Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 10, 2022

(June 9, 2022 / Jewish Journal)

One hundred years ago this week, Congress unanimously embraced Zionism. The story of how that came about involves some surprising twists and turns, and a stormy debate about Jews and Arabs that could have been taken straight out of todays headlines.

In the spring of 1922, the League of Nationsthe forerunner of the United Nationswas weighing Great Britains request to be granted the mandate over Palestine. The approval process was slowed as France and Italy jockeyed for regional influence and the Vatican sought to prevent Jews from gaining aprivileged position orpreponderant influence in the Holy Land.

In the wake of Englands 1917 Balfour Declaration, pledging to facilitate the creation of a Jewish national home, American Zionists were eager to see the British receive the Palestine mandate. They hoped an endorsement of Zionism by President Warren Harding would accelerate the process. But Harding proved noncommittal, so Zionist activists turned to Congress.

Senators Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, Charles Curtis of Kansas (a future vice president) and Rep. Hamilton Fish Jr. of New York, all Republicans, agreed to take the lead on a pro-Zionist resolution. They were isolationists and immigration restrictionistsnot exactly the Jewish communitys favorite kind of politicians. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, head of the American Jewish Congress, had recently denounced Lodge asun-American and anti-American because he opposed U.S. participation in the League of Nations.

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Successful lobbying, however, is the art of the possible. Many Jewish leaders may have been personally more comfortable with Democrats, but in 1922, the president was Republican and the GOP enjoyed large majorities in both the Senate and the House. If three powerful Republican congressmen were ready to champion the Zionist cause, why should they be turned away?

The Lodge-Fish resolution, as it came to be known, declared thatthe United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. It added thatthe civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine andthe holy places and religious buildings and sites shouldbe adequately protected.

Hearings were held before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs over four days in April.

The testimony by Zionist officials emphasized both justice and compassion. The Jewish people were entitled to rebuild their biblical homeland, and European Jews urgently needed a haven; 100,000 Jews had been slaughtered in pogroms in Ukraine and Poland from 1918 to 1921. Moreover, Zionist development of the land would benefit Palestines Arab population.

Two Arab-American activists, Selim Totah and Fuad Shatara, appeared as witnesses. Their extremism and conspiracy theories won them little sympathy. Totah claimed the British administration in Palestine wasin the hands of the Jews. Shatara said the suffering of Jewish pogrom victims in Europe wasnothing to compare with the burden of heavy taxes that Palestines Arabs endured under Turkish rule. Both men insisted that they were not anti-SemiticTotah because I have a lot of Jewish friends, Shatara becauseI am a Semite myself.

Then as now, Jewish anti-Zionists were front and center in the debate. Two prominent Reform rabbis, Isaac Landman of New York and David Philipson of Cincinnati, testified against Lodge-Fish, claiming the resolution could endanger the status of American Jews.We resent the idea that the Jews constitute a nation, Landman argued.America is my national home.

The anti-Zionist publishers of The New York Timeswere among the most vociferous critics of the resolution. ATimeseditorial warned that Lodge-Fish could turn American Jews intohyphenated citizens. TheTimesalso highlighted the alleged misbehavior of radical Jewish settlers; it published reports from its Palestine correspondent claiming that Arab violence against Jews wasstirred up byJewish Bolshevists.

Another aspect of the episode with contemporary echoes was the role of prominent academics. Yale professor Edward Bliss Reed testified at the congressional hearings that the Balfour Declaration was the product of a Zionist-British conspiracy, complete with secret additional paragraphs that supposedly were being withheld from public view.

In speeches and writings around the same time, Harvard professor Albert Bushnell Hart called Zionisma dangerous doctrine and demanded that American Jews either renounce it or surrender their U.S. citizenship. Princetons Henry Adams Gibbons, explaining his opposition to Zionism, wrote:We do not hold in abhorrence the Jews, but we do hold in abhorrence the Jewish nation.

Despite the critics, the Lodge-Fish resolution received overwhelming bipartisan support. It was unanimously adopted by the Senate on May 3 and the House on June 30, and signed by President Harding later that year.

Why was there such broad support in Congress for Lodge-Fish? Anti-Zionists claimed it was all a cynical bid for Jewish votes, yet many of those who voted for the resolution had very few Jewish constituents. Was it all about the Benjamins (to borrow the infamous phrase of a contemporary congresswoman)? Scholars have found no evidence to suggest that Jewish donors played any role.

Most of those who voted for the resolution likely just concluded that the Zionist cause had merit and that most Americans felt the same way. The Jews did need a haven, and they did have roots in the Holy Land going back thousands of years. The Arabs did have vast lands of their own, and those who chose to live peacefully alongside the Jews would enjoy the prosperity of a developed country and the civil rights that the Balfour Declaration promised.

The passage of the Lodge-Fish resolution was a symbolic victory, and in political struggles, symbols are important. They can educate; they can inspire. The embrace of Zionism by a united Congress legitimized the cause in the eyes of undecided Americans and galvanized American Zionists to redouble their efforts, helping to pave the way for additional political victories on the road to Jewish statehood.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about the Holocaust and Jewish history. This essay is based in part on the research for hismost recent book, The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust.

This article first appeared in theJewish Journal.

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Posted By admin on June 10, 2022

(June 8, 2022 / JNS) Kennan Institute scholar Izabella Tabarovsky wrote in a 2019 essay for Fathom that the Soviet Unions campaign against Zionism and Jews succeeded at emptying Zionism of its meaning as a national liberation movement of the Jewish people and associating it instead with racism, fascism, Nazism, genocide, imperialism, colonialism, militarism and apartheid. Not surprisingly, students on college and university campuses across the United States often hear similar if not identical rhetoric from anti-Zionist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Solidary for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

The Soviets decades-long anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist campaign was multi-faceted and not limited to statements from the Soviet government itself. Anywhere that Communist cells were active, on any radio broadcast controlled by Moscow, in any printing house receiving instructions from the Kremlin, the demonization of Zionism featured prominently and was always related to specific current events in order to keep the embers of the worlds oldest hatred aglow.

This campaign also went beyond mere rhetoric. At times, it involved outright judicial murder. In 1951, for example, leading Czech communist Rudolf Slansky was imprisoned and, under extreme torture, falsely confessed to involvement in a Zionist conspiracy, for which he received the death penalty. In 1952, on the Night of the Murdered Poets, Stalin executed 13 pro-Soviet Jewish intellectuals for supposed loyalty to Israel and the imperialist camp. These are only two of many examples.

On college campuses today, such twisted anti-Zionist conspiracy theories are manifested in the incessant targeting of Jewish students. In 2019, the SJP chapter at Emory University posted eviction notices on Jewish students doors. The notices included statistics on Palestinian homes demolished by Israel, and the group was given permission by the campus residence department to post them. As in the Soviet campaign, Jews were targeted, not just Zionists, which would have been bad enough. Indeed, in February of this year, SJP at the University of Chicago attacked the very idea of Jewish national identity, claiming that it was invented by the Zionist movement. Dovid Efune, editor-in-chief of The Algemeiner, has said of campus anti-Semitism: The biggest predictor is the presence of a Students for Justice in Palestine group.

Another tactic used by Soviet propaganda was to twist the reality of the Holocaust. In 1961, for example, the Soviets openly questioned the validity of the Eichmann trial and claimed that Israel was following in Nazi Germanys footsteps. As the trial neared, the Soviet press began attacking Eichmanns defense counsel, called Israel a traitor to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust by working with Hitlers heirs in West Germany and even alleged that Israel and West Germany were conspiring to prevent other Nazis from being brought to justice.

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Ironically, Soviet anti-Zionism itself drew extensively from Nazi rhetoric and imagery. Many prominent contributors of propaganda material, such as Trofim Kichko, Yuri Ivanov, Lev Korneev and others unabashedly recycled ideas directly from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf. They even blamed the Jews for the extermination of both Jews and non-Jews during World War II. Today, anti-Zionist groups keep that legacy alive by routinely comparing Zionism to the Nazis. For example, Shahd Abusalama, a professor at Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, found it acceptable for a first-year student to compare an Israeli operation in Gaza to the Holocaust.

One of the Soviet propaganda machines greatest victories was the United Nations 1975 adoption of the Zionism is Racism resolution. Its revocation in 1991 had little effect on the U.N.s stance on Israel. Statistics from 2020 are particularly illustrative: Israel was targeted by 17 U.N. resolutions, while all other countries combined, including regimes like Iran and North Korea, received six. On campus, Israel is frequently attacked in the same language. For example, at a Cornell SJP poetry reading, one participant designated Israel a racist, exclusivist, supremacist state.

Throughout their entire anti-Zionist campaign, the official Soviet line was that anti-Zionism was not anti-Semitism. A 1979 article in The Washington Post noted, Although the number of anti-Semitic books and denunciations has grown continuously [in the Soviet Union] since the Six-Day War in 1967, recent months have brought remarkable new additions to this genre. Officially, they are labeled anti-Zionist. Soviet bureaucrats vehemently reject suggestions that anti-Zionism means anti-Semitism. To many Soviet Jews, it is a distinction without a difference.

Today, this is one of the most popular talking points among left-wing anti-Zionists and anti-Semites. Indeed, it is telling that anti-Israel groups have repeatedly attempted to block universities and municipalities from adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, which defines certain kinds of anti-Israel rhetoric as anti-Semitic. At the City University of New York (CUNY), for example, former president of CUNYs SJP chapter Nerdeen Kiswani tweeted: #IHRAoutofCUNY we know all too well that this purposeful conflation of anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism is used against Palestinians and organizers for Palestine. We must protect our right to organize and speak out against oppression.

There is no doubt that todays left-wing anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism can be directly traced to the Soviets anti-Zionist propaganda campaign. Knowing this is the first and perhaps most important step toward creating a more balanced and honest dialogue on the issue.

Avner Yeshurun is a rising senior studying finance at the University of Miami and a 2022 CAMERA on Campus Fellow.

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Posted By admin on June 10, 2022

In March, I detailed Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)s campaign against academic freedom at the University of Chicago. Since then, the situation has only deteriorated.

SJPs initial anti-Israel boycott targeted courses about Israel that legitimize the Jewish state through so-called propaganda. Later, SJP expanded its boycott by demanding that the student newspaper remove pro-Israel op-eds, and apologize for publishing them. Unfortunately, this worked.

On April 2, the University of Chicago newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, capitulated to SJPs anti-free speech demands and removed an op-ed titled We Must Condemn the SJPs Online Anti-Semitism. The paper apologized for publishing it because it enabled the support of Zionist and racist sentiments.

This is especially alarming, because it characterizes Zionism, the self-determination of the Jewish people, as socially unacceptable even though the vast majority of the Jewish community identifies as Zionist. By succumbing to SJPs witch-hunt, the Maroon is responsible for effectively silencing the Jewish community and enabling authoritarian tendencies to flourish on campus.

In their piece, the authors of the since-removed pro-Israel op-ed noted that UChicago prides itself on its free speech policy and that SJPs boycott discourages educational freedom. Ironically, SJPs demand to have the op-ed removed proved the pro-Israel authors right.

In their apology, the papers Opinions editors Kelly Hui and Elizabeth Winkler claim that the pro-Israel op-ed harmed the UChicago community because it was used to delegitimize and undermine SJP UChicagos campaign. This is an overtly political stand on a contentious issue on campus, and implies that it is immoral to criticize SJPs dangerous crusade against both Israel and academic freedom.

They even admit that removing the op-ed may affect Jewish students on campus, as their actions could be seen as stifling Jewish voices, but justified their actions in the name of diligent fact-checking.

Hui and Winkler evidently do not believe that Jewish students deserve the same protections as other minorities: The Maroon recently published a hateful and factually inaccurate op-ed titled We Should Join SJPs Boycott of Zionist Classes, and clearly holds Jewish students to a biased double standard.

The piece, authored by Rawan Abbas, peddles anti-Israel propaganda and twists the definition of Zionism into something unrecognizable and detached from reality. Abbas claims Zionism is an imperialist ideology based on settler colonialism, without factual evidence supporting this serious accusation. The Maroon editors echoed this antisemitic sentiment in their apology, and equated Zionism with racism.

Contrary to these accusations, Zionism is the self-determination of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, where they have had a continuous presence since Biblical times. Zionism is not expansionist in nature, nor is it defined as harming Palestinians. By definition, anti-Zionism is an ideology that seeks the destruction of the Jewish state.

Not only is the Maroon silencing pro-Israel students, but the paper is spreading both hatred and lies. The Abbas op-ed contains categorically false statements and hateful rhetoric.

Instead of equally supporting pro-Israel and anti-Israel students, the Maroon has shamefully taken a stand against Zionism, silenced pro-Israel, often Jewish students, and has given an unanswered platform to anti-Zionist narratives.

The papers attacks on free-speech principles further endanger Jewish students and make it clear that the paper is complicit in fostering antisemitism in a climate that is already hostile to Jewish students.

Cole Knie is a 2021-2022 CAMERA Fellow at The George Washington University.

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2022

BERKSHIRE COUNTY The Berkshire District Attorney's Office honored the accomplishments of this year's Youth Advisory Board in an evening of celebration on Thursday, June 2.

Overseen by the Berkshire District Attorney's Office, the board consists of 16 high school juniors and seniors from 9 different Berkshire County schools to bring youth issues to the forefront, build positive social environments among their school-aged peers, and volunteer to serve the community.

"I congratulate the outgoing members of this year's Youth Advisory Board. While I am sad that they will no longer be a presence in my office, I am excited to see what they accomplish. They've given me confidence that our future is in good hands," District Attorney Andrea Harrington said.

"The Youth Advisory Board's contributions to our community are immeasurable as they've led their peers on the important issues of mental health, bullying, inclusivity, and healthy living, which will make our entire community safer for years to come."

The ceremony highlighted the year's activities.

In May, the Youth Advisory Board attended the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Woman of Valor Luncheon in Boston, recognizing women leaders and their impact on our communities every day.

The ADL gives the Women of Valor Award to remarkable women leaders committed to fighting hate, building bridges of understanding, and safeguarding liberties in their communities.

Ndey Awa Touray, a co-chair of the Berkshire District Attorney's Office Youth Advisory Board, delivered an amazing speech, sharing the board's extensive work to instill allyship and messages of inclusion in local schools. From attending training with the ADL to organizing the STRIVE Leadership Conference for our 8th-grade students, Touray poignantly shared the importance of the Youth Advisory Board's work to help their peers address bullying in all Berkshire County high schools.

"Being one of the keynote speakers at the ADL Woman of Valor event was truly an honor I will never forget. That experience taught me that I can make more of an impact on my community than I sometimes believe. I thank the Youth Advisory Board for that push," Touray said.

After the ceremony, the U.S. Attorney's Office provided the board a tour of the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse. The Youth Advisory Board met with U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins and her staff and articulated a deep knowledge and understanding of youth issues.

In March, the Youth Advisory Board hosted the annual STRIVE Leadership Conference. The office's Youth Advisory Board organizes and hosts the annual conference to empower eighth-grade students from schools throughout the county as they prepare to enter high school. A total of 75 students attended this years conference.

The board chose the theme "Courageous Conversations" and engaged with speakers who focused on youth mental health, wellbeing, inclusivity, and anti-bullying.

"The Berkshire District Attorney Youth Advisory Board allowed me to meet amazing people within my community and allowed us to bring our minds together to try and create change. I was also given an amazing opportunity to meet U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins. This experience was something I will never forget," said Youth Advisory Board member Emma Bergeron.

The board received the ADL's No Place for Hate training on building inclusive school communities and took those lessons back to their districts. The Anti-Defamation League combats hate and bigotry through educating middle and high school students across New England through anti-bias peer training programs, partnering with local law enforcement agencies, and responding to local incidents in the community, all while advocating for justice, equality, and fair treatment for all.

Board members also created a Safer Internet Day public service announcement to raise awareness of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month and share tips on safe internet usage with their peers.

The board assisted with the Berkshire District Attorney's Office's annual Vigil of Remembrance, a candlelight vigil for families to reflect and honor their loved ones who died in impaired driving collisions and spread awareness to deter others from operating under the influence.

The board volunteered to paint and clean the Roots Teen Center during the MCLA Day of Service.

The Thursday evening ceremony included a buffet catered by KJ Nosh, speeches from the District Attorney Harrington, members of the Berkshire District Attorney's Office Juvenile Justice Unit, Chair of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee Bill Ballen, and reflections on the year from Youth Advisory Board Chair Ben Heim and Co-Chairs Touray and Aiden Hyatt.

Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harringtons office serves all 32 cities and towns in Berkshire County. The office represents the Commonwealth in more than 7,500 criminal cases per year in Berkshire Superior Court, three district courts, three juvenile courts, Massachusetts Appeals Court, and Supreme Judicial Court. The office works closely with the State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Berkshire District Attorneys Office, the Berkshire Law Enforcement Task Force, and collaborates with local police departments across the county. A dedicated staff of more than 50 prioritizes public safety, empowering victims and witnesses through services and support, and building a safe community for everyone and especially the most vulnerable.

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2022

(New York Jewish Week) In 2002, in an effort to revitalize a struggling Lower Manhattan in the wake of the the September 11 terrorist attacks, Jewish entertainment and real estate power couple Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff partnered with a little-known character actor named Robert De Niro to launch a major film festival in New York.

Though Rosenthal and Hatkoff are no longer together, the Tribeca Film Festival remains one of the biggest events on the annual global film calendar. Its 21st edition includes a fair share of Jewish-interest films and events, including an Orthodox horror movie, a Leonard Cohen documentary and a comedy about middle-aged Israelis.

Heres your New York Jewish Week guide to the Jewish selections at this years festival, along with information about how you can see them.

This looks to be one of the most unusual Jewish films in years: a Danish horror movie steeped in Orthodox folklore, about a lesbian romance threatened by an unhealthy relationship between one of the women and her Hasidic mother who lives downstairs. With possession themes, and a release deal already secured with horror streaming service Shudder, expect a fair amount of spooks and gasps. Also look for an upcoming interview with director Gabriel Bier Gislason in our sister publication Hey Alma.

Playing June 12, 14 and 17; also available for at-home viewing.

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Graeme Mitchell/Sony Pictures Classics)

You dont really care for music, do ya? Even so, the long afterlife of Leonard Cohens Hallelujah is a story worth sharing: Originally written in 1984 as a ballad infused with Jewish mysticism, its since been covered by the worlds biggest pop stars and has come to represent every possible meaning under the sun. This documentary tells the story of how and why that secret chord has pleased so many. Tribecas screening will be accompanied by a musical tribute to Cohen headlined by his close friend, singer Judy Collins. Look for additional coverage of Hallelujah in JTA closer to its wider release next month.

Playing June 12 and 14.

The Wild One (Courtesy Tribeca Film Festival)

The life of Holocaust-survivor-turned-theater-director Jack Garfein is vividly told in this documentary. It traces how his family fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and how he came to settle in New York, befriended luminaries including Marilyn Monroe and, ultimately, helped open the vaunted Actors Studio. The film is helmed by French director Tessa Louise-Salom, with Willem Dafoe lending his voice as a narrator.

Playing June 11, 14 and 19; also available for at-home viewing.

Karaoke (Courtesy Tribeca Film Festival)

In this Israeli comedy from writer-director Moshe Rosenthal, a middle-aged married couple experiencing suburban ennui become friendly with a bachelor who moves into their apartment building and starts hosting unhinged karaoke nights. Fans of Israeli movies will recognize the films stars from international hits: Lior Ashkenazi, from Foxtrot, and Sasson Gabay, from The Bands Visit.

Playing June 10, 11 and 16; also available for at-home viewing.

My Name Is Andrea (Courtesy Tribeca Film Festival)

The lightning-rod life of Jewish radical feminist writer and activist Andrea Dworkin is examined in this documentary, which also features dramatic reenactments by Ashley Judd, Christine Lahti, Amandla Stenberg and Andrea Riseborough. Dworkin, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, wrote blistering critiques of misogyny and mounted a lifelong anti-pornography campaign. She also frequently explored her own Jewishness, particularly in relation to Israel, whose formation she supported in stark contrast to many of her leftist peers.

Our nonprofit newsroom depends on readers like you. Make a donation now to support independent Jewish journalism in New York.

Playing June 10, 11 and 18.

Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (Courtesy Tribeca Film Festival)

Bibliophiles will salivate over this documentary about the relationship between two Jewish literary giants: Robert Caro, the widely acclaimed, 89-year-old political biographer currently racing to finish his fifth and final volume on Lyndon B. Johnson, and Robert Gottlieb, his editor and professional foil for 50 years. Filmmaker Lizzie Gottlieb, who is Roberts daughter, directs; the talking heads include former President Bill Clinton and New Yorker editor David Remnick. The Power Broker, Caros Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of New Yorks visionary, tyrannical Jewish parks, housing and road-building mastermind Robert Moses, is a large point of conversation.

Playing June 12, 15, 18 and 19.

The Jewish creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and foodie behind Somebody Feed Phil (and victim of Larry Davids big goodbye on Curb Your Enthusiasm) sits down for an extended in-person conversation with the red-hot Jewish comedian whose recent, highly acclaimed stand-up show recounted his infiltration of white nationalist groups. Expect a few bagel jokes.

The event takes place June 16.

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2022

Warning: The following contains graphic imagery and language.

Last week, I conducted an informal survey: I asked five Ashkenazi friends and five Iranian-Jewish friends in Los Angeles if they had heard of Kristallnacht, the antisemitic pogrom that occurred in Germany in 1938. All of them said yes.

I then asked if they had heard of the Farhud, a deadly pogrom against Iraqi Jews during June 1-2, 1941, in which hundreds were murdered and raped. Out of ten friends in Los Angeles, nine of them had not heard of the Farhud.

And then, a strange thing happened: I asked ten friends in Israel if they had ever heard of the Farhud, given that hundreds of thousands of Israelis have grandparents or great-grandparents of Iraqi Jewish descent. Nine of them also responded that they didnt know what it was.

Im not an Iraqi Jew (Im a neighboring cousin from Iran), but as of the 81st anniversary of the Farhud last week, Im on a mission to expose as many Jews and non-Jews to the atrocities that were committed against this once-vibrant community as a result of a heinous combination of Muslim antisemitism and Nazi propaganda.

The Farhud (pogrom in Arabic) occurred in Baghdad during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Muslim Iraqi mobs screamed Cutal al yehud (Slaughter the Jews!) and butchered nearly 200 Jews (some estimate that number is closer to 1,000). Hundreds were raped; over 1,000 were injured and over 900 homes were destroyed. The Farhud was the closest Iraqi Jews came to experiencing their own mini version of a genocide. One thing is certain: Jews who survived the Farhud were traumatized for the rest of their lives.

Shortly before the Farhud, assailants had compiled a list of Jewish homes and businesses. Jewish leaders begged local authorities for mercy, but to no avail. Jews were beheaded; Jewish babies were slaughtered (some Jewish family threw their babies over rooftops, hoping they would be caught in blankets below to save them); murderers waived severed limbs and other body parts, including in one case, the breast of a young Jewish woman (who had been raped). Perpetrators raped Jewish girls at a local school. Six girls were actually abducted to a village nine miles away.

Learning about the Farhud is not for those with weak stomachs. But here are some key facts about this dark moment in the history of Middle Eastern Jewry that everyone should know:

Nazism Found An Enthusiastic Partner In Arab Nationalism

The Middle East and North Africa were an enormous hub of Nazi activity, and that included actual SS boots on the ground (particularly as far as Nazi masterminds who collaborated with Egyptian leaders were concerned). Many of us have seen the infamous 1941 photo of Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, in conversation with Adolf Hitler.

Hundreds of Libyan Jews starved to death in Italian-controlled Libya during the Holocaust; most Jews in Cyrenaica were sent to the Jado concentration camp (250 kilometers south of Tripoli). Hundreds were sent to camps in Europe. The Nazis had a long-term strategy for the Middle East, and that included propagandizing Berlin as a friend of downtrodden Muslims everywhere. If they could successfully align with fanatics in the region, Nazi leaders surmised, they might convince jihadists to actually fight Germanys enemies (beyond Jews).

Before the Farhud, the Nazis began to broadcast Radio Berlin in Arabic throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Hitlers Mein Kampf was not only translated into Arabic, but printed in a local Baghdad newspaper, thanks to Fritz Grobba, Germanys charge daffaires in Baghdad. In 1933, he bought Al-Alem Al Arabi (a Christian Iraqi paper) and published Arabic translations of Mein Kampf in installments.

Whereas the Nazis had Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend), Iraq created the Futtuwa, a pre-military youth movement that was active in the 1930s and 1940s. These youth attended the Nazi rally in Nuremberg in 1938; when they returned home, they popularized a chant in Arabic: Long live Hitler, the killer of insects and Jews.

For further information on Nazi activity in the Middle East, I recommend reading Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz (Yale University Press, 2014).

Where Theres Anti-Zionism, Jews Will Always Be Killed

Im particularly fascinated by one aspect of the Farhud thats worth sharing: In 1941, seven years before the establishment of the modern State of Israel (which antisemites continue to use as justification for isolating, defaming and attacking Jews today), Muslim Iraqis who led the pogroms accused Iraqi Jews of being Zionist sympathizers in the conflict between Jews and Arabs in then-Mandatory Palestine. They also accused Iraqi Jews of working with the British in colonizing Iraq. Does any of this sound familiar? Im reminded of post-revolutionary Iran (1979-today), whose regime identifies Zionism as a capital offense. Maybe thats why every few months, theres a story about a Jewish leader in Iran denouncing Israel publicly or proudly attending an anti-Israel rally.

Heres the worst part about Iraqs history of violent antisemitism today: Whereas other Arab countries, including the former behemoth of Arab nationalism, Egypt, have made peace with Israel, two weeks ago, Iraqs Parliament passed a law criminalizing relations with the Zionist entity. Anyone who violates this new law, including businessmen, faces life imprisonment or even the death sentence. The government said it was only reflecting the will of the people. Hundreds gathered in Tahrir Square (yes, it shares its name with the famous Tahrir Square from Egypts 2011 revolution) in central Baghdad to celebrate the passing of the law.

Hows that for progress 81 years after the country shamefully allowed for the mass slaughter of its ancient Jewish population in Baghdad? Even the regime in Iran had the decency to criminalize Zionism over 40 years ago, rather than today.

For The Last Time, Jews Are Not White.

I can nearly guarantee that certain American celebrities who believe that the Holocaust was a white-on-white crime dont know that Nazism spread its hideous tentacles throughout the Middle East.

I can nearly guarantee that certain American celebrities who believe that the Holocaust was a white-on-white crime dont know that Nazism spread its hideous tentacles throughout the Middle East. Ive also never believed that Jews are white (if thats the case, why are we the target of white supremacists?), but I challenge anyone who weaponizes race against Jews by calling us white and privileged to see photos of brown-skinned Iraqi Jews running out of their destroyed homes in 1941 and screaming in horror, and to tell me that these Jews are white (or privileged).

And then, theres the deeply offensive and untruthful argument that Israel ethnically-cleanses Palestinians. Do you know which once-thriving Jewish population was actually driven out completely from the Arab Middle East? Iraqi Jews. And if you want to get technical, Libyan Jews. And Syrian Jews. And Yemenite Jews.

Three to five Jews remain in Iraq, from a former population of over 135,000 before the Farhud (including 90,000 who lived in Baghdad). Forty or so Jews remain in Syria; while six Jews are still in Yemen. These are estimates and some of the numbers might actually be smaller.

Not a single Jew remains in Libya. Im not a mathematician, but something about that wreaks of ethnic cleansing.

Anyone who knows even minimally about Jewish history knows that modern-day Iraq was one of the most important epicenters of Jewish learning. The Babylonian Talmud was completed there, and Jews have had a continuous presence in the region since they were brought there as captives after the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judea in the sixth-century BCE. That means that for nearly 3,000 years, Jews lived in present-day Iraq. Again, only three to five Jews remain there today.

The Farhud not only marked the beginning of a mass exodus of Iraqi Jews from the country, but tragically, it also marked the end of an ancient Jewish community.

The Farhud not only marked the beginning of a mass exodus of Iraqi Jews from the country, but tragically, it also marked the end of an ancient Jewish community.

I shouldnt have been surprised that my Israeli friends had not heard of the Farhud. A recent poll found that half of Israelis that were polled knew about Kristallnacht; only seven percent had ever heard of the Farhud. That, in itself, is another tragedy.

For more information on the Farhud, read Edwin Blacks The Farhud Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust (Dialog Press, 2010).

Tabby Refael is a Los Angeles-based writer, speaker, and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter @TabbyRefael

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2022

Discover unique Jerusalem Sephardi foods.

Of all our family I was closest to Nona Rosa. While Nono Gabriel was alive his and Nonas house was the center of the family. We gathered there on Friday evenings for Shabbat, and on Saturday mornings for huevos haminados that wed eat with cheese-filled borekitas and sweet stla rice pudding, on which Nona would draw a Star of David with cinnamon.

(The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, Sarit Yishai-Levi, St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2016)

Biscochos

Huevos hacinados (overnight hard boiled eggs), borekitas (small cheese pastries), stla (rice pudding), as well as macaroni hamin (overnight stew of noodles and chicken), sofrito (meat and potato dish), bizcochos (ring shaped cookies), kiftikas de prasa (leek fritters) are only a few of the Sephardi dishes that are woven into the saga of the Ermoza family in The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem book and now a TV show available on Netflix.

The book follows four generations of the Ermozas in Jerusalem from the early 1900s until the 1970s, from the days of the Ottoman Empire, through the British Mandate, the War of Independence and the early decades of the State of Israel. The family is part of the Sephardi community of Jerusalem, a community that dates back to the years following the Spanish inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews. In the 19th century, more Sephardi Jews migrated to Jerusalem from Turkey and the Balkans, as well as Ashkenazi, Moroccan, Yemeni and Kurdish Jews, and the growing population, cramped in their small quarters within the walls of the Old City, started expanding outside the walls. One of the first new neighborhoods was Ohel Moshe, a Sephardi neighborhood where we find the Ermoza family at the beginning of their story. It is located right next to Shuk Machne Yehuda, the market where the family owned a delicatessen shop.

What takes the reader deep into the worlds of Merkada, Roza, Luna and Gabriela are the constant appearances of homemade dishes they all make, in their original Ladino (Judea-Spanish) names, and their family traditions, conversations, arguments and life cycle events.

Macaroni Hamin

One dish that follows the family throughout the generations is macaroni hamin. Hamin is a general name for Shabbat overnight stews, a name that first appeared in Medieval Jewish Spain and referred to a simple overnight dish of meat and wheat berries.

Macaroni hamin is a Sephardi version, popular especially in Jerusalem, of noodles (macaroni refers to thick spaghetti) cooked with chicken and very little spices. As is the case with many of the Shabbat overnight stews, the long hours of cooking over a very low heat, make this dish simply irresistible. The macaroni absorbs the fat and flavor of the chicken, and the chicken becomes so tender, you can chew on its bones. It is considered a summer hamin, as it is lighter (well, at least relatively speaking) than the regular hamin of beef, marrow bones, beans and grains. Some versions include sliced potatoes at the bottom of the pot, that turn crispy and help form a cake-like shape when the pot is flipped upside-down into a serving dish. Most versions also include hard boiled eggs, known as huevos haminados in Ladino, that become brown in color with a creamy yolk after a night in the oven. These are the same huevos haminados that Gabriela remembers fondly eating at her Nono and Nonas house on Shabbat mornings. The hamin itself would be served for lunch, a few hours later.

Macaroni hamin has other names, all of which have to do with the type of noodles being used. It is sometimes called skulacha (from the word eskolacha, a type of noodle in Ladino) or hamin de skulacha (according to Gizar Kon Gozo by Matilda Koen Sarano and Jerusalem of Delights by Rina Valero.) Ive found similar dishes in Syrian cookbook (Bless your Hands by Sigi Mantel,) Lebanese cookbook, where it is called treya from the word alatriya in Arabic for vermicelli noodles (Lebanese Cooking by Gracia Grego,) and in Claudia Rodens The Book of Jewish Food. Roden talks about dishes from Egypt and Morocco, also called treya or intriya, although those were not cooked overnight.

My mother Luna passed away shortly before my eighteenth birthday. A year earlier, while the whole family was sitting around the table for lunch as usual, and she was serving her famous sofrito with peas and white rice, she sat down on her chair and said, Dio santo, I cant feel my leg.

(The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, Sarit Yishai-Levi, St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2016)

(Apologies for the spoiler, for those who are watching the TV show, but this is the first paragraph of the book)

Sofrito

Sofrito is another unique Jerusalem Sephardi dish. It does not refer to the famous tomato, garlic and pepper sauce at the base of many Latin and Spanish dishes, but instead to a simple dish of meat and potatoes.

The beef chunks or chicken pieces are browned or pre-cooked, and the potatoes are then added to the same pot after theyve been pre-fried (sofrito, means fry first.) The dish is cooked with almost no liquid, on very low heat, and the potatoes are steamed over the meat and absorb its rich aroma and flavor. Its such a delicious dish, and is very popular in Israel even these days.

Borekitas are small pastries from the Turkish borek family, with a flaky pastry shell and different filling of either feta-like salty cheese or roasted eggplant and more. Israelis love all types of borek, and you can find a huge variety, spanning from the Bulgarian pastelikos and banitsa, to boyos and bulemas, and the Israeli style burekas made with puff pastry.

Visiting Jerusalem nowadays, youll find a few companies that offer food and history tours based on the Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. But it is possible to recreate some of this magic at home, if you just follow the recipes attached to this article, and roll the Ladino names of the dishes on your tongue, just like Merkada and Roza did.

Get my recipe for Hamin Macaroni and Sofritos to enjoy while you watch the next episode of the Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2022

Beyond borscht, Jews all over the world have a tradition of seasonal chilled soups for summer.

SUSAN BAROCAS, My Jewish LearningJune 7, 2022

When my 7-year-old son and I traveled to Budapest in 2002, we arrived at my friend Katalins non-air-conditioned flat at 11 a.m. It was already over 90 degrees F. We could barely make it up the five flights to her place after some 30 hours of travel, but of course we were also hungry. Katalin, the daughter of Holocaust survivors who returned to Budapest after the war, had anticipated what our condition would be and prepared something I had never had before a totally refreshing cold cherry soup, spiced with cinnamon and cloves and thickened with sour cream. I was hooked.

Since then, every summer I make my own, much less labor-intensive version ofcold cherry soup. Unlike Katalin, who stood for hours pitting the deeply scarlet fresh sour cherries (for which I am still grateful), I use a mix of frozen and jarred pitted sour cherries in syrup. Since the jars are imported from Hungary, I feel somehow connected to the traditional recipe.

You might not know this, but Jews have a long tradition of cold summer soups. Central Europeans, especially Hungarians and Romanians, are known for fruit soups cooked, then chilled, like the cherry soup. Think compotes of summer stone fruits like peaches, cherries, and plums, sometimes apples or pears, sweetened with just enough sugar to enhance the fruit. The pareve soups are flavored with various combinations of cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, and lemon juice, and thinned with water or wine. Once chilled, sour cream is often added before serving the refreshing dish as an appetizer or the meal itself with some good bread.

Russian Jews, who favor more savory cold soups, are known for beetborschtandschav, a soup made from sorrel. Also called sour grass, sorrel is a tangy herb with leaves that look like spinach. Its sour taste comes from oxalic acid, which also gives rhubarb its tartness. Sorrel was used to brighten the taste of heavy foods in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Later the French planted it to use for flavor as well as medicinally, as it aids digestion and treats liver problems, among other healing qualities.

Sorrel grows wild in Eastern Europe from April through June and can be found in the U.S., thriving in all kinds of conditions. Although you can forage for it, most of us head to farmers markets to find some sold in bunches. Poor Russian Jewish peasants usually added potatoes and sour cream to their schav for a hearty meal served with dark bread. If there was an egg to spare, it went in, too. Today, schav recipes mostly include eggs and lemons as well as sour cream. Many leave out the potatoes for a lighter dish.

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And then theres the famous or infamous, depending on your point of view borscht. Beets, like potatoes, are a root vegetable that thrives even in imperfect growing conditions, and both keep well in cellars over long, cold winters. Borscht is traditionally made with just beets and onions and perhaps some dill from the garden. In order to serve both borscht and schav with sour cream, the Jewish version was made vegetarian while non-Jewish neighbors added meat.

You can make a flavorful version of borscht (nothing at all like the one found in jars on grocery store shelves) by adding a carrot, a clove of fresh garlic, some fresh or dried dill, and a pinch of sugar to a pot with a few peeled beets and an onion, all cut into chunks. Cover with water, cook until soft, and then puree the mixture. Serve it very cold with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt and some chopped chives or fresh dill. Just dont call it borscht. If you call it chilled summer beet soup, those at your table will have a more open mind and find the soup surprisingly good.

The Jewish tradition of cold soups is not just an Ashkenazi thing. Chilled yogurt and cucumber soups have been eaten as long as remembered in Syria, Persia/Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and most countries of the Middle East, each adding variations to the basic yogurt-cucumber-garlic mixture, diluted with a little milk or water. As Poopa Dweck says in her wonderfulAromas of Aleppo, the silky texture and delightfully cool sensation on the gums make it a favorite of everyone from teething babies to the elderly.

An Egyptian version of the soup is cooked with onion, spinach, and rice before mixing in yogurt, cucumber, and mint. Other variations added to the cold soup include seedless grapes, raisins, pickled cucumbers, scallions, or ground nuts with the amount and types of herbs and garlic depending on availability and personal preference.

A long-time fan of cold soups, I serve them often, joining a long and delicious Jewish warm-weather tradition.

2 Tablespoons flour 1 1/2 cups sour cream 1 cinnamon stick 3 Tablespoons lemon juice 1/4 cup sugar 1 cup unsweetened sour or tart cherry juice 1 cup water 2 (1/2-inch) strips lemon zest 24 ounces or 2 jars pitted sour cherries in liquid

Strain liquid from jarred cherries into a saucepan (there should be about 2 1/2 cups liquid), reserving cherries. Add unsweetened sour cherry juice, water, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon zest. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for ten minutes.

While mixture is simmering, combine 1 cup sour cream and flour in a medium-sized bowl with a whisk and reserve. Remove cherry liquid from heat, remove lemon zest and cinnamon, and cool slightly, about three minutes.

Add 1/2 cup of the cooled cherry liquid to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Whisk in cooled cherry liquid until combined, add reserved cherries, and simmer for five minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Remove from heat and chill at least two hours. Ladle into bowls and top with additional sour cream, if desired.

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Why cold summer soups are actually really Jewish - St. Louis Jewish Light

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Posted By admin on June 8, 2022

The first thing Ben M. Freeman shares with me is that he is a proud gay man. That was not always the case for the 35-year-old Glasgow, Scotland, native. I encountered a good deal of homophobia growing up and absorbed the negative energy from the world around me, he recently told JewishBoston. Over the years, Freemans activism has become a unique melding of advocating for gay rights and speaking out against antisemitism. I joined Twitter specifically to participate in the fight against Jeremy Corbyn, he said. Corbyn, once a high-profile leader of the British Labour Party and the UKs opposition leader from 2015-2020, has been criticized for his association with antisemitic individuals and his anti-Israel stance.

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Freeman is currently based in Hong Kong, where he teaches the history of the Holocaust in an English-speaking high school. In his book, Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People, Freeman asserts that Jews alone should be in charge of their destiny. He says Israel is the Jewish peoples de facto homeland, and the diversity of the Jewish people is a cause for celebration.

The excerpts below are from a wide-ranging conversation with Freeman about LGBTQ+ pride, the diversity of the Jewish people, paying homage to the past and more.

By the summer of 2019, I had been speaking about pride for a while and made a video talking about my perspective of Jewish pride. In the video, I asked, What are you proud of? And it went viral in the British Jewish community. As a gay Jew, I realized that I was especially well-placed to build this movement because I already understood how to combat internalized prejudice.

The first thing I wanted to do was pay tribute to those who were before me. We are standing on the shoulders of giants. We are connected to Jews who have come before us for thousands of years. Their work and their fight are the reasons were still here. I wanted to show some humility and not assume that I, in 2022, was the first person ever to be proud of being Jewish.

I want to help people understand who we Jews were and who we are. In the west, so much of our identity is defined by the non-Jewish world. We are told explicitly that were a religious group, even though that is not a complete definition of our identity and people. People, with a capital P, as I describe it, is a great way to encapsulate the different facets of Jewishness. I wanted to explicitly state the idea that Jews are not just a religion. Thats where rebuilding a people comes in.

I chose that word because that was my experience. I went from shame to pride. I think its an important word and its a word that I felt specifically able to utilize. For example, if a heterosexual Jewish person wrote a book about Jewish pride, some people might have a problem with that. Maybe they wouldnt be justified in having a problem with it, but they could see it as appropriative. But I was not appropriating anything. I talked about one very specific experience and applied it to another very specific experience. I want people to connect these experiences with the fact that LGBTQ+ people have their pride movement, and it has inspired others.

The modern Jewish pride movement was founded by a gay man and was specifically inspired by the LGBTQ+ pride movement. That gives me a lot of joy as a gay Jew. We have our own issues regarding LGBTQ+ people and how gay people are treated in our community. And I think its amazing that I get to stand up and talk to our people and write these books and not shrink my gayness. My gay identity is front and center in my work. In the second book of my planned trilogy, I introduced a friends experience with internalized homophobia. People will often say to me, Are you gayer, or are you more Jewish? It doesnt work like that; Im a gay Jew. Both identities exist within me, and they inform one another.

Its very painful and hurtful, but the most important thing is that I am not afraid of calling anyone out on antisemitism and anti-Zionism. So, if there are LGBTQ+ organizations or LGBTQ+ people rejecting Jews or making spaces unsafe for Jews, then I will say that. And similarly, if there were people or circumstances in the Jewish world rejecting LGBTQ+ people, I would also call that out. The fact that anti-Zionism has become a way to define ones progressive identity is immensely frustrating. Many Jews who have previously identified as progressive, or previously identified as being on the left, feel that space or that identity questioned.

What came before is key to understanding the modern leftist Jew. You need context. Im almost at the end of teaching my course on the Holocaust. I dont think we got to the Nazis until the fifth week of the course. We were going over things such as where have we seen these ideas before in Europe or other parts of the world? Why were the German people primed to accept what the Nazis were saying? It wasnt that the Nazis were skillful propagandists. Jew-hatred was already there. The Einsatzgruppenthe mobile execution squads that followed the German Army into Eastern Europeshot 1.5 million Jews, assisted by the local population. We didnt see that so much in the west. Why is that? Because the intimate personal murder of Jews in the form of pogroms took place in the Russian Empire well into the 19th and 20th centuries during the Russian civil war.

I love Harry Potter and write to the Harry Potter soundtrack. When I listen to it, I always discover more tropes and libels embedded into society that have created us Jews as the boggart. This means that we take the shape of whatever or whoever is looking at us as the person they most fear. And thats why we have contradictory elements in the kind of hate we experience. For example, the right explicitly says we Jews are not white, and they talk about great replacement theory. And then you have the left who say the literal opposite: Were capitalists, were communists, were rich, were poor, were educated.

This is the crazy thing about being Jewishits not about us. This is about non-Jewish perceptions imposed on us. And thats why when we absorb them, its so confusing. You hear these ideas repeatedly in rhetoric about Israel. People will distance themselves from their Jewishness because they look at what Jewishness represents or at least what theyre told it represents. But, absolutely, were the boggart. And Harry Potter has endless references that help us understand our experiences.

I interview seven Jews for the book, including a patrilineal Jew who is Chinese American and a transgender Jew. I also talk to Hen Mazzig, a Mizrahi Jew. His family is Tunisian and Iraqi. He has been instrumental in getting people to understand the Mizrahi experience in Israel. Its important not to think of the Mizrahi experience as separate because, in the end, its our experience too.

As another LGBTQ+ Jew, Hen has been a leader in this space for quite a long time. I wanted to make sure that I included various Jewish experiences because we are such diverse people. Even among Ashkenazi Jews, there are distinctions. The Estonian Jews are very different from the German Jews. Then you have Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, and then there are those Jews who went to Amsterdam and then South America. You also have those who went to the Ottoman Empire and then to Israel. Its such a rich tapestry of tradition and history.

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Havi was beautiful. Perfect, actually, according to our midwife and nurse in the delivery room of Brigham and Womens Hospital, where she was born at 12:27 p.m. on September 4, 2018. Clear skin, big eyes, strong neck. Six pounds, 9 ounces; 18-inches long. Matt and I couldnt take our eyes off of her.

In the first year of Havis life, we said yes to everything. We traveled everywhere with her in the car and on airplane trips across the country, introducing her to as many family and friends as we could, no matter where they lived. We took her to work meetings. Perhaps we operated as other first-time parents do, our pride and love for our daughter overflowing. But, in retrospect, I also wonder if something was making us hold on to her extra tightly. Because as the months passed, in that place in my mind where the greatest fears live, I was beginning to worry about Havis developmental progress. I had begun to dread the innocent comparisons other parents would make with their children. In Logan Airport once, we sat next to another couple with a baby as we awaited boarding. He crawled so quickly it looked like he was set to fast-forward.

How old is yours? his mother asked me, smiling and chasing her baby around the chairs.

Shes ten months. I knelt over to rub Havis arms as she sat upright on the floor. It felt rude not to return the question. What about your son? I asked.

Hes eight and a half months. An early crawler! She must have heard something in my tone. Dont worry, shell get there.

These conversations stung, but the feeling always passed. Matt and I had Havi all to ourselves and our days were long and full. Wed celebrate victories: Havi could feed herself; her posture was perfect, and when she sat on her own, she looked mature; she smiled at us. Havi had an infectious giggle; on some luckier nights, she even slept several hours in a row.

She was making progress. But, a little voice in me said, not enough.

By 12 months, Havi wasnt pulling herself up and she didnt babble much. She had crawled a couple of times, for three or four strides to get a piece of challah her favorite food but it looked hard for her, as if she were caught in quicksand. Eventually, we grew concerned enough to take her to a specialist, Dr. Siddharth Srivastava in the pediatric neurology department at Boston Childrens Hospital.

CALL ME DR. SID, DR. SRIVASTAVA SAID when he opened his office door to us, reaching out his hand as his warm brown eyes met my gaze. Dr. Sid, Im Myra, I said, and this is my daughter, Havi. I moved her to my left hip to shake his hand. And this is Matt, I said, doing a half turn, Havis father.

Havis cheeks were red from the December chill and her purple jumper somehow made her look even lovelier than usual. She is beautiful, Dr. Sid said. Come in.

We stepped inside. Matt closed the door gently behind us.

She can sit on the floor, he told us. We are going to start with mental status. Just a fancy way to say we are going to play some games.

Matt and I sat down with Havi. The four of us made a circle on the hard exam room tiles. I caught a glimpse of Dr. Sids phone resting on the floor. His home screen showed two smiling children. They looked healthy. Healthy children, I thought. What a gift.

Dr. Sid was focused on Havi, who sat slightly slumped, her big eyes staring off toward the window. The room was hot and stuffy. Matt unzipped his jacket.

Does she always startle? Dr. Sid asked, not taking his eyes off of her.

Sorry, what?

I noticed that Havi startled when Matt unzipped his jacket. Does she do that often? Dr. Sid now looked to Matt and me in turn.

Yes. Well, not always. But weve noticed it for several months now. We asked Havs pediatrician about it. She said its likely sensitive hearing. Dr. Sid scribbled a note.

Lets play, he said, pushing a wooden box with light-up shapes toward Havi.

He pressed the yellow triangle and encouraged Havi to try it. I smiled and let out a sigh of relief when she reached for the box. But she didnt push the yellow triangle. OK, I thought, maybe shes too sophisticated for this kind of a game.

And then came the bell. Dr. Sid slowly moved his hand out to Havis left while distracting her with the wooden box. The sharp ring of the bell reverberated in my ears. Havi didnt turn toward it. Then he moved a ball back and forth in front of her. No tracking.

Havis movements were always slow and smooth; to me they were deliberate and graceful. But this setting darkened my view. My chest felt tight. My insides were being squeezed. I was clutching the hope that Dr. Sid would tell us, Everything is going to be OK.

The eight minutes of the test felt like forever.

Finally, Dr. Sid put the toys away and turned toward us. Matt and I exhaled so loudly it echoed off the walls.

Well. I have some questions, he began. Were you tested for Tay-Sachs? He began listing indicators: the startle reflex, Havis movements, the developmental delay. Matt and I both interrupted him. It couldnt be Tay-Sachs. We had learned about Tay-Sachs in Hebrew school as kids; its a horrific disease, one that disproportionately affects Ashkenazi Jews, but we are a generation that benefits from screening and we had been tested two years earlier. Im a carrier, but Matt isnt, I tried to reassure Dr. Sid. She doesnt have Tay-Sachs.

OK, he said. Id like Havi to have a blood test and an MRI on Monday to be sure.

HAVIS GRANDI, MY MOM, flew up from Philadelphia to join us at the hospital on the day of Havis MRI. We had arrived 30 minutes early, but they were already running 40 minutes behind. Havi still had crusty eyes from a restless night, yet they were big and bright, and as beautifully hazel-green as ever. None of us said much as we waited anxiously, but Havis body was relaxed against my chest.

Havi Goldstein? Were ready for you! the nurse finally called.

The nurses struggled to get an IV into Havs tiny hand and she cried hard. Since only one parent could accompany her to the MRI, I reluctantly returned to the waiting room. Matt carried Hav back to the MRI suite so he could hold her while they started the anesthesia. Hav let out a little cry as they injected the drugs into her IV but quickly fell unconscious in Matts arms. He put Hav down on the bed, and seeing her lying there limp and unresponsive, let out a sob. Back in the waiting room, he sagged into my arms and buried his head in my shoulder.

That afternoon, while the rest of us stayed at home, Matt returned to Boston Childrens, where Dr. Sid had images ready from Havis MRI.

When Matt got back I was in our bedroom, talking on the phone to a colleague about a presentation I had missed. When I saw his face, I hung up.

Matt started to talk in his serious voice: low, soft, and with some medical jargon. Our room started to spin. All I heard was: Dr. Sid showed me an image of Havs MRI and pointed to several areas of her brain. He said that those types of images are characteristic of Tay-Sachs disease.

As Matt said the words Tay-Sachs, I screamed.

What Matt said next comes back to me only in fragments:

No cure.

Rare.

Destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Symptoms progress until they lead to death between 2 years and 4 years old.

THE NEXT DAY, Havi stayed with her Grandi while Matt and I drove to the hospital for tests that would eventually confirm a Tay-Sachs diagnosis. Someone had made a terrible mistake with Matts earlier test he was a carrier.

We left the hospital lab and turned onto the Jamaicaway, heading for home. In silence, we followed the familiar curves of the road lined with birch and oak trees, leafless in the cold. We drove past the pond where families walked bundled in winter gear, past the baseball diamond and the grassy field that returns to life each spring with kids playing soccer.

Matt banged his fist against the steering wheel. I dont get it. How do we do this? Tears were streaming down his cheeks. How do we watch our daughter die? Were supposed to just watch?

He reached over and squeezed my leg.

My mind was spinning through a movie reel of a future we would never get to experience. We would never see Havis first steps. Never hear her say Mama or Dada. Never watch her play on a playground or make friends or get on the school bus. We would never help her with homework, or take her to soccer games or dance class, or...I couldnt make the list stop.

I pulled my knees up to my chest. Matts hand gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. His question How do we do this? hung between us.

I dont know, I finally said, I dont know.

But then, suddenly, I did know.

We celebrate the shit out of her. We squeeze every ounce of beauty and love into her.

I paused, uncertain again. I mean, I dont know.

Matt looked over at me with wet eyes. I felt a knot lodge in my throat. I kept going. Every Friday. Every Shabbat. Well celebrate like its Havs birthday. Well fill every week with a lifetime of love, and well mark it with a celebration on Shabbat. Well invite our people.

Like a combination of Shabbat and birthday? Huh. Could be something like...Shabbirthday?

I smiled. It hurt.

Yes, Shabbirthday, I agreed. Thats how well live. From one Shabbirthday to the next. And thats it. That will be everything.

ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, three days after learning Havi had a year or so to live, we celebrated. A group of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and dear friends descended on our home for Havis first Shabbirthday.

Sometimes in situations like ours, weve heard, loved ones slowly disappear from your life not because they dont care, but because they just dont know what to say or how to help. But Havis posse, as theyd come to be called, knew instinctively the best thing they could do was show up. They followed our lead, and no one pretended that the heartache wasnt there. They showered her with gifts: a onesie; cake and balloons; a plush toy avocado, her first food, which was bigger and wider than she; a warm challah; and an elegant gray dress with white leggings her first Shabbirthday outfit. Havi loved every minute of it.

Our home felt full and warm that night. Everyone stayed close to each other as the Shabbat candles flickered and the reality of Havis illness swirled around us. We didnt have to pretend our pain away with fake smiles, nor did we need to hide from honest joy and laughter that can come from the deepest, most painful places. That night, she never left the arms or lap of someone who loved her.

WE KNEW NOT EVERYONE would understand our choice to gather like this.

When people didnt know what else to say, or how to help, they would inevitably say to go see a rabbi. So, we arranged for a meeting with a local rabbi, who was kind enough to meet with us at the start of 2020.

She led us into her office, looking toward us warmly.

Im relieved you two are getting out of the house on your own, she said. Thats a very good sign.

A sign of what? I wondered. But I didnt ask.

The rabbi offered us coffee, which was brought in by her assistant in small Styrofoam cups. We sat on a couch in her beautiful office surrounded by books and Judaica, and shared our story. The rabbi listened quietly and with compassion. It did feel comforting to be in her presence, someone practiced with grief, and I was hoping expecting that she would become a guiding presence for us. She recommended we read When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Harold Kushner.

And then, with an ounce of enthusiasm in my voice, I started to share the details of how we had turned the last two Shabbats into celebrations of Havi. We called them Shabbirthdays, I told her.

The rabbi suddenly leaned forward. Something had shifted in her face. I wouldnt commit to anything like that, she said matter-of-factly. You dont know how you are going to feel two weeks from now. And then, think about when she is gone, how hard Fridays are going to feel. Id live your life the way you always have and take a lot of photos.

Afterward, Matt and I drove home along the Riverway through Jamaica Plain, which by then had become our throughway for difficult conversations.

That was bullshit. I turned in my seat toward Matt, who was driving.

I couldnt believe she said that, Matt replied in a much more measured tone.

Shes wrong about that. Were all in on Shabbirthdays. And I hope one day she actually says Havis name.

SO, AFTER THAT FIRST SHABBIRTHDAY, we held one every Friday night, inviting friends and family for each weeks festivities. And when we traveled west to take Hav to the California coast where her dad grew up, we celebrated every Friday out there. Once all our family and friends had gone home and Havi was asleep, Matt and I would sit down and write a letter to her. On Saturday mornings wed post what wed written on CaringBridge, an online journal, sharing it with the closest people in our lives.

On an afternoon hike in the foothills around Ojai, California, we walked through a grove of Pixie tangerines, small orange globes that hung by the hundreds from the trees around us. A sign read NO PICKING. Matt reached up and picked one anyway he held it over his shoulder to show Hav, who sat in a carrier on his back. She giggled whenever she laughed, we had to as well. Havi couldnt speak but we never struggled to understand how she felt. I wrote that night in our journal:

You talk in smiles perhaps the most instinctive, simple, and powerful form of communication. We have full conversations as you make your way through all the smiles of the world. You tilt your head back and let out an open-mouthed smile and we know you couldnt be happier . . . Then there are your closed-lip smile, your flirtatious smile, your guilty smile, and your lopsided smile. With each one you make us feel like youre just seeing us for the first time, like youre so excited to be with us again. Your eyes sparkle and you stare deeply into our souls. Sometimes we have to look away as we wipe tears from our cheeks because youve moved us so deeply with your simple smile and twinkly eyes. Speaking of smiles, we know that one of the functions youll lose is the ability to smile. Dad and I talked about this over pizza dinner the other night. Dad asked me if that was the thing I was most scared of. Im scared of it all, I said, and Dad agreed.

We were learning to live alongside grief, appreciating its power to keep us close to Havi. We were learning that pain and love could coexist. We werent risking our hearts, we were expanding them.

FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, thats how we lived. In that time, we were blessed with our second daughter, Kaia, whose name is from the same Hebrew root, chai, as Havi. We were a family of four now.

On Havis 57th Shabbirthday, January 15, 2021, we awoke to a breathtaking sunrise. We took advantage of the warm sun to walk her up and down Heartbreak Hill in Newton. I reached into the stroller and tucked her hair behind her ears, watched as her eyes chased the light, and narrated to her most of the way, imagining some future Boston Marathon wed run together and making sure to point out where the two of us would start to pass people. I noticed her dry lips. Wed left her smoothie at home.

Havi had stopped eating two days earlier. We could see that she was making it clear she was ready for whatever was next. I wasnt, of course. How could I be? But I felt so strongly about listening and following her lead, that I simply tried to hold on to whatever moments she had left to give.

When we brought Havi into the kitchen that evening, we found that her posse had worked their magic again. They set the kitchen table with an array of lavender flowers and giant balloons spelling out Havi 57 hung behind her chair. We ate all of her favorite foods, most importantly blueberry pancakes which by then had surpassed even challah and held some of the sweet blueberries to her lips so she could taste them. And we kissed and hugged her and passed her around from one set of arms to another. Our tears fell on her cheeks, and she hung in with us for as long as she could, until her eyes closed and her body relaxed into a sleep. It was bedtime.

After everyone had gone home, Matt crawled into bed, opened his laptop, and, as one of us had done each of the previous 56 weeks, wrote a letter to Havi.

ON THE FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY, at 9:04 a.m., Havi took her last breath, at our home, in our bed, in my arms. She was 2 years, 4 months, and 16 days old.

The three of us lay like origami: Havis small body on top of mine, her head resting on my chest, her legs hugging my hips, and Matts head pressed against mine with his arms wrapped around both of us. The room was still and silent but for the sound of my heart beating hard in my chest.

Suddenly, a small movement at the window drew our eyes. A tiny, gray, oval shape was crawling up and over the molding. It paused, seeming to look at us from across the room. She sent us a stink bug. Seriously, Havi girl? Matt and I both broke into laughter and tears.

IN ONE WAY, the rabbi was right: Havis absence filled everything her room, our home, and every cell in our bodies. All of the ways I knew how to care for my daughter evaporated. I couldnt feed or dress her; I couldnt rock or sing her to sleep; I couldnt listen for her cries or coos; and maybe most painfully, I couldnt imagine a future with her. And so, Id drift between disbelief and anguish, wrestle with the sheets throughout sleepless nights, and consider putting two feet on the floor in the morning a victory for the day.

I continued to write. Every day. I turned toward Havi, each letter beginning with Dear Beauty, the way they did when she sat next to me, and I told her exactly how I felt and what we did that day. I still do this, every day.

Today I feel in denial even though its the most gorgeous day here and Im sure you had something to do with that, I wrote to Havi two months after her death. Every part of me wants to collapse onto the floor and weep until I cry myself back to sleep. But I cant. I want to be okay for Dad and for Kaia. Im wearing purple. How can you be gone? For good? I thought nothing was permanent. We love you always.

And yet by letting anguish and celebration run together, we continue to live with Havi. We strung hundreds of photographs around the house. We transformed her room into a haven that continues to give us strength and energy. We toast to her every night: To Hav. Kaia is now almost 2, and she lifts her sippy cup and says Havs name with us before we eat.

We honor Havi every Shabbirthday with challah and music, and we draw on her posse, our witnesses, to keep her with us every day. They still do little things that feel enormous, like ordering coffee under Havi to hear the barista say her name out loud, and sharing poems every week that remind us of her. And every Wednesday, at 9:04 a.m., the day and time of her death, they still send photographs of her to Matt and me to remind us that Havi is still very much here with us.

We know the dominant narrative about grief, that it is something to move beyond in an effort to seek closure. But we feel differently. There is no safe distance when it comes to loving. Havis life and death has to be a part of our lives, now and forever, and we hold on to the gifts of perspective and possibility that she gave us. She exists in every moment our relationship to her is cellular.

Recently, I reread the letter Matt wrote to Havi on that night of her 57th Shabbirthday. In that moment, we would have given anything for a miracle, for some way she could have stayed with us and grown up in her home, with her sister. And yet, what we trusted then, and believe with even more conviction now, is that she would always be here, as long as we make room for her.

You have a number of days remaining now. The pain of losing you feels different, scarier and stronger. We used to fear all the things wed have to stop doing together, but now we are overcome by the fear of just not being with you. Weve always dreaded this moment the moment when you would tell us you were ready. But now we are afraid of having to live the rest of our lives without you. We wish we could go with you wherever youre going. Of course, we know youll be with us wherever we are. But please dont be shy about just coming right in, coming back home whenever you can, whenever you want.

Myra Sack is a senior adviser at SquashBusters Inc. She is a certified Compassionate Bereavement Care facilitator and is writing a memoir about her daughter Havi. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her family. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.

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Our daughter had a year left to live. We had to do something wonderful with the time she had left. - The Boston Globe

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