Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

ISTANBUL Zebulon Simentov looked tired but relieved as he exited the customs and baggage claim area of Istanbuls new airport on the shores of the Black Sea Sunday morning.

It had been quite a trip from his home in Kabul, where he became a minor celebrity to the international media as the last surviving Jew in Afghanistan. He was a colorful symbol of a community whose history stretches back at least 1,500 years.

Though it was reported in early September that Simentov had finally left the country after the Talibans latest takeover, the details of how and where he had gone remained a closely guarded secret. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that he had been smuggled over land through to Pakistan and spent the past month in an Islamabad safehouse. But, like thousands of other Afghan refugees, he could not stay.

We had to get him out because he did not have any legal status there, said Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, the chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Turkey and director of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, who met him at the Istanbul airport. The Turkish government has been very helpful in giving him a visa and securing his route to freedom.

Simentov has previously expressed his interest in moving to Queens, New York, where he has some family. His two daughters and his ex-wife who he has finally granted a Jewish writ of divorce after two decades of refusals live in Israel.

Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman who bankrolled Simentovs operation, said he is working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, to get Simentov permission to settle in the U.S.

By David Ian Klein

A stiff-necked Jew

Born in Afghanistans Herat province in 1959, Simentov had long refused to leave his homeland, even after he was imprisoned during the Talibans first stint in power in the 1990s.

An eccentric character, he lived in Kabuls last remaining synagogue. For a time, Simentov shared the building with the only other native Jew remaining in the country, Ishaq Levin; they had a famously frosty relationship up until Levins death in 2005.

The Talibans resurgence in August didnt frighten Simentov, he said during the car ride on Sunday. He has said in prior interviews that he was more worried about the groups in conflict with the Taliban, including the terrorists known as ISIS-K.

He even waffled about leaving as the U.S. militarys departure grew imminent. In an interview with Arab News, Simentov had originally declared that he would leave after the High Holidays in September, but when the time came, he refused to board a plane arranged by Kahana and Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, a Satmar philanthropist. The plane was instead used to rescue the Afghan womens soccer team.

Kahana has a history of rescuing Jews and others from danger, including bringing the last Jew of Aleppo out of war-torn Syria in 2015. He had tried and failed to get the Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff out of Syria before Sotloff was murdered in 2014, and worried the same fate might befall Simentov.

I told him, either they will kidnap you to sell you to the Jews, or they will kidnap you to kill you to sell the media attention of killing the Jew, Kahana said in an interview Sunday. So my advice was to get out.

Simentov relented with one condition: rescue his neighbors as well.

And so Kahana arranged transport not just for Simintov, but also for 30 other Afghans, including many children.

Rabbi Chitrik had a condition of his own before agreeing to help bring him to Turkey: Simentov would have to grant his estranged wife the get, or Jewish divorce decree, she had long requested, to free her from the status of an agunah, or chained woman, which prevented her from remarrying under Jewish law.

Simentov agreed after more than 20 years of refusal, and the ceremony was performed over Zoom by the rabbinic court of Sydney, Australia.

The road to Istanbul

On his way to Turkey, Simentov was joined by Archbishop Robert Gosselin of the Continuing Evangelical Episcopal Communion Church.

Gosselin, a Florida native, is a longtime associate of Kahanas and a former United States Marine who has worked on several evacuation operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Gosselin said it was clear Simentov was being hunted during his weeks in hiding.

Where we were, there were groups of Muslim taxi drivers, who had Zebulons description and were searching for him, Gosselin said. We had him hidden, they did not know where he was, but when a Muslim got in the taxi they would ask if they knew where he was, to

Gosselin finished the sentence by sliding his finger across his neck in a throat-slitting motion.

Youve got the Taliban operating all over, youve got ISIS doing the same thing I dont know which group it was, Gosselin continued. They were very clear about their intentions.

By David Ian Klein

Simentov perked up when Rabbi Chitrik invited him to put on tefillin.

From the airport, he was brought to Rabbi Chitriks home, where he enjoyed a plate of kosher cheeses, after weeks of eating mostly vegetables while in the safehouse.

Simentov was excited when Rabbi Chitrik offered him the chance to wrap tefillin and recite the daily prayers. He commented that the leather straps of the tefillin were a little stiff, and suggested they could be softened with chicken fat, and was even more excited to hear that there were several kosher butchers in town where they might get some.

No longer is he the only Jew in the land.

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After a month in hiding, Afghanistans last Jew arrives in Turkey - Forward

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Mammograms were never something Karin Diamond tried to avoid. She got one every year without fail and scheduled her annual wellness appointments to fall six months in between. The way she puts it, somebody was squeezing my breasts every six months.

Karin has large breasts, theyre dense, and her great aunt died of breast cancer fairly young. She has other high-risk markers too: Shes light-skinned, Ashkenazi Jewish, and got her period at age 11. All my life I assumed it was going to happen at some point in the future, she explains.

The future showed up earlier than expected. On Feb. 1, 2018, a routine mammogram returned with an abnormality. I was kind of like, really? Im 50! Dont I get a couple more years? says Karin. But it is what it is, I was not shocked or hysterical or any of those things.

This visit happened to be her first time getting a 3D mammogram, a new type of imaging that captures the breast at all different angles, circulating around the breast tissue to create a full 3D image. The traditional 2D mammogram produces only two images: side-to-side and top-to-bottom.Several studieshave found that 3D mammograms find more cancers than traditional 2D and reduce the number of false positives.

Just 20 minutes after Karin left the office, her phone rang. They told me to come back. I went right in that same day, and they did a bunch more tests: ultrasound, mammograms, the whole works, says Karin. After that, things moved at a very quick pace.

A tumor, no bigger than 2 cm, had formed in her right breaststage 1breast cancer. Catching the cancer early had immense benefits. Karin had options at her disposal. She quickly scheduled an appointment withRoshni Rao, MD, chief of breast surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian, and, at the advice of her long-time gynecologist, made an appointment for a second opinion outside of Columbia as well.

First of all, we were super-duper impressed with Dr. Rao. She drew pictures, she explained things, says Karin. She told us what all the different options were:lumpectomy, fullmastectomy, she talked aboutintraoperative radiationversus standard radiation.

Radiation lowers the risk of breast cancer recurrence, but intraoperative radiation (often abbreviated as IORT) is a relatively new method. With IORT, targeted radiation is given during surgery in a single dose directly to the area where the cancer used to be. Traditional methods use cycles of radiation therapy after surgery to beam all or part of the breast.

When we went to see the other doctor, she didnt offer intraoperative radiation. That is not something they have, and this was at a huge institution, says Karin. She only talked about lumpectomy versus full breast removal and radiation. She didnt think I needed chemo but didnt rule it out.

The tumor was tiny, which meant Rao thought Karin was a great candidate for intraoperative radiation therapy. It left open the option for full-breast standard radiation in the future. My husband and I both agreed: We were going to go with Dr. Rao for so many reasons. Number one was intraoperative radiation; it was really important to me to try and save my breast if I could. Number two, just the whole picture that she drew, the explanations that she gave, says Karin. We scheduled the surgery for the third week of March.

The surgery went well, and the cancer hadnt spread to the lymph nodes. I was very, very happy. I have a slightly bigger scar because the flesh was cooked, so to speak, but the scar is not even visible anymore, says Karin. That was it. They told me to be back in six months for my mammogram. I went away on vacation 10 days afterward.

Six months later and the mammogram revealed ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, on the opposite side of the same breast. DCIS is the presence of abnormal cells inside a milk duct, considered the earliest form of breast cancer. How that happened since it had only been six months, and I had started Tamoxifen, who knows, but it was tiny, tiny, says Karin.

Physicians frequently prescribe chemotherapy medications to treat or prevent cancer after successful surgery. Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that works by attaching to estrogen receptors in the breast so the hormone cannot bind to them. One pill every day for five years reduces ones breast cancer risk by 50%.

If this were Karins first cancer, Rao explained, they would not have needed to do radiation at all. They would have gone in, removed the tiny little DCIS and been done with it, says Karin. But second cancer, same breast, six months apart? I had to have whole breast radiation.

Karin felt no reaction to the radiation until the day after her last session. Suddenly, it looked like on one breast I had been lying in the sun for months, and the other was normal color. Then it faded, and the skin sloughed off, says Karin. And I was like, oh, thats what they meant!

Roshni Rao knows how to build trust and makes it her priorityto help her patients decide what makes sense for them. Read more.

Since then, Karin has been cancer-free.

For me, intraoperative was really the right choice, because I didnt know that six months later I would be going through this again, says Karin. If I had gone with a different doctor and had full breast radiation, I think I would have had no choice. Six months later, they would have said Even though it's only DCIS, youre going to need a full mastectomy.

For now, Karin is taking it one mammogram at a time and enjoying life with her husband and three kids. When friends ask her about her experience, her most significant point of advice is always this: "Find a hospital that offers intraoperative radiation.

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After Breast Cancer Twice in One Year, Early Detection and New Radiation Therapy Made All the Difference - Columbia University Irving Medical Center

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's important visit to Israel, a top Israeli Foreign Ministry official on Friday said that India is a strategic partner and a very close friend as he extended warm greetings to the people on Dussehra.

Ambassador Alon Ushpiz, the Director General of Israel's foreign ministry, took to Twitter to wish the people of India on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami or Dussehra which marks the triumph of good over evil.

In the tweet, he announced that Jaishankar would travel to the Jewish state. It is understood that Jaishankar is expected to visit Israel from October 17.

Shubho Bijoya/Happy Dussehra to all of you, on the eve of @DrSJaishankar's important visit to Israel. India is a strategic partner and a very close friend, Ushpiz said in a tweet. During his visit, Jaishankar would meet the country's top leaders, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with his Israeli counterpart Bennett with the two leaders agreeing on the potential to further expand cooperation and deciding that the foreign ministries of the two countries would work on preparing a roadmap for further enriching the India-Israel strategic partnership.

During their telephonic conversation, Modi reiterated his congratulations to Bennett for assuming office as the Israeli Prime Minister in June.

Prime Minister Modi emphasised that India greatly values its robust cooperation with Israel in areas like agriculture, water, defence and security, and cyber-security.

Recalling that next year would mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel, Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to Bennett to visit India.

India is the largest buyer of Israel's military hardware and the latter has been supplying various weapon systems, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles over the last few years but the transactions have largely remained behind the curtains.

(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)

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Ambassador Alon Ushpiz extends greeting to India on Dussehra ahead of EAM Jaishankars visit to Israel - Free Press Journal

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Data recently released by Israel's immigration minister and the Jewish Agency show that Jewish immigration to Israel increased by 31 per cent in 2021. The data shows an increase of 41 per cent in immigration from the US, compared with the first nine months of 2020, as well as a 55 per cent increase from France.

The considerable increase of Jewish immigrants from the US and France to Israel surely did not happen accidentally, but is due to pre-planned schemes for Jewish immigration policy run by the Zionist state in cooperation with the different international Jewish organisations.

Jewish immigration has fuelled the Zionist project in Palestine forcing Palestinians out of their homes and replacing them with Jewish immigrants to create the Jewish State of Israel. However, this project, founded on oppressive pillars, has been plagued with filthy determinants that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently disclosed.

"From its founding to the present day, Jewish immigration shaped the face of Israeli society and created a unique mosaic unlike anywhere else in the world," Bennett proclaimed in a conference last week marking Immigration and Absorption Week. "Our goal is to bring 500,000 Jewish immigrants from the strong communities in the US, South America and France," he affirmed.

While Bennett claimed that the reason for this goal was the increasing "racism and anti-Semitism" against Jews around the world, many other Jewish observers believe that this was only a guise. "Racism and anti-Semitism run rampant across the globe," he claimed, "this reminds us that Israel is the home of all Jews."

READ: Why Israeli fascists are more honest than liberal Zionists

Speaking to me, Israeli writer and journalist Yossi Melman, who was an intelligence and strategic affairs correspondent for Haaretz, said that Bennett "is keeping his promises" when he encourages Jewish immigration to Israel. Meanwhile, the famous Israeli journalist Gideon Levy told me that Bennett encourages Jewish immigration "to balance the natural Palestinian growth."

Surely, this is one of the filthiest goals of Jewish immigration to the occupation State of Israel, for several reasons. The first, is that Israeli authorities and Jewish agencies are working to make the Jewish population in Israel outnumber the Arab population in order to maintain a Jewish majority. Therefore, Arabs will continue to be subjugated to a Jewish agenda, which is always against their own interests, despite being the real owners of the land.

To do this, the Israeli authorities also adopt a discriminatory policy regarding the expansion of the Arab population, including restrictions on building new homes, dealing with Arabs as second-class citizens, easing the daily living conditions for Jews, while making everything difficult for Arabs, pushing them out of their villages and neighbourhoods to build Jewish communities.

The new Jewish immigrants are being resettled in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as in the occupied Syrian territories of the Golan Heights. Just several days ago, Bennett announced a major plan to develop the Jewish settlements in the occupied Golan Heights and said his government is planning to settle 250,000 Jewish settlers there.

Adding to this, Liran Friedmann, a Jewish journalist who writes for Ynet News, stated that Bennett's plan to encourage 500,000 Jewish immigrants to Israel from the US, South American and France is a form of discrimination against the Jewish people in Eastern Europe whose immigrants have, according to him, contributed to the prosperity of Israel.

Referring to Bennett's call for Jews from the US, South American and France to immigrate to Israel, Friedmann expressed: "This is not a plea for these Jews to come along for the ride, but more of a cry for help to save the country from the 'onslaught' of Aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) from Eastern Europe."

READ: Israel stops hundreds of Jews from moving to Iran as asylum seekers

Bennett, according to Friedmann, believes that only Jewish immigrants from the US, South America and France are genuinely and legitimately Jewish. He remarked that Bennett clearly explained this when he said: "Immigration not only strengthens us as a country, but it also maintains our continued existence as Jews in the face of increasing assimilation, especially in the United States. This is a trend that should worry each and every one of us, regardless of one's religious affiliation or another."

For Friedmann: "Israel, despite claiming to be the home of all Jews, still continues its racist and segregationist mentality towards the Diaspora from Eastern Europe. Those 20,000 people who immigrate to Israel from Eastern Europe every year are lucky if the state even gives them the courtesy to call themselves Jews."

Jewish journalist Oren Ziv reiterated this to me directly: "There is a lot of racism against Jewish immigrants from East Europe and many countries like Ethiopia and India. They are of different groups. These people can immigrate to Israel and get Israeli passports, but they still face a lot of social problems and racism. The Jewish immigration system to Israel is racist as it prefers white Ashkenazi immigrants over others."

Explaining more about Israeli racism and its relation to the Jewish immigration mentioned by Bennett, Friedman elaborated: "It is hard to be proud of so many immigrants from Moscow, Tashkent or Minsk, who have done so much for the state but aren't as cool and hip as their Jewish peers from Paris or New York."

Another issue, according to Ziv, is that wealth and poverty play a major role in the subject of Jewish immigration to Israel: "Jewish immigrants from the US, South American and France are wealthier than those from Eastern Europe and Ethiopia, who are poor."

The idea of the Zionist occupation of Palestine, which is mainly based on the claimed teachings of Judaism, is built on the basis of oppression and racism, not only against Palestinians who are the owners of the land, but also against Jews who are being used as the fuel for this oppressive Zionist project.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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Oppression and racism: The main determinants of Jewish immigration - Middle East Monitor

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Asher Kaufmann propsed in 2004 that the Jewish Temples were located North of the Dome of the Rock --with the Muslim Dome of the Spirits the probable location of the Holy of Holies.Asher was the first scholar to seriousy challenge tradition!

This view, our Location A, was recently revived by an American Evangelical, Christian Widener,and is described on our page discussing the coming Third and Fourth Temples.

The Dome of the Rock, our Location B, is the traditional establishment opinion concerning the location of te First and Second Temples. The authors of this web site respectfully disagree. Time will soon tell!

The Mystery of the Golden Goblet and the Dome of the Rock (10/15/04)

The Hidden Secrets of the Temple Mount

Temples on Mount Moriah

Penetrating Insights into the Temple Mount (Radar and Infra-red Studies

Looking North from El Kas Fountain, Tuvia Sagiv's Proposed Southern Temple Site

Full Report: PDF Version 2020 edition | 2018 edition

Maps

Jerusalem as the Center of the World (fish eye lens)

Jerusalem in 19th Century Art (J. E. Lancaster, Ph.D.)

Map of Jerusalem in Roman Times

Ancient Maps of Jerusalem

Early Maps and Models of Jerusalem

Third Temple School Trains Jewish Priests for Service

Who Owns Jerusalem?

Land Owned By Famous Jews

Where is the Temple?, by Tuvia Sagiv, 9/3/00

Solomon's Stables and the Southern Gates by Tuvia Sagiv

The Mystery of the Red Heifer (Chaim Richman)

Allah and the Temple Mount

The Religion of Islam (Saudi Arabia source)

A Summary of Islamic Beliefs and Eschatology

Islam and Eschatology, compiled by a Muslim Medical Doctor

The Qur'an and the Land of Israel, by Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi

The Noble Sanctuary (Islamic Resource)

Christian Answers to Islam

Preparations for a Third Jewish Temple

Israel's Future Third and Fourth Temples

Ezekiel's Temple

The Lost Ark of the Covenant, by David Shyovitz

Notes on the Rabbinical Tunnel by Abraham Rabinovich

Geophysical Methods Useful in Archaeology

Geophysics and the Temple Mount

Relevant Biblical Prophecy Studies by Ray C. Stedman

Stanley Goldfoot: A Tribute to Stanley Goldfoot: A Jewish Hero

Jeremiah 7: The Temple Sermon

The Wife of Yahweh and the Bride of Christ

God's Land, God's People

Israel's Birth Pangs

Listen to the 1993 Temple Mount Conference Lectures by Dr. Asher Kaufman, Dr. Dan Bahat, Tuvia Sagiv, Rabbi Chaim Richman, Gershon Salomon, and others. 1995

Temple Mount Conference Lectures by Dr. Chuck Missler are here.

Temple Mount Videos page

The Western WallTuvia Sagiv's "Southern Location," lies due East of this Wall

The Ark of the CovenantSome authorities believe the Ark is located under the Temple Mount.

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem

The Temple Mount Sifting Project

Jerusalem Lights: Rabbi Chaim RichmanTemple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement (Gershon Salomon)

Why is the Third Temple so Important? (Messianic Bible)

Temple Mount on Wikipedia

The Re-established Jewish Sanhedrin

The Tribe: The Cohen-Levi Family Heritage Website

Whose Inheritance Is the Holy Land?

The al-Haram al-Sharif Temple Mount Guide, 1924

The Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (David Ben-Ariel)

People for a Bill to Build the Beit HaMikdash

God's Holy Mountain

Locating Solomon's Temple

Jerusalem Archaeological Park (Virtual Temple Mount)

Ritmeyer Archaeological Design

Bible Places: The Temple Mount

The Hope: The Academy of Jerusalem

World of the Bible Ministries with Dr. Randall Price

Moshiach.com

The Third Temple for All Mankind by Moses V. Komsky, ArchitectThe Western Wall Tunnels (videos) Biblical Archaeology - Daily Life in Ancient Israel

Are the Temples Anthropic?

The Ark of the Covenant: A Historical Perspective, by Dr. Gerald N. Shapiro

The 400 Years Between the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures by Ray Stedman

The Works of Flavius Josephus

The Temple--Its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Christ, by Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889)

What is Beneath the Temple Mount? The Third TempleA Virtual Simulation (Google English Translation) (Original Hebrew Website)

Legends, Historical Stories, and Notes

Why is the Third Temple so Important? (Messianic Bible)

"Google Translate" this website into Hebrew here.

Preface and Background of this web site

Recent Developments in the News (1996 - 2021)

Site History Notes

Comments and Suggestions are welcome

This web site was developed by Jim Milligan, Lambert Dolphin, and Michael Kollen in April 1996. Updated on June 17, 2013, May 26, 2018, August 15, 2018, October 31, 2018. September 22, 2019. November 22, 2019. September 30, 2020. July 19, 2021

Hosted by Blue Letter Bible

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The Temple Mount in Jerusalem

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

A woman accused of attempting to set a New York City Jewish school on fire was arrested and charged on Sunday with reckless endangerment, a hate crime and attempted arson.

The New York City Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force said on Twitter that Sharee Jones, a 39-year-old woman from Brooklyn, was arrested in connectionwith the case.

UPDATE: HCTF Detectives, assisted by Manhattan/Queens Warrants, apprehended this individual.

Arrested:Jones, Sharee39 year old femaleBrooklyn, NY

Charges: Reckless Endangerment/Hate CrimeAttempted Arson@NYPDShea @NYPDDetectives @NYPDSHOMRIMSOCI @ADL_NYNJ @NYPD70Pct https://t.co/B31L3rKmc6

According to police, an unidentified female was seen in front of the Yeshiva of Flatbush on Thursday evening pouring gasoline in front of the building then setting it on fire.

Photos posted by the task force showed a womanholding a red gasoline container near thefencein front of the building.

No one was injured in the incident, according to the task force.

On 10/14/21, at approx 7:27 PM, in front of 1609 Avenue J (Yeshiva of Flatbush), an unidentified female poured gasoline in front of the Yeshiva and lit it on fire. No one was injured. If you have any information, DM @NYPDTips or 1-800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/kIRAInp9Z7

New York City Mayor Bill de BlasioBill de BlasioEMILY's List announces early endorsement of Hochul More than 200 women, transgender inmates to be transferred from Rikers Island Achieving equity through mediocrity: Why elimination of gifted programs should worry us all MORE (D) condemned the attack on Friday, writing, An attack on one of our yeshivas is an attack on all New Yorkers.

We WILL bring this person to justice, de Blasio added.

An attack on one of our yeshivas is an attack on all New Yorkers, and we WILL bring this person to justice.

If you have any information on who perpetrated this vile act against our Jewish brothers and sisters, please contact the NYPD. https://t.co/fpPBhDXZhP

New York Gov. Kathy HochulKathy HochulThe Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Altria - Jan. 6 panel flexes its muscle EMILY's List announces early endorsement of Hochul More than 200 women, transgender inmates to be transferred from Rikers Island MORE (D) denounced theincident in a tweet, These cowardly acts of hate have no home here.

Last night, an unidentified individual poured gasoline in front of the Yeshiva of Flatbush & ignited it. Thankfully, there were no injuries.@nyspolice Hate Crimes Task Force is ready to assist as necessary in the investigation. These cowardly acts of hate have no home here.

The incident at the Yeshiva of Flatbush came during a year thatsaw a startling rise in antisemitic attacks in the U.S.

The Anti-Defamation League revealed in May that reports of antisemitic incidents had increased by 63 percent since the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out in the Gaza Strip earlier that month.

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Woman accused of trying to set fire at Jewish school arrested in New York City | TheHill - The Hill

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

A prominent left-wing activist was criticized by a top American Jewish organization on Sunday for claiming on social media that the Holocaust is only considered important because its victims were Europeans.

Shaun King, an outspoken supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Black Lives Matter movement, posted on Instagram, The only reason why people celebrate Christopher Columbus Day and never Adolf Hitler Day is because Columbus massacred non-europeans [sic].

In response, the American Jewish Committee tweeted, Shaun Kings comment is both deeply offensive and blatantly false, fueled by the age-old antisemitic trope of Jewish privilege.

Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis specifically because they were NOT considered white European, said the AJC.

The group asserted, King should apologize.

In 2019, King drew criticism for telling a groupof Sanders supporters that the senator had always spoken out for unpopular causes, and then saying, Even today, he speaks out against apartheid-like conditions in Palestine even though its not popular.

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Left-Wing Activist Slammed by Jewish Org for Claiming Attention Is Only Paid to the Holocaust Because Victims Were European - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

By Ben Sales

When a school administrator in Texas was caught on tape saying that a new lawforces teachers to offer an opposing view on the Holocaust, the raft of state laws aiming to prohibit the teaching of critical race theory took on a new light.

For Jews who support education about systemic racism, and oppose laws restricting such education, the Texas incident proves their point. Just like there is no historical debate about the historicity of the Holocaust, there are also no both sides to American chattel slavery, to systemic racism, to lynchings and land theft and Indigenous genocide,tweetedRabbi Danya Ruttenberg, a prominent liberal Jewish voice.

Remember, people, that the suggestion to teach both sides of the Holocaust has come up because there is a law in Texas that is there to censor teaching on antiracism, wrote Ruttenberg, the scholar in residence at the National Council of Jewish Women. This is about white supremacy, yes, and/but at its root its about antiblackness.

But some of the loudest American Jewish voices opposing critical race theory or the associated idea of wokeness say the incident in Texas has not led them to reconsider their stance. They say the Texas administrators message represents a distortion of the values they want to see in schools.

The Holocaust, like the history of slavery in the US, is not an idea or an opinion, David Bernstein, the founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values and an opponent of education focused on critical race theory, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Its a historical fact. One can support the free expression of ideas and still recognize that there are people pedaling hateful and stupid claims that must be debunked.

Critical race theory is a concept in legal studies that says racism is baked into the laws and institutions of American society. Lately, conservative activists have seized on the idea that public school students are being taught history through a lens of critical race theory. Some states, like Texas, have passed laws that ban teaching the concepts underlying the theory.

Texas lawstates that when teachers teach widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs, they need to do so from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective. Recently, the board of the Texas school district where the administrator works reprimanded a fourth-grade teacher for including a book about anti-racism in her classroom library, according toNBC News,which first reported the Holocaust comments.

Texas law is aimed at countering the idea that an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex. But the administrator in the tape suggested that its focus on balance applies to teaching historical events like the Holocaust.

Bernsteins relatively new organization, the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, published aletterthis year articulating a Jewish opposition to efforts to teach critical race theory in schools. The way to fight racism isnt to cease discussion and debate. To do so is antithetical to American ideals and antithetical to Judaism, the letter says. The way to fight racism is to insist on our common humanityand to engage in dialogue, including with those who dissent.

Some signatories of the letter said they oppose the Texas legislation, and distinguish between teaching historical events and teaching any one interpretation of the effects of those events.

The dispute about the interpretation of events is completely legitimate, but the dispute about the existence of events is either dangerous or stupid or both, said Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. You can, for example, argue endlessly about the effects and causes of slavery but to argue that slavery didnt happen is idiotic, or pernicious, and the same thing is true with the Holocaust.

Bernstein said he isnt opposed to teaching about systemic racism amid a wider discussion of race in America but he is opposed to teachers exclusively saying that systemic racism is to blame for current racial disparities. He doesnt think that stance inevitably leads to statewide bans like the one in Texas.

Just because there are people trying to ban any discussion of CRT, which as I said I strongly disagree with, doesnt mean that anyone who raises concerns about the ideological indoctrination of kids agrees with it, he said. Just because there are edge cases and gray areas doesnt mean we should shut down the free expression of ideas.

Russel Neiss, a Jewish educator whocautioned in an op-ed this yearin the St. Louis Jewish newspaper that anti-critical race theory laws could have blowback on Holocaust education, said that people distinguishing between teaching historical events and their causes and effects dont understand how Holocaust education generally occurs.

The way that Holocaust education is taught in America is, it talks about systems of oppression, it talks about dehumanization, Neiss told JTA. I dont even know what it means to just teach facts. Facts dont mean anything unless theyre contextualized in historical context, unless theyre contextualized in a way of understanding that particular era.

He added, When you begin to ban all these approaches to understanding history, you are banning the way we teach Holocaust education in America today.

Neiss worries that Jews who advocate against critical race theory could end up aiding a movement that will undermine Holocaust education.

We have folks with a particular political agenda who are using scare tactics to try to advance their political agenda, and it will come back to bite them in the ass as it has here, he said.

Holocaust educators are also speaking out about what the Texas incident could portend. The Holocaust and Humanity Center in Cincinnati said in a statement that it was deeply concerned about reports of the administrators remarks.

With hate crimes in the United States soaring to record highs, it is imperative that teachers are encouraged to devote instructional time to teaching the Holocaust, a seminal event in human history, freely, thestatementsaid, adding that teachers may feel inhibited from providing necessary historical context and discussing the practices and ideologies that contributed to the Holocaust, such as stereotyping and antisemitism.

Bethany Mandel, another signatory of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values letter, says she doubts Holocaust education in Texas will be hindered. She said she felt that the administrator in the recording sounded like she opposed the restrictions the administrator tells the teachers, I think you are terrified, and I wish I could take that away and that the teachers appeared to find her remark on the Holocaust ridiculous.

Mandel, who homeschools her own children, said she opposes the Texas law because she believes states should strive not to dictate what teachers teach. She feels that the Texas law mirrors the recently passed California legislation, favored by liberals, requiring that schools teach ethnic studies. Thefight over ethnic studieshas divided Jews in the state and has animated opponents of critical race theory, who argue that the states sample curriculum exemplifies what theyre fighting against.

I dont think that government should come in from on high and have these diktats in the classroom, both with ethnic studies and with the Texas law, Mandel said. It really hampers teachers ability to recognize what their kids need and how to best serve those needs.

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Jewish Skeptics of Critical Race Theory Say Holocaust Education Law No Deterrent - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier marked the 80th anniversary of Germany's first deportations of Jews to Nazi death camps in occupied Poland on Monday. Steinmeier joined Berlin Mayor Michael Mller at the Track 17 Memorial at Berlin's Grunewald Train Station to mark the occasion.

The first so-called"East Transport" left Berlin on October 18, 1941 with 1,089 Jewish men, women and children on board. Their final destination wasthe Lodz ghetto in Poland.

Steinmeier acknowledged the historical burden of past crimes: "We Germans still bear the guilt that perpetrators, their assistants and those who aided the organized murder of European Jews brought upon themselves," he said."We still feel shame over the fact that fellow citizens were taken from the heart of society, cheated, deprived of their rights, dispossessed and ultimately sent on a journey to their deaths."

Speaking of the "unfathomable, gruesome events" that took place at the time, the president pointed out that the most unsettling aspect of them was the fact that they took place in plain sight."The crimes were committed for all to see, separation and deportation happened at the heart of German everyday life, that is the horrible truth," he said.

He warned that "antisemitism can never again have a place in our society," yet bemoaned that it apparently does, noting that Jews in Germany today are "repeatedly subjected to ever-harsher antisemitic hate speech and antisemitic attacks."

He encouraged all who see such crimes to take a stand against them: "Never again can antisemitic thought and action go publicly unchecked." Steinmeier said that"many went along," with the crimes of the past, adding "many abetted those crimes and many profited from them."

The German president also underscored Judaism's influence on German culture, saying that"Jewish culture is not only a part of German culture, it fundamentally influenced and enriched it."

Mayor Mller used the Monday event as an opportunity to call for keeping the memory of the Holocaust and the crimes of Germany's Nazi past alive in order to protect democracy from the rising threat of right-wing extremism today.

"Freedom, tolerance and democracy are not givens, but rather must be defended," Mller said.

The Track 17 Memorial at Berlin's Grunewald Train Station was dedicated by German rail operator Deutsche Bahnin 1998 as a reminder of the role the former Deutsche Reichsbahn played in initiating deportation transports of European Jews to ghettos, labor and death camps from 1941-1945.

By spring 1942, some 10,000 German Jews had been deported from Grunewald;most were eventually murdered. In all, an estimated 50,000 Berlin Jews were deported 30,000 from the Moabit industrial rail yard and another 10,000 from the Anhalt Station.

Ultimately, roughly 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Currently, two individuals a 100-year-old former concentration camp guard, and a 96-year-old former concentration camp secretary are on trial in Germany for complicity in the murder of tens ofthousands of Jews.

Like other countries around the globe, Germany has seen a shocking rise in the number of antisemitic crimes registered in recent years, the most violent of which was the unsuccessful October 9, 2019, armed attacked on a synagogue in Halle, in which two people were killed and two more injured.

The number of antisemitic hate crimes in Germany has been steadily growing from 1,799 recorded in 2018, to 2,032 in 2019, and at least2,275 in 2020.

js/wd (dpa, EPD)

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Germany marks 80th anniversary of first Jewish deportations - DW (English)

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Its still hard to believe that with all the breweries in America, there has been only one Jewish beer company in America. And now there are none.

Shmaltz Brewing Co. has announced its farewell season after 25 years in the beer business with the first and final release of Bittersweet Lennys RIPA in 16-oz cans, vintage gems from the Shmaltz beer vault, and a fitting tribute, Exodus 2021 Barleywine Ale (8.8 percent ABV) brewed with date, fig, pomegranate and grape. Evolving from a quirky holiday experiment to an innovative advocate for the beer industry, Shmaltz has been known for its creative brand building, as a champion of contract brewing (both brewer and brewee), for completing multiple complex business deals and as relentless punsters.

Founder and Owner Jeremy Cowan quipped: Was it Mark Twain or Groucho Marx who said, You cant start a new chapter without putting a period on the last one. Otherwise its just a typo.

Shmaltz Brewing got started in 1996 by hand-delivering 100 cases of its beloved HEBREW The Chosen Beer out of Cowans grandmothers Volvo. At the time there were just 700 small independent craft breweries representing 2 percent of the beer market. Along with other Class of 96 breweries (Stone, Firestone Walker, Victory, Three Floyds, Two Brothers, Original Sin, Iron Hill, Coronado and many others) Shmaltz put roots down for an industry that has since created and sustained a transformative movement, growing to nearly 10,000 craft brewers and over 20 percent of the overall beer market by revenue. Shmaltz stood out as one of the most idiosyncratic brands of its day. One that cooked along for an initial 10 years and in the mid-2000s became a pop-cultural phenomenon with a dedicated global cult following.

From the early years of self-distributing to growing to four then 45 wholesalers nationally, Shmaltz served as an unusual example and vocal advocate for contract brewing before opening its own 50-bbl, 40,000-sq-ft production brewery in Upstate New York. Shmaltz expanded production volumes by 400 percent to over 30,000 bbls by then contracting for other renowned national and regional beer brands in addition to brewing their award-winning Shmaltz portfolio.

Shmaltz was ranked one of the Top 100 Brewers in the World by RateBeer.com (2013); a recipient of the Distinguished Business Award by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; included in the Top 50 Fastest Growing Bay Area Companies by San Francisco Business Times; and given the Achievers Award by the Albany Business Review. The brewery amassed more than 50 medals at the leading craft beer festivals, including the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Championships, US Beer Tasting Championships, and others.

Proudly participating across the spectrum of the Jewish community with non-profits, arts groups, and service organizations, HEBREW Beer made it to the White House for Jewish Heritage Night and served during multiple presidencies (Bush, Clinton, Obama), as well as multiple eras of New York City Mayors. A bottle remains in the permanent collection at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco), and Cowans book Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing, and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing an International Success is now an offering at the Jewish Center for the Blind. Cowans national book tour hit influential indie book stores such as The Strand (NYC) and Keplers Books (Palo Alto, CA) as well as events at Craft Brewers Conference, BrewBound Talks, SF Beer Week, NYC Beer Week, and a plethora of beer bars nationally.

Shmaltz operated the Worlds Smallest Commercial Brewery in Coney Island, Brooklyn, which spearheaded the creation of Coney Island Craft Lagers (sold to Alchemy & Science, a division of Boston Beer Company). HEBREW Beer further found its way into fanatical TV shows and motion pictures such as Friends, Garden State, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, CNN Headline News, The Today Show, and many others. It secured the only license from CBS Consumer Products to brew two critically acclaimed Star Trek Golden Anniversary Ales to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the iconic franchise, Star Trek. Shmaltz later released a Collectors Edition beer commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Cowan and his team were also invited to brew George Washingtons Small Beer recipe in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the New York Public Library.

From comedy and music events with the likes of Sarah Silverman, Lewis Black, Judy Gold, and Matisyahu, to epic holiday parties Chanukah vs. Christmas: The Battle Royale of Beers, Shmaltz Brewing always served up the perfect punchlines (Dont Pass Out, Pass Over). However, when it came to brewing world-class beer, quality and innovation was no joke. Inspired by Jewish tradition or mystical connections between Moses and Mel Brooks, Cowan and his brewing teams designed unique and compelling experiments over 150 beers across 4 brand lines often with high ABVs, hybrid styles, and barrel aged blending that could stand arm-in-arm with the best of the best.

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Crying in my beer. The only Jewish beer company in America' is closing - St. Louis Jewish Light

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