Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

ISRAELS ATTACK COMES AFTER IRAN LAUNCHED A STRIKE AGAINST THE REGION LAST WEEKEND, MOST OF WHICH WERE IN INTERCEPTED. AND TONIGHT WERE HEARING FROM LEADERS IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND AN IRANIAN AMERICAN WHO ARE SHARING THEIR REACTIONS TO THE ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. OUR STEVE KING IS LIVE IN PALM BEACH COUNTY WITH THEIR REACTIONS. STEVE. WELL, I SPOKE WITH RABBIS AT BOCA RATON SYNAGOGUE. I ALSO SPOKE WITH AN IRANIAN AMERICAN WHOS A STATE REPRESENTATIVE HERE IN FLORIDA. AND THEY ALL SAY THEY WANT TO SEE THE VIOLENCE STOP. AND THEY DO NOT WANT TO SEE ANY INNOCENT PEOPLE HARMED. ITS VERY SCARY. I HAVE CHILDREN THAT LIVE IN ISRAEL. AND WHEN YOU HEAR OF AN ATTACK GOING INTO IRAN, YOU KNOW THERES GOING TO BE SOME RETALIATION. AND YOU JUST THINK ABOUT ALL YOUR FAMILY AND YOU THINK ABOUT ALL YOUR FRIENDS THAT ARE IN HARMS WAY. RABBIS JOSH BRODY AND EPHRAIM GOLDBERG AT BOCA RATON SYNAGOGUE REACTING TO THE ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE THATS OUT OF ISRAEL AND IRAN THIS WEEK, THE IRANIAN PEOPLE ARE INNOCENT, JUST LIKE PALESTINIANS. THEYRE INNOCENTS AMONG THEM. AND IF ONE REALLY CARES ABOUT INNOCENT IRANIANS OR INNOCENT PALESTINIANS, WE WOULD LIBERATE THEM FROM THE FORCES AND THE TERROR FROM THE DICTATORSHIPS AND THE DESPOTS WHO ARE RULING OVER THEM. IRAN IS THE EPITOME OF EVIL. IRANIAN AMERICAN ANNA ESKAMANI, A STATE REPRESENTATIVE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, SAYS SHE HOPES TO SEE PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND IRAN AND SAYS THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, WHICH RULES THE PEOPLE OF THAT COUNTRY, OPERATES AS IF THEY ARE TERRORISTS. SO SHES NOT SURE HOW PEACE CAN BE ACHIEVED. I KNOW FOR ME ITS SO MANY OTHERS WE WANT TO SEE PEACE. WE WANT TO SEE COOLER HEADS PREVAIL, AND WE WANT TO OF COURSE, REACH TO A POINT WHERE EVERY PERSON HAS HUMAN DIGNITY AND RESPECT AND CAN BE THEMSELVES AND LIVE SECURE AND IN SAFETY. AND SO I DONT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS TO HOW TO BUILD THAT WORLD. BUT I DO HOPE FOR IT. AND ITS VERY SCARY TO SEE POTENTIAL ESCALATION. BUT IM HOPEFUL. AND COMING UP AT SIX, WERE GOING TO HEAR WHAT THE RABBIS AT BOCA RATON SYNAGOGUE ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE, THE TIMING WITH PASSOVER BEING SO CLOSE

Rabbis, Iranian American Florida lawmaker react to escalation of violence between Israel and Iran

Updated: 6:21 PM EDT Apr 19, 2024

Leaders in the South Florida Jewish community and an Iranian American are sharing their reactions to the escalation of violence in the region between Israel and Iran."It's very scary," Rabbi Josh Broide, the chief rabbi at Boca Raton Synagogue, said. "I have children who live in Israel and when you hear of an attack going into Iran, you know there is going to be some retaliation, you think about your family and all of your friends who are in harms way.""Iran is a nation that is bent on destroying Israel and exterminating the Jewish people," Rabbi Efrem Goldberg said. "They are the biggest snake and the biggest funder of terror around the world, and its not just Israel that is in its target. Its America.""The Iranian people are innocent. Just like Palestinians, there are innocents among them, and if one really cares about innocent Iranians or innocent Palestinians, we would liberate them from the forces and the terror and the dictatorships and the despots who are ruling over them. Iran is the epitome of Israel," Goldberg said. Israel has never done anything to start up with Iran. Israel has never done anything but try to defend itself. Its a liberal democracy in the Middle East that shares the same values as America. It just wants its citizens to be safe and secure. Its never been the aggressor with any of the nations around it, but it will do everything necessary to defend itself."State Rep. Anna Eskamani of Central Florida is an Iranian American."Its been scary to watch. We dont want to see innocent people get harmed in any context, especially when we think about how diverse Florida is, every single one of us have a connection to this part of the world, Eskamani said. I think for all of us we have so many feelings and concerns and fears about what can happen if this continues to become a much larger regional conflict, and so I know for me and so many others, we want to see peace and we want to see cooler heads prevail. ... I have so many friends who are both Jewish and Iranian, so this is a really complicated feeling for so many people, and I do think its important we talk with one another, we share our perspectives, and we really focus on what is that path to peace where everyone can thrive together in harmony." The rabbis at Boca Raton Synagogue are also reacting to the escalation of violence in the Middle East being so close to Passover, especially since part of Passover is reflecting on the ones whove wanted to destroy the Jewish people throughout history."My parents' generation, my generation, my childrens generation, we never had it and it was almost like a fairy tale, Oh, that was history. But no one is trying to hurt us. No one wants to destroy the Jewish people in our day, but all of a sudden Oct. 7 told us and taught us, and we are going to speak about it at our seder, that this is just another chapter in a long book of Jewish history."The synagogue is making reserved seat signs available for Jewish families that say: "Reserved Seat. This seat is reserved at our seder for precious hostages. Seder nights will be days 199 & 200 in captivity. May they come home now! #LetOurPeopleGo" People can pick up these reserved seat signs by visiting BRSonline.org or picking them up in the lobby of Boca Raton Synagogue, located at 7900 N Montoya Circle North in Boca Raton.Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25 Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

Leaders in the South Florida Jewish community and an Iranian American are sharing their reactions to the escalation of violence in the region between Israel and Iran.

"It's very scary," Rabbi Josh Broide, the chief rabbi at Boca Raton Synagogue, said. "I have children who live in Israel and when you hear of an attack going into Iran, you know there is going to be some retaliation, you think about your family and all of your friends who are in harms way."

"Iran is a nation that is bent on destroying Israel and exterminating the Jewish people," Rabbi Efrem Goldberg said. "They are the biggest snake and the biggest funder of terror around the world, and its not just Israel that is in its target. Its America."

"The Iranian people are innocent. Just like Palestinians, there are innocents among them, and if one really cares about innocent Iranians or innocent Palestinians, we would liberate them from the forces and the terror and the dictatorships and the despots who are ruling over them. Iran is the epitome of Israel," Goldberg said. Israel has never done anything to start up with Iran. Israel has never done anything but try to defend itself. Its a liberal democracy in the Middle East that shares the same values as America. It just wants its citizens to be safe and secure. Its never been the aggressor with any of the nations around it, but it will do everything necessary to defend itself."

State Rep. Anna Eskamani of Central Florida is an Iranian American.

"Its been scary to watch. We dont want to see innocent people get harmed in any context, especially when we think about how diverse Florida is, every single one of us have a connection to this part of the world, Eskamani said. I think for all of us we have so many feelings and concerns and fears about what can happen if this continues to become a much larger regional conflict, and so I know for me and so many others, we want to see peace and we want to see cooler heads prevail. ... I have so many friends who are both Jewish and Iranian, so this is a really complicated feeling for so many people, and I do think its important we talk with one another, we share our perspectives, and we really focus on what is that path to peace where everyone can thrive together in harmony."

The rabbis at Boca Raton Synagogue are also reacting to the escalation of violence in the Middle East being so close to Passover, especially since part of Passover is reflecting on the ones whove wanted to destroy the Jewish people throughout history.

"My parents' generation, my generation, my childrens generation, we never had it and it was almost like a fairy tale, Oh, that was history. But no one is trying to hurt us. No one wants to destroy the Jewish people in our day, but all of a sudden Oct. 7 told us and taught us, and we are going to speak about it at our seder, that this is just another chapter in a long book of Jewish history."

The synagogue is making reserved seat signs available for Jewish families that say: "Reserved Seat. This seat is reserved at our seder for precious hostages. Seder nights will be days 199 & 200 in captivity. May they come home now! #LetOurPeopleGo"

People can pick up these reserved seat signs by visiting BRSonline.org or picking them up in the lobby of Boca Raton Synagogue, located at 7900 N Montoya Circle North in Boca Raton.

Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25

Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

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Florida Rabbis, Iranian American lawmaker react to escalation of violence between Israel and Iran - WPBF West Palm Beach

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

WASHINGTON (JTA) Police arrested the son of a prominent Washington D.C.-area rabbi after he allegedly got into an altercation with protesters outside the Israeli Embassy.

Two witnesses quoted in a Secret Service police arrest sheet accused Ezra Weinblatt, a real estate agent and the son of Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, who leads Congregation Bnai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, of pushing them on April 16 at around noon and breaking their sound equipment.

Weinblatt told Secret Service police what they [the protesters] were doing is illegal and annoying, according to the arrest sheet, which was obtained by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group that has advocated against Israel during its war with Hamas.

The Secret Service confirmed the arrest to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

On April 16th at approximately 11:55 a.m. U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers arrested an individual at 3514 International Drive, NW after an altercation, a spokesman said. The individual was arrested for destruction of property and simple assault.

An Instagram video linked in the CAIR release showed a man throwing sound equipment outside the embassy on Tuesday around noon. A number of womens voices shout that Zionism is a sin and This man assaulted her and What is wrong with you! while a recording of an air raid siren is heard on repeat. The man heads back to his car but is arrested by Secret Service police. He goes peacefully.

Law enforcement should consider hate crime charges against Mr. Weinblatt, CAIRs national office wrote on X.

Ezra Weinblatt is on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. His Twitter feed is mostly retweets of pro-Israel commentary on the Israel-Hamas war.

In November, he posted an op-ed at the Times of Israel in the form of an open letter to Save the Children, appealing to it not to quote information dispensed by Hamas and affiliated groups. In the op-ed he describes what he depicts as tactics of intimidation at anti-Israel protests.

The threat of violence, and violence against the Jewish community is frightening and real, not imagined, Weinblatt said.

Protests at there embassy have intensified through the war; a pro-Palestinian U.S. airman self-immolated outside the embassy in February, later dying from his injuries.

Jewish officials who have visited the embassy have complained to the State Department about the intensity of the protest, including the loud air raid siren. The protests and whether the State Department, which is one of the agencies responsible for the security of diplomats, can do more to protect the embassy was a topic of discussion on Tuesday at a meeting between Jewish community leaders and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Protesters have approached people entering the embassy, running in front of them and recording them on smartphones, accusing them of being complicit in genocide and hurling insults and derisive comments about their appearance at them.

The elder Weinblatt has been prominent for years in the Washington Jewish community. He leads the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition.

Weinblatt, father and son, and the JCRC did not return requests for comment.

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Police arrest son of prominent DC-area rabbi after alleged altercation with protesters outside Israeli Embassy - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

Driving into Yad Binyamin, a small town in central Israel, on a sunny Thursday afternoon, one could almost forget that we are in the middle of a war. The streets are calm, quiet, and peaceful, the flowers are in bloom, and the setting is idyllic.

However, the illusion is broken as I see an IAF jet approaching the nearby Tel Nof Airbase for landing.

I have come to Yad Binyamin to speak with Executive Chairman of World Mizrachi Rabbi Doron Perez, whose 22-year-old son, Daniel, a platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigades 77th Battalion, died on Oct. 7, defending Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

For 163 days, Daniel Perez, missing since the beginning of the war, was thought to be alive, and his name was listed among those kidnapped into Gaza.

Then, on Sunday, March 17, the IDF officially notified his family that, based on video evidence, Daniel was dead, his body being held by Hamas.

The following afternoon, in the midst of a driving rain, Daniels bloodstained shirt was laid to rest, in a funeral at Mount Herzl.

Thousands of visitors paid their respects in Yad Binyamin but the Perez home is quiet on the day I visit, several days before the shloshim, the 30-day mourning observance.

What were going through now is very different from the first 163 days, Rabbi Perez explains. Despite the stress of not knowing his sons fate for months, and then learning that he had died on the first day of the war, Perez remains remarkably composed, at least outwardly.

He recalls a conversation he had with his wife during the shiva. My wife said to me, For 163 days, Ive been worried sick about my son if hes being tortured, what theyre doing to him, if hes alive, and if Im ever going to see him again. Now that I know hes passed on, as painful as that is, I never have to worry about him, and I didnt have to worry about him because he never suffered. Hes not suffering, and he wont suffer in the future. The mourning now is incredibly painful, but its our pain. Its our individual pain of coming to terms with the loss, but theres no worry and angst about our son.

To understand the life of Daniel Perez, one needs to understand his family background and how they all ended up in Israel.

Daniels father, Doron, was born in Johannesburg in 1970. Dorons Moroccan-born father had made aliyah as a teen in the 1950s and served in the IDF. While on a visit to South Africa in the 1960s, he met and married a girl whose parents were originally from Kovno, Lithuania. Doron was therefore born to an Ashkenazi Lithuanian mother and a Sephardi father, unusual in South Africa, where most Jews had exclusively Lithuanian roots.

Dorons family attended synagogue on Shabbat and holidays and kept kosher at home but did not observe the dietary laws outside.

I grew up in a family where there was a strong natural connection to Judaism, but we werent religious, per se, he explains. Thats how most South African Jews certainly then were.

Nevertheless, the Perez family maintained a strong Zionist connection because Dorons paternal grandparents lived in Israel, and his maternal grandfather was the head of the Maccabi South African sports organization.

The whole weltanschauung [worldview] and feeling of our home was a natural connection to Judaism as South African Jews and a very strong Zionist connection because my [maternal] grandfather ran Jewish sport, says Doron. He was called Mr. Maccabi because he built South African Jewish sport.

Dorons grandfather built the first Jewish country club in South Africa in 1957 and attended numerous Maccabiah games and three Olympic games as the representative of Jewish sports in South Africa.

In 1979, Dorons grandparents made aliyah, which had a significant impression on the nine-year-old.

The year before they made aliyah, they gathered the family, and [my grandfather] said, We know its unusual for grandparents to leave all their children and grandchildren in the Diaspora.

Ive been the leader of the Jewish community in the Zionist world. How can I not move to Israel? This is what I believe in. My hope and prayer is that all of you will eventually follow suit.

By 1991, all of their children and grandchildren had moved to Israel.

Dorons parents began to become more observant, which impacted his own religious conduct. He attended Yeshiva College, the largest religious day school in South Africa. Although he was a schoolboy star in soccer, cricket, and tennis, he gave up competitive events that were held on Shabbat.

After high school, Doron came to Israel with the intention of studying for a year or two, then returning to South Africa to begin his medical studies. However, his interest in Torah study grew.

Once I started studying, I realized I knew nothing. And the more you study, the less you know, he explains.

He continued his studies for a second and third year at the yeshiva in Beit El, and in 1991 his parents and three siblings made aliyah.

In January 1998, Doron married his wife, Shelley, also a native of South Africa, and in 1999 their first son, Yonatan, was born. At that point, Doron was finishing his rabbinic studies as part of the hesder program and had completed an education degree from Herzog College. He was beginning to teach in gap year programs and felt settled in Jerusalem.

Life took an unexpected turn when members of the Mizrachi South African Jewish community asked him to return to South Africa as a shaliach (emissary) and educator. Though he initially demurred, he finally accepted and planned to remain for two or three years. Instead, his stay in South Africa stretched into 15 years.

When I returned to South Africa, I felt an incredible sense of shlichut [of mission], Doron says.

My core values are a deep love of the Jewish people, a deep connection to the land and State of Israel, and the love of Torah. When I came there [to South Africa], I saw the connection to the State of Israel and the centrality of Israel and Zionism to Jewish identity and [that] our Jewish religious identity was not necessarily everyones sort of natural understanding. I felt it was a real place to have a strong religious Zionist community.

Doron, who initially served as executive director of Mizrachi South Africa, eventually became the senior rabbi of one of the major synagogues there, and the head of Yeshiva College, his alma mater.

During the familys stay in South Africa, the remaining three children were born: son Daniel in 2001, and his sisters Adina in 2004 and Shira in 2008.

In 2014, Doron and his family returned to Israel, where he assumed the position of executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement. Despite the fact that the family had frequently visited during the summers, Perez says that when they returned, they were essentially South African kids.

The Perez family moved to Yad Binyamin, arriving on July 14, 2014, in the middle of Operation Protective Edge.

We arrived here late at night, he recalls. The next night, we were in an air raid shelter. I remember my then 10-year-old daughter, Adina, asking me, Wasnt South Africa supposed to be the dangerous country? And secondly, why are people trying to kill a 10-year-old in her bedroom?

I had a good answer to the first question, he recalls.

I said, We didnt leave South Africa because its dangerous, and we didnt come to Israel because its safe, though I do think that its a safe place to be. We came here because we believe it is the place ultimately where the Jews need to be. I didnt have as good an answer to her second question, he admits.

The family adapted quickly to life in Israel.

DORONS WIFE, Shelley, worked as a physical therapist, and the children attended school. Yonatan studied in a hesder yeshiva before joining the paratroopers, and Daniel joined a mechina (pre-army preparatory program). Yonatan excelled in the army and today is a company commander.

After reviewing the events of the past seven or eight years, the conversation returns to Daniel.

Speaking of him in the present tense, Doron says, Daniel is an extreme sport type of guy, an ADHD type of kid, not easy to sit still, loves extreme sports, loves adrenaline rushes. The biggest hevreman [people person] you ever met. He came to Israel at the age of 13 and was very upset to leave South Africa because of his huge array of friends. If I had to think which of our sons would have the hardest aliyah, I would have thought it would be Daniel because he was so upset to leave South Africa.

Within a day of their arrival in Israel, Doron says, Daniel, with his endearing personality, began to amass a variety of friends from his hometown of Yad Binyamin, as well as former South Africans and everyone in between.

Doron chuckles, recalling his youngest sons work for the Health Ministry during the COVID-19 crisis, when his job was taking people out of isolation in Yad Binyamin.

He became the most popular person in Yad Binyamin. People were calling me to talk to Daniel Perez because he was running the show.

Daniel became an outstanding wakeboarder. Doron shows me a video on his phone of Daniel skimming through the water, and gracefully performing a mid-air pirouette. Daniel wanted to join the elite Sayeret Golani unit but tore his anterior cruciate ligaments and his meniscus in a wakeboarding accident in the summer of 2019. He spent nine months in grueling physical therapy during his mechina year, and fought with the army to raise his profile until they relented and gave him a high enough score to join the tank corps.

He absolutely loved tanks, says his father. He liked the complexity of it, and he loved the power of it. That was his extreme sports.

Doron says that Daniel was a difficult child to raise.

He was fiercely independent. You could not tell this kid what to do.

If he did not want to do something, nothing in the world could make him do it. If he wanted to do it, nothing could stop him.

At the eulogy that Doron delivered at the funeral, he recounted how, when he was head of school in South Africa, he spent several weeks helping to prepare his son for the schools annual Bible vocabulary test competition.

I took it very seriously, Doron recalls, with the hint of a smile playing on his face. Im the head of school, and I had to show that we believed in the curriculum.

Daniel did well and finished in second place.

The following year, Doron continues, four or five days before the quiz, Daniel approached him just as he was about to leave on a wedding anniversary vacation with Shelley and asked what his father would give him if he finished in first place.

Doron remembers: I asked him if he had started preparing for the quiz, and he said, No. I said to him, When I learned everything with you last year, you finished in second place, and now you are going to do it on your own in five days?

Despite Daniels minimal chances, father and son agreed on a reward he would receive should he win. Several days later, while on vacation, Doron received a call from the head of the schools Judaic studies department congratulating him on his sons victory.

I said to Daniel, How did you do it? He said, Last year, we really did it for you. This year, I decided to do it for me.

In order to learn how to work with his son, says Perez, he had to go to therapy to understand that I had to go with this kids will and not fight it. Every time I took him on head-on, I lost, he acknowledges. Once Doron understood that he couldnt bend his sons will to his wishes, things became easier.

Doron was curious to see how Daniel would take to the discipline and work of serving in the IDF and was thrilled to see how he thrived.

He absolutely loved it, he says. He became disciplined because he loved it. He was disciplined about things he wanted to do. He started as a tank loader but wanted to learn every function of how the tank operated. Daniel went to a commanders course and was named Outstanding Soldier in the group.

That was a turning point for me, says Perez. It was only then that I realized how important the army was to him.

Daniel took an officers course and became part of the 7th Army division. He absolutely flourished.

On October 6, having spent three years in the army, Daniel was a tank commander based in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Friends have told me, says Perez, that October 6 was probably his most boring day in the army. He phoned every single one of his friends and spoke to them for 15 to 20 minutes each. Things were at the lowest possible state of alert, as it was going to be chag and Shabbat.

At 6:15 on the morning of Oct. 7, when the missile barrage began, Daniel and his crew entered the air raid shelter. After Oct. 7, Daniels IDF bloodstained shirt was found, and the family wondered if he had time to put on his uniform before getting into the tank. According to reports that they received from a guard at the base who attended the shiva, Daniel and his crew came to their tank dressed in full battle gear. They got into their tank at 6:45 and fought for two hours and 16 minutes, gallantly and valiantly, says Perez. They stood between Kibbutz Nahal Oz and the border, fought off many terrorists, and saved many lives.

When the second wave of Hamas terrorists penetrated the kibbutz, Daniel and his tank crew saw them coming and made the difficult decision to confront the invaders who were on motorbikes and heavily armed with their tank, which was not intended for close-range combat.

During that final battle, says Perez, they were fighting in close combat, and the terrorists managed to get onto the tank, and [Daniel] was shot. We dont know if he died from that or died later, but the tank was overrun just after nine oclock on that morning after two and a quarter hours of incredible defense.

Two other members of Daniels tank were killed, and a third is thought to be held hostage in Gaza.

Later that day, Daniels older brother Yonatan, who was in Yad Binyamin, was called in and fought in Sderot and several other areas until, at 1 p.m., he commanded the first group of soldiers to retake the base in Nahal Oz. At 2:45 p.m., he was shot in the leg, just 100 yards from where Daniel had been shot.

Its unusual, says Doron, that youve got two sons, both officers, both fought in the same area; one unfortunately was killed and taken hostage, and the other was, by the grace of God, only lightly wounded.

Doron returns full circle to the strong South African bond that remains. He still wears a yellow bracelet on his wrist inscribed with Daniels Hebrew name and the words Bring them home, which was created by the South African Jewish community and worn by its members when it was thought that Daniel was still alive.

The entire South African Jewish community is in mourning because Daniel grew up in South Africa. He was [their] family. I was there for 15 years. The South African Jewish community woke up after two days of Yom Tov, on October 9, to find out that two boys they know, one was taken hostage, and the other was wounded.

For Rabbi Doron Perez and his family, the public mourning has ended, but the private mourning remains.

Its coming to terms with the pain and the grief of a son that youre never going to see again. Its painful, but its different. Its the pain of grief.

Its not the pain of angst and worry. Its now the grief of loss. We know that hes in a good place. Our sages say that the highest place in Gan Eden is for those who gave their lives defending the Jewish people, so theres nothing to worry about him.

Its our loss. Its our grief.

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Rabbi Doron Perez about his son who fell in the October 7 attack - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

(JNS) A rap artist who turned around his hard-partying lifestyle after a near-death experience when he was a teenager and became a rabbi now sees surging success with his newest single.

Rabbi Moshe Reuven Sheradsky, 31, has hit the No. 1 spot on the Israeli musical charts with his song Red and Yellow. He spoke with JNS about the spiritual influences on his music and whether the antisemitism of Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) signified a potential trend in hip-hop.

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Lyrics in his hit song reference the near-death experience (someone spiked his drink at a party when he was 16) that Reuven credits with changing the course of his life, putting him onto the path that brought him to Orthodox Judaism and now pop-music acclaim.

I remember the day I almost died/Laying down in the corner looking straight at the sky/And Im in this room asking why/Can I live till tomorrow and give life another try? Sheradsky raps.

He then vows to live a purpose and that he himself, like Jacob (Israel), had to fight an angel.

Sheradsky told JNS that part of why and how I changed my life as a teenager was because I saw how evil things can be.

In an interview withJewish News, Sheradsky said that almost dying was a turning point in the realization that my life had to be better than this. I felt God was giving me an ultimatum that I must embark on a more meaningful path or it would be wasted.

Sheradsky grew up in a Conservative Jewish household in Hollywood, Fla. Following his traumatic party experience, he stopped going out on Friday nights, fully observed Shabbat, only ate kosher and grew a beard which my brothers constantly teased me about. He said that being at Chabad had a profound influence in igniting a quest to find out more about Judaism.

Sheradsky went on to study at a yeshivah in Israel and at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, N.J., earning hissemichain 2021 and becoming a rabbi affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

Discussing biblical figures who influenced his music, Sheradsky told JNS that when it comes to writing, Moses and King David stand out. Moses was always for the people. He was the embodiment of what a true leader really should becompletely given over, complete self-sacrifice.

Sheradsky said that when he writes his songs, Im not just writing for myself, but I consider that my personal experience is also the listeners.

He says his inspiration comes from a personal place that details my journey with Hashem in a way that the listener can relate to and resonate with. He said people have told him that they are inspired by the lyrics and that they connect through them.

King David also looms large as very impactful on my writing, Sheradsky told JNS. He was a poet and a king, and the way he was open to Hashem, even about his enemies, his concerns, his worries, his troubles, his shortcomings. Hes inspired a lot of that in my relationship with Hashem and in my writings.

Sheradsky noted his parents pride in his accomplishmentsand their surprise. My brothers and friends are amazed, he said. Nobody could have expected things to turn out this way not even me.

He acknowledges that it has taken a lot of time and a lot of work to get to where I am now, and I feel blessed that God was behind me to give me a push in this direction.

Antisemitism in hip-hop has been a concern

On social media, the rapper-rabbi has grown a following of 1.7 million onInstagram. I just thank God that people from all backgrounds have gravitated to my music, Sheradskysaid. I just have a goal to make this world a better place, to make it a more positive place with my music. To make it a more Godly place.

Sheradsky sees the darker tendencies in the world of hip-hop, telling JNS that Yes statements had an impact and a negative one. You see antisemitic statements from people that resonate with that culture more, to be more acceptable and frequent.

Yet at the same time, Sheradsky said people also see through it; many have seen how ridiculous such statements are.

He added that when people admire celebrities, they tend to also adopt their viewpoints about the world or life, or even just repeat them for the sake of fitting in or being with the times. The youth of the world has a large impact on whats socially acceptable, and the problem of antisemitism in hip-hop has definitely been a concern.

Sheradsky lamented how misinformed and thoughtless it all is, especially when it comes to Israel. They dont know what sea and what river. And to them, its irrelevant. Whats the truth have to do with fitting in or sounding like a humanitarian or trying to sound like youre ahead of the times? he asked rhetorically.

Still, like the Chabad rabbi he now is, he expressed optimism, saying I do believe many people have a lot more sense. The majority of America and most age demographics side with Israel primarily.

The biggest problem appears with the younger groups, the ones that are most interested in pop culture, on social mediathose are the groups where theres the most misinformation, he said.

Since forever, Esau hated Yaakov [Jacob], Sheradsky told JNS. But for the most part, Israel and the Jewish people are stronger than ever, and people are seeing the reality of how mistreated weve been more than ever, and thereby showing support.

To read more content visit http://www.jns.org

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Chabad rabbi-rapper reaches top of the charts in Israel - South Florida Sun Sentinel

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

(April 17, 2024 / JNS)

Jews have always been fond of answering one question with another. In fact, Golda Meir was once asked by a journalist, Why do Jews always answer one question with another question? She replied, Why not?

So heres Question 1: Moses is the hero and main protagonist of the story of Pesach and the Exodus from Egypt. Yet the Haggadah hardly mentions his name at all. There is only one passing mention of him in a quotation of the verse, And they believed in God and in Moses, His servant.

Thats not exactly getting his name in lights. But surely, Moses is the star of the show and deserves to be highlighted throughout the narrative. Why is he all but absent from the Haggadah?

Allow me to answer that question with another.

One of the most famous passages from the Haggadah recounts a story: Some of the greatest sages of the time gathered in Bnai Brak for the Pesach seder. They were discussing the Exodus from Egypt all that night until their students came and told them: Our Masters, the time has come for reciting the morning Shema.

Question 2: If your rabbi was giving a shiur (lesson) and he was going on a bit, sunset was approaching, and it was time to daven Mincha, would you interrupt and tell him? I can say with certainty that if I was listening to my teacher and mentorthe Lubavitcher Rebbeand he was giving a talk and sunset was approaching, I would remain absolutely shtum. I would never have the chutzpah to interrupt my saintly teacher.

And the Haggadah story involves some of the greatest sages of their generation: Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon. How did these young students have the cheek and audacity to show them their watch and tell them to hurry and finish their discussions as it was getting late to recite the Shema?

I once came across an interpretation that answers this question beautifully. It is somewhat tangential, but it is in the classic mode of drush, what we call homiletics. It is where the word drosha comes frommeaning a sermon. In sermons, rabbis often employ the methodology of drush to expound on and interpret a Torah verse in an original, creative way. This gives the congregation a meaningful message beyond the simple, straightforward explanation of the Torah verse.

Now, in the Haggadah passage, if we move a comma just one word forward, it sheds completely new light on the story. The traditional understanding is that the rabbis were discussing the Exodus all night and in the morning their students arrived and said, Our Masters, the time has come for reciting the morning Shema.

However, if we move the comma just one word later, the passage would read: The rabbis were discussing the Exodus all that night, until their students came and our rabbis told them, the time for the morning Shema has arrived.

In other words, the statement about the time for the morning Shema was not made by the students, but by the rabbis themselves.

You see, these great rabbis were awake all Pesach night discussing the Exodus story, and its deepest meaning and interpretation. Night symbolizes darkness. Indeed, they were living in the dark, depressing era after the Romans had destroyed the Second Temple and were brutally occupying Israel. No doubt the rabbis were bemoaning the state of the Holy Land and its Jewish community in that terrible era. Would there be a future for Judaism? Could the Jewish people rebuild and regenerate after such a calamitous tragedy? These must have been the questions they were grappling with.

Then morning dawned, and their students arrived. Suddenly, the rabbis were encouraged, and their mood lightened. The arrival of a group of young Torah scholars hungry to learn brought the rabbis new hope for the Jewish people. They saw a brighter future, assured by a new generation of dedicated students eager to keep the faith and study the Torah. The morning has arrived! the rabbis gratefully proclaimed. They beheld a new light that gave them new hope for and confidence in the Jewish future through the dawning of a new generation.

Thus, we can better appreciate the absence of Mosess name from the Haggadah story. While there is barely any mention of him, there is another prophet who does feature prominently at the seder table: Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah the Prophet. He is prominent in every Jewish home on seder night. There is the very visible Fifth Cup of Elijah, and in the latter part of the Haggadah recital, we open the door for Elijah.

Moses is described as our first redeemer. Elijah, however, represents the final redemption. In Jewish tradition, Elijah is the harbinger of the Messiah. The prophet will arrive and announce the great redeemers imminent arrival, please God. Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before that great, awesome day, says the verse from the Book of Malachi that we read on Shabbat Hagadol just before Pesach. Elijah will be the herald of the final redemption.

The rabbis of old were comforted and reassured by the arrival of a new crop of young Torah students. At our own seder tables, we want to focus our attention not only on the past but on the futurenot only on the redemption from Egypt, but on the final redemption of the Messiah. Hopefully, this can help us to better understand why, at the seder, Elijah gets more coverage than Moses.

Like Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues, we also live in the shadow of destructionin our case, that of European Jewry and the Holocaust. Nor are we yet finished with Hamas, Iran & Co. But despite all our challenges, we are heartened by the emergence of a new generation dedicated to Torah study and Jewish continuity. Like the rabbis at their seder, we, too, have reason to be confident that a new dawn has risen, a generation that will proudly proclaim the Shema Yisrael and the eternal Oneness of God.

I wish all my readers a chag kasher vsameach. Wherever we may be celebrating Pesach this year, may we all be together Next Year in Jerusalem!

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The light has dawned - JNS.org

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

From 7 to 8 p.m. on Monday, May 6 author Rabbi Jeffrey Gale will discuss his new book, The Secret of Redemption. This book is the sequel to the authors first book, The Ballad of East and West, which tells the story of Rabbi Isaac Levins devotion to the cause of Soviet Jewry in the early 1980s.

The Secret of Redemption delves into the intertwined lives of Levin and his daughter, Bracha, as they grapple with the echoes of historical trauma and contemporary injustices. Set against the backdrop of November 2013, the narrative explores Levins reflections on the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, juxtaposed with the challenges faced by his congregation in northern Manhattan.

A graduate of University City High School and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Gale focused his career on community relations, interfaith programming and social causes such as civil rights and immigration. This event is intended for adults but is free and open to all. It will be held in the auditorium. The author will have books available for purchase.

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Rabbi Jeffrey Gale to discuss new book at U. City Library - St. Louis Jewish Light

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How do we as Jews gather at our seder tables when the hostage situation by Passover may be unresolved?

Let My people go that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness Exodus 5:1.

Have any words ever sounded more profound and relevant than they do right now.

By the time the sun sets on the first seder, if they are still in Gaza, some 134 hostages, whether they be alive or dead, will have been held hostage for 198 days.

Perhaps the themes of Passover, the Festival of Freedom, have never felt more meaningful, painful or relevant in our most recent memory as they do right now.

After almost seven months of holding vigils for the hostages both physically and spiritually, how do we as Jews gather at our seder tables when the hostage situation by Passover may be unresolved? How do we commemorate this holiday while our brethren remain enslaved in captivity?

Perhaps Passover will feel a bit different this year because it may be the first in our lifetimes when we are living through history. But through the centuries, Jews have sat at their seders and celebrated Passover in many instances of persecution.

Local rabbis have ruminated about the notion that Passover may come without a return of the hostages. Several say it has been on their minds for months as they reflected on how this will change the timbre of our seders and Passover observances.

Pesach in Times of Trouble

Rabbi Benzion Geisinsky of Chabad of Bloomfield Hills reminded that this is not the first time in Jewish history that Jews have observed Passover in times of persecution and existential threat.

Geisinsky pointed to a piece in the April 2020 issue of Moment magazine. Compiled in the early days of the COVID pandemic, it contained examples of how Jews celebrated Passover under Babylonian and Roman exiles, Crusades and the European Black Death.

Survivors of the Inquisition, Jews held seder not on the first two nights but on the fifth nights in communities in Spain, Portugal and Sicily and Sardinia, ironically helped by their Christian neighbors, is one example from centuries ago.

While Im sure the discussions around the Passover table were very different in times of persecution and troubles than during happy times, the words of the Haggadah stayed the same, Geisinsky said. Certainly, during the most horrific times in our history the words of vehee sheamda (that which refers to our ancestors applies to us as well) were very relevant.

We all declare that in every generation, they are out to get us and G-d saves us from their hands. But never have we given up the hope for Next year in Jerusalem.

Geisinsky said the words of the Haggadah are perfect the way they are.

Though we could surely use a lchaim during the [festive] meal, we are all wishing for the ultimate redemption to come upon us speedily.

Adding New Traditions

Rabbi Steven Rubenstein said the community may want to add a tradition of singing the Acheinu prayer for redeeming captives this year. He said the passage, taken from the weekday Torah service and sung every day since Oct. 7 among world Jewry, is particularly relevant.

The prayer translates: May the Holy One be merciful to our fellow Jews who wander over sea and land, who suffer oppression and imprisonment. May God soon bring them relief from distress and deliver them from darkness to light, from subjugation to redemption. And let us say Amen.

Rubenstein said he also concludes seder with the singing of Hatikva, which will also feel different this year than from past years.

Celebrating Pesach at our seder has always been about the context in which we celebrate, Rubenstein said. Even without any changes or additions to the seder, it will be impossible for most Jews to sit at the seder table and not think about the war in Israel those who died on Oct. 7and those who remain in captivity.

A Way Forward

Rabbi Blair Nosanwisch of Adat Shalom of Farmington Hills said the Passover story is a story of creating a way out of no way.

Passover is about moving from slavery to freedom, from sea crossing to shore, from the narrows (mitzrayim)to the expanse, Nosanwisch said. This is our yearly ritual of reminding ourselves that there isalwaysa way forward, no matter how hard it is to see.

Nosanwisch added: What is unique about the story of the Jewish people is that we never know what path forward each of us needs to cultivate. Every individual has to move from their personal narrow place to a place of openness and possibility. When we each make these journeys authentically, it opens pathways forward for the collective as well.

When she thinks about the deep despair of the current moment, she reminds herself she can only be exactly where she is in the present.

I have to do work and contribute to possibility and growth from that position, Nosanwisch said. I cannot change the reality (in Israel or Gaza), but what channels can I open that will help to move my people forward across the turbulent sea of today?

Seeds of Redemption

Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Southfield said for most of Jewish history, we celebrated Passover while Jews were enslaved and oppressed.

Within my lifetime, we worked to free Soviet Jewry even as we gave thanks for our freedom in America, Starr said. Sadly, Passover 5784 will be no exception. Just as we are obligated to observe the laws of Passover, so, too, are we duty-bound to remain mindful of the plight of the hostages in Gaza, of the current war in which Israel is engaged and the pending one in [Northern Israel] as well as the rise of antisemitism around the world.

Starr said, Just as we recognize our current oppression, we pray that we will be redeemed just as God redeemed us from Egypt.

Starr added that the seeds of redemption were planted by our ancestors who remained resilient against their enemies, who kept their traditions despite their exile, and who united to care for each other to collectively overcome the struggles they faced.

A Seat for the Hostages

Rabbi Natalie Shribman of Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield said she thinks about the hostages each week during the recitation of the Mi Chamochah prayer that depicts the Children of Israel celebrating the parting of the Red Sea.

We celebrate our freedom from Egypt, yet we know there are so many in the world, including the Israelis being held hostage, who are not free, Shribman said.

As Emma Lazarus said, We are not free until we are all free. This Passover seder, we will have a seat for Elijah and the door open for him, and leave a seat open for the hostages as well. May the door open for them soon in due time.

Next year in Jerusalem, next year in freedom for everyone.

By Rabbi Aaron Starr

[To be read responsively, first by the leader and then by those gathered]

Tonight, we celebrate our freedom, and we sing psalms of joy.

Tonight, we pray for the release of our brothers and sisters suffering in captivity.

Tonight, we relish the warmth of our homes, surrounded by family and friends.

Tonight, we are mindful of hundreds of thousands of Israelis displaced from their homes.

Tonight, we give thanks for the abundance of food and drink.

Tonight, we note the millions around the world who lack their most basic needs.

Tonight, we sit at the Passover table.

Tonight, we stand for the right of Jews everywhere to live in safety.

Tonight, we remember that we came out of Mitzrayim.

Tonight, we hope that no one will experience Mitzrayim ever again.

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A Seat at the Table, a Prayer for Freedom Local Rabbis Share Passover 2024 Messages - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The universal message of Passover

Passover, known as Pessach in Hebrew, transcends its origins in Jewish tradition to embody profound universal themes of hope and liberation. At its core, Passover commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, a journey from bondage to freedom that holds timeless significance for all humanity.

The story of Passover speaks to the universal longing for liberation from oppression and injustice. It reminds us that the struggle for freedom is not confined to a specific time or place but is an enduring aspiration shared by people of all backgrounds. The Israelites quest for freedom reflects the universal human desire to break free from personal constraints and societal limitations.

Passover invites each of us to reflect on our own paths to liberation. Just as the Israelites faced obstacles and challenges on their journey, we too encounter barriers to our personal growth and fulfillment. Passover teaches us the importance of perseverance, courage, and faith in the face of adversity.

Moreover, Passover underscores the concept of renewal and transformation. The rituals of the Passover Seder, such as the retelling of the Exodus story and the consumption of symbolic foods, symbolize the idea of spiritual renewal and rebirth. This theme resonates universally, offering an opportunity for all individuals to reflect on areas of their lives where they seek renewal and positive change.

The message of Passover extends beyond religious boundaries to inspire a vision of a more just and equitable world. The call to remember and retell the story of the Exodus is a call to action against all forms of oppression and discrimination. It challenges us to work towards a society where everyone can experience the dignity and freedom they deserve.

In essence, Passover is a celebration of resilience, hope, and the enduring human spirit. It invites people of all backgrounds to unite in the pursuit of a better future one marked by freedom, justice, and compassion. As we commemorate Passover, let us embrace its universal message and strive to create a world where liberation and renewal are attainable for all.

Rabbi Michel Schlesinger

A Passover Message

Every Passover we recall the Exodus from Egypt during the events of the Seder. There are many highlights in the Passover seder, but one that stands out to me is called Ha Lachma Anya, or This is the bread of affliction. Now, I know that sounds like a pretty ominous title, but its actually a prayer of compassion:

This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Anyone who is hungry, come in and eat. Anyone who is in need, come and find a place at our Pesach table. Now we are here. Next year in the land of Israel. This year we are slaves. Next year we will be free.

Ha Lachma Anya is a literal invitation to anyone who is going hungry to join the Seder. While I could speak more about food security, I want to focus on a different aspect of this passage. One of the things that makes Ha Lachma Anya interesting is that is written in Aramaic. For a bit of background, when Jews started having Seders in the form we would recognize today, the common spoken language was Aramaic. Hebrew would have been somewhat intelligible, but it still would not have been easily understood. Instead of calling out the invitation in Hebrew, which may have alienated the people who were in need, Ha Lachma Anya is said in Aramaic, so that it could actually reach the ears of those who needed to hear it.

On the other hand, it is ironic that Ha Lachma Anya has been kept in Aramaic over the years, long after Aramaic became a little-used language. It is highly unlikely that someone in our modern society would be able to understand Ha Lachma Anya if we were to issue the same invitation today.

Originally, Ha Lachma Anya was probably said at the very beginning of the Seder, so if someone were going to join, they would be able to participate in the whole event. However, in the current Seder format, Ha Lachma Anya appears three or four sections into the Seder. If someone were to actually join the Seder at that point, it would be disruptive to everyone else and could easily make the person in need feel more self-conscious about being there in the first place.

Even though both the linguistics and current placement of Ha Lachma Anya undermine its original message and intent, I believe it also teaches us an important lesson. Almost all of us have opinions on, well, just about everything, but sometimes our whole family or friend group doesnt share the same perspective. What we say and what we think are important, but if we dont say it in a way that others are willing to hear, or if we say it at a wrong or inconvenient time, our message and intent is likely to be lost. In the future, whether going to a Passover Seder with our friends and families, or whenever we come together as a group in general, keep in mind the lesson of Ha Lachma Anya.

Rabbi Caroline Sim

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Passover greetings from local Rabbis | Herald Community Newspapers - liherald.com

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Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

Click the video player above for your WPBF 25 News To Go HeadlinesThe senior rabbi at Temple Beth El of Boca Raton, Dan Levin, is sharing his reaction to Iran's drone and missile strike on Israel.He is calling for all of Israel's enemies to put down their weapons.He said he had a variety of emotions when he learned of the attack."Theres frustration. Theres sadness. Theres heartbreak. Theres anguish. Theres anger. Theres pain, but theres also hope because we are able to withstand these kinds of attacks," said Levin. "Im trying as best I can, not only to hold my breath that there should not be any more terrible attacks, but that one day this will be put in our past and there will be peace."Levin says hes telling his congregation that Israel needs and deserves the support of the United States."These are our people and that is our homeland. It has been our homeland for millennia and it will remain our homeland for millennia," said Levin.He says the only way for the fighting to stop is for Hamas and all of Israels enemies to put down their weapons."Enough is enough. Its time for all of Israels enemies to lay down their weapons of war and to recognize that the state of Israel is strong and can defend itself and that they should reach out their hands, not with a clenched fist, but with a hand hoping to make peace so that we dont have to bury any more of our children or of anybody elses," said Levin.The Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations is working to provide a statement to WPBF 25 News.Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

Click the video player above for your WPBF 25 News To Go Headlines

The senior rabbi at Temple Beth El of Boca Raton, Dan Levin, is sharing his reaction to Iran's drone and missile strike on Israel.

He is calling for all of Israel's enemies to put down their weapons.

He said he had a variety of emotions when he learned of the attack.

"Theres frustration. Theres sadness. Theres heartbreak. Theres anguish. Theres anger. Theres pain, but theres also hope because we are able to withstand these kinds of attacks," said Levin. "Im trying as best I can, not only to hold my breath that there should not be any more terrible attacks, but that one day this will be put in our past and there will be peace."

Levin says hes telling his congregation that Israel needs and deserves the support of the United States.

"These are our people and that is our homeland. It has been our homeland for millennia and it will remain our homeland for millennia," said Levin.

He says the only way for the fighting to stop is for Hamas and all of Israels enemies to put down their weapons.

"Enough is enough. Its time for all of Israels enemies to lay down their weapons of war and to recognize that the state of Israel is strong and can defend itself and that they should reach out their hands, not with a clenched fist, but with a hand hoping to make peace so that we dont have to bury any more of our children or of anybody elses," said Levin.

The Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations is working to provide a statement to WPBF 25 News.

Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25

Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

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Guyana Presidents Son Puts on Tefillin, Receives Matzah for First Time

by Uziel Scheiner chabad.org

When Rabbi Avromy Super couldnt find a direct flight home to St. Lucia last October, he was disappointed. The rabbi, who established Chabad-Lubavitch of St. Lucia with his wife, Sternie, in 2019, usually didnt have trouble finding nonstop flights to his Caribbean home island, but this time the only available flight had a stop in Guyana, a coastal South American country south of St. Lucia. To get home, Super would have to travel 600 miles out of his way.

With St. Lucia home to a permanent Jewish population of around 200many of whom are part-time residentsSuper is accustomed to keeping a keen eye out for Jews in his exotic neighborhood. So when he landed in Guyanas capital city of Georgetown on his dreaded 24-hour stopover, he brushed off his exhaustion and got to work.

Almost immediately he found two Jewsone named Raphi, owner of a local riverside resort, and Alan, a Jew originally from Antwerp, Belgium, who had been living in Guyana for 13 years. Super met with both, and when it was finally time to catch his connecting flight, they vowed to stay in touch.

Six months later, withPassoverfast approaching, Super began going through his list of Jews to send traditional, handmade roundShmurah matzahfor the holiday. Along with the Jews of St. Lucia, Super has a Rolodex of Jews hes met on his travels in the Caribbean with whom he remains in contact, including his new friends in Guyana.

When calculating the shipping rates this year, he realized that it would be more costly to ship the boxes than to fly to each island and deliver them himself. So the rabbi made travel plans to deliver the hand-madematzah, along with the joy of the holiday, in person.

At the same time, through his Jewish contacts in Guyana hed become aware of at least a dozen Jews living there. One of them, however, the Jewish son of two former presidents of Guyana, he knew of on his own.

The Jagan family is all but royalty in Guyana. Cheddi Jagan, the patriarch of the family, founded the Peoples Progressive Party in 1950, together with his wife, Janet (ne Rosenberg). He served as the Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964 and as president of Guyana from 1992 to 1997.

Jagans work and accomplishments in service to Guyana made him an iconic figure in the country, of which he is regarded as a founding father, in some quarters earning him the moniker Father of the Nation. The primary airport in Guyana, where Super landed, is named the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Janet was a force in her own right. The daughter of Jewish immigrants from Romania and Hungary, Janet was born and raised in Chicago, moving to Guyana after marrying Cheddi Jagan. In 1973, after years of political activism, Janet was elected to Parliament and went on to become the longest-serving member of Guyanas parliament. After her husbands death in 1997, Janet was elected president of Guyana, becoming the countrys first female president and Jewish leader. As one of ahandful of Jewish heads of state in the worldoutside ofIsrael, Janet was by far the most famous Jew in the Caribbean.

Janet Rosenberg Jagan passed away in 2009, 12 years after her husband, and was survived by their two children, Dr. Cheddi (Joey) Jagan Jr. and Nadira Jagan-Brancier.

Like most people in the Caribbean, Super had heard of Jagan and his Jewish ancestry, and when he arrived in Guyana beforePassover, he resolved to meet Dr. Jagana dentist based in Guyanaand give himShmurah matzahfor theSeder.

Guyanas Jewish community does not have much of an infrastructure, and whomever the rabbi asked did not have any leads to the Jewish son of the former presidents. Most were not even sure how much the Jagans identified with their Jewish identity.

With no toehold to gain an introduction, Rabbi Super came up with a clever solution: walk up to his office door and knock.

Super is not the firstChabadrabbi to arrive in Guyana on a mission to find Jews. Back in the late 1980s, a Brooklyn-based Chassidic stamp dealer namedYitzchokNemes was commissioned by the government of Guyana to print postage stamps for them. As he always did before setting out on foreign trips, Nemes went to seethe Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to ask for a blessing.

He told theRebbehes going to a place called Guyana, Nemes son, Rabbi Mendel Nemes,toldJewish Educational Medias My Encounter with the Rebbe oral history project. The Rebbe gave him [a dollar as well as] a separate dollar and told him to find a Jew in Guyana.

Arriving in Georgetown, Nemes met with a Belgian Jew working in the country who insisted that he would never find a Jew in the country. My father said, listen, the Rebbegave me a dollar, I will find a Jew, his son recalled . During the duration of his three week trip, Nemes searched wherever he could, but none of his many contacts could point him in the right direction. It was not until the last few days of his time in Guyana that someone pointed him towards a suburb where there lived a Jewish man by the last name ofSolomon.

An assimilated Jew who was married to a Hindu woman, when Mr. Solomon opened his door and found a Chabad businessman from Brooklyn standing there, he was in a state of utter shock. Nemes explained hed been sent there by the Rebbe, and helped the man dontefillinfor the first time. Over the next few days theystudied Torah, continuing on every one of Nemes many trips to the country. Later, they studiedTorahover the telephone, and Mr. Solomon eventually began eatingkosherand stopped working onShabbat. An elderly man when they met, when Solomon passed away a few years later he left a will in which he requested his familybury him in a Jewish cemetery.

With the help of Chabad of Venezuela, Solomon was laid to rest in a Jewish cemetery in Caracas.

When Super got to Dr. Jagans reception area, he introduced himself to the secretary as a visiting rabbi. She disappeared into the back, emerging a few minutes later to usher him into Dr. Jagans office.

The presidents son and the rabbi sat together for an hour. They discussed their family backgrounds, Judaism and Israel. Jagan, who hadnt previously felt much affiliation with his Judaism, described experiencing a shift since Oct. 7. Feelings that he hadnt had before began to perk up, and he was left with a sense of care and responsibility for his people. He was excited to see a rabbi in his office and be able to discuss his heritage.

At the end of their meeting, Super offered Jagan the opportunity to put ontefillin. Jagan had never heard of them, but after a quick introduction happily wrapped them and recited theShemaprayer for the first time in his life.

Before they parted, Super gave Jagan the box ofShmurah matzahforPassoverand promised to stay in touch. On Supers way out, Jagan remarked that had a rabbi tried to visit him a year earlier, he would probably have not seen him. The rabbi had come at the perfect time.

Super continued his trip in Guyana, reconnecting with his Jewish friends there, deliveringmatzahfor their Seders, and holding aTorahclass for the handful of Jews he had met over his short visits. Every article on Guyanas Jews says only one or two Jewish people live here. On my short visit here, I know that thats a significant undercount, Super said. Just like Rabbi Nemes discoveredin the 1980s, when we seek out a fellow Jew with an open heart, we find them.

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Guyana Presidents' Son Puts on Tefillin, Receives Matzah for First Time - CrownHeights.info

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