Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Jewish groups on Wednesday marked the 81st anniversary of the Farhud, a Nazi-inspired pogrom of Iraqi Jews that marked the beginning of the end for a centuries-old, once-flourishing community.

The massacre took place over the Jewish holiday of Shavuot in Baghdad on June 1, 1941, following the downfall of the regime of Rashid Ali al-Kailani, an Arab nationalist who staged a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq weeks earlier. As British troops surrounded Baghdad, widespread riots targeting the Jewish community broke out, incited and led by Iraqi soldiers and officers who backed the coup, as well as fascist youth.

By the time the violence ended midday on June 2, some 180 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, and an estimated 1,500 stores and homes looted.

The Farhud was a watershed moment for Iraqi Jews. Within 10 years, amid mounting antisemitic persecution, more than 90 percent of the community immigrated to Israel, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Last month, the Iraqi parliament passed legislation making contact between Iraqis and citizens of Israel where most Iraqi Jews and their descendants live a crime punishable with a lifetime prison sentence or even the death penalty.

While relatively little-known outside of the Iraqi Jewish community, there has been increasing effort in recent years by Jewish organizations, as well as the Israeli government, to raise awareness of the Farhud. In a social media post commemorating the massacre, the Board of Deputies of British Jews a group representing Jews in the United Kingdom, where a number of Iraqi Jews resettled shared testimonies of survivors, which can be viewed below:

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Massacre of Iraqi Jews Remembered on 81st Anniversary - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

In recent years, antisemitic incidents, including the decision by Ben & Jerrys to boycott Israel, resulted in kosher supermarkets pulling the ice cream brand off its shelves. In 2020, a spike in antisemitic attacks provided the catalyst for the No Hate, No Fear rally, which drew crowds of protestors to New York City.

While said events captured the attention of thousands of American Jews, far fewer seem willing to confront the proliferation of antisemitism at US universities. I, too, struggle with whether combating campus antisemitism requires a stronger resolve to remain within the system or if were aiding efforts to delegitimize Israel by sending Jewish children, along with hefty tuition payments, to schools that are promulgating an illiberal and anti-Zionist pedagogy.

For example, two weeks after I attended a college information session with my daughter, The Harvard Crimson student newspaper reversed its 2002 announcement opposing the antisemitic BDS movement, and published an editorial publicly supporting divesting from and boycotting Israel.

The Crimsons endorsement of BDS underscores the powerful influence of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Bolstered by its partnership with American Muslims for Palestine and other groups, SJP has successfully organized the consideration of 153 BDS resolutions in student governments since 2005.

In the 2020-21 academic year, student governments voted to support 11 of the 17 BDS measures introduced. Comparatively, in 2015, two BDS resolutions were passed by schools in California. In 2019, Brown University became the first Ivy League school to pass a divestment resolution, with approximately 70 percent of students who voted backing the referendum. In 2020, 60 percent of undergraduates who votes at Columbia University approved the schools first-ever Israel boycott resolution.

Universities with sizable Jewish populations openly curry favor with antisemitic speakers and associations. The Biden administration is currently considering subjecting New York University, whose student government adopted a BDS resolution in 2018, to continued Federal monitoring requirements following several instances of harassment targeting Jewish students. In one example, The Washington Free Beacon exposed SJP distributing a school-wide email to NYU students alleging that the Zionist grip on the media is omnipresent. In 2019, the administration gifted its annual Presidents Service Award to SJP, to recognize the groups extraordinary and positive impact on the university community. That same year, NYU invited Steven Thrasher to speak at its doctoral convocation ceremony, where he urged non-cooperation with NYUs Tel Aviv campus, while applauding SJP and Jewish Voice for Peace for their championing of BDS.

According to a 2021 report by Jewish on Campus, universities that saw the highest rates of antisemitism were in the northeast, where a large concentration of US Jews resides. And many of the schools where Jewish students face institutionalized discrimination are the same establishments that offer attractive amenities such as kosher dining options and daily minyanim. Yet, even within communal life, there is bigotry.

For the second year in a row, pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Rutgers University hurled eggs and antisemitic epithets at the AEPi fraternity house as Jewish students held their annual Yom Hashoah commemoration. The incident follows Chancellor Christopher Molloy succumbing to SJP pressure and apologizing for his original university-wide statement in 2021 condemning antisemitism.

In his letter, Molloy expressed remorse that his message failed to communicate support for our Palestinian community members. While in 2015, Rutgers University was ranked first as the largest public university for Jewish students, its status has since been replaced by the University of Florida. The pandemics aftermath is testing the viability of Jewish loyalty to universities like Rutgers. Tiring of faculty promotion of left-wing ideologies, more Jewish students are choosing to be educated elsewhere.

In his piece for Tablet, journalist Liel Liebovitz makes the compelling case for sending our best and brightest to college in Israel. Not only is higher education in Israel affordable, costing a fraction of what it does in America, but Liebovitz also advances the idea that, in Israel, idealistic young Americans will gain a deeper appreciation of the challenges facing the country, while strengthening their bonds with Israeli Jews.

The Brandeis Centers 2021 national poll of Jewish fraternity and sorority AEPi and AEPhi found that 50 percent of respondents hide their Jewish identity on campus. Over half of those surveyed avoid expressing their views on Israel for fear of being verbally attacked or marginalized by their professors. Studying in Israel would relieve Jewish students from carrying such a burden, while granting them the ability to learn in a country whose economic growth last year was its fastest in 21 years, surpassing global projections. Whats more, Israels emergence as an intellectual and strategic hub is evidenced by its universities, three of which are placed among the top 100 leading academic institutions.

The allure of a warmer climate or learning in the worlds sole Jewish homeland does not diminish the responsibility that American universities have in ensuring a safe environment for their Jewish students. For some, ambition and circumstances render abandoning these institutions an impossibility. For others, corrective measures are needed to justify the expense and time devoted to studying in establishments that espouse anti-Zionism. Whatever ones choice, its now clear that alternative options exist.

Irit Tratt is a writer who resides in New York. The authors work has appeared in The American Spectator, The Jerusalem Post, JNS, and Israel Hayom.

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Is it Time to Rethink the Relationship Between Jews and Elite Universities? - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

First and foremost, the Jewish Federation leadership expresses our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those murdered in Buffalo, NY. Our hearts are also with those injured and we wish them a refuah shlemaha full and speedy recovery.

We praise local, state and federal law enforcement professionals who responded to the incident and are pursuing justice in what has been identified as a hate crime.

As I write, I have no idea how many other mass shootings senseless loss of life and injuries to othersmay occur between this moment and the publication of this article in two weeks. It has become a normal way of life in our country to expect these incidents; it shouldnt be normal.

The Buffalo alleged perpetrator, whose name I will not use, posted a 180-page document fixated on whats known as replacement theorythe idea that white people are being slowly and intentionally replaced by minorities and immigrants. It is a hateful ideology held by many extremists that somehow immutable characteristics determine our personal thoughts or actions and/or worth as human beings. It is an abhorrent ideology that goes against all that America is supposed to be and against the value of Btzelem Elohim, that we have a responsibility to treat each person with dignity and respect because we are each created in Gods image.

There is no justification for what happened in Buffalo, where members of the African American community appeared to have been specifically targeted. Or in Atlanta, where members of the Asian community were specifically targeted. Or in El Paso, where members of the Latino community were specifically targeted. Or in New Zealand where members of the Muslim community were specifically targeted. Or in Colleyville, Pittsburgh, Poway, and so many other locations where Jews were targeted. There are too many evil and hateful attacks in recent years to list in this short article.

We may never know what the Buffalo perpetrator was thinking but it appears that this vicious attack stemmed from well-established racist thoughts. We also know he espoused anti-Semitic thoughts; those who hate so viciously regularly hate anyone who they perceive as different.

Our world seems to be increasingly spewing hatethrough words and too often through violent actions. We each, regardless of our immutable characteristics, our professions, our socio-economic status, where we live, or any other aspect of our liveswe each have the right to live in a safe environment and to be treated with dignity and respect.

When we treat those with whom we disagree as the other or less than equalwe create an environment where hateful words and actions somehow become justified. Our personal politics, religious views or other perspectives should never be more important than human life. Ever.

How do we, members of our community, strive to make a difference in the wake of this tragedy? We must start with ourselves. How we speak toand aboutother people matters. We must strive to disagree respectfully and not to demonize those we disagree with; especially if we disagree passionately. We must remember that hateful words do cause painand that hateful words all too often lead to hateful actions. And we must find our individual and collective voices to appropriately speak out against all forms of hatred.

Our Jewish Federation office reached out to the Atlantic City NAACP office following the shooting to express our condolences and horror, and to let them know we stand with their community as their friends and allies. I let them know we stand ready to show support in any way they need us to. Members of the Jewish community know all too well how meaningful it is to have other community members and organizations reach out to us after instances of anti-Semitism; we must do the same for our entire community. We are better together, and we are stronger together.

We each have a role and responsibility to make our world a better place for every person. We need to not only act when hatred impacts us personally, we must take action when hatred impacts anyone, anywhere.

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How we should respond to hatred - Jewish Community Voice

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Rabbi Linda Holtzman

By Rabbi Linda Holtzman

Parshat Bmidbar

It sometimes feels as if we are all bmidbar, in the wilderness, uncertain as to what to do next. In the wake of the horrific shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, I am feeling that way.

Are we really living in a country that we can be proud of one that is moving toward greater peace and justice? Or are we wandering in a wilderness with no clarity about how to stop the shootings and killings and the overwhelming gun violence from continuing? Of all the countries in the developed world, the United States has the highest percentage of deaths by gun violence, significantly higher than all the others.

During the days after the mass killing in Uvalde, we all witnessed the usual, now too-familiar response: tears and prayers, a desire to stand with the bereaved and saddened parents, friends and family of those killed, and politicians shouting about the need to do more to end this gun violence epidemic. Yet the next night in Philadelphia there was a shooting that injured three people and, in the days since, there have been many more shootings and killings.

As the headlines about Uvalde fade, the will to do something real about ending the scourge of gun violence in our country will lessen, and the serious work that it will take for us to make a real difference will dissipate. But it is so clear that we need to do something right now! This weeks parsha, Bmidbar, gives us some hints about what needs to be done.

The first word in the parsha, in the whole book that we are starting to read, grounds us in the wilderness. Here we are with little clarity or certainty about what will happen next about what we need to do.

In the midbar, anything can happen. And in this book, so many strange things take place: A donkey talks, an overabundance of quail descends for the people to eat, Moses hits a rock and water flows out for the people, and theres a mutiny in the Israelite camp. The start of the book, however, the section we read this week, gives us guidance about how to weather these challenges.

First is the acceptance of the fact that we are all wandering in a wilderness. When we think that we know what will happen next, when we think we are in control in life, we need to face the truth. Just like the Israelites, none of us are in control. We are bmidbar where anything can happen. People plan, and God laughs is truer each day. So we enter the wilderness, and then? We aimlessly wander accepting all that we are given? Clearly not!

The rest of the Torah portion is not about aimless wandering at all. The Israelites organize their camp according to precise directions, find a way to create a safe, solid community, and organize their space and their community in thoughtful ways. They establish a census and pay careful attention to who is in the community, to what everyones needs are and to what each individual can contribute to all.

At the heart of the community is the mishkan, the Tabernacle where the presence of God dwells; this guarantees that no one can ever forget that the community is a holy one with its core values always at its heart.

In our world, we have entered the midbar, and we seem to be waiting for something to act to organize our community to stand up against the gun violence that is taking over. There is no one who is going to do the needed work except us. We need to keep our mishkan our deepest values in our heart and realize that by simply arming more people and giving the police more power and trying to guard our childrens schools, we are not doing the work that will build a safe, solid community. We are not following the Israelites example of doing thoughtful work in the face of uncertainty.

It is time for us to stop jumping for quick fixes whenever there is a shooting and to do the serious organizing and planning that can make real change. We can start by:

providing fair and equal education to all students in our citys schools.

bringing jobs with livable wages to every Philadelphia neighborhood.

creating youth programming that is creative and inviting for children in every neighborhood in Philadelphia.

electing representatives who will keep guns off the streets and out of the hands of those who should not have them.

changing the system to have nonpolice responders give people in emergency situations the care they need.

fixing the streets and lights and all that is broken and overlooked in many Philadelphia neighborhoods.

and so much more.

There are so many ways to step up to face the challenges that gun violence brings to our city. Together, we can work to create a safe and solid community with peace and justice at its heart. Once we are in the midbar, we have no choice.

Rabbi Linda Holtzman is on the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and is the rabbi of the Tikkun Olam Chavurah. The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the authors own and do not reflect the view of the Board of Rabbis.

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Escaping the Wilderness - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Who are you beneath the surface? All of us have a part of ourselves we cover up - a part of our bodies, our personalities, or our very identity. But then there are times when the hidden part of ourselves is suddenly and dramatically revealed, sometimes by choice, sometimes by circumstances thrust upon us. These instances can lead to hilarity but also to hurt, and often to the uncovering of who we truly are inside.

Stories of these uncoverings become a rich and captivating theatrical journey in Uncovered, this season's final Salon Theatre offering from The Braid, the go-to Jewish story company. In this production, a group of actors turn ordinary people's true moments of revelation into a collective and ultimately uplifting emotional journey. Curated, adapted, and directed by The Braid's current NEXT Emerging Artist' Fellows, Uncovered offers a fresh perspective in Jewish culture. This group of 7 next generation artists has spent 9 months working together to develop and direct a show of 10 true stories brought vividly to life by professional actors. It will be performed both in person in Southern California and Live on Zoom from June 16 to 26. Get tickets at the-braid.org/uncovered.

For the young artists behind the show, the act of creating it has offered a powerful opportunity for self-discovery. One of the team who is sifting through, selecting, and adapting the stories is Makena Metz. The hardest part, Metz notes, has been holding the artistic integrity of a story while still editing it to fit with the timeframe of a show. But it's this act of lifting and fostering Jewish stories that has also become personally meaningful. As a recent cancer survivor, Metz finds herself drawing closer to her Jewish roots. "Judaism and working within Jewish communities has become a kind of comfort blanket," she reveals.

"Uncovered is an exploration of what is revealed, what we learn either by choice or by force-but either way, it's a surprise," says Vanessa Li Bloom. As an adoptee from China who was raised by a Jewish mom and a Christian father, she relates deeply to the notion of having a side of herself that people don't always see. "I often find myself caught between two worlds," Bloom shares, "the world that looks like me (Asian), and the world that behaves like me (Jewish)."

"I wasn't raised religious," remarks Zoe Mann, another member of the literary team, "but this past year I felt the need to feel more connected with my Jewish side." In addition to "learning Yiddish and eating latkes with my dad while he screams at the Yankee game," Mann dived headfirst into bringing these Jewish stories to life. From them, she has concluded: "Life has a funny way of forcing vulnerability. Sometimes it's better to give in rather than keep everything locked up."

For the show's directors, taking these stories from page to stage has helped them grow. Director Lee Conrads finds it "really interesting getting to see The Braid's unique model in action. I am someone who thinks about different ways of collaborating, and The Braid is unlike any other that I've experienced." Director Talya Camras notes that she has "already gained valuable skills from this process," including "how to use kindness and words of affirmation to shape actors positively."

To Andrew Fromer, coordinator of the NEXT program, this unique combination of professional growth and exploration of Jewish identity is exactly what he hopes the NEXT program will be. "It can be very easy for a young artist to be pulled away from their art. Same thing goes for practicing Judaism; it can be hard for an emerging Jewish artist to find the time to attend synagogue or plant roots in a Jewish community." By offering a paid fellowship, The Braid has enabled these emerging Jewish artists to "explore their cultural heritage" while creating a theatre experience that will inspire audiences. After all, as Fromer remarks, "a lot of people need inspiration in the world today." This show, and the young Jewish artists behind it, may be just the inspiration people are looking for.

Other NEXT Fellows this year are Ariella Blum-Lemberg and Leilah Franklin. Together they are mentored by Daphna Shull, Susan Morgenstern, and Ronda Spinak. The NEXT Emerging Artist Program is made possible by the generous support of the Erwin Rautenberg Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, the Robert Sillins Family Foundation, and Gail Solo. The cast of Uncovered features Ronit Gilbert-Aranoff, Marshall Bennett, Avita Broukhim, and Heidi Mendez.

To learn more about The Braid's origins, mission, and community, visit the-braid.org/about/.

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Young Jews Discover Themselves In Creating Jewish Theatre - Broadway World

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Fred Cook, by his own admission, is a man in search of an identity.

From his teenage years through his early 30s, he filled that void with neo-Nazism. But over the past decade, he has grown to fill it with Judaism.

Cook, 43 and a Philadelphia resident, has spent the past year-and-a-half converting to Judaism through Congregation Rodeph Shalom on North Broad Street. In July, his beit din will rule on his conversion. If the three religious authorities accept Cook into the faith, the convert will enter the mikveh.

He already wears a Star of David necklace with the star hanging where his swastika used to be: above his heart.

Its been a pretty amazing journey, Cook said.

It started when Cook was a teen. As he put it, he grew up with no identity whatsoever. All he knew, per his grandmother, was that he was German.

But when his family moved to an Irish neighborhood in South Philadelphia, the German kid did not fit in.

They were like, Hey, youre not Irish, Cook recalled.

At 13, Cook was looking for a crew, and he found one on South Street. Cooks friend told him to come hang out with his friends. It turned out to be a group of seven or eight skinheads.

They were not affiliated with an organization. They would just listen to loud music and fight with sharp skinheads, or skinheads of non-white races, according to Cook.

The Philadelphia native liked that his new friends welcomed him and made him feel comfortable.

It was something to latch on to, he said.

But once he latched on, he did not let go. One particular incident became a point of no return, according to Cook.

As a student at Horace Howard Furness High School, a girl asked Cook on a date, and he said no. Then, as the convert explained it, she told other students that he called her the n word. Cook estimates that 13 kids responded by jumping him and hitting him in the back of the head with a piece of brick.

He spent two or three days in a coma and emerged with a steel plate in his head. To this day, he said, he still has memory issues. After the incident, Cooks skinhead friends started walking him to school.

I took things more serious than a bunch of guys goofing around, he said.

Using America Online, Cook entered chat rooms and started talking to other white supremacists. He got connected to William Pierce, author of the racist and antisemitic book The Turner Diaries, and David Lane, who coined the line repeated by all white hate organizations, according to Cook: We must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children.

The convert even did security for former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke during his appearances in Philadelphia. Eventually, Cook worked his way up to the chief of staff position for Jeff Schoep, the leader of the National Socialist organization.

But in a high-ranking position, Cook started to get calls from friends about how their white brothers appeared to have Black friends in Facebook pictures. As he kept getting these types of calls, Cook came to a gnawing realization.

I started to see it as people looking for enemies because there were none, he said.

Cook understood that the identity he had found and cultivated was hollow. So finally, he told Schoep that he had to step down.

I gave up on that identity, he said.

For years after leaving, Cook stopped trying to answer the identity question. He focused just on trying to be a good person and on building a family with his wife.

But in December 2020, he took a DNA test and learned that he was 30% Jewish. He reached out to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and got a box of books in return.

He started reading and became obsessive, he said. Since then, he has read 80 books on Judaism, joined Rodeph Shalom and committed to the conversion process.

Rodeph Shalom Rabbi Eli Freedman called it a shock when the former neo-Nazi first reached out to him. But the rabbi embraced the convert anyway and saw that he was genuine.

When someone decides Judaism is the path for them, they have a Jewish soul, he said.

Cook also works with Schoep, a reformed neo-Nazi himself who did a talk at Drexel University in November, at Schoeps organization Beyond Barriers, which works to combat extremism.

We were on the wrong track, Schoep said. Now were on the right path and trying to do good.

As Cook put it, his mission now is tikkun olam. JE

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Former Neo-Nazi Converting to Judaism - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

South Jersey Jewish Cultural Alliance members (from left) are Elaine Somerson, Natalie Sykes, Annette Decker, and Naomi Scher.

In 2005, after years of attending the Jewish Childrens Folkshul in Philadelphia (a secular, humanist Jewish community) with her two children, Naomi Scher founded a similar organization back in her hometown of Cherry Hill: The South Jersey Jewish Cultural Alliance (formerly known as the South Jersey Secular Jews). The group consists of 25 members, most of whom are retired and have been there since the beginning. Members dont necessarily identify with a synagogue but still wish to remain connected to Judaisms rich culture.

It showed me that there was such thing as a cultural Jew, Scher explained about her experience at the Folkshul. Almost like another piece of the Jewish spectrum that people rarely, if ever, mention.

They meet every second Sunday of the month to discuss Jewish literature, ethics, social justice, anti-Semitism, and the Middle East conflict, among other topics. Programs consist of guest speakers rabbis, professors, and journalists. Lev Golinkin, for example, a Jewish Ukrainian author and journalist, recently visited the group to discuss his memoir, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, which traces his experience as a child refugee coming to America from Kharkiv. Local Rabbi Richard Address also visited the group a few times to discuss his philosophy on sacred aging.

For their next guest speaker, Scher said they plan to host Anne Toback, CEO of the Workers Circle, a Jewish nonprofit that promotes social justice and Yiddish language learning. One group member, now in his 80s, was formerly head of the Workers Circle organization in Philadelphia so he will give us some history while Anne gives us the present and the future, Scher explained.

Most members have joined the group for the discourse and sense of community. Eileen Gaglia has been a member for over 10 years because there were a lot of single women in the group, so I felt comfortable, she said. The Cherry Hill resident and retired substitute teacher is also a member of their book group, which meets bi-monthly. They recently read: Why Be Jewish? by philanthropist and early funder of Birthright, Edgar Bronfman. Its a good group, Gaglia said. Everyones intelligent and cares about Judaism.

Alfred Glogower, a Holocaust survivor liberated from the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in the Czech Republic when he was four years old, has been a member of the group with his wife Miriam for five years. He still remembers being in a basement and hearing artillery right before the Russians freed them. Glogower doesnt usually advertise that he survived the Holocaust because every survivor has their own story and my story is not more important than others, he said.

For almost 50 years, the couple has belonged to Adath Emanu-El in Mount Laurel, but they like attending this group too because it keeps them abreast of Jewish current affairs. We talk about everything from education to racism, Glogower said. Jewish ethics are very important to them.

A career psychologist, Scher still runs a private practice for a few clients. Shes also an accomplished musician, playing second flute for the South Jersey philharmonic orchestra for 20 years.

Because of Covid, she couldnt host a Passover seder for the group like she normally does, but they are planning an event for June 12. She hopes some younger, tech-savvy blood will consider joining the group, to help make it multigenerational.

Ultimately, Scher just wants more Jews in South Jersey to benefit from having a source of community. Its been shocking to me that so many Jews are not affiliated with any synagogue, and yet people dont know about them.

The South Jersey Jewish Culture Alliance will meet at 4 pm on Sunday, June 12 over Zoom. Guest speaker will be Melissa Klapper, PhD, professor of Womens and Gender Studies at Rowan University, and author of several books, articles, and essays discussing the history of Jewish women in the United States. The subject of the presentation is The History of American Jewish Women Activists.

For more information, please contact Naomi at (609) 238-4968.

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South Jersey Jewish Cultural Alliance serves 'another piece of the Jewish spectrum' - Jewish Community Voice

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Post-pandemic, The Foreign Policy Supper Club renews its activities in-person at the Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace, in June. Open to everyone in the community, the FPSC socializes at dinner, discusses topical readings and videos created by the Great Decisions program of the Foreign Policy Association. Each session begins at 6 p.m., costs $12, which includes dinner, and is held monthly on Mondays. Participants can attend any or all sessions. Register at http://www.jewishchattanooga.com.

Topics for this summer include: June 13 - Changing demographics in the world; July 11 - Outer space policy: and, Aug. 1 - The renewed climate change agenda. Additional topics for the remaining six sessions include Putins Russia; Myanmars never ending crisis; Xis China takes on the Quad; No end in sight: a century of drug wars; Foreign policy, economic power: and U.S. industrial policy; and, Bidens foreign policy in an age of strategic competition.

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The Foreign Policy Supper Club Returns To The Jewish Cultural Center In June - The Chattanoogan

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How did a Vermonter who grew up atheist come to weave Jewish prayer shawls sold to customers as far away as San Francisco, Denmark and Australia? The multifaceted answer includes falling in love with an observant Jew, said weaver Nelly Wolf, owner of Black Cat Judaica.

On a recent afternoon, Wolf, 29, chatted with Seven Days in the upper floor of a historic Peacham barn where she works on her two large 18th-century wooden looms. Each held a partially completed prayer shawl bearing stripes of different colors and varied widths woven from blended wool and silk into a white wool background. Bands in shades of ebony, sable and garnet revealed complex detail work forming tiny flowers and stars.

The handwoven fabric will become sacred garments that many Jews wear during worship. They're called tallitot (plural) or tallit (singular) in Hebrew. Each custom order takes Wolf two days to weave and another several hours to finish with hand-sewn corner and neckband pieces and four hand-spun, hand-tied corner fringes.

Since Wolf launched Black Cat Judaica in December 2020, she estimates she's sold about 75 tallitot for between $100 and $700. The sliding scale is based on the size and shape of the shawl, as well as the customer's means. Wolf has spread the word largely via her business Instagram account, generating orders from all over the U.S. and beyond.

Many tallitot are the first special prayer shawls given to youngsters for their bar or bat mitzvah, the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. Others, such as a pure snow-white tallit with intricate white-on-white twill patterning, are for weddings.

Nelly and Ira Wolf did not wear wedding tallitot at their marriage celebration in October 2021 because it's not the custom in his family's Jewish tradition.

In sharp contrast to Wolf's nonreligious upbringing in Guilford, her husband grew up in a Modern Orthodox family in Manhattan. At 17, Ira left city life for the countryside of Vermont and eventually attended the University of Vermont. He remains deeply connected to Judaism and his community, his wife said, though he no longer follows orthodox practices.

The pair met through folk dancing in 2018. Wolf had studied textile anthropology at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common and was working at the Marshfield School of Weaving.

"I taught Ira how to weave because, you know, we were flirting," Wolf said with a smile. "It was a way to spend time together."

When she asked what he'd like to make, he suggested a prayer shawl. The weaving school had recently hosted a tallitot class with a weaver from a local synagogue. Building from there, Wolf researched and experimented. "There's a lot of tradition, a lot of cultural expectations that people have for a prayer shawl, but there's not actually a lot of halakhah," she said, referring to Jewish religious law.

Among the basic requirements, the garment must have four corners, each anchored with specially tied fringes called tzitzit made from fiber crafted specifically for tallitot. Wolf hoped to meet the requirements while flexing her creativity to offer a wider range of colors and personalization than is customary.

The idea of creating and selling these culturally important garments intrigued Wolf for several reasons. She believes deeply in the value of traditionally crafted items, as well as making them affordable.

For her senior project at Sterling, Wolf made a Scottish arisaid, a historic woven garment also called a "woman's plaid." She did everything by hand: from carding and spinning the wool to growing plants to dye the weaving fibers.

In her final paper, subtitled "How to Weave the Hard Way, and Why You Should Try It Some Time," Wolf acknowledged, "Economically, it makes no sense to make an arisaid." But, she continued, engaging in such labor-intensive handcrafts can help people "gain more diverse perspectives, and consequently more open minds, about the communities, cultures and environments in which they might otherwise not be involved."

Sterling faculty member Carol Dickson said Wolf distinguished herself as a student and continues to do so not only for "her skills, passion, and love of weaving and traditional craft but also her level of thoughtfulness. She's learning, and she's teaching us through her weaving. She's maintaining and enhancing cultural traditions."

With Black Cat Judaica, "Nelly found a niche that needed filling," Dickson said. "She has connected to people all over the world."

Wolf's entwined spiritual and professional destiny was seeded long before she met Ira, she recalled. During childhood, she bonded with her family's neighbor and her mother's best friend, Carol Schnabel, a professional weaver who is Jewish. "She was my other mother [and] a mentor in a lot of ways," Wolf said.

Wolf spent a lot of time in Schnabel's weaving studio and remembers clearly when Schnabel visited her first-grade class. "She helped us make these little looms out of Popsicle sticks," Wolf said.

Schnabel also shared her cultural and religious background. "I always say I had this Jewish-adjacent upbringing," Wolf said with a chuckle. "I always wanted to know why different people thought different things," she recalled. "I would have little metaphysical conversations with Carol, like, 'Am I a bad person for doing this bad thing?' And she said, 'No, everybody does bad things. You just have to then make up for it.'"

When Wolf met her future husband, it became evident how much Jewish philosophy she had absorbed. "We bonded over this way of looking at the world," Wolf said. By the time the couple married, she had converted to Judaism.

Black Cat Judaica's sliding-price scale and flexible payment plans exemplify that worldview. Encouraging people to pay what they can afford, Wolf explained, is a form of tzedakah, a pillar of Judaism. The word is sometimes translated as "charity," but she interprets it as justice or reciprocity, even mutual aid. Wolf believes everyone, not just those with money, deserves access to beautiful, handmade tallitot.

"It is part of the larger goal of making a better world," she said. "You don't do it because you're nice. You do it because it's right."

Even so, Wolf makes a living through Black Cat Judaica. Between those who pay the minimum and those who pay the maximum, "It works out for the most part," she said.

Her husband is a paraeducator in the St. Johnsbury school system. The couple lives in a yurt in Barnet and is gradually renovating the 1840s-era house on the property. This month Wolf will move her looms into the first finished room, enabling her to weave year-round. She has been weaving in the unheated Peacham barn from roughly late April through November.

Black Cat Judaica customer D'vorah Grenn is a spiritual leader, teacher and founding director of the San Francisco-based Lilith Institute, a center for feminist spirituality. She discovered Wolf's work via Instagram and ordered a tallit katan, a poncho-like form of prayer shawl. Grenn had previously bought tallitot from Israel, where many are made, and was excited to support a woman-owned business in the U.S., she wrote by email.

"Folks weaving these garments on their own looms in this country is, I believe, a rarity," Grenn wrote. "Nelly worked with me on my personal preferences while holding to her own practice with integrity all of which gives the garment more meaning."

The flexible pricing was also important to Grenn. She said she has been investing heavily in her own business, though she did ultimately pay more than she had budgeted.

"I saw Nelly's devotion to this sacred work and I wanted to honor that," Grenn wrote. "It's all too rare in an automated Amazon economy."

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Northeast Kingdom Weaver Handcrafts Jewish Prayer Shawls - Seven Days

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

The Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg envisions a lap pool and convertible gymatorium for Duncan Hall on its new Grass Campus.

It takes one second to walk on the campus and be inspired by whats happening here, and a lot of people felt that immediately.

Abby Smith, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg, is giving TheBurg a tour of the Alexander Grass Campus for Jewish Life. Seen through her eyes and ebullience, the reimagined but still-vacant spacemost recently known as Dixon University Centertruly does seem to hum with activity.

Abby Smith

Our current campus just doesnt reflect who the Jewish community is, she said. We didnt look on the outside how we are on the insidethis very philanthropic, community-minded set of organizations in this not-that-spectacular space. This lives up to who our community is.

The Jewish Federation is planting a seed that will radiate throughout central Pennsylvania, said Benedict Dubbs, president of the campus designer, Murray Associates Architects.

It is not just limited to the Jewish culture, Dubbs said. That opportunity for education, that opportunity for engagement, that sense of community is so much more now because of the size and the relationship of the campus to the surrounding neighborhoods and the surrounding community.

Past and Future

The Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg encompasses several initiatives supporting Jewish life and overall community wellbeing, including the Jewish Community Center and Brenner Family Early Learning Center. Other groups, including Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg, rent space from the federation as they carry out collaborative missions.

Since 1958, the center of the regions Jewish community has been the JCC at 3301 N. Front St. Today, the building buzzes, beehive-like, with yoga classes, childcare, Jewish education, music recitals, lectures, film festivals, senior lunches, summer camps, religious observances, board meetings and busy staff.

And like a beehive, the space is crammed beyond capacity. News in August 2020 that Pennsylvanias State System of Higher Education was selling its six-acre, underutilized Dixon University Center three blocks down Front Street set off a cascade of activity. Calls to backers. Board votes. Dialog with tenants and stakeholders. Preparing a bid. Finally, accepting the gift that made it all possiblebacking from the Alexander Grass Foundation to help buy the $4.56 million site.

The foundation president, Elizabeth Grass Weese, and her brother, Roger Grasschildren of the late Rite Aid founder and philanthropist Alex Grassappreciated the sites self-sustaining business model, said Smith. They also liked the idea that their dads legacy could be connected not just to such a beautiful campus and Harrisburgs Jewish community but to future generations, as well. Alexander Grass was a huge part of how Jewish Harrisburg was on the map nationally, and this puts us back on the map.

Sandy Cohen, past president of the JCC and the Jewish Federation, is co-chairing fundraising for the new site. He attended kindergarten in the JCC, when the building was new and marked a new era for Harrisburgs Jewish community as it moved from the Midtown building that now houses H*MAC.

Cohen grew up in that building, the social hub where kids bowled and danced, he said.

Someone built that for us, he said. Its now 65 years later, and our current buildingit needs a lot. The Grasses did this for us. Giving back to the community, I cant say no. If someone did it for us, I want to do it for that next generation, for generations to come.

Room to Grow

With the October 2021 announcement that the federation had submitted the winning bid for the site, the Grass Campus was born.

While we did not have requirements for the use of the property, we believe the Jewish Federations plans are a good fit for the location and the community, said PASSHE spokesman Kevin Hensil.

Programs Director Terri Travers envisions a space that strengthens community ties through expansion in fitness and recreation, summer camp, childrens theater and senior living.

Weve already been able here at the J to have some intergenerational programs, but I really see us being able to expand our offerings, she said. The skys the limit. We want to make sure were serving the needs of the community for generations to come.

A vision of better serving the entire community is driving the transformation, said Smith. Plans tuck existing uses and programs into the campus buildings constructed, mostly, in the early 20th century for the original site developer, Harrisburg Academy:

The grassy quadrangle bordered by campus buildings and Front Street will remain unspoiled. For one thing, theres a parking garage underneath. For another, its just beautiful, and the Jewish Federation likes it that way. Smith envisions neighborhood residents walking their dogs. Dubbs sees outdoor lectures and movie nights. A volunteer committee of landscapers and arborists is developing plans for the site, including the early learning centers garden-to-table curriculum.

Within Judaism, there are so many values that connect back to the earth, said Smith, citing the Tikkun Olam teaching of a responsibility to heal the world. It is within our tradition to care about the spaces that we inherit on the earth.

Other volunteers are offering their expertise to develop IT schemes or address security. I think they just need to be asked, said Smith, a volunteer whose day job is president and CEO of Team Pennsylvania. Just give them the opportunity to step up.

Within that volunteer cadre, Cohen and his wife, Marciawho led development of the JCCs childcare in the early 1980ssee young leaders emerging.

Im now the old guard, but Im happy to see that younger people are stepping up to take leadership roles, Cohen said. Theyre enthusiastic about it. Theyre excited about it.

Much of the office space will be ready for occupancy this year. Completion of the early learning center and the gym will stretch into 2023, but hopefully, early 2023, said Smith. Programs are expected to continue uninterrupted through the transition.

The master plan allows flexibility to meet current needs while adapting to future, unseen developments, said Dubbs.

If this is a very large book, I think we are in the early chapters of something that will write itself over many years and decades, and it will become better and better, he said.

Just like the JCC today, much of the Grass Campus will serve the non-Jewish community, said Smith. After all, the conversion also embodies the Jewish value of tzedakah, an obligation to giving back.

Were here for generations to come, but in a way that better serves the community, that better connects to the community, she said. To me, with what were able to do on this campus, it changed the future.

For more information on the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg, visit http://www.jewishharrisburg.org.

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A Lasting Legacy: Why did the Jewish Federation decide to buy the former Dixon Center-and what comes next? - The Burg News

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