Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The Passover Seder is always a night of questions. But this year, for many of us, the backdrop of Israels war with Hamas will make our annual intergenerational gathering around the Seder table more charged than ever.

There are those Jews, understandably, whose focus remains on the atrocities of Oct. 7, on ghastly thoughts of hostages subjected to torture and serial rape, and the steps a vigilant Israel must take in response to a variety of Iranian-driven doomsday scenarios.

Other Jews, understandably, see the gruesome images emanating from Gaza and openly wonder: At what cost of human life is war justified? Aware as they may be of the attacks of Oct. 7, not to mention Hamas cruel use of innocents as human shields, Israels response has prompted empathy for Palestinian suffering. Tens of thousands of Gazans have been killed, and far more are injured, displaced, and suffering from disease and hunger.

Like the perforated grooves stamped onto a piece of matzo, Israels war in Gaza serves to disclose the fault lines of our people. Can we advocate on behalf of Israel and express compassion for Palestinians? Is it possible to mourn both the loss of Israeli and Palestinian life? Are we a people of empathy or vigilance? Compassion or vengeance? The questions run deep into the foundation of who we are as a Jewish people.

Far more than an account of ancient Israels journey from slavery to freedom, the Passover Haggadah provides us with the tools by which we can openly name and wrestle with the tensions at the core of our being. If anything, the rituals of the Seder embrace the complexities of the Jewish soulnearly every symbol of the Seder carries more than one interpretive possibility.

Is matzo a symbol of slavery or freedomthe bread of affliction or a reminder of the haste by which we left Egypt during our liberation? The answer is both.

Does the salt water on our tables signify our tears of servitude, or the luxuriant act of dipping our greenssomething only a free person may do? The answer is both.

Does the haroset represent the bricklaying mortar of the embittered Israelite slaves, or the means by which the sting of the bitter herb is softened? The answer is both.

Enslaved and free. Traumatized and overjoyed. Persecuted and privileged. It is not a contradictionbinaries are rejected. Both the Haggadah and the Jewish people contain multitudes.

To our present challenge of balancing empathy and vigilance, the Haggadah is particularly instructive. We begin the Seder by opening the door to welcome all those in need. And yet, when we welcome Elijah toward the Seders conclusion, we do so with a spite-filled mlange of biblical verses (shfoch chamatha), a petition that God pour out the divine wrath upon the nationsa spirit of inclusion going hand-in-hand with a fear and even hatred of the other.

On the one hand, in recalling that we were once strangers in a strange land, the Seder is a prompt that we must now know the heart of the stranger. On the other hand, the take-home message of one of the Haggadahs central declarations, vehi sheamda, is to remind us of the perennial threat of antisemitism. Pharoah was the first but by no means the last in a long line of oppressors who have sought to destroy us. Empathetic, yes, but Jews must be ever on guard; there is always another Pharaoh right around the corner.

Growing up, I was always deeply impressed at the point in the Seder when, just before we recited each of the Ten Plagues, we dipped our finger into our cups and removed drops of wineone drop for each plague. The reason, I was told, is that even though the Egyptians enslaved us and even though the plagues were necessary for our liberation, we are still saddened at the thought of Egyptian suffering. The cup of our redemption made less full in our awareness of the casualties suffered by our once oppressors. The message is clear: An acknowledgement of someone elses suffering, even an enemys, does not preclude us from expressing our gratitude.

In our home, we always read a Talmudic passage describing the Egyptian pursuit of the fleeing Israelites and how they drowned in the sea. When the heavenly angels broke out in song at the downfall of the Israelite oppressors, God reprimanded them: My handiwork (the Egyptians) are drowning in the sea, and you want to sing a song of praise? All of humanity is Gods creation, Gods empathy, and by extension, our own must extend to friend and foe.

It is a sentiment embedded in another rabbinic discussion, in response to the question as to why on the festival of Sukkot, a full Hallel (Psalms of praise) is recited throughout the holiday, but on Passover only on the first day(s)? Because, the sages explainquoting the book of Proverbs: Bi-nefol oivekha al tismach, Do not gloat at the fall of your enemy. (Proverbs 24:17) Taking time to mourn others neither weakens the strength of our cause nor weakens our resolve. It is not either-or. Empathy and vigilance are not in opposition; if anything, they are interdependentthe double helix of our Jewish DNA.

Every year, but especially this year, the success of our Seders will be found in our ability to house these multiple threads woven into the tapestry of our people. No matter how one feels about the wardetermined, angry, ambivalent, depressedwe should all be able to agree that the loss of civilian lifeall civilian life, on any sideis something we can take a moment to mourn. One need not get defensive, or get bogged down in semantic debates as to what does or does not constitute genocide, in order to acknowledge the obvious fact that lives on both sides have been lost. The horrors of Oct. 7 remain a permanent scar on the Jewish soul, the return of the hostages remains at the forefront of our concernas does the well-being of Israel; family is family. But expressions of empathy for innocent Palestinians are not betrayals of the cause; they are just the oppositethey affirm the essence of our faith.

Most of all, the Seders symposium style provides a platform by which Jews of different inclinations can come together, challenging each other, all the while allowing for their own views to be challenged. If the condition of the Palestinians stands at the forefront of your concern, now is the time to push yourself and find a way to also give voice to Israels right to self-defense and self-determination. If it is the continued defense and well-being of Israel that informs your every breath, then model for all those present how to stay true to your principles and not ignore Palestinian suffering in the process. Important as it is to ask questions, more important is our ability to listen to the answers of otherseven and especially those with whom we differ. Isnt that the real message of the Seder table? Every participant is an equal stakeholder in the Jewish story, with a placeliterally and figurativelyat the table.

If we cannot share our hopes and fears with those we know and love, there is little chance that we will be able to do so as a global Jewish people. With so much at stake this year, our Seder conversations should serve to bring us closer together.

Go here to see the original:

Empathy Is Part of Our Jewish DNA - Tablet Magazine

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Empathy Is Part of Our Jewish DNA – Tablet Magazine
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

My grandmothers kitchen was on the Upper East Side, but it tasted of Iraq.

As Ama brushed butter onto sheets of phyllo dough, shed share stories of her girlhood in Baghdad. Wed swim in the Tigris with water buffalo, shed say with delight at my amazement, each layer of pastry unfurling more memories. To escape the summer heat, wed sleep on the flat rooftops in the cool night air. Shed yell to my grandfather in the living room in Arabic, give my dad instructions in French, and speak politely to my measured Methodist mother in English, but to me, she spoke loving words that needed no translation; shed call meayuni(my eyes) andqalbi(my heart). Ill never know my Amas verdant, cosmopolitan Baghdad, in the region my ancestors called home for 2,500 years. But in her kitchen, I could taste it.

The food of the Iraqi Jews tells our story. Mhasha is about community. The project of coring vegetables, stuffing them with herbed rice, and stewing them in tangy tamarind is made quick by many hands. Tebit is a distinctly Jewish dish. Traditionally made to feed dozens of family members on the Sabbath, the spiced chicken and rice are placed in the oven on Friday night and cooked overnight on low through Saturday. Whole eggs are placed on the top to bake for a Sabbath breakfast, and the rice is still warm by dinner. Kubba Patata, lamb-stuffed potato patties redolent with curry powder, recalls the centuries of successful trade between Baghdad and the Indian cities of Kolkata and Mumbai. Baklava is the sweet made for massive family weddings a celebration calls for shelling hundreds of pistachios.

To me, the spirit of the Iraqi Jews comes most alive in the simplest of dishes, like Bamia, okra stewed in sweet-and-sour tomato sauce. Where other cultures have mother sauces, we have lemon and sugar. Intense yet balanced, bamia gets its flavor from a combination of the two a combination that expresses the history of the Iraqi Jews, both its sweetness and its bitterness.

The story of the Iraqi Jews is a tale of two exiles: the first, when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem around 587 B.C., and the second, beginning after World War II, when the Jews were expelled from Iraq. The Jews who traveled to Babylon as captives and exiles began the community that would thrive for centuries as Babylonian, Mesopotamian, or Mizrahi Jews. By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept ... How can we sing the Lords song in a foreign land? asks the writer of Psalm 137. For more than 2,500 years, the Iraqi Jews did just that in the city known since the eighth century as Baghdad.

Baghdads Jewish community prospered in business, trade, and government, most notably under the Ottoman Empire. The Sassoons, my grandfathers family, were among the most influential, establishing global trade routes between India, China, and Britain. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, everything changed. As my grandfather Abdallah Simon writes in his memoir,Vintage Years,The establishment of an independent state of Iraq following World War I effectively marked the beginning of the end for Iraqi Jews. The fact that they are virtually non-existent in Iraq today is a sad footnote after over two millennia of thriving. Fueled by rising Arab nationalism and Nazi propaganda, hundreds of Baghdadi Jews were massacred in June 1941 in a multiday pogrom called the Farhud; homes were pillaged and communities ravaged.

My grandfather became a lieutenant in the Iraqi army soon after and was able to travel to Rio de Janeiro by way of Tehran, Cairo, and Lisbon, where he took a boat to Philadelphia, securing one of the 150 U.S. visas available to Iraqis that year. In 1948, my grandmother attempted to flee over the Zagros Mountains in the north of Iraq by dressing as a nun; she was caught but eventually escaped later that year hiding under a sheet in the back of a family car on a drive into Iran. A small number of Jews (including Doris Zilkha, who developed the recipes that follow) lived there into the 1970s, when they were pushed out as Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979. Today, the Jewish population of Baghdad can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Those who made safe passage planted new roots in places like Israel, London, Montreal, and New York. My grandfather joined the wine business, founding Chateau & Estate, a fine wine importer later acquired by Seagram. My childhood memories include tastes of his French wines paired with my grandmothers Iraqi food served on green-and-white-painted Perrier-Jout plates. On the most special occasions, he would open bottles of Perrier-Jouts Belle poque or Chteau Lafite Rothschild. At Shabbat dinners, he would say the kiddush over glasses of Trimbach Pinot Gris.

How can we sing the Lords song in a foreign land? The question still resounds. Cooking is like singing. Its a way of remembering, safeguarding, and celebrating; its a form of praise. For many diasporic communities, its a way of connecting. Cooking, eating, and sharing Iraqi Jewish food, now without my grandparents, who have been gone for over a decade, has helped me imagine a place I never knew, but a place that is a part of me. Ill never know their Baghdad, but I can taste it.

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

Vegetables stuffed with herbed rice are tucked into a Dutch oven and baked in a tangy tomato-tamarind sauce. This dish takes time to put together, but nothing is difficult to do, and several components lend themselves to advance prep.

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

A whole chicken cooks in a bed of tomatoey, tender, spiced rice in this one-pot Iraqi Jewish dish. Tebit is often made for Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, because it can be prepped and cooked the night before. To serve, the pot is flipped over to release the rice, which caramelizes on the bottom and along the edges, creating a crunchy and dramatic crust.

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

Kubba patata (fried potato patties) are a satisfying snack. A filling of curry-spiced lamb, pine nuts, and raisins makes these bites especially rich and comforting.

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

Bamia means okra in Arabic, and in this side dish, the vegetable is stewed in a savory tomato sauce. The variety of okra indigenous to Iraq is petite compared to most grown commercially in the U.S., so to make this dish, look for tiny frozen okra pods at Middle Eastern markets; they hold their shape well and release very little liquid.

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

This recipe differs from Greek and Mediterranean styles of baklava, where honey is used to saturate the pastry. Iraqi baklava is soaked and flavored instead with a homemade light sugar syrup thats subtly flavored with rosewater and lemon juice for a sweet, floral, and slightly tangy finish to the nutty pastry.

Oded Halahmy left Baghdad in 1951 and worked as a multimedia sculptor between New York and Jaffa, Israel. He remembers Iraq mostly through his art, but in 2022, he published a cookbook titledIraqi Cooking: Exile Is Home,which includes his own recipes for dishes like kibbeh and cheese-filled sambusak. Daisy Iny, a distant cousin of my grandmother, published the first Iraqi cookbook made for U.S. home cooks calledThe Best of Baghdad Cooking with Treats from Teheranin 1976. While few copies remain (you can sometimes find them on Amazon), the book has served as a touchstone for myself and other Iraqi Jewish cooks, and it is well worth snapping up if you find a copy.

Edited by Tamar Morad, Dennis Shasha, and Robert Shasha,Iraqs Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylonis a book of oral histories of the last generation of Jews who lived in and escaped from Iraq. The stories are poignant, personal, and brave but chronicle the everyday, too like how a mother would shop for a group of 30 at the market or how families preserved dates in summer. Mizrahi Jews are from all around the Middle East and North Africa. Follow Ciara Shalomes Instagram account@themizrahistoryfor oral histories of Mizrahi Jews from Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, and beyond.

The Iraqi Seed Collectiveis a global organization that seeks to preserve Iraqi heritage through the genetic legacy of crops by saving and sharing heirloom seeds of Iraqi produce varieties. The thing about seeds is that you can eat and share the fruit and save more seeds as you grow, says Ali Ruxin, a founding member. In the context of our history, theres something so hopeful about seeds. Follow@iraqiseedcollectiveon Instagram, and join the collective to learn more about growing plump fava beans, tender okra, and fragrant melons.

Read more:

Cooking and Sharing Iraqi Jewish Food Helps Me Imagine a Place I Never Knew - Food & Wine

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Cooking and Sharing Iraqi Jewish Food Helps Me Imagine a Place I Never Knew – Food & Wine
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

Chris and Calvin Marty, the owners behind Best Intentions, say they dont make a big deal that theyre Jewish. The brothers, who opened their Logan Square bar in 2015, grew up in Cambridge, Wisconsin, a village about 60 miles west of Milwaukee and with a population of about 1,600. Less than 1 percent of Wisconsins population is Jewish, per a 2020 study from Brandeis University.

We probably experience a little private guilt that maybe were not the best Jews we never went to temple, we never had bar mitzvahs, says Chris Marty.

The bars menu definitely contains some decidedly unkosher items like the Cuppa Shrimp with mild sauce, a gnarly cheeseburger, and red wine-braised short rib. The harissa chicken provides another nod to the Middle East. But tucked within the menu lies a surprise matzo ball soup and a great version at that, with a rich broth darkened by duck fat yet brightened by heavenly wafts of ginger and lemongrass.

Yes a place like this uses duck fat for its matzo ball soup.

In Chicago, its not especially hard to find a bowl of matzo ball soup, as a basic version appears on the menu of every self-respecting Jewish deli in town. But in recent years, the dish has begun to spring up in some unexpected places, too, including while perched on a bar stool on a rainy Friday in Logan Square and double-fisting a dirty martini. Best Intentions manages to channel the best of Wisconsin dives and serve fun, well-executed bar food. It was immediately clear that whoever created Best Intentions had spent some time in Wisconsins many unironic watering holes like Rivers End in rural Ontario.

In Jewish American food, the two big things are matzo ball soup and bagels whats more ubiquitous than the two of those? posits Zach Engel, chef and owner of Michelin-starred Israeli and Middle Eastern restaurant Galit in Lincoln Park. Even his mother, an unenthusiastic home cook, makes a pretty killer version for family holiday meals: As far as representations of Jewish culture, [matzo ball soup] makes us look pretty good.

Matzo ball soup was once on the menu at Galit, but Engel hasnt served it since the pandemic began as the restaurant has shifted to a four-course menu of shared dishes; soup is difficult to share. Nevertheless, Engel says hes watched with interest as more restaurants work to attract diners with unexpected food while simultaneously tapping into a feeling of cozy familiarity. Matzo ball soup is a super straightforward way to get people to feel a level of comfort in their heart, but its still interesting, he says.

Though their exact origin is hazy, the proliferation of matzo balls a simple mixture of matzo meal, beaten eggs, water, and schmaltz, or chicken fat is generally attributed to German, Austrian, and Alsatian Jews who adapted regional Eastern European soup dumplings to suit Jewish dietary laws. No matter its history, the matzo balls simplicity also means that even unenthusiastic home cooks can deliver a version that will please a crowd.

The mixture is formed into balls (as usual, theres debate over the supremacy of fluffy floaters or toothsome sinkers) and simmered in boiling water or even better, soup stock, until they swell into spongy spheres. Given the relatively small number of American Jews about 7.6 million, or 2.4 percent of the total U.S. population, and a mere 319,600 in the Chicago area, according to the same Brandeis study Ashkenazi-style Jewish deli cuisine has made an outsized impact on mainstream American culture in general, from corned beef on St. Patricks Day to Meg Ryans infamous faux-gasm in rom-com icon When Harry Met Sally.

As a child, Chris Marty was close to his great-grandmother, Hannah Westler, who fled antisemitism in Europe around the turn of the century and immigrated to Milwaukee, where she worked 14,000 jobs to put her sons through law school. The brothers grew up eating her matzo ball soup, which she made from a recipe featuring a special twist: vodka. Years later, her boozy invention would inspire them to create a matzo ball cocktail for a local bartending challenge, an exercise that rekindled their connection to their familys past.

Though hed heard of it before, Best Intentions chef Bryan McClaran, whos worked at the Cambodian restaurant Hermosa and the Asian-influenced Bixi Beer, hadnt actually tried matzo ball soup when his bosses pitched the idea. Research involved YouTube videos, cookbooks, and some New York Times articles from the 80s, and in the end, the first version he wound up tasting was his own. Together, the brothers and McClaran worked to hone a recipe that would be worthy of the history it represented.

The big thing for us, other than nailing the consistency of the matzo ball, was not to goy it up with dill, Chris Marty chuckles. Anywhere we go with my mom, if theres matzo ball soup, well order it. Shes always like, Why do the goys have to load it up with so much fucking dill?

Its a Saturday in March at nearly 18-year-old deli Eleven City Diner, and owner Brad Rubin is holding court from a roomy booth inside his South Loop deli-diner hybrid. Founded in 2006 as an ode to casual midcentury hospitality, the restaurant, which at one point had a Lincoln Park location, has endured long enough to become a pillar of Chicagos Jewish culinary scene while attracting non-Jews with a retro aesthetic and plentiful plates of food.

Rubin bursts with pride as he recounts his familys Ashkenazi immigrant history and explains the meaning behind each photograph, vinyl record, and painting on its walls. His clear, resonant voice rings out as he bids farewell to customers (he learns all of their names) and jokes with employees.

Its also impossible to ignore that at least a cup, if not a bowl, of matzo ball soup can be found on half the tables. The broth is light but not additive-yellow, with fluffy-yet-firm matzo balls noteworthy for both their ample size and distinctive green flecks of parsley, mostly for color. However one feels about parsley, the diners version serves well as a baseline matzo ball soup uncomplicated, nostalgic, and reminiscent of a bubbes concoction with slightly more polish. There are no surprises in Eleven Citys bowl, and in this way, its a stark contrast to McClarans melange of elegant aromatics and ducky character at Best Intentions.

Rubins resonant tone, however, drops to a hush as he admits Eleven City hasnt had kreplach since COVID began. The diners who used to order it have since moved out to the suburbs, he says. Kreplach are small and plump dumplings stuffed with fillings like meat and mashed potatoes cousins to Polish pierogi, Russian pelmeni, Italian stuffed pasta, and Chinese jiaozi. The difference between matzo balls and kreplach is mostly negligible, but, according to Rubins numbers, the gap in sales was significant. Matzo balls arent going anywhere, Rubin affirms.

Indeed, in recent years theyve also cropped up on the menu at seemingly random spots like Armitage Ale House, Lincoln Parks British pub from Au Cheval owner Hogsalt Hospitality. In West Town, chef Zoe Schor also served a pepper-laden matzo ball soup at Split-Rail, which she closed in late 2023. Schor isnt shy about her Jewish American identity but the restaurant, a neighborhood hit known for fried chicken, was never positioned as a particularly Jewish spot. But for Schor, the soup was about something bigger than Split-Rail its presence marked a broader movement among chefs seeking to connect with their own background.

I feel like in terms of the zeitgeist of becoming classically trained and cooking the food you grew up eating, Ashkenazi Jewish culinary traditions were a little later to hit the trends, she says. Shes been happy to see the ripple effects manifest in spots like Russ & Daughters, the 110-year-old New York appetizing store that launched a wildly successful cafe in 2014. I think its very cool and important that we continue these traditions and the conversation.

The early 2010s saw a matzo ball revolution of sorts, arguably ushered in by the 2013 debut of Shalom Japan, a Brooklyn restaurant where chefs Aaron Israel and Sawako Okochi have made a major splash with their matzo ball ramen. In Chicago, some had the audacity to suggest adding jalapeno, and in 2020, the short-lived restaurant Rye in West Loop made matzo balls with blue corn masa. The dish has come a long way in, at least in the canon of Jewish culinary history, a very short time. But by its very nature, matzo ball soup is relevant not due to its ingredients, but rather, the sensory and emotional experiences it evokes.

Its difficult to pin down why exactly matzo ball soup has risen to such a cross-cultural level of notoriety. But a look back at the soups lore in the U.S. may shed some light. Take Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller please. Its hard to imagine a worse pairing than the legendary Hollywood sex symbol and the Jewish Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who devoted much of his career to shedding light on the American everyman.

As the story goes, the couple frequently dined at the home of Millers mother, Isadore, who served a lot of matzo ball soup. They ate it so much that at one point, Monroe reportedly quipped, Isnt there any other part of the matzo you can eat?

With that, a star was born and the humble, homely matzo ball was catapulted into American pop-culture history.

In the wake of the Holocaust, the mid-1950s (the couple married in 1956) was an unusually optimistic era for American Jews, who began to enter the middle class and seek higher education. For the first time, the American public was exposed to stories like Oscar-winning 1947 film Gentlemans Agreement, which starred cinematic icon Gregory Peck as a non-Jewish reporter who poses as a Jew to research an expos on antisemitism.

Despite ongoing institutionalized discrimination at universities and social hubs like country clubs, American Jews at the time saw broader social acceptance than perhaps in any other millennia of Jewish history. And suddenly, that cultural validation reached new heights. Monroe, the blonde bombshell herself, was eating matzo balls too, lending mainstream credibility to a tradition thats endured in Chicago and across the country well beyond Miller and Monroes marriage, which lasted less than five years.

Though reluctant to get too high-minded about what it means to serve Jewish food in a non-Jewish context, for Chris Marty, it points to a desire to push back on a national political shift toward exclusion. I think society is pretty shitty right now, he says. People are highly intolerant and very insular The beauty of the bar and restaurant industry especially in Chicago is that you have that willingness to just love it if its good.

Sign up for our newsletter.

View post:

At This Chicago Dive Bar, Matzo Ball Soup Is the Malort Chaser of Choice - Eater Chicago

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on At This Chicago Dive Bar, Matzo Ball Soup Is the Malort Chaser of Choice – Eater Chicago
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

Western Washington Universitys chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is set to host an Anti-Zionist Passover Seder on April 22.

The pro-Palestinian groupannounced on Instagram: Were organizing our first JVP Passover seder . . . with a focus on Palestinian liberation. Event attendees will be required to wear masks, according to the announcement.

The event description reads: Join us in celebrating Pesach! Build community, learn about the holiday, make friends.

JVPdescribes itself as the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world, and states that it is organizing a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews into solidarity with Palestinian freedom struggle.

[RELATED: Rutgers students hold globalize the intifada press conference, complain about going to class]

The WWU chapter of JVP has hosted several other anti-Israel events this year.

The grouphosted a movie screening on Feb. 20 of Pinkwashing Exposed, an hour-long documentary on anti-pinkwashing and Palestine solidarity activism in Seattle.

Pinkwashing refers to when a state or organization appeals to LGBTQ+ rights in order to deflect attention from its harmful practices,according to a quote from the group Decolonizing Palestine that JVP shared on its website. Pinkwashing is a term some anti-Israel activists apply to the Jewish State.

One day after the movie screening, the group displayed a one-day alter [sic] to provide a safe sanctuary space and sacred space for grief, healing, and resistance to all those who have been killed in Gaza, asseen from an Instagram post.

Campus Reform has long reported on the actions of JVP chapters on other campuses.

[RELATED: Columbia anti-Israel protesters STILL operating encampment on campus after NYPD arrest over 100]

In December, Campus Reform reported that JVP and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Columbia University appear to still be holding unauthorized events on campus, even though both groups were suspended.

In February, Campus Reform wrote that Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, while investigating Columbias response to anti-Semitism at the school, claimed that Columbias SJP and JVP held a Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony that compared the terrorist attack against Israel to the Chanukah story in violation of their suspension.

Campus Reform has contacted Western Washington University and the universitys Jewish Voice for Peace for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

See the article here:

Jewish Voice for Peace to host 'Anti-Zionist' Passover Seder at Western Washington University - Campus Reform

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Jewish Voice for Peace to host ‘Anti-Zionist’ Passover Seder at Western Washington University – Campus Reform
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

If you watch the new Amazon Freevee show Dinner With the Parents, based on the British sitcom Friday Night Dinner, you will be delighted, by, well, all of it. But specifically, you will be delighted by Carol Kane as the most extra of Jewish grandmothers, who has a thick Eastern European accent, some of the best unexpected jokes, and who also brings some surprisingly meaningful moments of Jewishness to the fore like a scene in which she chants the Mourners Kaddish in the most impeccable way.

According to Dan Bakkedahl, who plays the Langer family patriarch in the series, it was Kane who kept them honest and close to Jewish tradition. Carol in real life knows a lot about it, and understands and upholds a lot of it, and was trying to keep us as close to honest as the script will allow us to go.

So you might be surprised to learn that Kane, whose parents were both Jewish, did not grow up particularly observant. It was the movie and TV sets she has worked that have served as her synagogue. Everything she knows about chanting prayers, Yiddish and the seder plate were learned while working on the many incredible Jewish projects shes been a part of, including Joan Micklin Silvers classic Jewish film, Hester Street.

All the Jewish moments she partakes in during the series? Everything extremely not off the cuff, a delightful Kane tells me in a joint video interview with the shows creator, Jon Beckerman. I apologize, but the truth is, Im a very uneducated Jew. I dont know the songs, we didnt really go to temple.

Kane has nothing to apologize for, of course, shes brought us so much empowering Jewish representation on screen. In my life, I keep getting parts where I get to learn different things. I just finished a movie where I got bat mitzvahed, and I got to learn a Torah portion, she says, referring to the anticipated romcom Between the Temples where she stars alongside Jason Schwartzman.

Without these movies and TV shows, I would know nothing, Kane muses. Hester Street was my Yiddish training, she adds. Im really lucky. But none of it is off the cuff. Its very hard-earned learning.

Beckerman also brought some really heartwarming specificities of his own Jewish childhood to this show, which, like his own upbringing, is set in a Jewish neighborhood in Philadelphia. The first season of the show feels even more Jewish than Friday Night Dinners, with Jewish holiday celebrations, mourning rituals and talks of the bar and bat mitzvah circuit.

Robert Popper, who created Friday Night Dinner, grew up in North London in a Jewish neighborhood with a brother. When I saw that show, I immediately related to it because I grew up with a brother in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, which is a Jewish neighborhood. As a kid, all of my neighbors were Jewish. I remember the first time a non-Jewish family bought one of the homes and moved in. When Christmas would roll around, thered be one house decorating for Christmas I grew up in this bubble, where I just kind of thought everyone was Jewish. Turns out I was wrong.

When the opportunity to adapt it to American audiences came, Beckerman brought all these experiences to the set, where they feel alive and anchored in reality, despite the ridiculousness of so many of the shows scenarios.

I dont know that I grew up any more observant or less observant than Robert; we havent really talked about it that much. But I think that storytelling is best when its specific, Beckerman says. So once I knew we were going to do a show about a Jewish family, I thought lets take advantage of it and tell some stories that you wouldnt otherwise get to tell. These are the stories grounded in Jewish life including an episode about a shiva and one about a seder. It was just great fun for me to be able to draw from that part of my life, Beckerman adds.

Like Kane, though, the family at the center of the show, the Langers, are pretty secular. Theres something wonderful and relatable about the tension that happens when a rabbi, or someone more observant, shows up. They want to appear as more observant or more educated than they are, Beckerman explains.

The show has a Judaism consultant, which results in the Jewish details being pretty spot on. But theres also an irreverent aspect to it this isnt a show for the faint of heart when it comes to treating Judaism with the outmost veneration. More often than not, youll see the characters getting themselves in some pretty hilarious and cringe-inducing messes, especially when it comes to feigning Jewish observance.

I remember filming that shiva episode, occasionally Id glance over at this nice fellow who was the Judaism consultant and just see him shaking his head, looking very grim, Beckerman recalls. Whenever I saw that, I was like: Yes! Were doing the show I want to be doing.

That irreverence was part of Beckermans childhood, including at his familys seders. When I was a kid, we would always have them at my dads parents condo, and wed have the whole family there, he tells me. And there was something that I found so funny about Dayenu.'

I would always get into a situation with my mom, whos like me, a very silly person, where once we locked eyes and saw each other, almost laughing, it would become almost impossible not to crack up. Its that thing when you shouldnt be laughing and it makes it impossible not to, Beckerman recalls.

Kane relates, adding, Thats what I remember most about the few times I went to temple trying not laugh, not at anything in particular, just probably because you werent supposed to.

When I ask about Passover traditions, both Beckerman and Kane have fond, though perhaps alarming memories of Passover wine.

We had almost no traditions, Kane recalls, but I do remember Manischewitz wine. And I remember that it came in a little bottle that was a little lady. And it had a pack of four that didnt have a straight bottom. (PSA: If anyone reading this can help Carol and I find what bottles shes referring to, I would be so appreciative, because I havent stopped thinking about them in the weeks since our interview.)

I can really relate to the Manischewitz part of it, Beckerman says of his own familys seders. As a little kid, my brother and I would have several glasses of wine. By the end of the night, we would be passed out on my grandparents. So I remember getting a very warm feeling in my face and feeling very kind of loose and carefree. Wed end up basically passing out. I hope Im not gonna embarrass my family by saying, this but this is what happened. Theres a lot of drinking involved at a seder as we all know.

Our conversation ends with talk about the most important topic of all their favorite Jewish food. I like smoked fish and bagels, Kane says.

Its hard for me to choose because I have many, but if I had to narrow it down to one, matzah brei is a dish Im obsessed with. Ive taught my kids to make it, Beckerman says. Theres a big division between people who go sweet and people who go savory. As a kid I was always served it with salt. And so I like it with salt and pepper. The rest of my family will only eat it with sugar and maybe some syrup. But I would never eat it like that.

My daddy made wonderful matzah brei, Kane reminisces, sharing that he made it with jam, a sweet and very Jewish childhood memory of her own.

The first four episodes of Dinner With the Parents are now streaming on Amazon Freevee, with two additional ones added each Thursday until May 9.

Lior Zaltzman is the deputy managing editor of Kveller.

Originally posted here:

Carol Kane Brings Her Jewish Chops to 'Dinner With the Parents' Kveller - Kveller.com

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Carol Kane Brings Her Jewish Chops to ‘Dinner With the Parents’ Kveller – Kveller.com
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The FBI says it's on alert for threats to Jewish places of worship nationwide, as millions of Jewish Long Islanders prepare for Passover on Monday.

FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke about the threats during a meeting with Secure Community Network, a Jewish community nonprofit safety and training organization.

"We at the FBI are closely tracking these very real threats that have your communities on edge and were actively hitting back at the perpetrators full force, said Wray.

In spite of the threats, Rabbi Joshua Dorsch, of the Merrick Jewish Center, says this Passover will serve as a message of hope and resilience.

"The Jewish people are a resilient people, he said. That's one of the messages of Passover. Let my people go. We pray for the hostages, we pray for their family and we pray for peace."

Dorsch also says opportunities to come together are vital at times like this.

"The climate, the atmosphere, it's an uneasy time, said Dorsch. It's at times when we feel uneasy that we need community more than any other time. So, we're here."

Hassan Ahmed, of the Suffolk County district attorneys Anti-Bias Council, says a threat to one religion is a threat to all.

"We must feel protected. We must feel respected in our houses of worship in our communities, and we must all work together to ensure that that's the case, said Ahmed. "There's much more that connects us than separates us."

Nassau and Suffolk police both confirmed to News 12 each agency will step up patrols of Jewish places of worship ahead of Passover.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder released a statement about the increased patrols:

County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Commissioner of Police Patrick Ryder have been in continuous discussions with regard to any Lone Wolf attacks with the upcoming Passover holiday. The Police Department has increased their security measures around Synagogues and all Houses of Worship. We continue to work with our federal, state and local law enforcement intelligence partners to ensure that all Nassau residents are able to observe their faith in a safe environment. The public is reminded to call 911 immediately if they observe any threats or suspicious activity.

Go here to read the rest:

FBI on alert as Jewish Long Islanders prepare to celebrate Passover - News 12 Long Island

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on FBI on alert as Jewish Long Islanders prepare to celebrate Passover – News 12 Long Island
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

Congress must meet the urgency of the moment and support its ally Israel, leadership from the Anti-Defamation League, AIPAC, American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization and Jewish Federations of North America say in a letter to members of Congress on Friday morning written after the vote for the national security supplemental bills was set for Saturday.

The bill is set to provide Israel with more than $26 billion of military and security aid.

"We write to urge your support for vital assistance of our ally, Israel," the letter says. "It is past time for the House of Representatives to address the urgent security needs of the United States and key allies."

The letter continues to state that "We believe the aid package before you will garner bipartisan support and be signed by the President of the United States.

Israel's territorial integrity and sovereignty were challenged on October 7 and the world's only Jewish state is now facing a generational existential crisis, the letter says.

The letter goes on to say the unprecedented events last weekend where Iran fired more than 320 attack drones and missiles directly at Israel further demonstrates the continued danger Israel faces.

These same Iranian-made drones are being launched by Russia at US ally Ukraine, also in its fight for survival.

"The US and Israel share common enemies who are watching to see whether we stand up for our ally. We must not delay or stand on the sidelines," the letter says.

"We urge you to support this vital assistance before the House of Representatives because it protects US national security interests, affirms our commitment to our ally Israel and demonstrates America's essential global standing."

See the article here:

Leaders of major US Jewish orgs pen letter to Congress imploring passage of foreign aid bills - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Leaders of major US Jewish orgs pen letter to Congress imploring passage of foreign aid bills – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The FBI confirmed it is investigating numerous threats of violence communicated to schools and houses of worship in Western Pennsylvania over the last 48 hours. The Diocese of Pittsburgh said a school received two concerning emails through the area of their website where people can request a tour. The diocese immediately shared those emails with diocesan security officers, local police, and the FBI. Officers are being stationed at schools that have been the targets of these emails.While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we continue to partner with local law enforcement to investigate threat information as it comes to our attention, the FBI said in a statement.Shawn A. Brokos, Director of Community Security for the Jewish Federation, said Pittsburghs Jewish community has also experienced an increase in hoax threats.We have had a series of hoax bomb threats since last Thursday targeting our Pittsburgh area Jewish organizations. Theyve been a bit different from the ones we've seen in the past. We've been enduring these for almost two years now. So we're not a stranger to them. But these were new and different compared to some of the language we'd seen in the others, Brokos said.Brokos said she often compares notes with leaders in the Catholic community so that they can be aware of any hoax threats made against both faiths.The message shes spreading ahead of Passover is this.Stay open. Don't close your doors. Be vigilant. You know, when you're walking around, use really good situational awareness. But don't stop living your Jewish life. Don't stop going to seders. Don't not celebrate Passover, Brokos said.The FBI urges the public to report all suspicious activity to law enforcement. You can call 9-1-1 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Reports can also be made online at tips.fbi.gov.

The FBI confirmed it is investigating numerous threats of violence communicated to schools and houses of worship in Western Pennsylvania over the last 48 hours.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh said a school received two concerning emails through the area of their website where people can request a tour. The diocese immediately shared those emails with diocesan security officers, local police, and the FBI. Officers are being stationed at schools that have been the targets of these emails.

While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we continue to partner with local law enforcement to investigate threat information as it comes to our attention, the FBI said in a statement.

Shawn A. Brokos, Director of Community Security for the Jewish Federation, said Pittsburghs Jewish community has also experienced an increase in hoax threats.

We have had a series of hoax bomb threats since last Thursday targeting our Pittsburgh area Jewish organizations. Theyve been a bit different from the ones we've seen in the past. We've been enduring these for almost two years now. So we're not a stranger to them. But these were new and different compared to some of the language we'd seen in the others, Brokos said.

Brokos said she often compares notes with leaders in the Catholic community so that they can be aware of any hoax threats made against both faiths.

The message shes spreading ahead of Passover is this.

Stay open. Don't close your doors. Be vigilant. You know, when you're walking around, use really good situational awareness. But don't stop living your Jewish life. Don't stop going to seders. Don't not celebrate Passover, Brokos said.

The FBI urges the public to report all suspicious activity to law enforcement. You can call 9-1-1 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Reports can also be made online at tips.fbi.gov.

View original post here:

FBI investigating hoax threats against local Catholic, Jewish organizations - WTAE Pittsburgh

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on FBI investigating hoax threats against local Catholic, Jewish organizations – WTAE Pittsburgh
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

Something wasnt quite right about the chicken soup.

The team at Manischewitz had gathered in the test kitchen at the companys headquarters in Bayonne, N.J., last year to taste the latest version of one of their new offerings. But it wasnt hitting the notes they were aiming for.

We were tasting it against our grandparents and saying, No, thats not it; its just not like our Friday night chicken soup, said Shani Seidman, the chief marketing officer for Kayco, which owns Manischewitz.

More vegetables. More chicken. A little salt.

A lot of times you think of improvement and innovation as extra or modern, Ms. Seidman said in an interview this month. But were going back to go forward.

And chicken soup is only the start of it. Would your bubbe like a side of merch with that gefilte fish?

Manischewitz, the 136-year-old brand that has been a staple in American Jewish households for generations, is looking to go beyond Passover, which begins on Monday evening, with a top-to-bottom rebranding and an expansion of its product range.

Cans are out. Resealable bags are in. New products include grapeseed oil; frozen, gluten-free knishes and frozen matzo balls (dont tell your mother!).

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in.

Want all of The Times?Subscribe.

Excerpt from:

With a Fresh Look and Recipes, Manischewitz Courts a New Generation - The New York Times

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on With a Fresh Look and Recipes, Manischewitz Courts a New Generation – The New York Times
Tags:

Posted By admin on April 20, 2024

The FBI is monitoring for threats against Jewish Americans ahead of the Passover holiday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said, adding that the number was already high before Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. 

Wray mentioned the FBI’s work in investigating anti-Jewish hate crimes while speaking at an event Wednesday hosted by the Secure Community Network, the largest Jewish security organization on the continent. 

“Today, we at the bureau remain particularly concerned that lone actors could target large gatherings, high-profile events, or symbolic or religious locations for violence — particularly a concern, of course, as we look to the start of Passover on Monday evening,” he said.

Wray said the FBI’s anti-Jewish hate crime probes tripled in the three months following Oct. 7 compared with the four months before. 

“Between Oct. 7 and Jan. 30 of this year, we opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the four months before Oct. 7,” Wray said. “And of course, that’s on top of what was already an increase from the previous year.” 

Wray said the threats are not only present domestically but overseas as well. 

“We’ve seen — since Oct. 7 – a rogues’ gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against the United States and our allies,” he said while also pointing to increased hoax threats like “bomb and active shooter threats.” 

Antisemitic incidents reached an all-time record last year, particularly following Oct. 7. 

There were more than 8,800 antisemitic incidents in 2023, according to an annual survey by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The incidents included harassment, vandalism and assaults. 

The data shows a 140 percent spike from 2022. Around 5,200 incidents occurred following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. 

“Antisemitism is nothing short of a national emergency, a five-alarm fire that is still raging across the country and in our local communities and campuses,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL, said.

View original post here:

FBI watching for threats to Jewish Americans ahead of Passover, Wray says - The Hill

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on FBI watching for threats to Jewish Americans ahead of Passover, Wray says – The Hill
Tags: