in al-Quds and al-Aqsa.

The head of Hamas political bureau also said al-Quds and the West Bank have been under pressure over the past years to make our people give up resistance and abandon their land, while stressing that Operation al-Quds Sword will continue until the complete liberation of Palestine.

The latest development came a day after Haniyeh denounced as very dangerous the normalization of relations between some Arab countries and Israel, stressing that fierce resistance is the only strategic option to confront the Israeli occupation.

What the region is witnessing is very dangerous. The Israeli entity is being integrated into the region through military alliances to confront Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas, Haniyeh said at the National Islamic Conference convened to discuss the efforts of the Israeli regime to expand its influence in the region through the normalization of ties and its negative repercussions on the issue of Palestine.

His remarks came after Israels minister for military affairs proposed the formation of a US-led regional military front against Iran, featuring Tel Aviv and its Arab allies.

Speaking on Tuesday, Benny Gantz referred to the Israeli regimes military cooperation with some Persian Gulf Arab countries as well as Egypt and Jordan, saying there were efforts to expand this cooperation.

The US mediated normalizationdeals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in August 2020. Sudan and Morocco followed suit by joining the so-called Abraham Accords.

Saudi Arabia has backed the agreements and is widely expected to be the next regional Arab state to forge an official relationship with the regime.

Gantzs remarks came ahead of a regional visit by US President Joe Biden. The July 13-16 tour will take Biden to Saudi Arabia and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The visit is expected to bring about more gravitation among the regional Arab states and the Israeli regime.

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Haniyeh: Palestinian missiles will destroy Zionist regime in less than five minutes - Press TV

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

With such an abundance of rich railroad history available in Palestine, it is inevitable that the railroad and eating establishments would cross paths along the timeline.

John Price, operator of the Railroad Heritage Center of Palestine has a brilliant suggestion during Palestines celebration of 150 years of railroad history: a self-guided railroad-themed dining tour of historic downtown.

Its an idea that Ive had on my mind for quite some time, Price said. A sort of simulated Flight of the Eagle.

Introduced in 1940, Eagle was a term used by the Missouri Pacific Railroad to identify its premier passenger services over its rail system, such as the Colorado Eagle, the Delta Eagle, and the Texas Eagle.

The Texas Eagle ran from St. Louis, Missouri to Longview, where it divided into two parts, one destined for El Paso via Dallas and Fort Worth, the other for Palestine.

At Palestine, the train was again divided, one section for Houston, the other to Austin and San Antonio, and for a while to Laredo. Here, the cars or passengers, were transferred to the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico to become the Aztec Eagle service to Mexico City via San Luis Potosi.

The idea of the dining tour is simply to take in the history on display at the Railroad Heritage Center and to dine at several of the local eateries in buildings with ties to the railroad history.

The Railroad Heritage Center is in the west end of Main Street in Palestines historic district, Price said. From North Queen Street westward along West Oak Street, the area is more open and consequently less frequented than the central and eastern parts of Main Street Palestine. Coincidentally, there are businesses that share, directly and indirectly, a connection with railroading.

Prices suggestion: Catch a train at the Railroad Heritage Center, at 808 West Oak. After soaking up some railroad history, head over to 700 West Oak for breakfast or lunch at San Luis Taqueria. After a little downtown shopping, head for a snack at the Laredo Snack Bar at 707 West Oak. After a little more shopping, a nice sit-down at the Queen Street Grill located inside the Redlands Hotel might hit the spot. The Redlands Hotel is located at West Oak and Queen and has a strong railroad connection; it housed the main offices of the I&GN division of the Missouri Pacific for more than 35 years.

Historic downtown is loaded with fantastic options for dining, so every Flight of the Eagle could be a new adventure.

The Railroad Heritage Center is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and is located at 808 W. Oak St. in Palestine.

For more information call 903-586-7141 or visit http://www.tsrrsociety.com

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A railroad-themed dining tour of Palestine should hit the spot - Palestine Herald Press

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

With the Independence Day Holiday approaching, the Palestine Police Department would like to remind all residents that fireworks are prohibited within the city limits.

The city of Palestine Ordinance Section 50-151 states that it is unlawful for any person to possess, use, manufacture, sell offer for sale, give away, transport, or discharge fireworks in any description.

During holidays where fireworks are possible, we receive dozens of calls for fireworks, many of which are called in as shots fired, said Chief Mark Harcrow. These calls tie up our emergency resources that are already busy with actual emergencies.

Residents are encouraged to leave the fireworks to the professionals.

The annual city of Palestine Independence Day Fireworks Celebration will take place at Steven Bennett Park starting at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 2 with fireworks scheduled to begin at 9:15 p.m., or as soon as it is dark.

It is tempting to purchase fireworks that are considered safe and sane such as fountains, sparklers, smokeballs, snake-type fireworks, ground-spinning fireworks, pinwheels, and novelty fireworks, but they are all prohibited within the Palestine city limits, Harcrow said.

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Fireworks still prohibited in the city of Palestine - Palestine Herald Press

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

June 20 every year marks World Refugee Day, designated by the UN to honor refugees forced to flee their homeland to escape conflict or persecution around the globe. According to the UN, 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror every minute.

World Refugee Day this year comes as the world focuses on the humanitarian plight of the war in Ukraine. Statistics indicate that 14 million persons have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the war. In addition, the tragedy of the conflict in Syria continues into its 11thyear, having forced 6.8 million people into refuge.

However, longest refugee tragedy is that of the Palestinians forcibly uprooted from their homes in 1948. Today, there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees in Palestine and the diaspora. These refugees, their children, and grandchildren have waited for decades to exercise their natural right of returning to their towns and villages.

Palestinian refugees are those uprooted because of terrorist operations by Zionist militias during 1946 1948, as well as their children and grandchildren.

During what has come to be known as the Nakba, 750,000 Palestinians left their homes and villages because of massacres carried out by Zionist militias. Part of them fled to the Gaza Strip and West Bank inside the borders of historic Palestine. Others took refuge in nearby Arab countries, especially Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Israel tries to mislead the world by propagating the lie that Palestinian refugees left their homes willingly. However, the truth is that Israel is responsible, not only for the ell-documented ethnic-cleansing massacres that took place, but also for preventing the refugees return. In 1950, the Israeli Knesset passed the Absentee Property Law allowing Israeli authorities takeover of Palestinian refugee properties. Israel used this law against Palestinian refugees to take their property and allocate it to Jewish migrants.

On 11 Dec. 1948, The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 194, stating that,

refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.

The UN General Assembly acceptance of the Israeli request to join the UN in UNGA Resolution 273 was based on Israels commitment to implement UNGA Resolution 194 on the return of Palestinian refugees.However, Israel did not implement the return of refugees resolution, and has not up to this day, in violation of the conditions of Israels UN membership requirements.

Still, the power of Palestinian right of return is not only that its based on international resolutions. The right of return is imprinted in the psyche of the Palestinian people. Thus, it continues to resonate strongly today after 74 years of the Nakba.

Israels bet was that the right of return would be buried with the passing of the first generation of refugees. However, that bet failed as the belief in the right of return did not diminish in subsequent generations who were born in the diaspora. Israel and her Western supporters tried on more than one occasion to bypass the right but, they have failed because no Palestinian leadership ever had the authority to concede it. The right of return in the Palestinian psyche is above politics. It is a non-negotiable, inalienable right.

Palestinian refugee have kept their property documents and house keys safe till today; and pass them down from generation to the next. The names of refugees hometowns and villages are visible in the names of streets and neighborhoods, which is sufficient evidence of the deep-rooted dream of return.

The right of return is the essence of the Palestinian cause. Israels unfortunate luck is that it was established by the ethnic cleansing of another people. Thus, Israel is trying to swim against the tides of history by seeking stability and security in a state founded at the expense of another people. Israel is highly sensitive to the right of return because it views it as an existential threat. However, Palestinian refugees and all those who believe in human rights and justice worldwide need not take into account Israeli calculations, based on apartheid and aggression. In simple terms, a Palestinian refugee wants to go home irrelevant of other concerns.

Israel decided that it would be a state for Jews only. This project collided with the existence of the Palestinian people. Israel wanted to change this reality via the forced uprooting of the indigenous population. However, the problem did not disappear because the refugees did not melt away; and still cling to their right of return.

Israel does not have a land area problem. It still exerts considerable effort to assimilate Jewish migrants from around the globe and give them Israeli citizenship. During times of crises, such as the one currently in Ukraine, Israel grasps the opportunity to convince Jews Ukrainian ones in this case to migrate to Palestine and receive Israeli citizenship.

When Palestinian refugees dreaming of return see strangers land in Ben Gurion Airport, receive welcome from Israel, and obtain its citizenship, they wonder with an overwhelmed feeling of oppression, why can we not return like that?

Palestinians tried through the peaceful Great Return March to go back to their homes. They were met with Israel fire that killed them.

The only explanation for the contradiction between the open arms Israel shows to migrants from thousands of miles away versus the gunshots refugees receive from across the Gaza perimeter fence is that Israel is an apartheid state. It believes in the rights and well-being of Jews only. To Israel, non-Jews do not deserve lifeeven if they are the original inhabitants of the land.

Ahmed Abu ArtemaBorn in Rafah, Gaza Strip, in 1984, Ahmed Abu Artema is a Palestinian refugee. An independent Gaza-based writer and political activist, he has written the book Organized Chaos and numerous articles. He is one of the original founders and organizers of the Great Return March. He is currently a member of the group Palestine Without Borders.

Over the last year, weve made a conscious commitment to our readers and the entire Palestinian freedom movement:to build a newsroom for all of Palestine.

As we welcome our two new Palestine-based staff, Faris Giacaman and Mariam Barghouti, will you contribute to make sure Mondoweiss can back their work 100%?

Between now and July 3rd, a generous donor has pledged to match all gifts, up to $50,000.

This summer fundraising campaign is going to make a huge difference in how we cover the next big uprisings, the place of Palestinian rights in U.S. politics, and the grassroots movement building an unstoppable campaign for justice.

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On World Refugee Day, the Palestinian dream of return is still alive - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

Shad Abusalama has been made a refugee more than once. Even before she was born, she was made a refugee.

The home is amazing, its an abstract home, its a home that we never managed to hold or see close, she says of her first, imaginary, home the one which was taken from her family decades before her birth in 1991. When we were kids, if you ask any refugee child where theyre from, they will tell you the names of the dispossessed villages that may not even exist today that our grandparents have fled from in 1948. So I come from Bayt Jirja and Isdud, two of 531 Palestinian villages and towns that were completely depopulated and destroyed.

Today, Shahd is an associate lecturer at Sheffield Hallam university, having left the Gaza Strip in 2013 to pursue her education on a scholarship. As a result of the Israeli governments blockade of Gaza and the inhumane policies of the British Home Office, she has seen her parents just once, for a short time, since. Her brothers and sisters also reside around Europe, unable to return home.

Some days before I talked to Shahd, her eldest brother Majed had been arrested in Berlin for attempting to commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that consigned the family to refugee status. In September 2021, Shahd, Majed and the rest of the Abusalama family attempted a reunion in Istanbul after their years of enforced separation.

My parents, my youngest brother, my niece whos approaching four years and her mother, they all managed to leave the Gaza Strip to find a secure place where we could all meet. All my siblings made it from their dispersed places of residence while I got stuck in the UK. The last year, I was in the process of applying for a permanent residence and it took a whole year, actually beyond a whole year, because for the last six months of my refugee travel document, which is timed with the expiry of my refugee biometrics card and residency, is basically useless in the last six months. To travel, they require at least six months validation. I tried to talk to MPs, no one could help me to get my documents on time. So I ended up in a situation where I was imprisoned in the UK, unable to travel, while my family made it out of the worlds largest open-air prison.

After three months of waiting for Shahd, her family, resigned to an incomplete reunion, left Istanbul and scattered back to their homes. As Shahd tells it, their contemporary story of dispersal began in 2012 when her oldest sister left for Spain. Now, all of us are refugees And its very painful because we never thought that our reality would be like this. When we left, we thought that wed finish our studies and come back, but actually, the reality was way harder than we ever expected and return to Gaza, you know, with the conditions that it is under the siege, people get stuck in Egypt for months waiting to enter to Gaza and on the other side as well its a symptom of how Palestinians are criminalised and perceived as a threat and although its brutal, although its illegal, although its in breach of human rights and international conventions, it continues to happen. So all of us have had their own journey with the hostility of Europe and its racist policies. As we sought to establish a safer life for ourselves, we were met by other violent structures.

Sheffield wasnt a completely alien place to Shahd when she arrived to complete her PhD. As a 13-year-old, she travelled to the city as part of a tour to perform Dabke, the traditional dance of Palestine and the wider Levant. Then, it took three attempts to get the young dance troupe out of Gaza. They were twice turned back by Israeli officials at the border with Egypt. On the third attempt, they succeeded. This was Shahds first trip out of Palestine, out of Gaza, out of her Jabalia refugee camp.

I love Sheffield because I am surrounded by amazing people here who became like family to me, family outside of Palestine. And I noticed that theres something almost stronger than me inside me that pushes me to create these families wherever I go and I guess its maybe a survival mechanism. I thought it would be nice, having these memories from my childhood, I thought it would be nice to reconnect with Sheffield. However, its difficult, like its not a normal reality, I dont live a normal reality and Im aware of that and Im also here as a refugee and I have these struggles that are very unnecessary, just very oppressive really, you feel the oppression under your skin when you encounter official government processes, and all these constant confrontations that Im not asking for and are thrown at me.

These confrontations, including suspension in the first week of Shahd beginning her teaching career at Hallam, twist like the live cable from a taser around her precarious status in Britain and her maltreatment by the Home Office. I always feel at risk and Im aware of these hostile processes and how they try to make us scared of even calling for our basic rights. I know that Im dealing with a serious risk here and, in the latest campaign against me, they were trying to, in the defamatory articles against me, they were trying to indicate that I am not going to be a good citizen, for example, or to frame me as a terrorist. Every application, every formal government application we are asked to do as refugees and residents, we are always asked to clear ourselves of any terrorist activity or even support for any terrorist activity, but you are met with a system that has a completely different interpretation, or lens, to yours.

When I think of the Home Office, what comes to mind first? Its the separation of my family, I think of all these restrictions, the foreign policies that this country perpetuates against us, the discrimination, the feeling of limbo. I see it as inherently racist. I dont think many are aware of the ways this country practices violence against refugees and were humiliated every step of the way. I remember crying my eyes out when I applied for asylum. It was this realisation that this is my only way, my only option, which was ultimately no option because, like, youre free if you have options but, in my case, I didnt have options. That was the only way I could be anywhere because the doors to Gaza were closed in my face thanks to the siege. You feel the hostility inside the Home Office and you feel the hostility whenever you have to present your ID, the ID that the UK gives to asylum seekers and this ID is very stigmatised in British culture and it is, for me, the only form of identification, and I would worry to use it in order not to instigate a racist or upsetting action against me.

And on top of this, to have to report at a centre every week for six months, and those six months could be forever, you never know, because this is the reality, its a reality of uncertainty and its a limbo, and I was at that time just surviving day-by-day, really, and I saw all these cases of refugees, people who have fled war-stricken countries, poverty-stricken countries, most of them are ex-colonies of Britain and they are humiliated, they are coming here trying to find safety, trying to find a better life and some of them, a mother, I remember, she was 10 years waiting for a residency. So when you have these examples around you, I was so scared, I wasnt sure what could happen to me, or where I could end up being..

So Shahd, for the time being, is in Sheffield and her parents are in Gaza with her youngest brother and her other brothers and sisters are dispersed around Europe and their minds are with each other and with Zayd Mohamed, Saeed Ghoneim and Shireen Abu Akleh and the thousands more victims of Israeli occupation.

I live between here and there ever since I left. I mean, to be honest, at least when I lived in Palestine I was completely in Palestine but, when I left, I became restless. Its a state of restlessness and disintegration thats haunted me ever since I left. Im always in so many places at once; most of the time, Im feeling physically here but my mind is there. And how can I? How can I detach myself while my familys still there and while I know first-hand what is going on?

Im living in the middle of contradictions and Im always struggling in between those structures of power. I feel trapped in violence that extends from Palestine to here and I dont know how to get free from it. Im trying my best, but even when I call out what is obvious, when we call out the oppression, we are silenced and so I always feel alienated. I go to banks and then I learn that banks invest in arms companies that aid Israels aggression against the Palestinian people. JCB have been called out by the UN for their involvement in Israels settler colonial expansion in the Occupied Territories. My university is holding business partnerships with JCB and when we try to raise these issues with the university, we are silenced and we are accused of causing reputational damage to the university.

When put like this, it becomes clear how integral the system of oppression in Palestine is to the political economy of the Global North. The barriers to any semblance of justice seem mammoth, the processes to be gone through in attempting to extricate European universities alone from complicity exhausting. Yet, whether its this fight or the one to see her parents again, Shahd is nothing if not persistent.

I really hope to bring them to my graduation in November. They have missed out on so many occasions that happened in my life and I dont want them to miss out on this too. I feel like, I miss them so much, you know, they didnt celebrate anything that I achieved and I missed so many things that happened on their end, so I really wish that they could come and be proud for a tiny bit before they go back to the headaches that we cause them all the time. They worry so much about us because they also see how were struggling. They thought that when we were out [of Gaza] we would be safer. And they knew, of course, that we would never let it go, we would never forget our roots, we would never forget the injustices that we saw with our own eyes, but they never imagined it would be this intense.

You cannot believe how much hope my case has generated amongst Palestinians. I was getting very moving messages from girls who remain in the refugee camps in Palestine and they saw me coming all the way from a refugee camp and making it here and becoming an associate lecturer and finishing a PhD and still fighting for my peoples rights and they were sending me beautiful messages, saying how I made them believe, how they could see the possibilities and how theyre proud and making themselves feel heard in just telling our story because, at that time, they werent trying to just silence me, they were trying to silence the voice, the truth of the Palestinians.

Pdraig Meiscill is a writer from Belfast. Shahd Abusalama is a PhD student at Sheffield Hallam University, born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza.

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'I feel trapped in violence that extends from Palestine to the UK' - Red Pepper

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

Anyone who has met and gotten to know Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich in the six years he has been in this city as the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth David Jerusalem in Cte Saint-Luc knows what a kind and wonderful person he is. He succeeded an icon of sorts in Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz.

Sadly for us, Rabbi Freundlich will be leaving TBDJ for a new job in New York at the end of the summer. Membership recently gave him and his family an emotional sendoff via a video, a memory book and words of appreciation at successive Shabbos events.

Before Rabbi Freundlich goes, he has something very special to complete. I was found to be a match for a kidney donation to a recipient in Toronto, whom I do not know, he announced to the congregation last week. It is my great privilege to join a growing list of whats known as 'altruistic living kidney donors' and that I am doing so in memory of Ronnie Hollande

Ronnie was only two years old when she died tragically from no known cause on January 13, 2020. Her family are members of TBDJ.

Over four years ago, in December 2018, TBDJ hosted the organization Renewal for a presentation. Renewal is a comprehensive resource for kidney donors and recipients within the Jewish community. They are involved in every aspect of the process, from helping to actually identify matches between donors and recipients to providing emotional and financial support all along the way.

After their presentation that Saturday night, the rabbi joined a small group of congregants who swabbed themselves to add their names to the registry. The whole process took less than a minute and was soon completely forgotten, he said. I heard nothing from them until some 13 months later, on January 13, 2020. For all of us in the Montreal community, that terrible day will be forever etched in our memory. I remember exactly where I was when I received the call from Papermans that I needed to go straight to the hospital. Ronnie, the beautiful, always smiling two-year old daughter of Michael and Dahlia, had suddenly passed away. The next few hours were a blur of misery and tears. No words can describe the pain and devastating loss that Ronnies parents, siblings and grandparents went through; we as a community were shattered along with them.

I returned home empty and numb that afternoon, literally collapsing at the kitchen table. And then my phone rang. It was an unrecognized New York number. In general, I am not quick to pick up those calls, and particularly on that day, as I had no strength. But for some reason, most likely a suspicion that the call was related to the tragedy unfolding, I took the call. It was not related to Ronnie.

It was in fact someone from is Renewal calling from New York. Youve been found to be a life-saving match! Mazel Tov! Are you still interested in being a donor?, the rabbi was asked.

You know, the rabbi said, it is one thing to swab and enter a registry, but it is something entirely different to actually undergo surgery for a complete stranger. Renewal has no doubt learned from experience that the first question after identifying a match must be: Are you sure you really want to do this? I would like to think I would have confirmed regardless, but in that moment, there was no doubt. Yes! I cried. And then I literally sobbed uncontrollably.

Sir, are you ok? the woman from Renewal asked. Usually when a match has been found, the sobs come from the recipients, not the donors.

Yes, Im ok, the rabbi explained. This has been a terribly painful day, but I am so honoured to be a donor.

That was back in January 2020. The rabbis personal journey towards donation has been circuitous and filled with delays. In February, he spent a day in a New York hospital being tested, but COVID shut everything down before the process could be completed. By June of 2020, when New York hospitals were beginning to function again, his recipient unfortunately had taken ill and was no longer a candidate for surgery.

Renewal quickly found a different recipient, this time in Toronto. But because the Canadian and American health systems do not align, the rabbi had to undergo the entire testing regimen again, and that took a very long time. It has been almost a two year process, culminating just this past week when he finally got the call that a date has been set.

I would like to dedicate my kidney donation to the memory of Ronnie zl, not because in some way her tragic passing brought this about, but because the convergence of the two events has forever further connected me to her, her family, and this community, said the rabbi.

You can check out the web page https://www.ronniesjoy.org/ to learn more about Ronnie and SUDC. The rabbi said that any donations towards Ronnies Joy Foundation or to Renewal (www.renewal.org) in the merit of a successful surgery and quick recovery would be very much appreciated.

A far as logistics go, the surgery will take place in two weeks in Toronto, on Friday, July 8. The rabbis wife Rifki will accompany him and he we will spend three days in the hospital after the surgery, followed by another four days of recovery locally in Toronto. If everything looks good at his post-op check up on Thursday, July 15, he will be cleared to return home.

I will still need some time for recovery and will likely not be back in shul for another week or two, he said. Our last Shabbos in Montreal will be Shabbos, August 6and the move to New York will be sometime the following week - after Tisha B'Av on Sunday, August 7.

Does anyone need to say anything more about this rabbi's character?

Jeff Itcush (right) with teacher Andrew Trager.

GOOD LUCK JEFF: After 28 years as a popular teacher at Bialik High School, Jeff Itcush is retiring. It's kind of special when many of your colleagues are your former students or student teachers, Itcush shared on Facebook . Bialik and the staff offered tributes that were far too generous today. It's unique knowing that you've worked in a place for 28 years, where your colleagues have been your friends! Thank you everyone - you're all too kind!

SCOTCH & CIGAR EVENT: Last Wednesday evening the Ben Weider Educational Centre Chaya Muska Seminary celebrated the return of its extraordinary Scotch & Cigar event at Ferrari Montreal. It was a sold out affair as 185 people came together to raise funds for the organizations new Ukraine Refugee Young Womens Project. This will enable up to 25 young women to join the Ben Weider Educational Centre Chaya Muska Seminary in the upcoming academic year.

The Ferrari showroom was all decked out for the event.

There was a wonderful mix of sushi, canaps along with a deejay, live music, dancing, a magician, live and silent auctions along with tefillin laying. This kept everyone busy for the night, making a powerful contribution and lively addition to the ongoing Montreal Jewish education scene. It was heart-warming to see so many people together for such an important cause, said event coordinators Miriam Ditkofsky and Hanna Cabessa. Spirits were high and the enthusiasm to bring the young refugee women to Montreal was inspiring. This was our 11th year and we are so happy that the community continues to make the event such fun, bigger and better

Donations are welcome for the Ukraine Refugee Young Womens Project at theseminary.ca/donate

Part of Rosally Saltsman's book.

SHARING HER LESSONS: A former Montrealer now living in Israel has written a new book, 100 Lessons I've Learned so You Don't Have To. Rosally Saltsman has been living in Israel for almost 40 years. A prolific author (19 books and ebooks to date) and regular contributor to many newspapers and Internet sites, she has compiled her most personal articles into the aforementioned book. Culled from six decades of experience, this book is both humorous and poignant, prosaic and philosophical, personal and a reflection of the human condition. Saltsman gives her own unique take on the weather, travel, spirituality, motherhood, finances, friendship, living in Israel and a host of other topics. Since Saltsman spent her first couple of decades in Montreal, you will recognize many of the locales in the book as she talks about getting lost in the mountains during her high school's ski cay and attempting to attend a performance at Place des Arts with her two-month-old baby in tow. You will enjoy these vignettes and the lessons they teach. To order a copy either in softcover or digital format. Please contact Rosally at rosally_s@yahoo.com.

Have an item for the SJN? E-mail mcohen@thesuburban.com

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SJN: Rabbi Freundlich is donating a kidney in the memory of a special two year old girl - The Suburban Newspaper

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

Rabbi Azi (YC 19) and Ellie (SCW 20) Fine and Rabbi Avrumi (YC 19) and Michal (SCW 19) Schonbrun have been selected as the new Beren Campus couples by Associate Dean of Torah Studies Shoshana Schechter and the Office of Student Life (OSL) after a year-long search. The Fines will join as campus rabbi and rebbetzin and the Schonbruns as scholars in residence this fall as part of the Office of Spiritual Life at Stern College for Women (SCW).

The Fines will replace Rabbi Jacob (YC 15) and Penina (SCW 14) Bernstein, who are departing SCW after four years of serving as campus rabbi and rebbetzin.

This will be the first time there have ever been two rabbinic couples on Beren Campus.

Schechter was primarily responsible for recruiting the Fines to replace the Bernsteins, with additional input from OSL and Vice Provost Chaim Nissel. Schechter explained that the process was not simple. Filling the Bernsteins shoes is a big job, and they were here for four years, Schechter told The Commentator. They were the first couple that consistently stayed for a few years.

The Fines were recommended by Rabbi Dovid Miller, rosh kollel on YUs Israel campus, where Fine studied last year, leading to their hiring. Miller previously recommended the Bernsteins in 2017, prior to their coming to YU.

During the year-long search for a new couple, the Schonbruns were rabbinic interns on Beren Campus and showed an interest in joining the Office of Spiritual Life in some capacity, which led to their appointment as scholars in residence.

Schechter explained that during the Bernsteins four years on campus, they introduced many different innovations which changed campus life for students. Now, the Office of Spiritual Life hopes to continue building on what theyve been building.

During their four years at SCW, the Bernsteins added more shiurim, invited more speakers to come to Beren campus, introduced significant changes to campus Shabbat programming to encourage students to stay for Shabbat and helped create the Office of Spiritual Life. The Office of Spiritual Life comprises the campus couple, Director of Student Life Mrs. Rachel Ciment and Dean Schechter. The Bernsteins plan on moving to Israel this summer.

The Bernsteins have completely changed what this position is, Schechter remarked. When they were hired four or five years ago, the job was very different than it is now, because they really developed this and created a community in a way that nobody did before.

Schechter also commented that One of the things our campus was always lacking was a community, pointing out that Wilf Campus has several couples and families living on or near campus, who are involved in the informal Torah education and programming on campus. Having two couples is an expansion of the Office of Spiritual Life and the building of an even stronger Torah community.

Both couples will live on Beren Campus in Midtown, with housing provided by YU. Due to the recent departure of Dr. Elisheva and Rabbi Yisroel Meir Rosenzweig, the long-time av and eim bayit of Beren Campus, a second apartment became available, allowing for two rabbinic couples to join campus.

The Fines are currently spending the year on YUs Israel campus, with Rabbi Fine studying at the Gruss Institute kollel and Ellie studying at Matan Womens Institute for Torah Studies. Rabbi Fine is in his third year of semicha, and is simultaneously studying at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration as well as the RIETS/Ferkauf Joint Graduate Program in Pastoral Counseling. Ellie is currently in both the Eshkolot and Lapidot programs at Matan, and plans to pursue a masters in social work.

Ellie, Etiel [the Fines newborn child], and I are really looking forward to joining the Beren Campus Community and Beit Midrash, Rabbi Fine shared with The Commentator. We are really excited about working together with Dean Schechter, Mrs. Ciment, Rabbi Avrumi and Michal Schonbrun, and all of the student leaders to continue to build the feeling of community on campus.

Rabbi Schonbrun is finishing semicha at RIETS and will be studying full time at the Beren Kollel Elyon next year, while Michal will continue to her third year of the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies (GPATS).

Additionally we are really excited to continue and create new Torah programming to foster the students growth in their Avodas Hashem, Rabbi Fine added. We are already working hard on exciting learning opportunities and events for Elul, and cannot wait to meet everyone soon!

Shlomit Ebbin contributed to this story.

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Photo Caption: Rabbi Azi and Ellie Fine (left) and Rabbi Avrumi and Michal Schronbrun (right)

Photo Credit: Azi & Ellie Fine and Avrumi & Michal Scronbrun

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Two New Campus Couples Selected for Beren Campus, Set to Replace the Bernsteins - The Commentator

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Posted By admin on June 26, 2022

3 minute read26/6/2022 | 08:35am

Celtic have often been rather active in the transfer market over the years, especially in terms of bringing new players to Parkhead either on loan or permanent deals.

One man who had a rather significant period of time with the Premiership champions is Patrick Roberts.

During two loan spells from Premier League giants Manchester City between 2016 and 2018, the winger made 78 appearances across all competitions for the Hoops. In that time, the Englishman scored 18 goals, delivered 26 assists and won seven trophiesalong the way.

Now that some years have passed since the attacker donned a Celtic shirt, this summers transfer window might give Ange Postecoglou the chance to seal what could be the clubs next version of Roberts.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Parkhead club are looking to sign Schalke 04 winger Rabbi Matondo.

The Welshman shares a connection with Roberts in that they both play on the wing and have both spent time at Manchester City.

After leaving Cardiff Citys youth ranks, the winger went on to make 53 appearances for the Citizens across their youth teams. In that time, Matondo scored 19 goals and provided 11 assists before his move to Schalke in January 2019.

Despite not making it into Man Citys first team, the attacker still managed to wow Pep Guardiola, who said of him in 2019 before the Welshman left the club: I know how good he is, incredibly fast winger, and a young talent.

Would you be happy to see Celtic sign Matondo this summer?

The 2021/22 season saw the 21-year-old score 10 goals and supply two assists in 27 appearances for Belgian side Cercle Brugge on loan from Schalke. In fact, over his 26 league appearances last term, the winger had more shots at goal (75) and shots on target (33) than any other player at the Jan Breydel Stadium.

Taking all this into account, the former Man City youngster who is currently picking up 12k-per-week at Schalke certainly has the attacking talent to be a useful addition to Celtics ranks and become their next version of Roberts.

If Postecoglou wants to add some extra attacking power to his squad, securing a deal for Matondo could be the best way to do it this summer.

In other news Celtic would..: Antony Joseph drops behind-the-scenes claim, supporters will be thrilled

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Celtic can land the next Patrick Roberts by signing Rabbi Matondo - FootballFanCast.com

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