Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

LITTLETON Dorothy Gould has six children, 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren and can remember all of their names, their spouses names, their careers and their interests.

She listens to CNN and books on tape every day, studied Hebrew after becoming a grandma, recalls details of her childhood friends and keeps kosher.

Dorothy Gould also happens to be 100 years old.

The Lowell native and now Littleton resident celebrated her birthday on Wednesday with no fuss or frills but rather quietly, taking time to speak with her big family one-on-one.

Reaching such a milestone, however, is a big deal to the rest of the Goulds. Sherry Gould, Dorothys daughter and primary caretaker, said her mom has had a profound impact on everyone she meets and always strives to improve the lives of those she cares about.

Id like to just say that my mother is probably one of the most positive and influential figures in all of our lives, Sherry Gould said. She never said, Cant do, she always said, You can do. In fact, sometimes she would say, You did a wonderful job, but thats not your best work, try harder.

Despite the size of her family and the fact shes living by herself in a nursing home, Dorothy Gould said she never feels excluded and receives constant support and love.

My family means everything to me, she said. They never let me feel lonely. They always included me in all activities, in their ups and their downs, and I felt like I was right in the middle of the family and Ive always felt a part of it.

Her 100 years of life and counting are an opportunity to recognize a great number of historical events she has lived through. Dorothy spent her childhood in the Great Depression and saw her fiance, Morris, off when he was drafted in World War II. They were later married, in 1944, and Dorothy took on the role of a typical 1950s housewife for decades.

But at 56 years old, Morris became very sick and spent 11 years in intensive care before dying. It was then that Dorothy had to take on a new role as her husbands caregiver.

To cope with all of this, Dorothys daughter, Sally Narodick, said her mother decided to get her undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine art, opening her own art studio in her late 50s. There, she taught sewing, ceramics, pottery, painting and drawing to local children in her own home a single-story ranch house in Clinton.

Narodick said the whole family was surprised by how passionate and motivated their mom was to start a career and take the reins.

It turns out theres a strong woman behind every man, Narodick said. She was probably running the whole thing from the beginning, but we didnt know.

Dorothy began to go blind about two years ago, but Narodick said that never stopped her from being herself and staying sharp.

She never complained about having to adjust and deal with the loss of her sight and the blindness, Narodick said. She figured out how to do it and how to stay vibrant, and she never complained about having to go to a nursing home. She took every change that was required in stride.

Sherrys daughter, Melyssa Price, 33, remembers going to temple every Saturday and taking art classes with her grandma and the rest of the grandkids. When Dorothy wasnt able to drive anymore, Price said she would take her to her art lessons and later out to lunch.

When she lost her vision, Dorothy Gould also was unable to create the art she once could, but Price said that never stopped her from expressing her creativity in other ways she just began using different techniques.

As a kid, Price said she recalls how her grandma found a lesson in everything.

She very much pushes me as a grandkid, but also herself, to make sure that she doesnt give up as soon as the going gets tough, Price said. Driving to and from art classes, she couldnt really see anymore, but shed still scold me if I sped too much or if I was weaving in front of traffic or if I didnt stop in time for the red light.

Even as an adult, Price said her grandma is the first person she calls for advice, for a laugh or simply to calm down after a hard day. Living in Ayer, she said shes able to visit her grandma almost weekly.

When Price called her on her birthday, she said her grandma was very grateful to catch up.

Shes so cute, too. She doesnt want to take up your time, so shed be like, Ill let you go, she said. I like to tell her shes not allowed to kick the bucket anytime soon because she has to live long enough for my kids to meet her.

And by the sound of it, Dorothy Gould lives an astoundingly healthy life. Her daughters say shes never taken any intense medication, besides an occasional ibuprofen, although she is a sugar fanatic, Sherry Gould said. She also continues to keep kosher, despite the difficulties of doing so in a nursing home.

One of the secrets to a happy life, Dorothy Gould said, is living by the Golden Rule:treating others as one wants to be treated, just treat people with kindness and be selfless.

I try to think of others and to do good deeds, she said. I just solve whatever comes up right then and there and enjoy people.

In her old age, Dorothy moved into a home next to Sherrys, living independently until only about six years ago. Sherry Gould became her mothers caregiver, but she said it was never a burden. Having her mother right next door deeply enriched the lives of her children, who had the wisdom and comfort of a grandparent so close by.

There is no one who doesnt like her, Sherry Gould said. Her legacy is how kindly she treats others and what a role model shes been, what a force of nature and a force of strength and a source of strength for all of us. Shes quite a lady.

Dorothy Goulds advice for living a long, fulfilling life?

Go carefree, graciously, and be kind, she said. Dont hurt anybody and dont say the wrong thing.

More here:

Littleton resident turns 100, admired for her positivity and vibrant spirit - Lowell Sun

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

The dismissal bell rang at North Shore Hebrew Academy High as the school doors burst open with dozens of students eager to escape their studies and embrace their freedomcrowding into the school field. After a long, hard winter semester, the springtime air was abuzz with talk of spring break plans: of flights to catch, movies to see, friends to visit.

But amid the fun hustle-and-bustle of making plans, for some, there were quite grumbles against solemn obligations to fulfill, things to do, promises to keep. For some of us, work cannot be put on hold while the world stops to refresh and smell the freshly sprouted roses.

For some, the happy prospect of spending a week free of classes is diminished by having to frantically study for the upcoming AP exams. And in my family, the excitement for the holiday of Passover, also known in Judaism as The Holiday of Spring, was somewhat dampened by the thought of cooking and cleaning to prepare for a bevy of guests.

Suddenly, our so-called Spring Break is not really a break after all, but a second winter stuck at home plowing through tasks and assignments.

And yet, as I sit at my desk, looking out the window past the towering pile of papers, the new season brings its renewing sights, smells, and sounds. Outside, robins and hummingbirds convene to sing; a cardinal bird lands on the hanging branch of a nearby tree to feed its newly hatched chicks; a droplet of morning dew slides down a leaf and into the mouth of a hungry caterpillar.

While we go through life at a frantic pace, bogged down by looming deadlines and impending obligations, spring takes its time. Many of us have forgotten the magnetic pull of the outdoors and turned aside to its healing wisdom. Nature seems to have the opportunity to stop and reset. Maybe we should, too.

Im finding time to take breaks from busy work to refresh. In fact, we can all use a time-out from the ongoing drama of our daily lives. You can do something as small and simple as taking a moment to smell the hyacinth in your living room or opening the windows to let in the fresh air or looking up from your smartphone to take note of the first flower blooming on the tree, or a butterfly sitting on a leaf.

Youll be surprised by what youll discover. And those of us seemingly far too busy to stop and smell the roses will find they are most in need of a good sniff.

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This spring break, let's stop and smell the roses - literally - liherald.com

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

If youve been a Christian for any length of time, you have likely run into various arguments people make that seek to draw out the inconsistency of the conservative position on things like traditional marriage, gender ideologies, and even abortion. For todays post, I want to simply key in on one of the aforementioned issues: abortion.

The argument, as many non-Christians (and even some professing Christians) purport, is that God is largely indifferent to abortion at best, and actually supports it at worst. They lift a few key passages from the Old Testament in support of this interpretation, so my simple aim today is to handle those texts and show that how they handle these passages is intentionally sloppy. In short, it is but one of the many gotchas people seek to make that when one actually takes the time to look into their claims, turn out to not be a gotcha in any sense at all.

The first text people I want to treat briefly is Exodus 21:22-25, If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the womans husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judgesdecide. But if there isany furtherinjury, then you shall appointas a penaltylife for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (NASB95).

In this particular passage, many lift it to show that the life of the mother is seemingly more valuable than the life of the pre-born infant. There are a few reasons for this, but most of them stem from the fact that various translations will handle this text differently. If, for example, you look at the NRSV, NLT, or the MSG, the translation committees (or in the case of the Message, Eugene Peterson) chose to render the statement yet there is no injury as if it applies to the mother, rather than the infant. The rationale is that due to the text placing prominence on the life of the mother rather than the pre-born child, there is no intrinsic value assigned to the life of that child.

However, when you look at other translations such as the KJV, NASB, ESV, NIV, etc., the phrasing is more ambiguous. One can read it as if it applies to the mother, the child, or even both. This last option is how I understand the verse to be best translated and interpreted, and the reasons for this are outlined below.

It is impossible from the Hebrew to tell what the antecedent is for the one who has an injury requiring capital punishment (though it is important to note the term speaks of a fatal injury, not merely a severe one). It simply wont be conclusive, from the Hebrew, if we try to apply it to the woman or the child. There may be deliberate ambiguity simply to allow for just punishment in the death of either the mother or the child. Whats interesting here though too is that the Hebrew term used for life is actually the one used to describe the life-breath or the soul of a person. The reason I say this is interesting is that if it is intentionally ambiguous, it is a very solid argument for the pre-born having intrinsic value as a soul, rather than at birth or whenever else someone might argue.

What is even more interesting is that the text doesnt indicate the husband of the pregnant wife to be at fault here; it indicts the one whom he brawls with. What that indicates for us is relatively clear: it is a very specific instance where this case law becomes applicable. The fact that the terms of this are not broader seems to indicate a level of care around pregnant women that all should embrace, meaning that this situation is the extreme example setting the rule for all other examples. If this is the punishment even in the midst of a pregnant woman interfering in a violent encounter, which is arguably foolish, the blame falls on the opposing mans shoulders, and not her own or her husbands.

The implication then is that it is better to do whatever is in ones power to avoid the fight, than to fight a pregnant womans husband, simply because of what might potentially happen as a result. The onus isnt on the husband here either, which also makes an interesting point of highlighting that again, the value of the woman with child is intrinsically higher than that of an ordinary dispute. This is especially true when we consider that, He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.Butif he did not lie in waitfor him, butGod lethimfall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee (Ex. 21:12-13).

What this shows us is that the accidental death of another man in a fight is still not punishable by death, as they can flee to a sanctuary city. What this also shows us though is that the same is clearly not the case for a pregnant womanand this is clear in our own modern case laws as well. We intrinsically recognize that a pregnant woman is not just one life, but two, and we punish murders, unintentional homicides, etc., with that intrinsic value assumed when the victim is a mother and/or her pre-born child.

The fatal wound of either the woman or the child in vv. 22-25 here, whether accidental or not, requires death. That much is painfully clear. The non-fatal wound which arguably, doesnt even require a physical wound to be had, still requires penalty of a fine. Some might object to this as ownership of the spouse, but really, this is no different than how we handle disputes today when someone is ordered to pay restitution. Verses 24-25 further expounds on the injuries that might occur instead of a fatal injury, where the punishment must fit the crime. In any way you stretch it, the reality at hand is rather simple: the context here is deliberately ambiguous to support the notion that both the mother and her pre-born child are affirmed, in case law no less, requires Lex Talionis justice.

Many other Ancient Near Eastern societies also have similar laws, and some of them are even more explicit in determining capital punishment for both the woman and the infant. The Middle Assyrian Laws are one of the resources quoted at length for this, but it is similarly found (though more ambiguously) in Hammurabis Code (209214) and Hittite Laws (1718) as well. These laws dont give the circumstances above, which as case law, could then be argued that it was the womans own fault for interfering in such a way that either her life or the pre-born childs life came into danger. However, it does establish a clear precedent that other Semitic cultures even understood there was intrinsic value to the life of a pre-born child, and would take the life of one who caused the death of a pre-born child and/or their mother.

The other popular passage many seek to use to justify the practice of abortion is Numbers 5:11-31. I wont quote this one at length, though I would encourage you to look this one up. In this instance, the debunking of this popular myth is quite a bit easier to draw out because this is a classic case of what is called eisegesis. Eisegesis, simply defined, is the practice of reading an interpretation into the text (i.e., imposing it upon the text) rather than Exegesis, which is drawing out what the text actually says (i.e., letting the text speak for itself).

The practice being outlined here is a means to determine whether a wife has been unfaithful by having an adulterous affair. If a husband suspects this to be the case, he is to take her to the priest where an offering is to be made, and the priest is to administer bitter water for her to drink. She is then to hold the grain offering from the husband, and swear an oath before the Lord, of her faithfulness before drinking of the bitter water. If she is innocent, the bitter water will not induce the curse. However, if she is found guilty before the Lord and she has committed adultery, she will suffer the effects of the curse, which involve the swelling of her abdomen and her thigh wasting away (5:21, 27).

Many take this swelling of the abdomen to be a miscarriage induced by the bitter wateror more clearly, they believe this to be a description of the practice of abortion. It is important to note: again, some of this might be due to translational issues with the NIV and NRSV, which are the only two I can find which make explicit reference to this being some sort of miscarriage.

However, again, when one looks to the Hebrew (and a Hebrew lexicon), there is no real indication that the word swollen should be translated as a miscarriage. More clearly, this seems to be an interpretational decision that the translation committee made based on the language of the surrounding verses. In the only three instances the two different words are used to describe this process ( of vv. 22 and 27, and of v. 21), all of them are present in this chapter of Numbers.

At first glance, this could seem to be a case of ambiguity on precisely what result is described for the woman cursed of God, however, when we look at v. 28, the context becomes clearer. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive (lit. sow) children. In other words, what this section of the text is describing is barrenness, which is the inability to conceive, not the termination of life within the womb. Barrenness is widely attested to in Scripture as something that is fully within Gods control (Gen. 25:21, 29:31; Jdg. 13:2). In the span of history, barrenness was seen as a curse, and this is something that our modern era has trouble understanding the full weight of simply because we dont value children as an inheritance from God.

The only way one can arrive at that conclusion that Numbers 5 is speaking of a miscarriage though is to insert that meaning into the text. Unfortunately, it seems at least the NIV and NRSV are guilty of, which has led to no shortage of misusing and abusing this text. However, it should be noted that even if these two translations are correct, in spite of the evidences they are not, a miscarriage or stillbirth is still not the same practice as an abortion. It is also important to state that it is not the bitter water which induces the curse spoken of here, but the womans sin of adultery, which is quite clear from the context. The bitter water is the means, or vehicle, through which the curse of God is carried out, but the context remains quite clear in showing that one who has not committed adultery will not suffer the consequences to her sin.

Many will still object to this, placing the onus of the curse on God Himself, which is actually correct. God is the Giver and Taker of life. He has intrinsic right over His creation to do as He pleases, and while many may not like that, it does nothing to change that reality. In this case, indeed, He is the One who brings the curse upon the unfaithful adulteress as a form of judgment against her. Yet the overwhelming evidence at hand betrays the common tropes that God approves of abortion in the Old Testament. Even these passages that many seek to lift and exalt as examples of this fall flat when one takes just a little more time to dig more deeply into what they actually say.

Overwhelmingly, the Scriptures support not only the sanctity and dignity of life, but condemn hands that shed innocent blood. What many seek to make dubious, therefore, is nothing more than an attempt to wriggle out from underneath the multitude of very clear passages that condemn the practice of killing infants. So, my point in the end is simple. Do your due diligence and actually take a look at the text. It may take some workeven some you sense is well outside your ability, but we have so many useful resources available to us today that we can assess the merits of any argument. In the end, we must ask the question: what does the biblical text actually say, as opposed to what some want to make it say?

Go here to see the original:

Debunking Silly Leftist Teachings: Does the Old Testament Support Abortion? - Patheos

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

First it was Hanukkah, now Passover. On Saturday morning, some residents in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles woke up to find yet another antisemitic flier on their front door.

The fliers, which appear connected to similar fliers that were distributed across the region in November and December, begin with the statement, Every Single Aspect of The Ukraine-Russia War is Jewish, followed by a list of government officials.

Previous leaflets espoused similar propaganda-style hate speech, such as: Every Single Aspect of the COVID Agenda Is Jewish.

Residents in a neighborhood on the northern end of Beverly Hills started seeing the fliers about 7 a.m. Saturday, the morning after the first Passover Seder. The Los Angeles Police Department received similar reports, authorities said, and the Beverly Hills Police Department is canvassing the area and collecting all the fliers.

Its still pretty fresh, were still figuring out where they all are, said Beverly Hills Police Sgt. Ryan Dolan, who noted that there was no direct threat written in the fliers. There is no credible threat to people right now.

Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse shared a photo of the flier on Twitter and condemned the continuation of this hate speech: This was sent to me from a resident who woke up to this antisemitism at their front door along with other streets in our city and Los Angeles. During Passover and Easter weekend. Hate will NEVER Win.

Previously, police collected more than 200 fliers in Beverly Hills and found that each leaflet was enclosed in a plastic sandwich bag containing rice likely to weigh them down so that they could be thrown out of a passing car.

The fliers, which were also distributed in Pasadena and other parts of the country such as Texas and North Carolina, came on top of a spate of antisemitic incidents in Southern California.

In May, several people attacked diners outside a Westside sushi restaurant, shouting anti-Israel slogans and flying a Palestinian flag before escalating to punching and kicking. Two reports of antisemitic graffiti at West Hollywood businesses were made the week of New Years Day 2020.

In California, antisemitic incidents have risen by 40% over the last five years, Jeffrey Abrams, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles, said after the May attack. Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, has said that in 2019, Jewish people were the top target of hate crimes in L.A., Chicago and New York.

The Beverly Hills Police Department is investigating and attempting to identify the people behind Saturdays fliers. Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call the police at (310) 550-4951. Tipsters who would like to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (800) 222-8477.

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Beverly Hills residents wake up to antisemitic fliers again. Police are investigating - Los Angeles Times

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

Perhaps you have an image in your mind of people who get brainwashed by YouTube.

You might picture your cousin who loves to watch videos of cuddly animals. Then out of the blue, YouTubes algorithm plops a terrorist recruitment video at the top of the app and continues to suggest ever more extreme videos until hes persuaded to take up arms.

A new analysis adds nuance to our understanding of YouTubes role in spreading beliefs that are far outside the mainstream.

A group of academics found that YouTube rarely suggests videos that might feature conspiracy theories, extreme bigotry or quack science to people who have shown little interest in such material. And those people are unlikely to follow such computerized recommendations when they are offered. The kittens-to-terrorist pipeline is extremely uncommon.

That doesnt mean YouTube is not a force in radicalization. The paper also found that research volunteers who already held bigoted views or followed YouTube channels that frequently feature fringe beliefs were far more likely to seek out or be recommended more videos along the same lines.

The findings suggest that policymakers, internet executives and the public should focus less on the potential risk of an unwitting person being led into extremist ideology on YouTube, and more on the ways that YouTube may help validate and harden the views of people already inclined to such beliefs.

Weve understated the way that social media facilitates demand meeting supply of extreme viewpoints, said Brendan Nyhan, one of the papers co-authors and a Dartmouth College professor who studies misperceptions about politics and health care. Even a few people with extreme views can create grave harm in the world.

People watch more than one billion hours of YouTube videos daily. There are perennial concerns that the Google-owned site may amplify extremist voices, silence legitimate expression or both, similar to the worries that surround Facebook.

This is just one piece of research, and I mention below some limits of the analysis. But whats intriguing is that the research challenges the binary notion that either YouTubes algorithm risks turning any of us into monsters or that kooky things on the internet do little harm. Neither may be true.

(You can read the research paper here. A version of it was also published earlier by the Anti-Defamation League.)

Digging into the details, about 0.6 percent of research participants were responsible for about 80 percent of the total watch time for YouTube channels that were classified as extremist, such as that of the far-right figures David Duke and Mike Cernovich. (YouTube banned Dukes channel in 2020.)

Most of those people found the videos not by accident but by following web links, clicking on videos from YouTube channels that they subscribed to, or following YouTubes recommendations. About one in four videos that YouTube recommended to people watching an extreme YouTube channel were another video like it.

Only 108 times during the research about 0.02 percent of all video visits the researchers observed did someone watching a relatively conventional YouTube channel follow a computerized suggestion to an outside-the-mainstream channel when they were not already subscribed.

The analysis suggests that most of the audience for YouTube videos promoting fringe beliefs are people who want to watch them, and then YouTube feeds them more of the same. The researchers found that viewership was far more likely among the volunteers who displayed high levels of gender or racial resentment, as measured based on their responses to surveys.

Our results make clear that YouTube continues to provide a platform for alternative and extreme content to be distributed to vulnerable audiences, the researchers wrote.

Like all research, this analysis has caveats. The study was conducted in 2020, after YouTube made significant changes to curtail recommending videos that misinform people in a harmful way. That makes it difficult to know whether the patterns that researchers found in YouTube recommendations would have been different in prior years.

Independent experts also havent yet rigorously reviewed the data and analysis, and the research didnt examine in detail the relationship between watching YouTubers such as Laura Loomer and Candace Owens, some of whom the researchers named and described as having alternative channels, and viewership of extreme videos.

More studies are needed, but these findings suggest two things. First, YouTube may deserve credit for the changes it made to reduce the ways that the site pushed people to views outside the mainstream that they werent intentionally seeking out.

Second, there needs to be more conversation about how much further YouTube should go to reduce the exposure of potentially extreme or dangerous ideas to people who are inclined to believe them. Even a small minority of YouTubes audience that might regularly watch extreme videos is many millions of people.

Should YouTube make it more difficult, for example, for people to link to fringe videos something it has considered? Should the site make it harder for people who subscribe to extremist channels to automatically see those videos or be recommended similar ones? Or is the status quo fine?

This research reminds us to continually wrestle with the complicated ways that social media can both be a mirror of the nastiness in our world and reinforce it, and to resist easy explanations. There are none.

Tip of the Week

Brian X. Chen, the consumer tech columnist for The New York Times, is here to break down what you need to know about online tracking.

Last week, listeners to the KQED Forum radio program asked me questions about internet privacy. Our conversation illuminated just how concerned many people were about having their digital activity monitored and how confused they were about what they could do.

Heres a rundown that I hope will help On Tech readers.

There are two broad types of digital tracking. Third-party tracking is what we often find creepy. If you visit a shoe website and it logs what you looked at, you might then keep seeing ads for those shoes everywhere else online. Repeated across many websites and apps, marketers compile a record of your activity to target ads at you.

If youre concerned about this, you can try a web browser such as Firefox or Brave that automatically blocks this type of tracking. Google says that its Chrome web browser will do the same in 2023. Last year, Apple gave iPhone owners the option to say no to this type of online surveillance in apps, and Android phone owners will have a similar option at some point.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can download tracker blockers, like uBlock Origin or an app called 1Blocker.

The squeeze on third-party tracking has shifted the focus to first-party data collection, which is what a website or app is monitoring when you use its product.

If you search for directions to a Chinese restaurant in a mapping app, the app might assume that you like Chinese food and allow other Chinese restaurants to advertise to you. Many people consider this less creepy and potentially useful.

You dont have much choice if you want to avoid first-party tracking other than not using a website or app. You could also use the app or website without logging in to minimize the information that is collected, although that may limit what youre able to do there.

Barack Obama crusades against disinformation: The former president is starting to spread a message about the risks of online falsehoods. Hes wading into a fierce but inconclusive debate over how best to restore trust online, my colleagues Steven Lee Myers and Cecilia Kang reported.

Elon Musks funding is apparently secured: The chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX detailed the loans and other financing commitments for his roughly $46.5 billion offer to buy Twitter. Twitters board must decide whether to accept, and Musk has suggested that he wanted to instead let Twitter shareholders decide for themselves.

Three ways to cut your tech spending: Brian Chen has tips on how to identify which online subscriptions you might want to trim, save money on your cellphone bill and decide when you might (and might not) need a new phone.

Welcome to a penguin chicks first swim.

We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else youd like us to explore. You can reach us at ontech@nytimes.com.

If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here. You can also read past On Tech columns.

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The YouTube Rabbit Hole Is Nuanced - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

What's at stake:For the first time in 25 years, Pittsburgh will have a new representative in Congress. Longtime U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, a Democrat, announced his retirement last fall. Some candidates running this spring say Doyles departure gives voters the opportunity to have a more outspoken, progressive voice in Washington, DC. But this election will still have a Mike Doyle on the ballot: A Republican by the same name is running.

Further reading: "Few policy differences in 12th Congressional District debate, but contrasts in style, philosophy" (Chris Potter, WESA)"Israel emerges as issue in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District race" (Chris Potter, WESA)

Note: Campaign finance data updated 4/18/22.

Jerry Dickinson

Courtesy the Dickinson campaign

Dickinson is a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who lives in Swissvale. He first sought election to Congress in 2020 as a progressive challenging the incumbent Doyle, and he ran on expanding access to health care, climate justice, and making Pittsburgh a livable place for Black residents. Dickinson grew up in the foster care system with 10 brothers and sisters in Shaler Township.

Party: Democrat Experience:Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Law (2020 present)Education: College of the Holy Cross (B.A.); Fordham University (J.D.)Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTokCandidate surveys: League of Women VotersMajor endorsements: Teamsters Joint Council No. 40; former Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Jim Burn; multiple current and former local elected officials and community leaders; more here.Fundraising Total: $614,956Cash on hand: $215,513More on campaign finance: Federal Election CommissionWorth reading: "Pitt professor releasing video to bolster run for Congress" (Julian Routh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Steve Irwin

Jesse Irwin

/

Courtesy the Irwin campaign

Irwin is an attorney who specializes in business and labor law. He lives in Squirrel Hill. Earlier in his career, he worked as an aide to former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and has organized and raised funds for local Democratic efforts. He is a cantor at the Tree of Life Synagogue, although he wasnt there during the 2018 mass shooting. Hes held leadership positions in groups such as Sustainable Pittsburgh, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, and a regional chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.

Party: Democrat Experience:Host, Political Jungle, Pittsburgh Community Television (2015 present); service on boards of infrastructure and securities commissions including Pittsburgh Parking Authority and Southwestern Pennsylvania CommissionEducation:Harvard University (A.B.); Georgetown University (J.D.)Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | InstagramCandidate surveys: League of Women VotersMajor endorsements: Allegheny County Democratic Committee; retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.-18), Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill PedutoFundraising Total: $953,403Cash on hand: $614,381More on campaign finance: Federal Election CommissionWorth reading: "Pittsburgh attorney Steve Irwin joins race to replace Doyle" (Chris Potter, WESA)

Summer Lee

Lee represents Pittsburgh communities such as Regent Square, Braddock and Rankin in the state House. She was first elected in 2018 after beating out longtime Democrat Paul Costa by running on a platform centered on environmental and social justice issues. In Harrisburg, she has been a strong voice on issues such as police accountability. Earlier this year, she was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Party: Democrat Experience:Pennsylvania House of Representatives 34th District (2019 present)Education: Penn State University (BA); Howard University (J.D.)Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | InstagramCandidate surveys: League of Women VotersMajor endorsements: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Presley (Md.-7); Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey; state Sen. Nik Saval (Philadelphia); 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club. More here.Fundraising Total: $574,815Cash on hand: $382,626More on campaign finance: Federal Election CommissionWorth reading: "'We dont have time anymore to wait': Summer Lee announces Congressional bid" (Chris Potter, WESA)

Will Parker

Parker lives in Garfield and is a Pittsburgh native who previously ran an abortive campaign for mayor last year. He did not respond to interview requests about his campaign.

Party: Democrat Links: Website | Twitter | InstagramCandidate surveys: League of Women VotersMajor endorsements: None currently availableFundraising Total: $0Cash on hand: $0More on campaign finance: Has not filed with the FEC

Jeff Woodard

Courtesy the Woodward campaign

Woodard is executive director of the Pennsylvania College Access program, an organization that helps low-income high school students enroll in higher education. Hes been active in local politics and is from Erie. Woodard also taught as an adjunct professor at Robert Morris University and the Community College of Allegheny County. He lives in Oakland.

Party: Democrat Experience:College Access Program Administrator, Office of the PA Lieutenant Governor (2000 -- present)Education:Carlow University (B.A.); Point Park University (M.S., M.B.A.)Links: Website | YouTubeCandidate surveys: League of Women VotersMajor endorsements: None currently availableFundraising Total: $1,010Cash on hand: $210More on campaign finance: Federal Election Commission

Mike Doyle

Courtesy the Doyle campaign

Doyle lives in Plum and is a vice president of an insurance company. He has also served as a member of the Plum Borough Council since 2005. Though he shares the same name as the Mike Doyle who has represented the Pittsburgh region in Congress for the past 25 years, they are different people.

Party: RepublicanExperience: Plum Borough Council (2006 present)Education: Kings College (B.S.)Links: Not yet announcedCandidate surveys: League of Women VotersMajor endorsements: None currently availableFundraising Total: Not yet announcedCash on hand: Not yet announcedMore on campaign finance: Federal Election Commission

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Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District: A guide to the 2022 primary and candidates - 90.5 WESA

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

As talks for the United States and Iran to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) appear to be stalled due to lingering differences, information that American negotiators may remove the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation from a branch of Irans armed forces complicit in international terrorism in an effort to appease Iran has caused concern from Jewish groups.

On Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League Task Force on Middle East Minorities expressed in a news release that it opposed the possible removal of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the list of FTOs, saying that the group was primarily responsible for training and funding Islamic terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, as well as many other groups.

It also stated that it opposed efforts to distinguish between the status of the international terrorist activities conducted by the IRGCs Quds Force and its activities inside Iran.

These minorities threatened in Iran or by Iranor threatened by Tehrans proxies like the Houthis, Hezbollah and othersare begging the United States to tighten the pressure on the IRGC, not loosen it now, said Sharon Nazarian, ADLs senior vice president for international affairs and task force chair. The alternative is just more hate, more terrorism, more death.

The task force also called on the Biden administration to redesignate the Houthis as an FTO after it was removed from the list in early 2021, about a month after its designation by the former administration, hoping that the move will allow humanitarian aid to reach those affected by the conflict in Yemen.

Instead, according to the release, the Houthis continue to routinely block humanitarian aid from reaching those in need and have escalated their terrorist activities, threatening Israel and minority communities in Yemen. The group has also launched Iran-supplied rockets and drones indiscriminately towards cities such as Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, which have large populations of expatriate Americans.

The United States government must keep the IRGC terrorist designation in its entirety and must put the Houthis back on the list, said task force co-chair Rev. Johnnie Moore, a former two-time appointee to the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom. Democrats and Republicans must make this is as a red line in U.S. foreign policy. Theres no room for partisan wrangling on this one; too many vulnerable lives are directly in the crosshairs. The alternative is tantamount to inviting more destabilization in a world already on fire.

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ADL task force calls on administration to keep IRGC on foreign terror list - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

Ilana Toweg, right, and her husband Doron field countless prayer requests because of their prominence as Israel farmers strictly observing shmita, Jewish laws about letting farmland lie fallow every seven years. (Deborah Danan via JTA.org)

By Deborah Danan

MOSHAV AZARIA, Israel Doron Towegs farmyard is as quiet, peaceful and unruffled as his voice. Apart from the occasional bleat from Gila and Simcha, two sheep kept by Toweg and his wife Ilana, the farm is perfectly still.

Its a far cry from the bustle that unfolded on a daily basis here prior to Rosh Hashanah holidays of years past, when the chatter of Thai farmhands competed with the rumble of idling tractors the kind Toweg drove inTV ads for Strauss, one of Israels largest food distributors, back when he was the companys exclusive eggplant supplier.

That came to an end in 2014, when Toweg deliberately destroyed his entire eggplant crop. He injected their irrigation lines with poison in a dramatic effort to comply with a biblical commandment requiring Jews to let their fields lie fallow every seven years.

Strauss thought Id fallen on my head, Toweg said about the distribution company after he announced his plans to comply fastidiously with the rules relating tothe commandment, called shmita.

The company severed ties with him. His other customers, contractors and creditors were far from pleased, as well.

Yet the sudden spiritual turn made Toweg, a third-generation farmer in central Israel, a guru for a growing movement of Orthodox Jews in Israel and beyond who want more farmers to eschew a loophole that has allowed Jews to continue working their land and making a profit from their crops during shmita years.

Another shmita year began with Rosh Hashanah in September. In its first two weeks, Toweg estimates, 3,000 people came to the farm seeking blessings from him. The first was a man in full haredi garb holding a crumpled piece of paper with a directive by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, perhaps the foremost rabbinic authority among haredi Jews whosefuneral last month was one of the largest in Israels history.

The note instructed the man to seek out a blessing from a farmer who keeps shmita because there is no one more faithful.

Doron Toweg stands below a sign provided by Keren Hashviis, a group that supports Jewish farmers in Israel who obey shmita laws. (Deborah Danan via JTA.org)

As the farmers wife and the catalyst for her husbands faith, Ilana Toweg has become an unwitting miracle worker, delivering hope for scores of people who arrived at her doorstep begging her to intervene on their behalf and appeal to God to bless them with good health, a child or a spouse. Every Friday evening after lighting the Shabbat candles, Ilana spends upwards of two and a half hours reading the requests she received.

Ilana Toweg was also part of an event hosted by Jamie Geller, Orthodoxys answer to lifestyle guru Rachael Ray, that drew 4,000 women to Jerusalem in late February.

At one point, Geller surprised Ilana Toweg by inviting her up on stage to meet two Hasidic women to whom she had given a blessing back in 2014. The women, who had been struggling with infertility, gave birth to boys, including a set of twins, on the same day nine and a half months after receiving a blessing from Toweg.

I was shaking and crying and extremely emotional, Toweg said of meeting them. But, she added, smiling, theres a huge sense of responsibility knowing that anyone who asks me for a baby might now expect to give birth in nine and half months.

Celebrity chef Jamie Geller and others speak at a shmita event held by Nshei Keren Hashviis at Binyanei Hauma in Jerusalem on Feb. 27. (Courtesy Yecheskel Itkin via JTA.org)

The event was organized by Keren Hashviis, an organization that is the engine of the shmita movement. The group is spending $66 million this year to subsidize Israeli farmers who arent producing crops. Seven years ago, during the last shmita year, the groups budget was just $27 million.

Shmita applies only to land in Israel that is owned by Jews. (Some Jewish farmers outside of Israelare engaging with shmitadespite not facing any religious obligation.) Half of all that land is fallow this year, compared to a quarter seven years ago, according to Keren Hashviis North American CEO, Shia Markowitz.

The mitzvah of shmita is every Jews no matter where he lives. But since we cant all do it [on a practical level], God created another way for us to all do it together, he said. Its the ultimate unifier.

Deciding to comply with the strictures of shmita wasnt easy for Doron Toweg. Although he is not Orthodox himself, he already followed many of the agricultural-related commandments such as tithes and orlah, or waiting three years before using the fruit from a newly planted tree.

But when it came to shmita he had always relied on the rabbinic loophole known in Hebrew as a heter mechira that allows for the symbolic sale of farms to non-Jews for the duration of the sabbatical year. The loophole is similar to the one that allows Jews tosell their chametz, or food that is not kosher for Passover, to non-Jews during Passover.

Ilana Toweg had already declared that her husband would observe the next shmita year for non-religious reasons It was for completely selfish reasons. I wanted him to rest, she said when a chance encounter with a young haredi Orthodox Jew a month before Rosh Hashanah in 2014 cemented Doron Towegs resolve.

He told me, Youll give up so easily on a mitzvah that weve waited 2,000 years in exile to be able to perform? Toweg recalled. That touched something inside of me and I thought, if I wont do this mitzvah, who will?

At first, Toweg decided to allow only his open fields, totaling around 100 acres, to lie fallow, but to keep the greenhouses under the loophole formula he had used until then. Immediately after Rosh Hashanah and the start of the shmita year, he planted 20,000 eggplant saplings.

But then representatives from Keren Hashviis told him they wouldnt assist him unless he kept shmita in its entirety.

Toweg agreed, and at the organizations rabbis instruction, he turned off the water for the eggplants to allow them to die. The rabbis expected the plants to die within a week and a half, but Toweg knew better. Eggplants are sturdy vegetables that can last a while without water. More than a month later the starved plants had grown to 2 feet and showed no intention of surrendering. Uprooting the plants was impossible so the only choice left was to inject a disinfecting agent into the irrigation system. When released, the chemical would turn to gas and the plants would die.

For so long these plants had been waiting for water, and finally they hear the system being turned on but its not water, its gas. Poison, Toweg said, his voice steady. Of course theres this association with Jews who wait for water but it turns out to be gas and suddenly everyone dies. That was a difficult stage for me.

Doron Toweg is not tending his farms crops this year, in keeping with a strict interpretation of Jewish law. (Deborah Danan via JTA.org)

Payments from Keren Hashviis have mitigated the challenge. The group is supporting more than 3,500 farmers over 169,500 acres of land, contributing up to 45% of each farmers operating expenses and covering big-ticket items like rent and combines. The organization will help in other ways as well, for example liaising with relevant governmental bodies and negotiating with landlords to lower rents during shmita.

What it wont do is directly replace lost income. But there are other sources of support for Israeli farmers, including small subsidies from the government and donations from women, many elicited by Geller.

The celebrity chef, who did not grow up Orthodox, said she was deeply touched by the stories she heard from Israeli farmers while sourcing Israeli honey and spices for her line of foods. She launched her own campaign,Support Our Farmers, which raises funds from all Jews regardless of religious affiliation and with a mission that goes beyond facilitating shmita.

Food is an incredible way to connect people to their identity and heritage. But the next generation wont carry on farming because big business has taken over, Geller said. She noted that the average age of Israeli farmers is 65 with farmers accounting for only less than 1% of the population. (Farmers account for 2-3% of the population in other developed nations.)

Farmers Avigael and Eliezer Sapir walk across their land with celebrity chef Jamie Geller, who is supporting Israeli farmers who observe Judaisms agriculture sabbatical year. (Courtesy Margulis Lebovits via JTA.org)

Geller said educating and raising awareness about shmita has been a mammoth task. A marketing poll she carried out prior to the launch of her campaign found that 50% of respondents thought that shmita was synonymous with shmatta, the Yiddish word for rag.

I myself grew up in a very Jewish and Zionist home, marching in the Israel Day Parade every year. Why didnt I know about shmita? the Philadelphia native asked.

But not everyone in Israel, including within its religious leadership, agrees that strictly abiding by shmita is necessary or even preferred. Proponents of heter mechira within Israels national religious bloc what Americans might refer to as Modern Orthodox regard the 125-year-old loophole not only as legitimate but optimal. They think preserving Israels agricultural solvency as well as the livelihoods of individual farmers is of paramount importance, and relying on foreign-grown produce or that grown by non-Jews is antithetical to many of religious Zionisms central tenets.

Rabbi Ari Kahn, a senior lecturer in Jewish studies at Bar-Ilan University, argues that modern-day realities can and should trump other considerations, including the most stringent interpretations of Jewish law.

The response to what is ideal depends on the reality youre dealing with. If youre dealing with a fantasy about the messianic age, then the response would be one thing. But if youre dealing with the modern state of Israel, with a large percentage of non-religious and non-Jewish people, then the ideal is heter mechira, Kahn said.

According to Markowitz, there are problems with heter mechira. At the top of the list, he said, is that there isnt any oversight ensuring that all the halachic, or Jewish legal, conditions are met.

Rabbi Shia Markovitz of Keren Hashviis poses with one of the Israeli farmers that his organization subsidizes during shmita years, when they do not farm their land. (Courtesy Keren Hashviis via JTA.org)

From the moment the farmer signs the heter mechira document, there is zero supervision. There is no one coming to check that Jews arent working the land [and violating] halacha, he said.

Kahn concedes that he is not aware of any supervision throughout the year on the part of the Israeli Rabbinate, but maintains that over the years many steps have been taken to fine-tune the provisos of heter mechira. For example, the Rabbinate now coordinates with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the sales are legally binding in a civil court and not just a rabbinic one.

(A third option for observing shmita is a practice called otzar beit din in which the rabbinic court takes ownership of the land, thereby rendering it ownerless. And in some cases,farmers might get special permission to cultivate crops in hothousesthat do not require planting in the ground.)

For the Towegs, there are myriad reasons to observe shmita fully and not enough to continue justifying heter mechira.

While it might be difficult for the farmers, its still possible to keep shmita properly today because there is not the risk of starvation there once was, Ilana Toweg said.

In addition to the agricultural benefits of allowing the soil to rest, Toweg also notes the environmental impact of shmita. Shmita ingrains values, she said, that dovetail with sustainability practices espoused byJewish environmental activists in recent years. But apart from saving vast amounts of water and energy, the financial constraints have compelled the Towegs into a life of reduced consumption.

Having to tighten your belt makes you think about everything you buy before you buy it, she said.

Nevertheless, Toweg said, it was the spiritual and emotional growth that kept her and her husband in the game this shmita cycle.

Its about getting proportions and remembering whats important in life, she said. You stop the rat race and suddenly you have time to focus on the spiritual and time to spend with your family.

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Posted By admin on April 23, 2022

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Four days after Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a museum burned in Ivankiv, a town to the northwest of Kyiv, which held paintings by the internationally acclaimed Ukrainian folk artist Maria Primachenko. For cultural workers in Ukraine and those watching from elsewhere in the world, it was a confirmation of fears that this war would see the destruction of Ukraines heritage, much like that in Georgia and Syria where Russia has been a party to the conflict. Even before this new offensive in Ukraine, evidence mounted that Russia was using cultural heritage as a form of propaganda to reinforce Russias irredentist territorial claims. Now, escalating cultural heritage losses might not just be a sign of unfortunate collateral damage, but part of a deliberate Russian strategy to undermine Ukrainian cultural identity and its claims to nationhood.

By April 1, 2022, the Ukrainian Culture Foundation had identified more than 150 partially damaged or destroyed cultural sites. International researchers have been watching and have reached similar conclusions. The Virginia Museum of Natural Historys Cultural Heritage Monitoring Laboratory has been tracking over 26,000 cultural sites across Ukraine. As of April 6, the team had identified 191 potential impacts to archaeological sites, art centers, monuments, memorials, museums, and places of worship using satellite sensor analysis. UNESCO, working with UNITAR, has conducted a preliminary assessment, and, as of April 14, found damage to 47 religious buildings, 28 historical buildings, 12 monuments, nine museums, three theaters, and three libraries.

International humanitarian law protects cultural heritage sites during armed conflict. The 1954 Hague Convention requires state parties to refrain from targeting cultural sites and collections repositories except in limited cases of imperative military necessity. The OSCEs major fact-finding report earlier this month concluded it is highly unlikely that those very exceptional circumstances were fulfilled across all the cases of destruction of cultural sites by Russian forces. Russias track record of targeting hospitals as well as significant cultural sites in Syria suggests that Russia has little regard for international norms.

In March 2022, U.S. President Joseph Biden announced the establishment of a conflict observatory on Ukraine, which will gather documentation intended to hold Russia accountable for its actions. Several European states have also initiated war crimes investigations, and the International Criminal Court is also on the case. If cultural heritage destruction is included in these efforts, it will send a powerful message that cultural targeting will not be tolerated by law-abiding states and the international community. Yet, if past is prologue, accountability alone will not act as a restraining factor to Russian attacks upon Ukrainian civilians, civilian infrastructure, and cultural institutions.

With this sober reality, Ukrainian cultural workers have taken steps to protect important cultural sites and museum collections. They have received an outpouring of support from the international cultural community. As the war enters into its third month, and Russia prepares for an expanded campaign in eastern Ukraine, there are five considerations international policymakers and donors need to consider for protecting the countrys culture.

First, donors should pay attention to emerging local networks, which can support heritage professionals, integrate local volunteers, and act quickly as the frontlines shift and new needs arise. Recent lessons learned from conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are instructive. Even in the most dire circumstances, dedicated heritage professionals and volunteers have successfully stabilized cultural sites or salvaged damaged collections. Most of these efforts were completed with relatively modest amounts of funding. The key to their success was accessibility to quick financial support. Inexpensive, high-impact projects are the best prospect for safeguarding Ukrainian heritage from additional damage. Already, the Prince Claus Funds Cultural Emergency Response Programme and the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas have taken steps to respond within their capacity. But more donor organizations are needed, especially those that have the capacity to reach local networks. Inside the country, the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative, HERI, has had significant reach across Ukrainian cultural institutions. Coordinated by Ihor Poshyvailo, the director of the Maidan Museum, HERI brings together cultural workers, members of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and committed volunteers to provide emergency assistance and training to cultural institutions. Local community-driven networks, such as HERI, will have the most ability to act in the weeks and months ahead.

Second, whether this war ends quickly or drags on into a stalemate, there will be a financial need for long-term assistance for Ukraines cultural institutions and the experts who sustain them. Support in the cultural sector will be considerable for the duration of this conflict as well as during the reconstruction period. International friends organizations will be necessary to support specific cultural institutions in Ukraine. An excellent start would be for the cultural institutions in Ukraines American sister cities come together, draw upon their collective expertise, pool their limited funds, and offer direct support to partner cultural institutions and workers. Such an initiative would see Chicago reach out to Kyiv, Cincinnati to Kharkiv, and Birmingham to Vinnytsia, for example. Twenty-three American cities have these partnerships.

Many universities also have cooperative partnerships with Ukraine, which can be activated to support educational programs as well as cultural institutions. Moreover, the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs may be able to enhance its existing exchange programs and to amplify the reach of preexisting city-to-city, institution-to-institution, and scholar-to-scholar collaborations.

Third, policymakers and cultural institutions supporting Ukrainian colleagues need to prepare now for a long-term conflict. Much of the vital work completed thus far in Ukraine has focused on emergency actions that protect cultural sites in place or stabilize cultural collections. If this conflict continues and there is widespread economic disruption in Ukraine, there will be additional need to focus on financial support for temporary replacement of cultural collections. Some of this work will involve, when possible, the salvage and documentation of damaged sites and collections. But temporary replacement support helps to disincentivize risk-taking and reduces the possibility that cultural workers would feel obliged to undertake activities that would place their lives at significant risk. Such an intervention necessitates having a strong partnership between organizing partners and implementing non-governmental organizations in Ukraine and nearby countries. What is more, the situation in Ukraine should prompt us to look at other areas of Russian military activity and malign influence, especially where cultural heritage has been implicated. A renewed look at support for cultural workers in Georgia, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Syria is urgently needed.

Fourth, international law enforcement agencies, museums, and art market participants must increase their vigilance for looted cultural property coming from Ukraine and Ukraines citizens. Widespread reports of property looting by Russian military forces raises the possibility that valuable artwork may have been similarly expropriated. Following the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea, experts had raised concerns about the unlawful transfer of cultural property from Russian-occupied Ukraine to Russian territory. In 2014, UNESCO expressed alarm at reports of the massive transfer of priceless cultural objects from Crimean museums to the Russian capital. Similar fears came a year later, when the archaeological finds at the ancient Greek city of Chersonesus, just outside of Sevastopol, were placed under direct federal oversight from Moscow. If there has been systematic pillage of cultural property in Ukraine, it may take years for the extent to be clear, and even longer to return the works to their owners. Challenges remain to this day over identifying and restituting artwork to Jewish families, who were victims of Nazi Germany in the Holocaust. Many museums in Eastern Europe are still seeking the return of missing artworks stolen by organized Nazi looting and Russian theft from the same era. Assembling collections registers and watch lists for recently stolen artwork can help facilitate the work of return in the future.

Finally, policymakers and human rights advocates need to consider the steps required to protect the cultural workers safeguarding Ukraines heritage. Wartime reversals may exacerbate the current humanitarian crisis, and cultural workers may be targeted precisely for their efforts. In 2018, separatist forces captured Olena Pekh, a museum researcher, accused her of espionage, and subjected her to prolonged torture. Karima Bennoune, the former UN Special Rapporteur for Cultural Rights, described the experts, activists, and ordinary people who defend the human right to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement as cultural rights defenders. Many will stay behind, long after it is unsafe, to secure collections and to maintain the cultural memory of their communities. Because Russian propaganda and rhetoric is focused on delegitimizing Ukrainian cultural identity, it is likely that Ukrainian cultural workers will respond by even more intensely protecting their countrys heritage. When a government denies the cultural legitimacy of a specific community, a powerful act of political resistance is to protect that identity. If the situation deteriorates even further, we owe it to our Ukrainian colleagues to support their efforts at safe relocation and political asylum.

These five considerations look toward what comes next for Ukrainian cultural heritage. Already, because of the work of HERI and others, cultural institutions have mobilized rapidly in response to the Russian invasion. More needs to be done, however, as the conflict continues and the global cultural community looks forward to the day when reconstruction can come.

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How Can We Protect Cultural Heritage in Ukraine? Five Key Steps for the Int'l Community - Just Security

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2022

Seton Hill University Theatre will present the Pittsburgh-area premiere of Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea, a 2014 play by Nathan Alan Davis that explores what ancestry means to people of color, specifically those whose African ancestors were taken into slavery.

Curtain times will be 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the universitys Performing Arts Center at 100 Harrison Ave., Greensburg.

The play tells the story of 18-year-old Dontrell Jones who, responding to a vision, decides that it is his duty and destiny to search the Atlantic Ocean for an ancestor lost during the Middle Passage.

Dontrells connection is made through bodies of water because that is where his ancestor calls him from, said assistant director and dramaturg Devon Young.

His family, however, is not ready to abandon their beloved son to his heroic quest.

Mixing poetry, humor, wordplay and ritual, Dontrell also draws on traditions and spiritual beliefs of the Yoruba people, whose homeland is present-day Nigeria.

According to Concord Theatricals, the play delves into the lengths and depths we must go to redeem historys wrongs.

All but one of the cast members are people of color, according to director NaTasha Thompson, a 2021 master of fine arts graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in directing.

Thompsons research identifies intersections of Afro-Surrealism and Afro-Futurism in the Black theater canon.

(The production) is part of an ongoing determination to be more diverse, to celebrate artists of color and their work. This is just a start for that, said Denise Pullen, Seton Hill Theatre and Dance Department chair. The whole point is to have the students do something that is part of their culture and also their lived experience.

Cast members are Channing Griffin of Munhall; Alexandra Hellinger of Allison Park; Diante Jackson of Greensburg; Ryan Deshyla Jordan of Liberty Township, Ohio; Stacey Fils of Boardman, Ohio; and Saffron White and Todd Griffin, both of Pittsburgh.

Guest artistic staff includes choreographer Chrisala M. Brown and percussionist Dante Mitchell.

Brown has been choreographing, teaching and performing in Pittsburgh for more than 20 years. Her formal training began in Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and Dance Alloy. She has a dance performance degree from Temple University.

An accomplished West African percussionist, Mitchell has studied and performed West African culture for more than 25 years. He is co-founder of The Ibeyi West African Drum and Dance Company and a member of Kuumba Inc., a Monroeville-based education and performing arts consulting company.

Dontrell is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French Inc.

Tickets are $15, $5 for Seton Hill students with valid ID and $13 with other student ID, and are available by calling 724-552-2929 or online at setonhill.edu/tickets. Students from any school can purchase rush tickets five minutes before curtain, subject to availability.

Hours at the Performing Arts Center box office are 2-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and three hours before a performance.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley at 724-836-5750, smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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Seton Hill theater production explores ancestry and the African diaspora - TribLIVE

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