Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

'We are certain that this cooperation with the Moroccans will help us advance the housing market'

Israel's Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked will fly to Morocco on Monday for a diplomatic visit.

According to a statement from her office, Shaked is expected to meet Morocco's interior minister, foreign minister, planning minister, economy minister and other senior officials.

During the visit, she is expected to establish cooperation to bring Moroccan construction and nursing workers to Israel.

We are certain that this cooperation with the Moroccans will help us advance the housing market and also support the elderly population in Israel, the statement said.

She also hopes to promote civil ties and highlight the historical relationship between the Jewish people and Moroccans.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced last week at a press conference that his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, will visit Israel this summer to officially open his country's embassy in the Jewish state.

Lapid visited the kingdom in August and Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited in November, signing a defense cooperation agreement.

Last March, a delegation of the Israeli army made its first official visit to Morocco after the signing of a military cooperation agreement between the two countries.

In December 2020, Israel and Morocco announced the resumption of their diplomatic relations as part of then-US president Donald Trump's Abraham Accords, resulting in numerous agreements and partnerships.

Israel also normalized ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain under the Abraham Accords.

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Israel's Shaked To Head To Morocco In Third Visit By Minister - i24NEWS

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Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

So it isnt hard to guess what Khamenei would think of the Mapping Project, a new antisemitic endeavor in Massachusetts that likewise regards Jews as dangerously virulent.

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The Mapping Project was unveiled this month by far-left extremists associated with BDS Boston. (BDS refers to the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions campaign to treat Israel as an economic and cultural pariah.) It consists of an interactive map of Massachusetts on which are linked hundreds of public and private entities of every description. Its creators call it an organizing tool for fighting back against Zionism, US imperialism, and other interlocking systems of oppression. They claim that the organizations it highlights represent the local institutional support for the colonization of Palestine.

And in the age-old manner of antisemitic conspiracy-mongers, the Mapping Project is obsessed with the idea that Jews are uniquely powerful and manipulative.

Unlike anti-Black or anti-Asian racism, the animus of antisemites frequently goes beyond mindless bigotry and identifies Jews as the cause of whatever they revile most. That explains why Jews were blamed for Bolshevism by capitalist antisemites and blamed for capitalism by Marxist antisemites, or how they could be simultaneously hated by white supremacists and hated by Black extremists.

The same is true of the Mapping Project. It purports to show that a sinister web connects the Bay States Jewish schools, synagogues, cultural groups, and charities to the politicians, media, police, and local governments they supposedly influence. It lists numerous harms that must be rectified through liberation struggles, including ethnic cleansing, ableism, privatization, and policing with Zionism heading the list.

Hatred of Israel and its supporters pervades the Mapping Project. But it is equally fanatical in its hostile focus on Jewish communal life in Massachusetts.

The projects goal, proclaimed on its home page, is to reveal the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them. That is not subtle. And to facilitate the dismantling of the Jewish community, the Mapping Project provides the street address of every organization it lists, and in many cases the names of key staff members.

Who and what does the Mapping Project hope to dismantle? For starters, every organization with the word Jewish in its name: The American Jewish Committee. Combined Jewish Philanthropies. The Harvard Center for Jewish Studies. The Jewish Arts Collaborative. The Jewish Teen Foundation of Greater Boston. The Jewish Community Relations Council.

But that barely scratches the surface. Targeted by the Mapping Project as well is the Massachusetts synagogue council. A Jewish support group for people with disabilities. A Jewish day school. The Israeli consulate in Boston. Numerous Jewish charities and volunteer associations. A pro-labor committee. A pro-business council. Right-wing Jewish activist organizations. Left-wing Jewish activist organizations. In the world according to the Mapping Project, all these entities share in the collective guilt imparted by their Jewishness. We hope, the projects creators told an interviewer, that others will use the map to plan ways to disrupt these systems and one day dismantle them altogether. Again that word: dismantle.

No other religious, cultural, or ethnic group in Massachusetts is similarly targeted. In the concise formulation of US Representative Seth Moulton, This project is an antisemitic enemies list with a map attached.

Jew-hatred flourishes in disordered, unhealthy societies, and America today is more disordered and unhealthy than it has been in a long time. On both left and right, antisemitism is on the upswing. In recent years, Chabad centers across Massachusetts have been repeatedly vandalized. Last summer, a rabbi was stabbed eight times in Brighton Center by a gun- and knife-wielding assailant.

These are ugly times. Jews, as ever, are the canary in the coal mine. And there are those, as ever, who seek to map out their demise.

Jeff Jacoby is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at jeff.jacoby@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeff_jacoby. This column is adapted from the current issue of Arguable, his weekly newsletter. To subscribe to Arguable, visit bitly.com/Arguable.

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Mapping Project unveiled by BDS Boston is a roadmap for Jew-haters - The Boston Globe

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Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

My title isnt the beginning of a tasteless joke, but one of the more significant moments of my life and quite possibly, emblematic of significant shifts taking place in the Middle East following the Abraham Accords.

In late April, on Holocaust Memorial Day and to coincide with the International March of the Living, Sharaka (the organization for which I work) organized a unique and historic delegation of journalists, influencers, and peace activists from around the Arab and Muslim world to visit the notorious death camp, Auschwitz, and partake in the solidarity march. I experienced what is usually a definitive moment in the Jewish journey of many of my friends in a dramatically different way, surrounded by Arab Muslims. Indeed, my Auschwitz experience can be symbolized by one particularly memorable moment it was an Arab Muslim friend who comforted me when I broke down in tears upon entering the gates of Auschwitz.

Why bring an Arab delegation to Auschwitz?

It was not to dwell on the past or earn sympathy points. Indeed, more than a few internet trolls noted that the Jews always use the Holocaust to play the victim card, and that it is fabricated or exaggerated.

The Sharaka delegation consisted of participants from around the region: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, and Turkey. We were joined by members from Palestinian East Jerusalem and from Israel Jews and Arabs. Our goal was to take on the dangerous and shocking lack of knowledge about the Holocaust in the Arab and Muslim world, and even its widespread denial. Moreover, we wanted to use the Holocaust as a starting point to tackle radicalism in the region, and as a tool to spur reconciliation between Israel and its neighbors.

Each participant came to this difficult journey from a different place. Some had learned about the Holocaust through films or in university; others had visited Holocaust museums, including Yad VaShem in Israel; two had visited other concentration camps in Europe.

Others came from countries and societies where if the Holocaust is discussed or taught at all, its glossed over as a small part of history, as an episode of World War II. I had heard of the Holocaust, but didnt know much about it, shared one participant, a social media influencer from Bahrain who came to learn first-hand, out of curiosity. Another social media influencer decided that if she can help teach others in the Arab world about this tragedy, she will have done her part.

A prominent Saudi journalist noted the importance of taking on Holocaust denial in the Arab world. A Syrian-Lebanese peace activist shared that she was ashamed when she first learned about the Holocaust how people could do this to others. Another Syrian peace activist was ashamed and even felt personally guilty for the denial in the Arab and Muslim world.

A Palestinian intellectual had long-since been ostracized by his society for trying to teach about the Holocaust. A Bahraini intellectual spoke about the human message inherent in what we were doing to ensure no other people be subjugated or oppressed in such a manner.

By the end of the trip, the group participants agreed that we had achieved, and will continue to work toward two main goals: the first is that by spreading education and awareness of the Holocaust, we are building empathy. For decades, the Holocaust was rejected or denied in much of the Arab world because when one recognizes the suffering or tragedy of the other, it humanizes them. Therefore, awareness of the Jews tragedy was buried out of political calculations lest it lead to empathy toward Israel, the aggressor.

Secondly, we stressed the human message: the Holocaust not as a Jewish story, but as the extreme edge of where hatred and radicalism toward one group of people, the other can lead when left unchecked. The current Middle East has no shortage of radicalization, othering, or atrocities being committed. This is not to put the Syrian Civil War or the genocides of ISIS or the radicalism of Iran and its proxies on the same plane as the Holocaust. But these are awful tragedies and crimes against humanity in their own right.

We agreed that recognizing the others suffering is an important step toward reconciliation. However, this must not come at the expense of negating ones self or ones own tragedy for the sake of recognizing the other. It is in this moment, when you can recognize the others suffering and they can recognize yours, that two conflicting sides can work toward reconciliation.

Another theme the Arab participants picked up on was one not considered by the Jewish participants. The Holocaust, we all agreed, was not a Jewish story. The victims were primarily Jewish, but it was a Nazi story, first and foremost; it was a story of hate and intolerance. The Jewish story was the rich pre-war life in Poland and around Europe. But it is also the post-war rebirth of Jewish life in Israel, around the world and even in Poland.

Like a flower growing out of the ashes we decided to conclude with a visit to the Krakow Jewish Community Center. There we discovered a small but vibrant and growing community. Every day, we learned, new people around Krakow and in Warsaw are discovering Jewish roots and seeking to reconnect, and gentile Poles come to volunteer at the center.

The participants noted something they will take with them to their own societies. They pointed out that one tragic and defining element of the Arab countries was a baked-in sense of victimhood and thus of being stuck in the past, dwelling in rage and hatred over past tragedies or conflicts. They admired the Jewish people who were able to pick themselves up rebuild, including those who went to live in and help build the now thriving State of Israel.

A Jew and a Muslim walked into Auschwitz, and came out more united and stronger, vowing together to set an example for where Middle East peace can go in the new Abraham Accords reality. Its no joke, but a message of hope.

Dan Feferman is director of Communications and Global Affairs at Sharaka, an NGO that promotes people-to-people peace between Israel and the Arab and Muslim world. He is also a fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute.

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A Jew and an Arab walk into Auschwitz - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

A surprise bestseller of the year 1970 was a book titled Nihonjin to Yudayajin (The Japanese and the Jews). It brought international fame to an author until then unknown Isaiah Ben-Dasan.

He introduces himself: a Jew born in Kobe and therefore at home in both Judaism and the religion he called Nihonkyo (Nihonism). Japanese as he saw it was more than a nationality, more than a language, more than a culture. It was all those in one, and greater than the sum of its parts. It was a culture-religion, or religion-culture, without gods and therefore distinct from, though encompassing, ancient Shinto with its myriad gods.

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How the Jewish community found a home in Japan - The Japan Times

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Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

Fifty years ago, on June 17, 1972, the Watergate break-in changed the world. Little did we know it at the time, or for months after, that this seemingly innocuous, two-bit trespass would transform how Americans would view the venerated institutions of our civic life. Many were tainted by the stench of the scandal, from the FBI to the CIA to the presidency itself. Other institutions, most notably the press, acquitted themselves quite well.

But what about the Jews or as Nixon liked to call us, the Jewboys? Was Nixonthe most antisemitic president ever? An argument can be made for that, but having had so many private conversations recorded probably gives him an unfair advantage. Its hard to quantify such things, but its also hard to imagine American Jewry surviving someone who hated Jews more than Nixon did. Even before Watergate, there was NixonsJew Count.discussed by Woodward and Bernstein inThe Final Days. Nixon was convinced that Jews in the Labor Department were deliberately undermining his efforts by altering labor numbers, so he had some people with Jewish last names demoted. The planhas been calledthe last known act of official anti-Semitism conducted by the United States government. And wait, theres more.President Nixon alsopushed for tax audits of wealthy Jewish contributorsto his Democratic rivals.

During Watergate, perhaps Nixons most vociferous defender was not only Jewish but a rabbi,Baruch Korff, whom Nixon introduced as my rabbi. Nixons speechwriter, William Safire, was also Jewish (Safire generously compared Nixon to a layer cake). They were not Nixons sole Jewish defenders we cant forget that many Jews considered Nixon heroic for airlifting assistance to Israelduring those first precarious days of the Yom Kippur War. And there was Henry Kissinger, whose Jewish backgroundwas the source of some uneasein an Oval Office suspicious of Jews.In one tape,Nixon blurts out to H.R. Haldeman, The Jews are all over this government.Nixon said the Jews needed to be brought under control by putting someone in charge who is not Jewish in key agencies. Washington is full of Jews, the president stated. Most Jews are disloyal.But he made exceptions, and for the most part, Kissinger was one of them. He evenprayed with himas the walls closed in.

Its clear that Nixons antisemitic proclivities went way beyond Jewboy, tax audits and labor statistics.He considered Jews to be born spies. Nixon conjured up Jewish demons even where there were none; his paranoia extended to non-Jews whoseemedJewish to him. Hisoriginal enemies listand expandedmaster list of political opponentshad plenty of Jewish sounding names.In the tapes, his responseto the Pentagon Papers leak was to consider revivingtheHouse Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate government whistleblowers or in his words, going after all these Jews. Just find one that is a Jew, will you. ButDaniel Ellsberg was not Jewish he was raised as a Christian Scientist, though his parents were born Ashkenazi Jews.

Mark Felt,the great Watergate whistleblower of Deep Throat fame, was also not Jewish; nonetheless the Watergatetapes disclosedthat Nixon was suspicious of him as he asked H.R. Haldeman, Is he a Catholic? Haldeman replied that Felt, who was of Irish descent, was Jewish, and Nixon replied: It could bethe Jewish thing. I dont know. Its always a possibility.

What exactly is this Jewish thing? What is it that caused Nixon to assume that whistleblowers like Deep Throat and Ellsberg were Jewish?

Nixon would undoubtedly have invoked theProtocols of the Elders of Zionand spoken of dual loyalty, but Id define the Jewish Thing as the prophetic instinct to speak truth to power, to seek justice and pursue it, following the calls of elders who speak on the pages ofIsaiah 1:17,Deuteronomy 16:20,Micah 6:8andPsalms 34:15 and so many more ancient passages.We are obsessed with justice. The word for justice,tzedek,appears no fewer than118 times in the Hebrew Bible.Click hereto see over 4,000 usages of the term justice in the Sefaria database of traditional Jewish sources.

We wont accept a world where bad presidents happen to good people. We are obsessed with getting it right. We are maniacal for justice and were seeing it again this week with the January 6 investigation.

Thats the Jewish Thing.

Any nation can have kings and emperors. We have them too, but we also have prophets. Yes, we have our share of corrupt politicians, including two Israeli former prime ministers who are currently suing each otherfor slander in one of the most absurd trials of all time. Weve had Olmert, who went to jail, and Bibi, who might, and King Ahab, whorobbed a poor man of his livelihood and his life. We had a whole slew ofcorrupt Hasmonean rulers. But we also had Jeremiah. We had Nathan. We had Spinoza and Kafka and Reb Nachman. We are the people of Mike Wallace and Philip Roth and Arthur Miller and Boris Pasternak. We are the people of Carl Bernstein, along with a slew of great journalistsand othertruth tellers, and at least in H.R. Haldemans estimation, we are the people of Deep Throat too.

Yes, its nice to know that, to Richard Nixon, Jews were a thing. We are a thing that stands up to corruption. We are a thing that believes in an old fashioned concept called integrity and honesty. We have a sense of shame. We speak truth to power. Even when there are political differences, how could a Jew not admire someone who stands up to power even at the risk of their political future. That happened so often in Watergate it has rarely happened after January 6. Our thing is why he feared us and why extremists, liars and cheats continue to today.

Fifty years later, Nixon and Deep Throat and many of the other key players are gone. Nixon never went to jail, but neither did he get away with it. Meanwhile, the Jewish Thing lives on and on.

May it and we continue to spread the light of justice throughout the world.

Award-winning journalist, father, husband, son, friend, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and rabbi of Temple Beth El in Stamford, CT. Author of Mensch-Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi Wisdom for Untethered Times and "Embracing Auschwitz: Forging a Vibrant, Life-Affirming Judaism that Takes the Holocaust Seriously."Rabbi Hammerman was a winner of the Simon Rockower award, the highest honor in Jewish journalism, for his 2008 columns on the Bernard Madoff case, which appeared first on his blog and then were discussed widely in the media. In 2019, he received first-prize from the Religion News Association, for excellence in commentary. Among his many published personal essays are several written for the New York Times Magazine and Washington Post. He has been featured as About.com's Conservative representative in its "Ask the Rabbi" series and as "The Jewish Ethicist," fielding questions on the New York Jewish Week's website.Rabbi Hammerman is an avid fan of the Red Sox, Patriots and all things Boston; he also loves a good, Israeli hummus. He is an active alum of Brown University, often conducting alumni interviews of prospective students. He lives in Stamford with his wife, Dr. Mara Hammerman, a psychologist. They have two grown children, Ethan and Daniel, along with Cobie, Casey and Cassidy, three standard poodles.Contact Rabbi Hammerman:rabbi@tbe.org(203) 322-6901 x 307

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Watergate's Jewish 'thing' & Nixon's thing for the Jews - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

(June 19, 2022 / JNS) The most recent Pew study of American Jews showed that around 70% of non-Orthodox Jews currently intermarry and assimilate. Sadly, almost all of these Jews know nothing about their religion and heritage, or the reasons they should only marry fellow Jews and practice Judaism.

Many Orthodox Jews today take pride in the fact that Orthodoxy is growing while Reform and Conservative Judaism are shrinking rapidly. This is the wrong attitude to take. Instead, Orthodox Jews need to see the current situation as an emergency in which everyone needs to make an effort to convince their fellow Jews to continue the Jewish tradition before they become assimilated and their descendants are lost to the Jewish people.

Some seven years ago, film footage of the September 1923 gathering of world rabbinic leaders at the Agudath Israel Vienna Conference surfaced for the first time. It included footage of the famous Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan) who attended and spoke twice. The Chofetz Chaim did not speak about loshon horathe danger of speaking badly of othersalthough his famous book on the subject is regularly taught in schools around the world. Instead, he spoke on the topic that he felt was most urgent: The deterioration of Orthodox Judaism as a result of World War I.

The Chofetz Chaim spoke twice at the conference, because he heard that his opening speech calling for outreach to fellow Jews was criticized by some of the attendees. They believed that one should perfect oneself before trying to perfect others. The Chofetz Chaim asked to speak again and told the audience a parable of a rich man who visited a village he built. The rich man was provided a cup of tea, which he spit out because it tasted terrible. He asked why the water tasted so bad and was told that the village could not afford a water filter. The rich man then gave them the money to purchase one. Six months later, the rich man returned after hearing that half the town had burned down. He asked what happened and was told that by the time the villagers had filtered the water to fight the fire, half the town had been destroyed. The rich man told the villagers that when there is a fire, you use all available water immediately.

The message of the Chofetz Chaim is much more important today than it was then, because assimilation and intermarriage are much worse. Unfortunately, many in the Orthodox world are following the example of Noah, who was criticized by the rabbis for not doing outreach because he was concerned solely with saving his own family. God told us to follow the example of Abraham and Sarah, who hosted and built relationships with people. We are told that, as a result of their kindness, half the world became believers in God.

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Today, many people advocate Jewish education as the solution to assimilation. But too many students in Jewish schools are not excited about their Judaism. Even non-Orthodox children going to Jewish schools tend to remain non-Orthodox. I spoke to one such child recently and he told me that no rabbi at the school built a close relationship with him. This, he said, was why he was not inspired to become more religious. Teachers at Orthodox schools need to prioritize such close relationships in order to inspire students to become or stay Orthodox. This is simply not being done in enough schools.

Some Jewish schools will not even admit non-Orthodox students. A group I was in was once visited by a person who said he could build a Jewish high school in a city that had none. He added that he had started a school in another community after the last banker he asked agreed to lend him the money. The banker, he said, told him that the bankers children would not have intermarried had they gone to this persons school.

I responded by telling the person that, in fact, he would not have allowed the bankers children into his school. The person admitted that this was true, but said that students had to be protected from bad influences. I felt that the whole point of a Jewish high school was to be a good influence, and that such an influence could have had an impact on the bankers children.

Today, outreach organizations focus on young people in hopes of steering them in a different direction from their parents and siblings. This is not easy to do. On more than one occasion, we were able to interest parents with adult children in becoming Orthodox. Eventually, not only did the parents become Orthodox, but their adult children did so as well. I just spent part of a recent Shabbat answering numerous questions from a retired unaffiliated lawyer, who told me afterward that he would read the Torah for the first time to learn about his own religion. Rabbi Zachariah Wallerstein of blessed memory said that what is most important is not where you start in life, but where you finish. We need to stop focusing solely on young people.

We are losing our fellow American Jews to assimilation every day. Every Jew has a responsibility to do what we can to change that. This means more than just focusing on our own families. Instead, we must build relationships with those who do not know their heritage. We must teach such people and excite them about being Jewish. Get them to come and experience the joy of a Shabbat meal with you. Instead of worrying about the impact the unaffiliated will have on you, focus on the positive impact you will have on them, as was the case with Abraham and Sarah.

At the end of Schindlers List, the Jews that Schindler saved give him a ring with an inscription saying that he who saves one life saves an entire world. The fact is that if you get a person excited about their Judaism, you may influence not just them, but their family and even their friends. As a result, many worlds will now have Jewish futures.

Farley Weiss is Chairman of the Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF) and former president of the National Council of Young Israel, as well as an intellectual property attorney for the law firm of Weiss & Moy. The views expressed are the authors and not necessarily representative of NCYI.

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To save the American Jewish community, we must build personal relationships - JNS.org

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Posted By admin on June 19, 2022

Since the start of Russias war in Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians have fled to the Caucasus. Among them are members of one unexpected community: hundreds of Russian Jews who have relocated to Yerevan.

Nathaniel Trubkin, a 40-year-old Muscovite, moved to Yerevan on March 8, about two weeks after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, setting off a wave of repressions and international sanctions.

Like many Russians, he chose Armeniafor its relative ease: Its visa-free for Russians, most people speak Russian, and its simple to find a short-term apartment and set up a business. He also had some friends in Armenia who helped him get settled.

But still, it wasnt easy. I didnt have a lot of money, whatever I had in my pocket when I arrived, and that was the case for many people, Trubkin told Eurasianet. After a hasty search, he ended up in a horrible apartment.

The rough experience inspired him to set up Yerevan Jewish Home, which now assists other Russian Jews with their apartment searches, opening new bank accounts and setting up businesses. Since starting its work in April, the organization has helped about 200 Russian Jews relocate to Yerevan, he said.

Jews have a long history in Armenia. The 5th-century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi wrote that the 1st-century-B.C. King Tigranes the Great brought back 10,000 Jewish captives to Armenia after a war in the Levant.

Greater Armenia historically has been a place where significant Jewish communities have lived, Yerevans chief rabbi, Gershon Meir Burshtein, said in a recentinterview. He said that in contrast to many other places where Jews have lived, in Armenia they never suffered from pogroms or other persecutions.

In this context Armenia is not tainted with these kinds of memories, which means it can be a hope for creating, uniting efforts on the spiritual and material bases.

The large majority of Armenias Jewish population left for Israel in the late Soviet and early post-Soviet period, and before this new wave of migrants, Armenias Jewish community wasbetween 800 and 1,000strong.

In the post-Soviet period, Israel has built close ties with Armenias rival Azerbaijan, and Armenians have frequent complaints about Israels arms sales to Azerbaijan or its failure to recognize the Armenian genocide.

But those tensions dont spill over into how Armenians treat Jews, Trubkin said. People here dont treat me any differently when they find out Im a Jew, he said.

Now, Yerevan Jewish Home is helping the new arrivals form a new community together. It has funding from the charityAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which also helped set up similar efforts in the Georgian cities of Tbilisi and Batumi.

The organization has begun Hebrew-language classes and is working to set up Armenian lessons for new arrivals.

Many [Russian Jews] came to Armenia and Georgia and were separated from the Jewish community in Russia, Trubkin said. Its important to recreate that Jewish context for them, so what we can do now is to make them feel like they are among their own people. He said that this closeness is one thing that Armenians and Jews, with long histories of persecutions and dispersals, have in common.

The new arrivals are not isolating, though, but rather integrating in and engaging with broader Armenian society.

Hidden in an alley just off central Yerevans busy Saryan Street sits a lively new restaurant,Hummus | Kimchi, offering a fusion of two cuisines relatively unknown to Armenian palates: Israeli and Korean.

Since my wife is Korean and Im a Russian Jew I thought it would be cool to mix two very different cuisines, said Dmitriy Shangareov, the chef and owner.

Shangareov became familiar with Armenia when his sister married an Armenian and he moved to Yerevan before the war to set up the restaurant. The plan before was to open a restaurant, hire some locals, teach them and move back to Moscow, he told Eurasianet, taking a break from the kitchen and sporting a black T-shirt with the word Ukraine. But he was on a visit to Russia to pick up some equipment for the restaurant when the war started. He returned to Yerevan on Feb. 28 and hasnt left.

The restaurant opened in April and now has become a favorite of Yerevans many new Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, whether Jewish or not. It also has attracted a clientele of curious locals, especially at lunchtime. We didnt expect to turn a profit in the first month and a half, but we have exceeded our expectations, he said.

Another popular hangout is Mama Jan, a Russian Jewish-owned cafe in central Yerevan. It opened in 2021 and has become popular with the diaspora crowd.

Now, in partnership with Yerevan Jewish Home it has recently become a cultural hub for Jewish-themed poetry readings, mixed stand-up comedy events and shabbat observances.

At an open mic event one recent evening, the jokes alternated between English and Russian. Much of the comedy relied on broad stereotypes, and more than one performer cracked that Armenians are like the Jews without the money.

After the second repetition of the joke, there was an uneasy reaction from much of the crowd, and Trubkin raised his eyebrows in dismay.

But another Russian-Armenian spectator tried to smooth things over. Theres no need to get angry, he said. Lets see it as a chance for us to learn about each other.

This story was first published byEurasianet.org.

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Following War, Russian Jews Congregate in Yerevan - The Moscow Times

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Posted By admin on June 17, 2022

(LWI) The continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and the escalating violence including killing of innocent victims threatens peoples lives, human rights and dignity, and violates international humanitarian laws and principles. With no solution reached thus far, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has renewed its call for peace and justice for all.

In a statement from its Council meeting this week, the LWF urged the international community to redouble its efforts toward finding a lasting solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The statement affirmed the presence of Christians in the region including the work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

The governing body referred to the critical life-saving services provided by the Augusta Victoria Hospital, which are often threatened by a recurring financial crisis that is directly linked to the conflict. The Council called on donors, particularly the United States of America and the European Union to provide the necessary and timely finances to support the LWF-run hospital. Meanwhile, the EU has announced that the much-delayed 2021 allocation to the Palestinian Authority, which includes funds earmarked for AVH, can be disbursed rapidly.

The Council is deeply concerned by the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the recent escalation of violence, including the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, other journalists and other innocent victims. It is discouraging that thus far, no solution has been provided to the serious situation and as a result peoples human rights, lives, livelihoods and dignity are threatened. The Council affirms and aligns itself with international human rights and humanitarian laws and principles as important instruments that must be protected. The Council regards the continuous occupation as a violation of these instruments.

The Council recognizes and affirms the ministry and witness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), noting its unwavering commitment to speaking out for justice, peace and reconciliation in the context of the Israel-Palestine situation.

The Council affirms the Christian presence in the Holy Land. It shares the local churches' concern for the protection of holy sites and the need to maintain the historic status quo with respect to them.

The Council recognizes with concern the dire financial crisis faced by LWFs Augusta Victoria Hospital, occasioned by the lack of timely payments and remittances from major donors, such as the European Union and the United States of America. The failure to provide sufficient and timely financial support for the East Jerusalem Hospitals Networkof which the AVH is a member via the Palestinian Authorityhas an immediate and direct impact on the hospitals ability to serve thousands of patients who are in need of life-saving cancer and kidney treatment.

The Council affirms the work of LWF, in particularly the Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) and Vocational Training Centers (VTC), and the ongoing work of accompaniment to the churches and communities through theology, diakonia and advocacy.

The Council calls on:

LWF Council 2022 Statement on Israel-Palestine

Background Israel-Palestine

The LWF Council is the highest authority of the LWF between Assemblies. It consists of the President, the Chairperson of the Finance Committee, and 48 members from LWF member churches in seven regions. The current governing body was elected at the May 2017 Twelfth Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia. The 2022 meeting takes place, 9-14 June, at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva.

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Israel-Palestine conflict: A lasting solution must include ending the occupation - The Lutheran World Federation

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Posted By admin on June 17, 2022

CHICAGO: President Joe Biden needs to find the will to do the right thing and push Israelis and Palestinians together to achieve peace, one of his strongest supporters in Congress told Arab News Wednesday.

Congresswoman Marie Newman, a Democrat, said the issue of Palestine and Israel is important to her constituents in her former 3rd District, and even more so in the newly drawn 6th District where she is running for re-election in the June 28, 2022 Democratic Primary election.

Newman has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli governments harsh policies toward Palestinians, including the home confiscations in Sheikh Jarrah and several other human rights violations. But she insisted she supports Israel and the Biden administration, explaining that getting both to do the right thing is not something to be criticized for.

I wish the answer was yes, Ray, I just dont think it is there. I think it is not a priority for them. And as much as I scream about it, Rashida screams about it, and Ilhan. There are 10 of us that talk to the State Department regularly about this and it has not been prioritized. We fight, we fight. We fight. Because every fight starts with one person. Then it grows to 10. And then it grows to a thousand. We have to fight, Newman said.

It is all about will. We could go in and start peace talks ... and it would take some finessing because there are many members of Palestines various areas that would have to be represented, because there is not just one government entity there. With regards to Israel, we would have to get them to the table. But here is what is important. I am never a fan of forcing what someones governmental model should be. Getting them together is the main (aim), convening the stakeholders is our job. The US job. If they chose a one-state option, a two-state option, a federated model, a Belgium model, I am okay with it because they chose it as a team. So, lets let the people who live in the place decide. Lets not ... I shouldnt be deciding for them. The American government should not be deciding for them. But it is our job as the leader of the free world to bring them together and to have peace talks and help them get to a place where both can live freely, equally and in justice.

Newman unseated an entrenched conservative Democrat in March 2020 to represent the 3rd Congressional District which had the largest concentration of Palestinians and Muslims of any of the nations 435 congressional districts. Pro-Israel Democrats redrew the district merging it with the 6th District forcing her to face-off on June 28, 2022 with another Democrat, Congressman Sean Casten, hoping Newman might be forced out.

But Newman said the Palestinian, Arab and South Asian Muslim community has doubled in size making the need to speak to Palestinian and Arab needs that much more of an imperative. Newman said nearly 10 percent of the old 3rd District was Palestinian, Arab and South Asian Muslim; the same community in the newly drawn 6th District is closer to 18 percent.

Newman praised Biden for supporting many important issues and sponsoring policies to help Americans, but she said the Palestine-Israel conflict is an additive issue in his administrative.

Lets be very clear. This is additive. Has he done some great things with foreign policies? Is he handling Ukraine well and all those things? But when it comes to Israel and Palestine, we are very conflict-diverse because Israel is a close ally of ours. And it should remain a close ally of ours, Newman said.

But lets be clear. This (supporting Palestine rights) is additive. It is not critical (to Biden). I am saying now is the time to start addressing the issue. Add it to the top of your priority list. It is additive.

As a result of supporting Palestinian rights, Newman has been attacked as being anti-Semitic. The freshman congresswoman has sponsored and supported several pieces of legislation and endorsed resolutions that have criticized Israels policies toward the Palestinians.

She remains resolute despite the personal attacks: You cant be afraid to do the right thing. The right thing, is the right thing. She said it is becoming easier for members of Congress to support Palestinian rights because American attitudes, especially among the younger generation, are steadily changing.

At the end of the day, what was even controversial five years ago is not controversial now. The sentiment around Palestine and Israel has really gotten to be a much more realistic look at what the state of the situation is. Years ago, people would just say Israel could do no wrong. Everybody wants Israel to be at peace and be prosperous, Newman said,

But when the government and the military mistreat the Palestinians, that is absolutely wrong and I will not stand for it. And humanitarian rights are humanitarian rights. And this is not about religion or anything else. This is about treating humans correctly and that is really where all this is rooted in.

Newman insisted that criticizing Israels government is legitimate and that she is offended by attacks from pro-Israel extremists and even extremist members of Congress who have labeled her anti-Semitic.

She said being called anti-Semitic is infuriating and very hurtful to her husband, who is Jewish.

I think you know that my husband is Jewish. I am called anti-Semitic on social media, members of Congress called me anti-Semitic. It is so upsetting to my husband and his family when that happens, Newman explained.

I am saying hey Israel, you cannot steal homes. You cannot disrupt peoples lives. You cannot drag people out of their homes and take their homes away from them. No. First of all, it is incredibly immoral but secondly you wouldnt allow that in France. You wouldnt allow that in Canada. You wouldnt allow that in Korea. Why do you let Israel, without speaking up? So we criticize our ally Israel and say, wow, you have a huge humanitarian rights violation issue here. Huge.

Newman acknowledged there are some in the Arab and Muslim community who want her to be even tougher in her criticism of Israel, but she said that she works closely with the community to get them to understand the reality of achieving peace.

Because I am close to the community they understand, now, that I mean that Israel should be free, and be their own sovereign entity and be able to prosper and be their own nation. Israel has a right to exist now, too. I want both of them to live in peace and I think they really understand that, Newman said.

I think my ability to understand the complexity and the everchanging nature of what is on the ground there is emblematic. And I think people now trust that I constantly seek information and counsel because it is an everchanging situation. What we dont want is war. We are pro-peace and pro-justice. And I think the community really understands that is my goal, is that we just want freedom for the Palestinians. The occupation is bad for Israel and Palestine, by the way. It is a horrible thing for both of them. Its not a sustainable model moving forward. It is completely untenable.

Newman strongly supported a resolution introduced to Congress in May that recognized the Palestinian Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe. Last year, Newman urged Biden to stop Israels evictions of Palestinians from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

The Ray Hanania Show is broadcast live every Wednesday at 5 p.m. Eastern EST on WNZK AM 690 radio in Greater Detroit including parts of Ohio, and WDMV AM 700 radio in Washington DC including parts of Virginia and Maryland. The show is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 7 a.m. in Detroit on WNZK AM 690 and in Chicago at 12 noon on WNWI AM 1080.

You can listen to the radio show podcast here: http://www.arabnews.com/RayRadioShow

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Biden needs to find the 'will' to pursue Israel-Palestine peace, a congressional ally says - Arab News

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Posted By admin on June 17, 2022

Palestinian-American supermodel Bella Hadid shared photos taken from the 1998 film by Mai Masri titled "Children of Shatila" on Instagram with the message "I wish I could go back in time, to when I was a child, so that I could start fighting for Palestine sooner".

"Tears in my eyes watching this scene on my way to work this morning..Everyday I wish I could go back in time, to when I was a child, so that I could start fighting for Palestine sooner. for my family, for my elders, our history and for the people of Palestine still living, now, through this treacherous, exhausting and painful occupation."

"Everyday I wish we could have fulfilled my Jido and Teta's (grandpa and grandma's) last dying wishes to be buried in their homeland, where they were born, raised and started their family together," Hadid wrote in the caption.

"Palestinians still to this day, do not have the right to return to Palestine."

Quoting former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion who once said, "the old will die, and the young will forget (Palestine)", Hadid vowed: "I have a promise to make. I will never allow anyone to forget about our beautiful Palestine or our beautiful people."

READ: Gigi Hadid to donate her Fashion Week earnings to Palestine, Ukraine

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Bella Hadid: I will never allow anyone to forget about our beautiful Palestine - Middle East Monitor

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