Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Recent Congressional proposals seek to prohibit Israels use of American funds or military equipment to maintain control of the West Bank.

Such proposals reflect a (by no means uncommon) belief that Israeli insensitivity to Palestinian aspirations is the main reason peace has never been achieved. If only Israel would commit to withdraw from the West Bank and adopt a more conciliatory approach, Palestinians would accept a two-state solution along the 1967 lines and the conflict finally would end.

Those assumptions, I fear, have little historic justification. Since its creation in 1994, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has faced conflicting imperatives. On the one hand, it cannot remain in power without military support from Israel including regular raids on Hamas cells in the West Bank and financial support from the U.S., Europe and Arab states. The PA cannot ignore demands from those parties that it remain open to a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Palestinian popular opinion has always been, and is now more than ever, opposed to the existence of a Jewish state. Eliminating Israel, polls show, remains the cherished objective for 70%-80% of Palestinians. The PA, therefore, cannot accept a two-state solution without risking a total loss of legitimacy or an uprising such as allowed Hamas to drive the PA from Gaza in 2007.

What then does the PA do? It refuses to say yes to any proposal. It refuses to say no. Indeed, it refuses to say anything, however generous the settlement may appear to outsiders. That was what the PA did in 2000-2001, 2008 and 2014. On those occasions, in return for recognition, Israel offered to withdraw from territory equal to 96-100% of the West Bank, to divide Jerusalem, to accept a limited refugee return and to arrange generous compensation for the rest.

Those offers met almost everything the PA President Mohammed Abbas says he wants. But Palestinian popular opinion demanded not only that those offers be rejected, but also that they be rejected with violence: bombs in Israeli cities in 1993-1996, the second intifada of 2000 to 2003, Hamas-initiated wars in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021; all such attacks issued from territory Israel had evacuated in an effort to reduce tensions.

True, of course, Israel also had and has diehard opponents of compromise. Nevertheless, three Israeli prime ministers Rabin, Barak and Olmert were able to marshal pro-peace majorities for which there was no Palestinian counterpart.

I would emphasize that refusal to accept a Jewish state has defined Palestinian politics for generations. It was the bedrock position of Haj Amin al-Husayni (the Palestinian leader from 1922-1948, who allied with Hitler), of the PLOs charter and, today, of Hamas and its patrons, Iran and Hezbollah. Twenty-first-century rejection of peace offers awarding Arabs extensive or total control of the West Bank had precedents in 1937, 1939, 1947 and 1968.

Virtually everything of which Palestinians complain refugees, West Bank annexation, the security wall, settlements, the Gaza blockade began as a defensive response to Palestinian-initiated or -supported violence,

If all past efforts at reconciliation have failed, by what logic are they likely to succeed now when Hamas, with Iranian support, is more popular than ever? If elections were held today, polls agree, pro-Hamas candidates would trounce Mahmoud Abbas PA by at least four-to-one. Hamas leaders vow they will not only destroy Israel but will expel all Jews whose families arrived after 1914, i.e., 99%.

Refusal to accept what Palestinians see as the Jews historic theft of their land is understandable. In effect, Palestinians had to pay the price for European antisemitism for which they bore no responsibility. Yet understandable though Palestinian grievances may be and I can recite those grievances as well as any Palestinian the fact remains that the demand for Israels destruction has been and remains incompatible with a two-state solution.

But imagine for a moment that Congressional legislation effectively prohibited Israeli forces from operating in the West Bank. The PA would then face two grim alternatives. Most probably, as I just suggested, it would lose power to Hamas, either through an election or an uprising. Hamas, and quite possibly Iranian forces, then would be on the doorstep of major Israeli cities. That almost certainly would lead Israel to reoccupy the West Bank, triggering violence on a scale not seen in the last 55 years.

Or, to retain power, PA authorities, like Bashar al-Assad in Syria, would mount a savage repression of their own people that also would make a mockery of American dreams of a peaceful, prosperous region. Either outcome would be far worse than a continuation of the status quo.

Of course, no one can predict the future with certainty, but such outcomes are far more likely than a scenario in which one-sided American pressure on Israel yields a mutually agreed, live-happily-ever-after two-state solution.

The rest of the world, we easily forget, is not like the U.S. The assumption that other peoples, in their heart of hearts, really want to be like Americans, that they instinctively favor Western political institutions, underlay the disastrous U.S. nation-building exercises in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. In every case, American intervention, rather than promote peace and compromise, dramatically increased violence, extremism and suffering.

That the PA, not to mention Hamas, could embrace compromise and democratic norms is very unlikely. Both organizations, military dictatorships, refuse all free elections, routinely torture and/or execute political opponents, and forbid free speech or civil liberties. The most respected ranking of global democracy, the British-based Economist Democracy Index (with No. 1 the best, No. 167 the worst) ranks Israel No. 23, the U.S. No. 26 and Palestine No. 109.

What then is to be done? Rather than declare, After 75 years our patience is finally exhausted, and we are going to settle this problem now once and for all; rather than penalize Israel for an impasse rooted chiefly in Palestinian refusal to accept Israels right to exist; rather than ask Palestinians to tolerate something they have long regarded as intolerable, America should seek to modify the status quo gradually and quietly.

In fact, this is a rough description of President Joe Bidens approach. Specifically, the U.S. should build upon the Abraham Accords, promote economic development in Palestinian territories, and do what it can to strengthen the PA in the hope that moderation somehow might ultimately prevail.

But blithely to wish away the past, to penalize the party that has been most in favor of compromise while rewarding the party most opposed, can only whet Hamas ambition and convert chronic low-level violence into yet another massive explosion. (Space precludes discussion, but any attempt to impose a one-state solution, which even Congressional advocates of sanctioning Israel deem unrealistic, would almost certainly hasten that explosion.)

If history teaches anything, it teaches that America cannot impose solutions on peoples of very different cultural background without risking unforeseen, deeply unwelcome consequences.

The Two-State Solution Act, though perhaps well-intentioned, promises to do precisely that. Some problems, history avers all too sadly, can be contained, but are not amenable to rapid solution.

Victor Lieberman is the Raoul Wallenberg Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan, where he teaches a course, the most popular in the department, on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Why There's No Peace in the Middle East Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Discover the mystical and spiritual reasons to keep milk and meat apart.

Some things shouldnt be mixed. For example, elemental sodium, when mixed with water, will explode, but take the same substance and mix it with Chlorine, and you get ordinary table salt. Chemists can explain the dynamic action of the atoms that enable reactions like these and the results are readily observable. But there are other mixtures that are more challenging to explain through the scientific lens.

Happy and sad people generally dont mix well. Is this a chemical thing? Maybe on some level, but in a much less direct way than that of something like Sodium Chloride. There is a certain energy to a sad person that resists blending with a more happy energy. Everyone knows this but its a lot more abstract than chemistry.

How far do these energies extend? Some people believe that all material things have a certain consciousness and that to interact with them is to engage in an exchange of energy. In the same way that there is a well-understood series of chemical reactions when we eat, so too is there a deeper, and less obvious, energetic consumption that takes place on more of a metaphysical level than a metabolic one.

As such, in classical Jewish thinking, there is a series of prohibitions against cooking, eating and even benefiting from the mixture of milk and meat. Why?

They are two separate domains and it would be inappropriate, as well as metaphysically unhealthy, to mix the force of life with the force of death.

Some suggest that this is a health-based practice - that these foods are difficult to digest together or that in ancient times they caused certain illnesses. But many, if not most, cultures did (and do) this and seem no worse off. Wouldnt it be obvious to all if these foods were a dangerous combination?

There is a mystical understanding that the energy of milk is life-giving. In mammals, its mothers milk that sustains and nourishes the offspring. It has a palpable goodness to it - a selflessness and an inherent giving quality. In a sense, the mothers body is converting blood into milk, moving from red to white, allegorically moving from death to life.

Meat, its tastiness and health benefits notwithstanding, represents a kind of death energy. Afterall, its the actual flesh of a formerly living creature. And here lies the (spiritual) danger of mixing them. They are two separate domains and it would be inappropriate, as well as metaphysically unhealthy, to mix the force of life with the force of death. Its true that medical science has yet to demonstrate this idea and perhaps in time it will. Until then, we have a tried and true ancient practice with a fascinating concept behind it. Some things are better when theyre apart.

Feature image: Photo by amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash

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Milk and Meat: A Deeper Look at the Biggest Jewish Food Hang-up - aish.com - Aish

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

GIVEN the Jewish experience, we have a special responsibility to reach out and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, George Newhouse told The AJN.

The human rights lawyer recently delivered the Earle Hoffman Oration, in which he addressed the relationship between First Nations and Jewish communities.

It has been a particularly topical discussion this week as Australia marked Reconciliation Week. The theme this year is Be Brave. Make Change a challenge to Australians to tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation.

Newhouse has continually called on the leaders of the Jewish community to step up and form meaningful relationships with First Nations Peoples, to help make societal change by taking a stand in solidarity.

Jews should, and do, understand the meaning of persecution and discrimination, Newhouse said.

I grew up in a community surrounded by Holocaust survivors and I felt a deep anger about the injustice of their torment, so when I became aware of the discrimination, violence, harassment, abuse and mistreatment of First Nations peoples I could not turn away from their injustice.

It was because of the Holocaust that Nic Wittons parents, Emil and Hannah Witton, became determined to do something about the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.

They fled Nazi Germany and found refuge in Australia, but soon found there were parallels to the situation they had just left behind.

They became involved with Aboriginal advancement very early because they realised that the situation theyd been in between 1933-39, when they left Germany, was similar in many respects to the situation of Aboriginal people at the time, Nic Witton told The AJN.

Emil and Hannah met Indigenous activist Faith Bandler and soon joined the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship. They were involved in the campaign for the 1967 Referendum, when Australians voted on May 27 to amend the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to include Aboriginal people in the census.

May 27 is now a significant date in Australias history and marks the start of Reconciliation Week each year.

It is not surprising that Nic Witton continues to support Aboriginal communities. Together with John Balint, he is an integral part of Jews for Social Action (JSA), a volunteer social justice group from North Shore Temple Emanuel.

In 2003 we ran a series called I speak my mind, Witton said.

In that year someone said what is needed is help with young Aboriginal children on the northern side of Sydneys harbour bridge.

Because there arent very many there, they dont get any special funding or anything. My realisation was that Aboriginal people were in a very disadvantaged and maligned position in our society.

Jews should, and do, understand the meaning of persecution and discrimination George Newhouse

JSA, established in 2001, embodies the Jewish values of tikkun olam (repairing the world) by taking a hands-on approach to working towards social justice. JSAs programs involve volunteers from the Jewish and broader communities working together to support the Aboriginal community, asylum seekers, inclusion and the environment.

Wittons daughter, Keren Cox-Witton, works by day as a veterinarian for Wildlife Health Australia, but in her spare time volunteers for JSA at Biala Hostel in Sydneys northern beaches area.

Aboriginal students from the country board at Biala during school terms so they can attend high school in Sydney. JSA coordinates a group of volunteer tutors, mainly teachers from the local area, who visit the hostel each week to help the students with their school homework.

Jews for Social Action (JSA) tutoring program.

Its sort of a family history of involvement, Cox-Witton told The AJN.

First Nations justice is really important. I think its one of the biggest social justice issues that were facing in Australia.

Those issues have always been discussed and upfront in our family and I think education is a really big part of that sort of fight for justice.

I just wanted to do something where I could work alongside the First Nations community.

There is a link (between Jewish and First Nations communities) and we should do everything we can to help. Keren Cox-Witton

Cox-Witton said the Jewish value of tikkun olam inspired her and she feels privileged to be volunteering with JSA.

First Nations justice and reconciliation are so important, Cox-Witton said.

I always feel really proud when JSA, or more broadly the Jewish community, take action to work alongside First Nations groups to support them.

There is a link (between Jewish and First Nations communities) and we should do everything we can to help.

Emanuel Woollahra Preschool (EWP) is aware of the magnitude of early education, particularly when it comes to teaching preschoolers about respect.

We really want to honour the First Nations culture and embed that into our practice, said EWP educational leader Bev Smusko.

And in doing so, theres a really heavy awareness about the magnitude or the importance of what were doing. Were sharing with our children, who then take this information, knowledge and way of being home to their families. And so together it kind of reaches out into the community.

Education through art at EWP.

Its really an opportunity to change our outlook and make sure that we are working towards an Australia that really does acknowledge all people.

But how do you teach preschoolers about a complicated concept like reconciliation?

Its a very hard word for them to understand, reconciliation, said EWP educator Kylee Mullet.

So we broke it down. I first showed them the book called Respect by Aunty Fay Muir, which is a very simple book. It just breaks it down to respect for all people, no matter what your nationality, culture, skin or hair colour.

The children actually know quite a bit about it. They say things like, Its not fair that white men didnt ask to share the land, and, Theres plenty of space for everybody, we need to care and respect everybody.

So the children are obviously talking this language at home with their parents and families.

It is something that we do on a daily basis from the beginning of the year, starting with a very simple concept of belonging in the classroom.

Mullet said teaching about culture through art is also a valuable educational tool.

We really want to honour the First Nations culture and embed that into our practice. EWP educational leader Bev Smusko.

I can talk to the children about the colours of the art were using and if were doing Indigenous paintings they can see it straight away reds and browns and orange and yellows. They just know because its simple, Mullet said.

Hudson Silver from Kornmehl Centre Emanuel Preschool.

The Kornmehl Centre Emanuel Preschool also spent Reconciliation Week learning about, and exploring, Aboriginal art, storytelling and culture.

The children learned about Aboriginal symbols and how to use these to tell stories and depict an artwork.

After reading Adam Goodes story Somebodys Land, the children were asked what they thought.

Adrienne said: Its not fair because they were there first, and they took over the land. If they want to be friends, they cant do that to each other. They need to share the space.

And Juliette added: They shouldve asked before they said, this is now going to be our land.

While there is always more that can be done, there are many Jewish organisations doing exceptional outreach work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

In 2010 the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies published Hand in Hand Jewish and Indigenous Australians working together by Dr Anne Sarzin and Dr Lisa Miranda Sarzin, recording some of the work that Jewish and First Nations Australians have done together on the road towards reconciliation.

That book is the starting point for the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Hand in Hand digital portal, which provides a comprehensive overview of the JewishFirst Nations relationship in NSW and gives access to important resources from other organisations, including Beit Sefer Yalbalinga, Stand Ups Derech Eretz, Shalom Gamarada, Tranby and Stories for Simon.

Tahlia Bowen, from Stand Ups Derech Eretz, said this years Reconciliation Week was preluded by a National first.

Australias Prime Minister announced a commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, she said.

It served a reminder that genuinely listening to the voices and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be a national priority.

Stand Up has benefited from the opportunity to do this since 2005, when a group of Jewish students in Sydney set out to establish an enduring relationship with a First Nations community. They were connected with community Elders from Boggabilla and Toomelah (Gomeroi Country), a former mission, who entrusted them with the chance to travel north and facilitate school holiday programs. For 17 years, Stand Up has ensured that Jewish youth continue to return, with the program now known as Derech Eretz.

Genuinely listening to the voices and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be a national priority. Tahlia Bowen, Stand Ups Derech Eretz

Through Derech Eretz, a unique and meaningful friendship has been forged between the Jewish community and the predominantly Aboriginal communities Toomelah and Boggabilla.

The Tikkun Giving Circle was established by Emanuel School students and jointly facilitated by the Australian Jewish Funders and two parents, Michael Pollak and Ruby Berkovic, who have spent the past six months raising funds in support of First Nations people across NSW and the Northern Territory. It was inspired by their May 2021 trip to Jilkminggan in the Northern Territory.

I was very moved by the commitment of our 18 Emanuel year 7 students to stand up and make a tangible difference to various Indigenous communities after our trip to the Northern Territory, said Pollak.

The $5500 raised by our 18 students was beyond what we thought was possible, and Im now excited for them to see the impact of their actions across the multiple projects they have collectively funded. Id also like to thank our matching donor, Parc Capital, for supporting the Tikkun Giving Circle, enabling our kids to double their impact.

When it comes to taking action and expressing solidarity with First Nations people, there is an easy starting point.

Reconciliation Week provides an education and an understanding, and George Newhouse urges people to simply start out by being curious.

Engaging as an individual is an easy first step, he said.

Be curious, seek out First Nations voices and perspectives in film and television, books, galleries, the media. Read books written by First Nations people.

Because there are many of them out there.

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Exploring the relationship between Jewish and First Nations people - Australian Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Dr. Edward Reichman

Dr. Selma Botman, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Yeshiva University, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Edward Reichman as the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Chair in Medical Ethics at Yeshiva College for the 2022-2023 academic year.

As the Tendler Chair, he will teach two courses in Medical Ethics during the 2022- 2023 academic year, one in the fall semester and the other in the spring semester. He will also conduct the annual lecture in memory of Rabbi Moshe David Tendler. His appointment will commence on August 2, 2022.

This is a fitting appointment, given the respect he had for Rabbi Tendlers knowledge and expertise, a respect he showed in his 2021 essay, Rabbi Moshe Tendler, ztl: A Pioneer of Synthetic Biology of the Torah Variety (Traditiononline.org).

Dr. Reichman is an emergency medicine physician in the Bronx, New York, and a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and Department of Epidemiology & Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He received his rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and writes and lectures internationally in the field of Jewish medical ethics. His research is devoted to the interface of medical history and Jewish law. He has been a mentor of the Medical Ethics Society of Yeshiva University since its inception.

He is a prolific writer. In addition to a recently published book, The Anatomy of Jewish Law: A Fresh Dissection of the Relationship Between Medicine, Medical History & Rabbinic Literature, he has five pieces in press: A Physician, and Not for Himself: Revisiting a Rare Jewish Physician Epithet That Should So Remain; A Haroing Tale of a Jewish Medical Student: Notes on David de Haro (1611- 1636): The First Jewish Medical Graduate of the University of Leiden; On Pain of Death: Postmortem Pain Perception in Rabbinic Literature; Hidden Medical Diplomas of Jewish Physicians from the Early Modern Period: Transcripts in Manuscripts; and The Medical Diploma of Moses Crespino: The First and Only Jewish Medical Diploma from Padua.

Dr. Reichman is a medical doctor, writer, teacher and ethicist, noted Dr. Selma Botman, provost and vice president for academic affairs, whose brilliant contributions to Yeshiva University and to our students will last a lifetime.

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Dr. Edward Reichman Appointed as the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Chair in Medical Ethics - Yeshiva University News - Yu News

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Chicago pastor, Skokie rabbi team up to erase medical debt for residents

A South Side Chicago pastor and a rabbi from Skokie are teaming up to help people erase their medical debt.

CHICAGO - Chicago Pastor Chris Harris and Skokie Rabbi Ari Hart have teamed up to erase $1.9 million in medical debt for 2,000 Chicago families.

Harris, who leads Bright Star Church in Bronzeville and St. James Church in Pullman, said that Rabbi Hart, of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue, came to him with the idea. Together, they raised a little more than $10,000.

They gave that money to RIP Medical Debt, which is a group that buys medical debt for pennies on the dollar. The money paid off almost $2 million in bills. The families don't know yet.

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"When that mail comes to their homes can you imagine? I wish we could see all of their faces. I would literally go with Rabbi Hart to 2,000 homes just to see their faces," Pastor Harris said.

Harris said that fear of medical debt keep a lot of people of color from accessing health care.

"Especially Black and Brown people in urban communities, you don't even go to the doctor," Harris said. "A lot of people walk in fear. It affects your quality of life."

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Chicago Pastor Chris Harris and Skokie Rabbi Ari Hart team up to erase $1.9 million in medical debt - FOX 32 Chicago

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

The horrendous news of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas this week has once again left a hole in our hearts. Nineteen elementary school children and two teachers were gunned down in their classrooms.

At times like this, many of us feel a collective loss; we relate to the mothers and fathers, despair at the slaughtered innocence, and mourn the needless loss of lives. How do we navigate those feelings of grief? What possible words could give solace to a parent who has lost a child?

Steve Leder, the Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and author of several book including The Beauty of What Remains: How our Greatest Fear Becomes our Greatest Gift, shares his thoughts and experiences on negotiating grief and loss. He says that when we are struck down with grief, its like an eclipse: While in the midst of an eclipse, it is very easy to believe that the sun's light and energy has forever been extinguished, that darkness is more powerful than light, but eventually the eclipse recedes and our faith in the light and power of the sun is restored.

Delve deeper into life, philosophy, and what makes us human by joining the Life Examined discussion group on Facebook.

Later, Rabbi Leder discusses his new book For You When I Am Gone: Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story and the significance of writing an ethical will. Leder describes his book as the legacy we want to live and leave to the ones we love.

Its not stuff that's going to carry them through without us, it's our life lessons, it's our values, it's our blessings, it's our guidance, it's our words, he says. Our words will be cherished far more than any material item.

Rabbi Leder leader suggests that a tragedy like the one in Uvalde serves as an opportunity and time for introspection, especially when there is something in your life that you regret not doing, such as seeking help when you needed to.

The opportunity they regret is that they did not get help for their mental health challenges until they had suffered for far too long and done too much damage to themselves and too much collateral damage to others, Leder says.

Delve deeper into life, philosophy, and what makes us human by joining the Life Examined discussion group on Facebook.

He explains that ethical wills are ancient traditions. Jews have been creating ethical wills in Italy and France since the 11th century. They come in the form of a letter and often include stories, joys, and regrets, serving as a way to remember a loved one who is gone and their legacy of how to live a better, happier life.

Book cover For You When I Am Gone: Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story.Rabbi Steve Leder. There is absolutely no one who suffers pain better alone, says Rabbi Steve Leder. We need each other. The rabbis of the Talmud said the prisoner cannot free himself, we have to reach out. Photo by Lesley Pedraza.

Leder has helped thousands of people write their own ethical wills, and has led workshops around the country that begin with a series of questions: When was a time you led with your heart instead of your head? and What did you learn from your biggest failure? Each letter is different, and, Leder says, the most poignant are the ones where the author is honest about their flaws and their regrets, and vulnerable enough to share it.

Leder recommends not putting this off. Don't wait to ask yourself these questions to examine your life, to change your life, to make it more beautiful and more meaningful, and to bequeath all of that meaning and beauty to the people you love.

He also shares excerpts from his own ethical will to his children Aaron and Hannah: I used to love to dance, but when I became a more public person, I stopped dancing at weddings and parties. I allowed my fear of what others might think of me, fear of being a spectacle, to keep me from dancing. I regret that now. It was a bad example to you and robbed me of joy. Don't let fear of what others might think keep you from dancing or singing or loving.

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There are days when we just have to put one foot in front of another until it's over, says Rabbi Steve Leder on the loss of a child. - KCRW

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Editors note: The following is a letter submission from Faith Forward Dallas. Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square is a diverse coalition of Dallas faith leaders, dedicated to service, hope and a shared vision of justice and peace for our North Texas community. Faith Forward Dallas leads our virtue initiative and serves as a moral compass for the community.

And now in Texas, again Our hearts are heavy with a profound sense of sadness and loss over the news of the senseless deaths of 19 innocent children, two teachers and the shooter at an elementary school in Uvalde.

With the pain of the loss of innocents in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 14 still fresh in our minds, we now add our thinking of and praying for the grieving families, praying for them to receive the sources of strength and courage that they will need in the coming days and weeks and even years as they seek to find some sense of shalom in the current chaos.

We share with those in Uvalde our deep gratitude for the speed, expertise and professionalism of the first responders at every level caring for those on the scene and throughout the city. We pray that the local leaders, both civic and religious, have the strength and fortitude to guide their communities through the darkness and brokenness toward the light and toward the healing they need.

In our country, at this date in 2022, we are counting over 200 separate shootings with mass casualties. Churches and synagogues and mosques and schools are targets. We once believed that this would be impossible, but sadly, the thought of that being impossible has been shattered again with another shooting at a school, more children becoming victims of gun violence.

We need to say the names: Columbine. Red Lake Senior High School in Minnesota. West Nickel Mines School in Pennsylvania. Virginia Tech. Oikos University in California. Sandy Hook. Umpqua Community College in Oregon. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Santa Fe High School. There are dozens more, and now Uvalde. When does it end? How many children must die before the most sophisticated country in the world can figure out how to stop this? How many times will we get angry? How many letters will we need to write? How much more lobbying do we have to do?

Its not a matter of what to do to stop this madness; its a matter of having the will to do it. Perhaps more than ever, must we raise our voices and spirits to say this hatred and violence is not who we are, not who we wish to become, not the legacy we choose to leave for our children.

The Rev. Rachel Smith, founder of God Not Guns, wrote: As people of faith, we must stand witness to the destructive power of gun violence. We must say we will rely not on guns, but on God. We will affirm not guns, but life. We will bless not guns, but our common humanity. We must hold up a higher value, saying that our childrens lives are a sacred trust, and that human life is more important than any gun.

Most importantly, we must recognize that violent rhetoric leads to violent action, especially when we transgress the biblical injunction to not remain indifferent. We as parents and children, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters must never let that happen. It is time for action, beyond thoughts and prayers.

In solidarity.

Signed,

Rabbi Andrew Paley, chair, Temple Shalom; the Rev. Dr. Neil G. Thomas, co-chair, Cathedral of Hope UCC; Almas Muscatwalla, executive director, Faith Forward Dallas.

Bishop Michael McKee, Dallas Area of the United Methodist Church; the Rev. Deanna Hollas, gun violence prevention ministry coordinator, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship; the Rev. Dr. Daniel Kanter; the Rev. Andrew Fiser; the Rev. Heather Mustain.

The Rev. Pavielle Jenkins, First United Methodist Church Richardson; the Rev. Amy W. Moore; Linda Abramson Evans, Interfaith Council or Congregation Beth El Binah; Chris Slaughter; Harbhajan Singh Virdee, Sikh community; the Rev. Cathy Sweeney, associate pastor, Arapaho United Methodist Church; the Rev. R. Casey Shobe, rector, Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration; the Rev. Joe Stobaugh; the Rev. Debra Loudin-McCann, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Rev. Karen Fry, co-spiritual director, Center for Spiritual Living Dallas; Dr. Petra Weldes, co-spiritual director, Center for Spiritual Living Dallas; the Rev. Larry M. James, CitySquare emeritus; the Rev. Billy Echols-Richter, Grace Avenue United Methodist Church; the Rev. Mitchell Boone, senior pastor, White Rock United Methodist Church.

The Rev. George Mason, Faith Commons; Wendy Fenn, co-founder, Faith & Grief; Pastor Preston W. Weaver, retired elder, St. Paul United Methodist Church-Dallas; the Rev. Dr. Charles L. Aaron Jr., Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University; the Rev. Holly Bandel; the Rev. Alexandra Robinson; Virzola Law, senior minister, Northway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); the Rev. Nicole Bates, NorthPark Presbyterian Church.

The Rev. Anne Tabor, Unity of Arlington; the Rev. Chelsea Turpen; the Rev. Kate Morgan, Church of the Elohist Thelema; the Rev. Victoria Robb Powers, University Park United Methodist Church; the Rev. Erin Wyma, associate pastor, Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ; the Rev. Phil Dieke, White Rock UMC; the Rev. Michael J. Baughman, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Betsy Lyles Swetenburg, Northridge Presbyterian Church; Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Faith Commons; Bishop Erik Gronberg, Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod of the ELCA; the Rev. Dawn Anderson, associate pastor, Lovers Lane United Methodist Church; Dr. S. Benjamin Brown Sr.; the Rev. Kristine Totzke, bishops associate for leadership formation and congregational care, NT-NL Synod.

Donna Schmidt, volunteer lead, Dallas Chapter of Moms Demand Action; Rabbi Brian Zimmerman; Joyce Hall, coordinator of Pax Christi Dallas; Gary Looper and Robin Nevin; Pastor Marcus D. King, Disciple Central Community Church; Samuel Voth Schrag, pastor, Peace Mennonite Church; Huseyin Peker, executive director, Dialogue Institute Dallas; the Rev. J.I. Minor; the Rev. Dr. Lil Smith.

The Rev. Kathy Lee-Cornell, Presbyterian Church (USA); the Rev. Melinda Wood Allen; Rabbi Joshua Taub; the Rev. Dr. Michael Diaz; Amy Lewis Hofland; the Rev. Phil Hodson; the Rev. Rachel Baughman, senior pastor at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church; Minister Sammie Berry, Dallas West Church of Christ; the Rev. Jeremy Rose, Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ.

Rabbi David Stern, Temple Emanu-El; Rabbi Kimberly Herzog Cohen, Temple Emanu-El; the Rev. Laura Fitzgibbon, interim pastor, The Norkirk Presbyterian; Cantor Vicky Glikin, Temple Emanu-El; the Rev. Andria M. Davis, Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ; Rabbi Daniel Utley, Temple Emanu-El; Rabbi Debra Robbins, Temple Emanu-El; Rabbi Amy Rossel, Temple Emanu-El; Rabbi Shira Wallach, Congregation Shearith Israel; Michelle Kinder; Cantor Sheri Allen; Rabbi Mark Washofsky.

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Our outrage must evolve into the will to stop gun madness - The Dallas Morning News

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

It was 2 a.m. on Shavuos morning. Mr. Furst had just finished learning Mishnayos Bikkurim with his son. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it was like to bring bikkurim, as described vividly in the Mishnayos (ch. 3). He drifted off into a dream and envisioned himself in an orchard in Eretz Yisrael, with the Beis HaMikdash rebuilt.

Mr. Furst walked around his orchard and looked excitedly for the first fruits to appear on the trees. He had prepared red strings, which he would tie around the first fruits in anticipation of bringing the fruit to the Temple as bikkurim.

It was the Shemittah year, so Mr. Furst left the gate to his orchard open. His neighbor, Mr. Deutsch walked into the field, also with red strings.

What are you doing here? Mr. Furst asked him.

Well, what are you doing here? Mr. Deutsch replied.

Im looking for the first fruits to bring as bikkurim, Mr. Furst replied.

Well, so am I, replied Mr. Deutsch. Since its Shemittah year, and produce of Shemittah is hefker (ownerless), you have no more rights to the fruit than I. If you can bring bikkurim, then so can I!

Mr. Furst was stunned for a moment. Its not quite the same, he replied. You have no connection to the land. Even though the fruit is hefker, the land is still mine!

Meanwhile, Mr. Schlissel, who wandered by, overheard the conversation. I think that youre both doing something unnecessary, he said. Since the fruit is hefker, neither of you should be bringing bikkurim! Its like you just picked up fruit from the street. Would you bring bikkurim from that?

Mr. Furst awoke, with the question etched in his mind.

At 3 a.m. Rabbi Dayan came to give a shiur. After the shiur, Mr. Furst approached him and asked:

Are bikkurim brought during Shemittah? Who can bring them?

Produce of Shemittah is considered hefker, replied Rabbi Dayan. Nonetheless, the land and the trees themselves remain the owners, but he is not allowed to lock his field or orchard and deny others access to the Shemittah produce.

Chazon Ish (Orlah 11:18) writes that there is no obligation of bikkurim during Shemittah, since the fruit is hefker. Even if the owner subsequently possesses them, they are not considered fruit that comes from his land.

Ohr HaChaim (Devarim 26:2) also writes that bikkurim does not apply during Shemittah. He explains that during the Shemittah year Hashem reserved the Land for Himself, so that the phrase that Hashem gives you, is not applicable then.

Rashi (Shemos 23:19), however, cited by Tashbetz (2:247), writes that bikkurim does apply on Shemittah. Gur Aryeh and some other super-commentaries, though, note that this does not appear in all versions and may be a mistaken version (see, however, Minchas Chinuch 91:2).

Some explain Rashis rationale that it suffices that the owner of the land acquires the fruit from hefker, since he still owns the land. This is similar to the opinion of the Rambam (Bikkurim 2:14) that if someone acquired both the land and the fruits after they were already detached, he is obligated in bikkurim, since he is now the owner of both the land and the fruit (Toras HaAretz 1:21; see however, Avnei Nezer, Y.D. #445).

Others explain that the obligation of bikkurim begins at an early stage of the fruit, even before they become sanctified with kedushas sheviis. Therefore, when the fruit were declared bikkurim, they were not yet hefker and still belonged to the owner, even though they later became sheviis (Har Zvi, Zeraim 2:45; Mishnas Yaavetz, Hil. Bikkurim 2:1).

Another person cannot bring bikkurim from these fruits, though concluded Rabbi Dayan. Even if he picks the hefker fruit the land is certainly not his!

Verdict: There is a dispute whether bikkurim are brought during the Shemittah year, since the produce is hefker. When the Beis HaMikdash will be rebuilt, beH, Sanhedrin will have to decide.

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

Inspiration members of the Jewish community have been honoured by the Queen in her Jubilee Birthday Honours, marking her unprecedented 70 years on the throne.

In tribute to The Queen, recipients have been awarded for their outstanding contributions across all sectors, but in particular for sustained public service, the environment and sustainability, and youth engagement.

Among those honoured are Ella Marks, rabbi of Ealing Synagogue, who receives the OBE for services to the community. Ella has undertaken numerous voluntary roles across the Jewish and lay community. Following a selfless career devoted to others as a social worker and pastoral manager, she served as president of the League of Jewish Women (LJW), chaired Ealing U3A, a co-operative of older people sharing educational, creative and leisure activities and was a board member of Age UK Ealing.

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Ella said: I was amazed to be awarded the MBE, and absolutely delighted. I love being part of the multi-cultural community in Ealing and greatly enjoy supporting people and organisations in the borough. Im particularly pleased to be awarded this honour to mark Her Majestys platinum jubilee I have enormous admiration for the Queen and was given the middle name Elizabeth after her!

Another recipient of the OBE is Zdenka Husserl, who has volunteered for many years for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), giving talks to schools and community groups.

Zdenka Husserl

She was born in Prague in February 1939. When she was only two years old, her father Pavel was deported to the Lodz ghetto, where he was murdered. In November 1942,

Zdenka was deported with her mother to Theresienstadt, and her earliest memories are from the camp. She remembers screaming as her head was shaved. Zdenka was separated from her mother in the camp and learned years later that Helena was deported to her death in Auschwitz in 1944.

Zdenka was just six when she was brought to Britain in 1945. I dont know what emotions I have really, she said on Holocaust Memorial Day last year, amid lockdown. Sad. And especially on days like this, when families are together and I sit alone.

HMDT deputy chief executive Rachel Century said: We are delighted that Zdenka has been recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours List.

The Queen celebrates 70 years service in her Jubilee year.

Despite living with the weight of trauma and grief, Zdenka has dedicated her life to Holocaust education and commemoration and has contributed significantly to Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations.

Her energy and commitment have had a huge impact, with thousands of people hearing and learning from her testimony. It is wonderful that Zdenkas contribution to society, spreading the message of tolerance and understanding, has been recognised by Her Majesty the Queen.

Receiving an MBE is Andrew Lawrence, a history teacher at Hampton School, in west London, for his work in Holocaust and genocide education.

A statement from Downing Street said: The honours system strives to be inclusive of all of the UK society. Of the 1,134 people who receive an award: 13.3 per cent of the successful candidates come from an ethnic minority background: 6.8 per cent of recipients are from an Asian ethnic group; 4.3 per cent of recipients are from a black ethnic group; 1.8 per cent of recipients with a mixed ethnic background; 0.4 per cent of recipients come from another ethnic background.

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Ealing rabbi and campaigning survivor among those honoured by Queen - Jewish News

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Posted By admin on June 2, 2022

ROYAL OAK, Michigan (JTA) Nancy Gietzen needed to see if the plaque was still there.

She made her way to the foyer of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, the historic Catholic church and day school where the Jewish educator had been a substitute teacher for three years until she left after discovering how the parish had memorialized its founder, Father Charles Coughlin.

Sure enough, there it was, next to a glass case displaying the priests old chalice and vestments: While Coughlins pastoral skills produced the splendid Shrine, his political involvement and passionate rhetoric opened him up to accusations of anti-Semitism. The wording she remembered was intact.

It was really upsetting, Gietzen said. Accusations of being antisemitic? What are you talking about?

The plaque was, to say the least, a mild way to describe the man who had been Americas most vocal wellspring of antisemitism during the Great Depression. On Father Coughlins nationwide radio show, which ran from 1926-1940, he was a fearsome demagogue: parroting Nazi propaganda, telling his listeners that international bankers and Jewish Communists were plotting their demise, stating that the Jews deserved what happened to them at Kristallnacht, and encouraging the growth of the Christian Front, a pro-Nazi Christian militia that plotted to overthrow the U.S. government by attacking prominent Jews.

The proceeds from Coughlins media exploits (which included a political party and a fascist magazine called Social Justice) paid for the Shrines splendor, while ensuring that generations of Detroit Jews would stay far away from it.

Until now, that is. On Tuesday evening, the Shrine held an event titled The Jewish-Catholic Relationship: Past, Present, and Future, a series of historical lectures co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Detroit and the local Jewish Community Relations Council, known as the JCRC/AJC. Jews and Catholics alike filed into the pews to hear two academics, one Jewish and one Catholic, discuss the history of relations between the two faiths, most of it revolving around Catholic antisemitism.

The choice of venue was deliberate.

The Shrine of the Little Flower was founded by Father Charles Coughlin, who had an antisemitic radio show in the 1930s. (Jeff Kowalsky)

Theres so much polarization in our society, we need this reconciliation in general, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Detroit JCRC/AJC, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Whats more powerful than for Jews and Catholics to come together in Father Coughlins church?

As a relatively new arrival to Detroit who lives in Huntington Woods, a heavily Jewish community that neighbors Shrine, Lopatin said he felt he had the right naivete to mount an event at the church inspired by the truth-and-reconciliation commissions formed in nations like South Africa and Rwanda following national traumas. Lopatin called the event a truth and reconciliation effort between Jews and Catholics acknowledging the painful history of the past while breaking new ground in local relationships.

Shortly after Lopatin moved to Detroit and became the JCRC/AJCs executive director in 2019, the group held the first such event at a different area church. A followup was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was interest from both parties in hosting an activity at Shrine, which staff at the archdiocese said had not held a Jewish outreach event in three decades not since the church publicly apologized for Coughlins antisemitism, in 1992.

Lopatin with Monsignor Patrick Halfpenny of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, May 31, 2022. (Jeff Kowalsky)

Father Coughlin was a force to be reckoned with in the 1930s. Getting that place built was a feat, David Conrad, coordinator of interfaith relations at the archdiocese, told JTA. But, he said, when you have to get our government and the Pope in Rome involved to shut down his views and his antisemitism, thats a stain on our history. Thats an unavoidable fact. And it has to be recognized.

The pairing of organizations at the head of Tuesdays event made for an interesting historical wrinkle: The Detroit JCRC/AJC was originally founded in 1937 as the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit, and one of its first orders of business was to publicly oppose Coughlins broadcasts as antisemitic. Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Detroit supported and protected Coughlin for the first decade of his broadcasting career, until 1937, when the death of the areas bishop combined with Coughlins escalating bad press led the Vatican to appoint a new bishop, Ed Mooney, who worked more aggressively to control the Radio Priests rhetoric.

Coughlins name was rarely mentioned during the program itself, although Robert Fastiggi, a historian at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, opened up his talk from the priests old dais by stating, Father Coughlin was antisemitic. He added that there remained elements of antisemitism in the Church today, before running through a history of Jewish-Catholic relations that climaxed with Pope Paul VIs 1965 reading of Nostra aetate, the papal declaration that Jews were not to blame for the death of Jesus Christ.

Levi Smith, a Jewish attendee at the event discussing The Jewish-Catholic Relationship at the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Mich, inspects a plaque discussing the history of its antisemitic founder, Father Charles Coughlin, May 31, 2022. Smith later offered to help change the plaques wording, which he and other Jews said glazed over Coughlins antisemitism. (Jeff Kowalsky)

But during the Q&A section, Jewish attendee Levi Smith, vice president of a foundation devoted to the legacy of Detroit Jewish architect Albert Kahn, made a note of the venues history.

Speaking on behalf of myself and a lot of other people in our community, when we drive past the Shrine we get scared, Smith said. Because of Father Coughlin.

He asked if there were plans to change the wording on Shrines plaque and website to more accurately reflect Coughlins true nature, and offered to be part of any discussion on the subject: Lets sit down, lets talk, and lets come up with some improvements.

Alicia Chandler, past president of the Detroit JCRC/AJC and an advocate for interfaith relationships, delivers an opening prayer at The Jewish-Catholic Relationship: Past, Present and Future at the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan, May 31, 2022. (Jeff Kowalsky/JTA)

After the lectures ended, attendees were invited to take a guided tour of the church, which will mark its centennial in 2026. They were also invited to a dessert reception, which the churchs monsignor, Patrick Halfpenny, took care to note was kosher. (Shrines current rector, Rev. Joseph Horn, suffered a heart attack in January and has since been recuperating. He was not in attendance at Tuesdays event.)

As some of the Jews in attendance followed the tour guide, a Shrine parishioner named Bob Irwin approached Smith to tell him that there was a committee at the church reexamining its history, and Coughlins, in anticipation of its 100th anniversary.

The committee had already rewritten the plaques and were awaiting approval to mount them, Irwin said. The new history would more openly acknowledge Coughlins antisemitism and discuss the churchs efforts to assert its identity in the post-Coughlin years. Would Smith like to be a part of it?

Smith looked around at the churchs interior, at its high, arched ceilings and mounted artifacts of an antisemite who had once delivered his sermons to the world.

God, he said, brought us together.

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The Detroit church founded by antisemite Father Coughlin hosts an event on Jewish-Catholic relations - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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