Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

The conflict has gotten so messy that the Democratic National Committee is considering disaffiliating with the national collegiate organization altogether and creating a partnership with the state groups underneath the national umbrella, according to a Democrat familiar with the discussions. The DNC declined to comment.

The clashes over religious bigotry and race within the College Democrats of America (CDA) reflect, to a degree, larger debates happening throughout politics. But the next generation seems poised to escalate them further. Some CDA members argue that the internal frictions constitute a turbulent but morally necessary reckoning with systemic racism. Other Democratic officials see it as a bunch of college-educated, hyper-woke kids trying to play politics in a way thats off-putting to many voters.

They are caught up in their own drama and playing Boys State government, said the same Democrat. They think theyre the hottest s--- on Earth.

I cant just make a tweet about pop culture without it being ripped apart for underlying messages and hidden meanings.

Nourhan Mesbah, the College Democrats of America

The controversy began in September when Tasneem Ahmad Al-Michael, a Muslim and former vice president of the CDA abruptly ended his presidential campaign after a 2014 tweet in which he used a racial slur resurfaced, CDA members involved in the election said. He said the subsequent attacks on him and his campaign team prompted him to pull out of the race. What I said as a 15 year old prior to being in politics was ignorant, inappropriate, and flat out wrong, Al-Michael said in a text message to POLITICO. It doesnt define me, my character, or invalidate the work that I continue to do.

New president and vice presidential candidates subsequently emerged, including Mesbah, who was serving as the CDAs director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA).

The day before the election, the CDAs Jewish Caucus began sharing a screenshot of a 2016 tweet Mesbah wrote while watching a debate between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

A 13-year-old at the time, Mesbah wrote, "I blame this debate on the yahood," an Arabic word which is sometimes used as a slur against Jewish people. She also tagged another user with a history of anti-Semitic tweets.

Mesbah still narrowly won the College Democrats vice presidential race but soon consulted with the DNC on a statement. The lengthy initial draft was unapologetic, according to a Democrat who saw it, but after lots of editing, it stated: I apologize for my words in 2016. My comment was in no way rooted in malice or anti-semitism, especially as a 13-year old, relatively new immigrant from North Africa, with a different regional dialectic linguist comprehension.

She added that, while I take responsibility for my actions, I am hurt by the Islamophobia and xenophobia that continues to unfold.

The CDA board also passed a resolution, 19-3, censuring Mesbah and requiring her to undergo training about antisemitism and cultural sensitivity from the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, or the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. As of today, she has not participated in such a training, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Even so, the controversy seemed to die down until last week.

On Nov. 12, Mesbahs successor as IDEA director, Jeremy Ward, released a report calling for Mesbah to resign as vice president due to the harm caused to two different communities.

Ward had initially announced the independent investigation into Mesbahs conduct in September. Circulated internally on Nov. 10, it concluded that Mesbahs past tweet was anti-Semitic and that her claims of Islamaphobia were unfounded.

It also included a new accusation that Mesbah exhibited a pattern of discrimination against members of the black community, specifically black women. Ward wrote that the report did not disclose any specific instances of anti-blackness behavior so as to ensure that those who had complained would not face retribution or harassment. Ward did not respond for comment.

Following the reports release, several college Democrats joined in calling for Mesbahs resignation and, if necessary, her impeachment. But others have accused Ward of a political hit job disguised as an objective investigation.

Elements within our organization are bitter about an election they lost, said Justin Hartley, the president of the Tulane College Democrats. Elements within our organization do not want to see a young, Muslim woman represent Democrats nationally.

Matt Nowling, the former interim president of the College Democrats who helped create the IDEA director position last year as part of a series of inclusion reforms, backed Ward. I believe that the work of that director is really important, and that the investigation that they completed has merit. And I encourage the executive board to listen to the recommendations of that department.

In an interview with POLITICO, Mesbah said she had been held to a double standard solely because of the way I look, the faith that I practice. As evidence of that, she also said a member of the college Democrats called her a terrorist supporter last spring because of her strong pro-Palestine views. She declined to name the person.

Everything I say is torn to shreds, she said. I can't just make a tweet about pop culture without it being ripped apart for underlying messages and hidden meanings.

Even before the report was made public, however, word of its findings were trickling out and causing a stir nationally. As it was just about to be released, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil liberties organization in the country, wrote a letter calling on the CDA to probe accusations of rampant anti-Muslim bigotry inside the organization and backed up Mesbah.

We have received allegations that the current National I.D.E.A Director has dismissed credible allegations of Islamophobia while using his position to unfairly and baselessly single out and target Vice President Mesbah, the groups deputy director wrote.

Palestine Legal, a legal group dedicated to supporting the rights of people in the U.S. who speak out for Palestinian freedom, has offered Mesbah resources during the controversy.

And 12 Muslim advocacy and pro-Palestine groups, including CAIR, released a letter denouncing CDA for endorsing sensitivity trainings led by ADL and AJC, which they blasted as organizations with a history of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian actions.

An ADL spokesperson told POLITICO that the group strongly and unequivocally condemn(s) all anti-Muslim attacks and Islamophobia, including those directed against Nourhan Mesbah....Mesbahs apology for her past antisemitic tweets is a welcome first step, and we would be more than willing to work with her to understand why the statements she made in her tweets were so offensive. AJC did not respond to a request for comment.

The controversy has been covered in the conservative press, which has held up the fallout as an example of antisemitic bigotry among some young Democrats. For the CDA, meanwhile, its been another internal headache as students grapple with the politics of race, identity and social justice. Last summer, amid Black Lives Matter protests triggered by George Floyds murder by police, Nowling abruptly resigned as the CDAs communications director, releasing an open letter urging the organization to create an environment that is welcoming to BIPOC students and students that are low income. That set off a series of events that ended with the then-CDA president resigning and Nowling taking her place.

I think that it's important that organizations institute reforms and changes and work towards a future where organizations potentially create space for marginalized communities and empowers them and ensures that everyone has a space, Nowling said.

As he pointedly noted: The college Democrats is a pipeline to the Democratic Party and the broader progressive movement.

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

From the plane, Rauff went to Erwin Rommels battle headquarters, where he presented his orders to the field marshals chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Siegfried Westphal. As commander of a new mobile killing unit, an Einsatzkommando, Rauff was assigned to carry out executive measures, meaning mass murder of Jews, as soon as Rommel completed his expected conquest of Egypt. Rauff had come from Berlin, where the Nazi leadership was awash with optimism about Rommel pressing forward through Egypt into the Near East, as German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop had just told the Japanese ambassador.

After Egypt, Rauffs next target would be the 500,000 or more Jews of Palestine. And if, as Adolf Hitler expected, Rommels tanks drove forward to the oil fields of Iraq, the Jews of that country and of Syria and Lebanon would face mortal danger.

But Rommels chief of staff explained to Rauff that logistical problems, especially lack of fuel, were delaying the Axis forces advance, so the two agreed that Rauff and his team would move from Germany to Athens, Greece. From there, they could deploy to Egypt once Rommel swept forward into Alexandria a mere 60 miles east of El Alamein and Cairo.

It never happened. The desert battlefield would be the site of Rommels most famous defeat, and one of the great turning points of the Second World War.

Yet Rauffs mission to Egypt is fraught with significance. Contrary to popular memory, the Holocaust was not only a European event. Across north Africa and the Middle East, from Morocco to Iraq, the Germans and the regimes collaborating with them systematically persecuted Jews. Hitler had declared his intent to eradicate the Jews of the Middle East, and the SS actively prepared to do so. Allied victories heroic, and at times close to miraculous prevented the Nazis from carrying out the worst of their plans, but any full account of the Holocaust requires a map that extends well beyond Europe.

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The early months of the Second World War were disturbing but distant thunder for Jews in the Arab world. Three events in June 1940 changed that. First, the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini announced to an obediently cheering crowd of thousands in Rome that Italy was joining Germany and going to war against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the west: Britain and France. His immediate goal was seizing a scrap of France as it collapsed before the German onslaught. The larger implication was that war was inevitable in north Africa, since Mussolini dreamed of creating a new Roman empire, using the Italian colony of Libya as a base for expansion.

A week later, First World War hero Philippe Ptain formed a new government in France and sought peace with Germany. The armistice left Ptains government, based in Vichy, in control only of southeastern France, but it ruled most of Frances overseas empire, including the north African colonies of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

The third incident came at the end of June. An Italian anti-aircraft unit at Tobruk in eastern Libya shot down an Italian plane, mistaking it for a British aircraft. On board was Italo Balbo, the governor-general of Libya.

SS officer Walther Rauff, photographed in 1945. After his mission of mass extermination was halted at El Alamein, Rauff was posted to Tunisia. (Photo by ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Balbos death made life go from bad to worse for Libyas 30,000 Jews. Though a prominent Fascist, Balbo had opposed the Nazi-style anti-Semitism that Mussolini had adopted. The Italian campaign against the Jews had begun in 1938 with the Manifesto of Race that defined Italians as Aryans, and Jews as biologically inferior. A series of race laws barred Jews from government jobs, from teaching or studying in Italian schools, from practising professions including medicine and law, and more.

Balbo avoided enforcing the laws strictly in Libya, especially those that locked Jews out of the colonys economy. The Jews are already a dead people; there is no need to oppress them cruelly, Balbo explained to Mussolini in a letter. Il Duce answered: Though the Jews may seem to be dead, they never really are, echoing the Nazi view of Jews as a powerful, clandestine threat. Once Balbo was dead, the official persecution of the Jews in Libya could be escalated.

The Vichy regime in France, meanwhile, showed how fully it had become a German satellite by enacting its own Jewish Statute in October 1940. The move was driven in part by the home-grown anti-Semitism of the French right, but, as Vichy foreign minister Paul Baudouin would write, German pressure played a major role. Modelled on Nazi laws, the French statute defined Jewishness in racial terms, with a Jew being anyone with three Jewish grandparents or with two and a Jewish spouse. Among the measures, Jews were banned from all teaching, judicial and police positions, and most of the civil service. Only 2 per cent of lawyers, doctors and midwives could be Jewish all professions in which Jews were prominent.

The provisions echoed those adopted in other Nazi satellites in Europe, including Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. In the French case, though, their reach extended to Africa. The Vichy statute was applied directly in French Algeria, while the sultan of Morocco and bey of Tunisia, nominal rulers of French protectorates, issued decrees bringing in similar rules.

After enacting the Jewish Statute, Ptain abrogated the 1870 decree that granted French citizenship to Algerian Jews. Vichy authorities gave Jews a month to sell their businesses. The sultan of Morocco decreed that Jews living in European areas of cities had one month to move back to the old, crowded Jewish quarters. There, with more people packed in, disease spread quickly. Step by step, the Jews of French north Africa saw their lives and livelihoods constricted, in a process parallel to what German Jews had endured early in Nazi rule.

Another country at the far end of the Arab world briefly tilted into the Axis orbit when, in April 1941, four Iraqi colonels overthrew the British-aligned government. The coup was planned in the Baghdad home of Hajj Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and exiled leader of the Arab revolt in Palestine in the late 1930s. Abd al-Ilh, the regent who ruled in place of Iraqs six-year-old king, Faisal II, fled to Transjordan, while the king was smuggled out of Baghdad by his mother.

Iraqs government radio station broadcast a stream of inflammatory agitation against the Jews and powerful appeals to Nazism, according to a later commission of inquiry. Baghdad was then about one-sixth Jewish. On the streets, members of pro-Nazi paramilitary groups, such as the Youth Phalanxes, seized random Jews and dragged them to police stations, or occasionally murdered them. Meanwhile, Britains codebreakers at Bletchley Park deciphered Axis messages that the German and Italian air forces were sending unmarked warplanes to aid the Iraqi junta and that ships arriving at Rhodes bore ammunition to be airlifted to Iraq.

Commander of the Afrika Korps, Erwin Rommel (right), gives orders during the north African campaign. Often described as the war without hate, the conflict actually witnessed numerous persecutions against Jewish populations. (Photo by Jean DESMARTEAU/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The British quickly organised an invasion and the Iraqi army had crumbled by June. Husseini and the other plotters fled. When Abd al-Ilh returned to Baghdad, British troops stayed outside the city in the hope that his return would not look like their doing. A crowd of Jews came to greet the regent, but as they returned home Iraqi soldiers attacked them, with teens from the Youth Phalanxes joining in. Only on the next day did the newly returned regent finally order the police to disperse the mobs. A large number of Jewish shops and homes were looted, and several hundred Jews were brutally murdered, the British ambassador reported. The dead of the Baghdad pogrom, the Farhud, may be the least known and least acknowledged victims of Nazism.

Husseini eventually reached Berlin and, in November 1941, met with Hitler. He asked the fhrer to declare publicly his backing for the independence and unity of Palestine, Syria and Iraq. While Hitler avoided such a pledge, he promised that once German armies in the Soviet Union pushed south into the Middle East, Germanys objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element in the Arab world.

Axis armies would actually threaten the Middle East from a different direction. In September 1940, Italy launched an invasion of Egypt from Libya. By winter, the British under General Archibald Wavell counterattacked and pushed the Italians out of Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya. Afraid the Allies would keep going and threaten Europe from the south, Hitler sent an army to Libya under his favourite general, Rommel.

In the expanse of the desert, the fighting see-sawed wildly. Rommel reconquered most of Cyrenaica, then in late 1941 the British Eighth Army overran the province again, only to be pushed back once more. By early 1942, Benghazi, the largest town in Cyrenaica, had changed hands four times.

Mussolini found a scapegoat for Italian military failures: Libyas Jews. On 7 February 1942, he issued a decree to expel them to a concentration camp in the desert. Colonial authorities started with the Jews of small towns in Cyrenaica, and lists of those to be expelled began appearing in synagogues each fortnight. Survivors would remember that 40 people were packed onto each open truck and that they travelled for five days in the sun to the camp at Giado, south-west of Tripoli. There, men were subjected to forced labour. Inmates received between 100 and 150 grams of bread a day, and when they complained about the lack of food, camp authorities told them: The purpose of bringing you here is not to feed you, but to starve you to death. Of the 2,600 Jews imprisoned at Giado, more than one in five died within a few months of hunger or typhus.

One factor slowed the sfollamento, the clearing, of Jews, according to the German consul in Tripoli: a shortage of trucks. They were needed to supply Rommels new offensive, which began in late May 1942. Thanks to his secret weapon, a superb intelligence source in Cairo, he had taken Tobruk in eastern Libya by 21 June. A message from the Cairo source said that the Eighth Army was decisively beaten and if Rommel intends to take the Nile Delta this is a suitable moment.

Rommel plunged into Egypt. In Berlin and Rome, expectations soared and the SS sped up its preparations to send an Einsatzkommando to the Middle East. Yet during that crucial last week of June 1942, an intelligence breakthrough at Bletchley Park identified and silenced the Axis source. The timing was providential. Rommel was caught by surprise when British commander General Claude Auchinleck made a last-minute decision to move his defensive line to El Alamein. Auchinlecks change, the topography of the area and dogged fighting by British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and South African troops stopped the Axis advance. Rommel and Rauff would never reach Cairo or Tel Aviv.

Following the battle of El Alamein, in November 1942, the Eighth Army, now commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, shattered Rommels army and forced it to retreat eastward. Days later, the Allies launched Operation Torch, the Anglo-American invasion of Morocco and Algeria. In response, German forces seized Tunisia as a last redoubt in Africa and the SS sent Rauffs team.

As German historians Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cppers have detailed, Rauff carried out a reign of terror against Tunisian Jews that included conscripting 5,000 for forced labour. But with shipping to Europe under constant attack, Rauff could not carry out the larger SS plan to send Tunisias Jews to death camps in Europe.

The Nazis intentions to carry the war against the Jews beyond Europe never wavered. Ultimately, though, defeat at El Alamein turned the tables and kept the SS from carrying out its plans.

Yet leaving north Africa and the Middle East out of Holocaust history has erased the suffering of many of the Nazis victims and obscured the full significance of the victory at El Alamein.

Early in 2021, I received an email from the scientist Michael Bevan, son of Lance Corporal John Bevan of the Second New Zealand Division, who fought and was taken prisoner at El Alamein. My father always thought they were fighting to preserve the British empire, he wrote, which for a colonial was not a high priority. Only in the winter of 1945 in Germany, when as a prisoner of war his father saw female slave labourers building an airfield, did he fully grasp the evils he had fought to contain.

Therefore, the soldiers son went on, understanding how the Eighth Army established the El Alamein line, and thus prevented genocide in the Middle East, has brought new and deserved honour to the brave men of my fathers generation, who fought and suffered in Egypt.

For their sake, too, the story must be told.

As a French protectorate, Morocco was subject to Vichy control after the fall of France. While Jews were not sent to death camps in Europe, Sultan Mohammed V issued a decree enacting Vichys Jewish Statute. Under wartime rationing, Jews received less to eat than Europeans or Muslims, and a 1941 edict gave Jews living in European neighbourhoods one month to move back into the mellahs, or Jewish quarters, where overcrowding accelerated the spread of disease.

The Vichy regimes Jewish Statute was applied directly in Algeria, where at least 110,000 Jews lived. They were stripped of French citizenship, removed from occupations, given one month to sell their businesses, and those of military age sent to internment camps. Even after the Anglo-American liberation of Algeria in November 1942, Vichy officials remained in office and anti-Jewish measures were only overturned late the following year.

Subject to Vichy rule from 1940, Tunisia was then occupied by Germany in November 1942. The SS sent in the Einsatzkommando under the command of Walther Rauff, who had been originally assigned to the mass murder of Egypt and Palestines Jews. Rauff took Jewish leaders hostage in order to round up 5,000 Jews for forced labour, and imposed fines on the pretext that international Jewry was responsible for Allied bombings. As many as 400 Jews died due to the German occupation, but the Allied liberation of Tunisia in May 1943 thwarted Nazi plans to ship Tunisias 66,000 Jews to death camps in Europe.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini enacted anti-Jewish laws that were enforced with increasing strictness in the Italian colony of Libya. In 1942, on Mussolinis orders, 2,600 Jews from eastern Libya were trucked to a desert concentration camp, where more than 500 died of disease and starvation. The British conquest of Libya after El Alamein prevented the imprisonment of the remainder of Libyas estimated 30,000 Jews and resulted in the liberation of the concentration camp at Giado.

The SS created a mobile killing unit to carry out genocide in Egypt and Palestine as the Axis army, under the command of General Erwin Rommel, reached El Alamein in July 1942. Britains Special Operations Executive trained Palestinian Jews for guerrilla warfare after the expected Nazi conquest. But the dogged British defence at El Alamein stopped Rommel and prevented the murder of an estimated 75,000 Jews in Egypt and half a million or more in Palestine.

French mandatory officials declared fealty to Vichy and enacted anti-Jewish statutes. Jews were dismissed from government posts, the press and the railways, but enforcement was otherwise sporadic against the 30,000 or more Jews across the two countries. An Anglo-Free French invasion in June 1941 ended Vichy rule, and Free French general Charles de Gaulle abrogated the anti-Jewish laws.

Four colonels, known as the Golden Square, carried out a pro-Axis coup in April 1941, threatening some 110,000 Jews in the country. Government radio broadcast a stream of Nazi propaganda. In Baghdad, pro-Nazi paramilitary group Youth Phalanxes arrested or sometimes murdered Jews on the streets. The regimes collapse in the face of a British invasion ignited a pogrom in which soldiers and Youth Phalanxes murdered 180 or more Jews. The events shattered Jewish confidence in life in Iraq, setting the stage for a later exodus.

Gershom Gorenberg is an Israeli historian and journalist. His latest book, War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East, was published in January by PublicAffairs

This content first appeared in the September 2021 issue of BBC History Magazine

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

For the Labour Party, the scars of anti-Semitism will take a long time to heal. Nevertheless, Keir Starmer cannot be faulted for the energy and commitment he has brought to righting the wrongs perpetrated by the party under his predecessor.

Now that normal service has been resumed in the party following five catastrophic years under Jeremy Corbyn, it is easy to forget just how bad things got for British Jews when he was in charge, when his hard-Left fellow travellers were given license to unleash their pent-up hatred against the worlds only Jewish state and those who supported it.

Labour MPs as well as activists people who had devoted their entire lives to fighting Labours cause felt obliged to abandon their party after suffering horrendous abuse because of their ethnicity. Bitter, unreconstructed anti-Semites who had spent their lives on the isolated far Left fringes of politics suddenly felt welcome in the Labour Party after Corbyn became leader, and duly thereafter sought to make life miserable for Jewish members and elected officials.

Those scars will take years to heal. The veteran ex-MP Louise Ellman, hounded out of her party by the vicious anti-Jewish sentiment of Labour activists in her Liverpool constituency, made an emotional return to the fold at this years Labour conference, publicly welcomed back by Starmer in a moving segment of his speech. But there are many others who still dont feel welcome, who have become pariahs in the eyes of old comrades for the unforgivable crime of turning against Labour when it turned against Jews. My party, right or wrong remains a fundamental principle among many members, even MPs and if theyre not careful it could one day serve as Labours epitaph.

But Starmer has delivered on his early promise to steer the party away from anti-Semitism and to introduce a zero-tolerance approach. He went further than many expected yesterday when, in a speech to the annual lunch of Labour Friends of Israel, he rejected the BDS (Boycott, Disinvest and Sanctions) movement as counterproductive and wrong.

Significantly, his words came at about the same time that Scotlands First Minister was wholeheartedly embracing the BDS movement, no doubt delighting the extremists in her own party who wield a disproportionate amount of power and influence, given their numbers. Nicola Sturgeon has offered to meet Scottish Jewish students, who have compared her support for restricting Scotlands trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank with the desecration of synagogues.

There is absolutely no case for claiming that Sturgeon herself is anti-Semitic, although an official statement from the First Minister unfortunately emulated Corbyns own preferred form of words, reassuring the nation of the Scottish Governments commitment to confronting anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms. Alas, there was no confirmation as to the proximity of Sturgeons parents to the Battle of Cable Street.

Jewish students are perplexed and angry because the SNP have singled out Israel for special attention and criticism. No calls for sanctions have been made against Iran for the practice of hanging men from cranes for the crime of being gay. No criticism is raised of Chinas territorial ambitions towards Taiwan or its treatment of Tibet. Neither has Putins annexation of Crimea and further threats against Ukraine resulted in even the mildest reproof from the SNP. India remains a valued international partner of Scotland, despite Pakistans claim to sovereignty over Kashmir.

So what is it about Israel, I wonder, that marks it out as a particular target for criticism and economic sanctions? Its a real mystery.

When Labour, under Corbyn, was making life a living hell for its Jewish MPs, the general public were disapproving and the media was unforgiving of Corbyns weasel words. Corbyn must now gaze northwards with envy as Sturgeon chooses to make life difficult for Scotlands Jewish community with hardly a word of protest raised from any quarter least of all Scottish Labour.

The First Minister has form in this regard. Further to the Left of her predecessor former ally and close friend and mentor, Alex Salmond she is only too happy to embrace any niche hard-Left cause, whether it be trans rights, anti-Israeli rhetoric or nuclear unilateralism. When it comes to service delivery, the SNP have failed pretty comprehensively, but few parties can match their efficiency at ticking all the right boxes.

None of this should detract from Starmers determination to rid his party and our country of anti-Semitism. The biggest difference between him and Sturgeon is not their different approaches to Israel, but the formers determination to take a principled stand even in the face of criticism from some on the Left. The First Minister, on the other hand, enjoys too much the approbation of the Israel haters.

She is lucky that in Scotland, few people are asking about the real target of that hatred.

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If only the SNP shared Keir Starmer's determination to root out anti-Semitism - Telegraph.co.uk

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

DANVERS After weeks of news stories dominated by local reports of racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, hazing and sexual abuse, residents gathered for a vigil of inclusion as the sun set Saturday afternoon.

About 100 people came together at the gazebo outside of the Danvers library acknowledging the heartache of the victims of such cruelty and slurs and also to mark a new beginning for the town.

Think about what we can do together, said Dr. Dutrochet Dee Djoko, who leads the towns Human Rights and Inclusion Committee.

Please lets reflect where we are and where we want to go, he said, adding this is the beginning of a new Danvers.

Flanked by a group of faith leaders, Djoko said this journey would take time, hard work and often be uncomfortable. He asked the group to reflect as a community so they could move forward.

Small but brilliant flameless candles were handed out to those who attended the vigil. Some stood together in pairs or clutched children. Others stood alone, held a leashed dog or embraced a love one during the solemn event.

The latest hate crime occurred Thursday when a Swastika was found in a student bathroom at the Holten Richmond Middle School for the second time this month.

The anti-Semitic graffiti followed allegations involving the 2019-2020 hockey team recently revealed in news reports. Several investigations were conducted but no charges have been filed.

A former hockey player said younger players were forced to strip naked and were inappropriately touched for Gay Tuesdays. He also said he was beaten with a sex toy for refusing to shout a racial slur on Hard-R Fridays, named for the final r in the n-word.

Some called for discipline against Superintendent Lisa Dana over the hockey issue. However, after meeting Monday night behind closed doors, School Committee members took no action against Dana and released a statement saying their communication with the public, following the investigations, fell short.

The committee also applauded the student-athlete who courageously came forward to shine a light on what is alleged to have occurred and hope he knows that his actions will lead to change.

Following a series of prayers at the vigil, Senator Joan Lovely (D-Salem) spoke to the group.

When it hits home it hits the heart, Lovely said.

She said both she and State Rep. Sally Kerans (D-Danvers) will do anything we can to help this community heal.

Kerans lauded the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee, which she described as a talented and committed group.

She also noted the town gazebo is used in warmer months for happier events, including community concerts. She was also pleased to see the turnout on the library lawn during a more painful time.

The Saturday evening vigil followed a lengthy meeting Thursday night of the Human Rights and Inclusion Committee. The town manager, police chief, school superintendent, School Committee and numerous members of the community attended.

Djoko noted that a priority for the committee is hiring a new Director of Equity & Inclusion. He asked to spread the word to attract as many qualified candidates as possible.

He also said there is concern regarding Police Sgt. Stephen Baldassare, who was coach of the Danvers High School Hockey team when the incidents occurred.

Baldassare resigned as hockey coach in July 2021 but he remains on the police in a job where he supervises the departments school resource officers.

...The perspective is not good. It seems like the officer was negligent in his duty as a coach, said Djoko.

Fellow committee Paul Pawlak said he was just stunned by news reports detailing the hockey team. He said just days before accounts appeared in the Boston media, he had met with Superintendent of Schools Lisa Dana to discuss Martin Luther King Jr. events.

Ill be honest with you. I felt like a complete fool. All the work weve done over the years. Its not right, he said.

Im very disturbed at the way this went down, Pawlak said.

Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

Move overlatkesandsufganiyotmake room forshlishkasandkokosh. Not familiar with these Hungarian Hanukkah treats? Neither was I. These Hanukkah treats are worth your time.

As I continue my research of our rich Jewish food heritage, I am constantly impressed by the culinary skills of our Eastern European forebears. Those humble families in the shtetls not only learned to make do with what they had, but in the process created innovative and delicious dishes that were affordable. For example,cholent, the rich and filling Shabbat stew made from potatoes, onions, beans, a few eggs, and a small piece of meat or chicken, or the variety of kugelsmade from noodles or potatoes and eggs. The recipes for many of these traditional dishes have been passed down to younger generations and made their way into our Jewish American cuisine. There are many others, however, likeshlishkasandkokosh, that are not familiar.

Shlishkascould be classified as potato dumplings. Similar to Polishpelushkiand made like Italian gnocchi, these dumplings are coated in crispy oiled breadcrumbs just before serving. (Hmm- perhaps they, too, accidently fell into a bowl of crisp breadcrumbs just like our towns unique own toasted ravioli!) The potatoes are first boiled or roasted, then peeled and grated or riced, and finally formed into a dough with the addition of an egg and a small amount of flour. The resulting dough is then kneaded, rolled into long ropes, and cut into 2-3-inch pieces. The pieces are boiled in salted water just like gnocchi, and, finally, tossed in a pan of crisp oily breadcrumbs.

The Jews of Hungry created Shlishkas, which are made from many of the same ingredients as the more familiar Hanukkah treat, potato latkes. This is not surprising as potatoes were a mainstay in the diets of our Eastern European ancestors. They were abundant, affordable and could be easily stored during the bitter cold winters. They formed the backbone of hearty soups and stews and on special occasions were served with a slice of bread and pickled herring.

Our dear family friend Eddie Jacobs, who grew up in the rural farm community of Dobra near the Hungarian border, recalls his mother making latkes all year-round andshlishkason Hanukkah. They were delicious, Eddie told me. We had them for dinner alongside roasted meat.

Andkokosh? Think of it as babkas first cousin. The Jews of Hungary can also take credit for the invention of this rich and delicious dessert. In Hungarian, makoshmeans poppyseeds, which was the most frequent filling for this cake. Though chocolate would have been a great alternative, it was too expensive for an everyday dessert. But on holidays, it would not have been unusual to combine chocolate and poppyseeds.

Kokoshis made from a yeast dough much like a babka and similarly filled. However, there are two key differences.

First,kokoshdough is not given time to rise like babka dough, and second, it is not braided the way babkas are.Once thekokoshdough is made, it is immediately rolled very thin, spread with a filling, and then rolled up like a jellyroll. It is brushed with an egg wash and put in the oven to bake right away. When this delicious cake is finished, its sliced on an angle into strips to show off its beautifully coiled filling.Kokoshis both crispier and gooier than its babka cousindecadent, and perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, or, for me, a glass of milk!

Below are recipes for both Hungarian Hanukkah treats. I encourage you to give them a try. I liked the onions in theshlishkasrecipe. It really adds to the flavor of this dish. However, feel free to omit them. Also, I am a fan of both poppyseed paste and chocolate and the two together make a spectacularkokosh. You could opt to use one or the other, or simply fill yourkokoshwith a hazelnut chocolate spread like Nutella topped with a heaping handful of mini chocolate chips.

Wishing you all a joyful Hanukkah celebration!

Recipe adapted fromJewish Home Cooking,by Arthur Schwartz)

Ingredients:

Dumplings:

2 lbs. russet potatoes, skin on (about 4 medium, washed and punctured with the tip of a knife)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

tsp. coarse kosher salt + 1 tbsp. for boiling water

c. all-purpose flour, plus 3-4 tbsp. for kneading

6 tablespoons olive oil, butter, or schmaltz

1 cup plain dry breadcrumbs

For serving:

6-8 tbsp. unsalted butter, schmaltz, or canola oil

2 medium onions, finely diced

1 c. plain dry breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS:

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes on the oven rack and roast until fork tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove skin. Use a grater, a food mill, or a ricer to process potatoes into a large bowl; do not mash or put them into a food processor!

2.Sprinkle potatoes with c. flour and the salt. Add the beaten egg and mix gently to thoroughly incorporate.

3.Sprinkle 3 tbsp. flour on the counter and add potato mixture. Quickly knead the dough, incorporating the flour on the counter until everything sticks together. The dough should be soft but not sticky. You may need to sprinkle the dough with up to an additional tablespoon of flour to smooth it out and make it more cohesive and less sticky.

4.Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly dust one of them with flour, and lightly oil the other one; set aside.

5.Cut the dough into 6 pieces and roll each piece into a thick rope. Cut each rope into 2 inch pieces and place the pieces onto the baking sheet lightly dusted with flour. Repeat with remaining ropes.

6.Add 1 tbsp. salt to a large pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add half of theshlishkasto the boiling water. Once they have risen to the top of the pot and the water has resumed boiling, cook theshlishkasfor 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfershlishkasto oiled baking sheet. Repeat with remainingshlishkas; reserve.

7.In a large skillet with oil, butter, or schmaltz over medium heat, saut the minced onions until they are translucent and beginning to brown. Add breadcrumbs and toss to coat with oil and onions until they begin to crisp. Add the reservedshlishkasto the pan and toss until they are heated and evenly coated with the onion mixture; serve.

Makes 6-8 side dish servings.

(Adapted fromThe Jewish Cookbook, by Leah Koenig)

Note: It is not unusual for some of the filling to ooze out of thekokoshwhile baking. There will be plenty of filling left inside, and you will be delighted by the candy-like oozes!

Ingredients:

Filling:

3/4 c. poppy seeds

c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. granulated sugar

c. whole milk

tsp. instant espresso powder

Pinch of coarse kosher salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. fresh squeezed orange juice

Dough:

2 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 packet)

c. + 1 tsp. granulated sugar

c. warm water, approximately 110 degrees

3 c. (approximately) unbleached flour

1 tsp. coarse kosher salt

1 tsp. finely grated orange zest

1/3 c. fresh squeezed orange juice

2 large eggs +1 egg yolk*

c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tsp. canola oil, for brushing on dough

Egg Wash for Finishing:

1 large egg whisked with 1 tsp. mil or water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Working in batches, grind poppyseeds in a spice or coffee grinder until powdery, 10-20 seconds. Transfer poppyseeds to a small saucepan and add cocoa powder sugar, milk, coffee powder, and a pinch of salt. Stir and bring mixture to a low boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and continue stirring until mixture thickens, 8-10 minutes. Add vanilla extract and continue cooking and stirring an additional 2 minutes..

2. Remove pan from heat and immediately stir in orange juice. Transfer filling to a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The filling can be made 3 days in advance.

3. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a large-rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

4. In a small bowl, stir together yeast, 1 tsp. sugar, and warm water. Let rest for 5-10 minutes, or until foamy; reserve.

5. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add 3 c. of the flour, remaining c. sugar, salt, orange zest and juice, 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk , and all the butter. Add reserved yeast mixture and mix on medium-low until everything is evenly incorporated. Switch to the dough hook and let the machine knead on medium for 3 minutes.

6. Remove filling from the refrigerator and set aside. To make the egg wash, in a small bowl, lightly whisk remaining egg and a tsp. of milk to break up the egg; reserve. Set a tiny bowl of water, and a separate tiny bowl of oil and pastry brush nearby on your counter.

7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter and cut it in half. Place 1 half of the dough back into the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Roll remaining dough into a rectangle 1/8 thick, about 810.

8. Leaving a - inch border on every side, brush dough with 1 tsp. oil. Using an offset spatula, spread half of the reserved filling over the oil, leaving a -inch border at every edge. Use your finger to lightly moisten the bare edges of dough with water.

9. Beginning at long edge closest to you, roll dough toward the top, until the seam is at the bottom. Carefully lift the filled roll, seam-side-down, onto one side of the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling and place second roll a few inches from the first one on the baking sheet. Press down lightly on each roll to slightly flatten.

10.Brush the tops of each roll with the egg wash and use a small fork to prick the tops about 10 times along the length of each roll. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Rotate pan continue to bake until the top is golden brown, another 15-20 minutes.

11.Place pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes then, using parchment paper to help you, carefully slide rolls from pan onto a cutting board; let cool for at least 15 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut rolls on the diagonal into 1 -2 slices. Transfer slices to a serving platter.

12.Leftoverkokosh, once completely cooled, can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature. To freshen, slices can be toasted or slightly heated in a 300-degree oven for 5 minutes. You can also freeze the uncut baked roll by storing it in 2, zip-lock freezer bags for 1 month.

Makes 16-20 slices.

* Note: Dont discard the extra egg white. They freeze beautifully in a zip lock bag for at least 6 months and are perfect for your next Angel Food Cake or meringue. You can add more whites to the frozen whites at any time. Just remember to keep tabs on the number of whites in the bag!

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These Hanukkah treats are worth your time - St. Louis Jewish Light

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

From the hotel dcor and staff attire to the citys architecture and cuisine, Vilnius doesnt feel Eastern European. The Lithuanian capital wouldnt be out of place in Scandinavia or Finland.

Its a compact place with most of its sites easily walkable from downtown. Indeed, during our two-and-a-half-day stay, the only time we traveled by vehicle was when we visited the original capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Trakai more on that area later.

Direct four-hour flights from Tel Aviv with Wizz Air, augmented by a new Ryanair service, makes Vilnius the perfect getaway for a few days. The tiny airport is easily traversed and just a few minutes drive from the city center.

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Despite arriving in the early hours, we were greeted warmly at the wonderful five-star Pacai Hotel, which brings contemporary, almost monochrome, taste to a 17th-century mansion. Even if you arent staying at this high-end accommodation, take a look at its balcony on the main drag through the old town from here Napoleon addressed the masses on his way to battle with Russia.

Just a hop, skip and jump into the Jewish Quarter is the house where the Vilna Gaon, the foremost Lithuanian spiritual leader, once resided. Below is a bust of this master of Jewish study. Yards away is the site of the former Great Synagogue. While the building currently in situ is a Soviet-built kindergarten, archeologists are working to uncover the glories of the synagogue. Its hoped the space will one day be restored in some way to its former glory but not as a place of worship. There are just 400 Jews left in Vilnius of the pre-war 70,000 and one synagogue of the once remarkable 137.

There was a synagogue in every other courtyard, one of our guides told us.

The neighborhood is filled with swanky restaurants, more-affordable cafes and great cocktail bars. It may be the old town but its vibe is young.

After dining in the excellent Rosehip vegan restaurant, a short stroll took us into a different country but where theres no need to show your passport. Artists took a run-down area of the city, gentrified it and created The Republic of Uupis. The art colony is full of amusing street sculptures and paintings and offers intrepid travelers the chance to sit on a swinging sofa under a bridge but be prepared to get wet as you ford the River Vilna.

If you are a foodie, take the short walk to the Hales market. Its a great chance to people watch and check out typical local cuisine. There are plenty of eateries here alongside the market stalls. Be careful not to ask for pickles from the large plastic barrels.

They arent pickled, we were admonished. Theyre salted.

And that refers not just to the cucumbers but garlic, tomatoes, cabbage and many other greens.

If you are looking to do something special, its worth making the trip to Trakai. There are three key highlights in this lakeside area: the recently reconstructed castle, hot air ballooning (which you can also do in Vilnius itself) and getting acquainted with the 200-strong Karaite community.

The Karaites here dont say they were originally Jewish but rather refer to their Crimean roots and Turkic language. They are less traditional than in previous generations so electricity is used on Saturdays, for example but they still only adhere to the Torah and not later works. Theres a knesa (or knesset) house of worship a short stroll from the castle and the excellent restaurants run by Karaites the centerpiece of which is their kybyn savory-filled pastry.

If firewater is your thing, then wash down the cheese and spinach or meat pasties with a shot of krupnik or krupnikas. While Yiddish speakers may think this is a barley-based booze, its actually a vodka mead with a cinnamon kick.

If you have a spare hour or two before departing Lithuania, take a stroll around what scientists have determined is the actual center of Europe. Europos Parkas or The Europa Park is a leafy area in Vilniuss ample green belt that pays homage to the citys geographical centrality with an array of sculptures, bizarrely including LNK Infomedis, a design that boasts the largest number of TV sets in a sculpture in the world. With a cafe and highly original kids play area, the park is worth the detour.

Theres something utterly charming about Vilnius. Perhaps its the fact that what you experience is likely not what you expected. Lithuanians wanted to make a clean break from Soviet Russia back in the 1990s. Its a new country with Northern European, even Nordic values, blended with centuries of history. And the warmth of the people of Vilnius is the best antidote for the Baltic weather.

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Visit Vilnius, Lithuania, for warm people and unexpected experiences - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

Dutch Embassy bestows Anne Frank Award on Nita LoweyChairwoman Lowey receives award from Dutch Ambassador Andr Haspels

On Oct. 29, former Rep. Nita Lowey (D-New York) received the annual Anne Frank Award, which was established by the Dutch Embassy to honor Americans who have demonstrated a commitment to fighting antisemitism and discrimination. During her tenure, Lowey helped relaunch the House Bipartisan Task Force on Combating Antisemitism, and introduced legislation relating to the Holocaust to ensure that it never happens again.

I do believe that the fight for truth and a shared belief in our collective humanity are the single most important challenges we face today, said Lowey. When we deny the humanity of any group of people, we threaten the humanity and safety of all. That principle is at the core of how I have tried to live my life and has guided me during my 32 years in Congress.

The ceremony welcomed several lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called Lowey an important voice in the fight against antisemitism. As co-chair of the task force, said Pelosi, Lowey lived up to the spirit of this award by advancing dignity and confronting intolerance with her Middle East Partnership for Peace Act, which became law in 2020.

The embassy also presented its 2020 Anne Frank Special Recognition Award to Violins of Hope, a nonprofit that collects instruments that were donated by or bought from Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and restores them to be played by professional musicians around the world. Co-sponsors of the event included the Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect USA, the Anne Frank House Amsterdam, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Freedom House and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice.

The Czech Embassy welcomed more than 3,000 guests back to its grounds Nov. 6 for its annual Czech Christmas Market. Eighteen vendors sold handcrafted ornaments and jewelry, Bohemian crystal, fine art, Moravian wines, liquors and more. Guests enjoyed Czech cuisine as well as a nativity scene with live animals. Orchestra Praevica, a folk band, performed Czech Christmas carols, as did children from the American Sokol Washington and Slavic American Sokol.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernndez visited Washington on Nov. 11 to promote his book, Together We Made History: 8 Years of Juan Orlando. The end of his administration coincides with accusations about his ties to drug trafficking and fraud in his 2017 re-election campaign. In his near hour-and-a-half address at the Riggs Hotel in Washington, D.C. Hernndez defended his name and drew on support from members of the Honduran and diplomatic community.

The people wont be able to say I failed them when my presidency ends. Ive risked everything to contribute to my country and if theres a problem, it needs to be met head-on, he said. We have achieved our goals, but we still have a long way to go.

Hernndez cited specific accomplishments including an increase in social programs for women, a decrease in the homicide rate, and a successful vaccine rollout, crediting the United States and the European Union for their help in the process. He heads back to Honduras to offer support for the countrys general election, scheduled for Nov. 28.

The newly restored Kimpton Banneker Hotel was unveiled in an opening ceremony on Nov. 9. It replaces the Kimpton Rouge Hotel, which closed in January 2020 to undergo $25 million of renovation work. The new property honors famed civil rights advocate, mathematician, and astronomer, Benjamin Banneker, who is credited to surveying the land that is now the District of Columbia, including the Meridian Line that runs down 16th Street NW, where the new building sits. The 10-story hotel features 144 guests rooms, along with several meeting facilities, modern art, and and two restaurants. The Lady Bird rooftop bar has a direct view of the Washington Monument and White House. The facility brings recognition to the work Banneker in the establishment of the nations capital.

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Diplomatic Spotlight - The Washington Diplomat

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

From a cozy throw blanket by a Los Angeles designer featured in this years Dwell 24, to a stylish, insulated cardigan and a toaster oven that could change your life, treat yourself or someone on your gift list to the items we cant stop talking about.

"I used to look forward to getting a little chocolate in my Advent calendar every December, but now caffeine gives me a better boost for making it through the darkest time of the year. I like how Copper Cow Coffee pays their farmers more than average, and a Vietnamese-style brew is a nice change of pace from my typical American drip, so their Advent calendar tops my wish list."

Each reusable gift box features our best seasonal coffee flavors and cult classic creamersincluding exclusive samples of our new mocha creamer!...

"I triedand lovedthese chocolates at the Queens Night Market, a weekly food festival in Queens, New York. Now, Im getting a bunch for little gifts."

Six two-ounce chocolate bars wrapped in a gold bag. FeaturesParadis, Wanga Ngs, Minuit, Bouquet Vert, Soly, and Perle Rare.

"These stylish plant stakes, featured in our November/December issue, are made by an emerging Philadelphia designer. Theyre one of my new go-to housewarming or any-occasion gifts."

These sturdy metal plant stakes are perfect for a variety of needs.Available in bronze individually or as a set of three. Great for gifting.

"From our September/October cover designer, these woven blankets look and feel great. I bought two to give for presents but havent been able to part with either yet."

Made to order in the USA. Jacquard weave in 100 percent cotton.

"A friend of a friend designed the first Chillbies back in 2019, and Im mad that Im only now finding out about them. Im hesitant to give up the ease of my beloved summer footwear as we head into the damper months, but Im hopeful that these are the perfect in-between shoe. This year, Im asking for a pair of the Original Chillbies slip-ons, but I might also have to go back for the Chillbie Mids boots when the snow comes in New YorkIll keep you posted."

If youre looking for the perfect outdoor slip-on shoe, look no further.

"Dad, dont read this! Hes a phenomenal cook, but hes lacking one little thing that would step up family dinners: a tiny whisk. He thinks theyre hilariousI know this from watching countless YouTube cooking videos with himand I think its time he upgrades to five inches. This one from Brightland is the cutest."

The Brightland Mini Whisk is a brushed gold balloon whisk.

"No one expects to receive a really cool soap dish, which makes this a great gift for pretty much anyone. The pink colorway reminds me of the barrel-vaulted ceilings that crown some of my favorite projects. You can also pair the dish with some terrazzo soap for a match made in heaven."

Designed and handcast in Houston, Texas, thissoap holder is a unique mix of concrete and color. Handcast from custom-made rubber molds.

Fazeeks soaps are handmade in small batches in our Melbourne, Australia, studio. We use a 100 percent, pure-vegan base made from coconut oil that provides a beautiful, bubbly cleanse and olive oil to nourish the skin.

"This toaster oven changed my life. If you know someone who has tried warming up pizzaor god forbid, french friesin a slot toaster, add this to your gift cart immediately."

Toast, bake, brown, and reheat up to 40 percent faster than conventional toaster ovens with the double-infrared power of the Panasonic NB-G110 FlashXpress Toaster Oven. With FlashXpress you never preheat.

"My Rumpl Puffy blanket cozies up all of my off-grid adventuresand the Portland, Oregon, company recently branched out with a set of snuggly merino wool numbers that play nicely at home. For indoor/outdoor gifting, these options have you covered."

Made with 100 percent post-consumer recycled (PCR) material, this puffy blanket is perfect for bringing with you on road trips and for snuggling up with indoors.

Crafted from responsibly sourced Australian merino wool and organic cotton, this ultrasoft wool throw offers both a cozy feel and modern style.

"This book stopped me in my tracks. The colors, cover type, illustrations, textures, and the story itself, theyre all delightful. I wont just be gifting this to kids this year."

An exciting insight into the workings of artists and museums, Making a Great Exhibition is a colorful and playful introduction geared to children ages 3 through 7. How does an artist make a sculpture or a painting? What tools do they use? What happens to the artwork next? This fun, inside look at...

"Buying local always makes a gift feel more special to me, even if in this case it means purchasing imports from West Africa. The owners of Al Maktoum Goods, a small shop in Brooklyn, partners with the AGOWA Cooperative in Senegal to source fair trade baskets and textiles. Theyre a beloved permanent fixture at the Fort Greene farmers market. I love the storage hampers with bulbous lids and baskets with leather handleseach one is unique and makes a sweet gift for anyone who appreciates handmade items."

Each basket is handwoven and comes in a unique color and design.

"A friend recently shared this menorah with me, and even though neither of us are Jewish, it was impossible to not admire its sweetness. According to their website, Judaica Standard Time explores the space between faith and designand it shows.The ceramic menorah was designed by Ariela Nomi Kuh of Camden, Maine, and manufactured in Portland, Oregonsetting up a good precedent for connection."

This short-scale ceramic menorah utilizing midfire stoneware and glazes is exclusive to ANK Ceramics and JST.

"After a lengthy kitchen renovation, my sister-in-law deserves a spanking new apron, too. Im gifting this apron from Food52s own line. The skirt has built-in potholders (brilliant!) and it comes in three different sizes for home cooks of various ages."

Made by us, made with you. Bring on the splatters, splashes, and spillstheyre no match for our Five Two Ultimate Apron. 32,000 community opinions helped transform the simple apron into your mightiest kitchen assistant.

"In the 2014 SNL sketch Back Home Ballers,Leslie Jones raps about the many bowls at her moms houseand their myriad contents. I have something in common with the elder Ms. Jones. Indulgent yet functional, bowls make near perfect gifts. I love these from The Citizenry. They can dress up an apertivo hour or serve as bedside table catch-all."

Inspired by the traditional thali dishes used throughout Indian cuisine, this set of bronze serving bowls add a hint of luxe to your cocktail or dinner party. Handcrafted with a food-safe bronze alloy, these little guys make the perfect container for small snacks like almonds or olives.

"Perfect for outdoorsy types, Oregon brand North Drinkware makes goods that bring their favorite landscapes inside the home. Their Lake Tahoe blanket, created in partnership with Pendleton, features a topographic map of the alpine lake and surrounding peaks. Also, check out their glassware sets, which feature famous mountains molded into the bottom."

Custom three-color wool blanket representing accurate topographic data and the iconic lakes of the Lake Tahoe region in California and Nevada. To celebrate this national treasure we partnered with Pendleton Woolen Mills to manufacture this exclusive, iconic blanket here in Oregon.

Our prepacked Lake Tahoe box set includes two Lake Tahoe Pints, two Lake Tahoe Tumblers, and four Lake Tahoe coasters. All of this packaged in a custom-made solid pine box with a laser-etched plywood slide top lid.

"Gestalten publishes the dreamiest books, not least of which is this collection of gorgeous homes by the sea."

Lifes A Beach takes readers into beach homes around the world, from the coasts of Australia to the shores of Brazil to the remote islands of the Aegean Sea.

"Lightweight yet warm, simple yet tailored, this cardigan from cult-favorite brand Snow Peak isdare I say it?the perfect layering piece for all seasons."

This lightweight and versatile piece features Polartec Alpha insulation, which regulates excess heat, and Primeflex material with a durable stretch and a water-repellent finish. The cardigan has a V-neck opening, snap button closures, a left chest pocket, and two pockets at the waist.

"If youre not going to be able to see your loved one in person, might I suggest the gift of greenery? Theyll be able to pick the perfect plant for their own home situation, and from my experience, everyone loves having a new potted friend."

Give the ultimate green gift. A digitally delivered E-Gift Card is the perfect present for picky friends, last-minute celebrations, and doing your part to save the planet.

"Heres an unexpected gift at an affordable price point thats sure to get a lot of use: This flameless gadget is perfect for lighting candles, incense, sage, and moreand it comes in a variety of colors."

We all love to have a lighter handy for candles, incense, birthdays, and the like. And no matter which one you may have on hand, this rechargeable wonder is sure to be an upgrade. Itll give you up to 300 uses on a single charge from your USB port, andbonusits completely butane-free.

"This is at the top of my wish list this year! Filled with gorgeous photography and mouthwatering recipes, Im even more inspired to dabble in a plant-based diet when everything looks this good."

Edgar Castrejn went vegan as a college student when he realized that following a plant-based diet made him feel better, but he worried he would no longer fit in back at the table with his family.

"I cant wait to gift this to my favorite people with young children. The magazine covers are a joy to look at, and the activities inside are perfect for kids to work on with their parents."

Illustoria is a print magazine for creative kids and their grownups. We celebrate visual storytelling, makers, and DIY culture through stories, art, comics, interviews, crafts, and activities. Our high-quality, tri-annual publication is geared toward readers ages 6 through 12 and the young at heart.

"This sculptural mug is by Viviana Matsuda, the San Francisco designer behind ceramics studio Mud Witch. I loved Matsudas work before she was featured in this years Dwell 24, but after I read in our September/October issue that her squiggly creations are inspired by the body positive movement, I admired her designs even more."

Dishwasher and microwave safe. Mint glaze on interior.

"This set of towels by Dusen Dusen have long been on my wish list. I love pretty much everything designer Ellen Van Dusen doesI already have her Check bedding duvet set!"

Towel set includestwo bath towels, two hand towels, and one washcloth in reversible striped colorways.100 percent brushed cotton terry, 700 GSM. Gentle machine wash cold, tumble dry low.

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Dwell Picks: 26 Gifts Were Loving This Year - Dwell

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

Many current filmmakers have been expanding the art of documentaries, but none quite so boldly or originally as Robert Greene. His films, which include Kate Plays Christine and Bisbee 17, embody a philosophy of nonfiction that reaches into the very grammar of the genre. His new film, Procession, which comes to Netflix on Friday, follows in that path, showing his participants developing the movies stories, which he then presents in the form of fictions that he directs. But Procession also takes this concept to more urgent extremes, because the films main participants are six men who, as children, were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests. In 2018, Greene, as the film relates, saw a television news report about them and their attorney, Rebecca Randles, as they came forward publicly to state their charges against the priests whod abused them and to publicize the Churchs stonewalling of investigations. He contacted Randles and laid the groundwork for making a filmnot about these men but with them. What this collaboration means, both in practice and emotionally, for them and for Greeneand for the art and the ethics of filmmaking itselfis the subject of Procession.

In effect, Greene questions the very nature of cinematic authorship. The credits of the film declare that it was made primarily by the six men: Joe Eldred, Mike Foreman, Ed Gavagan, Dan Laurine, Michael Sandridge, and Tom Viviano. Greene brings them and Randles together with Monica Phinney, a drama therapist, and shows the group working together, and teaming up in smaller units, to discuss and set the parameters for the scripted projects, which the men will write and Greene will direct. The scripts that the men produce reveal a wide range of approaches to their experiences of abuse. Sandridge crafts a story set in a church, in which he depicts a priest with evil green laser eyes and portrays his childhood self as a heroic bearer of witness. Gavaganwho dreams of telling a story like those of Marvel superheroes vanquishing the fucking forces of darknesswrites a horrific dramatization of his physical abuse, in the priests vestry. (There is nothing sexually explicit in the action.) Foremans two-part script first depicts the aftermath of his abuse, when his mother, unaware of what happened, bakes a cake for the predatory priest and drops a terrified but silent young Mike off at the priests house to deliver it; then, it renacts (with an element of wish-fulfilling fantasy) his meeting with the Churchs independent review board that, in 2013, hid behind the statute of limitations to dismiss his claims.

Procession is a documentary about the making of these short films, in which Greene integrates idea and action, process and effect, and, along the way, probes the distinctive powers of fiction and nonfiction. The men decide that theyll act in one anothers movies, and agree that their younger selves will all be played by one child actor, the casting of whom is a part of the film, too. (The boy whos selected, named Terrick, is a remarkably tough-minded and steadfast performer; he has the support of his parents on the setthey act in one scene, tooand they discuss how the family decided to let him take part in the film.) But, most crucially, in preparing to work with Phinney, Greene, and one another, the men unavoidably and painfully bear witness, on camera, in unbearably sharp detail, to the abuse that they experiencedand the enduring aftermath and long-term effects of their trauma.

As Phinney explains, the clinical purpose of dramatizing trauma is putting it out into the world in order to take it back in through the logical and reasonable part of our brains. For Greene, the cinema, with its power of montageits blend of drama and documentary, of staging and behind-the-scenes planningoffers a way to break the silence and foster cathartic bursts of self-recognition and self-recovery. To do so, he calls attention to the very question of cinematic authorship. In realizing the mens scripted scenes, he directs with great empathy, albeit somewhat impersonallyseemingly by design. Though directing a drama usually means taking other peoples stories and inflecting them with ones own creative vision, here Greene virtually makes himself into their instrument, while nonetheless injecting an element, a tone, that also adds a vast conceptual layer to the project. He emphasizes the melodramatic aspects of the mens scripts, relying on expressive lighting effects, theatrically intensified performances, and exaggeratedly emotive music. The point is clear: in linking the mens stories to the history of Hollywood movie dramas, Greene points out all the more clearly the kinds of stories that classic Hollywood didnt tell, and connects the silences of mainstream movies with the silences that society at large long imposed concerning sexual abuse.

The essential element that distinguishes Procession from staged drama is its documentary aspect, the power of the film to record the making of it, the work on which the production of the scripted scenes depends. Procession offers some of the most extraordinary location scouting ever done on camera. The men who take part in the film have a relentless, agonized drive to revisit the specific sites where they were abused. Sandridge, who visits the church that was the place of his abuse, speaks of the physical point thats crucial for each mans confrontation with his trauma. Foreman finds the exact porch at the exact house where his mother dropped him off, and his film is shot there. Eldred finds the porch of a house where he had been victimized, but is too overwhelmed to film there. Gavagan, unable to film in the actual vestry in which he was abused, meticulously reconstructs it as a set, which he and the other men build together. The most extended and anguished site-specific search involves a complex of lake houses where Laurine and his brother, Tim, were abused, and which proves appallingly triggering for both men. After a long search, Laurine finds an exact spot: a now-overgrown path where he was subjected to a shockingly cruel manipulation. This is the fucking path, he says. This is the path where I broke the fishing rod. Tim confirms it: This is the spot. Its an extraordinary echo of a moment in the greatest of all documentaries, Claude Lanzmanns Shoah, in which Simon Srebnik, a survivor of the extermination camp in the village of Chelmno, observes the long-bulldozed site where it was situated, and says, This is the place. Like Shoah, Procession does more than bear witness to atrocities; it uses the artistic power of the cinema to inscribe them in history.

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Procession, Reviewed: An Astonishing Collaboration with Victims of Sexual Abuse - The New Yorker

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Posted By admin on November 23, 2021

Romanias parliament passed a law on Monday that makes Holocaust and Jewish history education mandatory in all high schools throughout the country.

The school subject will be called History of the Holocaust and the Jewish people, with curricula, teaching materials and methodology developed by the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania, in collaboration with Romanias Ministry of Education.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, chief rabbi of Moscow and president of the Conference of European Rabbis, welcomed the bills passing and efforts to introduce the Holocaust and Jewish history into the education system.

It is growing in Europe and helping us to build a more tolerant and inclusive European society for all religions, he said Friday.

November 22, 2021 12:57 pm

The bill, which passed 107-13, was introduced by MP Silviu Vexler and MP Ovidiu Gant, and co-sponsored by bipartisan lawmakers from the Social Democratic Party and the National Minorities Parliamentary Group, among others.

This is a historical moment not only for the memory of all the victims of the Holocaust but also for Romania, Vexler said during parliamentary discussions. We are setting the foundation for our common future, a modern framework through which young people can learn and understand what happened in the past as a central part in their formation as citizens. Education and understanding are our best tools to cultivate democracy and freedom, to fight antisemitism, intolerance and extremism.

The law would ensure that the history and identity of Romanian Jews is being recovered, calling it a moral imperative for repairing the injustices of the dictatorial regimes that ruled Romania during the Holocaust.

Members from the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, Association of Romanian Jews Victims of the Holocaust, United States Holocaust Museum, the Mmorial de la Shoah in France, Yad Vashem, American Jewish Committee and Bnai Brith International were also asked to be involved in developing the new school course.

The bill also establishes the Constantin Caragea National Prize, named after the Swedish-Romanian diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust and was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The prize will honor special achievements in protecting the memory of Holocaust victims; fighting antisemitism; developing Holocaust educational and research programs in Romania; promoting the history, culture and traditions of Romanias Jewish community; and presenting Jewish contributions to the evolution and modernization of Romanian society.

The Romanian Parliament has recently passed several bills expanding financial support for Holocaust survivors in the country and promotes the opening of the National Museum of Jewish History and the Holocaust in Romania, which will reportedly take a few years to establish. Another recent law considers all antisemitic incidents to be criminal offenses, punishable with prison sentences ranging from three months to 10 years.

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Romania Passes Bill Mandating Holocaust and Jewish History Education in All High Schools - Algemeiner

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