Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

Sally Rooney,

I understand from the recent publicity thatyou are engagedin a boycott of Israel. Lets be frank, the manner in which the story originally came out was a bit of a mess wasnt it because it painted you as someone who was boycotting Hebrew, rather than just Israel. Following this initial negative publicity, I am certain that the key players of the boycott movement circled around to protect you and helped compile the carefully worded but ultimately disingenuous statement that tried to undo some of the damage. The BDS camp have these public cultural boycott announcements down to a fine art (pardon the pun).

In reality of course you are still boycotting Hebrew speakers, because your statement creates an environment in which no publisher would find it viable to translate the book if they cannot freely sell to Israelis in Israel. However you may try to word it, this really isnt a good look.

But I am not here to point out the absurdities of your public announcement, but rather to question your wider support for the BDS movement. It always astonishes me when people who I do not believe are inherently antisemitic, align with something that is so clearly rooted in anti-Jewish sentiment.

Have you ever read a proper history book? Unfortunately for those suggesting Israel is a colonial enterprise, Israel was not born because the British empire created it far from it. From the mid 1920s, Zionisms key fight was actually against the British Empire which sought to extinguish the Jewish project the international community had given it the Mandate to oversee. By the late 1930s Zionism was almost in open war against Britain and with a short break so everyone could fight the Nazis together the Zionists carried on fighting the British from 1945 onwards. It was the Jews fighting the British for their rights and independence which is why back in those days, there was actually Irish Republican support for Zionism.

And have you ever lookedclosely at a mapof the MENA region? Because the second Imperial force that stood against the rebirth of the Jewish nation was the remnants of the Islamic empire. It had fallen apart following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and was busy trying to work out how to put itself back together again. The Arabs that you today call Palestinians, saw themselves as an indistinguishable part of this Arab empire. An area the Arabs had controlled and an empire they built through violent conquest.

What has turned it on its head what makes people in the west see Israel as the power-base and the Arabs as the tiny minority group standing helpless before the mighty Zionist onslaught is raw, unfiltered antisemitism. Only an antisemite can read the history, look at a map of the middle east see Jewish power and think that Israel is the problem that needs to be dealt with.

There is no rational, logical support for what BDS puts forward as its case. In turn, the arguments put forward by you and your friends as the reasons behind your support for BDS are beyond stupid, and easily exposed. Take this hypothetical scenario:

Seventy years ago, suppose that Ireland took in 50,000 refugees from country x. For political purposes Ireland decided to let them rot. It created camps for them to stagnate in. Rather than give them citizenship it denied them their rights developed an Apartheid system around them refusing them the ability to move or work freely. They were not allowed to buy property in Ireland either. They were locked in their camps.

And so it continued. Rather than sort out the mess it had developed within, what if Ireland let this horrific situation continue to grow. Then the refugees had children and then their children had children all the while being forced to stay in their little refugee boxes. Let us imagine that today that these refugees in Ireland were still in their camps, now numbering about 200,000, having suffered 70 years of Irish apartheid, racism and persecution.

Would anyone in their right mind point the finger at country x and blame them for this? Ireland created the Apartheid, Ireland was guilty of racism, Ireland committed this crime against refugees who should have been absorbed as citizens over 70 years ago. What on earth has country x got to do with it?

This was actually the fate of Arabs who fled the civil and regional conflicts that were started by Arab Imperialists who sought to exterminate the Jews. The Arabs wanted the war, they started it, and luckily for the Jews they lost it too. The end result of the conflict included a refugee problem. If you check out the third goal of that BDS movement that you are so fond of believing in you will see that in a truly perverse twist of truth, BDS blame Israel rather than the Arab nations who are responsible for the continued plight of these people. The refugees ended up in places like Lebanon where their human rights have been deliberately and severely abused for over 70 years. Yet BDS is telling you to boycott Israel for this. It is as transparent as the tropic water of the Red Sea.

BDS is about destroying Israel the only Jewish state in the world and the only democracy in the entire MENA region. And you support it. Yet as the slave trade flourishes in some Arab nations, democracy is non-existent and human rights are unheard of you do not take an issue with translations into Arabic. Nor do you have a problem with Chinese with China a Titan of human rights abuses. Nor Russian, or any of the languages of the worlds real human rights abusers.

But it isnt just about brazen hypocrisy. Last week I publisheda devastating reporton antisemitism in Ireland. Those people you seem to feel comfortable surrounding yourself with are neck deep in anti-Jewish hatred. You side with those that believe the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are real, push Holocaust denial, rabid anti-Jewish conspiracy and wish for a violent end to Jews and Zionism. Not all of them sure, but how many antisemites do you have to stand alongside before you feel uncomfortable?

Because BDS plays on peoples antisemitism. The BDS National Committee is fully aware that they can make up any old story about Jews and Zionism and there are enough antisemites to drive their twisted demonising narrative into the mainstream. Once in the mainstream it find support from the naive virtue signallers. People it seems, such as yourself.

This obsession with Israel exists in certain bubbles, but like most false paradigms, eventually the bubble will burst. I dont know whether it will be 10 years from now (doubtful), 20 (probably a little too soon), or 50 years from now (almost certainly) but at some point mainstream researchers will be looking at the obscenity that is the obsession with Israel and tearing it apart. They will point to the UN and the UNHRC targeting of the worlds only Jewish state and explain them away as despots ruling the roost and theyll go on to wonder at how it was that anyone took these organisations seriously. They will talk about the damage done by the increasing Islamist influence of global NGOs like Amnesty and HRW too. But they will also turn to the players who supported the BDS boycott. By then it will be seen for what it is just another attempt by the Arab empire to do away with the tiny Jewish enclave that fought for freedom in its midst. And those fools in the west that played along boycotted the products of the Jewish state or refused to have anything to do with publishing houses there will be seen just as racists are always viewed through the lens of history. I have no doubt that your current actions will be held up as an example of the antisemitic fervour of the day. That will forever be part of Sally Rooneys legacy.

So go ahead boycott Israel. It isnt like the Jews are not used to people boycotting them. Let your books continue to be translated into Chinese and not Hebrew Israel will continue to thrive without the Israelis reading them. But you should always remember that the brave folk are the ones that stand up against the tide of rising antisemitism. Those who see the anti-Israel obsession for what it is and refuse to partake in the blatant attack on Jewish self-determination are the heroes worthy of remembering. Your actions are those of a coward.

Sincerely

David Collier

{Reposted from the authors blog}

Read this article:
An Open Letter to Sally Rooney RE: Boycotting Israel - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on An Open Letter to Sally Rooney RE: Boycotting Israel – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

The 1988 Hamas Covenant has a lot to admire. Honestly, its refreshing. Unlike a majority of the world, which cloaks antisemitism in long-winded statements and frosted political correctness, Hamas is transparent.

There is no twisting of words, no hidden agenda. Despite being a corrupt organization, plagued with human rights abuses, Hamas bluntness is mesmerizing in its respectability.

That is, until 2017. In 2017, then-Hamas leader Khaled Maashal issued a new covenant.

The new covenant is a lot of the same talk: every inch of Palestine is ours, give it back, Islam is the only valid religion, we reject every peace offer and recognition of Israel entirely.

But the new covenant has one obviously striking difference: the way it regards Jews.

In the 1988 document, Jews are the enemy. They are the antithesis of Islams values, disgruntled cowards, usurpers and warmongers.

In a translation of the 2017 document, Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion.

Hamas, once proud Jew-bashers, try to rebrand themselves as a more moderate organization. Its obviously Zionism thats bad, not Jews, they say, as though they didnt run with the Jew-hating premise for decades.

Ironically, Hamas were really not antisemitic defense is immediately followed by an inadvertently antisemitic statement: Hamas is of the view that the Jewish problem, antisemitism and the persecution of the Jews are phenomena fundamentally linked to European history and not to the history of the Arabs and the Muslims or to their heritage.

By trying to pawn off antisemitism as a European issue, Hamas ignores the blatant mistreatment of Jews in Arab and/or Muslim countries. Jews have been continually subjected to discrimination, varying from unpleasant (as in the case of the Ottoman Empire) to downright nearly-unlivable (see: most of the Maghreb and southern Arabia). While Arab/Muslim mistreatment of Jews grew far more intense after the establishment of Israel, it certainly existed before. It had nothing to do with Israel or Zionism and everything to do with inherent Jewishness.

The very-inferable message is that antisemitism is excusable scratch that, erasable if it works in favor of your agenda.

Hamas demonstrates they are the same organization in the 21st century that they were in 1988. Theyre still antisemites, but theyve learned to cover it up with a slight of hand and buzzwords.

But the bigger question: Why? To whom is Hamas a radical organization trying to appeal with their political correctness?

Egypt, maybe. Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi used to be staunchly anti-Hamas, but the two have been slowly getting cozy since 2017. Also, the Palestinian Authority, which has a strange dynamic with Hamas. In 2017, the PA began a series of sanctions against Hamas, but it wasnt the be-all and end-all of their relationship. Since then, the two of them have had more break-ups and get-togethers than a dramatic teenage couple.

To further complicate the Palestinian political organization mixture, theres Fatah, a party to which long-standing PA President Mahmoud Abbas belongs. In October 2017, Egypt brokered an agreement between Fatah and Hamas, which was a pretty sweet deal for Hamas, but there was little follow-through.

Wow, 2017 was a busy year for Hamas. Maybe the rebranding really was a semi-successful attempt to get some allies in the corner.

Honestly, there are a thousand more ideas which could be tossed out. In truth, we know that Hamas was trying to soften their image, but the why still eludes. And whats the point of a rebranding when its so clear you havent changed?

The fact that we still dont definitively know why this new covenant was released is unsettling. Who were they trying to appease? Governments? Girls with Instagram graphics? And, more concerning, how will this continue to evolve?

The writer is a journalism student at the University of Maryland with a focus on Middle Eastern relations.

More here:
What happened to Hamas rebrand? - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on What happened to Hamas rebrand? – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

Addressing the audience at the 10th Jerusalem Post Annual Conference, held at the Museum of Tolerance, Australian fintech investor and entrepreneur Eitan Neishlos spoke of his work in the fintech industry and how his business and investment work is imbued with a social conscience.While the projected date for the opening of the Museum of Tolerance has long passed, the Museum of the Museum of Tolerance is now open to visitors (credit: Wikimedia Commons)Neishlos recounted how the story of his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, who was saved by a righteous Christian family who hid her from the Nazis, inspired him to help others.

He is a major supporter of JNFuture in Australia, which empowers young adults committed to Zionism and the Land of Israel.

Yet another example of his commitment to Jewish values and leadership is his leadership of Courage to Care, a Bnai Brith initiative that educates Australians about the dangers of prejudice, racism and discrimination.

Neishlos spoke of the importance of participation in the Jewish community, especially among the younger generation.

Everyone here has something to give and contribute. We must step up it is our turn.

View original post here:
Philanthropist Eitan Neishlos: 'Everyone here has something to give' - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Philanthropist Eitan Neishlos: ‘Everyone here has something to give’ – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

Several Palestine activist groups and academics working in the field of anti-Semitism studies have issued separate statements raising their concerns on instrumentalising anti-Semitism ahead of tomorrow's International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Anti-Semitism held in Malmo, Sweden.

According to a statement issued today by the Palestinian Action Group in Southern Sweden, which is composed of Swedes of Palestinian origin, along with other Palestinian unions and institutions in Europe, concerns have been raised that the outcome of the event could be used "to prosecute or repress those who criticize the Israeli occupation and the Zionist movement with false allegations of anti-Semitism"

Such concerns, the signatories argue are based on the fact that the sponsor of the forum, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has linked its widely contesteddefinition of anti-Semitismto anti-Zionism, which can include criticism of the Israeli occupation.

"The Israeli occupation state, with the participation of the Zionist movement internationally, is simultaneously pressuring countries around the world to boycott international conferences that differentiate between anti-Semitism and opposition to the Zionist movement," the statement reads.

OPINION:By endorsing the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, Europe stifles academic freedom

Instead, the statement demands the global forum to use this year's "Remember and react" title to also remember the suffering of the Palestinian people that began in the early 20thcentury as a result of theBalfour Declaration in 1917and the ensuingNakba in 1948perpetrated by the Zionist movement.

In astatementreleased yesterday signed by 54 scholars working in anti-Semitism studies and related fields, a "stark warning" was also made to EU leaders and the UN "against the political instrumentalisation of the fight against antisemitism."

Concerns surrounding the so-called working definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the IHRA was highlighted, which include 11 contemporary examples of anti-Semitism, "seven of which relate to Israel"

"These examples are being weaponised against human rights organisations and solidarity activists who denounce Israel's occupation and human-rights violations," the statement stressed.

"They legitimise wrongful accusations of antisemitism, which serve as a warning for anyone voicing criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. This has a chilling effect onfree speech and academic freedomand compromises the fight against antisemitism."

Signatories included Moshe Behar, Programme Director of Arabic & Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester, Naomi Chazan, Professor Emerita of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Moshe Zuckermann, Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy at Tel Aviv University.

READ:Bristol University faces boycott as public fury over sacking of anti-Zionism professor grows

Read more here:
Activists, scholars call to end weaponising anti-Semitism ahead of Holocaust Remembrance event in Sweden - Middle East Monitor

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Activists, scholars call to end weaponising anti-Semitism ahead of Holocaust Remembrance event in Sweden – Middle East Monitor
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

Heres one way to look at Tuesdays Midgam Institute and Mano Geva survey on N12: Just two days ago, former Knesset Speaker and former Health Minister MK Yuli Edelstein announced that he intends to run against Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu for the leadership of the Likud party and the survey proves he would be a disaster for the Likud. Should he win (he doesnt stand a chance), the Likud led by him is expected to drop about a third of its current seats.

However, as Edelstein himself told N12, The Likud under my leadership can form a full-fledged right-wing government tomorrow morning, which he followed with the warning: If we dont do what is necessary now the Likud will remain out.

And you know what? Edelstein is right.

According to the survey, with Netanyahu on top, the Likud would emerge as the clear winner of the next election, if they were held today:

Likud 34Yesh Atid 18Shas 9Blue&White 8United Torah Judaism 7Labor 7Yamina 7Joint Arab List 6Religious Zionism 6Israel Beiteinu 5Meretz 5New Hope 4Raam 4

Yes, a huge victory for the Likud under Netanyahu, but a victory that repeats the results of the past four elections, from April 2019 to March 2021, with Likud unable to forge a coalition. Despite its amazing win, the numbers remain more or less as they have been since Netanyahu decided to dissolve the Knesset in 2019: 56 for a purely right-wing coalition, 58 for a right-left coalition. In this case, both sides will remain without the 61 votes needed, which means that in order to keep their coalition, Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett et al would have to court the Joint Arab List.

In other words, bad for everyone, including Raam which is banking on its being the only Arab party that delivers billion-dollar results for the Arab sector.

On the other hand, these are the numbers should Edelstein, by some divine intervention, lead the Likud party in the next election:

Likud 20Yesh Atid 20Blue&White 11Religious Zionism 11Shas 11United Torah Judaism 8Yamina 8Labor 7Joint Arab List 6Israel Beiteinu 5Meretz 5New Hope 4Raam 4

Take out your calculators, because this time, the numbers have a surprise for you. With Edelstein at the helm, the right-wing coalition would have 62, count them, sixty-two seats, enough to employ a broad and sweeping right-wing agenda, enough to wipe the embarrassments of the strange bedfellows coalition. Sure, the Haredim and Yamina would have to make peace and find a way to work together. And Gideon Saar would also have to be integrated after years of exile. But it cant be denied: without Netanyahu, there would be a huge, undeniable victory for the right, better than it has done in four consecutive elections.

Incidentally, without Netanyahu at the head of Likud, Bezalel Smotrichs Religious Zionism attains the status of a second-tier party, on a par with Benny Gantzs Blue&White which this time around would go back to the opposition benches it would share with Yair Lapids Yesh Atid.

Back to planet Earth: according to the same poll, 86% of Likud party voters surveyed made it clear that they wanted Netanyahu, and only Netanyahu, to lead the party, while only 6% wanted Edelstein. 8% didnt know. Incidentally, this is remarkably similar to todays Republican rank & file members who will usher former president Donald Trump to the 2024 nomination.

When the Likud voters were asked by the survey authors if they agreed with Edelsteins claim that a Netanyahu-led Likud would never return to power, only 17% agreed that the party would remain in the opposition without the change of a chairman, compared to 68% who said Edelstein was wrong.

The surveys population was a representative sample of the entire population in Israel age 18 and over; the actual number of respondents: 553; the number of participants: 3,741 over the phone and on the Internet; maximum sampling error: + 4.4%.

See the rest here:
Survey: Likud with Edelstein at the Helm Loses Seats But Builds Right-Wing Coalition - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Survey: Likud with Edelstein at the Helm Loses Seats But Builds Right-Wing Coalition – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

With an urgency to preserve memory and modernize as the remaining Holocaust survivors enter their 80s and 90s, at least half a dozen Holocaust museums are being built, plan to break ground or have recently expanded, with more broadening their approach to look beyond the past and reflect todays social changes.

Steven Spielbergs U.S.C. Shoah Foundation, founded in 1994 to record survivors stories, is at the forefront of the evolution. In a 2018 New York Times article, Spielberg described the need to broaden the focus, saying: The presence of hate has become taken for granted. We are not doing enough to counter it.

The foundation is now archiving and studying victims of genocide in Rwanda or the Rohingya in Myanmar, developing medical ethics educational programming, podcasts, and offering records to genealogy companies.

(My maternal grandparents recorded video testimony with the Shoah Foundation in the 1990s.)

Now its teaming with the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida to design and build a museum in Orlando that will showcase the foundations library of 55,000 survivor video testimonies (totaling over 115,000 hours) and also have high-tech virtual installations to appeal to younger people.

Weve pivoted from being purely memorial, said the Shoah Foundations executive director, Stephen D. Smith, who calls the Orlando facility, the Holocaust Museum for Hope and Humanity, a completely new type of Holocaust museum.

Augmented reality, virtual survivor docents and video snippets will explain a time that becomes more remote for young people every year. A 2020 survey of 1,000 people ages 18 to 39 in the United States by the nonprofit organization Claims Conference found that nearly two-thirds of them do not know what Auschwitz is, for example. The Claims Conference was founded in 1951 and has worked to secure reparations and restitution for survivors.

Seventy-six years after Auschwitz was liberated, there are an estimated 350,000 living Holocaust survivors, and the Shoah Foundation is scrambling to record their stories. For decades, living survivors, at museums, also shared their memories with students and connected them to whats happening today. As survivors die, this educational tool risks being lost. Having the showcase of testimonies in Orlando is one way of keeping the memory alive.

The Holocaust Museum for Hope and Humanity is to break ground next year and open in 2024. Ralph Appelbaum, known for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, will be the designer.

Orlando sees 75 million tourists annually, officials say, and the City of Orlando Tourism Board, Orange County and the organizations behind the museum hope it becomes a destination venue. The museum received a $10 million development tax grant from Orange County part of a total of $30 million toward its $75 million cost.

Of the 16 Holocaust museums in the United States, some are teaming with the Shoah Foundation, with many looking to it for direction and deciding to also delve into injustice and bigotry. Organizations founded by survivors for Jewish communities are now trying to reach wider, non-Jewish audiences by tackling topics beyond the Holocaust.

Last year, the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum began a $21 million project to quadruple in size and dive deeper into social justice, human rights and racism, Helen Turner, the director of education and interpretation at the museum, said in an interview.

The Holocaust Museum LA, which is planning a large remodel, has partnered with the Shoah Foundation and the Wende Museum, which focuses on the Cold War.

The City of Miami Beach and Greater Miami Jewish Federation aim to add to a Holocaust memorial, incorporating Shoah Foundation videos and planning an educational space. (The move awaits approval by residents of Miami Beach.)

The Holocaust Museum Houston spent $34 million on a 2019 renovation, and showcases community issues like Hispanic peoples struggles and heritage.

Mary Pat Higgins, the president of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, one of those founded by survivors, said that it reframed its mission in 2019 to examine historical and contemporary genocides and the evolution of human and civil rights.

Some people question this expansion of mission. Its important to be aware of other genocides, but the extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis is a specific thing these museums were set up to memorialize, David Baddiel, the author of Jews Dont Count, said. Theres a complex difference between the Holocaust and other genocides. If you diminish it, youre doing something offensive to Jews.

David Wolpe, a rabbi at Sinai Temple, a leading Conservative Jewish congregation in the greater Los Angeles area, said broadening implies that the lessons these museums sought to teach have been learned and thats very much not the case.

Vanessa Lapa, the granddaughter of survivors who is an Israeli filmmaker who sourced archival footage for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, said in an interview that she understood why an expanded focus upset some people, but added, Its time to end competition between victims.

Jewish, homosexual, disabled, Armenian, Rwandan genocide is genocide, she said.

Helen Epstein, whose parents were in Nazi concentration camps and who has spent 40 years writing about the Holocaust, said that for her, it is also more than just a Jewish-centered event.

Last month, the Podripske Muzeum, a small Czech museum that is located in her familys former home, opened an exhibition on Kurt Epstein, Helens father.

Whats great is the museum has no Jewish connection; the town supported it, she said, adding, Understanding helps us all.

Read more here:

U.S. Holocaust Museums Are Updating Content and Context - The New York Times

Category: Shoah | Comments Off on U.S. Holocaust Museums Are Updating Content and Context – The New York Times
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

Not a day goes by when I do not see your faces, hear your voices, read your words, and learn from your pain and wisdom. You have spoken with courage, fulfilling your promise to be a witness. Your legacy, forged in unimaginable suffering, is a permanent reminder that evil is possible, but that it ultimately does not prevail. You have shown that truth will triumph. You have restored 1.9 million names, people that you talked about, that may otherwise have been lost to history. You talked about 60,000 places where you lived and suffered, and you shared 780,000 photos as evidence of the life you have led. All of those treasures are secure at USC Shoah Foundation and situated in an academy of learning, so that the world will listen to you, and learn from you. We will treasure your words, and protect them with all our hearts.

Steven Spielberg made two promises to you when he established the Shoah Foundation. The first was that your testimonies would be preserved in perpetuity. This is a promise we have been able to keep thanks to the generosity and infrastructure of USC. The second promise was that we would teach with your testimonies around the globe. Today, hundreds of universities and millions of school students learn from you every year.

Now that those promises have been fulfilled, after 12 years leading USC Shoah Foundation, it is time for me to move to a new phase in my life and professional career. I want you to be the first to know, and I want you to hear the news directly from me.

I am certain that your words and your truths are in good hands. We have a supportive and stable home at USC. We have a strong and generous board. Your testimonies are safe in perpetuity; they will always be used for education, for fighting hate in all its hideous forms.

As for me, I will continue with the important work of memory in the private sector to help people everywhere preserve their life stories. But be assured, I will always be a part of USC Shoah Foundations vital global mission.

***

It has been the greatest honor of my life to work with you, to bring light to our world through your voices. In the dozen years Ive had the privilege of leading USC Shoah Foundation, we have expanded our reach and our collections and strengthened our roots. Today, our archive includes over 56,000 testimonies, from survivors of the Holocaust and of genocides in Armenia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Cambodia, Myanmar, and elsewhere.

Your stories are used for research and teaching, for training and inspiring future leaders. A decade ago, 15 universities used our archive; today, we reach 175 universities and, at any one time, over 2 million students have access to your testimonies at their fingertips.

I know how much you care about the next generation learning from you, which is whyour education program is our highest priority. USC Shoah Foundation reaches classrooms in more than 90 countries, with resources in 14 languages in our education platform IWitness. The number of teachers in our network has also grown from several hundred a decade ago to 250,000 today. And 10 years ago, there were just a handful of high school students who saw your testimonies using classroom resources such as DVDs; now 8 million K-12 students have listened to your testimonies this year (so far), with millions more to come every year.

We have done remarkable work together to develop new technologies that let us tell your stories even more effectively. Fifty of you have already participated in the Dimensions in Testimony program to leave interactive conversations for the future. Projects like the virtual-reality film The Last Goodbye, with Pinchas Gutter, and our 360 testimonies on location where survivors return to the places of the Holocaust to be filmed will allow the students of the future to hear your testimonies in the places where you experienced them. IWalk, our testimony app, helps visitors experience your testimony in historical locations all around the world.

In addition to all of that, can you believe that on YouTube last year, members of the public watched 180 million minutes of testimony? We have proved that people really do want and need to hear and learn from you. All of these innovations help us achieve greater impact. Whenever we make a film, we put the story of real survivors at the heart of everything. Our film and media unit has set the standard with films like The Last Goodbye, Lala, Ruth: A Little Girls Big Story, The Girl and the Picture, Two Sides of Survival, The Tattooed Torah, My Name is Sara, and The Survivor.

***

Fifteen years ago, our founder Steven Spielberg made the decision to put your testimonies in a place of safekeeping and educationthe University of Southern California. USCs unstinting support has made possible all of our tremendous achievements. This year, USC Shoah Foundation was elevated to be a Presidential Institute, under the auspices of University President Carol Folt and direction of Provost Chip Zukoski. Dr. Folt is a remarkable leader who understands our mission and has provided the personal belief and institutional support to achieve it. In our new administrative home we have many more opportunities for interdisciplinary research and teaching at USC, and a springboard into the wider world of higher education.

It is also important to know that the board leadership of USC Shoah Foundation is strongly aligned with the university and Board Chair Lee Liberman, who is dedicated to the protection of your testimonies. We have loyal donors, and a skilled professional staff who take your words to the world every day. None of that will stop. There is nothing more satisfying for a leader than knowing that the organization is both in better shape than on arrival, and well positioned for its next chapter. Dr. Kori Street, my much-trusted and very capable colleague, will step up as Interim Executive Director with the full support of our University and our Board.

No one really ever leaves USC Shoah Foundation its work is too important to walk away from. I am looking forward to a new role, serving in a voluntary capacity as Executive Director Emeritus. I will also stay involved at USC as Visiting Professor of Religion in order to continue my research and publishing within Holocaust and genocide studies.

***

Twenty-seven years ago, Steven Spielbergs film Schindlers List won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In his acceptance speech, he said, There are 350,000 survivors of the Holocaust alive today 350,000 experts who just want to be useful for the remainder of their lives. Please listen to the words, the echoes and the ghosts, and please teach this in your schools.

That promise is being fulfilled through your willingness to speak the truth and the commitment of USC to provide the support for USC Shoah Foundation to take your message into classrooms the world over.

Your voices are needed more than ever. The overwhelming tide of hatred, or the never-ending recurrence of genocide, has at times made me want to give up. But when Ive felt unsure about what I can achieve, when Im feeling defeated in the face of continued antisemitism and genocidal hatred, Ive always thought of you.

You had no choice but to survive, to keep living. You could have hated, you could have given up on the world. But you did not. You kept going, you kept living, you kept loving. I will always endeavor to follow in your footsteps.

From the bottom of my heart, I say thank you.

With respect, admiration, and enduring love,

Stephen

Originally posted here:

An open letter to survivors of the Shoah and genocides the world over - Jewish News

Category: Shoah | Comments Off on An open letter to survivors of the Shoah and genocides the world over – Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

A British-born Holocaust educator has announced he is stepping down as head of the USC Shoah Foundation.

Stephen Smith penned a heartfelt letter to To survivors of the Shoah and genocides the world over in announcing he is leaving his role as Chief Executive.

The foundation, established by legendary director Steven Spielberg and based at the University of Southern California, has been a world-leader in recording Shoah testimony using technology.

Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top storiesFree Sign Up

Smith said in his open letter, that Spielberg made two promises to you when he established the Shoah Foundation. The first was that your testimonies would be preserved in perpetuity.

The second promise was that we would teach with your testimonies around the globe.

Today, hundreds of universities and millions of school students learn from you every year.

Steven Spielberg (Gage Skidmore)

Smith, who also founded the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottingham with his brother James, announced that after 12 years at the helm of USCSF he would be leaving and that it had been the greatest honour of my life to work with you, to bring light to our world through your voices.

During his tenure he said the foundation now reaches classrooms in more than 90 countries and 14 languages, while the number of teachers has grown from a few hundred to 250,000, and more than 8 million students had heard survivor testimony.

He announced that Dr. Kori Street will become Interim Executive Director, and he will continue in a voluntary role as Executive Director Emeritus, and as a as Visiting Professor of Religion at USC.

The rest is here:

Head of USC Shoah Foundation leaves role with heartfelt letter to all survivors - Jewish News

Category: Shoah | Comments Off on Head of USC Shoah Foundation leaves role with heartfelt letter to all survivors – Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

At the memorial service for Sir Martin Gilbert in November 2015, the late former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, zl told the following anecdote:

It must have been 15 years ago, just before the (original) Holocaust Exhibition was opened in the Imperial War Museum. The organisers of that wonderful exhibition had decided in their thoughtfulness and kindness to invite the Holocaust survivors to a dinner just a couple of weeks before the Exhibition was opened, so that they could see it first.

I was dreading that moment, I thought it would open up the trauma all over again. I didnt know how they were going to face that evening. That night Sir Martin and myself were the speakers. I neednt have worried, they were exuberant. It was as if they were at a wedding. They proceeded to talk non-stop through my speech, through Martins speech.

I asked them, why are you so cheerful? They said to me you dont realise, until this exhibition was opened, we didnt know who would care for our memories when we are no longer here. But now that the Exhibition is there, we feel safe, that burden has been lifted from us.

It is this sense of permanence, a sense of being remembered, and of being heard that has driven the design and now delivery of the new IWM London Galleries some 21 years later.

The mission of telling the story of the Holocaust is more important than ever. And the many additional artefacts, individual personal stories and direct survivor testimonies together with digital and interactive interpretation, enhance the telling of the story and understanding its scale, incredibly well.

Over the past three years, I have had the privilege to play a small role advising the curators whose thoughtfulness, care and sensitivity has been truly outstanding how religious objects should be treated and displayed. It was also the role which led to the overwhelming responsibility in helping organise the burial for 6 Holocaust Victims at Bushey New Cemetery in January 2019.

At first, I thought that each object I looked at would take a few moments but I soon learnt to think again and appreciate that every item has a story. Some we discovered and some are yet to be discovered. We hope that visitors to the galleries might be able to help by recognising the provenance of an object or the face of someone in a photograph.

Items to look out for include a mini Sefer Torah and siddur housed by its owner in a repurposed nail box. There is the fragment of a large Sefer Torah which was unnervingly opened to the words Lo Tishkach Never Forget and a Rosh Hashanah card sent in the Warsaw Ghetto in defiance of the Nazi propaganda on the other side. And then there is a Tallit that was found outside a synagogue in Vienna on the morning after the November Pogrom (widely known as Kristallnacht) in 1938, and which I installed into the new Galleries with the support of specialist textile conservators.There are however, two items, which stand out to me a Tefillin bag and a Millstone.

The set of Tefillin, was found by Walter Friend, an American soldier, on the body of a concentration camp inmate who died on a forced march. We will never know the identity of that victim; however, I continue to be inspired by his determination and courage to wear his Tefillin despite the dire situation he found himself in. I now think of his soul when putting on my own Tefillin having been filled with awe as I held the Tefillin bag before placing it into its display case.

The other item, a millstone, demonstrates the extra mile the Nazis went in their attempts to destroy not only us but our history too. The millstone is a repurposed Matzeivah, tombstone of the matriarch of a family, as indicated by an engraving of candlesticks and the words Our dear mother. Sadly, the stone is cut just before her name is mentioned.

The first part of her epitaph remains and when I looked at the verse used, my heart missed a beat. It is the same verse, as is used in Finchley Synagogue on their Shoah window, where it refers to all the victims of the Holocaust: Over these do I weep; my eye continuously runs with water (Lamentations 1:16)

We continue to weep. We cannot bring the dead to life, but we can keep their memory alive and through the new galleries, we have the opportunity to visit, to learn, to reflect and to be inspired.

The new IWM London Holocaust Galleries open on October 20 and are free to visit.

Rabbi Nicky Liss is Chair of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue. He serves as Rabbi of Highgate United Synagogue in London

See original here:

We cannot bring the dead to life, but we can keep their memory alive - Jewish News

Category: Shoah | Comments Off on We cannot bring the dead to life, but we can keep their memory alive – Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 13, 2021

Neo-Nazis burial in Jewish gravesite causes stir in Germany

The burial of a Holocaust denier in the gravesite of a Jewish music professor has caused an uproar in Germany.

The top German government official tasked with combating antisemitism, Commissioner for Jewish Life Felix Klein, criticizes the action, joining expressions of disbelief from some of the countrys leading Jews.

This is obviously a very unfortunate mistake that happened here, Klein tells German news agency dpa.

Several German news outlets have reported that known Holocaust denier Henry Hafenmayer was buried Friday at the Stahnsdorf cemetery just outside of Berlin. His ashes were interred in the plot where Max Friedlaender, a German-Jewish musicologist who lived from 1852 to 1934, was buried.

Several far-right extremists attended Hafenmayers funeral, according to groups that track neo-Nazi activism in Germany. The head of Germanys leading Jewish group expresses shock that the Lutheran Church, which runs the cemetery, had allowed the burial.

The burial of a neo-Nazi and denier of the Shoah on the former grave of Jewish musicologist Max Friedlaender is unbearable, Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, tweets.

Friedlaenders gravesite was cleared for new burials in 1980, as is customary in Germany. However, his tombstone remains on the plot because it is under historic preservation.

The Lutheran Church has apologized and promised to investigate how Hafenmayers remains ended up in the same plot as Friedlaenders. The church said that people can sponsor the maintenance of historic gravesites at the Stahnsdorf cemetery and in exchange get buried on those sites when they die.

The city of Berlins antisemitism commissioner says he thinks neo-Nazis intentionally chose a Jewish grave for Hafenmayer.

Obviously, the right-wing extremists deliberately chose a Jewish grave to disturb the peace of the dead by burying a Holocaust denier, Samuel Salzborn tweets.

Salzborn has filed a criminal complaint on suspicion of disturbing the peace of the dead, disparagement of the memory of the deceased and incitement of the people, dpa reports.

Read the original here:

Sudanese justice minister meets with Israeli officials in UAE - The Times of Israel

Category: Shoah | Comments Off on Sudanese justice minister meets with Israeli officials in UAE – The Times of Israel
Tags: