Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

NEW CITY Grafton Thomas will be confined to a mental health facility after a Rockland judge on Wednesday found him incompetent to stand trial on murder and attempted murder charges stemming from a 2019 Hanukkah machete attack on Hasidic Jews in Ramapo.

Judge Kevin Russo's decision mirrors a federal judge's finding that Thomas lacks the capacity to understand the separate federal charges against him and aid in his own defense.

Russo's ruling came after unsealing a murder-two indictment charge against Thomas for killing 72-year-old Josef Neumann, as a result of the Forshay Road home invasion on Dec. 28, 2019. Neumann died months later after being comatose with head injuries.

Grafton Thomas appears in the courtroom of Judge Kevin Russo with his attorney Michael Sussman at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

Grafton Thomas: Accused in 2019 Hanukkah machete attack, Thomas could transfer to NY facility

Monsey attack: Defense psychiatrist says Grafton Thomas incompetent to stand trial

A Monsey timeline: From Howard Drive stabbing to Hanukkah attack

Russo cited the Rockland psychiatric reports on Thomas and U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel's acceptance of psychiatric evaluations in April 2020 on Thomas.

Thomas had been held in a federal mental-health facility in Missouri since 2020, until recently being returned to New York for confinement. His Orange County attorney, Michael Sussman, argued Thomas should be held in a New York state facility in Orange, near his mother and family.

"Given the tragic situation, this is the right determination," Sussman said outside Russo's courtroom at the Rockland County Courthouse. "He needs to be in a facility where he can get proper care and treatment. We want him close to his mother's home."

Thomas can become eligible for trial at any time he's found competent by doctors but will be held until mental health and understanding is achieved, attorneys and the judge said Wednesday. If he's still considered mentally incompetent after a year, he will be held for treatment for at least another two years. His confinement could last his entire life.

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Grafton Thomas appears in the courtroom of Judge Kevin Russo with his attorney Michael Sussman at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

"I expect he will be there for more than a year," Sussman said,

Sussman asked Russo to dismiss the multiple felony charges against Thomas since he ruled him incompetent.

Prosecutor Dominic Crispino, standing with District Attorney Thomas Walsh, opposed dismissing the charges. Walsh expects Rockland will prosecute Thomas when he's found competent.

Russo said he would read the case law arguments from Sussman and Crispino on whether to dismiss the charges. Dismissal would not free Thomas from confinement.

The Rockland charges include second-degree murder, six counts of attempted murder, and assault counts. Sussman has pleaded Thomas not guilty to murder and the earlier 14-count indictment. The murder count carries a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

A 10-count federal indictment accuses Thomas of hate crimes and injuring five people while trying to kill them based on their religion and obstructing the free exercise of religion in an attempt to kill them.

When Thomas entered the courtroom on Wednesday, wearing a jumpsuit and his hands chained at the waist, his weeping mother, Kim Thomas, called out, "Grafton, I love you." She then cupped her hands at her chest as her pastor, the Rev. Wendy Paige, held her shoulders.

Outside the courthouse, Kim Thomas did not speak, but Paige said the family was thankful for his return to New York and the judge recognizing mental illness in this case. Paige has described Grafton Thomas "as a gentle giant with mental illness."

"She sends her condolences to the Jewish community," Paige said, speaking for Kim Thomas.

Sussman and Grafton Thomas' family have said he had undergone a mental decline over the last 10 to 15 years and had been prescribed at least three medications for depression and psychosis. Thomas was hospitalized for several days in April 2019 for psychiatric reasons, he said.

They have dismissed concerns that Thomas was driven to attack the Hasidic Jews based on antisemitism.

The attack drew national attention and brought state and federal elected officials into Rockland, including two governors and members of Congress.

Jewish community fears: A year after violent attacks on Howard Drive and Forshay Road in Ramapo, questions linger

Monsey attack: Suspect accused of having an anti-Semitic journal

Mentally unfit: Grafton Thomas still mentally unfit for prosecution in 2019 Ramapo machete attack, killing

Thomas, a Greenwood Lake resident, is accused in a federal complaint of hate crimes and maintaining a journal containing references to Nazism and to the Black Hebrew Israelites the group linked to the fatal attack on a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The FBI searched Thomas' home and his cellular telephone, finding references to Jews, Hitler, the Nazi culture, as well as packaging for an 18-inch machete, according to the complaint signed by FBI Special Agent Julie Brown.

His cellphone's internet browser included searches for topics such as "Why did Hitler hate the Jews; German Jewish Temples near me; Zionist Temples in Elizabeth, NJ; Zionist Temples of Staten Island; Prominent companies founded by Jews in America;" according to the complaint.

Authorities said Thomas burst into Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's house on Forshay Road, declaring, "No one is leaving" and started slashing and stabbing people with an 18-inch machete.

One partygoer chased Thomas out of the house wielding furniture, and gave his license plate number to Ramapo police.

Two NYPD officers stopped the car at 11:49 p.m. that night, detecting a strong smell of bleach, and saw blood on Thomas' clothing, authorities said. The officers seized a machete with dried blood on it from under the front passenger seat and a knife with traces of dried blood and hair from the pocket of the rear of the front passenger seat.

Ramapo police have said Thomas remains a suspect in the predawn attack and stabbing of a then 30-year-old rabbi walking to a synagogue on Howard Drive in Monsey on Nov. 20, 2019. No arrests or charges have been made.

Walsh said Thomas's hospital confinement is one step forward to get justice for the man killed and those injured. He said if not for the bravery of party-goer Yosef Gluck, who fought off Thomas, many more could have been gravely injured or killed.

The events that unfolded on December 28, 2019, shocked all of Rockland County and the country," Walsh said Wednesday in a statement. "Today, we take one step forward on ensuring justice for the victims. My deepest sympathies to all the victims."

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ramapo machete attack: Grafton Thomas found unfit to stand trial

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

Members of the Jewish community attended the Sabbath service at Congregation Beth Israel on Jan. 15 in Colleyville, Texas. With services being held both online and in person, many were expecting a typical day of faith, worship and bonding with fellow attendees.

According to CNN, that all changed when Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and Jeffery Cohen, vice president of the Board of Trustees, heard the unmistakable sound of an automatic slide engaging a round. What would follow was a several-hour standoff between the hostage-taker and negotiators, with the congregations attendees caught right in the middle.

For DePauls Jewish student population, the attack was unsurprising, and the fear of gathering is all too real.

When the attack first occurred, it was a great shock. But, it was bound to happen, said Julia Kagan, secretary of Chabad Jewish Student Club at DePaul, reflecting on the hostage situation at a Jewish synagogue in Texas on Jan. 15.

For Chabad Jewish Student Club president Emily Fridland, the communitys fear of gathering has translated to her uncertainty about the organizations meetings. The attack on Jan. 15 served as a reminder of the precarity of American Jews situation.

I cant tell you with 100 percent certainty our events will go smoothly, Fridland said. We should be able to practice freely, and everyone should be able to practice their religion freely.

For several hours, Congregation Beth Israel worshippers waited in terror for hostage negotiators to resolve the situation. During the standoff between attacker Malik Faisal Akram, the hostages and the FBI, Akram made statements about dying and helping to get his sister out of a prison.

According to CNN, the woman Akram requested be released is Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman serving 86 years in federal prison. The two are not related.

The attack on the Colleyville synagogue shows that antisemitic attacks can happen anywhere and to anyone. As such, organizations have responded to growing threats.

Increased numbers of community organizations have had to spend money when they now see that theyre targets. For nothing, just for being Jewish, said professor Steven Resnicoff, director of the Center for Jewish Law & Judaic Studies.

Part of the FBIs success in getting the synagogues hostages out safely was their rapid response. FBI Director Christopher Wray remarked that the continued contact between Akram and the negotiators was key to the operation.

Within a matter of hours, we deployed FBI SWAT, two highly trained units from our elite Hostage Rescue Team; those are the folks who ultimately were the ones who went into the synagogue, along with canines, Wray said. We had our crisis negotiation unit. We had one of our folks on the phone with the hostage taker for hours and hours, and that turned out to be pretty important.

As the morning turned into afternoon and then night, tension remained high for those locked inside the synagogues walls. The quick-thinking Rabbi Cytron-Walker hurled a chair at Akram, giving him and the remaining hostages enough time to escape. At about 9:12 p.m., a CNN team heard a loud boom a result of the breach into the building and the breach team killed the attacker.

No hostages were killed or severely injured during the operation.

Initial statements that night by FBI representative Matt DeSarno indicated that the hostage standoff at Congregation Beth Israel was not a product of Akrams personal antisemitic sentiments.

The initial response of the FBI to what happened in the synagogue was really appalling it boggles the mind, Resnicoff said.

We do not believe from our engagement with this subject that he was singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community, DeSarno said in a press conference.

Wray later walked back this statement during a Jan. 20 Anti-Defamation League webinar.

Now let me be clear and blunt: The FBI is, and has been, treating Saturdays events as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community, Wray said. We recognize that the Jewish community, in particular, has suffered violence and faces very real threats from really across the hate spectrum.

They were very fortunate there was only one hostage-taker, Resnicoff said. The Almighty was with them.

However, in the context of countless recent attacks on Jewish people and their centers of worship, the attack at Congregation Beth Israel was unsurprising for many.

Unfortunately, when I first heard the news, I wasnt surprised [antisemitic attacks] are pretty common now, said Alexandra Rozhko, social chair for Chabad Jewish Student Club at DePaul.

According to data for 2020 from the Anti-Defamation Leagues Audit on Antisemitic Incidents, there is a sense that for American Jews, antisemitism is on the rise: one-in-four American Jews say they have been targets of antisemitism in the last 12 months.

Reports indicate that this fear of rising antisemitism and possible attacks on Jews is borne out of fact. Assaults, vandalism and harassment based in antisemitism have all risen between the years 2019 and 2020.

According to the ADLs audit, acts of assault, vandalism and harassment increased 12 percent over the previous year.

61 percent of the 2,024 registered incidents in 2020 were cases of harassment, a 10 percent increase from 1,127 in 2019. There were 751 incidents of vandalism and 31 incidents of assault, with no fatalities.

For many people both at DePaul and in the Chicagoland area, it is hard to believe that added measures may be needed to keep worshippers safe.

In foreign synagogues, they had to have security guards, and I never dreamed that would be necessary in America, Resnicoff said.

I think its a sad reality where I can walk into a synagogue and worship any holiday and I have to think, wheres the nearest exit? or where am I going to hide? Kagan said. Ive seen bouncers checking names outside synagogues. Im coming here for prayer, not a club.

While antisemitic attacks like the one witnessed at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville serve as prominent examples of the kinds of uphill battles Jews face in terms of safety, many of Chabads members dont see much coming of this hostage standoff.

I dont see anything really changing, Rozhko said.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

Italian athlete Camila Giorgi racked up bonus fashion points ahead of the Australian Open, swapping her tennis shoes for a different kind of lace number as she shared some spicy boudoir pics on her Instagram channel earlier this month.

Although the knockout (wrong sports pun?) content was lapped up by a range of tennis sites and fans, it drew barbed reactions from social media commenters and other tennis followers. Sure as wickets (sorry, we swear well get this right soon), a bunch of strangers around the world played the role of shamer, creep and general scold.

Italian journalist Stefano Cagelli took it upon himself to play the role of stereotypical worried Jewish parent, stoking concern that Giorgi didnt have her head in the tennis game, suggesting that she might become noticed for the wrong reasons, and that she was taking time away from her vital tennis skills improvement.

Cagelli apparently didnt realise that Giorgi already has Jewish parents and one of them even designs her uber-chic Giomila-branded tennis outfits.

At any rate, Giorgi, who is currently ranked world no. 33 and is in Melbourne for the Australian Open, probably hasnt had much time to check her social media lately.

Despite losing her third round match to Aussie Ash Barty, Giorgi is sure to be the one to beat in the style game (okay, we guess that word will sort of do).

Check out her Insta

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

Love story of the Holocaust survivor

Isaak Tartakovsky escaped the Germans and fled to Ukraine where he met his wife. They share their love story on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Staff Video, USA TODAY

It was 80 years ago this month that 15 high-ranking Nazi officials met in a villa on the outskirts of Berlin. Among them were names like Adolph Eichmann and Heinrich Muller. They gathered over snacks and alcohol to address a single issue desired by their leader, Adolf Hitler. And in less than two hours, they came up with an answer.

They called it The Final Solution.

It was a plan to wipe out the Jewish population of German-occupied Europe. It was unspeakably evil and horribly simple. Evict Jews from their homes, transport them to concentration camps, work them to death or murder them outright, then burn the bodies.

It was meant to exterminate an entire race of people, people like Rita Mermelstein, who would later take the married name Rita Smilovitz. If that last name sounds familiar, its because she would become the mother of Bernie Smilovitz, the popular, long-serving sports anchor for WDIV-TV (Channel 4)here in Detroit.

But back in 1943, Rita was just a pretty, single, 18-year-old woman from Munkacs, Czechoslovakia. Her family lived on a farm. One day, soldiers came, grabbed Rita, her parents and her siblings, and put them on a train to Auschwitz.

An animal train, she recalled in a video made by her grandson, Zach. They put all the Jewish people in that train, no window or nothing.

When she arrived at the concentration camp, she was quickly separated from her parents. She was young. They were old. She spotted a big building with a chimney. Dark smoke was spewing out. It smelled awful.

We ask (the guard) What is that? He says, Youre all gonna go in that chimney…There is your father, in the smoke, burning.

That was the last Rita saw of her parents. She quickly realized that being young and strong was her only hope for survival. One day they separated the healthy prisoners from the sick, and Rita spotted her sister Fay in the sick line. She knew what that meant. When a sudden commotion momentarily distracted the guards, Rita pulled Fay into the healthy line.

In that instant, she saved her sisters life.

But there were far more darker moments. As Rita recalled in the video, We were miserable. Every day was murder, murder. … There were wire (fences) and they were electric. One day, I see two people hanging on the wires. They wanted to escape. They touched the wire. They got dead.

The man who was in charge of us, with a big dog, he said, If youre gonna try to escape, youre gonna hang (up there) like them.' They left them as a sample.

Rita survived by eating bugs, potato peels and soup. She was made to work in the crematorium, cleaning out the incinerated remains of her fellow Jews. She had a number tattooed on her left forearm, but that was nothing compared to the horror tattooed into her memory.

One day, as she was cleaning up packages that had been taken off a transport train, she heard a high-pitched crying. She discovered an infant, whod been hidden amongst the cargo. A guard was watching every move Rita made. With no choice, she was forced to carry the baby and put it in the oven.

She never stopped having nightmares about that.

You might think, under the weight of such human horror, a person would just snap and die. And so many did.

But some did not. Their survival was the best revenge against Hitler, and the Wannsee Conference where the Nazis planned the Jewish extinction 80 years ago.

Rita was liberated in 1945 and she made her way to America. She married Izidor Smilovitz, whod been enslaved by the Nazis into forced labor for four years. The couple had two sons, Bernie and his younger brother Harvey, who they raised in a one-bedroom apartment in Washington, D.C.

But the horrors of the Holocaust were never far from Ritas existence.

I remember in third grade, our school had a grandparents day where you were supposed to bring in your grandparents, Bernie recalls. Until that day, I didnt know what grandparents were. We never spoke of them. I asked my mother, and she just said, They died in Europe.

Smilovitz himself faced his own share of antisemitism. As a boy being raised in a non-Jewish environment, he recalled getting a hit in a baseball game, and hearing an opposing player yell, You better not do that again, or Hitlers gonna get you.

Bernie rarely spoke about such things, nor did his mother. She was always trying to shield us from the horror shed gone through. But she was always worried about me and my brother. If we were playing baseball half a block away and were supposed to be home at 6 oclock, by 6:01, she was hysterical.

Later, when we had kids of our own, she never wanted them to leave the house. She would say, Dont go outside, the Germans are hiding in the bushes.

Despite her haunted memories, Rita was able to find small joys as the years passed. She loved to cook. She loved to watch people eat.She adored her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And she was incredibly proud of her daughter-in-law, Donna Rockwell, Bernies wife, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology. When Detroiters would say, Youre really Bernie Smilovitzs mother? Rita would wave them off.

Thats nothing, shed reply. My daughter-in-law is a doctor.

Theres a pattern there: anything that spoke of life, hope, education and a future energized her. She was warm and engaging. And she was funny, even if she didnt mean to be. Shed say things like, I speak six languages, all except English. If a restaurant served something she didnt like, shed crack, The food was better in Auschwitz.

I had the pleasure of meeting her numerous times, and once she was told about a book I wrote called "Tuesdays with Morrie."

"Maury?" she exclaimed. "Maury Povich?"

Rita passed away a month ago. She called Bernie while he was on vacation and left a message on his cellphone: I love you. Im gonna die soon. Bye bye.

Twenty minutes later, Bernie said, she passed away in her bed, quietly, peacefully, without pain.

She was 96 years old, and had lived in her own house right up to the end.

So Hitler failed, and Eichmann and Mueller and the others who crafted a final solution failed. They failed when it came to forces of nature like Rita Mermelstein and Izidor Smilovitz and other Jews who were strong enough to survive those concentration camps and the inhumane treatment and prosper, and have children, and have grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Hitler failed, but he still was responsible for 6 million Jews murdered, and his venom courses through other peoples veins to this day. Antisemitism is on the rise almost everywhere around the world, yet it remains one of the least highlighted bad behaviors in America, a nation that likes to think it is quick to shout out injustice.

Did you know that Jews comprise only 2.4% of the U.S. population? Yet 55% of religious hate crimes committed in 2020 were antisemitic, according to the American Jewish Committee. Theres something terribly wrong with those numbers. And each time someone like Rita leaves this Earth, there is one less witness to the horror that took place in the 1940s, and one more nudge for those who would deny it.

When I see what is going on today, and I hear about people who deny the Holocaust, Smilovitz says, I want to tell them: 'come have a look at the video my son made of my mother telling her story. Listen to her, and youll understand what everyone is talking about.'

At Rita's funeral, Bernie read a eulogy. It concluded with the time Bernie asked her, after all she had been through, how she could still believe in God? She looked straight athim.

Quiet! she said. He might be listening!

Faith goes on. Eighty years ago this month, a group of delusional men thought they could map out a plan, punch in some numbers, and antiseptically wipe out a people.

But as long as a heart beats, there is hope, and as long as a spirit believes, there is a future. Rita Smilovitz Bernies Mom left this Earth on her own terms. We lost her. But she won.

Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Download The Sports Reporters podcast each Monday and Thursday on-demand through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and more. Follow him on Twitter @mitchalbom.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

From left to right: Alexei Bychenko, David Warsofsky, Jason Brown, Mollie Jepsen, Emery Lehman. (Getty Images via JTA.org)

By Emily Burack

Despite the continuingCOVID chaosand themounting protests about Chinas human rights record, the 2022 Beijing Olympics are proceeding on schedule, just six months after the delayed Tokyo games and we have your guide to the Jewish athletes who are on their way.

In Tokyo,dozens of Jewish athletes competed, andmany clinched medals. The Winter Olympics are typically a smaller affair,with fewer sports and fewer countries participating. Nevertheless, were excited to cheer on these Jewish athletes from the United States, Israel and Canada.

The Beijing games begin Feb. 4 and run through Feb. 20, and the Paralympics will be held March 4 through March 13.

Jason Brown skates at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on Jan. 9. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Jason Brown

Figure skating, USA

The most well-known Jewish athlete competing in Beijing is 27-year-old figure skater Jason Brown. He competed in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, winning bronze in the team event with team USA, but narrowly missed competing in 2018 in Pyeongchang (he went as the teams first alternate). But Brown is back, and qualified after skating to the theme from Schindlers List at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this month.

My background, obviously, is Jewish, and the story is so touching, hesaid about his decision to skate to the Holocaust movies theme. I grew up learning about the Holocaust and about Oskar Schindler and the stories. I always wanted to skate to it, but it has to be when Im at the level, maturity-wise, that Im really ready to skate to it.

(TheSchindlers List music is heard regularly in international competition, but often accompanying non-Jewish skaters. German figure skater Nicole Schott skated to it at the Olympics in 2018, as did Russian Yulia Lipnitskaya in 2014.)

Read more about Jason Brown here.

Krasnolpolsky and Kops at Israels national championships, Dec. 1, 2021. (Amit Schussel)

Hailey Kops and Evgeni Krasnopolski

Pairs skating, Israel

A year ago, 19-year-old New Jersey native Hailey Kops was studying in a Jerusalem seminary on her gap year before heading to nursing school, thinking her competitive skating days were over.

Israels team gave her a call and an opportunity in June, and just over six months later, shes heading to Beijing. She teamed up with Evgeni Krasnopolski,a 33-year-old Olympic veteran who was born in the Soviet Union and moved to Israel when he was three years old. He will be Israels flag-bearer at the opening ceremony on Feb. 4.

This is the first Olympics for Kops, who is Modern Orthodox an extreme rarity in Olympic competition but skates on Shabbat.

From a young age, I integrated the two. It is definitely normal for me, she said. When theres a will, theres a way, she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Read more about the pair here.

Emery Lehman competes in the mens 5000-meter event during the U.S. Speed Skating Long Track Olympic Trials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Jan. 5, 2022. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Emery Lehman

Speed skating, USA

Emery Lehmans first love was hockey, which he picked up at six years old, growing up in the Oak Park Chicago suburb. A few years later, his Jewish mom who as of 2018 wasa development executive for the American Friends of the Hebrew University of Israel convinced him to give speed skating a try, and he excelled. (He hasnt given up hockey, either in college at Marquette University, he played defense for their club hockey team.)

At age 13, he became a national champion, and at 17, he qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics. He competes in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races. At the 2018 Olympics, he also competed in the Team Pursuit race. As he wrote on Instagramafter qualifying for Beijing, About time Im one of the old guys on the team. Hes only 25.

American snowboarder Taylor Gold competes in the Mens Halfpipe Qualification Heats during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, on Feb. 11, 2014. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Taylor Gold

Snowboarding, USA

Taylor Gold is going for gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics. How many times do we think he has heard that joke?

For Gold, 28, this is his second Olympics he competed in Sochi, and got injured during the 2017-2018 season, which forced him to miss Pyeongchang. At the 2018 Games, his younger sister Arielle Gold also a snowboarder won bronze in the womens halfpipe event. Arielleretired and wont be competing this Olympics cycle.

The Golds come from a sporty Jewish family: born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, their father, Ken, was a professional moguls skier. In Beijing, Gold will be one of 14 athletes from Colorado. Hes involved inProtect Our Winters, a nonprofit working to fight climate change.

Josh Ho-Sang in a game at Place Bell in Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 27, 2021. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Josh Ho-Sang

Hockey, Canada

This season, Canadian Jewish hockey player Josh Ho-Sanghad an impressive debut with the Toronto Marlies, the top affiliate team of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ho-Sang, 26, is Jamaican and Chinese on his fathers side and Russian-Jewish and Swedish on his mothers side. Ive grown up Jewish, Josh once said in aninterview. I have always celebrated the Jewish holidays like Hanukkah and the High Holidays with family and friends.

Since theNHL announcedthat its players will not participate in the Games, it has left Olympic roster spots open for rising stars like Ho-Sang. According toone analysis, Its entirely possible that following his Olympic appearance that the Leafs will get him under contract. Could Beijing be the start of Ho-Sangs NHL career?

Alexei Bychenko competes at a tournament in Las Vegas on Oct. 23, 2020. (Matthew Stockman/International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images via JTA.org)

Alexei Bychenko

Figure skating, Israel

Bychenko was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and represented his native country in international competition until 2009. But in 2010, he became an Israeli citizen and started skating under the Israeli flag, becoming the first Israeli skater to win a medal at the European Championships a silver in 2016.

Bychenkocompeted for Israel in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, and the 33-year-old is set to return to the Olympic stage this February. In 2018, Bychenko served as Israels flag bearer at the Pyeongchang Opening Ceremonies and placed 11th in the mens competition. Hes looking to place higher this time around he will skate to Words by Israeli singer-songwriter Harel Skaat for his short program and the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean for his free skate.

Canadian Goaltender Devon Levi during the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Canada, on Jan. 5, 2021. (Codie McLachlan/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Devon Levi

Hockey, Canada

Joining Josh Ho-Sang on the Canadian mens hockey team is Devon Levi, a 20-year-old goalie from the Jewish Montreal suburb of Dollard-Des-Ormeaux, where he attended Hebrew Foundation School, a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school. He currently plays for Northeastern University Huskies, and his spot on the Olympic squadmakes himthe first mens hockey Olympian from the Boston school.

In the words of theNortheastern Hockey blog, Levi is in the midst of the greatest goaltending season in Northeastern program history, and one of the greatest seasons in NCAA history. He has played every minute of every game for the Huskies. He has notched nine shutouts so far this season, helping the Huskies achieve a 16-5-1 record.

This isnt Levis first time representing Canada most recently, he played in the 2021 World Junior Championship. Its unclear whether or not he will be the starter on the Olympic team, as the two other goaltenders are both older and more experienced.

Israeli skier Noa Szollos during the Womens Alpine Combined Slalom at the 3rd Winter Youth Olympic Games, at Les Diablerets Alpine center, Switzerland, on Jan. 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo via Getty Images via JTA.org)

Noa and Barnabas Szollos

Skiing, Israel

Thoughts of Israel usually involve blazing desert sunlight and humidity not skiing.

But the Szlls siblings are looking to change that. Known as Israels ski siblings, they were born in Budapest, Hungary, and now train in Austria. There are three of them: Noa, Barnabs, and Benjamin, who allcompete for Israelin the FIS Alpine World Cup. (Benjamin did not make the Beijing cut.) Their father Peter used to ski professionally for Hungary as well, before earning Israeli citizenship.

At age 16, Noa won two medals at the Youth Olympic Games, becomingthe first Israeli athlete to medal at a winter Olympic event. Though it was the youth games, she said, Im very proud to be the first champion from Israel to reach the Winter Games podium. Its such a strong feeling to be able to represent the country in this way.

Now 18, Noa and her brother Barnabas, 23, willboth ski for Israel in Beijing.

Jason Demers skates at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on April 21, 2021. (Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images via JTA.org)

Jason Demers

Hockey, Canada

The third Jewish player on Canadas hockey team is Jason Demers, a 33-year-old defenseman who spent time in the NHL but currently plays in RussiasKontinental Hockey League. Hediscovered his Jewish roots later in lifeon his fathers side of the family.

Demers made his NHL debut back in 2009, playing for the San Jose Sharks, and represented Team Canada for the first time in 2013 during an NHL lockout.

Thanks to Demers, Ho-Sang and Levi, Canada mens hockey team will be the most Jewish team in Beijing.

Canadian Skier Mollie Jepsen competes in the Womens Standing Giant Slalom at Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea, on Mar. 14, 2018. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Mollie Jepsen

Para alpine skiing, Canada

Mollie Jepsen is a phenom: she medalled in four out of the five events she competed in at the 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympics.

The West Vancouver, British Columbia native was born missing fingers on her left hand, and competes under theLW6/8-2 classification, for skiers with an upper extremity issue. This means she skis with only one pole.

Since her Paralympic debut, she was also diagnosed with Crohns disease, and missed an entire season. But she has had a remarkable comeback season ahead of the 2022 Paralympics, so dont be surprised to see Jepsen on the podium in Beijing.

David Warsofsky at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Mar. 18, 2018. (Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images via JTA.org)

David Warsofsky

Hockey, USA

Warsofksy, 31, has played for four different NHL teams, but currently plays in Germany for ERC Ingolstadt hes another player benefiting from the NHLs decision not to let their players enter the Games.

The former captain of the U.S. Under-18 national team in 2007-08 is married and has a one-year-old son; when hes not competing in Germany, he resides in Denver.

Israeli speed skater Vladislav Bykanov competes at the ISU World Cup in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, on Nov. 26, 2021. (Douwe Bijlsma/BSR Agency/Getty Images via JTA.org)

Vladislav Bykanov

Speed skating, Israel

Vladislav Vlad Bykanov, like many of his fellow Israeli winter Olympic teammates, was born in the former Soviet Union, in Ukraine. He moved to Israel in 1994, at age 5, and now splits his time between Kiryat Shmona, Israel, and Heerenveen, in the Netherlands.

Vykanov started speed skating at age 8 and competed for Israel at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. In 2014, he was given the honor of serving as Israels flag bearer in the opening ceremony. He skates in the 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and 1,500-meter races; his best result was 19th place in the 500-meter in Sochi.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

(JTA) Tiffany Haddish has been open about how she connected with her Jewish roots later in life, especially in interviews leading up to her 2019 standup special Black Mitzvah.

But the comedian-turned-movie-star hadnt yet said publicly how she incorporates Jewish practice into her daily life if at all until an interview she gave to Time that was published Friday.

Since her star-studded bat mitzvah tied to the standup special, she spends at least 30 minutes every single day to reading and learning. I have Shabbat dinners on Fridays. I hang out with my rabbi. Im always asking questions.

Im getting emotional, but I think the things Ive been through in life, I wouldnt have been able to get through without my loyalty to God, she added.

Connect with your community every morning.

Haddish also lamented that she didnt have a bat mitzvah and a connection to Judaism in her younger years.

I wish I had done it [had a bat mitzvah] when I was a teenager. That was a tumultuous time in my life. I was [in foster care]. I was moved around. All these adults were paid to be in my presence. Which, its actually kind of messed up even now, as a successful adult, people are paid to be in my presence.

Anyway, I wish I had a rabbi to talk to then, and a mama and daddy to make me go to Hebrew class. I remember when I was that little 12-, 13-year-old girl feeling excited to go to school because it was the only thing that was normal and the place I felt safest.

Haddish will appear alongside fellow Jewish actors Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Ben Schwartz and Dave Franco in her next film The Afterparty, which premiers on Apple TV+ on Jan. 28.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

Jewish groups are on high alert after a spate of recent incidents in which individuals opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates have invoked the Holocaust to argue against vaccinations.

The most notable example came last weekend when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at an anti-vaccine mandate rally in Washington, D.C. appeared to suggest that unvaccinated Americans have fewer freedoms than Anne Frank.

After criticizing what he called technological mechanisms for control in the U.S., Kennedy said even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.

Kennedyapologized for his commentstwo days later amid widespread outrage, including from his actress wife Cheryl Hines, who wrote that her husbands reference to Frank was reprehensible and insensitive.

But Kennedy is hardly alone in making the reference.

Rep. Warren DavidsonWarren Earl DavidsonJewish groups sound the alarm as anti-vaccine mandate movement invokes Holocaust It's time to preserve our right to transact privately Ohio Republican apologizes for comparing DC vaccine mandate to Nazi Germany amid backlash MORE (R-Ohio) earlier this monthlikenedWashington D.C.s COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements to the Holocaust, responded to a tweet outlining the citys pandemic requirements with a Nazi-era document featuring a swastika. He apologized in astatementone day later, saying he wanted to illustrate that Bad things happen when governments dehumanize people.

In Utah, tech executive Dave Batemanresigned from the company he foundedearlier this month after sending an email to other industry leaders and state elected officials claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a sweeping attempt by the Jews to exterminate billions of individuals and create a world of totalitarian rule.

And across the country, antisemitic flyers have been left at hundreds of homes in recent weeks. The papers, which have been discovered in plastic bags with small pebbles, read Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish, followed by a list of health agency officials and pharmaceutical leaders who are Jewish.

Such fliers have been found in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Maryland, Texas and Wisconsin, according to the ADLstrackerof antisemitic incidents. Individuals connected to the Goyim Defense League are allegedly behind the effort.

The pattern of events has outraged the Jewish community, prompting passionate rebukes and igniting calls for the Senate to confirm President BidenJoe BidenRussia relocates naval exercises due to Irish concerns UK's Johnson says he's ordered armed forces to prepare for deployment next week amid Ukraine tensions Youngkin sparks Democratic backlash in Virginia MOREs nominee for special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, after his pick for the post has stalled in the upper chamber for months.

The antisemitic language comes as many in the international community will join together in celebrating Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday, which marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration camp operated during the Holocaust.

Max Sevillia, the vice president of government relations, advocacy and community engagement at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), told The Hill in an interview that the U.S. is observing a trend of callous disregard for the facts pointing to when leaders compare the push for vaccines to the Holocaust which creates a narrative that unfortunately has serious consequences.

It's basically accelerating a callous disregard for the impacted communities, the feelings of the Jewish people, but it also ratchets up tensions and has the consequence, the potential consequence, of leading to demonization and further antisemitism, he added at a separate part of the interview.

The ADL, Auschwitz Museum, U.S. Holocaust Museum and Yad Vashem the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Israel have all strongly condemned recent Holocaust comparisons made in connection to anti-vaccine mandate efforts, slamming such comments as offensive, outrageous and inaccurate.

The groups havesaidthe exploitation of the Holocaust in debates over COVID-19 mitigation measures is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decay, whileassertingthat such language trivializes the horrific atrocities that were perpetrated and denigrates the memory of victims and survivors.

The string of antisemitic incidents also comes amid this months hostage situation at a Texas synagogue, perpetrated by a British national, which theFBI director labeledan act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

Bidens special envoy nominee to to monitor and combat antisemitism has still not received a confirmation hearing in the Senate, despite the rash of incidents.

Deborah Lipstadt wastapped for the position in July, but nearly six months after her nomination, she is nowhere closer to assuming the post.

The position, which is based in the State Department, is meant to advance U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism and monitor global antisemitism.

A Decemberreportsaid Senate Republicans were holding up Lipstadts confirmation because of concerns raised regarding her past tweets. In March 2021, LipstadtsaidSen. Ron JohnsonRonald (Ron) Harold JohnsonJewish groups sound the alarm as anti-vaccine mandate movement invokes Holocaust Former Senate candidate launches bid for governor in Wisconsin Wisconsin Democratic Senate candidate Sarah Godlewski rolls out rural policy plan MOREs (R-Wisc.) comments regarding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol had been white supremacy/nationalism. Pure and simple

Additionally,The New York Timesreported earlier this month that some GOP senators were considering asking Lipstadt to publicly apologize to the Wisconsin Republican as a prerequisite for her nomination to proceed.

Asked about Lipstadts slow-moving confirmation, Johnsons office referred The Hill tocommentsthe senator made earlier this month when he told a reporter that he is not holding up her nomination and has not requested an apology.

Sen. Jim RischJames Elroy RischUkraine sent letter to senators seeking specific Russia sanctions, military assistance Jewish groups sound the alarm as anti-vaccine mandate movement invokes Holocaust Senators huddle on Russia sanctions as tensions escalate MORE (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN last month that there was some concern among members regarding Lipstadts past tweets.

Asked about the confirmation on Wednesday, however, a spokesperson for the senator told The Hill On the Lipstadt nomination, she is set for the chairman to schedule a hearing, before referring questions about details of the process to the chairmans office. The spokesperson said there is nothing holding Lipstadt back from having a hearing.

Asked about Lipstadts confirmation hearing, a spokesperson for Sen. Bob MenendezRobert (Bob) MenendezSunday shows preview: Justice Breyer announces retirement from Supreme Court Overnight Defense & National Security Pentagon tells Russia to stand down DC's Union Station defaced with swastika drawings MORE (D-N.J.), the chairman of the committee, told The Hill The senator continues to work to get Lipstadt confirmed as she is imminently qualified and theres no shortage of work for her.

The Biden administration in November tapped Aaron Keyak to serve as deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, a position that does not require Senate confirmation. He has been serving as acting special envoy as Lipstadts nomination stalls in the upper chamber.

Officials from the ADL and Jewish Democratic Council of America hailed Lipstadt, the founding director of Emory Universitys Institute for Jewish Studies, as the right person for the job.

ADL CEOJonathan Greenblatt wrote in anop-edfor The Hillthat it is unconscionable that Lipstadts confirmation has taken so long.

Antisemitism is growing and metastasizing right now on the Senates watch, and every day that we do not have an envoy is a lost day in our countrys efforts to tackle this ancient hatred, he later added.

Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, also expressed outrage at Lipstadts languished confirmation, telling The Hill in an interview there is no good reason that she is not already in this position and confirmed.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

From the evening of Sunday, Jan. 16 to Monday, Jan. 17, Jews around the world celebrated one of the lesser known festivals on the Jewish calendar called Tu Bishvat. Tu Bishvat is known as the New Year or Birthday of the Trees. It is, as I wrote, a minor festival. The name is Hebrew for the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat.

In ancient times, Tu Bishvat was simply a date on the calendar that aided Jewish farmers in establishing exactly when they should bring their fourth-year produce of fruit from the recently planted trees to the Temple as their first fruit offerings.

In the 16th century, the Kabbalists (mystics) of Tzfat in the Land of Israel came together to create a new ritual around this minor festival which they called the Feast of Fruits. This Feast was modeled on the Passover seder. Folks would come together to read selections from the Torah and Rabbinic Texts that focused on the trees and consume fruits and nuts traditionally associated with the land of Israel.

Today, this festival is seen as a time to celebrate not only the fruit of Israel but the middot (values) of shomrei adama (caring for the environment) and bal tashchit (do not destroy). The festival allows us to come together as a community and celebrate these values as caring for the world we live in and keeping it (and us) safe is a core value in Judaism.

This year, of course, this festival had the unfortunate reality of following on the heels of the recent events at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. On the Shabbat before Tu Bishvat four hostages (including the congregation's Rabbi) were taken hostage by a man named Malik Faisal Akram, a UK national who called for the release of Aaifa Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist with links to Al Quaeda who rallied against Jews at her trial and blamed her conviction on Israel.

As I expressed to my own congregants in the days following the attack, This situation is a painful and potent reminder of the fact that synagogues, and other Jewish institutions, in America continue to be at risk for terrorist attacks. We must take this seriously, however, it doesn't mean that we should stay away.

On the contrary, in moments of grief and fear, this is when we need our community most of all (albeit virtual due to the ongoing pandemic). Around this time of year on the Jewish calendar, when we are celebrating renewal and safety, we are obligated to continue on and celebrate. To take pride in our Judaisim. To live Jewish lives with purpose.

You may be asking, how can we be expected to keep the environment safe when there is no guarantee that we can keep ourselves safe? This is a fair question. I wish I had the answer. It is something I ask myself regularly. The one thing I know doesn't work is, trying to do it all alone. In this time of uncertainty, it is imperative that we draw strength from one another.

It was ecologist Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, who discovered that the roots of deep trees draw up water and make it available to shallow-rooted seedlings. They help neighboring trees by sending them nutrients, and when the neighbors are struggling, mother trees detect their distress signals and increase the flow of nutrients accordingly. They are social creatures that communicate with each other in cooperative ways that hold lessons for us humans, too.

Like the roots of those deep trees, we are too connected. May we continue to learn from the environment that surrounds us. To remain connected, no matter what. To stay strong, no matter what. To keep going, no matter what.

Laura Breznick is the cantor of Temple Sholom in New Milford. She can be contacted at cantor@tsholom.org.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

In January 1907, a young Georgian, fleeing the Tsar's police, boarded a ship bound for Italy from Odessa. The name of this young man, who studied at the Jesuit theological school in Tbilisi, was Joseph Jughashvili. Years later, he would go down in history as "Stalin."

Joseph stayed at the "Roma e Pace" hotel in Ancona, then moved on to Venice. Here he worked as a sexton in an Armenian monastery on the island of San Lazzaro.

After a while, Joseph, who left this monastery where Lord Byron had studied the Armenian language a century ago, went to Berlin with his 20 terrorist friends. On June 26, 1907, together with this team, they carried out a bank robbery in Tbilisi, in which dozens of innocent people were injured.

So; What was special about the Armenian monastery that Stalin stayed at for months before this bloody action?

Venice, a bridge between the East and the West, was home to Jews from both the West, especially Spain, and Ottoman lands. The first ghetto, meaning a Jewish neighborhood, was established here "ghetto" means foundry, the Jewish neighborhood was named after it because it was founded where the cannon foundry was.

The merchant aristocrats who ruled Venice were aware of the abilities of the Jews. In the 18th century, a Jew named Johann Jacob Schudt had written: "For every noble family in Venice, there is a Jew, whom they trust, with whom they share the family's most secret affairs."

Venice had Ignatius of Loyola, who was allegedly a Jew and came from Spain, found the Jesuit order under the name Society of Jesus in 1540. Mekhitar of Sebaste, a Catholic Armenian from Sivas, had wanted to establish a similar sect for Armenians ever since he met the Jesuits. He founded this sect, which is named after him, in Morea with the support of Venice. However, later he moved the headquarters of the order to Venice, to the island of San Lazzaro, which was assigned to him. The priests who grew up here went to the Ottoman lands and began to instill nationalist ideas in Armenians whom up until that time were known as Millet-i Sadka (Loyal People) by the Turks.

Venice was also the birthplace of Freemasonry in Europe. In the 16th century, the Young (Giovine) movement was founded in the city against the Catholic Roman Church. The spokesperson of this secret society was Father Paolo Sarpi. Sarpi, an admirer of Machiavelli, was allegedly the leader of a secret academy where his politics were studied. Many famous names in Europe, especially in Protestant countries, were in contact with Sarpi. Trajano Boccalini, the founder of the Rose Cross, or Rosicrucian Society, was also one of the names in Sarpi's network. This network later turned into Freemasonry. Even in the 18th century, Adam Weishaupt, the Jesuit founder of the Illuminati sect, was recommending Sarpi's books to his brothers who had just entered the sect.

Italian Freemason Giuseppe Mazzini founded a secret political movement in the 19th century called Giovine Italia (Young Italy). This Young movement, coordinated by Mazzini from London, was copied in various countries. The Young Turks gathered in Paris established the Committee of Ittihat and Terakki (Union and Progress) in Thessaloniki, where the Italian influence was strong. Meanwhile, Young Armenians formed Dashnaktsutyun, also known as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The Dashnaks' flag was designed by the sect in San Lazzaro.

The Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II was the common enemy of both societies. European powers, especially Britain, were creating anarchy in Anatolia using the Dashnaks, and when the Sultan intervened, they put pressure on the Ottomans and tried to gain concessions by presenting him as an Armenian murderer. Sultan Hamid, who entrusted his personal treasury to Armenian bankers, was trying to protect his Armenian subjects from the nationalist currents and Dashnak rebels as much as he could. However, every Armenian killed in the uprisings made Dashnaktsutyun happy because it strengthened the national cause they were following. In fact, Dashnaks from time to time personally killed Armenian citizens who opposed their cause.

Young Turks and Young Armenians, in the congress held abroad between Dec. 27 and 29, 1907, decided to dethrone Sultan Hamid and switch to the constitutional monarchy system. For this, armed resistance against the government, strikes, non-payment of taxes, propaganda in the army would be followed. As a matter of fact, the Young Turks, who had the support of Italy behind them, started a rebellion in Thessaloniki the next year and succeeded in proclaiming the Constitutional Monarchy; however, Sultan Hamid was still on the throne.

Determined to take down Sultan Hamid, the Young Turks gathered an army in Thessaloniki in the spring of 1909. The army composed of Bulgarian, Greek, Jewish, Macedonian, Albanian and Armenian gangs set out for Istanbul, the center of the Empire. When the army arrived around Hadmky outside Istanbul, representatives of Dashnaktsutyun, including the Armenian deputy Vartakes Effendi, went out to greet them. Young Turks, especially Major Enver Bey, thanked the Armenian delegation for their actions. The soldiers replied, "Long live the Dashnaktsutyun Society!" and applauded.

The Ottoman Empire virtually came to an end when the Young Turks who occupied Istanbul captured Abdulhamid, the Sultan of the Turks and Caliph of the Muslims, and imprisoned him in the house of an Italian Jew in Thessaloniki.

Even the Armenian massacre in Adana in 1909 could not break the friendship between the Young Turks, the owners of New Turkey, and the Dashnaks. In fact, both committees signed a cooperation agreement in August 1909. But the main intellectual engines of the Committee of Union and Progress were Italian Jews. The most famous among them was Emmanuel Carasso, the master of the masonic lodge in Thessaloniki, to which the Young Turks belonged. Working with Venetian businessman Giuseppe Volpi, Carasso had distributed four tins of gold he attained from an Italian bank to the Unionists to start the 1908 revolution. He boasted, "What we couldn't get Sultan Abdulhamid to do for twenty-five million liras what we had the Unionists do for four hundred thousand liras."

In this regard, the British ambassador in Istanbul, Sir Gerard Lowther, wrote in a letter to Sir Charles Hardinge, the official head of the British Foreign Office, on May 29, 1910, and said:

"The Young Turkey movement in Paris was quite separate from and in great part in ignorance of the inner workings of that in Salonica ... Some years ago Emmanuele Carasso, a Jewish Mason of Salonica, and now deputy for that town in the Ottoman Chamber, founded there a lodge called 'Macedonia Risorta' in connection with Italian Freemasonry ... The inspiration of the movement in Salonica would seem to have been mainly Jewish, while the words 'Liberte,' 'Egalite' and 'Fraternite,' the motto of the Young Turks, are also the device of Italian Freemasons. The colors of both, red and white, are again the same. Shortly after the revolution in July 1908, when the Committee established itself in Constantinople, it soon became known that many of its leading members were Freemasons ... It was noticed that Jews of all colors, native and foreign, were enthusiastic supporters of the new dispensation, till, as a Turk expressed it, every Hebrew seemed to become a potential spy of the occult Committee, and people began to remark that the movement was rather a Jewish than a Turkish revolution."

Lowther said that Jews and Freemasons were brought to all critical positions in the government in New Turkey and that they did not like the other minorities living in Turkey, especially the Armenians, who were an economically active nation: "Javid Bey, Deputy for Salonica, an exceedingly clever and gifted Crypto-Jew and Freemason, was made Minister of Finance, while Talaat Bey, also a Freemason, became Minister of the Interior ... It is obvious that the Jew, who is so vitally interested in maintaining his sole predominance in the councils of the Young Turkey, is equally interested in keeping alive the flames of discord between the Turk and his (the Jew's) possible rivals, i.e. the Armenians, Greeks, etc., while it is to be inferred that he would not be averse to the new regime increasing the national indebtedness to the Hebrew financiers."

With the encouragement of Jews like Carasso, the Unionists, who started to dream of a national state, began to purge the liberal Young Turks among them. Although they received the support of all Europe during the revolution, they gradually moved away from the liberal England and approached Germany. In the policy of luring the Young Turks in the parliament to the side of Germany, the names of two Jews in particular stood out: Baron Max von Oppenheim, who belonged to the family that owned one of the nine Jewish banks that remained untouched during Hitler's rule, and David Sassoon Effendi, the deputy of Baghdad, who was a member of the famous Sassoon family.

The friendship between the Young Turks who started to follow a nationalist policy, and the Young Armenians came to a complete end with the Raid of Bab- Ali (the Sublime Porte) in 1913, also known as the 1913 Ottoman coup d'etat. Enver, the "Hero of Liberty" who had been the Berlin attache since the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy in 1908, and his men seized power in New Turkey all to themselves after this masonic coup d'etat financed by the German Jews.

Turkey entered the World War, which started the next year, on the side of Germany. While the Unionists spent tens of thousands of Muslim Turkish youth on the fronts for their political goals and personal interests, they did not forget the Gregorian Armenians. In 1915, while Armenian men were at the front, they decided to deport their families. Thousands of Armenian citizens were deported from Anatolia to Syria under the supervision of German and Unionist officers. Some of them died or were killed on the way.

At the head of the organization that arranged the Armenian deportation was kr (Kaya), the right-hand man of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Talat Pasha. "Gypsy" Talat was the master of the Grand Orient of Turkey, which the Young Turks founded in 1909 as the Turkish leg of the Grand Orient of Italy (Grande Oriente d'Italia). kr would also later be promoted to the title of master.

Baron von Oppenheim was working for German intelligence in World War I. Wearing Muslim clothes, he encouraged the massacre of Armenians in mosques and scolded the Turkish officers who showed pity and mercy to the Armenians. Zionist Alfred Nossig, who would later be killed by the Jews for collaborating with the Nazis, also came to Istanbul, met with Talat and Enver Pashas and Carasso on this issue and supported the deportation.

Sultan Mehmed V, who was almost a puppet in the hands of the Unionists, could not interfere with the Young Turks. The fate of those who tried to intervene was not good either. Prince Yusuf Izzeddin Effendi, the son of Sultan Abdulaziz, who was killed by the Young Turks for opposing the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy, shared the same fate with his father when he objected to the deportation.

When the Germans and Young Turks lost the war, the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress fled abroad. Allied ships occupied Istanbul in 1918. The Unionists, who committed war crimes by playing roles in the Armenian deportations and massacres, were tried and arrested by the Sultan's government in Istanbul, like the Nazis in the Nuremberg Trials. Those found guilty were deported to Malta by England. However, as a result of the intervention of Italy, they were released in 1921 and most of them returned to Anatolia and joined the new government established by the Young Turks in Ankara.

Talat, Enver, Cemal, Said Halim Pashas who were abroad wanted to return to Turkey and lead the new movement in Ankara. However, in an operation called Operation Nemesis, supported by British intelligence, they were killed one by one by the Dashnaks. When the Allies, especially America, ignored the demands of the Armenians in Lausanne, the Armenian case in Anatolia was closed.

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Posted By admin on January 30, 2022

1 Our Jewish friends My husband and I are longtime members of the United Methodist Church. Whenever we moved and that was often we always joined a church to make friends there. We have recently moved to a lovely retirement community here in Dallas. Its Jewish. We knew that before moving, but what we didnt know was what friendly and loving people are here.

Every night we are able to have dinner with different residents. We have met two Kinder train survivors, children who were secreted out to London, where they learned English and made it to America. Another residents family lived in Holland and was rescued by Americans.

Recently we witnessed such hate in Colleyville. But then we witnessed love from everywhere. Im especially proud of the Methodist church there for hosting a meeting for the community.

Ill leave this message for all: Find a new Jewish friend!

Beth Weems Pirtle, Dallas

2 Positive suggestions Re: 22 uplifting habits for the new year Finding ways to connect can help us through troubled times, by Leslie Barker, Jan. 2 news column.

I absolutely loved Barkers 22 habits column. Rarely do I print and save anything beyond recipes or book recommendations from the newspaper, but this was in instant keeper.

My husband and I are incorporating a modified version into our lives changing the habits we already have (making the bed) to something new (morning stretching). I will add a few of these each week to a chalk board in the breakfast nook. Im confident our 2022 will be enhanced by Barkers writing. We wanted to say thanks for the positive suggestions.

Ellen Kemper, Dallas/Lake Highlands

3 Jeff Cason Re: One no vote cost rookie legislator seat, by Dave Lieber, Jan. 16 Metro column.

A big thumbs-up to Jeff Cason for telling his story of being a first-termer in Austin and a big thumbs-up for Dave Lieber in writing his story in this column. My hope is that Cason will volunteer and be accepted to lecture in local high school civics classes. Lets teach our kids how government really works vs. the story/textbook versions.

Hey Dave, do you think you can find anybody in Washington to tell us how the cows eat the cabbage in Washington, D.C.?

Ted Gold, Plano

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