Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

This article was first published May 3, 2022, and was updated on June 24, 2022, after the Court released its full decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency and our partner sites at 70 Faces Media have answered the question many times over the years, a testament to its persistence in political life and its significance to American Jews: What do Jews believe about abortion?

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, the question is relevant yet again.

Heres what we know: American Jews favor abortion rights, more than any other religious group, according to public polling. And traditional Jewish law permits (and even requires) abortion in some circumstances, particularly when the life or health of the pregnant person is at stake.

That means Jewish women in dozens of states will almost certainly become unable to access care that they might well decide is required religiously.

What Jewish community would want to continue to live in a place where they are potentially barred from following halacha (Jewish law)? Ephraim Sherman, an Orthodox Jew and health care professional,wrote in JTA in 2019. Is a community even allowed by halacha to continue living in such a place?

Liberal Jews in America have been advocating for reproductive rights as long as they have been contested so, forever. Here are stories from1967, pre-Roe;1989, when American Jews attended a rallyprotesting calls to roll back abortion rights; and1998, when Jewish groups responded to the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, a New York abortion provider who was killed just after returning home from saying Kaddish for his father.

Those groups have stepped up advocacy as threats to Roe v. Wade were mounted. The National Council of Jewish Women formed Rabbis for Repro to bring abortion talk to synagogues and other Jewish spaces; Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, the groups scholar in residence, has articulated Jewish views on abortion inessaysandon national TV.

Meanwhile, Orthodox Jews in America have shifted rightward in recent decades.Our 2020 exploration of that shiftsuggests that one reason it didnt happen earlier was Republicans focus on abortion in the 1980s, which didnt resonate with Orthodoxy. But recently, the alignment of Orthodoxy and Republican politics has led to more vocal participation by Orthodox Jews in abortion discourse.

In 2019, when New York widened its abortion law, severalOrthodox groups condemned the move. Some Orthodox women questioned why they would oppose a change that made it easier to follow rabbinic advice. At the time,an Orthodox leaderargued in a JTA essay that rights are the wrong way to talk about the Jewish stance on abortion.

Blanket bans on abortion, to be sure, would deprive Jewish women of the ability to act responsibly in cases where abortion is halachically required, wrote the leader, Rabbi Avi Shafran. And so, what Orthodox groups like Agudath Israel of America, for which I work, have long promoted is the regulation of abortion through laws that generally prohibit the unjustifiable killing of fetuses while protecting the right to abortion in exceptional cases.

An estimated quarter of American women will have an abortion by age 45, many Jews among them. Weve published first-person accounts from a few of them: Heres one that our partners at Kveller, the Jewish parenting site, published last year, froma rabbi and mother who desperately wanted the pregnancy she ended.

And heresa self-described very Jewish story from a rabbiwho says she had an abortion simply because she didnt want to be pregnant a choice that she says Jewish tradition protects, too.

If anyone tries to argue that abortion restrictions are justified under the prerogative of religious freedom, we can explain that our religious freedom demands that we have access to abortion care when it is needed and wanted, wrote the rabbi, Rachael Pass.

And a longtime Jewish feminist, Barbara Dobkin,recalled how she helped a friend get an illegal abortion in 1966. What about the crisis of losing the right to make decisions about our own bodies? she asked. Where is the communal outcry about that?

That outcry is being felt today, as the Supreme Court opinion resonates across the country.

Legal analysts arealready envisioninga Jewish woman as the perfect plaintiff for a case challenging a ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

So the first lawsuit I'd like to see is from a Jewish woman who has access to an abortion provider denied in a Christian Theocracy state sue that the Christian rules inhibit her religious freedom under the free exercise clause of the 1st Amendment.

Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) May 3, 2022

And we know that for Orthodox groups, the balancing act between backing Republicans and defending Jewish law and the right to follow it just got harder.

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What do Jews say about abortion? Your primer as Roe is overturned J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

Births

Proud parents Lea Loeb, a J. staff member, and George Barahona welcomed their daughter, Lila Raine Loeb-Barahona, on May 8, 2022, in San Francisco. Lila was 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and measured 19 inches. Grandparents Loretta Bauchiero Loeb of Visalia, Kimball Loeb of Ventura and Gloria and Rene Barahona of Petaluma, as well as many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, are thrilled with her arrival.

Rebecca Weiss and Jesse Delan were married May 15, 2022, in a small ceremony at the brides family home, with Rabbi Nat Ezray of Congregation Beth Jacob officiating. A celebration followed at the Village Pub restaurant in Woodside.

Rebecca is the daughter of Charles and Barbara Weiss of Atherton and the granddaughter of Harold (zl) and Florence (zl) Davidson and Ben (zl) and Esther (zl) Weiss. Jesse is the son of Dalton and Stacey Delan of Potomac, Maryland, and the grandson of Len and Susan Berson of Westport, Connecticut, and Dan (zl) and Stephanie (zl) Delan.

Rebecca and Jesse met while working toward their MBAs at the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Rebecca currently works in biotech, and Jesse works in media and entertainment. They have traveled to four continents together and now live in Seattle with their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Bojack.

Levi DruskinSon of Jennifer and Scott Druskin, Saturday, July 9, at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.

Charles MacVicarSon of Kimberlee and Mark MacVicar, Saturday, May 21, at Temple Israel in Alameda.

Sidney Az Mates-MuchinSon of Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin and J.T. Mates-Muchin, Saturday, June 25, at Temple Sinai in Oakland.

Abby Rose SachseDaughter of Julie and Matt Sachse and granddaughter of Marcia and Harry Ratner, Saturday, June 18, at Congregation Beth David in Saratoga.

Dalia Miri SaalDaughter of Susan and Nate Saal and granddaughter of Harry and Carol Saal and Michael and Diane Steiner, Saturday, May 28, at Congregation Kol Emeth in Palo Alto. Dalia is a rising eighth-grader at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School.

Guy SandlerSon of Maya and Eran Sandler, Saturday, July 9, at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.

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Lifecycles announcements for the week of June 24, 2022 J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

The vacation of Rabbi Elie and Avital Weissman from Plainview, Long Island was terminated when their pediatrician called to apprise them that the lab results for their four-year-old had revealed leukemic cells (read: head immediately to the Emergency Room).

The Weissmans did not need to request a hospital recommendation. Their cousin is the celebrated pediatric hematologist Efraim Weinblatt of Winthrop Hospital on Long Island. Dr. Weinblatt is noted not only for his expert care, but also for his unparalleled bedside manner (and, I cannot resist mentioning, for being the younger brother of the magnanimous communal activist Lee Weinblatt less famous for his profound photographic contribution to my 1997 film Do You Believe in Miracles? and cover photo for my book Its A Small Word After All).

Within half an hour of their arrival at the hospital, Dr. Weinblatt, who is the head of the department, was performing tests on little Yehuda Weissman. Over the next few months doctor and patient would be seeing a lot of each other, and in short time Yehuda began to love his physician, despite all the jabs and pricks, as a grandfather.

Dr. Weinblatts commitment to patient care makes him one of the few hematologists that permit chemotherapy to be administered with the patient at home for most of the treatment, as opposed to six straight months in the hospital. Dr. Weinblatt marshaled all of his expertise to administer experimental chemo that might destroy Yehudas form of leukemia. Alas, the treatment was not successful, and the next desperate resort was a bone-marrow transplant that was pegged at having a 33% success rate.

The transplant was to take place in New York City at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. This meant not only a different venue, but also a different approach. One-out-of-three is not the kind of language that Dr. Weinblatt would ever employ, let alone even allow himself to think. The man is a fount of hope. Alas, care was transferred to the experts in Columbia, headed by Dr. Diane George with a huge wink from the Rofeh Kol Bassar.

Yehudas ten-year-old sister Leba was a perfect bone-marrow match, and the successful transplantation occurred in June 2015. Licking leukemia, even today when the odds have doubled from just 30 years ago, still involves tremendous fear and trepidation, and lives being fully disarrayed. For parents whose child has been diagnosed with cancer, it means fundamentally moving into the hospital, consulting with doctors, and curtailing their normal existence and livelihood. It doesnt matter if you are a pilot, a cook, or a rabbi.

But this is where the Young Israel community of Plainview raised the bar and perfected a standard not unusual across the landscape of religious Jewish communities. Taking their cues from what needed to be done, the community rallied by harnessing technology and selfless concern so that Rabbi Elie and Avital could focus on Yehuda without distraction.

A website was set up so that all could see what needed to be done and track its execution, efficiently and anonymously. Every week the Weissmans laundry was collected and returned folded and ironed, plants were watered, meals delivered, and shopping arranged even a bas mitzvah for their oldest daughter was coordinated from soup to nuts. If the above list seems rather inclusive, it is really not reflective of the myriad of issues that may occur in family life, certainly not in a complicated one with a sick child. Whatever needs arose were posted on the website and tackled instantaneously.

The Weissmans next-door neighbor, the one Rabbi Elie sold the communitys chametz to for a dozen years, would drive Yehuda to the hospital on Shabbos or Yom Tov if the need arose. The Young Israel arranged a different driver to bring Avital home from the hospital in the city so that she could sleep an abbreviated nights sleep in the car ride home. This driver was paid by the same anonymous sources that bankrolled all the other expenses.

The other part of this story, which has a fairy-tale ending, is that of the four-year-old protagonist. He may not have noticed the pitiful, puppy dog eyes that followed him wherever he went, but he surely felt the pain and the nausea from his disease and its treatment. What is a little boy to do, deprived of an immune system and quarantined in a hospital room for nearly two months?

Yehuda played with Lego, and his most prized possession was a fire station that he assembled with a red roof. Like many little boys, firemen and fire trucks engaged a large swath of his imagination, and this theme turned out to be a leitmotif in Yehudas saga.

The fianc of Yehudas nurse, Maggie Hidalgo, was a real live member of New York Citys Bravest. In respect to Maggies charge, he would visit the hospital with all of his appurtenances. For Maggie, Yehudas hospitalization was remarkably heimish. Her mother was a housekeeper in the Five Towns whose employer insisted that extra Shabbos delicacies be cooked so that Mrs. Hidalgo could take home treats for her family. So Maggie had grown up on gefilte fish, kugel, and cholent.

For a little boy who had been locked in a hospital room for seven weeks, discharge would mean emancipation. He would no longer be shackled to wires, tubes, monitors, or the Reaper that crouched at the gate. The journey home just had to be momentous. In this instance, it was fiery jubilation. Fireman Bill from Plainview (a member of the Young Israel) kept his promise that Yehuda would come home in a fire truck. When fire commander Phil, who also did not wish to miss out on any of the action, was questioned about the fact that a Nassau County fire vehicle is not allowed in the city, he replied sardonically, What are they going to do? Give us a ticket?

When Yehuda returned to Plainview, he was transferred from the fire command car to a mammoth hook and ladder, and here too he was allowed to sound the siren and flash the lights. An honor guard of Plainview firefighters joined the homecoming, equipped with toys which they had bought for the son of their town who had finally returned.

But such a journey could not be complete without our Yehuda also ascending in the ladder to its very height, held tightly in the air by Fireman Bill, as the two looked down upon a community that knew how, and had been blessed, to put out a fire.

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Ascending The Ladder - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

3 minute read19/6/2022 | 07:45am

Leeds United have signed numerous players since their return to the Premier League in 2020 after a 16-year absence.

The one who has arguably turned out to be the best bit of business from the club during this period is Raphinha.

Signed from Rennes in a 17m deal, the winger has become a vital player for the Whites.

In his debut season at Elland Road, the Brazilian scored six goals and delivered nine assists in 30 league appearances, while his most recent campaign saw the 25-year-old find the net 11 times and provide three assists in 35 top-flight matches.

Now that the summer transfer window has opened, this could give Victor Orta and the Yorkshire club the chance to sign what could be their next version of the Brazilian dynamo.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Leeds are looking at signing Schalke 04 winger Rabbi Matondo this summer.

A product of Cardiff Citys youth system, the attacker joined Manchester Citys youth ranks back in 2016. After making 53 youth appearances for the Manchester club, in which he scored 19 goals and delivered 11 assists, the Welshman then joined his current employers in January 2019 for a fee of 10m.

Last season, the 21-year-old had a loan spell with Cercle Brugge, where he scored nine goals and supplied two assists in 26 league games. To further highlight his attacking prowess, he racked up a higher average of dribbles per game (1.7) than any other player at the Belgian club.

Looking at Raphinha, he ended his latest campaign at Elland Road with more attempted dribbles (149) to his name than any other Leeds player.

Matondo also took more shots at goal (75) and had more shots on target (33) than anyone else at Cercle Brugge. Meanwhile, the Leeds star took more shots at goal (85) than any of his team-mates throughout their 2021/22 Premier League campaign, highlighting the similarities between the two.

Labelled an incredibly fast winger by Pep Guardiola, the Welsh youngster certainly seems to have what it takes to cause problems for a lot of Premier League defences in a similar way that Raphinha has done since his arrival in England.

With all that in mind, the former Man City youngster could be an exciting addition to Jesse Marschs ranks this summer, if Leeds can bring him back to the UK.

In other news: Leeds now chasing sublime 9m-rated incredible talent, Marsch badly needs him

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

By Ambassador Callista L. Gingrich

Every May, the United States celebrates Jewish American Heritage Month to honor the contributions of Jewish Americans to our countrys history and culture.

For nearly four centuries, since the arrival of the first Jewish settlers in 1654 in modern-day New York City, the Jewish people have been an impactful and influential part of the fabric of America.

Like so many of Americas earliest settlers, Jewish migrants first came to the New World in search of religious freedom. Yet today, Jewish Americans are tragically targeted for their faith.

According to a 2021 survey by the American Jewish Committee, 90 percent of Jewish Americans believe antisemitism is a problem in the United States, and 82 percent report that antisemitism has increased.

Despite facing persecution, discrimination, and loss, Jewish people throughout history have overcome adversity and used their skills and talents for the good of society.

As President Donald Trump said in his 2020 Proclamation on Jewish American Heritage Month, From the arts and sciences, to business and public service, nearly every facet of our society has benefitted from the talent, inspiration, vision, expertise, ingenuity, and sacrifice of Jewish Americans.

Consider Rebecca Gratz, a Jewish American woman who, according to the Jewish Womens Archive, worked to create an environment in which women could be fully Jewish and fully American. In 1801, Gratz helped establish the first nonsectarian womens charity in Philadelphia that was run by women and served women and their children. She later went on to help establish the Philadelphia Orphan Society, the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (which served impoverished Jews), the Hebrew Sunday School, and the first Jewish orphanage in the United States. Rebecca Gratzs determination and leadership brought both help and hope to thousands of women and children.

Another remarkable woman, Gertrude B. Elion, was born to Eastern European Jewish parents in New York City in 1918. After losing her beloved grandfather to cancer when she was 15 years old, Elion was highly motivated to do something that might eventually lead to a cure for this terrible disease.

Overcoming the prejudices of the time against women in science, as well as economic and employment hardships during the Great Depression, Elions brilliance and courage led her to make some of historys most groundbreaking medical discoveries. Throughout her career as a chemist, Elion developed the first chemotherapy for childhood leukemia, the immunosuppressant used in organ transplants, the first effective anti-viral medication, and treatments for numerous diseases including lupus, hepatitis, arthritis, and gout.

In 1988, she became the fifth woman to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Even though she never received a Ph.D., Elions discoveries saved and improved countless lives. Moreover, her curiosity, generosity, and passion for alleviating suffering inspired future generations of young women to pursue careers in science.

One of the worlds most renowned film directors, Steven Spielberg, was born into an Orthodox Jewish family and, as a child, was bullied for being Jewish. Spielberg recalled, I didnt think of it as hate but thought of it as a shame.

Spielberg, however, said he was always proud to be Jewish and he later directed one of the most influential movies about the horrors of the Holocaust. Based on real events, Schindlers List (1993) told the powerful story of Oskar Schindler who saved more than 1,000 Jews from concentration camps during World War II. The film won 7 Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture, and Spielberg won the Oscar for directing.

In 1994, Spielberg founded the USC Shoah Foundation, which, through interviews, has recorded and archived the testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. In the last three decades, the Institute has expanded significantly to include other events of genocide, ethnic violence, and mass killing. Today, the Institute has recorded and indexed 115,000 hours of testimony and conducted nearly 55,000 audio-visual testimonies across 65 countries in 43 languages.

The story of the Jewish people is one of courage, determination, and resilience. It is a legacy that is carried forward today by millions of Jewish Americans. During Jewish American Heritage Month, let us celebrate the many contributions of the Jewish people to our nations history and culture.

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Callista L. Gingrich | Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

(JTA) Two policemen standing guard at the Grand Synagogue in the center of the Tunisian capital of Tunis were stabbed on Thursday.

It is not clear whether anyone was in the synagogue at the time of the attack, AFP reported.

The suspect, who was imprisoned in 2021 over a terrorism case and has since been released, wounded the officers but was overpowered.

Interior ministry spokesman Fakher Bouzghaya told AFP that an investigation was underway.

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While the countrys current Jewish population is estimated at around a thousand, Tunisia once had a booming Jewish community of around 100,000. The population started dwindling after the nation won independence from France in 1956 and state-tolerated violence against Jews proliferated following Israels victory over its neighbors in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The African country also hosts an annual pilgrimage to El Ghriba Synagogue in Riadh, a centuries-old synagogue in an island town where thousands of Jews once lived. Al-Qaeda terrorists set off an explosion outside the El Ghriba Synagogue in 2002, killing 20 people, including 14 German tourists.

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

Rabbi Stephen Weiss was indicted on one count of attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, one count of importuning and one count of possessing criminal tools, according to the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Courts.

Meanwhile, his former employer, Bnai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, completed its own investigation, finding no evidence Weiss engaged in illegal, illicit activity within its congregation.

Weiss was indicted by a grand jury June 16, according to the court docket. He was arrested April 18 after allegedly engaging in explicit online conversations with an undercover investigator posing as a 15-year-old boy. His arraignment is scheduled for July 11.

Weiss attorney, Michael Goldberg, told the Cleveland Jewish News June 20 that his client is innocent until proven guilty and has a right to that presumption. He also said the arrest is not representative of a broader pattern of behavior or his clients overall character.

I trust that the Cuyahoga County prosecutor and Bnai Jeshurun Congregation have conducted very thorough investigations of Rabbi Weiss and any misconduct that is alleged to have occurred, Goldberg said. This indictment involves an isolated incident completely outside of Rabbi Weiss professional life. Rabbi Weiss will defend himself as to any criminal conduct alleged. Rabbi Weiss has responsibly served Bnai Jeshurun and the greater Cleveland Jewish community for over 20 years and deserves and has a right to a presumption of innocence.

Weiss was senior rabbi at Bnai Jeshurun. He was suspended April 19 and resigned April 21.

Bnai Jeshurun also responded to the indictment, issuing a statement June 20 to congregants via email regarding access to counseling and the results of its investigation.

You may have seen the news of Rabbi Weisss indictment, the statement read. We know that this next step, and others that will follow in the criminal justice process, may be upsetting to you. We want to remind you that counseling services are still available in partnership with (Jewish Family Service Association) and Bellefaire JCB. To access these confidential services, please contact Carl Vondracek (216-378-3405) directly.

We also wanted to update you on the results of the independent investigation that has concluded. As you are aware, out of an abundance of caution, we engaged the law firm of Flannery/Georgalis to conduct an independent investigation of Rabbi Weisss conduct within our congregation. It is important for you to know that this investigation found no evidence of alleged criminal conduct by Rabbi Weiss within our congregational community.

Bnai Jeshurun president Rebekah Dorman declined to provide further details on the investigation, offering that Our focus remains on helping our congregation heal.

According to the criminal complaint against Weiss, he traveled to a prearranged location in Newburgh Heights to allegedly engage in sexual activity with a purported child, after communicating on a social networking app. He was arrested on scene by law enforcement officers with the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. According to the prosecutors office, the vehicle he was driving was searched and law enforcement officers found a box of condoms, two bottles of lubricant and one bottle of erectile dysfunction medication containing one pill.

Those counts together carry a maximum of 3 years in prison, Lexi Giering, communications specialist for the prosecutors office, previously told the CJN.

Court records showed Weiss posted a $50,000 bond April 19. According to the court docket, as a condition of his jail release, he is required to wear a GPS standard monitoring device.

The arraignment date was set by the clerk of courts after the indictment was filed, Giering said.

Weiss was also suspended by the Rabbinical Assembly April 25, the harshest possible penalty short of expulsion by the international association of Conservative rabbis.

Weiss, a Pepper Pike resident, 60, was a rabbi at Bnai Jeshurun since 2001.

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Rabbi Weiss indicted; synagogue investigation finds no evidence of crimes with congregants - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

Honors

Two Bay Area natives, both students at Stanford University are among 60 students from around the world who have been selected for the 10-week Birthright Israel Excel, a business internship in Israel this summer. They are Ari Glenn, 20, of Palo Alto and Caroline Schurz, 20, of San Francisco.

Congregation Bnai Tikvah celebrated Rabbi Jennie Chabons 18th year with the Walnut Creek synagogue at its LChaim Gala in May. In an email to the community, executive director Keren Smith called the gala a wonderful community-building event, a fancy evening filled with joy and friendship and announced that, with proceeds from the event, Bnai Tikvah has exceeded its fundraising goal for the year.

Rabbi Dorothy Richman has been named rabbi emerita of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco. The title rabbi emerita typically goes to a congregations retired rabbi, or an honorary rabbi. In this case, it goes to a rabbi who has been involved with Beth Sholom in many capacities over the years who will lend extra support ritual, pastoral, educational as the synagogue transitions from the leadership of Rabbi Dan Ain, who abruptly left the senior rabbi position earlier this year, to Rabbi Amanda Russell, the associate rabbi who was elevated to replace him.

Jim Heeger of Palo Alto is the new board chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, the national organization that supports Jewish summer camps across North America. A former Silicon Valley CEO and active Jewish community lay leader, he brings a wealth of experience in financial and administrative strategy from both the corporate and nonprofit spaces, FJC said in a press release. As a youth, Heeger spent time at Shwayder Camp in Colorado and his sons have attended URJ Camp Eisner in Massachusetts and URJ Camp Newman in Santa Rosa. Camp is the greatest vehicle for joyful engaged Judaism, and working to lead its expansion and growth is a thrill for me, he said in the press release. The world needs camp now more than ever, and I am confident that FJCs strategic plan will strengthen Jewish camps to lead the way during these uncertain times. Heeger has served on the boards of Moishe House, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, the World Union for Progressive Judaism and others.

Temple Israel of Alameda has hired Rabbi Cynthia Minster as its new spiritual leader on a three-year, part-time contract. Minster will work four days a week for the Reform synagogue. I truly believe we have found what we, as a congregation, need in a Rabbi, temple president Eric Strimling wrote in an email to the congregation.

Frances Dinkelspiel, executive editor of Cityside, has stepped down from the nonprofit media organization to focus on writing her next book. She helped found Berkeleyside in 2009, concerned with the ebbing of local news. Berkeleyside has grown into a nationally recognized news provider with three editors and six reporters, 519,000 monthly readers, 70,000 Twitter followers and newsletters read by tens of thousands of people, the publication wrote in an article announcing Dinkelspiels departure. In 2019, Dinkelspiel co-founded Cityside, which launched Oaklandside in 2020.

Sarah Cohen Domont will step down after six years as executive director of Santa Cruz Hillel at the end of June. She will be moving to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to be director of lifelong learning at Kehillah Synagogue. This is a return for Cohen Domont, who previously served as associate director of North Carolina Hillel. Over the course of her tenure, Santa Cruz Hillel has become an outstanding Hillel, board president Chuck Smith said in an email to the community. Our Hillel has focused on engaging Jewish students wherever they are, through programming and engagement focused on Israel, Jewish life and learning, student leadership and community. As Sarahs time with us comes to a close, we are in a place of strength.

Rabbanit Meira Wolkenfeld is taking over the position of director of education and community engagement at Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley. Wolkenfeld recently completed a Ph.D. in Talmud at Yeshiva University and is currently enrolled in an online ordination program at Yeshivat Maharat, which trains women as Orthodox clergy. Wolkenfeld will arrive in Berkeley in August with husband Ezra Wolkenfeld and their children, Shalev, 5, and Yakir, 3. She was born in Sacramento and spent her early years in Berkeley. Wolkenfeld is the granddaughter of longtime Beth Israel members. Throughout this process, the search committee was impressed by Rabbanit Wolkenfelds deep thoughtfulness and attentive pastoral skills, her curiosity and incisive questions, as well as by her scholarship and insightful teachings, leaders of the Modern Orthodox congregation wrote in an email to its community.

Wolkenfeld is taking over for Maharat Victoria Sutton, who is leaving at the end of July, it was previously announced. Her new position will be as a Jewish studies teacher at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, a nursery schoolthrough12th grade Jewish day school in New York City. She and her family are moving to Brooklyn.

Congregation Beth David in Saratoga has been awarded a Scientists in the Synagogue grant from the organization Sinai and Synapses, which promotes connections between Judaism and science. The grant will fund a yearlong series of events called Judaism and Science in Conversation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Together we will explore the history of the relationship between Judaism and science and dive deeply into what Judaism and science have to say about some current issues like lab grown meat and kashrut, and what we pass on to our children biologically, socially, and spiritually, Rabbi Nathan Roller told the community in an email.

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Honors, happenings, comings & goings, philanthropy June 2022 J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

BUDAPEST (JTA) Antisemitic sentiment is especially prevalent in Italy and Hungary, according to multiple surveys. But a first-of-its-kind index combining different measures of Jewish experience found that they are also the best countries in Europe for Jews to live in.

The index, unveiled Monday, is based on a study that combines polling data and policy information to create a single quality-of-life metric for Jews in the 12 European Union countries with sizable Jewish communities, according to Daniel Staetsky, a statistician with the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research who wrote the report for the European Jewish Association in Brussels.

The goal with this report is to take the excellent data we already have about how Jews feel, about how prevalent antisemitism is, and combine it with government policy measurables, Staetsky said during a conference held by the European Jewish Association in Budapest.

He said the results may challenge preconceptions about which EU countries are most hospitable to Jews. For example, Germany scored high when it came to government policies relating to Jews. But Jews there report a weak sense of security, leading to an overall middling score.

The index is primarily a tool to demand concrete action from European leaders, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the European Jewish Association. We welcome statements against antisemitism by European leaders. But more than statements is needed.

The European Jewish Association will make individual recommendations to each country surveyed, Margolin added at the press event. It was part of a two-day event sponsored by multiple Jewish organizations, including the Consistoire in France, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government, about how European Jewish communities can aid the one in Ukraine.

Titled Europe and Jews, a country index of respect and tolerance towards Jews, the study ranks the 12 countries surveyed as follows: Italy: 79, Hungary: 76, Denmark: 75, the United Kingdom: 75, Austria: 75, the Netherlands: 74, Sweden: 73, Germany: 72, Spain: 70, France: 68, Poland: 66, Belgium: 60.

To come up with the ranking, Staetsky gave each surveyed country grades on multiple subjects, including the Jewish sense of security, public attitudes to Jews and the number of Jews who said theyd expereinced antisemitism. The grades were based on major opinion polls in recent years, including those conducted by the Action and Protection League, a group that monitors hate crimes against Jews in several European countries, and the European Unions Fundamental Rights Agency.

The study combined those scores with scores the author gave to countries government policies, including their funding for Jewish communities, whether they had adopted a definition of antisemitism, and the status of Holocaust education and freedom of worship.

Under that scoring system, Germany received an overall score of 72 despite having the best score (89) on government performance on issues related to Jews and a solid 92 when it came to the prevalence of antisemitism. But a relatively low score on Jewish sense of security (46) hurt its overall score, among other factors.

In the case of Hungary, the score it received reflects the reality on the ground, according to Shlomo Koves, the head of the Chabad-affiliated EMIH umbrella group of Jewish communities in Hungary. Jews can walk around here, go to synagogue, without the slightest fear of harassment, he said.

But the prevalence of antisemitic sentiments in Hungarian society an Anti-Defamation League survey from 2015 found that about 30% of the population hold them shows there is work to be done here, too, in education and outreach, Koves said.

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Posted By admin on June 25, 2022

The plaques inscription on the memorial stone in the garden of remembrance at Oyster Bays Congregation LDor VDor captures the mission and vision of the late Holocaust survivor Annie Bleiberg. The quiet space brimming with perennial and annual flowers and shrubs and accented with benches honors the former Woodbury resident and beckons visitors to contemplate her legacy: a life dedicated to sharing her testimony of surviving the horrors of the Holocaust and standing up to anti-Semitism.

Bleiberg died in 2018 at the age of 97.

On May 15, the synagogue dedicated the garden to its former member, and grandmother and great-grandmother of three, at a ceremony attended by loved ones, friends and congregants, along with Nassau County Legis. Joshua Lafazan (D-Woodbury) and Andrea Bolender, chair of the board of the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County in Glen Cove, where Bleiberg served as a longtime docent.

Bleibergs daughter, Susanne Seperson, 73, of Locust Valley, said the memorial garden serves as a message of hope and a testament to her mothers activism.

The garden is a reminder to stand up to the face of evil and to never let the Holocaust happen again, she said. It gives people a chance to contemplate and reflect on that.

Annie Wertman was 19 in September 1939 when Hitler invaded her native Poland. As Nazi Germanys forces moved her and her family to the Belzec concentration camp, Wertman escaped through an opening in the wall of a train car and walked to Oleszyce, her birthplace, where a Christian family hid her until a member of the Polish underground secured false identification documents for her, Seperson said.

Trying to pass as a Polish peasant, Wertman had hoped to find work in Germany, but a former high school classmate betrayed her identity. She was beaten by police and jailed in a Krakow ghetto. After the ghetto was liquidated in 1943, she was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

At the camp gate, guards either sent you to the right or left, Seperson explained. If you were sent to the left, you were gassed to death immediately, but she was sent to the right and selected for a work detail.

The memorial stone, placed strategically to the right at the gardens edge, symbolizes Bleibergs chance to work and possibly survive at the concentration camp, she said.

Seperson and members of the synagogues Enrichment Committee, tasked with sponsoring educational and enrichment programs at Congregration LDor VDor, selected the flowers and plantings and worked with a landscaper to bring the living memorial to fruition. Seperson and several synagogue members funded the project.

My mother loved flowers and plants, and the Enrichment Committee thought a memorial garden would be a fitting tribute to her life, said Seperson, adding that for two years, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions put planning and building the memorial garden on hold.

We felt we wanted to dedicate something for Annie, who survived the Holocaust, said committee co-chair Judith Tantleff, 84, of Oyster Bay, and give a place to our members and children who are going to learn about it.

Committee member Susan Holzman, 76, of Matinecock, said the garden is a permanent remembrance of who she [Annie] was and what she went through and why we are living where we are living.

Inside the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazis tattooed Wertman as prisoner No. 38330. They also branded her forearm with an inverted triangle, marking her as a criminal for attempting to escape the Nazi occupation. Bleiberg labored in a warehouse, sorting the looted prisoners property until November 1944, when the Nazis liquidated the camp and she was sent to a Czechoslovakian work camp, where she was liberated by Soviet soldiers in 1945. While her father also survived, her mother and sister died in concentration camps.

The young woman returned to Poland in 1946 and married a childhood friend, David Bleiberg, and moved to Germany the same year. In 1948, she gave birth to the couples only child, Susanne, and two years later, the family immigrated to the United States. David Bleiberg died in 1978.

Seperson says her mother worked as a bookkeeper and then a comptroller for a large Manhattan garment manufacturer. Over the years, she shared bits and pieces of her Holocaust experiences with her daughter and grandchildren.

I knew something terrible had happened [to her], but I never got the whole story chronologically, Seperson recalled. She wanted me to feel proud of being Jewish. But when the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in Washington, D.C., in 1993, she told me everything, Seperson said.

Andrea Bolender, board chair of the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County, who attended the dedication of the memorial garden, said Bleiberg volunteered at the museum for more than two decades.

She [Bleiberg] was the definition of a [Holocaust] survivor, Bolender recalled. There are two kinds of survivors: ones who look ahead and others who look to the past. Annie was someone who looked at life and looked ahead. She made a life for herself and became a successful comptroller for a large company when women didnt have careers.

She never said, I cant, and she found humanity in many people who helped her along the way.

With the support of the Holocaust museum in Nassau and other organizations, Bleiberg began to regularly share her story with audiences far and wide at synagogues, elementary and secondary schools, military and police academies, and universities throughout the country and even in Poland.

My mother felt strongly that if anyone could make a difference, students and young people could, she said. She felt education was the best hope to improve the world.

Her speeches not only educated, they imparted hope, encouragement and perseverance, exhorting audiences to never give up, said Seperson, who added that her mothers narrative continues to inform visitors at the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center and at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where her testimony is part of a permanent collection.

Many admired Bleiberg for her courage and determination.

During her life, senators, members of Congress and other elected officials along with singer Gloria Gaynor, best known for the 1978 disco hit I Will Survive recognized Bleiberg for her devotion to teaching tolerance and respect, Seperson said. She added that Gaynor, who met Bleiberg at the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center, chronicled her story of survival in her 2013 book, We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song (Grand Harbor Press).

Rabbi Steven Moskowitz of Congregation LDor VDor, who said Bleiberg had been a member of the synagogue for 18 years, marveled at her unmatched resilience and strength.

There was something about her character and inner resolve that helped her survive, he recalled. She was a force to be reckoned with.

He said the garden, a place to take in the beauty of nature and Gods handiwork, would not only be a space for reflection and remembrance, but for teaching.

We have already used it [the garden] to meet with our religious school students, he said. During the week we were dedicating the garden, I told all the students about Annie. Because Annie was a member of our synagogue, we are entrusted more than others with remembering her and telling her story.

Donna Kutt Nahas is a freelance writer.

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