Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

We shouldnt have to listen to Jews on this campus.

Jews deserve antisemitism because of Israels atrocities.

How does it feel to have killed Jesus?

Above are only a few examples of the antisemitism experienced by Notre Dame students this academic year. There are certainly more, as documented in Antisemitic Instances provided by the Jewish Club. They highlight how antisemitism operates on an educational, social, political and religious level on this campus.

These events also dont occur in a vacuum. Last year was the most antisemitic year globally in the last decade, with hatred against Jews manifesting on the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. One only has to glance at the ADL= H.E.A.T. Map to realize that the antisemitism that motivated Februarys hostage situation at a Texas synagogue is a persistent, ingrained problem in the United States. Despite comprising little more than 2% of the U.S. population, Jews are the targets of over half of religious-based hate crimes. On college campuses, an ADL-Hillel survey found that nearly one-third of Jewish students experienced some form of antisemitism last year.

In response to the threat of antisemitism, the Jewish Club proudly presents the second annual Antisemitism Awareness Week. While advocacy groups have achieved notable work to combat antisemitism, more can always be done. As one of the worlds oldest forms of hatred, antisemitism capitalizes on misperceptions of Jews and lack of adequate knowledge about Judaism. Antisemites aim to weaponize these misunderstandings into persecution, discrimination and violence against Jews. This hatred often coincides with bigotry against other groups, which emphasizes the need to address this issue. For the safety of Jews and other marginalized groups, understanding and combating antisemitism is essential.

Last year, our inaugural event was a resounding success. Despite an antisemitic Zoom bombing, the student body demonstrated strong support for Jewish students and faculty, including the student senates unanimous approval of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. This year, we invite the Notre Dame community to continue this vital dialogue to promote inclusivity of Jewish and other non-Catholic members of the Notre Dame family.

Events like Antisemitism Awareness Week are integral to the Catholic character of Notre Dame. Nostra Aetate, the monumental Church declaration that affirmed positive relations between Catholics and Jews, emphasizes mutual understanding between the two religions as the fruit of biblical and theological studies as well as of fraternal dialogues. Cultivating that dialogue is the responsibility of educational institutions like Notre Dame, according to another Church document. Engagement with the Jewish community is an essential component to Notre Dames Catholic mission, particularly on the issue of antisemitism. Antisemitism Awareness Week is an opportunity to participate in interfaith dialogue that ultimately strengthens the faith of all members of the Notre Dame family, whether they are Catholic, Jewish or any other faith.

Below is information on our events for the week. Everyone in the Notre Dame community is welcome to attend, regardless of your connection (or lack thereof) to Judaism. Refreshments are available at events. Please be sure to also follow @jewishclubnd on Instagram for updates throughout the week.

Monday, March 28, 4 p.m. DeBartolo Hall 216 | The State of Antisemitism in America with Sarah van Loon, Regional Director of American Jewish Committee (AJC) Chicago

Tuesday, March 29, 6 p.m. DeBartolo Hall 136 | Judaism at Notre Dame: A Panel Discussion with Jewish Students and Faculty

Wednesday, March 30, 6 p.m. Coleman-Morse Lounge | Holocaust Prayer Service: A Memorial Ceremony

Thursday, March 31, 5 p.m. DeBartolo Hall 141 | Anti-Zionism & Antisemitism: A Presentation by Trent Spoolstra from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

Thursday, March 31, 7 p.m. LaFortune Montgomery Auditorium | IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism Information Session (Learn how to support our effort for Notre Dames adoption of an official antisemitism definition!)

Friday, April 1, 5 p.m. McNeill Room in LaFortune Student Center | Bystander Training for Microaggressions

Friday, April 1, 7 p.m. Duncan Student Center W229 | Shabbat Celebration (Join the Jewish Club to celebrate the Sabbath!)

On behalf of the Jewish Club of Notre Dame,

Bella Niforatos

co-president

March 28

The views expressed in this Letter to the Editor are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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The Jewish Club presents Antisemitism Awareness Week 2022 // The - Observer Online

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

Ramadan is just around the corner, so gird your loins and light your lambs, literally and figuratively. To endure the hardships of fasting and going on about our day with no food, water, and most difficult of all, no profanity! Its sad that only we Muslims have to endure all of that for an entire month every year, right? Wrong, it is well-known that other religions, Abrahamic or not have the practice of fasting as one of their pillars to be a part of the religion. But why is that? How did that specific practice end up in all our lives no matter where we are from or what we believe in?

People who follow any of the three Abrahamic religions, especially in the MENA region might not always see eye to eye with our attitude of an eye for an eye. But Judaism, Christianity, and Islam sometimes feel like theyre borderline identical. And thats exactly the case with fasting.

Mentioning only the more well-known fastings here, in Judaism, there are six main days of fasting. Two days for full fasting are known as Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. And Tisha BAv or the ninth of Av. the two major fasting days last for 25 hours with no eating, drinking, and other restriction that vary with every fasting.

In Christianity the most famous fasting in Lent, typically observed in Roman Catholicism, lasts for 46 days it starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Palm Saturday or Sunday depending on different things.

In Islam, the holy month of Ramadan in the Islamic Calendar is observed for fasting, refraining from eating, drinking, and any other consumption.

Other religions also have fasting embedded in their practices, in Hinduism for example, the most commonly observed fast, Ekadashi, is approximate twice a month, on the eleventh day of each ascending and descending moon. Also, The celebration at the beginning of the year, in honor of Shiva, is another important occasion. And, during the months of July and August, many Hindus eat a vegetarian diet and fast on Mondays and Saturdays until the evening.

In Indian Mahayana Buddhists practiced the abstention of food afternoon as other Indian Buddhists. They sometimes had their own unique fasting practices. One of the most popular of these was a one-day fast associated with the cult of Amoghapa. An avatar or reincarnation of Buddha.

Chinese Buddhist practice is termed Zhaijie (eight-fold fast), one of the most important forms of fasting historically. During it, a person was expected to avoid all meat, and fish, this includes not eating afternoon. The duration of the fast varied; common forms were a six-day fast, a three-day fast, and a nine-day fast.

In the Japanese Buddhist sects of Tendai and Shingon, the practice of total fasting for a length of time like a week is one of the qualifications for becoming an Acarya, a master teacher. The Tendai schools grueling practice of kaihgy ends with a nine-day period of fasting, which is a total abstention from food and drink. This practice is thought to be effective at producing spiritual power and having cleansing properties and promoting mental clarity.

Fasting is also practiced in Korean Seon Buddhism, as a supplement to meditation and as part of training called Geumchok.

It is clear that religions all use fasting as a pillar practice for their followers, no matter how many days or different names and periods there is to fast. The general consensus in most if not all religions is that fasting helps a person physically and mentally, basically like dieting. On a deeper level, it helps elevate the person spiritually, because by refraining from the basic human needs like thirst and hunger, one can elevate himself from needing any other news that is mostly deemed as dirty or sin in these religions. However, something unique to Judaism and Islam is that fasting is considered a way to repent from sin and protect oneself from the wrath of God.

Finally, were all humans at the end of the day, fasting, and many other aspects of the many religions there are, are just one more proof that all of us look for control, and crave a balance that might grant happiness, not through the dire need for consumption, but through the complete opposite of it, to refrain.

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From Ramadan To Lent: Why Fasting Is More Common Than You Think - Scoop Empire

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

While measuring time can turn into an obsession, there is no question that it is very useful. Imagine, for example, fixing a simple meeting without being able to point to a time and date. It boggles the mind!

Natural cycles are the obvious key. Days, months and years are all measurements of visible cycles. While the cycles themselves are relatively easy to identify, where to mark its beginning is usually more complicated. Months are the most straightforward given that they mark the lunar cycle, it seems intuitive to begin with the first appearance of the moon. Days are a little trickier, as one could either begin with the sunset or the sunrise. Most difficult of all, however, is what marker to use as the beginning of the year. It is presumably because of this difficulty that many ancient cultures chose to determine the beginning of the year artificially, meaning not corresponding to any natural event. Hence these cultures dated their years from the beginning of a certain kings ascendance to the throne or some other historical event.

Yet even if the natural markers for the beginning of the year are less clear, they do exist. Many cultures identified either the Spring or Autumn equinox as such a marker. In the case of Judaism, we actually chose both!

If the above may sound strange, it is important to remember that the Torah does not tell us when the world was created. And if you think that it is nevertheless clear that the Jewish tradition holds that Rosh Hashanah is the date of the worlds creation, you are mistaken. Not only is this a point of contention in the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 10b), there are good reasons to say that the dominant position is that of Rabbi Yehoshua, who posits that the world was created on the first day of Nissan. On the other hand, you would not be mistaken to say that the Rosh Hashanah liturgy seems to indicate that we follow Rabbi Eliezer, that it was created on the first day of Tishrei. (In fact, the physical world was created five days earlier, as we define the worlds creation by the creation of man.)

A popular resolution of this problem is first found in Tosafot (Rosh Hashanah 27a) in the name of Rabbenu Tam. The world was conceived on the first day of Tishrei, but only physically created on the first day of Nissan. Such an idea is nicely rooted in the physical world, at least in the Northern hemisphere: When we look at the many trees and plants all around us, we are struck by the tremendous flowering and blooming all around us at that time. The clearest manifestation of this is found on the many trees that lose their leaves in the Fall and begin to grow new ones in the Spring. But that is only what is visible. The processes that led to all of this actually began with the end of the previous cycle that occurs in the Fall. In the case of grasses and many other plants that dried up in the summer, the end of that season is when the seeds they dropped began to germinate. This is not so different from how we relate to the beginning of a new baby. We see it born at the end of a nine month gestation, but it really came into being at the time of its conception.

Yet the Talmud presents this as a disagreement. Meaning, even assuming both agreed with Rabbenu Tams suggestion, they still disagreed about which marker takes precedence. That the Jewish tradition nevertheless seems conflicted about which position to ultimately endorse shows that there are strong arguments on both sides, as to how to think of a beginning. Is it from its very beginning, since that is somethings ultimate start? Or given that many seeds die in the ground (and according to one midrash, many worlds were also created and destroyed before man was created), should we only view that beginning as potential, and say that something has not truly begun until we see some tangible signs of its reality?

One thing that is clear is that important beginnings come in stages. The Fall and its holidays represent a time when we are to conceive of how we want to live out the coming year. But realistically, the year does not take its true form until we get to Nissan. It is only at that time that we truly are able to evaluate the fruits of our spiritual labors. May we indeed reflect the natural world and see the blossoming of our efforts.

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Does the Year Begin in Nissan or Tishrei? - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

(New York Jewish Week) Every Passover for the last 75 years, Helena Weinstock Weinrauch, a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor, has worn a vibrant blue hand-knit sweater to the first seder, which she hosts in her Upper West Side apartment building.

The sweater is a chic, 1940s number with fluffy angora sleeves, a sparkling metallic blue bodice and a delicate, scalloped V-neck. But this is no ordinary fashion statement. The sweater was knit by Helenas friend, Ann Rothman, who stayed alive during the Holocaust by knitting for Nazi wives while a prisoner in the Lodz Ghetto.

Rothman was motivated to survive and, as Weinrauch tells it, She became known in the ghetto. She was so good at knitting that she knitted coats for the wife of the German people and it became known that Ann can knit skirts, a blouse anything you want, she can knit it.

When I first met Weinrauch in person in December 2021, I was struck by her classic, Old Hollywood-like glamor, her storytelling and her pride in the many sweaters her friend had knit for her throughout their decades of friendship. Tiny in stature, with a soft voice, Weinrauchs presence filled the room. I hung on her every word.

When she spoke of her brilliant blue Passover sweater which she treats as a ritual object she seemed to sparkle like its bright blue bodice. When neighbors or other seder-goers in her building noticed her unusual sweater, shed say, Its the Passover sweater, as if everyone has one.

After meeting Weinrauch, I was convinced that she was onto something: Everyone should have a Passover sweater and not just because it is beautiful and festive. For Weinrauch, the sweater holds the power of remembrance, freedom and connection. And shes far from the only one to make the connection between crafting, resilience and religious observance. In her 2020 book Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis, Jodi Eichler-Levine, Berman Professor of Jewish Civilization at Lehigh University, draws upon ethnography to study the power of craft for the Jewish People. If we look at Judaism as an ever-evolving process, then Jewish crafts which are all about process can help us to see how many vital Jewish practices take place outside of synagogues, she told me. She also reflects on the power of crafted objects, describing them as talismans of safety and resilience.

Eichler-Levines book is about how crafters keep Judaism alive. She studied how everyday acts of creativity are a crucial part of what makes a religious life, and learned that the act of making is just as important as the object itself, particularly in troubled times.

As Eichler-Levine notes, Crafting is an act of generative resilience that fosters the survival of both giver and recipient.

These words resonate with me deeply on a personal level. Knitting became central to my healing after my 13-year-old son underwent brain surgery in January 2017 I left my career behind and assumed the role of full-time mother of a child in constant pain. Over the course of his long recovery, knitting, I realized, was the key to stitching myself, and my family, back together.

After a long, three-month period of recovery, my son returned to school. Shortly afterwards, I read a story about Weinrauch in Moment Magazine. It struck a nerve. It combined my passions for all things Jewish, knitting and the incredible juxtaposition of the two, igniting within me a drive to know more. I wondered how women knit to stay alive, what other knitted objects I might find. I launched a project, Knitting Hope, which aims to share the ways knitting or knitted objects helped women to resist, remember those they lost, and find renewal after the horrors of the Holocaust.

I knew, straight away, that Weinrauchs Passover sweater would be an important knitting project to share with the fledgling community of knitters, survivors and supporters that I was building. Weinrauchs life, after all, is a lesson in resilience: She survived a three-day-long interrogation by the Gestapo, three concentration camps, the Death March from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen, and near-death starvation.

Her parents, sister and 16 other family members did not.

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But Weinrauch did not just survive the horrors of the Holocaust she built a life filled with love and beauty. When the war ended, she was nursed back to health in Sweden, which took thousands of Jewish refugees. The Swedish people restored my faith in humanity, she said, adding that shell never forget their humanity.

In Sweden, she volunteered at a hospital where she never took a dollar, in order to repay the Swedish people for their efforts. Then, in 1947, Weinrauch connected with one of her only living family members, a step-uncle in the U.S. She lived with him for a short time in New York City, which is where she met and married Joseph Weinrauch, who became a successful travel agent.

When the two sought to start a family, Weinrauch experienced multiple miscarriages which she attributes to all the trauma she endured. When Weinrauch finally conceived, her doctor ordered her to strict bedrest and thats when she taught herself how to knit, because she was going crazy in bed.

Inspired by Weinrauchs story, the author is hosting a knit-along for anyone wishing to make their own, updated version of the Passover sweater. (Tanya Singer)

Weinrauch gave birth to a daughter, Arlene, in the early 1950s. She died from breast cancer in the 1990s. Weinrauchs husband went into a deep depression and died in 2006 and she was alone once again.

Not one to wallow, in 2013, when a flier from a local dance studio landed in her mailbox, Weinrauch, then 88, decided to learn ballroom dance which enabled her to feel joy in moving to music. These days, her closets overflow with beautiful, beaded gowns, and every room in her apartment features photos of her beaming at ballroom dance events. As she quips in the documentary Fascination: Helenas Story: As long as I can walk, I will dance.

In hopes of preserving other aspects of her incredible story and, of course, that fabulous sweater I reached out to Chicago-based knitwear designer Alix Kramer and asked her to develop a knitting pattern as a homage to the Passover sweater. She immediately said yes. As a Jewish knitwear designer, Jewish advocacy has always been a passion, especially when it comes to carving out space in the vast knitting community for Jewish patterns to thrive, she told me. I knew immediately that this could be a pattern to launch a thousand ships, so to speak. The idea of a blue sweater revolution, with blue sweaters at every seder to symbolize resistance, hope and community, was what ultimately called me to the project.

The Dayenu pattern, as weve named it, created as a contemporary homage to Weinrauchs original sweater, is now available on the popular knitting site Ravelry and on Payhip. The cost is $10, and 20% of pattern sales will be donated to KAVOD, an organization that provides emergency aid like food and medicine to Holocaust survivors.

In these weeks leading up to Passover which begins this year on the evening of April 15 Kramer and I are hosting a virtual knitting circle, or a knit-along. Though knit-alongs are common practice in the wider knitting community, so far as I am aware, none has invited Jewish knitters to join in creating a garment for a Jewish holiday, and certainly none has drawn so profoundly on Jewish themes of remembrance and freedom. Special guests include Jayna Zweiman, co-creator of the Pink Pussyhat; Karen Goldfarb, the filmmaker behind Fascination: Helenas Story, and Stephanie Butnick, host of the podcast Unorthodox. While created with Jewish knitters in mind, the circle meets weekly and is open to knitters and non-knitters alike, and to people of all faiths.

The knit-along is free and knitting is optional. Each week, well be joined by a special guest, who will shed light on Passover, Helenas story and the power of knitting. Join by zoom by registering for emails at KnittingHope.com.

Bonus: Join the New York Jewish Week this coming Sunday, April 3, 1:00 PM ET for a Knitting Circle hosted by Tanya Singer, the author of this piece, who will provide more details about the Passover sweater, as well as provide tips on how to knit your own matzah cover ahead of the holiday. From beginners to experts, all levels are welcome. Free. Learn more and sign up here.

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This Holocaust survivor wears this hand-knit sweater every Passover and now you can, too - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

In the summer of 1970, 21-year-old American college student David Biale volunteered on Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin in northern Israel. There he met Rachel Korati, an Israeli nine days shy of her 18th birthday and his future wife.

After Davids return to the U.S. to study at UC Berkeley, he and Rachel began sending each other letters. Between 1970 and 1972, they exchanged 258 missives sometimes written daily, though they took about 10 days to reach one another in which they shared their thoughts about Judaism, Israel, literature and the counterculture movements of the day.

Those letters are now the basis of a self-published book, Aerograms Across the Ocean: A Love Story in Letters, 1970-1972. (Aerograms were one sheet of very thin paper that folded in on itself so no envelope was needed.)

The Biales will be reading from and discussing the book at 7 p.m. April 13 in a Jewish Community Library virtual event co-presented by New Lehrhaus.

David Biale re-discovered the letters at home in Berkeley in 2018, but during Covid he began to put them in order and reread them. The Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor of History at UC Davis, Biale, 72, queried fellow historian and close friend Fred Rosenbaum about whether the public would be interested. Rosenbaums answer was an emphatic yes.

I was deeply moved by the thoughts and feelings of two people so wise beyond their years, Rosenbaum said in an email. Their love for one another grew, slowly to be sure, out of passionate interchanges about Jewish identity, cultural norms of California and the kibbutz, and the tumultuous political events of the early 1970s. We often think of the youth culture of those years as hedonistic; here we have rather the beginnings of a thoughtful search for understanding and meaning that set the direction for the rest of their lives.

August 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of David and Rachels meeting, and on top of being shut in by the pandemic, David received a cancer diagnosis around that time which provided him with a sense of urgency to embark on the letters project.

Rachel Biale, 69, is also an author, and has worked as a therapist, cultural programmer and community organizer. Looking back, she said shed be the first to admit that her education and interests were completely atypical for a kibbutznik like her.

Although there was trust in the [Israel Defense Forces], the 67 war had also produced this atmosphere in Israel of complete panic, that it was going to be like the Warsaw Ghetto, and the sense that this is the Jewish story of destruction, she said. There was this small group of high school students led by kibbutz movement intellectuals, questioning what is this legacy of Jewish history and destruction and diaspora and Judaism, and I was part of that.

Young Rachel had spent a year in Massachusetts with her family, and in that time had not only gained complete fluency in English but had learned about the wide cultural gap that separated Israelis and American Jews.

While those familiar with David Biales academic work he is the author or editor of 11 books on Jewish history might be interested to read about his interests as a young man, the letters are much more than that.

Looking back at the trajectory of our lives and what weve done professionally, you can see the baseline in them of what preoccupied us and what we were passionate about, Rachel said.

Those preoccupations? David was involved in the free speech and anti-Vietnam movements in Berkeley, and even had a brush with the U.S. draft in the later phase of war. Rachel served her mandatory IDF service during the time they were trading letters.

Her political consciousness was being formed right around the time Israel had grown in size with the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. His was evident in his involvement with the Radical Jewish Union, which staged a sit-in over a lack of emphasis on Jewish education at the time.

No, these were not your average young adults and their letters reflected it. They were written by two people who, before they knew they were in love with each other, were in love with Jewish philosophy and thought.

In one sequence, they discussed their reactions to Joseph Hellers 1961 novel Catch-22.

Rachel: David, I finished Catch-22! Its great. I finished at 1:00 AM at night and could not go to sleep. This always happens to me I feel very strange when I finish a good book what do you do now? I cant just go on to my business as if nothing happened as I did before I knew this book. I used to have sort of a solution when I was young; I cried, but its harder to do it now.

David, responding with what he deems mock horror: That book is the most subversive book ever written if you really identify with it, you are destined to become as radical as we are on this side of the Atlantic. I dare say that that book is near-unto the Bible of this generation in America.

Neither are religiously observant, but both have a deep interest in Jewish texts and philosophy, such as the work of German Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig. And when they finally do express their love for each other, they quote lines from the Biblical poem The Song of Songs.

When I discovered this 17-year-old kibbutznik who had similar interests, it sparked this very intense dialogue between us, David recalled in an interview, which we were really too naive and stupid to realize was the beginning of a romance.

And how did it feel to open up their love story to everyone?

Well, they did give their two adult children, Noam and Tali, veto power over anything they found too embarrassing. That being said, Tali told her mom at one point, I wished I could reach back 50 years and grab you two and say, You idiots. Dont you see youre in love?

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'Aerograms': An American-Israeli love story, told in 258 letters J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

Do what I say and not what I do, seems to be the catchphrase for the newest season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The fourth season sees comedy prodigy Miriam Midge Maisel rejecting the rules of a mans world and attempting to have it all her Upper West Side lifestyle, her job and her familys approval as she attempts to make it in standup. But for all the seasons grand messages about feminism and Judaism and changing the world, the bulk of the show still relies on cheap humor and overdone bits, which undercut its own moral stances.

In the opening episode of the season, Miriam rails against men, who, she says, are constantly trying to screw up her life. Shes done listening to them, and says she wants to do comedy her way that means no opening acts and no compromises about what she can say, meaning she turns down gigs left and right. This is feminism! Or so the show would have us believe.

The show takes the same approach to its Jewishness. In the second episode, Miriam rolls her eyes at another comedians lazy use of Judaism as a punchline apparently something she would never do. This show would never stoop to such levels!

Its a rather meta point for a pointedly Jewish comedy to make especially one that does, in fact, tend to lean on Jewish stereotypes for easy punchlines. And its supposed feminism is just as inconsistent, with Midge taking opening gigs even as she waxes poetic about her refusal to do exactly that. It is as though the shows writers hope that saying something is convincing enough to distract viewers from the fact that, in fact, the opposite is taking place.

When Lenny Bruce tries to help Midge, using his connections to get her a prestigious opening act, she acts as though hes trying to destroy her; shed told him about her manifesto against such jobs. But she agrees to open for her nemesis, Sophie Lennon, and takes a prim gig at a Kennedy fundraiser where she cant make bawdy jokes. Is the issue here that she refuses to take help from a man, even though he is trying to help her?

This isnt principled; its privileged and petulant. You cant just materialize fame by pure force of will without working your way up. You cant materialize Upper-West-Side-apartment and private-school money simply by declaring it so. You cant behave badly and be surprised by the consequences.

The show takes a similarly clear, moral stance on its own identity in Jewish comedy. No stereotypes and no cheap jokes, it promises in an episode where Midge blows raspberries at a Jewish comedian for his hacky jokes. Ha ha ha, Im JEWISH, she jeers.

Yet Miriams parents neuroticism, mother-in-law Shirleys aggressive attempts to set her son up with a nice Jewish girl, a bar mitzvah that devolves into community infighting these stereotypes turn up in every episode. Ha ha ha, this is a JEWISH show, viewers might jeer.

To be fair, Jewish standup acts did historically rely on a lot of pat jokes about nagging mothers or neuroticism. But the show has plenty of space outside of its stage routines to explore its characters real lives without leaning on caricatures.

The only time in the show where the show portrays Judaism in a sensitive and accurate manner is in the final episodes of the season, when Miriams father-in-law, Moishe, nearly dies of a heart attack. While Moishe is unconscious in the hospital, Abe and Shirley debate the existence of God; Abe is convinced God doesnt exist, while Shirley believes, but thinks God is cruel. But neither position has any impact on their Jewishness the perfect example of the complexities of Jewish identity, which can encompass so many different beliefs and approaches to life. Its too bad that the show doesnt emphasize the Jewishness of this moment the way it does for nagging or matchmaking.

Perhaps the show has deep faith in its audiences, expecting them to pick up on the irony of Midges choices; theyre hard to miss. In the final scene of the season, Lenny Bruce scolds her for her stubbornness, and we get a hint of self-awareness from the show. But in the other episodes, no one else criticizes her; even Susie, her manager, simply accepts her choices. Midges bad behavior is obvious to viewers, but it still seems as though the show is urging us to support her unquestioningly.

And it would be a large leap of faith to expect the same for the Jewish jokes, especially for a mainstream show that cant depend upon having a majority-Jewish audience. Of course, there can be jokes, but when the characters Jewishness is never highlighted in tender moments or thoughtful ones, when history and community arent part of it, then its reductive, especially for a show that so emphatically positions itself as Jewish.

This is good Jewish representation! the show seems to trumpet. But just as Midge cant quite figure out how to stand behind her convictions, neither can Mrs. Maisel.

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'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' undercuts its own feminist and Jewish identity J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

Gribetz at the tomb of Helena of Adiabene in Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of GribetzJerusalems history is abundant with stories about powerful men, but often leaves out the voices of its women, said Fordham professor Sarit Kattan Gribetz. In her new book Jerusalem: A Feminist History, Gribetz is documenting the citys history with a focus on the women who helped bring Jerusalem to life.

Its common for historians and the general public to say that there are little to no sources about women from the past. Theres actually a ton of material, but it hasnt been integrated into the way that we tell the history of the city, said Gribetz, an associate professor of theology who was recently awarded a $60,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to work on her book.

I want to shift our focus away from the usual suspectsKing David, Emperor Constantine, Sultan Salah ad-Dinand toward the many women who made contributions to the city, she said.

Jerusalem: A Feminist History will serve as a historical account of the city from Biblical times to the presenta period that spans more than 3,000 years. Instead of focusing on the citys male leaders, it will highlight women from all social classes, from the queens of Jerusalem to enslaved women and servants from wealthy households, said Gribetz.

Among the featured women will be Helena of Adiabene, a first century queen. A native of modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan, Helena converted to Judaism and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When she arrived, the city was suffering from famine. She used her wealth to import figs and other agricultural products from nearby countries. Thanks to her philanthropic efforts, she became a beloved figure in Jerusalem, said Gribetz.

Helena is a woman from outside of the city who becomes a hero within Jerusalem. In the many centuries after her death, Jews and Christians continue to tell stories about her, Gribetz said. Shes actually a relatively minor character in the first century, but she helps us see new things about the citys history.

The city of Jerusalem itself is often personified as a woman and depicted in feminine terms, Gribetz said.

In our earliest written sources about Jerusalem, people imagine the city as a sister, mother, partner, or widow. That personification of Jerusalem often happens when the city is in danger of coming under foreign rule or destruction in times of war, Gribetz said.

Gribetz said the inspiration for her book emerged during her first years at Fordham, when the Center for Medieval Studies asked her to teach a course on medieval Jerusalem.

I kept noticing women in ways that I had never thought about, in terms of Jerusalems history, said Gribetz, who taught the course for several years, beginning in 2016. At a certain point, I realized that the way I constructed my syllabus was in line with this very standard narrative of Jerusalems history, but there were many other ways to tell that history.

In the following years, she received research grants and support from Fordham, including the theology departments Rita Houlihan grant, which allowed her to research topics that led to her book. She is currently living in Jerusalem, where she is interviewing scholars and locals, participating in city tours, and studying texts at libraries, museums, and archives. The texts include funerary inscriptions on tombstones from the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods, as well as other archaeological remains, including from synagogues, churches, and mosques.

Our literary sources often focus more on men than women, so we have to get creative with the kinds of sources that we use to reconstruct history, said Gribetz. But there are still many ways to find traces of these women.

Through her book, Gribetz said she aims to push back against the idea that were limited in the kinds of stories we can tell.

If were creative with the questions we ask and the sources that we use, then we can tell history in a way that incorporates the stories of a much broader segment of the population, whether its in Jerusalem or in other cities or contexts, said Gribetz, who has also written Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism (Princeton University Press, 2020).

Gribetz will spend the coming few years writing the book, which will be published by Princeton University Press. In addition to exploring the history of women in Jerusalem, Gribetz said she also hopes that her book weaves together the stories of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and shows that the citys diversity is a strength, rather than a liability.

I would like to think that my book may help encouragepeople in all these different communities to appreciate what a beautiful thing it is to share such a deep historywith the city, rather than to compete over who has exclusive claims to it, Gribetz said. I hope that my book conveys how complicated, interesting, and beautiful this history is, and that this history belongs to many different people.

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

The best Seniors Festival experiences are to be found in our very own Jewish community. Judaism teaches us to respect and revere our elders, and as a result we offer some of the best services for seniors.

The Seniors Festival is the perfect time to experience them.

COA kicked off the Festival on Friday March 25, together with U3A and the presentation A Tsunami of Change, followed on Monday March 28 with a special performance by singer Sasha Pak.

This year the Seniors Festival coincides with the COAs Annual Model Seder on March 30, and we are proud to present it as part of the myriad of events on offer for seniors around Sydney.

This year also brought a new purpose, as the entire community came together to provide a special Seniors Forum and Expo in Sydneys eastern suburbs.

Organised by COA Sydney, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, and the Bondi and Districts Chamber of Commerce, Making Aged Care Work for You and Your Family: How to navigate the system will hopefully be the first of many such events.

The expo featured local services for seniors providing all kinds of support, from kosher Meals on Wheels to Home Care Packages, from carers to entertainment.

In addition to information stalls, attendees heard directly from seniors about their experiences trying to find their way through the aged care system. They also had the opportunity to hear from a panel of industry experts including COA Sydney, Montefiore, JewishCare, and Carers NSW.

Finally, a plenary session featured Australian icon Jean Kittson, author of We Need to Talk About Mum & Dad: A Practical Guide to Parenting Our Ageing Parents.

For more information, visit coasydney.org

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

Earlier this week, four Israelis were killed, and several others were injured, in a terrorist stabbing attack at a shopping center and gas station in Beer Sheva. Beautiful, innocent souls, guilty only of being Jewish and living in the one and only Jewish homeland, were murdered in cold blood, reminding us yet again how our brothers and sisters in Israel live daily with threats and dangers.

One would think a country whose citizens face terror regularly and are surrounded by hostile enemies who seek their extermination would be paralyzed by fear and would be debilitated by distress. Instead, despite the daily dangers, Israelis are remarkably happy.

According to this years World Happiness Report that was just released, Israel has climbed to its highest ranking yet, breaking into the top 10 happiest countries in the world. Finland came in first for the fifth year in a row, while Afghanistan placed last at No. 146. At No. 9, Israelis are happier than Canadians (No. 15), Americans (No. 16) and the people of the United Kingdom (No. 17).

When the Founding Fathers included the pursuit of happiness as an American right and entitlement, it is almost as if there was an inherent concession that happiness can be pursued, but it ishardto ever attain. For many, that pursuit has grown tiring and indeed, they have given up. In 2006, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert wrote a book called Stumbling on Happiness. In it, he argues that the things and experiences we typically predict and imagine will bring us happiness, rarely do. Rather, he says, happiness is elusive, and while there are efforts we can make, our best bet is to hope to stumble upon it.

Judaism doesnt agree. Happiness, simcha, is not something that we stumble or trip upon by accident. It is the result of a conscious decision, a determined attitude. In his Mesillas Yesharim, the Ramchal writes that simcha is ikkar avodah, being happy and joyful is not a luxury or simply preferable, they are critical components of a meaningful life of serving Hashem.

We tend to think that when we are happy we smile, but it turns out to be the opposite. Science has shown that the mere act of smiling, engaging the micro muscles involved, can lift your mood, lower stress,boost your immune system,and even prolong your life. When you smile,your brain releases neuropeptides to help fight stress. Dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins are released that relieve pain and bring pleasure.

As a result, choosing to smile is choosing happiness, not only for you but for the people around you. Nicholas Christakis, a professor at Harvard Medical School, found that misery is not alone in liking company; happiness is also contagious. Knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself. A happy friend of a friend increases your odds of happiness by 9.8%, and even your neighbors sisters friend can give you a 5.6% boost.

In Pirkei Avos (1:15) Shammai teaches: . Shammai used to say,receive all peoplewith a pleasant countenance. Rav Ovadia Bartenura provides a powerful interpretation: When you bring in guests to your home, do not give to them while your face is buried in the ground; as anyone who gives and his face is buried in the ground even if he gave all of the gifts in the world it is counted for him as if he did not give anything. If you give someone, even generously, but you dont smile, it is as if you gave nothing. The smile is more valuable than the resource you shared.

Simcha,happiness,occurs when we make the decision to focus on the blessings in our lives, no matter how challenging or formidable the struggles we face simultaneously. Ifourhappinessresults from the blessings we already have, we can alwaysfind happiness,because we always haveat leastsomething. But if our happiness is determined by what we dont haveIf only I had more money, a nicer house, a better job, a more loving spouse, more loyal childrenwe will never be happy because we can always have more and thereforeby definitionthere will always be something we dont have.

In a recent Living with Emunah shiur, I challenged everyone, men and women, adults and children, to make the conscious effort to smile more, evenor especiallywhen we dont feel like it. Smile before walking into the house. Smile when the children come into the car at carpool. Smile when greeting your family at the end of the day. Be intentional, create the habit and routine of smiling in the moments that will create the mood and introduce the energy.

After the shiur, I received several emails about how smiles changed peoples lives:

Since the end of the Emunah class today was about smiling, thought Id share this with you. I was at a Shabbat meal when I was single and wasnt in the best mood. I guess dating was getting to me. A bunch of single guys were there at that meal and the lady of the home told my Rebbetzin that I need tosmilemore, especially if Im looking for a shidduch. So on Simchas Torah weekend as I walked out of shul I started tosmile going down the stairs with hundreds of singles around, and my future husband saw me smiling. He came over to me because I was smiling.

Another person wrote:

Your story in the Emunah shiur brought me joy (and asmile). Twenty-plus years ago as a young, single college graduate, I went for a Beracha from the Kaliver rebbe. After four hours, I was called in. The rebbe said to be happy. I said rebbe, I am happy. He said be happy. I was like wow. If this is all that rebbe said to me it must be a very deep Torah concept. I am generally a very happy, positive person. Optimistic,smiley but those words stuck with me and I turned my relationships, especially with Hashem, to focus on happiness. Ismiled much more. Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent me my zivug. I was on the womens side at a kiddush in shul and my now husband saw me smiling and asked a friend to find out who I was and set us up. The power of asmileand emunahwe were married that Adar! Now a gazillion sleepless nights later, several children, thousands of rides to school, mishmar, sports, etc, I do it with asmile. Each carpool. Asmileis the first thing people notice externally.

Dont stumble on happiness, choose it by smiling more.

{Reposted from the Rabbis site}

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Smile, Everyone is Watching - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on March 29, 2022

Russia's recent capture of the Ukrainian city of Kherson has forced a new reality on the citys residents, including its sizable Jewish community, the rabbi of the occupied provincial capital said Wednesday.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its seventh day on Tuesday, in what looks to be the biggest assault on a European state since World War II.

The story is that the Russians are here What worries us most is the wellbeing of the Jews, that everything will be fine with them, and no one will be harmed, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Wolff told Ynet hours after Moscow's capture of the southern Ukrainian city, where nearly quarter of a million residents live.

He said there are hundreds of Jewish families still in the city and many more in the rest of the district.

I asked everyone not to leave the house under any circumstances, to stay in their house, so that no one would be harmed, until the picture becomes clearer, said Wolff, affirming reports that Russian forces have taken the provincial capital - the biggest city to fall to Russian forces so far.

"I get videos of our friends, community members, who are in all sorts of places in the city. Yes, the Russians are clearly on the streets, in the city center, with a lot of tools, armored vehicles and tanks," he said.

We are examining the possibility of leaving here with members of the community, but only in the event that a humanitarian corridor is established, without it, we will not take any risk, God forbid. In the meantime, we are here, said the rabbi.

Wolff added that the heads of the community are in constant contact with Jerusalem, and sought to convey a message to the people of Israel.

"We are all one body, a personal request, anyone who will do a good deed will help us all, he added.

Kherson is strategically located on the Dniepr river. Its capture will allow the Russian army to try and conquer additional cities in the south, including the city of Odessa - where over a million people live.

Russia will also be able to break through a dam built by Ukraine in Kherson through which it prevented the flow of water to the Crimean peninsula after it was annexed by Moscow in 2014.

Despite the brutal fighting and Israel's rescue efforts, there are Israelis who choose to stay in the besieged country.

"You hear more explosions, you feel it approaching. My girlfriend gets up about five times a night, [I don't] maybe it's because I'm Israeli, but I'm used to it," said, Melnitzuk, referring to air raid sirens that blare when there are rocket attacks from Gaza.

"We do not want to run away, we do not want to leave. I do not believe that the Russians will be able to enter [Kyiv], and even if they do, what will happen? I was born here and I will not run away. I am also ready to enlist."

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Rabbi of Ukraine city captured by Russia warns of 'new ...

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