Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

Anyone remotely affiliated with universities should be chilled by the news that a Torah was destroyed at a fraternity house at George Washington University. The image of a replica Torah scroll ripped apart and doused in laundry detergent, its pages on the floor is the very latest in a series of increasingly disturbing incidents on American campuses and in college towns that are simply not getting enough attention from the intellectual community.

There is no way to misread an attack on the Torah itself.

When these incidents happen, university administrators issue statements. But the subject of antisemitism on campuses and on college towns is just not part of the discourse at universities. It is generally not part of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion discussion despite the sad fact that antisemitic incidents in places where students and professors gather are becoming more frequent and violent.

The Anti-Defamation League found that even with almost all campuses physically closed due to COVID-19, antisemitic incidents on campus were at an all-time high in 2020-21 with 244 reported. In its survey of 756 self-identified Jewish undergraduate students, the ADL found that a whopping 43 percent had experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the past year.

But that sad statistic doesnt tell the whole story.

There is also a disturbing uptick activity in college towns and cities known to host major universities that is not getting enough attention. Yesterdays Halloween arson attack on an Austin synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the city, took place just 2.6 miles from the flagship campus of The University of Texas at Austin.

That proximity should not be ignored.

In Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, swastikas and Nazi messages were spraypainted at City Park, just 1.5 miles from the universitys English and Philosophy Building. Not exactly a college campus, but pretty close and a clear message to students.

And then there is all the stuff happening close to campus that doesnt count as a hate crime but still feels like one and is still terrifying.

This time last year Oct. 30 a fire was set to a Chabad House in Wilmington, Delaware, months after an August arson attack at the Chabad House at the University of Delaware in Newark caused $200,000 in damage.

Whats happening on campuses and in the supposedly liberal college towns that often host them sadly reminds me of what has been happening for several years now to visibly Jewish people in New York City, where hate crimes and violent hate crimes have been surging. When I see a video of a Hasidic man attacked on a Brooklyn street, I invariably think of all those book-jacket biographies that say so-and-so is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Where are the writers? Where is the writers outrage?

There are so many writers living in Brooklyn right now that it is a clich. The same is true for writers at universities. And thinkers. And intellectual leaders.

Many writers and thinkers have declared their commitment to diversity and social justice, yet it is extremely rare to hear a literary writer who is not Jewish say something about rising antisemitism. The truth is that these violent incidents are happening in Brooklyn and in all of New York City with regularity, in neighborhoods where many writers live, work, shop and walk through. The NYPD noted 24 antisemitic incidents in New York City in May alone, and the FBI is investigating.

I worry that college campuses are also becoming places where it is OK for writers and thinkers to look away. For now, there is often quick condemnation but there is less reflection and even less positive change.

The George Washington University administration to its credit was quick to condemn the incident at its fraternity house. I am appalled by the antisemitic vandalism that occurred at the TKE fraternity house, especially the desecration of the Torah scroll, GW President Thomas LeBlanc said in a statement. This is a deeply disturbing incident, and our GW Police Department is working with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department to find the perpetrators.

I want to be clear: I condemn all such acts of antisemitism and all forms of hatred, discrimination and bias in our community. Any act of antisemitism is an attack on the entire GW community and cannot, and will not, be tolerated.

But the bottom line is that these attacks have been tolerated on college campuses, just as they have gone on and on in New York the epicenter of Americas literary and intellectual community with barely a whimper.

Jewish leaders say something. University Presidents issue statements. And 32 percent of American Jewish students report that they have personally experienced antisemitism on campus over the past year, and a whopping 43 percent have either been the targets or have observed it happening, according to the ADL.

There is also the belief that whatever is happening to Jewish students, its not that bad which is why this passage from the ADL report should be considered by all affiliated with universities. Of the 12 percent of students who reported incidents to campus employees, 40 percent felt they were not taken seriously. Unfortunately, knowledge of how to report antisemitic incidents was also low, with 41 percent of all student respondents saying that they did not know how to report an antisemitic incident when it occurs.

George Washington University has a distinguished record of educating public servants, so this incident is especially dangerous. But you dont have to be a future politician to know that both destroying Jewish books and setting fire to Jewish culture has a long and bloody history from the burning of all copies of the Talmud in France in 1242 to Nazi book-burning.

I have no doubt that the Torahs beauty and majesty will survive but the question is whether great universities, faced with hatred burning on their campus, will survive with their ethical standing intact.

Aviya Kushner is The Forwards language columnist and the author of The Grammar of God (Spiegel & Grau) and Wolf Lamb Bomb (Orison Books). Follow her on Twitter @Aviya Kushner

Link:

Jews are under siege on campuses and in college towns wheres the outrage? Where are the intellectuals? - Forward

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Jews are under siege on campuses and in college towns wheres the outrage? Where are the intellectuals? – Forward
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

For more than two decades, former Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) was among the most moderate of U.S. senators. This centrist streak brought him to the brink of the White House as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, but he angered the party by running as an Independent in 2006 and later endorsing Sen. John McCains presidential campaign in 2008. Still, Lieberman stands by his centrist political decisions. Now, he wants to encourage more politicians to do the same. His latest book,The Centrist Solution: How We Made Government Work and Can Make It Work Again, serves as a call to action for politicians to seek a more collegial middle path towards governance. I always try to distinguish between centrism as not the same as moderation, Lieberman explained in aninterview withJewish Insiders Sam Zieve Cohen. Centrism is a strategy, moderation is an ideology.

Jewish Insider:You credit your Judaism and your study of the Talmud as guiding your political beliefs. You write, the Talmudic ethic is an ideal precondition for centrism and problem solving politics. How important is religion in developing a centrist worldview?

Joe Lieberman:As I look back at my own personal history, about the various forces and ideas that were at work on me over my life, it did seem to me that my Jewish upbringing, and particularly the Talmud, was really an important part of how I became a centrist. I dont think I felt that as I was getting into politics. I always say that my religious upbringing, the whole ethic oftikkun olam, orkiddush hashem, was part of what moved me into public service. But when I looked back at the whole development of Jewish law, of the Talmud, [it] resulted from spirited, respectful discussion and argument. And then, more often than not, agreement on a course to go forward, and rarely ended up in the kind of personal animosity.

JI:In your book, you argue that the majority of Americans still remain moderate in their tastes and in their political interests. Yet, clearly, theres been a rise in the election of partisan politicians over the last decade. Why is that? If the voters want centrist problem-solvers, why are these partisan politicians winning instead?

JL:The reason is that the centrists, the independents, the moderates, are not as intensely involved in the selection of nominees for Democratic and Republican parties for Congress and other offices. And that allows the further left and further right of the two major parties to have disproportionate influence on whos chosen.

JI:You write that in 2008, neither then-Senators Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama asked for your endorsement, whereas Sen. McCain, who you endorsed, obviously did. Had they asked, would you have considered giving your support?

JL:Yeah, I definitely would have. There was such a prevailing consensus in the Democratic Party, particularly among voters who voted in primaries, that the war was a terrible mistake. The fact that I had been unwilling to give up on it until I felt we had stabilized the country which, in fact, by 2008 we had made mepersona non grataamong a lot of Democratic primary voters. I assume thats why Hillary and Barack didnt ask for my support. But it would have been natural. It would have been a hard decision between them because, as I said, I had close relations with both of them. But it would have been more natural for me to support Clinton or Obama than for me to support McCain. But by the time John asked me, around November of 2007, it was clear to me that Obama and Clinton were not going to ask for my support. And also, I loved John, I believed in John, I trusted John. And I knew he was ready to be president of the United States on day one. So I also felt that I was making a statement about bipartisanship.

JI:Regarding President Biden, you write in the book, the only way we will solve some of our serious national problems and seize some of our great national opportunities will require Republican members of Congress to break away from Trump, and it will require Biden and Democratic members of Congress to declare their independence from far-left Democrats who wont compromise. Centrist Democrats have reportedly grown annoyed by President Bidens refusal to take a hardline stance in negotiating with progressives on the infrastructure bill. How do you assess President Bidens strategy?

JL:I mean, there has to be room and there is room in the Democratic Party for what I would call center-left Democrats like Joe Biden. That center-left group is probably the majority in the Democratic Party. I would never say to exclude the further-left Democrats who dont want to compromise, but they cant be allowed to think that they can control the party, or the president of the party. They dont have the numbers to justify that. There have been times, I will say, in the months since President Biden was elected that I felt that the Squad, the so-called Progressive Caucus in the House, has had more influence in the party and in the Biden administration than theyre entitled to. Again, I would never exclude them, but they have to come to the center also and begin to negotiate.

Read the full interview here.

View post:

Daily Kickoff: The Jewish day school grads covering the World Series + On the ground in Florida's 20th district - Jewish Insider

Category: Talmud | Comments Off on Daily Kickoff: The Jewish day school grads covering the World Series + On the ground in Florida’s 20th district – Jewish Insider
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

Zebulon Simantov, the last known Jew to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in August, is demanding $10 million in order to come to Israel, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Simantov was extracted from Afghanistan in a rescue operation organized by an Israeli humanitarian contractor named Moti Kahana in September. He was flown to a country that has remained unnamed for security reasons, but is now in Istanbul, where he is staying in a hotel.

Kahana had originally offered to charter a flight to transport Simantov to Israel, and Simantov accepted but changed his mind at the last minute.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

He requested instead to make his way to the US.

Kahana made it clear to him, however, that he was not on the US's priority list and that it could take up to two years for him to receive a visa.

He also requested money for a winter coat, the Chronicle reported.

Im not a babysitter. I cant go on funding and supporting Zebulon in Istanbul for an unlimited time, and I told him I wont take him back to Kabul, Kahana told the Chronicle in response.

Simantov's divorced wife and two daughters have lived in Israel since 1998. He also has a sister and brother who live in Holon.

Excerpt from:

Last Afghan Jew demands $10 million in order to move to Israel - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Last Afghan Jew demands $10 million in order to move to Israel – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

In 2006, David Marchese, Salon's then-associate music editor, wrote an impassioned lamentation on the decline of the Cool Jew. Gone were the days of James Caan heading up a powerful crime family, Richard Dreyfuss taking on a killer shark, and Dustin Hoffman seducing a mother-daughter duo. In their places stood Jerry Seinfeld, Seth Rogen, and Adam Sandler, who were deep trenches of playing schmucks and schlubs. Jews in the zeitgeist had regressed, as Marchese put it, from badasses to jackasses.

"The Godfather," "Jaws"and "The Graduate" were in the rearview, and cultural stereotypes of neurotic, emasculated men overtook the narrative. Following the abundance of Jewish sex appeal of the '60s and '70s came a period of decline, when Jewish men were no longer innately associated with mob bosses, seducersand action heroes. With "Seinfeld," "Knocked Up" and "Grown Ups" modeling Jewish men onscreen, there existed several decades in which the only available role in popular culture was that of a jester.

But then came the Messiah.

The 2017 and 2018 releases of "Lady Bird" and "Call Me by Your Name" launched a young, dark-haired Jewish actor with cheekbones to spare named Timothe Chalamet into instant celebrity. Chalamet had fans swooning over two particular words in Lady Bird: "Good girl." Director Greta Gerwig called him "a young Christian Bale crossed with a young Daniel Day-Lewis with a sprinkle of young Leonardo DiCaprio." He secured an Academy Award nomination for "Call Me by Your Name,"one of the youngest to ever do so. Rumors swirled of him mingling with actresses and models. He handed out bagels at the premiere of "The King" on Rosh Hashanah, no less. It became obvious: the Cool Jew was back.

RELATED: "Dune" is the masterful adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic we've been waiting for

It was Chalamet's leading role of Elio Perlman in "Call Me by Your Name"that cemented his wunderkind status in Hollywood. The role is one of particular importance to modern Jewry. Running parallel to his revelation of queerness, Elio struggles to find a comfortable existence within his Jewish identity, telling his lover Oliver that the Perlmans were self-described "Jews of discretion." Throughout the film, Elio's relationship with his Jewish heritage intertwines with his relationship with Oliver. Elio himself soon begins to rep a Star of David pendant, just as Oliver had since the film's beginning.

Chalamet's Jewish heritage (his mother is Jewish-American, with Russian and Austrian roots) was critical to his portrayal of Elio. The actor has noted the integral thread of Judaism that runs through "Call Me by Your Name,"calling it "a driving force in the film," in a 2017 interview.

Such an accessible, yet unabashedly Jewish film earning momentous fanfare undoubtedly helped legitimize the restoration of the Cool Jew. (Though the film is undeniably Jewish, it isn't one that requires a working knowledge of Jewish traditions, which non-members could find confusing.) Thanks to Chalamet's rising star, the unflattering narrative of the Jewish man began to dissipate overnight.

Not even four years after the release of "Call Me by Your Name," Chalamet has racked up career accomplishments that rival actors twice his age. He has proven that he is no one-trick pony, snapping up everything from the period dramas "Little Women" and "The King," to sci-fi blockbusters, each gaining him a gaggle of new admirers. This year,Oct. 22 marked yet another watershed moment in the young actor's career, as he celebrated the dual release of Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" and Denis Villneuve's adaptation of "Dune," underscoring his versatility as both an indie darling and action hero.

Jewish action heroes have existed in recent times with notable portrayals in "Inglourious Basterds" and "Hunters" but rarely outside the context of the Holocaust. A Jewish action hero, no matter how badass, always had to be connected to Judaism in his mission. It is the role of Paul Atreides in "Dune" that elevates Chalamet to the kind of Jewish action hero that hasn't been seen outside of the confines of Jewish culture in decades.

Times have changed since Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin Braddock seduced both of the Robinson women. The 21st century offers a more subjective take on mainstream attractiveness that favors lankiness and femininity. Chalamet, with his long, pale limbs and shock of dark hair, is the proprietor of an aesthetic that many have compared to a sickly Victorian child, or a bewitched porcelain doll. But for every person who thinks he is better suited to be haunting a mansion than occupying the silver screen, there are many more who consider him a sex symbol.

The subversive sex appeal of unmasculine approachability fits tightly into a niche that Jewish men have long occupied. Inverting the stereotype of nebbishy Jewish men (an ethnic stereotype of a timid, submissive man, for any curious goys), actors like Chalamet are making it sexy again. Other public-facing Jews are getting the same treatment, many for the first time in their careers.

Seth Rogen is widely known for his roles in "Knocked Up," "Pineapple Express," and "Freaks and Geeks," which have him playing some sort of bumbling buffoon in one capacity or another. But he, too, has started to gain a new reputation for his sex appeal. His starring role opposite Charlize Theron in 2019's "Long Shot" portrayed a relationship between the two actors that many questioned at the time. ("As much as I would like to think we were the first to put a f**king Jewish dude and a shiksa in a movie together, we were not," Rogen told David Marchese in an interview with Vulture.) But recently, something changed. Suddenly, articles and tweets from major media outlets and regular folks alike had reached a consensus: Seth Rogen is hot. The same public revelation engulfed Adam Sandler following his groundbreaking role in "Uncut Gems."

The Cool Jew is in his Renaissance. Chalamet has at least one more "Dune" sequel on the horizon. He is also currently tackling another iteration of notorious antisemite Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with the prequel "Wonka." Seth Rogen has teamed up with Sarah Silverman to voice Santa Claus in the forthcoming "Santa Inc.," in what will surely be the most Jewish Christmas media of all time. Adam Sandler's success in "Uncut Gems" has begotten another dramatic role in the adaptation of"Spaceman" aboutthe intergalactic travels and philosophical musings of a Czech astronaut and co-starringheavy hitters Carey Mulligan, Paul Danoand Isabella Rossellini.

With Chalamet, Rogen, Sandler, and other members of the community helping to expand the narrative of Jewish men, the Cool Jew seems to have a new place in media. As Zendaya's Chani tells Chalamet's Paul Atreides at the close of "Dune": "This is only the beginning."

More stories you might like:

Read the rest here:

Timothe Chalamet and the return of the Cool Jew - Salon

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Timothe Chalamet and the return of the Cool Jew – Salon
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

Communities of Jews live in the Gulf states, strengthening their Jewish identity together in the Arab majority countries - and growing larger.

But with such an array of people across large regions, the AGJC wants to create a sense of companionship among them, in more ways than one.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

As our communities throughout the GCC experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years, we have seen more and more singles move here with an interest in establishing more permanent roots in the region, said AGJC President Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo.

The buzz around JSG has reverberated around the world and in the weeks leading up to the launch of the platform, we received interest from dozens of singles in the region, said AGJC Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie.

We are starting with a website and hope to grow this into singles events and programs very soon. It is so important for us to work with singles living in our region to help them find relationships with other Jews.

By helping these singles find their spouses in the GCC, they are more likely to get married here and establish their families here, which in turn grows Jewish communal life," said Nonoo.

The rest is here:

Single Jew in the Gulf? A dating website can help you find your partner - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Single Jew in the Gulf? A dating website can help you find your partner – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

Later this week, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who became a Catholic priest in Poland, moved to Israel and served the Christian community here for nearly four decades, will be buried in Poland as a Jew alongside his mother and sister who were murdered by the Nazis.

Having grown up in a religious Jewish household, Father Gregor Pawlowski, born Jacob Zvi Griner, was saved during the Holocaust by dint of papers he obtained stating he was Catholic, and he eventually was baptized and ordained as a priest.

He eventually moved to Israel stating that he was part of the Polish people but that he was part of another nation first, the Jewish people, with whom he felt an ongoing attachment and among whom he wished to live.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

Many years later, Rabbi Shalom Malul, dean of the Amit Ashdod Yeshiva in Israel was on a trip to Poland with his students, and noticed a headstone Pawlowski had made for himself at the mass grave where his mother and sisters had been murdered by the Nazis, and made contact with the priest upon his return to Israel and formed a friendship.

Malul will this week fly out to Poland with several of his students, give Pawlowski a Jewish burial at that site and recite kaddish, the mourners' prayer, in accordance with the priests wishes that he be buried as a Jew.

Jacob Zvi Griner, as he was originally named, was born in 1931 to a religious Jewish family and lived with his parents, brother and two sisters in the city of Zamosc, in the Lublin region in eastern Poland.

In October 1939, the Nazis occupied Zamosc and eventually transferred the Jewish population to a ghetto and pressed them into forced labor, during which time Griners father was taken away and presumably murdered.

Griners brother Chaim had moved to Russia while the Soviet Union temporarily controlled the area before handing it to the Germans.

The Jews of Zamosc, including Griner and the rest of his family, were subsequently moved to Izbica in 1941 and housed in the homes of the Jews who had already been deported from the town.

Griner himself escaped but his mother and two sisters were eventually taken outside the city together with around 1,000 Jews from Zamosc, lined up on the edge of pits that had been prepared and shot dead.

Griner fled Izbica and hid in different locations for short periods of time with locals, Poles and Jews, until the end of the war, at one point obtaining a Catholic baptism certificate bearing the name Gregor Pawlowski which he adopted as his own from then on. It helped save his life when confronted by Nazi officials on at least one occasion.

After the end of the war, Griner, now Pawlowski, found himself in an orphanage run by two Catholic nuns, was then transferred to a new orphanage and was formally baptized there on June 27, 1945 at the age of 13.

After finishing high school, Pawlowski entered a Catholic seminary and was ordained into the priesthood in 1958.

Before he did so, however, he erected a monument at the place where his mother and sister were murdered and also established a burial plot for himself at the site of the mass grave with an inscription which included the words I abandoned my family, In order to save my life at the time of the Shoah, They came to take us for extermination, My life I saved and have consecrated it, To the service of God and humanity.

In 1970, Pawlowski moved to Israel where he was greeted by members of the Catholic clergy in Israel, and his brother Chaim who survived the war and contacted him after reading his brothers story in the newspaper article published four years earlier.

For the next 38 years, Pawlowski served as a priest in Jaffa working with Catholic communities in the area until his death last week.

Whenever Malul would take his students to the site he would call up Pawlowski by phone who would then relate his story to those on the trip, and add that they were standing on his grave.

During the course of their friendship, Malul says that Pawlowski told him he had dedicated his life to the Catholic church because his life had been saved by them and he felt an intense appreciation for this, so dedicated his life to the Catholic church and community.

But Pawlowski told him explicitly that he wished to be buried as a Jew next to the mass grave where his mother and sisters were killed, and said as such in his will as well.

He said I was born a Jew, I lived as a Christian, and I will die as a Jew, and that my heart feels Jewish, says Malul.

At one point Pawlowski put up a mezuzah on the door of his home, upon Maluls suggestion, and said the blessing for the ceremony himself.

He decided for many reasons not to return to the Jewish people during his life, but he told everyone that I am a Jew and I will return to my people on the day I die, says the rabbi.

This Wednesday, Malul will fly out with some of his students to bury him at the place where his family was murdered. This week he will be buried in a grave he bought for himself and we will say kaddish for him and he will return to his people, the Jewish people.

Read more:

The Jew who became a priest and will be buried as a Jew - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jew | Comments Off on The Jew who became a priest and will be buried as a Jew – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

A young boy in uniform stands with his arm raised in a mock salute, his gaze steady. The boys expression is partially eclipsed as the sunlight hits only one side of his face, but he appears to be staring back out at the photographer.

The black-and-white image is grainy and the buildings in the background are nondescript. Taken in 1947, this photograph shows a young boy named Farouk Sayig, later known as Baruch Meiri, standing near his family home in Baghdad, Iraq.

4

Farouk Sayig, later known as Baruch Meiri, stands near his family home in Baghdad, Iraq

(Photo: The Media Line)

Its an eye-catching image of a bygone era; a glimpse into some of the final years of a once-thriving Jewish community that had resided in Iraq for over 2,500 years.

Born in 1940 in Baghdad, Baruch Meiri was the eighth of nine children. Like tens of thousands of other Jews living there, Meiri and his family escaped from Iraq as part of a mass exodus that saw some 130,000 Jews airlifted to Israel via Iran and Cyprus from 1950 to 1952, in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah.

An Iraqi law mandated that they had to renounce their citizenship and could never return. I was 10 years old, Meiri said. We took a taxi to the airport and I remember that there was a very long line at the entrance. We barely had anything on us no money or gold because we didnt have anything.

We flew on one of the first flights out from Baghdad to Cyprus, he continued. But the plane had a mechanical issue and we stayed in Cyprus for an additional two days before getting to Israel.

Operation Ezra and Nehemiah came after years of violence and persecution. Nazi propaganda during World War II and rising Iraqi nationalism stoked anti-Semitic sentiment in the country during the 1940s, with the hatred reaching a fever pitch shortly after Meiri was born during the Farhud, a violent event that took place on June 1-2, 1941.

The Farhud was a Nazi-inspired pogrom that broke out in Baghdad over the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Hundreds of Jews were killed or raped and 1,000 injured, though exact casualty figures remain unclear.

During the pogroms, my parents fled to the house of the neighbors, who were community leaders, Meiri said, recalling the event and his Muslim neighbors. My mother managed to save our family.

4

A photograph taken in Baghdad, Iraq, showing Baruch Meiri and some of his siblings

(Photo: The Media Line)

Growing up, Meiris family was very poor. In order to make some extra pocket money, the young Farouk bought a few cucumbers at the local market and began selling them to other schoolchildren at a profit. In this way, he was able to buy sweets and pastries for himself. I learned to become self-reliant, Meiri said. Dont let the world tell you that you cant do something, just do it.

This is how I acted when we immigrated to Israel as well and we were in a transit camp, a place that later became Or Yehuda, a city in central Israel, he added. The newly arrived immigrants to Israel were all given new names when they were sent to live in a transit camp. Farouk Sayig became Baruch Meiri.

Due to the large influx of Jewish immigrants pouring into the nascent state of Israel, which had only been established a few years prior in 1948, conditions at the transit camps were very poor. The camps also referred to as maabarot, were meant to be a temporary shelter for lack of better housing options.

They were marred by poor sanitation, overcrowding, and limited supplies of water and electricity. The majority of immigrants inside Meiris camp were Iraqis, however freshly arrived Turkish and Libyan Jewish families also lived in the Or Yehuda camps. In the winter of 1951, Israel suffered its harshest winter in a century, making life in the maabarot particularly unbearable.

The tent, which was our house, drifted into the Ayalon River and we were left with nothing, he recounted. Big trucks came and took all the children in the camp to Givat Brenner, a kibbutz. Every winter, for three months, we would be sent away from our parents to this kibbutz.

The Meiri family was upgraded to more permanent lodging a few years later and Baruchs father, who had been a jeweler back in Iraq, was sent to work as a farmer, an area in which he had no experience.

For his part, at 16 years old Baruch Meiri got his first serious job working as a newspaper delivery boy for Maariv, one of Israels most important daily newspapers. He would later rise up in the ranks of the paper and became the manager of Maarivs Jerusalem branch.

Meiri also won several awards for journalists over his career and penned a number of acclaimed books in Hebrew, including an autobiographical work in which he described life in the maabarot.

It was my dream to become a journalist, Meiri said. Iraqi Jews understood that the only way to succeed in Israel was through hard work and studying. There are no shortcuts. They understood that Israel, at the time, was a poor country that had only just been founded.

If you see an obstacle, dont stand next to it and cry, Instead, think of how to overcome it, he said.

4

Baruch Meiri, 80, shows off his swimming medals

(Photo: The Media Line)

Meiri, now 80, has four daughters and 13 grandchildren and has shown no signs of slowing down. Over the past decade, he has transformed himself into an Israeli swimming champion for his age category. In fact, he has already won 40 medals.

The Iraqi Jewish community is one of the oldest and most significant Jewish diasporas. Following Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, only 10,000 Jews remained in Iraq and most of them left after Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979. Today, only three Jews still live in Iraq, according to Orly Baher Levy, chief curator of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda.

In the early 20th century, the Jewish community in Iraq lived relatively well, with many Jews holding important positions in Iraqi society and in the halls of power. It was not until the 1930s that Jews living there began to suffer from more serious persecution.

Up until then they had been an integral part of Iraqi society; they were Jews, but they were first of all Iraqi, Baher Levy explained to The Media Line. And then bit by bit they started to feel like outsiders. The local populace suddenly saw them as Jews (and not Iraqis), and became jealous of them.

The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center first opened to the public in 1988. It is the largest museum of its kind dedicated to documenting, preserving, and researching the cultural heritage of Babylonian Jewry.

In addition to exhibitions and lectures, the museum houses a large collection of Iraqi Jewish artifacts, including Judaica, manuscripts, books, and photographs.

4

Part of a set of murals titled 'Transitions' painted by artist Rubi Bakal

(Photo: The Media Line)

On Tuesday, the museum will hold an event marking the 70th anniversary of the Jewish exodus from Iraq to Israel via Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Leading Iraqi-Israeli speakers and artists will take part in the celebrations, including Baruch Meiri. The festivities also will include traditional Babylonian Jewish music, art, and food.

Mordechai Ben Porat, 98, one of the original organizers of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah and who also spearheaded the founding of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, is slated to attend the museum celebrations.

One of the goals is to keep Iraqi Jewish traditions and history alive for the next generation. With that Aliyah, we can say that the Babylonian exile ended, Lily Shor, director of external relations and events at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Museum, said.

All the Jews around the world were once in the tribe of Judah, and they were taken to Babylon after the destruction of the First Temple, Shor said. During the immigration wave of the 1950s, some 110,000 Jews came to Israel and only 9,000 remained in Iraq. This means that the exile effectively ended.

Originally posted here:

The end of exile: Iraqi Jew recalls escape from Baghdad 70 years ago - Ynetnews

Category: Jew | Comments Off on The end of exile: Iraqi Jew recalls escape from Baghdad 70 years ago – Ynetnews
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 3, 2021

Max Fried is on a trajectory to become the second best Jewish pitcher in history, after his idol, Sandy Koufax.

Frieds 14-7 record and 3.04 ERA in the regular season helped the Braves win the National League pennant. In the second game of the World Series, the Houston Astros shelled Fried for six runs and seven hits in five innings in the Braves 7-2 loss. But with the Braves now ahead three games to two in the best-of-seven series a, the 27-year old Los Angeles native will take the mound on Tuesday, hoping to clinch the championship for his team.

Since his major league debut in 2017, Frieds record so far surpasses all other Jewish hurlers. Hes won 40 and lost only 18 games (a .690 percentage) with a 3.34 ERA. In 447 innings, hes struck out 447 hitters while giving up only 139 walks.

In the COVID-limited 2020 season, Fried was 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA, winning a Golden Glove award as the NLs best-fielding pitcher. Hes also one of the best-hitting pitchers, with a career .214 batting average, including .273 this season. He was one of 13 Jews on major league rosters this season, including Braves teammate Joc Peterson and Astros third baseman Alex Bregman.

Fried was 8-2 with a 2.02 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 66 innings during his senior year at Harvard-Westlake High School, coached by Ethan Katz, now the Chicago White Sox pitching coach. In 2012, the Padres drafted him in the first round (7th overall) and traded him to the Braves two years later.

Born in 1994, 28 years after Koufax retired, Fried wore Koufaxs number, 32, in high school.

The more success I had growing up, the more I heard about Sandy Koufax in the Jewish community, he told a reporter last year. Obviously he was before my time. But I always strived to follow him. And everything I ever heard was about how great a person he was rather than how great of a pitcher.

Fried has started his career more successfully than Koufax, but whether he can sustain his impressive record is an open question.

After joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, Koufaxs first six years were plagued by wildness, going 36-40. In 1961, after Jewish catcher Norm Sherry urged Koufax to take something off his fastball, his control dramatically improved. He was baseballs premier pitcher from 1961 through 1966, winning 129 games against only 47 losses. Arthritis in his left elbow ended his career prematurely at age 30.

Overall, he was 165-87 (a .655 winning percentage) with 2,396 strikeouts. He was the NLs 1963 MVP and the Cy Young Award-winner in 1963, 1965, and 1966, leading all pitchers in wins, strikeouts and earned run average. In 1972, at 36, he was the youngest player elected to the Hall of Fame.

Koufaxs decision to skip the Dodgers first World Series game against the Twins on October 8, 1965, which fell on Yom Kippur, made headlines and became a source of great pride among American Jews. In his autobiography, Koufax wrote: There was never any possibility that I would pitch. The club knows that I dont work that day.

A year later, Chicago Cubs rookie Ken Holtzman, also refused to pitch on Yom Kippur. But the next day, September 25, 1966, Holtzman beat Koufax 2-1.

Holzman was another hard-throwing left-handed Jewish hurler. Drafted in his sophomore year by the Cubs out of the University of Illinois (he later graduated and then earned a masters degree), he pitched in the majors from 1965 to 1979.

Although Holtzman never lived up to the hype as the next Koufaxan impossible standardhe had a 174-150 record, winning 17 or more games in six seasons. He pitched for three World Series champions (winning four games while losing one), was twice an All-Star, and is one of only 35 pitchers to throw multiple no-hitters.

Among the more than 75 other Jews who have pitched in the majors since 1900, most had so-so careers but a few had one or more stellar seasons. .

Craig Breslow, a molecular biophysics and biochemistry major at Yale, led the Ivy Leaguewith a 2.56 ERA his senior year. In 2010 the Sporting News named the lefty Breslow the nations smartest pro athlete, but his mound performance never reached the same level as his intellect. Between 2005 and 2017 he compiled a 23-30 record as a reliever with seven teams. In 2013, he was 5-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 61 games for the World Series-winning Red Sox. Hes currently the Cubs assistant general manager.

A first-round draft choice out of his New York City high school, Jason Marquis was truly a wandering Jew, pitching for the Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Rockies, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Padres, Twins, and Reds between 2000 and 2015. He compiled a 124-118 won-loss record, including a 15-7 season for the World Series champion Cardinals team in 2004. He was an All-Star in 2009 and pitching ace for the Israel team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Steve Stone graduated from Kent State in 1970 and was pitching in the majors a year later. He was 107-93 with four teams from 1971 to 1981. In 1980, he was 25-7 with the Orioles, pitched three scoreless innings in the All-Star game, and captured the Cy Young Award. Diagnosed with tendinitis the next year, he retired at 34 and shifted to a career in broadcasting.

Larry Sherry compiled a 53-44 record as right-handed relief pitcher from 1958 to 1968. As a Dodger, he was voted MVP in the 1959 World Series against the White Sox, winning two games and saving two others, with a 0.71 ERA in 12 and 2/3 innings.

Barry Latman was a star hurler at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, playing alongside his teammate Larry Sherry. He attended theUniversity of Southern Californiaon a baseball scholarship, but dropped out to sign a contract with the Chicago White Sox in 1955. He pitched in the majors from 1957 to 1967, compiling a 58-68 record. He made the All-Star team in 1961, a season in which he went 13-5 (a .722 winning percentage) for the Indians.

Saul Rogovin went 48-48 with four teams between 1949 and 1957. In 1951, he was 12-8 and led the American League with a 2.78 ERA. On July 12, he pitched 17 innings against the Red Sox, struck out 14 batters, and won the game by a 5-4 score. At 51 he returned to college, earned his degree from City College, and had a rewarding second career as a high school English teacher in New York.

Sam Nahem logged a 108 record in four seasons with the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Phillies between 1938 and 1948. In 1941 he was 5-2 with a 2.98 ERA, including a three-hit shutout against the Pirates. During World War 2, he recruited two Black players for his European baseball squad in the otherwise segregated military baseball league. His team won the military championship and helped lay the groundwork for Jackie Robinson.

In 1910, Erskine Mayer left Georgia Tech to play professional baseball and two years later was on the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies. During eight seasons, he compiled an outstanding 91-70 record and 2.96 ERA. In 1915, his best season, he was 21-15 with a 2.36 ERA. With the Pirates in 1918, he was part of one of the greatest pitching duels in baseball history. He and Boston Braves hurler Art Nehf pitched 15 scoreless innings. Pirates pitcher Wilbur Cooper relieved Mayer with one out in the 16th inning, and got the win when the Pirates scored two runs against Nehf, who was still pitching in the 21st inning.

During his 10 years in the majors (1903-12), Barney Peltyhad a career ERA of 2.63, despite losing more games (117) than he won (92). His peak year was 1906, when Pelty went 1611 with a 1.59 ERA, second best in the American League.

See the original post here:

Is Max Fried Baseball's Second Greatest Jewish Pitcher Ever? - Jewish Journal

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Is Max Fried Baseball’s Second Greatest Jewish Pitcher Ever? – Jewish Journal
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 2, 2021

In this week's episode, guest Danny Citrinowicz, formerly head of the Iran branch in the Research and Analysis Division of Israel's Defense Intelligence, talks about the expected renewal of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and world powers. He warns that for the Biden administration there is only one realistic option on the table and Israel will have to adjust to it, even if it doesn't want to.

Later in the show, Haaretz West Bank correspondent Hagar Shezaf breaks down Defense Minister Benny Gantz's recent designation of six Palestinian human rights groups as terror organizations. Why did it happen, what are the reactions from Israel's friends abroad, and how could it impact civil society in the Palestinian territories? Listen to the full conversation with host Amir Tibon.

Want to get an email every time a new episode is available? Click "Follow" on top of this article, or "Register" with one of the podcast providers and you'll never miss out.

View original post here:

LISTEN: 'Biden has only one real option on Iran. Israel will have to live with it' - Haaretz

Category: Israel | Comments Off on LISTEN: ‘Biden has only one real option on Iran. Israel will have to live with it’ – Haaretz
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 2, 2021

In the past few weeks, morbidity in Israel has been constantly decreasing.

As of Monday, the country had 219 serious patients, 7,800 active cases, a positivity rate at 0.68%, a weekly average of 660 new cases per day, around 8-12 daily deaths. In other words, numbers very similar to the ones recorded between the last few days of March and the beginning of April.

At the time, Israel was leaving the third wave and many thought also the coronavirus at large behind.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

As the country is leaving the fourth wave behind, one cannot help but wonder if this time the stability will last or on the contrary, the respite will prove once again to be just temporary until what Prime Minister Bennett has sometimes called the Omega scenario hits.

Nobody knows for sure what will happen and I think we need to be very humble, said Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, an epidemiologist and the director of Ben-Gurion University of the Negevs School of Public Health. At the same time, I think there are good chances that this situation is going to last longer, in spite of some challenges.

The first reason suggested by Davidovitch is related to the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine booster.

While we still have to properly check it, it does appear that the booster gives a higher protection against the virus compared to the first two shots, at least based on the first tests conducted in the laboratory, he said. This will probably ensure a longer immunity.

Health authorities and experts agree that one of the crucial factors that allowed such a serious new wave was how the immunity offered by inoculation which Israel conducted earlier and more rapidly than any other country in the world dramatically dropped a few months after the second dose.

As a high number of Israelis went on and received their booster so far some 3.9 million individuals have gotten it - morbidity dropped again.

The hope is that with the third vaccine immunity wont wane again as rapidly, keeping the virus at bay much longer.

I believe that the vaccine should have been administered in three doses since the beginning, said Prof. Dror Mevorach, a senior physician from Hadassah-University Medical Center. In my opinion, this was necessary to establish a good immune memory.

For this reason, Mevorach agreed that while there cannot be any certainty, Israel has a good chance to avoid another wave.

Both experts suggested that vaccine efficacy is only one aspect of the countrys strategy to prevent a new surge in morbidity.

Last time, some restrictions like indoor masks, were dropped too quickly, said Mevorach.

I think we are much better prepared now and we have better infrastructures in place, Davidovitch noted. We are carrying out more genetic sequencing, more contact tracing and, as long as the numbers are low, we should focus on these aspects, which are manageable in a situation with some hundreds of new cases per day, not when they go up to thousands and thousands.

At the same time, he stressed that it is going to be important to take advantage of the low morbidity to strengthen the health system in Israel and the global cooperation in the field of health to face what the future might bring.

When, in May, the US Food and Drug Administration granted authorization to vaccinate children ages 12-15, Israel took a few weeks before green-lighting the inoculation and then only recommended jabs for individuals with high risk factors or who intended to travel abroad.

Asked about whether something similar could happen with the cohort 5-11 a discussion of the Health Ministrys advisory body on the topic is scheduled for Thursday the experts did not appear to be concerned.

We are going to have the discussion, the data seems good, but Im not concerned that we are going to need to push families to vaccinate their children, Davidovitch said. Surveys have suggested that most parents are eager to inoculate and protect their children.

Even if we decided to wait a few weeks so we have more data about how the vaccination campaign goes in the US, I dont think it would be a bad choice, Mevorach noted. But I would definitely not wait for another wave to begin the drive.

The physician stressed that it is going to be important to continue to monitor the airport to prevent new variants from entering the country.

According to Davidovitch, the lack of equality in vaccine distribution around the world, represents one of the worst threats to Israels good situation.

I think that my main concern is that vaccination rates on the global scale is still very low, he said. This is a fertile ground for developing new variants and there is a chance that a new variant will develop which spreads even faster than Delta.

Read the original here:

With COVID, Israel is back to where it was in the spring. Will it last? - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Israel | Comments Off on With COVID, Israel is back to where it was in the spring. Will it last? – The Jerusalem Post
Tags: