Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

In early 2020, Eileen Wang, an allergist and immunologist at National Jewish Health, reached out to Anne DePrince, a University of Denver psychology professor with expertise in intimate partner violence.

The pair became interested in exploring the links between this type of violence, traumatic brain injuries and asthma. Though the conversations were fruitful and fascinating, they were just that. Conversations

Once the pandemic hit though, a new relationship began to blossom. In July 2020, National Jewish became DUs strategic health partner, helping to organize COVID testing on campus and later, vaccination events. Now this partnership has created a new opportunity, supporting cross-disciplinary research between the two.

After holding a lightning talks event, DU and National Jewish opened applications for seed-funding grants to support partnerships between researchers at both institutions. The $7,000 to $10,000 grants went to five projects, including the one proposed by Wang and DePrince.

Corinne Lengsfeld, DUs vice provost for research, spearheaded the effort with Greg Downey, executive vice president for academic affairs at National Jewish, and many others at both organizations. The goal, she says, is to continue offering small grants to build an organic partnership that will outlast the pandemic.

In January, well put out another RFP to fund other groups so this twice-a-year cycle can keep going for a little bit and really deepen the relationship beyond COVID, Lengsfeld says. Whats most important is that the relationships are built from the bottom up that we just incentivize people and these groups, and the ideas are all self-driven. Its so fun to watch. Im just really excited.

Though the grants are small, Lengsfeld says, they will kickstart early research so projects can secure external funding down the road. Thats exactly how DePrince and Wang have put their grant to work.

Without funding, all we were able to really think about was whether we could at least try to demonstrate what percentage of women who come in for asthma treatment have a history of intimate partner violence, or a history of TBI or a history of both, DePrince says. That was as big as we could dream without funding. With funding, this allows us to actually test and look at some biomarkers in a relatively small sample.

DePrince says this grant has been critical. The researchers will use pilot data from their early research as a proof of concept that will shape applications for larger grants. The results of this small-sample research also will help Wang and DePrince fine-tune their theories before undertaking more robust research.

Ultimately, DePrince sees this microgrant as the beginning of a fruitful partnership that melds disciplines in the name of crucial science for the public good. DePrince brings to the team years of expertise and research on intimate partner violence and an understanding of the nuances attached to these phenomena. Wang will build on her work at National Jewish to recruit participants to the study, which aims to better understand this issue from multiple angles.

My research wheelhouse hasn't included the kind of biomarkers and medical considerations for which Dr. Wang is an expert, DePrince says. Having this clear partnership with a medical institution is a real win, allowing me and my team to ask a broader set of questions, and it provides new training opportunities for the graduate students working with me.

The microgrants also will affect graduate students in other ways, says Jing Li, a professor in DUs College of Natural Sciences in Mathematics whose work focuses on geospatial data science. The grant shes received will pay for the work of two graduate students assisting with her project, Using data-driven, AI techniques to model exposure risks to ambient air pollution at localized scales in the Denver metro area. Her team will conduct this research with Jim Crooks of National Jewish, whose research focuses on biostatics and bioinformatics.

The project employs Lis expertise to bring air-quality data from multiple sources into one easily accessible interface. This will provide detailed, real-time information for patients living in the Denver area. The pair also plan to layer in a journaling component, allowing patients to input their activities. Patients will get personalized information about exposure risks with this data, combined with Crooks knowledge and experience in the health implications of different types of exposure to poor air quality.

This partnership, Li says, has allowed her to fully realize the Universitys commitment to the public good in her own work.

Due to the pandemic [I realized] geospatial data scientists can do more, Li says. A lot of people from National Jewish Health are doing the most important part of this work, but we still can contribute to the public good by delivering this kind of model to promote public messaging, so more people can understand the health issue. So, I feel like this project gave me a chance to explore the application of big data that can serve a large population.

Thats exactly what Lengsfeld envisioned these microgrants would accomplish moving the partnership forward to continue positively affect the community, as it has over the past year.

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DU and National Jewish Health Grow Partnership Through Microgrants - University of Denver Newsroom

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Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

Jewish News of Greater Phoenix via JTA An antisemitic tirade at a school board meeting in suburban Phoenix last week has spurred an extensive response among local officials and Jewish leaders some of whom say they were distressed that board members did not rebut the comment at the time.

During the public comment portion of the meeting of the Chandler Unified School District board, a woman who identified herself as Melanie Rettler spoke for over a minute about critical race theory and vaccines topics not listed on the meeting agenda but at the center of heated public debate nationwide.

Her comment crescendoed with an antisemitic claim drenched in the language of right-wing conspiracy theories.

Every one of these things, the deep state, the cabal, the swamp, the elite you cant mention it, but I will there is one race that owns all the pharmaceutical companies and these vaccines arent safe, they arent effective and they arent free, Rettler said. You know that youre paying for it through the increase in gas prices, the increase in food prices youre paying for this and its being taken from your money and being given to these pharmaceutical companies and if you want to bring race into this: Its the Jews.

The incident was the latest in a nationwide series of school board meeting disruptions, of the sort that the US Justice Department is seeking to curb. But what happened next has spurred the most discussion locally.

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After Rettler walked away, Barb Mozdzen, the board president, addressed everybody in the room. Comments really need to be related to what the school board can do something about, and this was not something we can do something about, she said. So please have your comments with something that is within our jurisdiction.

An individual, who identified herself as Melanie Rettler, accuses the Jews of being responsible for COVID vaccines and running a shadow government, in public comments to the Chandler Unified School District governing board. (Screenshot by Nicole Raz/Jewish News of Greater Phoenix via JTA)

Some Jewish organizations expressed outrage that Mozdzen and other board members didnt respond more strongly to the antisemitism.

The Arizona chapter of the Israel American Council said it wrote to the Chandler board requesting that in the future the board members themselves speak up the very moment such hateful lies are expressed.

Our history teaches us that allowing such racism to pass unchallenged only invites more of the same, the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to the board and each member expressing concern about the remarks and called the district to publicly demonstrate in the strongest possible way their commitment to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate.

The group added, The lack of response from board members to last nights public speaker who used blatant antisemitic tropes and stereotypes to promote anti-vaccine and anti-CRT views is simply appalling and dangerous.

Exactly what school board members can do about comments like Rettlers is unclear. Terry Locke, a spokesman for the school district, told the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix that it would be a violation of Arizonas open meeting law for board members to discuss items that are not on the agenda.

Board members in Arizona are allowed to respond to criticism, but what constitutes criticism is not clear, and board members tend not to engage speakers extensively, a spokeswoman for the Arizona School Boards Associationtold the Arizona Republic.

The response after the meeting was more decisive. After Chandlers interim superintendent, Franklin Narducci, learned about what had happened, he got in touch with representatives of the Jewish community.

Paul Rockower, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix, praised the districts outreach to and collaboration with the Jewish community. So did Rabbi Michael Beyo, CEO of the East Valley Jewish Community Center in Chandler, who said he is pleased and grateful that Narducci sought to collaborate.

An ignorant person made an antisemitic comment. Thats not newsworthy, Bevo said. What is important is that the superintendent canceled all of his meetings [Thursday] in order to deal with this.

Narducci collaborated with Beyo to craft a statement that condemned hate speech and denounced the antisemitic statements.

The district reaffirms its commitment to use its influence as a public educational institution to teach students the value of an inclusive community and give them the tools to engage in our increasingly diverse society, the final statement read. Chandler Unified School District denounces hate speech at all levels.

Beyos statement applauded the district governing board, administration and Narducci for leading by example and speaking out against the hatred of all people.

A version of this article originally appeared in theJewish News of Greater Phoenixand is republished with permission.

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Its the Jews: Antisemitic tirade unchallenged at Arizona school board meeting - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

Project: The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee

Location:580 McIntosh Road, Sarasota

Cost: $29 million

Builder: Tandem Construction

Architect: FleischmanGarcia

Project details: In early 2018, the board of directors for the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee had a tough decision to make: to sell or not to sell.

The Federation campus, a few miles east of downtown Sarasota, is on 33 acres half of which has yet to be developed. So it was time to figure out what the next step was going to be: sell the campus and move to downtown Sarasota or keep it and build.The board made the decision that we want to keep this campus because we dont think we can replicate it somewhere else, says COO Kim Adler.

Then the planning began.

Courtesy. The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee is building up its 33-acre campus to bring the community together in a safe space.

We have the incredible opportunity to remake a campus thats been around since the late 80s, says Wayne Ruben, a vice president on the Federations board of directors and a longtime area developer.

Adler says they took a demographic study of the Jewish community in 2019 to help envision what the community needed and wanted. The study found there was a large percentage of Jewish children. Thats where the inspiration of building an indoor/outdoor 30,000-square-foot space for day camps got its start.

The redeveloped campus also will include new executive offices, a 10,000-square-foot event center and a 2.15-acre sports complex complete with an aquatic center and tennis courts.The campus addition of a Holocaust reflection park and educational center is currently under construction.We are hoping to educate community members about differences in educational and cultural things, he says. Were super excited about what this will do in Sarasota-Manatee for the community.

Adler notes that the Federation partners with numerous nonprofits in the community.

This campus will now create an opportunity for those groups to come to us, she says, noting she hopes they can create joint programming for the entire community. It will just be a beautiful welcoming space for people of various backgrounds, interests and ages.

Cool factor: Right off the bat, Adler will tell you the coolest part of the project is the event space.

Were going to have this 10,000-square-foot ballroom space, which will set us apart from spaces that currently exist in the community, she says. I think that will make us unique.

The space will also have a direct impact on the Jewish Federations programming, which generally takes place off campus. With the space, theyll be able to host more often than not.

But thats not the only aspect theyre really excited for. The addition of the Chaifetz Family Holocaust Remembrance Park is going to play a huge role in the Federations future.The park will be a space for community members to learn about the Holocaust and understand what happened.

What we hope to do is have people learn the lessons from the Holocaust, says Adler, so these atrocities are not repeated in our collective future.

On top of being an educational space, Adler notes it will also serve as a beautiful, peaceful place for visitors to relax and reflect.Unfortunately we live in a world where anti-semitism is on the rise, says Adler. We want to make sure that theres a space that exists for people to come and enjoy having life-cycle or nonprofit events.

One more cool factor?The Ritter Wolk Security and Training Center.

Wemple. The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee is full steam ahead on construction of its 33-acre campus. From left, are Board President Randon Carvel, COO Kim Adler, Campus Project Chair Wayne Ruben, and CEO ShepEnglander.

Through a partnership with the Secure Community Network, the Federation employs Jewish Community Security Director Jeff Solomon on campus. The 3,000-square-foot center will house Solomon and act as the headquarters for security planning. Adler says it will be used to educate other Jewish organizations in the community as well as the Federation on just about anything from threat assessment to hurricane preparedness.

Challenges:Ruben checks off a longlist of challenges, mostly pandemic-related, that have popped up.Its been a conundrum between financial resources getting strained everywhere, closing down the campus, tearing apart the campus, stopping construction, labor shortages, supply chain issues, he trails off. You name it.

The cost of labor and materials also went up, taking the project from a $20 million pursuit to $29 million. Unfortunately, the Federation had budgeted for the original cost. So theyre currently back raisingmore money.

However, Rubens nothing but upbeat about those challenges, noting the pandemic made the Federation stronger than it was before. It made us think long and hard about the project, he says, even going as far as to make changes. If you can survive those (challenges), you can survive anything.

The Federation also went through a CEO transition in recent months, with the retirementof longtime leader Howard Tevlowitz.Adler says the transition with new CEO ShepEnglander is going well despite a steep learning curve between navigating a pandemic and a big construction project at the same time.

Despite the challenges, the Federation continues to look forward into its future at all of the possibilities. Its nice we have the space available to continue to dream, says Adler. We dont have to stop here.

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The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee - Business Observer

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Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

Too vast in scope to be contained within war drama, the Holocaust movie constitutes an entire genre unto itself, collecting a potentially infinite number of tragedies great and small. The history of the 20th centurys most massive atrocity comes with thousands of footnotes now gradually expanded upon by media depicting the unsung courage and untold evil. Israeli documentary film-makers Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy singled out one such extraordinary tale for their latest joint project, Netflixs short film Camp Confidential, drawing attention to a highly covert military operation only recently released from behind redaction-marker bars. The first thing is, when producers Benji and Jono Bergmann approached us with this and told us of the story, we didnt believe it, Sivan tells the Guardian. It was just so out-there.

The black-op facility tucked away in northern Virginias Fairfax county sounds like something out of a pulp paperback: Jewish soldiers, many of them refugees from the devastation in Europe, watched over Nazi prisoners of war in a surreally domestic setting. Known as PO Box 1142, it housed such notables as spymaster Reinhard Gehlen and rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. But those in charge of the base were also tasked with maintaining a baseline quality of life for the inmates, leading to bizarre scenes such as a department store outing with former members of the Third Reich to purchase unmentionables for their wives. Bulldozed after the war and buried in secrecy until the National Parks Service unearthed some remnants in the early 2000s, the clandestine camp now doubles as a cautionary tale for modern Jews and a memorial for those who came before them.

We had hours of these interviews, and I remember very vividly that we were shocked, Loushy says. I had chills. This was an unbelievable relationship forming there, between the Jewish refugees and the Nazis who wouldve captured them. Nobody knew about it, and the people who conducted the interviews never told anyone about it. They didnt even tell their wives or children they took this secret to their grave.

Sivan and Loushy had the privilege of sitting down with Arno Mayer and Peter Wiess, two veterans of this odd operation, thought to be the last living survivors able to set the record straight. With candor and a little apprehension, the two men recall a confounding daily contrast, caught between the satisfaction of sweating their captive guests and the indignity of catering to their needs. In one of the many flashback scenes rendered as animation to capture the dreamlike quality of memory, we see Jewish soldiers using the Nazis own inhumanity against them by flooding a van with dust from a vacuum cleaner and letting the sadists assume they were being gassed, just like they would be doing if the positions were reversed. The former servicemen claim to have taken the high ground and avoided outright torture, instead gaining the prisoners trust by playing host in their new country of America.

You can hear so many instances of them asking the interviewers, Is this safe? Can we talk? Is this not censored? Sivan says. It took everybody a long time to understand that yes, it is safe to discuss this. When you listen to the audio tapes, once they started talking, you see a combination of pride and shame at the same time. On the one hand, they feel that they did collect important intelligence, and they did succeed in their mission. But on the other, they did take part in whitewashing the German ex-Nazi scientists into becoming the perfect American heroes.

As the film explains, theres a bitter irony to the fate of Wernher von Braun, vilified during the war right up until the US government figured his scientific acumen could be put to good use. Under Operation Paperclip, hundreds of Nazi technicians were brought to the States and put to work before they could get snapped up by space race rivals in the Soviet Union, an unsavory gambit that paid off when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon. But the image rehabilitation Von Braun enjoyed as a principal architect of rocket travel the medals, the smiling photo ops next to President Kennedy left a bad taste in the mouths of those who recalled his heinous deeds. We all know that [Von Braun] knew about Auschwitz, and that he participated with the Nazi regime, Loushy says. The US, in giving him citizenship with all the other scientists, showed what was important to them.

Theyre different, Arno and Peter, Sivan adds. What Peter really wanted to convey was the question of whether bad means can be justified by a good cause. He believed the cause was righteous, but that the means of achieving it were so corrupt that it wasnt worth it. Arno, however, wanted to talk about the cold war. During the second world war, while the fighting was still going on, his mission was to start fighting the Russians. The fact is that the US had already targeted a new arch-enemy, and its shocking to see how fluid it is, the changing of enemies. Who was once your friend and ally is now the source of all evil. And these Nazis, who were the pinnacle of evil, were suddenly our best friends.

The film-makers view this chapter of the past as a moral and ethical thought experiment with ample resonance to the present, weighing pragmatism in the national interest against the sin of whitewashing. Does building an effective coalition supersede the mandate to hold fascists accountable for their actions? Neither Sivan nor Loushy is all that convinced. I personally believe that evil is evil, and dont think that a few years can change that, Sivan says. People taking part in mass murder, even if they were not physically part of it, they were in support of it.

You see these Jewish refugees whod escaped Europe a few years before, all of their families murdered in the Holocaust, and now theyve got to form a relationship with Nazis? Loushy adds. Its absolutely insane. Theres a red line to causes, at the end of the day. The Nazis committed crimes against humanity.

With domestic Nazi activity and Russia paranoia both having spiked under Trump, the takeaway from this brutal social studies lesson is clear: the nasty tendency to overlook transgressions for the sake of political usefulness hasnt gone anywhere. Were still repeating the mistakes of previous generations, putting whats expedient over whats right, leaving the civilian souls caught in the crossfire to be forgotten, abandoned or ignored. Mayer and Weiss share their recollections in the hope that we can break this cycle, and hold our leaders to a higher standard of humanity.

This is not a story of the past, Sivan says. The US is collaborating today with a bunch of dark regimes, Israel as well. If you look anywhere in the world, Europe or Asia, everyones working with tyrants and other people who have blood on their hands. Its always in the national interest, too. This isnt a story about terrible things that happened back in the 40s. We didnt learn our lesson.

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Its absolutely insane: the US-based camp where Jews guarded Nazis - The Guardian

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Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

Tuesday is Election Day in New York City, where the Democratic primary can often be more decisive than Election Day itself. Many key races were essentially decided in June, including mayor, comptroller and public advocate. However, there are still races to know about, including a few close City Council races. Polls are open from 6:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

Mayor: Eric Adams, the Brooklyn Borough president and former NYPD officer, overcame a crowded field in the Democratic primaries, including a number of prominent progressives. He is set to become the second African-American mayor of New York, after David Dinkins. He faces Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels community patrol and talk radio host.

City Comptroller: BradLander is considered a shoo-in to replace Scott Stringer, who has been the citys top financial official since 2013. Lander, who is Jewish, previously served as a City Council member for District 39, representing the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Park Slope, Gowanus, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Columbia Waterfront and parts of Windsor Terrace, Borough Park and Kensington. A progressive, Lander was the first citywide candidate endorsed by The Jewish Vote, the political arm of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, where he volunteered and was later a co-chair in the 1990s.

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Manhattan Borough President: Mark Levine, a former public school teacher and current City Council member for District 7 in Northern Manhattan, will likely be succeeding Gale Brewer as Manhattan Borough president. He served as the chair of the Council Committee on Health during the pandemic and is a member of the Progressive Caucus and chaired the Councils Jewish Caucus. Levine is an active member of his Jewish community and a congregant of Hebrew Tabernacle, a Reform synagogue in Washington Heights.

City Council District 5: Democrat Julie Menin is predicted to become the next Council member representing the Upper East Side. She will succeed Democrat Ben Kallos, an active member of the Jewish community in the district and a congregant of both Park East Synagogue and Congregation Or Zarua.Menin is the former commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs, andmost recently served as the citys census director.

City Council District 6:Gale Brewer, who has served as the Manhattan Borough president since 2014, is expected to take up her old City Council seat on the Upper West Side. Brewer, who has served as the Manhattan Borough president since 2014, will be replacing term-limited Helen Rosenthal, who was a member of the Jewish Caucus.

City Council District 32: Although District 32 in Queen holds a majority of Democratic voters, it is currently the only district in New York City outside of Staten Island to be represented by a Republican, term-limited Eric Ulrich. In one of the only contested races in this election, Democrat Felicia Singh faces Republican Joann Ariola. Singh has been endorsed by The Jewish Vote, whose members have been canvassing heavily for her among Jewish and progressive voters throughout the city. Singh, a high school teacher and Peace Corps alum, is running on a platform to increase public school funding and fight for climate justice. Ariola, who has worked in various political offices in the Queens district in her career, is prioritizing public safety.

City Council District 33: Likely replacing term-limited Stephen Levin in Brooklyns District 33 is progressive candidate Lincoln Restler. Restler is a lifelong member of the district, and has served as a District Leader. In the primaries Restler was endorsed by activists from a coalition of Hasidic groups in Williamsburg, where Hasidic residents mostly voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and where Andrew Yang picked up the endorsement from local leaders.

City Council District 47:Ari Kagan will likely replace another Jewish Council member, term-limited Mark Treyger, in District 47. Kagan immigrated from Belarus in 1993 and has been endorsed by the Sephardic Community Federation and JewishPress.com. He has previously worked as a journalist and political activist, and this would be his first successful run for office. He plans to focus much of his work on the citys recovery from COVID-19.

City Council District 48:The expulsion of Democrat Chaim Deutsch from the City Council after his conviction of tax fraud this spring left the seat open for the November election. The race is between Jewish candidates Steven Saperstein, a special education teacher endorsed by the NYC Police Benevolent Association, and Inna Vernikov, an attorney and immigrant from Ukraine. Vernikov, a Republican, is backed by former State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, and has been outspoken about her support for Donald Trump for his treatment of Israel. Although 45% of the district is registered Democratic, compared to 20% registered Republican, Trump outperformed Biden there last November. District 48 has the citys largest concentration of Russian speakers and a significant Orthodox Jewish population.

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What do Jewish voters need to know about NYC elections? - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

Integrity is a word we hear about often. We know its one of the highest compliments you can pay a person. And we all want to be regarded as people of integrity.

When we picture someone with integrity, we think of a person who is upright, honest and honorable. But, what does it actually mean?

Its an important question to answer because, according to the Talmud, one of the first questions a person is asked when appearing before the heavenly court after leaving this world is: Did you deal faithfully and honestly with others? (Talmud Shabbos 31a). Clearly, integrity is one of the most basic and important values we are expected to live by. But what is it?

Its obviously a multifaceted concept, but one essential expression of integrity relates to fulfilling the promises and commitments that we make. As Shammai, the great Talmudic sage, puts it: Say little and do much (Pirkei Avot 1:15). The Talmud (Bava Metzia 87a) states that saying little and doing much is in fact the defining quality of a truly righteous person and that someone who promises much and doesnt deliver on those promises is the very opposite of a righteous person.

To illustrate this idea, the Talmud cites the example of Abraham from last weeks parshah. When a group of travelers (who later turn out to be angels, although Abraham didnt know that when he first encountered them) pass by Abrahams tent in the heat of the day, he runs out to meet them, promising them bread and water. In the end, though, he goes to extraordinary lengths to lavish them with a huge meal and the finest delicacies in the words of the Talmud, a royal banquet fit for the table of King Solomon himself. Clearly, Abraham exemplifies our Mishnahs teaching: Say little and do much.

The Talmud also cites a counterexample from this weeks parshah, Chayei Sarah. Abraham wishes to purchase the Cave of Machpelah as a burial site for his wife Sarah (which would also become the burial site for the forefathers and foremothers of the Jewish people). Ephron, the owner of the plot of land, initially seems to tell Abraham, very publicly, that he would give it to him as a gift. But he then proceeds, later privately, to extract from Abraham an outrageously inflated price, even playing it down in the process. Ephron promised much and delivered little.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the great halachic deciders of the 20th century, identifies another potent example of what true integrity is all about in this weeks parshah. Abraham sends Eliezer, his trusted servant, to Charan to help find a wife for Isaac to find someone who exhibits the quality of chesed (lovingkindness), and who embodies the values of the house of Abraham, and would continue the legacy of building the Jewish people.

He encounters Rivka drawing water at the well who, through the seemingly simple act of providing water for Eliezer and his camels to drink, displayed the very traits that would make her a fitting wife for Isaac and one of the great mothers of the Jewish people.

According to Rav Moshe Feinstein, what impressed Eliezer was that she was careful with her promises. Integrity demands being careful not to make promises that you will not be able to keep, and so only after Rivka had already delivered on her first promise to give Eliezer water, did she then offer to give water to the camels. Rivka demonstrated the trait of integrity so fundamental to Abraham and Isaac, and to the Jewish people as a whole.

This value of integrity encapsulated in the phrase say little and do much is connected to a network of values so essential to human greatness. One such value is the sanctity of speech and fulfilling verbal commitments.

In the context of making and keeping vows, the Torah says: He shall not desecrate his word. (Numbers 30:3) The word desecrate implies that speech is holy, and that, therefore, one should honor verbal commitments. Reinforcing this idea of the holiness of speech, Onkelos translates the verse: and Adam became a living soul as: Adam became a speaking being. It is the power of speech that distinguishes the human being from the rest of creation that defines the human being.

In fact, the Talmud describes the human being as the medaber the speaker. Speech is sacred, and by extension, so are the promises we make to others.

But, making promises isnt just about upholding our commitments to others, its also about being true to ourselves what we might call personal integrity. And this is something separate to the sacredness of speech because it includes keeping promises we make to ourselves, promises we make in our hearts.

The Talmud (Bava Basra 88a) describes the great Talmudic sage, Rav Safra, as the epitome of one who speaks truth in his heart. (Psalms 15:2) On this, Rav Avraham Yitzchak Bloch says faithfully fulfilling what we undertake to do in our hearts is also an important part of personal integrity.

Theres another aspect of say little and do much that characterizes good virtue and integrity. Virtuous people are interested in acting rather than talking about it. They arent interested in publicizing what they do. They dont need affirmation or honor and recognition from others. Their focus is on getting things done: helping others, performing mitzvot, doing good deeds for their own sake. But those who are not virtuous are actually interested in the opposite in what people will say about them, and the honor and recognition they will receive, rather than actually doing good. These are people who will say a lot and do comparatively little.

The prophet Micha speaks about walking modestly with your God, (Micha 6:8) which the Talmud interprets as doing good without seeking the publicity and acclaim that comes with doing so (Succah 49b).

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz writes that the good deeds performed publicly provide ulterior benefits, such as honor and recognition. Therefore, great effort is required to purify ones motives by doing these deeds as modestly as possible. (Sichot Mussar 31:46) In other words, we need to purify our inner thoughts and emotions even when doing good deeds.

This focus on inner truth and sincerity rather than externalities is at the core of integrity. We need to ensure our internal state of mind and our external lives are aligned. What we do should be a reflection of who we are. As the Talmud says: A Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside is not a true Torah scholar. (Yuma 72b)

Rabbeinu Bechaya, in his book Duties of the Heart, writes: Regarding ones inside whos not like his outside, scripture says his heart was not whole with Hashem, his God. (Kings 1,11:4) As is well-known, if someone contradicts themselves or proves themselves a liar, whether in speech or in deed, people no longer believe in their integrity and have no confidence in their sincerity. Similarly, if our outer and inner selves are in contradiction, if our talk is not matched by our intentions, if the actions of our limbs are at odds with the convictions of our heart, then our worship of God is imperfect.

And, so, integrity is about how we interact with others, and its also how we relate to ourselves. It is a value which cannot be compartmentalized. You see that in the word itself. Integrity is related to the word, integrated. A person with integrity is a person whose inner life is in harmony with how s/he acts. There is no disconnect.

And this, ultimately, is why integrity is one of the core values of the house of Abraham, and therefore a vital part of our legacy as the Jewish people. Abraham is someone who embodied truth and sincerity, kindness and concern; someone who sprang to the aid of others, moved by a deep inner well of good will toward all people and a deep inner devotion to the will of his Creator.

Rabbi Warren Goldstein is the chief rabbi of South Africa. This essay was first published on aish.com.

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Under the guise of freedom to determine their childrens education, though not a new phenomenon, we are seeing some parents, legislators, and school administrators attempting to place severe limits on the teaching of our nations past and the legacies of this history upon the lives of people and the functioning of institutions today.

Republican legislators throughout the U.S. have enacted new laws and policies intended to define the narrow parameters of what and how students will discuss our countrys past and our present.

Related: GOP candidate wants libraries to out kids who check out LGBTQ books

Many of these efforts have attempted to ban Critical Race Theory (CRT), even though CRT is not taught in public school and is generally discussed in selective college and university graduate level courses.

Possibly because the notion of Critical Race Theory is so vague to most conservative voters, Republican candidate for Virginias next Governor, Glenn Youngkin, calling himself the parents rights candidate, has attempted to instill further fear on the part of the electorate.

He has raised his racist bullhorn by declaring not only his intent to ban Critical Race Theory the day he is elected, but also to outlaw the reading of the critically acclaimed and award-winning novel by author Toni Morrison, Beloved, which was turned into a major feature film.

Beloved, a truthful and painful story of the lives and loves of two enslaved black people in the U.S. South, has become an integral part of the canon of not only African American literature but of American literature generally.

We must never forget, however, the prophetic words of German poet, Heinrich Heine: Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also.

As wisely and eloquently stated by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his 1839 play, Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy, the pen is mightier than the sword, this adage holds that the written word acts as a powerful tool in the transmission of ideas. Why else would oppressive regimes and other avid enforcers of the status quo engage in censorship and book bannings and burnings throughout the ages?

For example, Pope Gregory IX in 1239, in his quest to maintain the Catholic Churchs economic and ideological stranglehold, ordered all copies of the Jewish holy book, the Talmud, confiscated, and one of his successors, Pope John XXI, commanded that the Talmud be burned on the eve of the Jewish Passover in 1322.

Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, in his 1526 treatise On the Jews and Their Lies, argued that First, their synagogues should be set on fire. Jewish prayer books should be destroyed, and rabbis forbidden to preach. The homes of Jews should likewise be smashed and destroyed and their residents put under one roof or in a stable like gypsies, to teach them they are not master in our land.These poisonous envenomed worms should be drafted into forced labor. The young and strong Jews and Jewesses should be given the flail, the ax, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and the spindle and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses.

As Luthers dire pronouncements make perfectly clear, what begins as banning then torching of books and other property eventually results in the denial of civil liberties, torture, and eventually murder of people scapegoated by dominant social groups and by their government leaders.

This was certainly the case in Nazi Germany. Nazi storm troopers, in 1933, invaded, ransacked, and padlocked The Institute for Sexual Sciences in Berlin, founded by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a gay Jewish sexuality researcher.

The Institute conducted early sexuality and gender research, the precursor of the Indiana-based Kinsey Institute in the United States. Stormtroopers carried away and torched thousands of volumes of books and research documents calling the Institute an international center of the white slave trade and an unparalleled breeding ground of dirt and filth.

Soon thereafter, Nazis and conservative university students throughout Germany invaded Jewish organizations, and public and school libraries and confiscated books they deemed un-German. The German Student Association, (Deutsche Studentenschaft) declared a national Action against the Un-German Spirit.

On May 10, 1933, the students along with Nazi leaders set ablaze over 25,000 volumes in Berlins Opernplatz. Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda, fired up the crowd of over 40,000 sympathizers by declaring No to decadence and moral corruption. Yes to decency and morality in family and state.

Joel Spring, in his book Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States, addresses cultural genocide, which he defines as the attempt to destroy other cultures through forced acquiescence and assimilation to majority rule and cultural and religious standards. This cultural genocide works through the process of deculturalization, which Spring describes as the educational process of destroying a peoples culture and replacing it with a new culture.

A historical example of cultural genocide and deculturalization can be seen in the case of European American domination over Native American Indigenous nations whom European Americans viewed as uncivilized, godless heathens, barbarians, and devil worshipers.

European Americans attempted to deculturalize indigenous peoples through many means: confiscation of land, forced relocation, undermining of their languages, cultures, and identities, forced conversion to Christianity, and the establishment of Christian day schools and off-reservation boarding schools where they took youth far away from their people.

The U.S. government under President Hayes approved and developed off-reservation Indian boarding schools, the first in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1879 run primarily by white Christian teachers, administered by Richard Pratt, a former cavalry commander in the Indian Territories.

At the schools, officials stripped Indigenous children from their cultures: cut short the young mens hair, forced all to wear Western-style clothing, prohibited them from conversing in their native languages and made English compulsory, destroyed all their cultural and spiritual symbols, and imposed Christianity on them.

As Pratt related to a Baptist audience: [We must immerse] Indians in our civilization, and when we get them under, [hold] them there until they are thoroughly soaked.

By comparison, how are these attitudes and actions are any different from the draconian practices enacted by Arizona state officials in 2010 in stripping away primarily the Mexican American Studies programs from Tucson public schools? Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal, suspended the highly successful and student empowering program.

Then Arizona School Superintendent, Tom Horne, in 2010 when the state legislature passed the measure, House Bill 2281, asserted that the law is necessary because Tucson, Arizonas Mexican American, African American, and Native American studies courses teach students that they are oppressed, encourage resentment toward white people, and promote ethnic chauvinism and ethnic solidarity instead of treating people as individuals.

Huppenthal released a list of books he had banned from classrooms throughout the state, including The Tempest by Shakespeare,Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years(1998) by Bigelow and Peterson, The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader(1998) by Delgado and Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2001) by Delgado and Stefancic, Pedagogy of the Oppressed(2000) by Freire, United States Government: Democracy in Action(2007) by Remy, Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History(2006) by Rosales, and Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology(1990) by Zinn.

Anyone who believes in academic freedom and cultural liberty must find practices of censorship offensive. Students previously enrolled in the Mexican American Studies program achieved a 94% high school graduation rate, up significantly from around 50% of Latino/a students not enrolled. The program had given students a sense of cultural pride, a passion and joy in the learning process, and a feeling of hope for their futures.

Unfortunately, however, Arizona politicians placed social and cultural conformity as the major considerations. This reflects educational researchers, Kochman, in Black and White Cultural Styles in Pluralistic Perspective (1994) contention that dominant society mandates linguistic and cultural assimilation as a requirement for social support:

The nonreciprocal nature of the process of cultural assimilations of minorities does not permit the mainstream American culture to learn about minority cultural traditions nor benefit from their official social incorporation. It also suggests an unwarranted social arrogance: that mainstream American society has already reached a state of perfection and cannot benefit from being exposed to and learning from other cultural traditions

As Santayana reminds us: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We now, though, have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes of the past by speaking out against the racism and cultural genocide that surrounds us.

Standing together and standing firm, we can reverse the tide of ruthless socialization engulfing our educational system.

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Parents & politicians attacking institutions of learning is nothing new in human history - LGBTQ Nation

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From across the globe Jewish leaders from all parts of the religious spectrum will participate in COP, or Conference of the Parties, meaning states that have signed on to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

From pupils in school, through youth movements, to members of XR Jews and the increasing number of congregations signed up to EcoSynagogue, we are passionately concerned about the future of our world. We care as Jews, as human beings, and as part of the vast interdependent community of all living beings.

Before the covenant at Sinai, we were a part of the ancient, universal bond between God, humanity and all life on earth. It was established with Noah after the first great destruction. Only mindfulness of it now can preventa new environmental disaster.

Ever since God instructed Adam and Eve to work the land with respect while protecting the earth and the rich biodiversity it supports, Judaism has taught that we are not owners but trustees and caretakers because the world and its fullness belong to God. We are not entitled simply to commodify, monetise and exploit nature. For, as we are reminded in this sabbatical year, the land and all creatures matter to God.

The authors of the Bible, like the rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud, lived in close relationship with the soil; they knew in their bones our interdependence with nature.

They experienced droughts and floods. They understood the truth taught by Ecclesiastes, that even the king or prime minister is subject to the field. If they were alive today, they would uphold the demand for climate justice for the worlds poorest populations. For justice is a central value of Torah.

The Torahs commandment, bal tashchit(do not destroy), forbids wanton destruction. We should interpret this now to include our participation, directly or through investments, in patterns of consumption, extraction and waste, which cause devastation anywhere on earth. We cannot pursue in good consciencea way of life in one part of the world that causes destitution in another.

The Torah forbids cruelty, not just to people but to animals. There can be few greater forms of cruelty than causing their extinction.

Over and above these reasons, I feel passionate concern for the future of the planet because the world is full of wonder and Gods spirit flows through all creation. Im a lover of forests, streams and mountains; they restore the soul, and our physical and mental health as well. Therefore, I fear for the future of nature.

We owe the worlds children and grandchildren a planet as rich, beautiful and sustaining as it once was and can again become. How can we live with ourselves unless we try to do our best for them and for this earth?

Religions have a crucial role in the climate crisis. With their ethos of collective responsibility, they have the capacity to mobilise whole communities to work for a better world. People of all faiths will be campaigning together at COP and working together afterwards.

We need to engage collectively in environmental teshuvah (repentance). Maimonides describes teshuvah as a process beginning with acknowledgement, followed by reparation and lasting change.

We have to rethink habits of wastefulness, unnecessary consumption and inattentiveness to our impact on the biosphere. We must fall back in love with the natural world and deepen our awareness of the peoples, animals and plants with whom we share our planet. We can join remarkable organisations supporting nature, here, in Israel and globally. We can plant trees and make gardens into miniature biodiverse reserves.

We can pursue environmental justice while filling our lives with wonder.

Jonathan Wittenberg is Rabbi at New North Masorti London Synagogue

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Occult practices and totems are a mainstay of Halloween season, and sage bundles, altars and crystals are an increasingly trendy way to dabble indivination and witchcraft. But the spooky supernatural world also has a long history in Judaism,and modern Jewitchesare encouraging the connection though their practices often slightly differ from their non-Jewishcontemporaries.

I do not burn sage, said Zo Jacobi, who runs Jewitches, a popularblogandpodcastthat deep dives into ancient Jewish myths and folkloric practices. The sage-related ritual of smudging, an Indigenous ceremony popular among modern witches for cleansing a person or place of negative energy, is not a Jewish practice, she said. But Jews had crystals. Actually, they were called gems.

Jacobi and her peers are revitalizing ancient Jewish practices of witchcraft, which have been seeing something of a revival as of late. Far from having an uneasy relationship with magic practitioners, Judaism or at least Kabbalistic strands of it has long embraced them.

Jacobi, based in Los Angeles, studies those gems role in Jewish ritual, along with the connections between assorted other magical artifacts and Judaica. Eight shelves in her home are filled with books on Judaism as well as Jewish magic, witchcraft and folklore.

Her studies have revealed the historical ways that items like gems have been used in Jewish magical correspondences. Like healing crystals, gems are meant to protect and heal based on their properties, according toMidrash(Numbers Rabbah 2:7). For example,sapphirewas thought to strengthen eyesight.

Its in a medieval text called the Sefer Ha-Gematriaot, Jacobi said. But even if we go to the Torah, we see crystals on the breastplates of thekohanim(high priests of Israel).

Many Jewish rituals today have their roots in warding off demons, ghosts and othermythological creatures. When webreak glassat a wedding, scholars say, were not just remembering the destruction of the Temple; were also scaring off evil spirits that may want to hurt the bride and groom. Likewise, ancient Jews believed that themezuzahprotected them from messengers of evil a function parallel to that of an amulet, or good-luck charm.

The mezuzah is absolutely an amulet, said Rebekah Erev, a Jewish feminist artist, activist and kohenet (Hebrew priestexx, a gender-neutral term for priest or priestess) who uses the pronouns they/them and teaches online courses on Jewish magic. I consider it to be a reminder of the presence of spirit, of goddess, of Shechinah [the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God]. Much of magic is about reminding ourselves that were all connected and that everything is alive and animate.

The moniker Jewitch itself can be seen as controversial within the group. Erev first heard the term while attending a 2014 JeWitch Collective retreat in the Bay Area.

I feel that any word that identifies someone as a witch is controversial in nature because of how society, including Jewish society, has demonized witches leading to violence and ostracizing, Erev said, even though they do consider both witchcraft and Judaism to be major tenets of their life.

To be a Jew and to be a witch has had serious repercussions throughout time. I hope the recent popularity of the term Jewitch will bring more acceptance and understanding of both identities and help to make our practices more widely accessible.

Cooper Kaminsky,a Denver-based intuitive artist and healer, concurred that the portmanteau was revisionist to some, but added, Many, including myself, are empowered by identifying as a Jewitch.

Historically, as Judaic practices grew more patriarchal,women were exempt from studying the Talmud and Torah. They knew little Hebrew, so they created their own prayers in Yiddish, used herbal remedies and centered their religious practices around the earth.

Erev mirrors these customs by creating magical rituals, like meditating on cinnamon sticks during the month of Shvat, hearkening back to how cinnamon trees in Jerusalem scented the land during the harvest.

Theres a Kabbalistic idea of making oneself smaller for creation to emerge. Connecting with a cinnamon stick is a simple ritual. The cinnamon folds in, and the bark contracts in on itself, Erev said. Sometimes contracting inward can give us space to emerge and create.

They also do spellwork, creating spells for new love, pregnancy protection and social justice; on their blog, they shared an incantationdesigned to bring more awareness to Indigenous Land Back movements.

The goal of many Jewitch educators and practitioners, they say, is to shine a light on rituals that have been forgotten or buried for self-preservation. Jacobi believes that many folkloric practices died out following the13th-18th centuriesbecause, at the time, Jews were viewed as demonic witches.

Jewish communities did what they thought would protect them from literal certain death. Some of that came at the expense of some of these practices, Jacobi said. Instead of the supernatural reasons, they tried to give rational reasons for what they were doing. Ashkenazi Jews routinely tried to debate with their oppressors in the hopes that they could out-logic antisemitism.

This traumatic history, the Jewitches say, is often papered over or dismissed as myths and superstitions. Saying superstition is a way that we downplay our magic, Kaminsky said. We protect ourselves because, historically, a huge part of our oppression has been because were magical.

Kaminsky, who uses the pronouns they/them, does spiritual readings for clients that draw upon Kabbalah, Tarot and the Akashic records a reference library of everything that has ever happened, which spiritual mediums believe resides in another dimension. Kaminskyincorporates Jewish prayers into their spellwork, like reciting the Psalms of David when doing candle spells and the Bsheim Hashem as a magical invocation.

Kaminsky grew up in a Conservative Jewish household and learned the basic concepts of Kabbalah in Jewish day school.

Kabbalah looks at Judaism through a cosmic, mystical lens that clicked for me a lot more than looking at a story from the Torah, Kaminsky said. As I read more Kabbalah, I started feeling more connected to my Judaism.

Variousscholarsandrabbishave linked Kabbalah to Tarot, a deck of cards originally used in the mid-15thcentury to play games that evolved to divinatory practices in the 18thcentury (though Jacobi, for one,refutes this idea, claiming the connection has never been proven). The Tarots Major Arcana the trump cards of the deck, which detail the evolution of ones soul usually make up 22 cards in any given pack, a meaningful Jewish number: the same as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, and the number of pathways on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

For their energy work, Kaminsky draws parallels between the chakras, energy points in the body discussed in Hinduism, and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life is an energy network, they said. Theres the meridians of energy, and the chakras are like the middle pillar.

Mystical practices were a part of Jacobis upbringing. Her parents practiced Kabbalah, metaphysics, folklore and folk mythology. They have attended the same local Chabad since Jacobi was three years old.

Thanks to these experiences, Jacobi is comfortable living out of the (broom) closet a tongue-in-cheek phrase that some modern witches use to refer to openly practicing witchcraft. She grew up with astrology, used tarot cards on Shabbat and played with her mothers rose quartz crystal ball while her father led Havdalah prayers. The Jewitches blog and podcast are filled with mythological creatures with origins in Jewish beliefs, like dybbuks, werewolves, dragons and vampires.

Some creatures are unique to Jewish lore:the vampiricAlukah, a blood-sucking witch referred to in Proverbs 30, turned out to be Liliths daughter, while aBroxaoriginated as a bird from medieval Portugal that drank goats milk and sometimes human blood during the night.

Whenever there have been dire times throughout history, people have turned to mysticism; thats how Kabbalah emerged, Erev said. We need to look to our ancestors for guidance. There are a lot of tools in our human community for healing and re-dreaming and creating a world that is safe and generative for all beings.

Kaminsky thinks magic has the power to repair the world:Almost all of our Jewish spells are for the sake of healing.Tikkun olam, using our magic to repair the world, is beautiful.

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The season of the Jewitch J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Conservative policymakers nationwide are on a crusade to crush women's right to choose. But this war isn't being waged based on science, the Constitution, or anything else that elected leaders should actually consider in their decision-making. It's grounded in a fundamentally warped interpretation of Christianity.

Indeed, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed his state's draconian abortion bill into law which empowers citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy he proclaimed, "Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion." Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who filed a brief calling on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, recently stated that the case was "chosen by God."

As a Christian, a biblical scholar, and a mother, it is infuriating that lawmakers would twist and distort our sacred text to give the government the power to force women to carry a child to term. The Bible doesn't say that abortion is a sin and has no explicit definition of when life begins. The reality is that abortion only became a rallying cry for conservative Christians and particularly Evangelicals when Republicans decided it was politically advantageous to do so.

RELATED:Evangelical theology is what made the Texas abortion outrage possible

It may come as a surprise, but the Christian movement against abortion is actually relatively new. Through most of the 1900s, evangelical Christians who are the powerhouses of today's anti-abortion push didn't say much about the subject, or even explicitly noted the issue should not be touched by the government. Indeed, a 1970 poll from the Baptist Sunday School Board revealed that a whopping seven in ten Baptist pastors supported abortion to protect the mental or physical health of the child-bearer. And in 1976, 1977and 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention issued resolutions stating that they affirm their "conviction about the limited role of government in dealing with matters relating to abortion."

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So how did the anti-abortion movement become so engrained in conservative Christianity? One word: politics. In the 1970s, conservative political activists were increasingly alarmed by desegregation efforts, particularly in schools, and were hoping to shore up the Republican base to preserve racial boundaries. But they struggled to identify an issue that would fire up white Evangelicals a key part of the base without being explicitly racist. Through careful research, they discovered that some Evangelicals were concerned about abortion and could be riled up to fight against it. So, activists made that a core issue, and ignited a national movement to end the practice.

Fast-forward to today, and many Republicans say that their Christian faith requires them to ban abortion. But it is clear to me that the Christian faith requires protecting the lives and well-being of women by allowing them reproductive freedom, not taking steps to eliminate it. In the Bible, God consistently tells us that all humans are moral agents, fully capable of making their own decisions.

Texas' law is particularly un-Christian. If reignited, a woman in an abusive relationship who seeks an abortion could be turned in to authorities by her husband and he would come away with thousands of dollars. A mother who helps her young teenage daughter get an abortion could be prosecuted, tearing a loving family apart. A woman who discovers that her fetus has a fatal abnormality would be forced to go through labor regardless and undergo immense emotional trauma.

It's important to understand another crucial flaw in the anti-abortion Evangelicalmovement: The notion that life begins at conception is a very conservative, Christian idea. The government cannot legally impose this interpretation upon others, especially since other faiths directly contradict this belief.

Consider Judaism, for instance. Jewish law doesn't consider a miscarriage to be a death, so devastated parents don't say Kaddish, the Jewish mourning prayer, for a dead embryo or fetus.

The Talmud, a widely-utilized Jewish text, notes that a fetus is only considered to have a soul when the head has emerged. And the Tzitz Eliezer, another famous text, states that an Israelite woman can undergo an abortion, "even when there is no direct threat to the life of the mother, but merely a need to save her from great pain."

The bottom line is, no government should have the power to force women to carry a pregnancy to term. Any faith leaders who say otherwise are willfully mischaracterizing the teachings of their religions and taking steps that are actively harmful to countless people. It's hard to think of anything that stands in starker opposition to the compassion that is at the heart of every major faith.

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There is nothing godly about outlawing abortion and Texas' law is particularly un-Christian - Salon

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