Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Centuries after millions of Africans were shipped to America and Europe as slaves, their descendants are coming back to Africa in a bid to reunite and develop the continent.

The return of the African diaspora, as the phenomenon is known, draws thousands of men and women who come as tourists, while others are passionate enough to resettle and build new lives.

For the three years he has lived in Rwanda, Colin Roach has seen the number of African American expats grow exponentially, from just four in 2019 to over 120.

We are pioneers; people are just learning about Rwanda and more of us are coming, he said.

The son of renowned Tobagonian poet Eric Roach, Roach was born in the Caribbean, before his family moved to the United States of America, where he grew up.

Now in his early seventies, Roach, a retired industrial engineer, lives in Musanze District, where he runs a tour company and an Airbnb business.

When I first met Roach in early March this year, he said he'd long dreamt of coming to Africa, the birthplace of his ancestors. His face beamed with joy as he spoke of the once long-awaited journey back home.

For Colin Roach who now lives in Musanze, coming to Africa was a dream come true.

Like Roach, Kerry-Ann Masozera, a Jamaican-born British woman (her husband is Rwandan), and Mama Moon, an American business consultant, chose to settle in northern Rwanda, where they have set up businesses too.

Masozera (better known as Lady Visionary), and her husband are building a luxury camping site in Burera District. Mama Moon owns a coffee shop, called Culture, in Musanze. She said more investments are in the pipeline.

Before coming to Rwanda, Mama Moon lived in Atlanta, Georgia. After finding out that Rwanda was business-friendly, a place that respects women, and a clean city, she decided to come and stay. She arrived in Kigali in 2020.

The return of the African diaspora was bound to happen, says Masozera, its a natural cause and effect.

On one Sunday afternoon later in March, I met the trio at Mama Moon's coffee shop for an interview. As pioneers of the black diaspora living in Rwanda, Roach, Mama Moon and Lady Visionary say, apart from reconnecting to the land of their ancestors, the purpose of their return is to invest in Africa's development.

Part of that development involves the diaspora, said Lady Visionary. There are so many young people who are unemployed, not only in Rwanda, but across the continent. That's the reason you have people like me, Colin and Mama Moon who are investing.

However, as a result of decades-long negative coverage by Western media, says Lady Visionary, it's not so easy for anyone to come and stay in Africa for months, let alone resettle.

A lot of the media that we watched growing up was very negative about Africa. A lot of people don't believe that anything can live here because they think Africa is so diseased, has a lot of challenges, war and so on. But I always told myselftheresa different story.

Colin Roach (L), Kerry-Ann Masozera (C) and Mama Moon are some of the African diasporas who have resettled in Rwanda. Photos by Moise M. Bahati

After finishing her university studies, Lady Visionary finally visited Africa, arriving in Ghana in 2010. She recalls her first impression: I could see that there was development, but ongoing development. People greeted us with smiles, they were happy. I could see that Africa is not the diseased continent, with people dying on the streets.

Lady Visionary first arrived in Rwanda in 2014. After touring Kigali, Musanze and Rubavu cities already awash with investors she found a niche in Burera near the twin lakes, a place reminiscent of the Caribbean Sea. Besides the glamping site, she also started a clean water project in Buhembe village.

When I visited Burera, this place was so beautiful, but there was a challenge of lack of investment. And the majority of the people in Burera District are from a low socioeconomic group. So, I was like, lets make a change in the development of the people in Burera. We started in 2019.

A former physiotherapist, Lady Visionary also plans to invest in the medical sector in the near future.

I feel free

Africa offers sanctuary for black people who are marginalized in Europe and America, where they have to endure racism on a daily basis, even at workplaces.

In America, we are the minority," said Mama Moon. It's not a situation where we feel comfortable all the time going out in particular spaces. Living in Rwanda, I feel free, and what I mean by that, I feel like there are no constraints placed on me based on me being black.

Mama Moon seen at her coffee shop in Musanze District. She arrived in Rwanda in 2020 from Atlanta Georgia.

However, for someone who grew up in the United States or the United Kingdom, integrating into the Rwandan society is no simple feat.

Most foreigners will say Rwandans stare at people so much, a rude gesture in some societies; or, that prices go up as soon as some traders notice you're from another country.

Roach and Lady Visionary concur that the stares are just out of curiosity. To cool it down, they simply stare back at the locals or say muraho and amakuru!

But for Mama Moon, the instant price hikes are a sign of dishonesty. It's something that needs to be addressed on a higher level, she said, to let people know that, yes, people coming here have their own money but that doesn't mean it's okay to cheat them.

Investment, not aid, will develop Africa

Throughout our conversation, investment is underlined as a potentially major driver of economic development in Africa, contrary to aid and charity.

Lady Visionary echoes views of the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo that aid to Africa cannot end poverty and only sustains dependency.

"When you have aid in the wrong person's hand, that's just corruption, she said rather assertively. What Africa needs is investment and opportunities for young people to start businesses.

For Mama Moon, charity is crippling people because they don't get to learn how to be self-sufficient or how to feed themselves. She adds, investment could empower people economically and wean the continent off aid.

Were here to do our best

Roach thinks there has to be an association for returnees of the African diaspora in Rwanda to join efforts and to make it easier for the leaders to assist them in achieving their goals.

When African Americans know they could come here, make a difference, make money and help people all at the same time, that's what will bring many more of them here, he said.

He and Lady Visionary run YouTube channels where they document their journey on the African continent and promote Rwanda as a habitable, touristic country(Colin Roach,Lady Visionary).They say the efforts by the black diaspora who are investing in Africa will bear fruits as long as countries remain stable and well-governed.

The great thing about Rwanda is that it has a vision and good leadership, she said. Were here to do our best and then we have to pass the baton on to the next generation. In Rwanda, what were seeing are visible outcomes.

For Mama Moon, who is now in her late sixties, the changes gonna kick in, sooner or later.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com

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'Africa is not the diseased continent,' say returnees of African diaspora - The New Times

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that a new resurgent India had made up its mind to move forward with determination and urged the Indian diaspora to help the country take big strides globally.

Addressing the Indian community here, Modi said the young and aspirational India understood the need for political stability to achieve faster development and had ended three decades of instability by mere touch of a button.

"This time of the 21st century is very important for India. Today's India has made up its mind, it is moving ahead with determination. When the country makes a resolve, then that country walks on new paths and shows it by achieving desired goals, Modi said.

The Prime Minister's hour-long address to the Indian community was peppered with slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai', Modi hai toh mumkin hai' and 2024, Modi Once More' by the ecstatic crowd gathered at the Theater Am Postdamer Platz here.

More than 1600 members of the Indian community in Germany comprising students, researchers and professionals participated in the event.

Modi said that before 2014, India was a work in progress, but over the past eight years the country has been making rapid strides in every sector ease of living, quality of life, ease of employment, quality of education, ease of doing business, quality of travel, quality of products.

India was rapidly working towards progress in every sector and achieving new landmarks on that journey, he said.

New India now does not think about a secure future, but is ready to take risks, ready to innovate and incubate. India, which had 200-400 start-ups around 2014, today is home to 68,000 start ups and dozens of unicorns some of whom have already become decacorns with 10 billion dollars valuation, Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that at a time when the world was facing a shortage of wheat, the farmers of India have stepped in to feed the world.

"Whenever humanity is faced with a crisis, India comes up with a solution. This is New India, this is the strength of New India, he said.

The Prime Minister urged the Indian diaspora to help him take the India story global.

"I urge all of you to join me in making the local' of India global. You can easily acquaint the people here with the diversity, strength and beauty of the local' of India.

"There was a time when registering a business was a hassle. Today it takes only 24 hours to register your company. This is restoring people's confidence in governance, he said.

The Prime Minister said his government has eradicated more than 25,000 compliances and scrapped 1,500 laws to unburden our citizens.

Recounting the success of the digital payment mechanism, the prime minister said India's share in real time digital payments world over is more than 40 per cent. He said the government too was using the digital payment mechanism to make payments to farmers directly in their bank accounts.

In an apparent dig at the Congress, Modi said that now no prime minister will have to lament that he sends one rupee, but only 15 paise reaches the intended beneficiary.

"Woh kaunsa panja tha jo 85 paise ghis leta tha (which palm was it that used to take away 85 paise)", he quipped.

He said in the last eight years, his government has transferred more than Rs 22 lakh crore to beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer.

In an apparent reference to the removal of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, Modi said the country was one, but had two Constitutions.

"But, why did it take long to make it one (constitution). It took seven decades to ensure that the country had one constitution. We have implemented it now, Modi said.

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Moving ahead with determination, take India story global: Modi to Indian diaspora - Business Today

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Bridging Traditions is essential reading for Jews of all origins who are interested in understanding their own practices and appreciating those of their brethren, and in seeing the kaleidoscope of halachic observance as a multi-faceted expression of an inner divine unity.

As the rabbi of a Sephardic synagogue for over twenty years who himself is of Ashkenazic descent and trained in Ashkenazic yeshivot, Rabbi Haim Jachter has a unique vantage point from which to observe the differences in customs and halachot between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. In his new book, Rabbi Jachter applies his wide-ranging expertise to explicating an encyclopedic array of divergences between Ashkenazic and Sephardic halachic practice, while also capturing the diversity within different Sephardic communities.

The book discusses a plethora of issues which separate Ashkenazim and Sephardim, from the well-known to the obscure. In each chapter, Rabbi Jachter provides the sources and rationales behind the practice of each community. Throughout, Rabbi Jachter explains the opinions of both earlier and contemporary poskim and demonstrates how halacha unfolds in often unexpected ways.

Foundation of Faith, a commentary on Pirkei Avot based on the teachings of Rabbi Norman Lamm and edited by Rabbi Mark Dratch. Inspiring and profound, the commentary is a scintillating demonstration of Rabbi Lamms invaluable message for contemporary Jewry.

A gifted orator, teacher, scholar,and rabbinic leader, Rabbi Norman Lamm was renowned for a distinguished career that included the presidency of Yeshiva University, authorship of numerous books and articles on Jewish philosophy and other aspects of Jewish thought and studies, and a leadership role in the Jewish community which has left a lasting impact. As the spiritual leader of The Jewish Center in New York City for decades, Rabbi Lamm mesmerized his congregants with sermons legendary for their profound intellectual substance and soaring eloquence. With a rare combination of penetrating scholarship and eloquence of expression, he successfully presented a Torah view of contemporary Jewish life that still speaks movingly to all.

Published posthumously in memory of Rabbi Lamm and his wife Mindella, who passed away last year, as well as in memory of the untimely passing of their late daughter Sara, it was edited with care by Rabbi Mark Dratch. Love of Torah, veneration of tradition, positive engagement with the modern world and contemporary culture, and the importance of a life built on overarching Jewish values are just a few of the themes that animate this volume, all expressed with Rabbi Lammscharacteristic mastery.

Rabbi Mark Dratch is the Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America.He served as a pulpit rabbi, founder of JSafe: The Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse Free Environment, and Instructor of Jewish Studies and Philosophy at Yeshiva University.

This work will undoubtedly be warmly welcomed as a classic of Jewish thought and exegesis by the ever-growing number of people who appreciate Rabbi Lamms unique voice.

OU Press, the publishing division of the Orthodox Union, publishes quality works of Jewish thought and practice, including Rabbi Norman Lamms Torah Beloved: Reflections on the Love of Torah and the Celebration of the Holiday of Matan Torah, and Derashot LeDorot: A Commentary for the Ages as well as additional books on Jewish law such as Halacha Yomis: A Daily Halachic Companion and Beurei HaTefillah: A Guide to Jewish Prayer.

Requests for review copies and inquiries should be sent to oupress@ou.org.

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OU PRESS announces the publication of Bridging Traditions: Demystifying Differences Between Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews by Rabbi Haim Jachter and...

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

(May 1, 2022 / JNS) Anyone involved in Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish life knows that the overwhelming majority of us are Zionists. Israels existence has been a lifeline for many of us. It has been crucial to the survival of our culture in the face of violent hatred. So why are anti-Zionist organizations, in an attempt to look inclusive of our communities, elevating Mizrahi anti-Zionists whose views are neither representative of nor respected by the vast majority of Mizrahi Jews around the world?

We are both descendants of Jewish refugees from Iran, Tunisia and Libya; and we are Jewish communal professionals committed to advocating for and advancing the stories and rights of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. Both of us come from families whose lives were saved by Israel. After Israels establishment, a tidal wave of intimidation struck Jews in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). An estimated 850,000 Jews fled MENA countries and were forced to leave behind an estimated $300 billion in homes, businesses and possessions simply because the cost of antisemitic persecution was much higher.

Sapirs grandparents fled from Libya to Israel with two children and two suitcases. As anti-Semitism reached its zenith during the Iranian revolution, Jews like the family of Matthews mother were smuggled into Turkey and Pakistan hidden among cargo or traveling by donkey across mountainous terrain. Our grandparents left behind all their possessions and property after centuries during which their ancestors built lives, livelihoods and communities.

In many of the countries our ancestors fled, we were dhimmis: second-class citizens whose safety was dependent on the whims of caliphs, emirs and sheikhsand whether our neighbors had absorbed or ignored anti-Semitic tropes. In Arab countries, we were not even allowed to be referred to as Arabs. Persian Jews were similarly forced to pick a side after 1979: We could be Iranian citizens or we could be Zionists.

So today, we work at the organization JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) to document and share the stories of Mizrahi and Sephardic people. Those telling those stories are overwhelmingly grateful for Israels creation. Many say Israel saved their lives.

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Yet scroll through the feeds of anti-Zionist organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) or publications like +972 or Jewish Currents, and youll find cherry-picked stories that misrepresent our communal values. More and more ink is being spilled by the small number of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews who do not support Israels existence. They focus on Israels faults with no mention of the antisemitism we faced in MENA countries before 1948, willfully taking advantage of the limited recorded history of our communities.

Poor public understanding of the history, politics and economics of MENA countries makes it easy to tokenize Mizrahi and Sephardic anti-Zionists, turning them into leading voices even though they do not represent our communities. Anti-Zionist organizations and publications exploit our underrepresentation to manufacture partisan narratives about the Middle East and weaponize public ignorance in order to rewrite history.

The anti-Israel publication Jewish Currents regularly hires Mizrahim whose views are beyond the fringe to weigh in on our issues as if they were experts. Theyve brought in voices to make the ahistorical claim that Mizrahim are Arab Jews and that we experience Islamophobia. In reality, as mentioned above, MENA Jews were never allowed to be referred to as Arabs and were denied the legal rights that Arabs enjoyed. +972 has gone as far to publish op-eds claiming that centering our stories of escape to Israel is Mizrahi-washing, and that teaching about tragedies such as the Farhudthe 1941 massacre of Jews in Iraqis to diminish the Palestinian claim for justice.

A prime example of this dynamic is when JVP published an inflammatory Instagram post about Mimouna, a traditional end-of-Passover festival celebrated in North Africa. They claimed that Zionism has coopted such traditions and our Mimouna celebrations wont be used to marginalize or tokenize our people, brownwash Israeli colonialism and occupation or erase our history of community.

Anyone with basic knowledge of Mimouna knows that it is obscene to claim that Zionism has coopted it. In fact, given the ethnic cleansing of nearly all Jews who celebrate the occasion, almost the only place where Jews still freely celebrate Mimouna is in Israel. Even in their own post, JVP admits that since the tenure of Golda Meir, every Israeli prime minister has commemorated Mimouna. We fled to a Jewish state, which is why we and our traditions are still alive.

The vast majority of Mizrahim and Sephardim do not marginalize, tokenize or erase our own history. Expressing our communal values is not brownwashing. Organizations that capitalize on the increased attention to diversity within the Jewish community in order to burnish their credentials as progressive while ignoring the mainstream values of Mizrahim and Sephardim are exploiting us.

Just as anti-Zionist Jews try to represent themselves as conventional American Jews even though their political stances are on the fringe, these organizations and publications cherry-pick minority voices that are not representative of Jews from North Africa and the Middle East. These voices are chosen only because they are willingto affirm anti-Zionist viewpoints rather than tell our collective story. This tokenization lends an unearned legitimacy to those demonizing Israel and harms Mizrahi and Sephardic communities by rewriting our ancestors histories.

Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews were a crucial part of the project to re-establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. In 1558, Gracia Mendes Nasione of the wealthiest Jewish women of the Ottoman Empirebuilt a Jewish community in the Holy Land thats credited as one of the earliest attempts at a modern Zionist movement. In 1839, Rabbi Yehuda Bibas, a scion of Moroccan rabbinical royalty, traveled across Europe to encourage Jews to make aliyah and reclaim Jerusalem. Scholar-socialite Flora Sassoon of the Rothschilds of the East staunchly supported the Balfour Declaration and Zionism. The son of a Moroccan immigrant, Haim Amzalak, used his position as the British Vice Consul of Palestine to acquire land for some of the earliest Zionist communities, such as Petach Tikvah and Rishon Letzion. Zionism not only has a place for Jews like our families; it was created by them.

Today, more than half of Israels Jewish population is of Mizrahi descent. We do not deny that, in its early days of independence, Israel sometimes failed the Mizrahim. Some of these issues persist today. Yet those failures pale in comparison to how Israel has helped us. Our struggles should not be weaponized by individuals and organizationswho have otherwise shown little interest in our storiesto advance a political agenda.

The best way to fight this injustice is for the Jewish community to come together and ensure that we elevate spokespeople that represent us accurately. We must include Mizrahi and Sephardic voicesnot just for the sake of inclusion, but because our stories are an essential part of the Jewish story as a whole. The more our stories are told, the harder it will be for people to distort them.

Sapir Taib serves as the Program Director and Matthew Nouriel serves as the Program Coordinator for JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East. JIMENA is a non-profit organization based in California whose mission is to achieve universal recognition for the heritage and history of the 850,000 indigenous Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, and their Mizrahi and Sephardic descendants. JIMENAs programs aim to ensure that an accurate history of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews is incorporated into mainstream Jewish and Middle Eastern narratives in order to create balance in attitudes, narratives and discourse about Middle Eastern refugees and the modern Jewish experience.

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Why are Mizrahi and Sephardic communities being misrepresented as anti-Israel? - JNS.org

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

An increasing number of young members has made Beit Harambam text study classes an opportunity to build friendships. | Courtesy of Moshe Asiag

Congregation Beit Harambam has never had any trouble gathering a minyan for prayers three times a day.

Whenever congregant Moshe Asiag has attended shul six days a week, three times a day hes been joined by 30-40 other men, far exceeding the minimum 10 needed to pray.

Congregants loyalty to Beit Harambam and each other is unwavering.

When an arson burned down the Verree Road synagogue in 2000, upon finding their building destroyed early Saturday morning, Beit Harambam members opted to daven outside, completing their Shabbat service after rescuing their sefer Torah and prayer books.

Beit Harambam president Yaacov Avraham insists that there is nothing unique about his synagogue community, but the demographics tell a different story.

One of few area Sephardic synagogues, Beit Harambam is primarily home to Israeli expatriates. While Hebrew is often heard in American synagogues during prayer, its not often the common tongue during post-Shabbat schmoozing. At Beit Harambam, its the norm.

Its like a big Israeli family, Rabbi Moshe Arbiv said.

Founded in 1978 by Moroccan-born Rabbi Amiram Gabay now retired Beit Harambam was originally a meeting space in Gabays basement in his Rhawnhurst home. The space was home to Sephardic and Mizrahi Orthodox Jews from Morocco, Iraq and Libya, as well as its large Israeli population.

In the next decade, the synagogue expanded and moved to its humble space on Verree Road, a converted house that blends in with the residential area there. The community multiplied to 300 before the May 2000 fire.

Though police investigations were never conclusive about the motives behind the fire, synagogue leadership was certain that the action was a hate crime.

This is pure antisemitism, Avraham said.

Avraham, who has been synagogue president for the past 20 years and replaced the founding rabbis son Eli Gabay, was one of the congregants who arrived at the synagogue shortly after authorities put out the fire.

We stood outside. We were just in shock, Avraham said.

Firefighters were able to rescue the synagogues Torahs and salvage some prayer books, but other texts and more than 50 tallitot were destroyed.

Asiag, whos been a Beit Harambam member for seven years, sometimes uses a prayer book with burn marks or singed edges.

Though the fire remains a dark spot in the synagogues history, it provided a way for the synagogue to expand to accommodate its ballooning membership.

With funding help from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Jewish Community Relations Council, Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia and American Jewish Congress, Beit Harambam was able to rebuild its original space, as well as create an expansion with a larger prayer space and social hall. The project was completed in 2011.

Beit Harambam now offers Torah study classes for men, Tehillim study groups for women and an informal gemach loan-free social service to members who may need financial help as well as raucous holiday parties, according to Asiag. Before COVID, the shul held monthly food drives.

Though many of the congregants range from ages 45-60, Asiag said, there are plenty of younger men attending minyans and text study groups as well.

Asiag, 25, has two Israeli parents and speaks fluent Hebrew. He has a wife and three young children, two of whom began attending shul with him.

Many members, like Asiag, have young families and work similar jobs. Going to shul, where there are 90 attendees for Shabbat services and 200-300 attendees for holidays, sometimes provides the only social encounters outside of family that young members have during the week.

If you have a synagogue thats all different kinds of people, you just dont intervene with everybody, Asiag said. But here, were all Israeli; were all the same. If youre all on the same page, everybody gets along together.

While close camaraderie among those with similar backgrounds is an asset of Beit Harambam for its congregants, its handful of Ashkenazi and Russian members prove that its a space that can be a spiritual home for anyone.

Everybodys welcome to pray with us. We dont judge people if theyre religious or not. Its an open synagogue for everybody, Avraham said. We just hope that we will grow more and moreThe more people we have, thats going to be a blessing for the synagogue.

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Beit Harambam United in Times of Adversity - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

SAN DIEGO Israel is a beautiful country. What a shame that, when debating immigration, it battles such ugly contradictions.

In that respect, the Land of Canaan is a miniature version of the United States. Like Americans, Israelis see their nation as a land of immigrants and a haven for refugees. Yet, like Americans, Israelis have trouble living up to that billing and abiding by the principles they espouse.

I visited Israel 10 years ago, as part of a small delegation of Latino journalists. I fell in love with the place and the people. Forget San Francisco. I left my heart in Jerusalem.

Ruben Navarrette commentary

During the Sabbath, a few of us visited a synagogue. Maybe it was because we were wearing yarmulkes. Or, at least in my case, maybe it was the fact that my supposedly Catholic great-grandmother hailed from New Mexico land of the Sephardic Jews and discreetly kept a Star of David in her jewelry box. For whatever reason, my fellow journalists and I were mistaken for Jews. A kind man approached, smiled, shook my hand and whispered: "Welcome home."

You see, Jews especially those running from the Devil are always welcome in Israel. Non-Jews, who find themselves in similar straits, not so much.

According to The Washington Post, there is debate raging in Israel over whether to admit Ukrainian refugees who aren't Jewish. Since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, almost 24,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Israel. Only about a third of them are Jewish.

Some Israelis agree with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who is Jewish that a nation established in the aftermath of the Holocaust has a moral imperative to help those in need. But others worry that admitting non-Jews will hurt national identity.

There is a popular saying in Israel: Two Jews, three opinions. With this issue, however, that may be a low estimate.

This sounds familiar. When I was in Israel, in 2012, the ruckus was over whether to admit non-Jewish refugees from Ethiopia.

Some of the push to restrict the entry of non-Jews is about prejudice. But much of it is about math. Many Israelis worry that taking in too many non-Jews will dilute the demographic pool, and make Israel less of a Jewish state.

Like the kids say: "As if." Israel now has a population of 9.2 million, while the debate over how many refugees to admit tends to involve numbers in the tens of thousands. Anyway, don't those Jewish restrictionists have any confidence that non-Jews who migrate to Israel might eventually convert to Judaism?

National identity is swell. But what's the value of it when the lives of human beings are at stake?

In the tug of war over Ukrainian refugees, the restrictionists are winning. Israel has capped the number of non-Jews at 5,000, while it prepares to take in as many as 100,000 Jews.

The world is off its rocker. If there is one country on Earth that should not need a sermon about taking in strangers and offering safe haven to those who are fleeing monstrous evil, it is Israel.

The whole reason the nation exists is precisely because, in the 1930s and 1940s, so many countries failed their moral responsibility by turning away Jews who fled the Nazis.

That hall of shame includes the United States, where anti-Semitic voices in the Democratic administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman drowned out pleas by Americans who hearing horror stories about what was happening in Europe called for the United States to take in more Jewish refugees.

That didn't happen until after 1945. That's when Truman signed an executive order known as The Truman Directive of 1945 giving preference to Jewish refugees seeking entry to the United States who were victims of Nazi persecution.

Mind you, this was more than a decade after that persecution began in 1933, when the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Millions of Jews had already been killed.

Thanks for nothing, Harry.

And even so, in the United States after the Holocaust, there were, according to historical accounts, many anti-Semitic members of Congress who opposed admitting Jewish refugees.

In 1948, a Jewish homeland was created to do what most of the world had failed to do: rescue those in need of rescuing.

Today, there are Ukrainians of all faiths who need rescuing. Nothing else ought to matter.

But then, anyone who takes seriously what their faith calls on them to do should already know this.Ruben Navarrette can be reached at ruben@wctrib.com.

2022, The Washington Post Writers Group

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Ruben Navarrette commentary: Faced with Ukrainians seeking refuge, Israel fails the immigration test again - West Central Tribune

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

By Judy Lash Balint, JNS

Rehabilitating a crack house in Tiberias was not exactly in the job description of Rabbi Yamin Levy, spiritual leader of the Beth Hadassah Synagogue Great Neck (the Iranian Jewish Center). But that house happened to be right next to the dilapidated tomb of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, the great medieval philosopher and halachic authority known as the Rambam, or Maimonides. And so, Rabbi Levy could not sit idly by.

That was back in 2004, during the closing days of the Second Intifada, when Rabbi Levy led a solidarity tour to Israel that included several of his congregants as well as the then-mayor of Great Neck.

We were mortified when we stopped for a visit to the Rambams grave and saw that house, Rabbi Levy recalled. There was blatant prostitution there, he says. I was so upset; I was physically sick.

Back in New York, he set about determining who owned the house and raised the funds from among his congregants to buy it. Thats how our organization started, he explains. Among the initial donors were Joshua Setton, CEO of Setton International Foods; and the late Stanley O. Silverstein, founder of Nina Footwear.

Visitors to the Tiberias site today see an entirely different reality. The tomb of Maimonides that the 2004 New York delegation found neglected, dark and dirty is now well-lit, surrounded by well-maintained shrubbery, filled with new prayer books, and furnished with comfortable and attractive seating. Plaques in English and Hebrew explaining important facts about the revered sage line the approach to the site.

The former crack house next door is now a restored three-story building that houses theMaimonides Heritage Center, an active educational and community facility used as a place to carry out the Rambams principles of education and acts of lovingkindness.

But in the early days, opposition came fast and furious from an unexpected quarter: Israels haredi political leaders who oversaw the National Center for the Development of Holy Sites that operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Religious Services. They did not want to relinquish control of the site.

We had to go to war with them, recalls Rabbi Levy. They asked: Who is this American rabbi who came out of nowhere to take charge here?

With the help of people like Likud Knesset member Limor Livnat, who served as Minister of Education (2006-2008) and Minister of Culture and Sport (2009-2015), things began to move. Livnat, who has a home in northern Israel, shared the vision of bringing 1 million people a year to an educational center in Tiberias based on Maimonides principles.

According to Rabbi Levy, it was Livnat who used her influence to fight the opposition and push through the bureaucracy that allowed the Americans to proceed with the renovations at the tomb, as well as the purchase of the property that became the Educational Center.

Acting Mayor of Tiberias Boaz Yosef told JNS that he is not bothered by the fact that almost all the funding for the revitalization of the Maimonides tomb and center comes from abroad. Unfortunately, the government doesnt approve, and theres almost no government funding coming our way, he laments. Such a site is of importance to all the Jewish people, and we welcome anyone who wants to participate.

Today, the center enjoys the support of the Ministries of Education and Tourism as well as the Presidents Office.

Youll find your link to Judaism here

In recent decades, Tiberias a city of 55,000 on the western shore of the Kinneret has suffered from tension between the secular and ultra-Orthodox populations, coupled with a succession of mayors who have failed to capitalize on the remarkable physical and historical assets of the city to change its image.

The coronavirus pandemic caused even more deterioration to a city whose economy relies heavily on tourism, so Yosef sees the Maimonides Center as an important draw. Jews from all over the world honor the Rambam; we want to build a place where they can all come to honor this great heritage, he says.

Now, the goal is to expand the existing renovated center into a $20 million state-of-the-art Rambam Quarter in the heart of Tiberias. The vision is that youll find your link to Judaism here, no matter who you are religious, not religious, male or female, Sephardic or Ashkenaz. This is our link, Rabbi Levy states enthusiastically.

The rabbis group has hired theDiskin Multidisciplinary Designfirm, whose Israeli projects include the Peres Peace Library in Tel Aviv and the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem. The Diskin motto Achieving immersive emotional and physical experiences that convey your message is exactly what both Yosef and Rabbi Levy hope to create in the area surrounding the tomb of the Rambam.

Despite growing up in an observant home in Montreal and having a Jewish day-school education, Rabbi Levy recounts that he never encountered the teachings of the Rambam until the early days of hisyeshivahstudies in Israel. It was his teacher, Rabbi Haim Fogel, who opened the door to Maimonides for the young Yamin Levy.

The discovery of a figure who combined philosophy, Talmudic wisdom, medical knowledge and intellectual rigor was intriguing and became the focal point of Rabbi Levys Judaism. Rambam was a codifier of the Talmudic tradition and a staple of Jewish law. You cant learn Jewish law without the Rambam, he states.

I firmly believe the Rambam is the voice for the 21st-century serious Jew. Its the voice of reason, profound spirituality, the voice of science and philosophy, andhalachahat the highest level and the voice that links our Talmudic authorities to Jewish law until today, he explains.

The Rambam is the voice of reason when it comes to Jewish law. The beauty of the Rambam is that women can lead the Purim Megillah reading because of the Rambam and theharediworld does things their way because of the Rambam.

Rabbi Levy told JNS that back in 2004, he focused on an idea from the Rambam that suggests that the Messiah will come from Tiberias. Tiberias was the last place where the Sanhedrin was exiled, and so before returning to Jerusalem, it must reconvene where it last met. I came back to the US and said, Were going to bring Moshiach from Tiberias! It was a naive young vision, but thats what got people excited, he recounts.

He adds that along with the development of the educational center, that vision developed into the goal of helping achieve economic stability for the city of Tiberias.

Hes a mover and shaker

Members of the Iranian American Jewish Federation of New York, as well as members of Rabbi Levys congregation, joined together to adopt Tiberias as a place for investment as well as charity. Eight years ago, they invested in several projects in the city, including a new mall and renovation of the promenade along the Kinneret.

In Israel, the day-to-day work of the center is overseen by Fogel, the formeryeshivahteacher who, like Rabbi Levy, wears many hats. In addition to his role as chairman of the Maimonides Heritage Center, Fogel is the chairman of the Rav Kook House in Jerusalem and heads up the board of trustees ofOrot Israel College, a teacher training college in Elkana; and Orts Rehovot campus, formerly the Moreshet Yaakov College. Hes a mover and shaker, relates Rabbi Levy.

Dozens of volunteers and a smattering of employees carry out the work of the center. Theres a waiting list to be accepted as one of the 40Sherut Leumi(female National Service) volunteers who get professional development and shared housing in exchange for working with local youth and the elderly, in addition to running after-school activities.

On the educational front, the center maintains close contact with school principals and provides weekly printed and online content for students of all ages. More than 10,000 school-age kids visit the center every year, in addition to Birthright tours and groups from the Israel Defense Forces. For adults, the center runs an Annual Rambam Conference that attracted more than 1,000 people last year to a Tiberias hotel.

Rabbi Levy is optimistic that these activities and financial investments will help restore one of Israels four holy cities to its rightful place as a sought-after education and tourist attraction. Tiberias is the most beautiful city in Israel, he insists. I have a small apartment there, and its where I plan to retire.

One million visitors travel to Cordoba in Spain to look at a statue of the Rambam, says the rabbi. We want to bring 1 million visitors every year to a beautiful place to learn and connect with the Rambam.

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Great Neck rabbi and Rambam boost Tiberias - The Jewish Star

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Posted By admin on May 4, 2022

Hes the Ace of Cakes and Buddy Valastros worst nightmare on Buddy vs. Duff.

But Food Networks new daytime series, Duff: Ace of Taste, which premiered on April 24, reveals another side of celebrity chef Duff Goldman, whos best known for his baking. Now hes expanding his horizons to share savory recipes too, drawing on his culinary skills as a classically trained chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley.

Before becoming a stellar pastry entrepreneur who built two businesses, Charm City Cakes bakery in Baltimore and Los Angeles, and the DIY treats store Duffs Cakemix with shops in Southern California, he worked in fine dining rooms such as French Laundry and Olives. For this show hes keeping it down to earth with recipes drawn from his real life as a dad, husband, and part-time rock musician who plays bass in a band with some of his chef buddies.

Episodes include shots from his home kitchen in Topanga Canyon and hell make dishes for his bands practice session, his young daughter Josephines first tea party, a school bake sale, and more. Get ready for sliders, chili, cornbread, mini quiches, and other goodies. We spoke to Goldman about why hes welcoming viewers into his home to film his new show.

Q. Everyone thinks of Chef Duff as the Ace of Cakes, but I remember you telling me about the meat cake you made for your wedding. Savory has always been a part of your skill set, right?

A. Yeah. I started out wanting to be a chef and the first fine dining restaurant I went to, the chef was like, Look, Im not gonna hire you to cook. You dont know how to cook yet. But Ill teach you how to bake cornbread and biscuits. And I was like, OK, whatever I can do to get my foot in the door, and I just loved it.

Q. That was Cindy Wolf, right?

A. Yeah. She has a bunch of restaurants now. Shes like the godmother of Baltimore cooking. She is amazing.

Q. And you worked at some other spectacular fine dining restaurants, like the French Laundry and Olives. What did you learn there that you might bring to this show?

A. You just learn how to do things right. I find that when people cook, they tend to try to save a little time here and there. Oh, that doesnt seem like thats that important to me, I think Ill skip that. But I think when you do things right, theyre not only gonna turn out better, its usually faster.

Q. So, will these recipes be geared to the average home cook?

A. 100 percent! Im not like a super fancy kind of guy. I make really good chili. I make really good burgers. Im not making steak au poivre or Beef Wellington, or stuff like that. You know what I mean? Im kind of a redneck.

Q. So the recipes are all approachable?

A. I want people to see that really good cooking isnt as difficult as they think. I do some real cooking and I think that when I break it down and demystify it, its really not that hard to make. I want people to feel inspired, like, Wow, I could totally do that.

Q. Can you tell us about some of the recipes?

A. These are all recipes that people can do at home. The Texas Chili is really good and I think theres seven ingredients, its easy. You dont need a lot of stuff to make really good chili. Theres a lot of baking too. Like Ill show you how to make big soft pretzels and thats something that a lot of people are really afraid to do. But I think once they watch me do it, theyll realize its only six steps. Its pretty easy.

Q. Whats your take on cornbread?

A. I like it very sweet. I love the crust it gets. So when you bake cornbread, preferably you have cast iron, but if you dont, youll be fine using a muffin tin. But what I like to do is I put the muffin tin in the oven and get it really, really hot, then I pull it out, put the cornbread batter in there and then stick it right back in the oven. It gets the edges nice and brown and crispy and the inside is like falling apart creamy.

Q. That sounds delicious. Do you have any heritage recipes that youll share? You grew up in a Jewish home, right?

A. I dont like to toot my own horn, but I never tasted a babka better than the one I make. That was my great-grandmothers recipe.

She came from Moldova, but for some reason she had a lot of Sephardic recipes that were more like Spanish and Middle Eastern.

Im not really sure how long our family was in Moldova; maybe we came from the Middle East. But I just love those flavors. And so Im making things like a baklava with dates, raisins and nuts.

Q. Most of us buy baklava and it loses something as it sits on a shelf. When you make it fresh, its amazing.

A. Its such a beautiful process. I love making baklava, its really satisfying.

Q. I think its great that youre showcasing personal recipes and I notice these types of programs are trending. The other day I was watching Be My Guest with Ina Garten and its personal too, just her cooking at home for friends. Ace of Taste is different from your other shows because in Buddy vs. Duff youre competing, in Kids Baking Championship youre judging. Is it freeing doing a show where you can cook what you like and just be yourself?

A. Its really nice. I think when people watch the show theyre gonna see that Wow, this guy really loves what he does. Whether there was a camera in front of me or not, Id still be having a great time. I just love to cook and to be able to share that with everybody.

Duff: Ace of Taste airs at noon each Sunday, on the Food Network.

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'Ace of Taste' shows the savory side of chef Duff Goldman - Journal Inquirer

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Posted By admin on May 2, 2022

How a language teetering on the brink of extinction represents the faith and fortitude of the Jewish people.

As a Jewish girl growing up in New York City towards the end of the 20th century, it seemed most people I encountered equated Jews and Judaism with three things: bagels, lox, and a very phlegmy-sounding language called Yiddish. The reasons for these associations during my formative and teen-age years were undoubtedly affected by the cultural exposure provided by sheer numbersnearly 500,000 Jews from Eastern Europe had settled on the lower East side in the early part of the 20th century, seeking refuge from the endless persecution and pogroms that had plagued their communities for centuries.

The colossal success of the adaptation of Sholom Aleichems story about Tevye the milkman in the 1964 Broadway musical and 1971 feature film Fiddler on the Roof, further acquainted mainstream American society with Ashkenazi Jewish traditions.

For many in New York City, and this country, Eastern European Jews, their customs, and unique language, became synonymous with ALL Jews, even though numerous American Jewish communities were settled by Sephardic Jews (whose ancestors came from the Iberian Peninsula and the Arabic lands.) The first group of Jewish settlers who arrived in New Amsterdam (modern-day New York) in 1654 were Sephardic Jews from Brazil, and The Touro synagogue in Rhode Island was built in 1763 by the Sephardic Jews who lived there.

My father-in-laws mother, Inez Eskenas, during World War II, where she served as a US Army nurse.

I never gave much thought to how diverse a people we Jews are, or how many Jews in my community had ancestors from places other than Eastern Europe, until I became engaged to and married the love of my life and discovered that his fathers mother and her family did not speak one word of Yiddish.

Jewish grandparents who did not speak Yiddish? What did they speak when they emigrated to America if not Yiddish? (Sadly, I have come to learn that I am not the first Ashkenazi Jew to react thusly towards Jews in the US who are not from Eastern Europe. My husband assured me I was not obnoxious about itmerely curious.)

They spoke a language I had never heard ofLadino.

Ladino is a Medieval Spanish-Jewish dialect, that can include Arabic, Turkish, Greek, French and Italian. It is a beautiful language, whose very existence is the historical evidence of a people who refused to surrender their Jewish faith and disappear into the communities around them, choosing instead to flee their respective countries, surrendering most of if not all their property and possessions, rather than cease to live openly as Jews.

And my father-in-laws family are a part of this proud and tragic history about which I, like many others, know so little.

My father-in-law with his grandmother, Rivka Eskenas, at my in-laws wedding (1970).

My father-in-laws mothers parents are Turkish Jews, who emigrated to the US around 1918. They trace their lineage all the way back to the Babylonian exile; making their way to Spain where they lived for nearly 400 years, before fleeing for the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) in 1490, two years before the Expulsion of all Jews from Spain who would not convert to Christianity (the same year, incidentally, that Columbus discovered the Americas.) By the time my father-in-laws grandparents, Yehuda and Rivka Eskenas, emigrated to the US, they brought with them religious practices and customs that can differ from those of Eastern European Jews, including their distinctive language, Ladino.

Astonishingly, this language that survived for more than six centuries across multiple continents and countries, is today on the brink of extinction.

Tragically, many Sephardic Jewish communities that spoke Ladino perished in the Holocaust; also, it has been reported that many Sephardic Jews who settled in Israel replaced Ladino with Hebrew, reducing the number of Ladino speakers. (This occurred in several Ashkenazi communities that settled in Israel as well, substituting Hebrew for Yiddish.)

I suspect in many families, as in my father-in-laws family, Ladino became the secret language that the elders spoke so the children, or grandchildren as was the case in his, wouldnt understand their private discussions. Such actions were commonplace in many immigrant families in the first half of the twentieth century in America. Many immigrants, both Jewish and non-Jewish, wanted their children to speak only English and sound American, thus discouraging the use of and learning of their families native tongues. (Educators in public schools also discouraged this practice, sometimes cruelly.)

But unlike children whose parents or grandparents hailed from Italy or Germany or Mexico, deciding to learn the language of their ancestors as adults is no simple task for Jews with Sephardic roots. One cannot find a Ladino class at their local community college, for example, or purchase a learning tool like Rosetta stone. The dictionary I was able to purchase online had definitions of words and contained some popular phrases and expressions, but it could not teach me to converse in Ladino.

And unlike its counter-part Yiddish, Ladino does not have the immense cataloguing and recording of its language, dialects, and history. Nor does it have representation in the larger popular culture, i.e., movies, music, and television. (Personally, I could do without most of the representations, excuse me caricatures, on American television of Ashkenazi Jewish culture such as the sitcom The Goldbergs, but I digress.)

It appeared that Ladino and all it represented was being left to slip unnoticed into the annuals of American Jewish history by the start of this century, and then Professor Devin Naar joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 2011. A Ladino-speaker himself, Professor Naar set about making it a priority to preserve the Ladino language and the collective history of the Seattle Sephardic Jewish community. Supporting Naars efforts in 2013, Professor David M. Bunis, a world-renowned expert in Ladino, spent that academic year at the University of Washington, teaching interested undergraduates how to read and write in Ladino.

Professor Devin Naar

To date, Naar, with help from others at the University and in the community, has digitalized approximately 150,00 pages of Ladino literature, and would be artifacts which can be accessed and viewed at the Sephardic Studies Digital Collection (SSDC) at the University of Washington. Thanks in large part to Professor Naar and his cohorts efforts, a wonderful resurgence of interest in the language and history of Sephardic Jews is continuing to gain momentum in the US. My husband and I are proud that our son and daughter are among them. (I hope that in the not-so-distant future, a musical might be written and produced about Sephardic Jews that will do for the community and the Ladino language what Fiddler did for Ashkenazi Jews and the Yiddish language. Perhaps the brilliant, celebrated composer and playwright, Lin-Manual Miranda would be interested?)

However, there remains much work to be done if we are to preserve Ladino as a spoken language, thereby safeguarding a vital part of our shared Jewish history. The proliferation of online zoom classes during the Covid pandemic helped the small pockets of Ladino-enthusiasts around the world find one another. Their determination to rescue and preserve Ladino is inspiring. Sadly, it is estimated that Ladino-speakers have dwindled to no more than 130,000 worldwide, many of whom are part of an aging population. Despite the work of Naar and others over the past decade, this language attesting the history of a People and communities who were on the brink of extinction time and again, is itself still in danger of being lost forever.

It is up to our collective Jewish community to ensure this does not happen. We owe nothing less to the memory of every familys Yehuda and Rivka.

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Rescuing Ladino from the Flames of History - aish.com - Aish

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Posted By admin on May 2, 2022

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When Anat Ashkenazi became CFO of Eli Lilly in 2021, she noticed a data point that was frustrating: she was the only female CFO in the biopharma sector.

Her path had been relatively easy, she says, moving to the U.S. from Israel 21 years ago and coming from a substantially different culture in which gender inequality was less of an issue. "I was never thinking about being the only women in the room," said Ashkenazi, a CNBC CFO Council member.

Though two more female CFOs have been appointed within the biopharma sector since Ashkenazi became Lilly's CFO and there are some very high-profile female CFO examples to cite, including Ruth Porat of Alphabet and Christine McCarthy of Disney the overall numbers for female CFOs remain relatively low relative to the population and educational degree data.

The U.S. is doing better than some countries, with its 15% of female CFOs at large companies above the global average of 13%, according to Equileap data, but it is well below some close peers, such as Canada, which is at 19%.

"Everyone is low and the U.S. doesn't do great," said Equileap co-founder and CEO Diana van Maasdijk.

Worldwide, across the 4,000 companies included in Equileap's research, only 1% have a female CFO and female CEO.

"The adage that it's lonely at top it becomes lonely at an even earlier management level, director or v.p. level, and at the CFO level even lonelier," said Carolyn Childers, co-founder and CEO of Chief, a professional network focused on trying to get women senior in their careers into the ultimate positions of power "and keep them there," Childers said.

Equileap's data matches that of Crist|Kolder Associates, the U.S. search firm, which analyzes C-suite composition across the S&P 500 and Fortune 1000, and reported that as of last year, the U.S. was just under 15% female CFOs.

While many headlines have cited the progress, Josh Crist, co-managing partner of the search firm, who focuses on financial officers, takes another view. "That is a number that is extraordinarily low," he said. "Gender diversity is ahead of racial diversity in the CFO position and C-suite, but not by much. It's a numbers game, and a population numbers game, and we are talking about a massive gap."

Ashkenazi is focused on the issue of how to get more women into the CFO position, and at a broader level, how to understand the journey of women in the corporate world. Lilly conducted an internal study in recent years to track the career progress of women, and overlay it with other demographic factors, such as race and ethnicity, to get a better sense for why women in the world of work may stall at certain levels. "We wanted to know why women didn't advance, and the conclusions are not unique to Lilly," she said. "But not many companies are spending a lot of time and resources on it," she added.

She estimates getting to gender equality in the C-suite could take 30 years to 40 years.

It could take even longer, according to Equileap. Women have been coming out of universities with good degrees since the 1970s, at least an equal number of degrees if not more degrees than men, and so it has been quite some time they could have been placed into these positions.

"CFOs are 15%, but CEOs are 6% in a country that is the strongest economy in the world with amazing universities and degrees. How is that possible?" Van Maasdijk said. "We believe the right number is 40% to 60%. If you go beyond that then it is no longer balanced, but 51% of the population of the world is female."

At the current rates of progress, a gender equality target that matches the population may not be reached for another seven generations, according to Equileap. "That's not just daughters or granddaughters," Van Maasdijk said.

What's to be done?

Changing how the C-suite conducts searches is key.

Crist says this starts with the composition of an interview slate, in which diverse candidates still represent the subset candidates. Searches need to be tilted to 75% of the slate being diverse rather than 25%. The latter is more common today for example, four of twelve candidates being diverse, rather than eight out of twelve.

And the four who are invited for interviews are often the same few people on a list who get pinged and are having conversations with multiple other companies, according to Childers. "The same people are always getting picked and we need to think more broadly about the qualifications rather than a specific CFO at X company," she said.

What often happens, according to Crist, is companies will say they want to be more diverse, but a "best candidate" approach leads to many good candidates being overlooked.

CFO searches aren't easy, according to Childers, and can be the most time-intensive within the C-suite, and that means an already long process to find the right person can become even longer when a priority is ensuring diversity for the role. "They go after exactly what makes sense and often not what diversity shows you, because you have to stretch a little," she said.

Getting to 75% diverse candidates may mean there is no industry overlap in candidates, and less total years of experience. But boards are starting to realize the "best" available may not be in their industry. "Boards are stuck in this 'we check boxes during recruitment and if we don't check boxes we are not successful in recruiting' mindset," Crist said.

The mindset needs to evolve throughout the talent pipeline as well, well below the C-suite level.

The NFL's recent decision under fire and facing a lawsuit from several Black coaches over discrimination in hiring to mandate that every team has a minority offensive assistant coach, is an example of how intentionality in designing talent pipelines is required. There is a greater likelihood of the next coach being diverse based on the data showing the history of where head coaches are sourced from.

"You would think a company of 100,000 employees would have someone they could train to take on that roll eventually," Crist says. "A lot falls on the companies themselves. With a finance function 3,000 people for a Fortune 50 company, you would think there would be someone very skilled and diverse."

According to Equileap, the target level for candidates being interviewed for open roles should be 50/50 across an organization, forcing search teams out of the smaller circles of candidates who they think are the right interviews.If companies reach 50-50 in the recruitment pipeline, it will break this cycle.

And getting more women into CFO roles, specifically, will lead to greater board representation, according to Childers, because boards are looking for CFOs to serve on audit committees. "It unlocks the next opportunity," she says.

When all else fails and the data shows that today that case can still be made legislation is another option. Equileap's data from the past five years shows a clear correlation between legislation and better representation. France has a requirement for 40% of a board of directors' members to be women, and the nation's corporate sector reached the target.

Many times, governments don't want to get involved in the corporate sector, and more research is showing that recent financial performance of companies has been better with more gender balance. Equileap's work on the Russell 1000 from 2014 through the present shows that companies with higher gender equality scores outperformed those with the lowest scores.

France's experience with the the board legislation was so successful it is now asking for the C-suite to also be 30% women, going up to 40% in a few years.

"We can't find the women is not an excuse, it is a matter of where you are looking and how you are looking," according to Van Maasdijk.

But Equileap's CEO says even with the data on financial performance and diversity, the truth today remains largely that "when legislation is forcing, it happens, and when there isn't legislation, it doesn't happen."

In 2018, California became the first U.S. state to pass a law mandating gender diversity on corporate boards based in the state. That coincided with a period of rising female representation on boards. In 2020, the state went farther, with a law requiring publicly traded companies based in California to have at least one board member from among underrepresented races, ethnic groups and the LGBTQ community. But a California court recently ruled the 2020 law unconstitutional.

The summary judgment against the state from Judge Terry Green of Los Angeles County Superior Court didn't explain the court's reasoning, though the judge had previously described the law as "a bit arbitrary."

The successful lawsuit from conservative-leaning legal group Judicial Watch argued that the California law violated the state's constitutional equal protection clause, while the state argued that the measure didn't discriminate. California also noted that while firms can be fined for not complying with the law, the state had taken no action against any companies even though many in the state had yet to comply with the law's disclosure requirement.

The 2018 law on gender diversity faces a separate legal challenge brought by Judicial Watch. It is also targeting a Nasdaq rule on corporate diversity for companies listed on its exchange.

Childers says legislation should be a last resort.

"I hope it doesn't take legislation and I have optimism about what has happened over the past few years," she said. "We used to be in a world where the C-suite still needed to be told the business case for diversity. Now they know the business case, but the action hasn't started. I would hope it would start without the force function of legislation, but we have been an advocate of legislation where action is not happening fast enough."

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By the numbers, corporate progress on gender diversity is a failure - CNBC

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