Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Despite his attempts to make Aliyah, Perez Ajdrila, an Iranian Jew says he is being turned away by Israel.

Perez Ajdrila is currently residing in Cyprus on a temporary visa and fears the day he will have to return to Iran, where he faces imminent danger because of his Jewish identity and a prior trip to Israel.

Perez Ajdrila

(Photography: Neville Harris)

Ajdrila was born to a Muslim father and Jewish mother. He told Ynet that his Muslim father and grandmother were fiercely against any association of the family children with Judaism.

He came to Israel in 1994 with his mother, and then again in 2012, seeking to escape her marriage and the rough life she had in Iran. "My mother took me and we ran to Israel, and somehow my father could come to Israel and he took us by force back to Iran," he shared.

Upon his return to Iran, he was imprisoned for seven days by Iranian security forces and faced many threats. Later on, Ajdrila again sought to escape Iran, and claimed the only place he could go to immediately was Cyprus after being denied entry by Canada and the UK.

"I came three years ago to Cyprus, and I went to the Israeli embassy and I told them that I want to make Aliyah," Ajdrilla told Ynet in an interview.

"They told me that its not possible, they didn't tell me any reason," he said.

"I completely understand that I'm Iranian and Iran is the biggest enemy of Israel and the biggest enemy of Judaism, but the problem is I don't even have a clear answer. I don't know why they don't accept me. The last email they sent me two weeks ago... they rejected me."

Ajdrila seems to understand the complicated nature of his immigration, and accepts that Israel must take careful measures in granting entrance for certain people.

"I understand, if they want to do a security check or something its completely understandable." He explains helplessly, "I'm in a bad situation. My passport expired in February my visa in Cyprus is going to end in July, but the thing is I don't have any other passport to renew my visa, and after that they might send me back to Iran."

This isn't the first time Ajdrila has tried to make Aliyah. The previous attempt of his mother to bring them to Israel was hindered by her husband.

According to Ajdrila, he has friends and family in Israel. "All of my mother's side of the family is living here."

Israel's reasoning for denying Ajdrila's request is his mother's marriage with a non-Jew, he said.

This is despite his mother's insistence on maintaining her Jewish identity in Iran, and his official approvals showing the Jewish identity of his mother and grandparents.

The population and immigration authorities said Ajdrilla's request was denied because his mother converted.

"After our investigation of the matter and according to the Law of Return, he is not entitled to immigrate. and Mr. Perez Ajdrila's request has been denied. He has the option to submit an appeal to the Jewish Agency."

He claims the authorities demanded proof of his mother's religion from the rabbinate in Iran, but because they fear the authorities, they would not provide the necessary document.

Ajdrilla is exhausted from his long venture, and desperately wants to come to Israel. "I had a very difficult life," he says.

"I only want to have peace."

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

VENICE Walking into the Jewish Ghetto here, in the Cannaregio section of this watery city, you would not know that there are five ornate synagogues nestled behind the walls of the nondescript tenements that date back to the 16th century.

The temples were built on the top floor according to Jewish law, synagogues should be the tallest structures in a given area and had to be hidden because Jews were not allowed to pray openly. Those houses of worship were a lifeline for the estimated 5,000 Jews who lived in the ghetto at its most populous a place to gather, celebrate rites of passage, take refuge from a world that didnt want them.

These days, the number of Jews in Venice has dwindled to 450, and the synagogues have fallen into disrepair. But an effort is underway to rejuvenate the three most needy of them restoring the wooden pews, cleaning the terrazzo floors and repairing the painted ceilings.

These buildings are crying for help, said David Landau, an Israeli art historian and businessman who lives between Switzerland and Venice and is leading fund-raising for the project. I got so frustrated when I came here and saw everything was crumbling. We have to get this done. Its a question of honor. Art for me is fundamental to my life, and being a Jew is fundamental to my life.

The project, which has been underway for about three years, is focused on the German Synagogue, called the Scuola Tedesca, built in 1528; the Canton Synagogue (possibly French, and from 1532); and the Italian Synagogue, circa 1570. Each national community insisted on its own place of worship. Venice was a relative safe harbor for Jews from across Europe, Landau said, because the city allowed them to earn a living and live without the threat of violence or death.

Estimated at a cost of about $11 million, $6.4 million has been raised so far. The projects supporters include Ronald Lauder, the Jerome Levy Foundation, British and French members of the Rothschild family, Save Venice, the World Monuments Fund and smaller contributors.

These synagogues are little gems, said Shelby White, the founding trustee of the Jerome Levy Foundation. Its important to not lose this sense of where the Jews were and what they contributed. It speaks to how they survived despite the obstacles.

The synagogues exemplify the paradox of the Venice Ghetto: It sheltered Jews but also restricted them to the 1.5-acre area. Poorer families were crowded into the low-ceilinged rooms. The professional classes were able to decorate their spaces with opulent furnishings.

We were in a way protected in the ghetto and at the same time segregated, said Dario Calimani, president of the Jewish Community in Venice, a nonprofit that supports Jewish life in the city. They didnt want the Jews to mix up with Christians because there was a danger in their view that Jews would convert Christians to Judaism.

Residents became religious, Landau said, because the only place to have sufficient light and air in those days was the top-floor temples.

Known as the Project for the Restoration of the Renaissance Synagogues of Venice, the effort will try to recreate the experience of that past, how one had to walk through rooms with bent heads and endure extreme temperatures.

We want visitors to have a sense of what it felt like it was difficult living, said Landau. I would like people to know: This is who we are. This is what weve done.

The undertaking aims to upgrade the overall visitor experience, improving the circulation from one building to the next, refreshing the bookstore and caf and creating a 10-minute film about the history of the Jews in Venice.

A ground-floor museum will expand, with the help of three newly acquired properties, and will feature galleries for temporary exhibitions to encourage locals repeat visits.

The museums chronology will go backward, from the 20th century and the Holocaust (250 Jews were taken to Auschwitz from Venice, Landau said); to the 19th century, when Jews were able to prosper, owning banks and founding the insurance company Generali; to the great thinkers, philosophers, doctors and poets of the 18th and 17th centuries; to the great books printed in Hebrew in the 16th century and the arrival of the refugees who built the temples.

The project aims to increase annual attendance to 250,000 from 70,000, in part by reinvigorating the synagogues.

They havent been maintained and preserved for decades because of lack of funds, Calimani said. What were trying to do now is value this patrimony, give new life to the ghetto that once was not even looked at. We want the ghetto to live again.

The restoration is addressing the woodwork, gilding, Torah arks and bimahs, or altars. Torah finials and hanging brass oil lamps will be buffed, Torah covers repaired, windows and curtains revitalized. Many of these objects are still used in Jewish festivals.

Two pieces of 16th-century silver survive; the rest, mostly from the 18th century, was all saved. Half was hidden in a safe under the bimah of a synagogue so that even the Germans could not find it. The other half, delivered to the Fascist authority by the mayor of Venice, was restituted by the Italian state after the war.

The synagogues have some of their original Torahs, prayer books and other documents, and the project will shore up the library, which was threatened by a flood in 2019. We dont want to be in that situation ever again, Landau said.

Each of the temples is distinct in design, with different distinguishing features. The German synagogue was constructed by a group of Ashkenazi Jews with five large windows that overlook the ghettos central square, or campo. In the relatively small Canton Synagogue, embellished in the baroque era, a series of gilded wooden panels illustrate episodes from Exodus.

Given the ongoing risks of antisemitic violence, security systems are being created in consultation with Israeli security officials, Landau said, with bulletproof windows on the ground floor.

All of these efforts, Landau said, are about preserving an important chapter of history, educating the public and honoring the memory of those who made the Venice ghetto home. Its not just a building a mausoleum, he said. Its about building a live institution.

Twenty people from my family were killed in Auschwitz, Landau added. I think I owe it to them to make sure this is a celebration of life.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Maxim D. Shrayer, who was born in 1967, grew up in Moscow and emigrated to the United States in 1987 with his family. Before settling in New England, Shrayer and his parents were Jewish refuseniks for many years. Shrayer, whose father is a writer and mother a translator, has written and edited over 20 books of nonfiction, fiction, poetry and translation in English and Russian. His books include Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story, Yom Kippur in Amsterdam: Stories and . Shrayers work has been translated into 10 languages. His won a 2007 National Jewish Book Award, and in 2012 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

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Shrayer, who lives in Chestnut Hill with his wife and two daughters, recently spoke to JewishBoston about the events unfolding in Ukraine and how the war has impacted his sense of immigrant identity.

What are your emotional challenges watching the tragedy in Ukraine continue to unfold?

Its important to state first what the big picture is. The big picture is not about my emotional or intellectual quandaries or about the vicissitudes of being of Russian or Soviet origin today. The big picture is that Putins Russia is murdering Ukraine. His regimehis henchmen, generals and armiesare trying to destroy and murder a country, and in doing so, they are committing war crimes. Everything else probably pales in comparison with that. I also am very skeptical of the business of comparative suffering. I dont think its ethically or intellectually productive.

Ukrainian Jewish history is fraught. However, theres a renaissance of Jewish life in Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. Can you contextualize that history considering what happened to Jews in Ukraine during World War II?

We should remember that Ukrainian statehood is very recent in the modern sense. Ukrainian identity, language and culture are as old and, in some ways, perhaps older, than Russian identity or Russian sense of selfhood. But for many centuries, Ukrainians have lived in states and countries defined by stronger power brokers; the great Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, primarily. There was a brief period after the Bolshevik Revolution when there was an attempt to create a Ukrainian state, but it failed. Ukraine was then co-opted into the Soviet Union and existed as a federated republic within the Soviet Union. So, in a sense, Ukrainian statehood is only as newor as oldas the collapse of the Soviet Union.

When we talk about what happened to Jews in Ukraine, we need to understand that were not talking about a Ukrainian state but broadly about Ukrainian lands. And now, Ukraine is a very large independent country. It incorporates, starting from the east, some of the contested Ukrainian territories closer to the present Russian Federation border, and then the whole of Central Ukraine. But the further west you go, the further you are in territories where Poland used to be the dominant power, and particularly the Polish nobility. So, the history is fraught, but not just with violence; its fraught with many complexities of identity.

You referred to the high rate of Ukrainian collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. It is correct, but this happened some 80 years ago. I have generally taken the position that while history ought to be remembered, preserved, understood and learned from, this has virtually nothing to do with the tragedy unfolding now in Ukraine. The history of Ukrainian lands is not just fraught with anti-Jewish violence, but also with centuries of a rich and vibrant Jewish life. But thats not the point. Three of my grandparents were born and came of age in Ukraine. For me, the point now is about solidarity with Ukraine. And also about the fact that Putins regime uses and abuses and manipulates historical evidence to justify their bloody war against Ukraine.

I asked the question about Ukraines Jewish history because Putin said one of the reasons Russia attacked Ukraine was to de-Nazify it.

Ukraine is a country that has a Jewish president and a Jewish minister of defense, and a country whose Jewish citizens have uniformly acted as Ukrainian patriots. However, some of those citizens question whether they should remain in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the attempt to justify Putins neo-colonialist invasion stems from his desire to restore the Soviet Union, which is something Putin always said. History teaches us that people like Putin or Hitler generally mean what they say from the beginning. Its just that we dont take heed.

Many Boston readers, myself included, have had experience with the Russian School of Mathematics. The school purposely includes Russian in its name to honor that learning method. Nevertheless, people have recently distrusted the school because of its name. Is there an attempt to cancel Russian culture and history?

Yes, but I would qualify it this way: The United States is a very large country and an immigrant-diverse society. On the whole, these kinds of attempts have been exceptions rather than a broad tendency. Or perhaps other exceptions have been drowned out in the chorus of solidarity with Ukraine. The Russian School of Mathematics story is a particularly interesting case because two Jewish women from the former Soviet Union, who emigrated to America as part of the large exodus of Soviet Jews, founded it. They launched what they thought was a much-needed educational enterprise, and its been very successful.

The schools name referred to the tradition of mathematics that goes back to the Russian Empire and then continues in the Soviet Union. But it wouldve been somewhat preposterous to call it the Soviet School of Mathematics. The tradition of immigrant businesses in America is that many of them have emphasized the origins of their foundersand in this case Russia had traditionally stood for all of the Soviet Union. Finally, the school employs a panel of teachers as diverse as the former Soviet Union itself.

I want to ask about your daily routine for these past few monthshow does the war in Ukraine reflect your perspective as a Russian Jew?

Im married to a doctor, and my kids are in middle school and high school, so my mornings begin early. But since the war in Ukraine started, the first thing I do is scan the news about the war. By then I usually have several text messages from contacts and friends in Russia, and also some in Ukraine and Israel. I also have a number of academic and literary contacts in Italy, and the boycotts [of anything Russian] in Italy are gaining speed.

I have started a portfolio of what I perceive and track as banishing Russianness in all its different manifestations. I usually take a screenshot and deposit it in my portfolio. At the same time, Im beginning to feel that there are people with whom I cannot communicate anymore. Its some sort of madness; people I thought I knew are posting things that are just incomprehensible. What do you do with the people who are knowable to you, or you thought were knowable, and now are acting either as brainwashed idiots or opportunists?

Luckily, I dont think the frenzy in Boston matches everything that I find happening in Europe. For instance, I recently heard that a major festival in Florence canceled a Russian musical appearance. This is happening. Its not a figment of the medias imagination. I think we have been mostly spared such intolerant reactions here in Boston. I feel blessed living here because its a very enlightened and diverse community.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Its hard to dispense advice, so this is not advice, but its important to remember who we are. We should not attempt to abnegate ones past and ones roots, even as the world makes a strong connection between that past, those roots and todays apparent evil. Its very important to remain oneself, so I have not become less culturally Russian. Although Ive lived in America for 35 yearsand for only 20 years in the former Soviet Union, I know my Russianness, and Im prepared to explain it. I also know what I left behind the turnstile of the Soviet border control, and I feel very grateful to my parents for getting me out.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

"Virgin with Child," by 15th century painter Piero di Cosimo. Photo by Wikimedia Commons

By Benjamin IvryMay 02, 2022

Chris Maunder is a theologian based in North Yorkshire, U.K., whose books include The Oxford Handbook of Mary, and most recently, Mary, Founder of Christianity about the Jewish woman who gave birth to Jesus, according to the Christian Bible. Benjamin Ivry spoke with Maunder about aspects of Marys identity as a Jewish woman and mother. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Benjamin Ivry: Theologians agree that Mary,Joseph, and their son Jesus were all observant Jews, and as your book points out, the four Gospels were probably written by Jews. To what extent was Marys participation in the birth of Christianity inspired by Judaism?

Chris Maunder: I think a huge amount. There are individuals in the world who have special visions and Mary had a special understanding of Judaism. She saw the biblical prophets in terms of social justice. Notions like justice being more important than worship itself, or that justice should flow like water (Amos 5:24), are among many examples in which prophets called upon Israel to push out corruption. As an observant Jew, Mary will have understood the radical nature of the prophetic tradition and she looked after the whole of her community.

You mention that it is impossible to emulate Maryby becoming a virgin mother and anyway, She was not a virgin in any physical sense. This agrees with Jewish writers since the Middle Ages who have dismissed the story of the virgin birth. But the 15th century Italian geographer Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol was among Jewish writers willing to accept the possibility that Marybecame pregnant by divine means while remaining a virgin, since God is omnipotent. Do you see any inherent contradiction in a few Jews believing something as unlikely as a virgin birth?

No, because obviously throughout the Hebrew scriptures youve got miraculous births and births by women who are old, past child-bearing age. The Bible is full of miraculous happenings and God can do whatever God wants. But there are also good reasons for seeing it as a metaphor, a wonderful story.

Your book describes Maryas the archetypal believer who accepts the will of God and acts upon it, an exemplar for each and every Christian, female and male. Yet she is mentioned more often by name in the Quran than in the Christian Bible, by a ratio of about 70/19. How would you explain that this Jewish woman means so much to adherents of Islam?

My own understanding is that Islam can be traced back to a form of Jewish Christianity. In Islam, Mary is the woman above all women, even more than Khadija, [the first wife and follower of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.] Mary is the ultimate exemplar of virtue.

Although details about their relationship are scant, does Mary behave like a Jewish mother when she expresses concern in the Gospel of John that the hosts of a Jewish wedding at Cana in Galilee are about to run out of wine, like a balabosta expressing concerns about the catering?

These are stories and legends and we neednt take them literally. Even if we can see her at the time as a Jewish mother, the story is about something far more important than the wine; its the start of Jesus mission and the resurrection.

The only time Jesus is recorded as speaking to his mother in the Gospels occurs at Cana after she notes the exhausted wine supplies. He says more or less: Woman, why do you involve me? Researchers have stressed that this is not a Jewish son squabbling with his nagging mother, because in the original Greek, to call Marywoman was not considered rude or disrespectful. Yet his initial response does dismiss her concerns before he finally changes water into wine. Can we sense any real mother-son dialogue going on here?

The idea of the mother being a slightly annoying, nagging person who doesnt understand what men are trying to do is something that has been transmitted until recent times. That stereotype has existed for hundreds of years, so its no surprise that it exists in the New Testament. But Mary was right, because the Marriage at Cana was so important. Some readers have felt that the annoying mother was fussing about earthly things, but she was really interested in getting the miracles started, almost as if she got it right while Jesus was still reluctant.

Since Jesus was likely single and extracted disciples from their established marital and birth relationships by establishing a new family around him, would Maryas Jewish mother be satisfied with not having any grandchildren? Apparently she never asked Jesus, When are you going to get married already?

I suppose the picture that I want to paint of Mary and as an alternative to other pictures is as a woman radically concerned with the whole community, so she might have been the one mother to set aside these personal interests.

The Jewish theologian Edward Kessler described Mary as a first-century Jewish woman from Galilee, a daughter of Israel living in hope of justice for the poor. The theologian Elizabeth Johnson describes Maryin her old age in Jerusalem, assisting impoverished fellow Jews while continuing to attend temple. How do we know this?

We cant know that. The issue is that we speculate. Elizabeth Johnson cant prove that, but it does make sense in terms of the importance of the poor in the early Christian community. Throughout the Gospels are references to the poor and those who are shunned, and Mary was instrumental in founding that community. So she was interested in the poor and outsiders and wanted to bring those people back in, by addressing the whole community.

The author Mary Christine Athanspresented Mary as a faithful, observant Jewish woman who observed the Sabbath, heard the Torah read aloud in the synagogue, immersed monthly in the mikveh (ritual bath) and prayed in words drawn from Moses, Jeremiah, Hannah, Esther and the Psalms. Yet Mary was instrumental in founding a religion that over the years caused Jews much harm. Where were her real loyalties?

Her conflict was with the authorities, but that doesnt make it anti-Jewish, but anti-authoritarian. Prophetic people are radicals who call upon their community to do things they would not otherwise do. They upset people. I dont think Mary was disloyal at all as a Jew, but naturally tensions were created within Jewish families at the time. Mary and Jesus were in that tradition of people who were going to upset the mainstream, but werent for that reason disloyal.

The Acts of the Apostles, the book in the Christian Bible following the Gospels, mentions that Mary attended a prayer session in Jerusalem with the disciples after the crucifixion. So after her son died, she continued to be an observant Jew, which would seem to be a proof of faith.

Yes it would. The early disciples were also observant Jews. The crucifixion didnt end their Judaism for then, it simply helped them to reinterpret it. The original disciples had no doubt that they remained Jews. There isnt any shaking of Jewish faith, they are Jews who just understand Jesus as a messiah.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

The Harry Potter books, a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J.K. Rowling, chronicle the lives of Harry Potter, a young wizard, and his friends at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Recognized as one of the greatest works of childrens literature of all time and also much beloved by millions of adults its main narrative involves Harrys struggle against Voldemort, the Dark Lord who intends to wipe out the wizards and control the world. Brilliantly incorporating several genres and featuring elements of mystery, thriller, adventure, horror and romance, the world of Harry Potter lends itself to multiple interpretations and analyses, some of which we will discuss below.

In 2014, Rowling announced that there were Jews at Hogwarts, including Anthony Goldstein, one of the original 40 Hogwarts students introduced in the first Potter book; a minor but heroic character, he rarely spoke but always did the right thing. Without being specific, Rowling has suggested that there were other Jewish students at the school. In the first Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them film, a spin-off Harry Potter series set in the New York of the 1920s, the leading characters are Tina and Queenie Goldstein, who are almost certainly Anthonys ancestors.

Analysts bring their own perspectives to suggest interesting, and sometimes unusual, interpretations of the Harry Potter universe. Many have discussed the nexus between the Bible and the Harry Potter books, which have been read in terms of Judaism, Zionism, the Bible, Kabbalah, and Jewish history. Some see the entire Potter dialectic in the context of wizards as Israelis and Muggles as Palestinians; accordingly, there are bad wizards, like Voldemort, Baruch Goldstein, and Meir Kahane, and good wizards, led by liberal Zionist Dumbledore. The bad wizards use their belief as the chosen people to victimize, even liquidate, the Muggles/Palestinians and the good wizards seek to establish a two-state solution where a governmental Ministry of Magic extends rights to both wizards and Muggles but rejects actual coexistence in favor of keeping them strictly separate.

In a particularly interesting Jewish angle, Harry discovers that he is the only known survivor of a killing curse known as Avda Kedavra, one of only three curses strictly forbidden in the world of magic. This curse, which in Aramaic/Hebrew literally means I will destroy as I speak (avda = I will do away with, kedavra = as I have spoken), as opposed to the better-known abracadabra, which means I will create as I speak (abra, from the Genesis word for creation, cadabra, from the Hebrew word for speech). Even the name Potter could be read as Po-tter, the Hebrew word for excuse or acquit.

Dov Krulwich, an Israeli computer scientist who has written about the connections between Judaism and Harry Potter, notes further that, while there is no per se magic wand in the Bible, there are many instances where wand-like implements, including staffs, sticks and rods, are used to create miracles (aka, magic?), beginning with the rod that Moses used to perform miracles in front of Pharoah and to split the Sea of Reeds.

Similarly, much as the house elves in Harry Potter, who loyally serve their wizards and witches, are magical creatures, one could argue that so are the Genesis snake who convinced Eve to eat the apple and Bilaams talking donkey. Moreover, it is interesting to note that, when asked politely, the house elves, who loyally served their wizards and witches, would accommodate the dietary needs of vegetarian students; although Rowling never addresses Anthony Goldsteins dietary needs, Jewish children have grounds to imagine that the house elves prepared kosher food for him.

Krulwich also discusses comparisons between the concept of yichus (lineage from a respected family of high reputation) in some Jewish communities and Rowlings mudbloods, who have at least one human parent. He also compares Voldemorts use of dark magic to create a new body for himself to the creation of the Golem by the Maharal of Prague which, like Harry Potter, is a complete work of fiction and notes that Kabbalistic literature and the Talmud do present instances where magic is practiced and bodies are brought to life.

Other interesting comparisons include Voldemort, the supreme enemy of the wizards, and Amalek, the eternal enemy of the Jews, both of whom represent the ultimate in evil and who must be completely eradicated. Both Jews and Wizards, who live in their own separate, often isolated communities, have special missions to save the world through their practices and rituals and, although events may seem arbitrary at the time, everything that happens, in both the stories and in Jewish history, is guided by a higher power.

Just as Judaism teaches that prayer must be followed by concrete action, professor Lupin instructs his magic class at Hogwarts that you cant just say the words [of the incantations]. You have to do something. Dumbledore frequently says that the wizards must be united as one to have any chance to defeat Voldemort; the comparison to the importance of Jewish unity to the Jewish people is unmistakable. Like Jewish men at eight days old, Harry has a permanent and defining mark on his body, the famous lightning bolt scar. Notably, a 2005 conference at the University of Reading debated whether Harry Potter had a yiddishe neshama (a Jewish soul).

Some commentators claim, persuasively in my opinion, that the underlying structure of the entire Potter universe is the years leading up to the Shoah. A fascist ruler assumes power, promising greatness to all his followers and a better life for everyone, but only if the people cleanse the world of the racially impure minorities who constitute a clear and present danger to the public welfare. He takes control of the entire educational system and, when he rounds up the undesirables and robs and kills them, they go into hiding, where they are sometimes protected by righteous members of the majority.

Thus, we have Voldemort as Hitler. In fact, after visiting a Holocaust museum in 2004, Rowling compared the focus on pure blood and the characterization and treatment of the mudbloods with Nazi propaganda and admitted that Voldemort was modeled in part on Hitler.

According to the American Library Association, the Harry Potter books are among the most banned books in American schools. Leading the censorship efforts are some Orthodox rabbis, who oppose children reading the books for the same reason that they oppose all secular literature in general: because it promotes escapism and fantasy instead of focusing them on learning Torah and living in the real world. More significantly, however, they object to the books on the grounds that they violate the Torahs proscription against witchcraft (see, e.g., Exodus 22:17 and Deut. 18:9-12) and that its pagan content, endorsement of witchcraft, and glorification of magic encourages children to turn to the occult. Following not far behind are the Iranian mullahs, who claim that the Harry Potter books are a Zionist plot designed to rule the world and to encourage Muslims and Christians to worship the devil, as Jews do.

However, many, if not most, Orthodox rabbis support the Potter books as a way to encourage children to read and to think, including notably the late Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, who declared that in a society in which adolescents are precociously adult, and adults are permanently adolescent . . . [Harry Potter] reclaimed the kingdom of childhood, proving that you dont have to betray to enchant.

International excitement was generated when the publisher of the Harry Potter books announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, the seventh and final book in the series, would be released worldwide on July 14, 2007, at 2:00 a.m. which happened to be Shabbat morning. Israeli stores pledged to participate in the release at this time which, not unexpectedly, caused great angst and furor amongst charedi rabbis and others. Eli Yishai, then Trade and Industry Minister and a leader of the SHAS party, an important member of Prime Minister Olmerts coalition government, announced that he would dispatch inspectors to report and fine booksellers who violated Israeli law and sold books on Shabbat.

The Potter books, which have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide and have become the best-selling book series in history, have been translated into at least 80 languages, including Hebrew. However, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, translator Gili Bar Hillel decided to make an interesting change: Instead of translating Sirius Blacks parody of G-d Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which she determined would not resonate with a Jewish Hebrew-reading audience, she had Black sing the well-known Hanukkah song, Mi Yimallel Gvurot Yisrael, Otam mi Yimneh (who can retell the things that befell us, and who can count them?)

She responded to critics by explaining that she was not trying to convert Harry to Judaism; that, in any event, the characters were not meant to be portrayed as inherently Christian (in fact, Rowling announced publicly that Hogwarts students were drawn from all religions, races, creeds, etc.); and that the point of the original text was simply to express the joy of inventing nonsense lyrics to a familiar holiday song and that nothing was lost by using a Jewish song for Hebrew readers. In any event, the Hebrew edition is not the only version to make changes to the text; for example, the American editions were adapted into American English to make them more understandable to young American readers.

Rowling has been explicit about her opposition to antisemitism, particularly in Great Britain, her homeland. In an angry response to a critic who claimed that, as a religion and not a race, Judaism is wholly irrelevant to defining antisemitism, she wrote Most UK Jews in my timeline are currently having to field this kind of crap, so perhaps some of us non-Jews should start shouldering the burden . . . Antisemites think this is a clever argument, so tell us, do: were atheist Jews exempted from wearing the yellow star? In response to a mother whose son experienced antisemitism in school, she wrote, Know that you arent alone and that a lot of us stand with you.

In a vigorous attack against antisemites, she wrote Split hairs. Debate etymology. Gloss over the abuse of your fellow citizens by attacking the actions of another countrys government. Would your response to any other form of racism or bigotry be to squirm, deflect or justify? Responding to a posting from a British Jew, Rowling wrote: This thread is the perfect litmus test. If you can read it without empathy for the writers pain and fear; if you immediately assume an agenda; if, above all, your response to the distress of a British Jew is to shrug and talk about the Israeli government, then you test positive [for antisemitism].

During his more than four years as Labour Party leader (2015-2020), Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who invited Hamas and Hezbollah to Parliament, was broadly recognized as anti-Israel. He was also an antisemite, which was later formally confirmed in an October 2020 report by the United Kingdoms human rights watchdog, which concluded that he and his Labour party did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to have accepted it. Rowling was out front in condemning his antisemitism. For example, in response to a Corbyn apologist, she wrote Heres a Corbyn fan happily contemplating British Jews fleeing their own country out of fear of a Corbyn government. In another tweet, she sarcastically wrote and there we have it . . . Not a word of human sympathy. The actions of Israels government justify making British Jews unhappy and afraid. Yes, Jews are bringing it on themselves by being Jewish.

In August 2018, mystery writer Simon Maginn challenged a Jewish complainant: Explain it to me, then. Explain your deep and wounding sense of injury. Explain the wrong thats been done to you. Explain your patently synthetic outrage. Explain yourself. Publicly. In response, an angry Rowling wrote:

How dare you tell a Jew that their outrage is patently synthetic? How dare you demand that they lay bare their pain and fear on demand, for your personal evaluation? What other minority would you speak to this way?

When Maginn responded with a defense of Corbyn, claiming that his antisemitic statements were little more than a rather complicated joke (which Jews, apparently, could not understand), Rowling answered citing Jean-Paul Sartres celebrated Anti-Semite and Jew (1945) and excoriated him for thinking that Jews somehow had a duty to account for their feelings to him, particularly when there were already hundreds of reports and complaints about how British antisemitism had affected them. Maginn accused her of libel and demanded that she apologize for a sickening personal accusation against a complete stranger who disagrees with you politically but, notwithstanding British law particularly favorable to plaintiffs in defamation actions, he did not have the guts to sue her. He ended up resigning from the Labour Party after it launched an investigation into his antisemitism.

Rowling was a strong believer in Palestinian rights and frequently criticized Israel for the horrific human suffering it had caused the Palestinians. However, she was bitterly criticized by Palestinian supporters and other antisemites for adamantly refusing to participate in an anti-Israel cultural boycott. She explained that her opposition was because the sharing of art and literature across borders constitutes an immense power for good in this world . . . At a time when the stigmatization of religions and ethnicities seems to be on the rise, I believe strongly that cultural dialogue and collaboration is more important than ever before and that cultural boycotts are divisive, discriminatory and counter-productive. She added that her critics had apparently missed an important theme in all the Potter books: to recognize the humanity in others.

In an October 23, 2015, letter, Rowling noted that Israelis will be right to ask why cultural boycotts are not also being proposed against . . . North Korea. Notwithstanding her opposition to Israels treatment of the Palestinians, she has been highly critical of the double standard applied to Israel and its people. In Lethal White (2018) (written using a pseudonym), in which she includes a character whose obsessive anti-Zionism morphs into antisemitism, Rowling seems to challenge the alleged distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, an argument frequently employed by Israel-haters.

When we are first introduced to Harry in Rowlings first book, we learn that the orphaned and abused child is heir to not only a grand magical tradition legacy but also to a considerable fortune. The guardians of that fortune are a race of bankers a persecuted minority of highly intelligent bald-headed goblins with small, beady eyes who speak a strange foreign language and are preoccupied with gold and wealth. (The hook noses were not described in the book but did appear in the Potter films). Many critics characterized Rowlings depiction of the goblin-bankers as antisemitic, and others went even further, accusing her of being an antisemite. Not surprisingly, some of her bitterest critics were Corbyn supporters, who were thrilled by the opportunity to muddy her with the antisemitism of their beloved fearless leader.

However, while the depiction of goblins almost certainly has its earliest roots in antisemitism, contemporary portrayals in literature and film generally reflect a historic archetype and are not necessarily manifestations of antisemitic animus. I would argue that Rowling, who has openly, repeatedly, and unambiguously condemned antisemitism, was simply using the description of goblins so entrenched in the public consciousness.

Finally, it is interesting to note that Harry Potter is buried in Ramallah obviously not Rowlings fictional character, but a British soldier killed in action while returning to his base near Hebron during the infamous 1939 Arab uprising. Potters headstone has become a popular tourist attraction and, in particular, many Rowling fans undertake an annual pilgrimage to the British Military Cemetery in Ramallah on July 31 to celebrate the fictional Harry Potters birthday.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

(New York Jewish Week) Lacey Schwartz Delgado, the wife of New York States newly appointed lieutenant governor, has explored her Black and Jewish identity in interviews and an acclaimed 2015 documentary.

On Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul chose Rep. Antonio Delgado as the states new lieutenant governor. The 45-year-old Democrat who represents New Yorks 19th congressional district, which encompasses the Catskills and the mid-Hudson Valley will also likely be her running mate in the upcoming gubernatorial election in November.

Delgado will be replacing former lieutenant governor Brian Benjamin, who abruptly resigned last month after being indicted on federal bribery charges.

Lacey Schwartz Delgado, a Black Jewish filmmaker, attorney and writer, is best known for her highly personal 2015 documentary, Little White Lie. The film explores how Delgado discovered a family secret namely, that her father was African American and how that challenged various identities, including her Jewish identity.

Schwartz Delgado, 45, was raised Jewish in upstate Woodstock, New York, by parents who told her thatshe had a darker complexion because of a Sicilian grandfather. At her bat mitzvah, as she recalls in her documentary, a congregant commented that it was nice to have an Ethiopian Jew in our midst.

Still, it wasnt until she began college at Georgetown University that Schwartz Delgado began to question the familys version. When the Black Student Alliance at Georgetown sent her a welcome letter based on a photo she had submitted during her college application, Schwartz Delgado confronted her mother, only to learn that mother had an affair, and a child, with a family friend who was Black.

The discovery forced Schwartz Delgado to reconcile her notions of what it meant to be Jewish which, growing up, she said, she had always associated with being white. She went on to become the national outreach director and New York regional director of Bechol Lashon, a California-based organization that promotes and educates on racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in Jewish communities.Theres always this conversation about where the Black-Jewish dialogue is, but there are a bunch of us who are actually having those conversations internally and struggle to internally integrate those identities, Schwartz Delgado told JTA in a 2018 interview.

I think a lot of that is because society was almost telling us that being Black and Jewish was, at times, almost diametrically opposed and, in fact, its not in reality, she added. So, for me, it was going through a process and truly an educational experience of learning the reality of who we are as a Jewish people, which is a diverse group of people, from very diverse backgrounds.

These days, according to her website, Schwartz Delgado is a writer, director and producer at Truth Aid, an independent media company that produces content to effect social change.

Last year, Schwartz Delgado made a television special for the Black Entertainment Television channel titled Content for Change: Black x Jewish. The program, which featured prominent Black Jewish media personalities as well as clergy, explored the intersectionality of Black Jewish identity and the history of Black and Jewish communities coming together to promote inclusivity and social change.

Delgado, who was born in Schenectady, New York, and Delgado Schwartz met at Harvard Law School. They have been married since 2011 and currently reside in Rhinebeck, New York. They are the parents of identical twins, Maxwell and Coltrane, who were born in 2013. We have very much embraced passing down Judaism to our kids, Schwartz Delgado told JTA.

During his congressional campaign in 2018, Delgado spoke on Israel, saying that, because of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israel is not a Jewish democracy unless it reaches a peace settlement with Palestinians and pursues a two-state solution. He later visited Israel in 2019 on a delegation led by then House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

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Were making sure that we remain committed to the ideals that we believe in, and support for Israel is a big one of them, for both of us as a Jewish family, Schwartz Delgado told JTA at the time.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

This essay was originally published in the first edition of Yente, a queer and Jewish zine created by a student collective at Oxford. You can read the full first issue digitally or submit to their latest edition here.

Sholem Aschs The God of Vengeance (1906) follows Yekel Tchaftchovitch, a Jew in a provincial Polish town who seeks purity in Gods eyes despite his sinful life. Yekel runs a brothel in his basement, alongside raising his chaste daughter, 17-year-old Rifkele, who symbolizes innocence and spirituality. The dramatic downfall of Rifkele is her overtly sensual love story with Manke, a sex worker. The clash between Yekels revolting career and his paternal idealism described in the preface for a 1918 translation of the script is perceived as the primary drama of the play, but I would argue that the lesbian love story amidst these overbearing religious aims and demands should be viewed as an equally integral aspect of the play. In seeking to reclaim our Jewish identity on our own terms, illustrating the fullness of our humanity through representing our Judaism and its intersections, Asch presents us with a story that challenges us and is worthy of being challenged. Is this not, after all, what our Judaism in all its forms queer, womanly, Other is all about? What is our Torah but a remaking, a drama, a love story between us and ourselves, us and our God?

Written at the end of a national awakening of Jews in Eastern Europe as part of the great Jewish exodus to the West and the reckoning with of Yiddish as a language through which Jewish literature could be redefined and a culture through language re-embraced. Crucially, this birth of Yiddish literature was deeply connected to the revival of an antisemitic crusade across Russia and Eastern Europe. The God of Vengeance examines religion, morality, and their diversification during this time. Asch was at the time the most popular producer of Yiddish fiction, a key figure in the literary renaissance that had begun to take place just a generation before, whose handling of Yiddish was described as music in his hands. His writings, just like those of his predecessor, S. J. Abrahamovitch, the father of the new Yiddish literary movement, are fundamental to the reckoning Jewish and Yiddish culture was undertaking with itself and The God of Vengeance was hailed as his best work. As a Yiddish script, it is a hallmark of Jewish-driven emancipation from the expectations of homogeneity both from Gentiles and other Jews; in laying bare complex Jewish lives without judgement, embedded with bold depictions of lesbian love, The God of Vengeance demands a re-examination of how Jewish lives must not be held to different moral standards than others.

The God of Vengeance is an artistic exploration of a moral battle, of grappling with being deprived of love, and of the contradiction between the innocent, longing for sin, and the sinful, dream of purity. Rifkeles relationship with Manke must be regarded as central to the moral drama. Interpretations of Rifkeles character and plot are, and should be, varied, with the sensitivity that one of the boldest earliest scenes of lesbian love in mainstream modern public theatre requires. Asch himself firmly stated in the program for the Broadway production of The God of Vengeance, Apollo Theater in 1923 that the Rain Scene, in which Manke and Rifkele confess their love and sleep together, was a poetic one, wherein the love between the two girls is not only an erotic one, but rather the unconscious mother love of which they are deprived rather than the sensuous, inverted love of one woman for another. At the same time the plays depiction of what is ultimately a lesbian love scene, with or without the imposition or inclusion of maternal love and want, still comes through as delicately erotic, and full of candor, according to Kaier Curtin. Initial interpretations painted Rifkele as a victim, her fathers attempts to keep her pure thwarted by the vengeful god of Judea who lets her fall into the clutches of Lesbians.

In actuality, much more emphasis should be placed on Rifkeles agency in seeking out and actively consenting to sleeping with Manke (Something drew me so irresistibly to you My heart pounded so wildly), rather than the homophobic interpretation of her as prey to Mankes desires. Embedded in Rifkeles attraction to Manke are ongoing themes of subverting her fathers rule and rebelling against the purity and religious moral code she is ordered to follow to the letter. Both her father and Gods constant presence in her mind as the arbitrators of sin and purity are evidence of her own struggle with the expectations placed upon her to be perfectly virtuous. and this struggle should be taken as part of her persistent agency rather than a victimisation or delegating this internal battle to Yekel as protagonist.

The religious symbolism undeniably dominates interpretations of Rifkeles love for Manke from how Rifkele stole the key from the Scroll, to how Yekel then feels he has failed the Scroll, and therefore God (Take the Holy Scroll with you! I dont need it anymore!). But it should not supersede the importance to the drama and subsequent analysis that this is a passionate love scene between two women, where marriage (we are bride and bridegroom) and sex are discussed overtly and even performed. Asch felt he should depict, if not lust between two women, at the very least an unconscious mother love. The concept of a mothers love is almost always conventionally based on the idea of not just unconditional love, as might be presupposed, but rather a love based on trust. However although she does not have trust in the home (as she fears that her father will hurt her, and her mother is unable to protect her) Rifkele ultimately finds sanctity and sanctuary through the exploration of her desires regardless of lesbian nature or not with a figure she feels she has a trusting connection.

Despite a fairly successful run across European theatres for several years after its premiere in 1907, Asch was met with immense backlash when the 1922 English-language production transferred to Broadway. After an outpouring of rage from conservative Jews and goyim alike, the play was removed from Broadway and the cast was arrested for obscenity. The reception made a clear statement: Jews cannot be complicated. For Jews today, this fight to exist beyond the binary and to challenge its very existence is far from over. For queer Jews, our freedom to engage in that fight and in our communities without shame or hatred remains remarkably narrow. Perhaps, then, we can and should gain a certain strength from Aschs drama: we can draw a righteous anger from Yekels despair at his entrapment within societys many religious binaries and stereotypes. We can seek vengeance for the mistreatment of women like Manke, their freedom curbed by sexual violence, fundamentalist misogyny, and ingrained lesbophobia. Perhaps the deepest and truest of mitzvot for us to fulfill would be to open up a better world for girls like Rifkele: those desperately in need of trust and care, to feel excitement and love, to be free and liberated, and to retain full agency both in our eyes and in the eyes of God.

Photo by Ahmad Odeh on Unsplash.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Yemeni university professor Dr. Abd Al-Wadud Muqasher said in an April 26, 2022 show that aired on Al-Masirah TV (Houthis Yemen) that the Muslims' conflict with the Jews is religious and existential and not a conflict over borders. He elaborated that according to the Quran, the Jews are the "filthiest and most evil human beings" and were transformed into apes and pigs by Allah. In addition, Dr. Muqasher said that the Muslims must exterminate the Jews and that every Muslim must fight in order to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem from their filth. Dr. Muqasher also cited Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf, and accused the Jews of spreading AIDS, cancer, and immorality throughout Egypt after the Camp David Accords.

To view the clip of Yemeni Academic Dr. Abd Al-Wadud Muqasher on MEMRI TV, click here or below.

"Our Conflict With The Jews Is An Existential Conflict Of Civilizations... We Must Teach Our Children That We Are Waging Resistance Against The Filthiest And Most Evil Human Beings"

Abd Al-Wadud Muqasher: "We know that we are not fighting [only] Israel. If we were fighting [only] Israel, we would have wiped it out by now, but we are fighting Israel and those behind it America and the Crusader West. We must unite and fight all these together.

"We should know that our conflict with the Jews is an existential conflict of civilizations. It is not a conflict about borders, be it the borders of 1967 or 1948. All this is not true, it is an illusion.

"The shocking truth that everybody knows full well is that our conflict with the Zionists is an existential one, not a conflict about borders. We must teach our children that we are waging resistance against the filthiest and most evil human beings. While it is true that they are humans, they are the most despicable [ones], as mentioned in the Quran.

"The Quran mentioned that Allah transformed them into apes and pigs, and into everything that is repulsive to the human soul.

[...]

Every Muslim "Must Exterminate [The Jews]; We Must Not Extend Our Hand To Them, Because They Are The Most Despicable, Most Treacherous, And Ugliest Creatures Of Allah"

"The resistance continues. The Jews know that they will be exterminated one day, very soon.

[...]

"Every Muslim must fight in order to regain Palestine, to liberate Palestine from the filth of the Jews, and liberate Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque - which is very dear to our hearts - from the filth of the Jews.

"[Every Muslim] must exterminate them. We must not extend our hand to them, because they are the most despicable, most treacherous, and ugliest creatures of Allah.

The Jews, Like Hitler Said, "Never Abide By Any Treaty Or Covenant"; After Sadat Signed The Camp David Accords, Egypt Became Riddled With AIDS, Cancer, Prostitution

"They never abide by any treaty or covenant. They do not believe that you are a human being that deserves to live. They believe that you are a dhimmi who should be exterminated. They believe that you are a gentile who should be their slave, nothing more. They do not believe in dialogue, treaties, or agreements.

"Suffice to say that Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that you cannot reach any agreement with a Jew. One day you discuss something with him and you agree on something, and the next day he comes and says: "Let's start [the discussion] all over again, and so on and so forth."

Interviewer: "The agreements that Palestinian leaders signed with them in the past are the best proof that this enemy does not abide by pacts and treaties."

Muqasher: "Even [the agreements] with Arab countries... Sadat, that traitor, signed the Camp David Accords, and what did he get out of it? AIDS has spread [in Egypt]. Even the [Egyptian] soil was changed with tainted fertilizers. Various types of cancer have spread. Prostitution has spread. Everything has spread. These people do not believe that you deserve to live."

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Yemeni Academic Dr. Abd Al-Wadud Muqasher: Muslims Must Exterminate The Jews; Allah Transformed Jews Into Apes And Pigs, They Are The Filthiest Of...

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

By Megan Sayles, AFRO Business Writer, Report for America Corps Member, msayles@afro.com

A few years ago, Air Force veteran Tameka Peoples was looking to buy T-shirts for an event that she was holding for her California-based nonprofit, Peoples Foundation for Connecting Community Military and Veteran Services.

Not only did Peoples want to buy the shirts from a Black-owned business, but she also wanted them to be produced and manufactured by Black people.

Unfortunately, there was no existing business that fulfilled those provisions.

I said, Well, if Im looking for this as a business and someone who wants to promote and brand on this unique type of T-shirt, Im sure there are other businesses, or even people, looking for this, said Peoples. It just didnt exist, not in the way that we wanted or intended to bring it to marketcotton by Black farmers made by Black people or a Black-owned company.

Peoples decided she would be the entrepreneur to fill the gap.

Seed2Shirt launched in 2018 as the first Black-woman-owned, vertically-integrated apparel manufacturing and print on demand company in the United States. Peoples wanted to give those across the African diaspora the opportunity to take their place in the production.

Every part of the Seed2Shirt apparel production process takes place in Africa. The organic cotton is sourced from West African farmers, 58 percent of whom are women, and refined in Uganda at small- and medium-batch facilities. Then, the cut, make and trim operation is executed in Kenya at a carbon-neutral production center.

The company partners with ShePrintsIt, a Black woman-owned promotional products company, so corporations, brands and other Seed2Shirt customers can receive unique branding services on the T-shirts they purchase.

Raising awareness about sustainable fashion has been integral to Peoples vision for the company, and Seed2Shirt is currently trying to lean into pre-ordering for their apparel to avoid falling into fast fashion, which overloads landfills and harms textile workers.

Everything has a cause, and everything has an impact, Peoples. How you consider that and how you consider people and the impact on the environment should really be baked into your pattern of life, that includes spending and purchasing products.

A significant part of Seed2Shirts mission is using profits to support programs that empower marginalized communities.

In the United States, 1.4 percent of farmers are Black or mixed race, compared to 14 percent a century ago. These farmers comprise less than 0.5 percent of all U.S. farm sales.

In Africa, Peoples said farmers face significant challenges to accessing land and resources that sustain their farms.

Seed2Shirts Farmer Enrichment Program seeks to address these disparities. The initiative empowers Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) farmers in the United States and Africa to earn livable wages and positively transform the global apparel production supply chain.

Through the program, over 350,000 cotton farmers participate in workshops surrounding organic farming, soil health and business training.

Peoples hopes that increasing African and Black representation in production will bring more autonomy to communities across the African diaspora.

We need to be in places and in positions to create these level playing fields and create industry representation and autonomy in the way that we build our communities, said Peoples. The things that African Americans are experiencing here in the U.S., our brothers and sisters are also experiencing across the diaspora. We need to remember and understand that we are one.

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Dr. Allan Cunningham, the elected representative to the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council for the Southern Region USA, recently announced the names of 60 Jamaicans in the region who were honored for their work in the community. The honors commemorate Jamaicas 60th anniversary of independence and includes professionals, media people, community leaders, doctors, lawyers, educators, healthcare workers, and entrepreneurs. The Southern Region comprises Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The Jamaicans honored by the Global Council include Michael W. Schloss, Diana Blake Taylor, Dr. Barbara Dawkins, Dervan Malcolm, Jacquel Tucker, Ric Williams, Norman Archer, Bethany Powell, Tricia Chung Foster, Audley Hewitt, Hugh Ferguson, Hugh Osborne, Inez Turner, Andrea Dixon, Sophia Elaine Jackson Nicholson, Paula S. Scott, Simone Edward OD, Suzanne Fletcher Thompson, Lance Gibbs, Dr. Nicole Bent Jones, Joy Thomas, Janet Brown, Dr. Dennis Grant, Commissioner Alexandra Davis, Commissioner Winston Barnes, Clarence Reynolds, Charlton Chance, Adrienne Chin-Ogilvie, Rev. Dr. Maxine Osborne Foster, Valerie Simpson, Lana Lindo, David I. Muir, David Mullings, Alrene Richards Barr,Trevor Chambers, Dawn Stimpson, Michelle Chue-Sang Cooper, Dr. Rosemarie Lewis, Amaya Lewis, Dr. Michelle E Richards, Eddy Edwards, Dr. Karen Green, Karen Lee Murphy, Xavier Murphy, Brenda Jennifer Peart, Malachi Smith, Catherine Foote Malcolm, Dr. Rupert Francis, Dr. Sandra Schrouder, Geoffrey Philp, Novelette Tomlinson, Dona Lee Raymond, Mark Swaby, Daniel England, Daniel Gordon, Cheryl Spence, Dr. Chris Parker, Carrol White, Eugene Grey, and John T Hodgson.

The Global Jamaica Diaspora Council was established in January of 2020 to serve as an advisory and consulting body designed to facilitate the engagement and partnership between Jamaica and the Jamaican Diaspora for national development. Council members are elected for three-year terms to give them time to achieve deliverables agreed-upon during their tenure. The Council reflects the inclusive, expansive, and collaborative nature of the Jamaican Diaspora.

Jamaicas Diamond Jubilee features year-long celebrations in 2022 that are organized under the theme of Reigniting a Nation for Greatness. Celebrations will include performances by various artists in the catalog of competitions established by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). According to Kristen Laing, the public relations coordinator for the agency, the competitions include the Jamaica Visual Arts Competition, Jamaica Creative Writing Competition, Jamaica Gospel Star Competition, Jamaica Festival Song Competition, Jamaica Festival Queen Competition, Jamaica Culinary Arts Competition, and National Festival of the Arts: Music, Dance, Speech, Drama and Theatre, Traditional Folk Forms Competition.

All events will culminate in the Grand Celebration scheduled for August 6, 2022.

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