Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 17, 2022

Dr. Kingsley Nyarko, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso, has invited residents of the Constituency living in the Diaspora and corporate organisations to support initiatives meant to expand the base of healthcare accessibility.

That, he said, was a key development indicator underpinning the progress of any society.

The MP observed that the Ashanti Region had one of the limited healthcare facilities in the country in relation to population distribution, therefore, it was appropriate for the private sector to do more in constructing complementary projects for the benefit of the people.

Dr. Nyarko made the appeal when he donated 50 bags of cement towards the construction of an ultra-modern maternity clinic at Atwima-Takyiman, near Kwadaso, in the Ashanti Region.

The gesture was in response to a pledge he made during the sod-cutting ceremony for work to commence on the facility, an initiative of the Atwimahene, Nana Antwi Agyei Brempong II, and designed to promote maternal healthcare.

The MP commended the Atwimahene for taking such a bold initiative to help reduce maternal mortality.

He decried how some expectant mothers travelled distances to see health professionals, adding that the people ought to own the project for its successful completion.

The clinic, on completion, would have a consulting room, delivery ward, nurses room, offices, special care rooms and modern health equipment.

Nana Afriyie Takyi III, the Atwima-Takyiman Dikro, who received the items, on behalf of the Atwimahene, expressed gratitude to the MP for his kind gesture and fulfilling his promise to the people.

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Dr. Nyarko Rallies Diasporas To Support Healthcare Initiatives - News Ghana

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Posted By admin on June 17, 2022

(JTA) A.B. Yehoshua the novelist took a sharp knife to his fellow citizens pretensions and delusions, writing books that laid Israel bare like an open bleeding wound.

But A.B. Yehoshua the soothsayer sought to heal wounds, reconciling Israelis with Palestinians, with the Jewish Diaspora and above all with themselves.

Avraham Buli Yehoshua, the writer who chronicled his beloved countrys rage and sorrows in more than a dozen acclaimed novels, died Tuesday at 85.

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We have to revitalize the solidarity that we lost, tunnels have to be created, dug between different sectors of Israeli society, with the religious, with Arabs, Yehoshua told the New York Jewish Week in 2020. He was speaking about the need to defeat the coronavirus, but he might as well have been posting his credo.

In cultures beset by conflict, like Israel and Ireland, the notion that an artist should stand apart from politics is seen as laughable. Yehoshua was unexceptional in his dual roles, joining an array of other novelists and poets who engaged in punditry on the dilemmas of the day.

But he seemed to stand apart from his peers in presenting radically different personas, depending on whether he was the omniscient, withholding shaper of a work of fiction or the generous and avuncular presence holding forth on a TV politics hour.

Yehoshua the fiction writer was unforgiving. His seminal 1977 novel, The Lover, makes compelling the interplay between three characters stunted by grief and anger: a husband whose personality is a walled-off fortress, a wife who assumes the role of a battering ram and a lover who runs and hides when the opportunity first presents itself.

The threesomes war of attrition is set against the chaos of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and how it blew apart certainties about Israel, its place in the world and ones neighbors, friends and lovers. The novel was prompted in part by the lists of missing that circulated after a war in which men were taken out of synagogues willy-nilly and hastily sent to the front line. Had they died, were they imprisoned or and this consideration was the most terrifying did they choose to disappear?

And in the last war, we lost a lover, the narrator, Adam, begins. We always say: a small intimate country, where if you try hard enough youll find connections between the most distanced of people and here, its as if an abyss tore open and a man disappeared and attempts to track him down are fruitless.

In A Late Divorce, published in 1982, Yehoshua delivers a gut punch to Israels vaunted child-centric culture in the rushed narrative of a child who is bullied at school and who struggles to keep up in gym class. Its message was brutal: Israel coddles boys in order to sacrifice them when they reach draft age.

The gym teacher gave me such a hopeless look that its a wonder I didnt cry I usually do when he starts up but today he was too tired to yell maybe because it was almost spring vacation, the boy, Gaddi, says in a stream-of-consciousness monologue (Yehoshuas preferred stylistic conceit) in Hillel Halkins 1984 translation. All he said was theyll get you in the army then he blew his whistle and said now choose teams for dodge ball. I was chosen last and counted out first.

Yehoshua credited his wife, Rivka Kirsninski, a psychoanalyst whose death in 2016 crushed him, for his insights. I have to understand that the world is not simple, he said of being married to a woman whose landscape was the human psyche in a 2013 interview with The New York Jewish Week. You see the surface and have to dig again and again.

That tendency in his political life led Yehsohua again and again to advocate reconciliation. In 1984, at least a decade ahead of his time, he counseled a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The only solution to the Palestinian problem is the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank, Yehoshua said at the time in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The solution of a Palestinian state is an historical must.

Born Dec. 9, 1936, Yehoshua was a scion of a Sephardic family that had lived in Jerusalem for generations, and he brought to his writing and his speaking the cultures deceptively laconic style. He presented as a curious and provocative older relative, throwing out challenges and then leaning forward and listening intently. It was disarming, even when it infuriated his interlocutors, as in his notorious appearance at the American Jewish Committees 2006 centennial.

Only those living in Israel and taking part in the daily decisions of the Jewish state have a significant Jewish identity, Yehoshua said then, to angry murmurs from the quintessential Diaspora organization.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, then the leader of the Reform movement, called Yehoshuas claim absurd and dangerous.

Yehoshua countered in a Haaretz oped: What I sought to explain to my American hosts, in overly blunt and harsh language perhaps, is that, for me, Jewish values are not located in a fancy spice box that is only opened to release its pleasing fragrance on Shabbat and holidays, but in the daily reality of dozens of problems through which Jewish values are shaped and defined, for better or worse.

Yet the fancy spice box entranced him: In novel after novel, his protagonists emerged from the Jewish Diaspora or disappeared into it, like Gabriel, the titular Lover, the remoteness of Diaspora life embodied for Yehoshua an almost erotic longing.

Yehoshua won dozens of awards, including the Israel Prize in 1995, the Bialik Prize and the National Jewish Book Award, and his work was translated into 28 languages. Yehoshua was one of a handful of Israelis, including Amos Oz and Yehuda Amichai, who perpetually were shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in literature. His final novel, The Tunnel, published in 2020, was about an engineer who is pressed into one last national project even as he loses his memory to dementia.

Names may disappear for the protagonist, Zvi Luria, but he grips close to the essential meaning of his life.

Do you really believe in this country? a character asks Luria.

Do I have a choice? he replies.

Yehoshua is survived by a daughter, two sons and seven grandchildren. PJC

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Novelist A.B. Yehoshua, dissector and lover of Israel and the Jews, dies at 85 - thejewishchronicle.net

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

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By Yossi NewfieldJune 13, 2022

It was a muggy summer morning in Melbourne, Australia.

Following the Shachris(morning) service, my fellow rabbinical students and I made our way to the yeshiva dining room. Knowing that we wouldnt have our usual study session the following day as it was the tenth of Teves, a fast day, we discussed possible plans for the day. I was considering staying in bed with a book, when all of a sudden I caught sight of my former high school Talmud teacher Rabbi S., from Brooklyn, New York. I was startled to see him in Melbourne and wondered what brought him to Australia in the middle of the school year.

It was 2002, only eight years since the passing of our Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. At the age of 21, I had enrolled in the prestigious year-long Chabad Rabbinical Ordination program in Melbourne. Since it was customary for all eligible Chabad students to attain rabbinical ordination prior to marriage, I reasoned, what better place to study for ordination than Melbourne whose ordination program was sponsored by Chabad mogul Joseph Gutnick and was reputed to have excellent teachers. Since a number of close friends were going to be in the program, it was only natural for me to join them.

And so I did. For most of the day, my friends and I spent long hours studying the difficult sections of the Shulchan Aruch which dealt with the laws of kashruth. However, in our spare time, we often found ourselves talking about our Rebbe and what he meant to us. Despite his passing, my friends, family and the larger Chabad community firmly believed that he was the Moshiach, or the Messiah. That the Rebbe would return as the Moshiach was as clear as the sun rose every morning; it made no difference that he was no longer alive.

Some Chabad followers even denied that the Rebbe had died at all, since the Moshiach cant die. But I had a nagging feeling that my former high school teacher, Rabbi S., was not comfortable with this notion. Not that he ever shared his beliefs, or lack of belief, with high school students like me at Mesifta Oholei Torah in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. On the contrary, Rabbi S. kept his personal beliefs to himself, lest he jeopardize his employment in the fervently Messianic yeshiva.

At Oholei Torah Mesifta, we had two teachers; one taught us Talmud for the majority of the day while the other taught us Chabad theology in the early morning and late evening hours. Rabbi S. was the Talmud teacher. Upon seeing him in Melbourne, it occurred to me that this might be a good opportunity to have him explain his beliefs to us rabbinical students.

After inquiring about his arrival in Melbourne, I found out that he had come to attend a bar mitzvah of his friends son. I asked him if he could give a lecture on the issue of the Rebbes Messianic identity the next day, while we were fasting. He agreed at once and we set the class to begin at 11 AM. I assumed Rabbi S. was ready to give the presentation to us at that time because he was 10,000 miles away from Chabad Headquarters and from his place of employment in Brooklyn, New York. Being on the other side of the world seemed to have given him the space to speak his mind.

The following day, my fellow fifteen rabbinical students and I made our way to the designated room for Rabbi S.s lecture. Since the leaders of our program didnt officially sanction the class, I arranged for it to be held on the top floor of our study synagogue, which was built to replicate the Rebbes synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.

Rabbi S. began by explaining how the Rambam (Maimonides) was the only rabbinic decisor to matter when it came to issues of the Messianic Age. Maimonides concluded his magnum opus, Mishneh Torah, with two chapters on the enigmatic events of the Messianic Age, where he lay out the criteria to discern whether the purported Messiah is in fact a legitimate Messiah or an imposter. Following the criteria, which include building the Temple in Jerusalem and gathering all the Jews back to Israel, Maimonides states the following:

If he did not succeed to this degree or was killed, he surely is not the redeemer promised by the Torah. Rather, he should be considered as all the other proper and complete kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. God caused him to arise only to test the many, asDaniel 11:35 states: And some of the wise men will stumble, to try them, to refine, and to clarify until the appointed time, because the set time is in the future. (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, The Laws of Kings and Their Wars, Chapter 11:4).

After quoting the Rambam, Rabbi S. became animated and declared: You see, the Rambam is very clear! Since the Rebbe did not build the Temple in Jerusalem and gather all the Jews back to Israel prior to his death, then he is not the long-awaited Messiah. An honest reading of Maimonides leaves no doubt that the Rebbes death disqualifies him from being the Messiah.

A silence fell over the room. With one line from Maimonides Mishneh Torah, Rabbi S. had openly declared that our most cherished belief in the Rebbes Messianic identity post-death was misguided and invalid. If the Rebbe wasnt the Messiah, it meant that he actually died. And if he died, then by definition we didnt have a Rebbe. That thought shook us to the core. Unable to refute Rabbi S.s reading of Maimonides, my fellow rabbinical students picked themselves up, one by one, and left the room. They understood all too well the implications of giving up the belief in the Rebbes Messianic identity. All they could do is walk out and pretend they never heard Rabbi S.s heretical presentation. I wanted to walk away too; yet, I stayed put. I knew Rabbi S. personally from my year studying Talmud with him in 1996. I trusted his judgment and Talmudic expertise. If he truly believed that the Rebbe wasnt the Messiah, then he must be right.

The lecture dragged on for another hour or so. By the time it was over, I was one of the only students left. While I was glad to have finally learned Rabbi S.s true belief regarding the Rebbes Messianic identity, the truth stung. I felt defeated and alone. If the Rebbe wasnt the Messiah, how could I go on living as a Chabadnik? The mere thought of leaving Chabad, of being alone without a Rebbe, terrified me.

But something had to give. I realized that if the price of having a Rebbe meant that I had to continue believing he was the Messiah, then I had no choice but to let go of that belief. Sure, it would have been easier to walk out of the lecture as my fellow students did, but I couldnt continue believing in a myth.

In the weeks and months ahead, I began visiting the local public library on a regular basis. Without a living Rebbe, I felt utterly lost since my ten years of intense Talmud study now seemed insignificant. Searching for guidance and a new direction, I read I. B. Singers the Slave, Philip Roths the Counterlife, and Henry Roths, From Bondage. I read a biography about Albert Einstein and a few volumes by the controversial British Rabbi Louis Jacobs. By the time my year in Melbourne was over, I knew there was no going home.

Rabbi Yossi Newfield is the founder of Jewish Pastoral Services.

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Former rabbinical student recalls the moment his belief in the Lubavitcher Rebbe vanished - Forward

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

This summer, two Hebrew Union College students one on his way to becoming an ordained rabbi, the other, an aspiring cantor are back at the Bay Area synagogues where they began their Jewish journeys as children.

George Altshuler, 34, started a yearlong rabbinical internship last month at Reform Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco, where he will work until he graduates from HUC next May.

Gabriel Lehrman, 28, is at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills as of this month, serving as the Reform synagogues cantorial intern while Cantor Jaime Shpall is on summer sabbatical.

Im filling some pretty big shoes, Lehrman said of Shpall, Beth Ams cantor for seven years. Im feeling very supported by the community in recognizing that, and Im doing the best that I can.

Lehrman co-led his first Shabbat service in the synagogues outdoor courtyard on June 3. Its really nice to see what Beth Am is like from the other side of the bimah, he said.

Both Altshuler and Lehrman have relocated from their homes in Brooklyn, New York, and will be living with their parents at their respective childhood homes (George with his wife, Kate Bass, and their two pets).

Lehrman, who is in the third year of a five-year cantorial studies program, will return to Brooklyn in August. But Altshuler and Bass have relocated to the Bay Area indefinitely. Hell be completing his final year of rabbinic studies remotely and seeking a permanent post as a Reform congregational rabbi, hopefully in the Bay Area, after graduation. Bass has a new job working as a law clerk.

Both Altshuler and Lehrman forged their own unique paths to the bimah.

Lehrman grew up in Los Altos and attended Beth Am with his family. His sister Chayva, 33, is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, and his mother, Loree Farrar, is a past president of Beth Am.

He credits his mother, who sang in the Beth Am choir throughout his youth, for instilling in him a love of prayer services and singing.

Going to services, what I remember most was sitting next to my parents and almost having this conversation with them, and particularly with my mom, where we would just harmonize with each other to the melodies that we were singing. And we just had a lot of fun, Lehrman said. That was how I learned how to pray, and how I learned to listen while singing.

Lehrman knew from a young age that he wanted to work in the Jewish world, but admits he wasnt the perfect bar mitzvah student.

The story goes that I was actually not very good at my Torah reading, to the point where Rabbi Yoshi [Zweiback] was concerned and reached out to my parents to make sure that I was practicing, Lehrman recalled. But I did it, and here I am now.

Even outside of services, the Lehrman household was very musically inclined, with his dad and older brother playing the guitar and his sister and mother singing. Around the time of his bar mitzvah in 2006, Lehrman started playing the drums. Still a percussionist today, he hopes to incorporate drums into prayer services in the future but for the summer, worshippers at Beth Am will see him with an acoustic guitar during Friday night services. Lehrman taught himself to play in 2020 when Shabbat services shifted to Zoom because of the pandemic.

I just put my head down and worked really hard, he said about learning guitar. I had to start playing, because I was leading Shabbat services and I was the only person accompanying myself.

Altshuler grew up in San Franciscos Richmond District attending Sherith Israel, where his parents are still members. Over the course of his bar mitzvah and confirmation, he was amazed and impressed by both Rabbi Martin Weiner, who died just a few months ago, and Rabbi Larry Raphael, who died in 2019.

The sanctuary really shaped and influenced me Leading services and preaching in that space is really meaningful and really gratifying.

After graduating from Middlebury College in Vermont, Altshuler worked as a teacher and as a journalist, including at J. in 2012 and 2013, then taught journalism to students in Haiti for seven months. He also reported for the Washington Jewish Week in Maryland and taught adult education in Washington, D.C. It was while enrolled in a nonfiction writing program that he realized his calling to be a rabbi.

Whenever I had the freedom to write about whatever I could, I would always write about Judaism and God and spirituality, he said. I realized how important the content of Judaism is to me, and how much I value Jewish learning and Jewish thought.

Before his rabbinic internship at Sherith Israel, Altshuler was a rabbinic intern last year at Bnai Israel Synagogue, a Reform congregation in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Its hard to be Jewish in North Dakota, Altshuler said. I have a lot of admiration for the people who put the time in, he added, calling it a sweet and supportive Jewish community.

In June, Altshuler and his wife along with their greyhound Noah, named for the prophet, and cat D.B. drove from New York to San Francisco in his 1999 Volvo, taking photos as they crossed state lines.

Altshuler is part of HUCs five-year rabbinic studies program, and is also a Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Rabbinical Fellow, a program of HUC. The fellowship paid for the summer portion of his internship, and Sherith Israel will pay him to stay on throughout his fifth year, dedicating 10 hours a week to the congregation.

I get to shadow Rabbi [Jessica Zimmerman] Graf and learn what its like to be a rabbi from her, he said. Im doing a little bit of everything. That includes giving sermons, co-leading prayer services, teaching Torah study, participating in staff and committee meetings and comforting congregants who are ill.

Being back inside Sherith Israels sanctuary holds a lot of meaning for Altshuler.

The sanctuary itself is majestic and fantastic and potentially one of the most beautiful sanctuaries in the world, he said, describing the more than 1,000 lightbulbs arching across the domed ceiling, and an iconic stained-glass window depicting Moses at Yosemite. The temple was consecrated in 1905.

The sanctuary really shaped and influenced me from a young age, Altshuler said. Leading services and preaching in that space is really meaningful and really gratifying.

In his off-hours, Altshuler works part time as an associate night minister for the San Francisco Night Ministry, where he started working as a clinical pastoral intern last summer offering pastoral care to unhoused residents.

I walked the streets of the Tenderloin and other areas around San Francisco from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and talked to unhoused people, he said, noting he will continue that work and also staff the ministrys phone hotline.

Both Altshuler and Lehrman, who are friends through HUC, plan to meet up. Its cool that were doing this, Altshuler said, noting its a happy coincidence they overlap in the Bay Area for the summer.

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Two locals are back on their bar mitzvah bimahs as clergy interns J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

Over 200 attendees joined the Jewish Federation of Clevelands 118th annual meeting June 9 at the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland in Cleveland Heights to honor two leaders in the Jewish community.

The Federation paid tribute to outgoing board chair J. David Heller for his work and awarded Renee Chelm with the Charles Eisenman Award for her service to the community. During the event, which was co-chairs by Sherri and Marc Blaushild, the new board of trustees were also elected as outgoing members like Heller were recognized.

My three years will always be defined by COVID, Heller told the attendees. Theyll be defined by COVID and the war in Ukraine. But there were other accomplishments, he said, recounting successes such as the updated gun policy, work with the YWCA on the 21-day challenge and successful annual campaigns.

After a video presentation with messages from friends, family and community members, Heller welcomed Chelm to the stage and presented her with the Eisenman Award. The Eisenman Award is presented each year to individuals and organizations making significant contributions to the community. The award is named in honor of Charles Eisenman, one of the founders and first president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

Id like to thank the members of the Eisenman committee for choosing me for this award, Chelm said in accepting the award. It was completely unexpected and I have to say that I am humbled and honored to be included on the list of past recipients who I have admired for their work and more importantly, for their humanity.

Renee Chelm accepts the Charles Eisenman Award.

Jewish Federation of Cleveland board chair J. David Heller presents Renee Chelm with the Charles Eisenman Award.

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, chief rabbi of Poland, is the featured speaker at the Jewish Federation of Clevelands 118th annual meeting.

Rabbi Simcha Dessler welcomes attendees to the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland.

Rabbi Sruly Koval gives the invocation.

Renee Chelm places her hands over her mouth as she watches a video presentation in her honor from friends, families and community members.

Event co-chairs Sherri and Marc Blaushild present gifts to J. David Heller, the outgoing Jewish Federation of Cleveland board chair, and his wife, Becky.

J. David Heller is honored as outgoing board chair.

Event co-chairs Sherri and Marc Blaushild welcome the attendees and introduced each of the evenings speakers.

Gary L. Gross, nominating committee chair, announces the nominees for the board and those who will be leaving the board.

Over 200 attendees joined online and in-person for the Jewish Federation of Clevelands 118th annual meeting.

Renee Chelm accepts the Charles Eisenman Award.

Jewish Federation of Cleveland board chair J. David Heller presents Renee Chelm with the Charles Eisenman Award.

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, chief rabbi of Poland, is the featured speaker at the Jewish Federation of Clevelands 118th annual meeting.

Rabbi Simcha Dessler welcomes attendees to the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland.

Rabbi Sruly Koval gives the invocation.

Renee Chelm places her hands over her mouth as she watches a video presentation in her honor from friends, families and community members.

Event co-chairs Sherri and Marc Blaushild present gifts to J. David Heller, the outgoing Jewish Federation of Cleveland board chair, and his wife, Becky.

J. David Heller is honored as outgoing board chair.

Event co-chairs Sherri and Marc Blaushild welcome the attendees and introduced each of the evenings speakers.

Gary L. Gross, nominating committee chair, announces the nominees for the board and those who will be leaving the board.

Over 200 attendees joined online and in-person for the Jewish Federation of Clevelands 118th annual meeting.

Chelm is a past board chair and campaign chair for the Federation. She has also worked with other organizations like the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Mandel Jewish Community Center, Mt. Sinai Health Foundation, Park Synagogue, Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program, Planned Parenthood Cleveland, the Center for Domestic Violence, YWCA Greater Cleveland and Dress for Success.

The featured speaker for the meeting was Rabbi Michael Schudrich, chief rabbi of Poland, who closed out the evening by speaking about the early mobilization of Jews in Poland to find ways to support Ukrainian refugees and what the challenges are now.

We just created a crisis management team, he said. For hundreds of years, we Polish Jews were the crisis. Three months ago, we became the management team. For hundreds of years, Jews fled out of Poland. In the last three months, theyre fleeing into Poland.

Three groups of refugees are coming into Poland, he said. First is the group making aliyah to Israel, second are those with families and places to go in Europe, and third are those with no place to go. He moved on to address the current challenges as many refugees now in Poland will stay there until the war is over and will need to find jobs, housing, schooling and build a life there.

Schudrich shared that the Jewish community from North America has raised about $100 million in response to the war in Ukraine which will help support the refugees.

He ended his speech with the story of Abraham counting the stars and the interpretation that his descendants would be able to do the impossible.

When given the challenge, they will be able to do the impossible, Schudrich said. That is the Jewish message, and thats what Cleveland Federation does for over 100 years especially during COVID, and I want to say thank you also especially during this horrific crisis of the Ukrainian war.

Gary Gross, chair of the nominating committee, presented the trustees in nomination. For three-year terms at-large, they are Rabbi Binyamin A. Blau, Barnett N. Bookatz, Susan R. Borison, Mindy Davidson, Lydia Frankel, Margaret Richards Frankel, Alan D. Gottlieb, Aaron Gross, Rochelle Gross, Mark Holz, Stewart A. Kohl, Keith Libman, Jared S. Miller, David B. Orlean, Marla K. Petti, Sharon Rosenbaum, Barbara Rosskamm, Mitchell C. Schneider, Darrell A. Young and Don Zigdon. Cheryl L. Davis was nominated for a two-year term. Paula R. Schwartz was nominated for a one-year term.

As a past board chair of the Federation, Heller was named as a trustee-for-life.

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Federation honors Heller, Chelm at 118th annual meeting - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

Congregation Tchiyah, Ferndales resident Reconstructionist congregation, has a central goal of providing meaningful programming and spiritual experiences for its members while also integrating deep commitments to social justice in a warm, welcoming and inclusive community. Tchiyahs goals, which align closely with the Reconstructionist movement as a whole, have also aligned with the congregations growth over the past seven years.

Reconstructionism Judaism was founded in the United States in the mid-20th century, based on the ideals of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. Kaplan understood Judaism as the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people that is continually reconstructed as it responds to contemporary society, rather than being fixed and unchanging. Kaplan was also committed to a vision of social progressivism, a hallmark of Reconstructionist communities.

Tchiyah means revival, rebirth and renaissance in Hebrew. When Congregation Tchiyah was founded as a chavurah (circle of friends) in 1977, the founders picked the name as an homage to the newly built Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit, a reflection of its approach to Judaism.

The congregation has had a few homes over the years, including space in the St. Marys Community Center in Greektown and the David and Miriam Mondry Building in Oak Park on the Taubman Jewish Community campus. The congregation now gathers in a dedicated room in the First United Methodist Church in Ferndale on the west side of Woodward Avenue between 8 and 9 Mile roads.

After years of being led and supported by its own membership, visiting rabbis, rabbinical students and scholars, Rabbi Jason Miller became the congregations first rabbi in August 2008. The congregation engaged Rabbi Shawn Zevit as its visiting rabbi for the 2012-13 year. During the 2013-2014 year, services were lay-led.

Seven years ago, the congregation hired Rabbi Alana Alpert as a part-time rabbi. Since her arrival, Tchiyahs membership has nearly tripled in size and attracted a group of enthusiastic millennials and new families from diverse backgrounds. Rabbi Alanas flexible, creative services are a beloved feature of her leadership, facilitating a holistic experience of spirituality incorporating music, meditation and poetry.

Rabbi Alana has enhanced the congregations social justice efforts in a major way. During her seven-year part-time tenure, she was also the executive director of Detroit Jews for Justice (DJJ), the community organizing initiative that grew from her hire and Tchiyahs desire to become the social justice shul in Metro Detroit. DJJ has seen rapid development and growth, as has the congregation, which led to Tchiyah recently bringing Rabbi Alana on as its full-time rabbi.

Outgoing president Mary Ellen Gurewitz believes Rabbi Alanas work and the synergy between DJJ and Tchiyah has attracted people serving as a pathway for many Metro Detroit Jews to delve into social justice work in a Jewish way.

The opportunity to engage in social justice activities through a Jewish organization is clearly something many people are very responsive to and grateful for, Gurewitz said.

Koby Levin, whose dad, Andy Levin, was president of Tchiyah some years ago, became president in May 2022. Gurewitz served as president for the last four years.

Tchiyah also hired Jake Ehrlich, now operations and engagement manager, thanks to a grant from the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation in June 2018.

With the significant growth and forward change, Tchiyah has seen a shift in membership.

We now have well over 100 families, which even 10 years ago wouldve come as a surprise to the leadership of the congregation, Levin said. Many of the new folks are younger. We have families, and we have older folks who see the vibrance of our community and are drawn in.

Tchiyah programming has expanded thanks to its growth.

We have (a program) called Getting Good at Getting Older that appeals to the older generations, introductions to Jewish prayer, a conversion track for folks wanting to either reconnect with Judaism or connect with it for the first time, and to me thats been a clear draw, Levin said. We get folks in these programs who are not members and once they spend some time with us, they tend to stick around.

Known for its inclusivity, Tchiyah says a third of its member households include at least one LGBTQ+ person.

When Levin attended Tchiyah growing up, he says he was one of a small number of young people who attended. Thats since changed in a wonderful way, according to Levin, who believes his new role as president is an opportunity to participate in a generational shift thats already taking place.

This growth has happened organically. We didnt set out as a synagogue to grow, Levin said. It just turned out amid the pandemic and many other challenging things going on in the world over the last five to 10 years that many folks out there are looking for the same thing. Were happy to welcome them and share space with them.

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Congregation T'chiyah Has Tripled in Size in Seven Years Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

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Courtesy Amara Arts

Amara Arts dancer Samantha Madison performs choreography by Danny Reise. Amara Arts will perform at the Riverfront Times Art AFair on June 23.

I just came out of grad school, so Im in this very experimental mode, founder Charis Railey says. Weve got a fun interactive segment planned as well that plays with the idea of conversation between audience, dancer and the art experience thats being created by us all.

Like much of the St. Louis dance companys work, its informative and interactive and blurs the divide between performer and audience. True to the roots of Afro-diasporic dances, the wall between spectator and performer is permeable, Railey says. While European performance art traditions encourage passive spectating from audiences, African art traditions empower viewers to connect and contribute to the performance.

The Atlantic slave trade stole more than 12 million people from a dizzying array of cultures across the African continent to live and work in unspeakable conditions up and down the Americas, creating the Afro-American diaspora. Reaching back across the ocean to remember and adapt homeland traditions to their new environment helped Africans survive in the New World.

Afro-descendants emerged from generations of slavery and discrimination in the New World with an expansive collection of dances to promote wellness and resilience. From hip hop and salsa to samba and tap dancing, these art forms reflect community and strength in spite of historical circumstances, Railey says.

Informed by Railey's background in anthropology and the Dunham technique, Amara Arts interweaves this history throughout its performances. Created by Katherine Dunham and inspired by her anthropological work, the Dunham technique heavily incorporates elements of African and Afro-Caribbean dance. Dunham's work broke barriers by blending performance art with cultural understanding, an approach Charis emulates.

Ive got a heavy focus on learning the original context, culture and history of a dance before putting it in my context, she says. This approach allows the audience to understand and connect with the dances. Charis fondly recalls some audience members telling her after a show that we dont speak Portuguese and dont know anything about Samba, but we felt the weight of what you were doing.

Amara Arts tours throughout the St. Louis area and surrounding regions such as Indiana and Illinois, performing in venues from birthday parties to cultural celebrations, inspired by the feedback they receive.

I like the performances where I get to connect and see how its affecting people, Charis says. Hopefully, after the performance theyll find someone to take dance classes with and continue listening to the music and dancing in their living rooms.

Catch Amara Arts at the Riverfront Times Art AFair on Thursday, June 23. Tickets cost $25 online and at the door. Read more about it here.

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St. Louis Company Amara Arts Showcases Dance of the African Diaspora - Riverfront Times

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

Getty + Design Leah Romero

Black people are often called resilient. We continue to survive the unthinkable while leaving the world more beautiful and equitable than we found it. More than resilience, its our innovation and ability to see what is not yet presentjustice, joy, autonomyand bring it to life. Anifa Mvuemba knows this. As one of the most innovative designers in the fashion industry and the founder of the brand Hanifa, her creative eye and business prowess have led her to dress top fashionistas including Zendaya, Trace Ellis Ross, Bella Hadid, and more. ELLE.com sat down with Mvuemba to unpack her Congolese roots, her U.S. upbringing, and how her imagination has led the Hanifa brand to new heights.

If I went to a different school, I wouldnt have experienced Blackness in the way that I did. The HBCU experience is unmatched! At Morgan State, I was so young and still trying to figure out who I was and where I wanted to be. My time at Morgan was a stepping stone, not just for me. A lot of people dont even know about Congo and in a lot of my friend groups, Im the only Congolese person that they know.

With [Hanifas fashion collection] Pink Label Congo, I was happy to shed light and bring awareness, so theres a lot I want to do with Congo! At the same time, Im still in the process of understanding and learning about my roots.

My parents have always traveled a lot, but in 2005 my brother was murdered in Maryland, and it was a really difficult time for my family. We were invited to Dubai by a family friend to get away and refresh. I was a freshman in high school, so I wasnt actually thrilled then about the trip because my world was already changing so much. But when I look back on my time there, its clear to me that my perspective on life shifted. You meet so many people from all walks of life, religions, and racial backgrounds. The inspiration I got was insane.

Im getting better at it Ive found that its definitely about finding that balance, which can be difficult when your team really depends on you. There are seasons where I take off for two weeks and other seasons where Im working nonstop. Now, I have a business coach, and Im making time for mental work days where Im not on calls or talking to anyone. It gives me time to process my thoughts and show up as a better leader and creative for my team.

Its really cool, because if I wasnt in fashion, Id probably be building computers somewhere. Since Myspace and early blogging days, Ive been obsessed with coding and how tech functions. It was divine timing when [Pink Label Congo] happened in 2020. [Editors note: In May 2020, Mvuemba debuted her collection Pink Label Congo with 3D renderings on Instagram Live.] I was already back and forth on whether to do a virtual or in-person show and when the world shut down [because of COVID-19], it became a no brainer. Getting to merge both passions is a dream come true. Now were seeing these two worlds collide now more than ever through digital avatars, the metaverse, and more. I hope to always be innovating in this space.

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It was really difficult for me entering the industry because I didnt have the traditional fashion background or those resources. I read so many articles and Googled YouTube videos to understand how to break into this industry, but I had to figure out how I was gonna do it and do it my way. Rejection led me to have this mindset of transforming the industry, but I also have to thank social media. At the beginning in 2011, I was on Instagram and posted my first dress back when the platform was really new. Social media has opened up new paths for designers. Now that Im more secure in my place in the industry, I also work hard to create more opportunities for those coming behind me. There are so many programs supporting new and upcoming designers, and Im building that out now.

Michelle Obama wore a custom piece and I screamed! THE Michelle Obama! That was super surreal. Also, Beyonc wore an Alia dress on a vacation.

Thats a great question! I always talk about Hanifa growing with me, and were both becoming what Ive always wanted us to be. Ive always been connected to my brand, but recently Ive been trying to figure out what it would look like to separate the two more. A lot of people learned about Anifa from the creativity side, but I also want people to know the business side as well. This mentorship program were building out will be an extension of that.

Fisayo Longe is the founder and CEO of KAI Collective, a U.K.-based brand. Our paths align, and shes doing a lot of creative and cool things, so Im really excited to see what shes going to do with her brand. This year, I attended the Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala, and it was so inspiring to see a room full of Black creatives, Black designers, and Black business owners. Im really excited to see more of that.

This interview was lightly edited for clarity.

This story was created as part of Future Rising in partnership with Lexus. Future Rising is a series running across Hearst Magazines to celebrate the profound impact of Black culture on American life, and to spotlight some of the most dynamic voices of our time. Go to oprahdaily.com/futurerising for the complete portfolio.

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Anifa Mvuemba on the African Diaspora and Black Innovation - ELLE

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

As part of an effort to canvass diaspora voters, Turkish President Erdoan (c) met on June 2, 2022, with imams sent to serve abroad in Turkish embassies and consulates.

The Turkish president mobilized his religious operatives working in foreign countries to canvass the diaspora in order to bring him votes in an upcoming election in which each and every vote will be critical to his political survival amid a worsening outlook for Turkey's economy.

The message was conveyed at a meeting last week to imams sent overseas by the government's Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) to work as part of teams in Turkish embassies and consulates as attachs and consuls.

The meeting of religious attachs and consuls in the Turkish capital of Ankara convened by Diyanet president Ali Erba, a hand-picked loyalist selected by President Recep Tayyip Erdoan to run a huge network of imams and mosques that is financed by a substantial budget. In a closed-door session Erba instructed his people overseas to work closely with other government entities in pursuit of the goals set by Ankara.

The attachs and consuls were also brought to the presidential palace on June 2 for a private audience with Erdoan. No word on the content of the talk was ever reported by the Turkish press, meaning the presidential communications office did not share anything with news outlets.

Although the reliability of public opinion polls is questionable in Turkey, where a climate of fear, brutal suppression of critical voices and the threat of imprisonment for dissent forces people to hide their real views and where most pollsters work with the Erdoan government, such surveys nevertheless indicate a pattern that shows Erdoan has been losing support.

Erdoan and his associates must be quite concerned about the real picture of how Turks feel about the Erdoan government and a possible voter backlash in the face of soaring food and energy prices, hyper-inflation, increasing unemployment and a rapid decline in purchasing power and the value of the Turkish lira.

Nobody doubts that Erdoan will use every trick in the book to rig the elections, use mass irregularities and have judges in his pocket to rule in his favor in disputed vote counts. He has already pushed a bill through parliament for gerrymandering and redistricting advantages for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and he has more up his sleeve to tilt the rules in his favor.

However, if he and his party lose in a landslide, it may be very difficult to him to compensate for the shortfall with such tricks. Therefore, Erdoan needs each and every vote to narrow the gap as much as possible and win the elections, both presidential and parliamentary.

That is where the votes from the diaspora come into the picture in a way that is hugely important for President Erdoan, who has relied on government imams to communicate messages to voters in mosques in past elections.

The Diyanet has been radically transformed in the last decade under Erdoan's rule and has turned into an instrument for projecting the ruling party's polarizing and divisive political Islamist ideology in both Turkey and abroad. Those who resisted the politicization of the religious body were purged en masse in recent years, replaced with partisans and loyalists whose mandate was to do the government's bidding under religious camouflage.

The official data from the 2018 parliamentary elections show that Erdoan's AKP garnered 52.5 percent of the votes cast by Turkish expatriates, increasing to 60.6 percent when votes for his partner, the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), are included. In the presidential election that same year, Erdoan garnered 59.4 percent of all expat votes in a race against the main opposition candidate.

Turkish mosques, associations and foundations supported and financed by the Turkish government in other countries play an important role in voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns, and President Erdoan counts on the Diyanet, among others, to keep his numbers up in the diaspora. His constant bashing of Europe, where the majority of Turkish expatriate voters reside, is also aimed at luring voters who have grievances against the countries they live in.

The Diyanet has a TL 16.1 billion budget for the year 2022, controls some 90,000 mosques and employs nearly 140,000 staff including those working in the diaspora. Some of the operations abroad are funded by the Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation (Trkiye Diyanet Vakf, TDV), an organization with sizable assets and an annual budget of well over a billion Turkish lira. It is controlled by Diyanet chief Erba.

The foundation is active in 149 countries and has 1,003 branches in Turkey. The foundation's flagship project is to educate and train foreign exchange students in line with the Islamist ideology of the Erdoan regime and raise a generation of young Islamists that will help and promote this ideology in other countries.

Diyanet-run mosques in Europe were exposed in a scandal in 2016, with Turkish imams caught spying on critics and opponents of the Erdoan regime. A document surfaced in 2016 which showed that the Diyanet conducted surveillance on members of the Glen movement, a group critical of the Erdoan government, in 38 countries including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Austria.

In December 2016 Turkey had to recall Yusuf Acar, the religious affairs attach at the Turkish Embassy in The Hague after Dutch authorities accused him of gathering intelligence on Glenists. Similarly, Belgian authorities rejected the visa applications of 12 Turkish imams seeking to work in the country in 2017.

The government of the central German state of Hessen ended its cooperation with the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (Diyanet leri Trk slam Birlii, or DITIB). "The doubts about the fundamental independence of DITIB from the Turkish government could not be resolved," said Minister of Culture Alexander Lorz. DITIB, the German branch of the Diyanet and a religious arm of Erdoan's Islamist regime, controls imams sent by the Turkish government to European countries.

Abdullah Bozkurt, a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow, is a Swedish-based investigative journalist and analyst who runs the Nordic Research and Monitoring Network and is chairman of the Stockholm Center for Freedom.

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Turkey's Religious Arm Gears Up for Intensive Campaign Among the Diaspora for Erdoan's Re-Election Bid - Middle East Forum

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2022

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace, celebrating the Commonwealth diaspora ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.

Welcoming around 500 guests, Prince Charles and Camilla met people from across the Commonwealth who are now based in the UK, including the High Commissioners of some countries and representatives from the arts, charity, educational, health and business sectors. Prince Charless Princes Trust International and British Asian Trust were also represented.

The reception comes as Prince Charles is poised to officially represent The Queen at CHOGM, though he has taken part in past meetings dating back to 1997. Ahead of their visit to Rwanda later this month, Prince Charles released a statement:

My wife and I much look forward to meeting Commonwealth leaders and, for the first time, being able to visit Rwanda. Over the years, I have learned a great deal from the ideas, concerns and aspirations which people across the Commonwealth have so generously shared. I have been struck, time and again, by how many common threads there are between us. Too many members of the Commonwealth are amongst the worlds most climate-vulnerable countries. As two out of three Commonwealth citizens are under the age of thirty there is a pressing need to find opportunities for our young people. Taking shared responsibility to solve problems like these means the Commonwealth has the potential to make a profound difference in the lives of its citizensand, in so doing, to be an unparalleled force for good in our world.

Clarence House announced on June 9 2022 that Prince Charles and Camilla will undertake engagements that focus on issues facing Commonwealth countries, like climate change; supporting biodiversity and the regeneration of land; economic development; opportunities for the young; and gender equality.

In 2018, the heads of the Commonwealth voted that Prince Charles will succeed The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth, a position that is not hereditary, but which has always been held by the Monarch since it was created.

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