Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

How many of us think about why we are as we are, but this is precisely what I found myself doing during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

One example is the fast reading in place of singing of the prayer for the State of Israel, Avinu Shebeshamayim, a stirring prayer reminding us of how favored we are to have returned to the land of our fathers. We pray that God will bless Israel; strengthen the hand of those who defend us, and encourage our brethren, wherever they reside, to return home. It is a melodious beautiful prayer that we should sing together, for by so doing as I have discovered we become part of the prayer itself.

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The liturgy of the synagogue resonates with me, and I enjoy singing along with whoever is leading the service, but mask-wearing is not exactly conducive to the singing that brings me close to my Judaism.

Perhaps my love of the liturgy is not strange, as I grew up with a father who took me every Friday night and Shabbat to shul, where I would happily sing along with the hazan and the choir.

My Booba and Zayde (grandmother and grandfather) lived close by. Zayde originated from Bialystok, and blessed with a strong and melodious voice, he often led the service at the Biala Rabbis shteibel. Sometimes I would go with Zayde to his shteibel.

My Booba was considered to be the first chairwoman in the family, because she would sit on a chair in the hallway, in between two adjoining rooms one that served the men, the other the women with a solid wall that divided the two. Boobas role was to watch when the men stood, and then to tell the women in Yiddish to do likewise.

Zayde enjoyed hazanut, or cantorial music, and collected His Masters Voice recordings of famous cantors such as Moshe Koussevitzky and Yoselle Rosenblatt. It was always a great pleasure sitting with Zayde often turning the handle of his gramophone as we listened together to his amazing collection of 78 RPM records of these great cantors. It was here that I began to appreciate the liturgy associated with the various festivals with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at the helm.

Avinu Malkenu sung by Rosenblatt resonated profoundly with me as a child, as did Koussevitzkys Hineni prayer. Hineni is the prayer sung by the one leading the service just prior to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Mussaf. The cantor becomes the shaliach asking the Almighty to help him be worthy of being the representative of the congregation in seeking Gods favorable acceptance of its prayers.

Until today, Hineni is a prayer that stirs within me profound spiritual feelings, especially when I hear it sung by one who is able to transmit his own feelings as he prays.

I didnt go to shul this Rosh Hashanah, but I did choose before the Holy Days and in between to seek out YouTube renderings of the liturgy I grew up with, including Rosenblatts rendering of VKol Maaminim, a prayer in poetic language expressing a declaration in our faith. Rosenblatts interpretation touches me deeply.

My father, originating from Warsaw, gave me a love of the synagogue service, and brought me up on a menu of Yiddish songs, many of which were sung by the pioneers coming from Poland and Russia to Palestine in order to build a state. Sadly, he never made it to the Israel he loved, but how fortunate am I that he was my father, able to instill in me the significance of a Jewish State even prior to its rebirth.

Back to the beginning on why we individuals are as we are.

In a previous life, I worked professionally for 30 years as a relationship counselor. During the training and years of working with those facing psychological challenges, it became clear how our childhood experiences contribute to who we are as adults. Often we hear of the negative repercussions, but today, as I thought about my own childhood, I appreciate the positivity that my Zayde and father gave me, specifically in relation to my Judaism and love of Israel. My one regret is that I never said thank you.

The hope is that my Zayde and father are looking down and will see how, because of them, I love being Jewish, and am privileged to be able to express it by living in the one Jewish State.

The writer is chairperson of the Israel, Britain and Commonwealth Association. She is also public relations chair of ESRA, which promotes immigrant integration into Israeli society.

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The High Holy Days and childhood nostalgia - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

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Police entry a Jewish cemetery over a wall near the scene of a shooting that left two people dead on October 9, 2019 in Halle, Germany. Pew Research Center released a report Thursday tracking religious discrimination across the world in 2019.

Jews experience a disproportionate rate of discrimination in countries around the globe, with 89 governments engaging in some kind of harassment against Jews or restrictions on the practice of Judaism, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

By this measure, that is the most discrimination faced by any religious group other than Christians and Muslims, despite the fact Jews make up just 0.2% of the worlds population.

The report, based on two indexes of government and social hostility toward religious groups, tracks a broad array of discrimination and countries can be docked for placing restrictions on Judaism even if there is no local Jewish population.

It includes derogatory statements that are made against Jews so it doesnt always mean there was an act of physical force against a member of the group, said Samirah Majumdar, a research associate at Pew and lead author of the study.

But the numbers, which count antisemitic incidents and government laws on the books in 2019, are still stark. Jews faced social harassment from individuals or private groups in 73 countries and government repression in 69, the highest number since Pew began tracking the data in 2007.

The report did not examine the reasons for increases and decreases in discrimination against various religious groups, though it found that the number of countries with severe religious harassment had fallen to its lowest level since 2009 and that religious-related terrorism was at its lowest level ever recorded by Pew. Forty-nine countries had active religious terrorist groups present, compared to 64 in 2018 and a high of 82 in 2014.

Because it is based on data from 2019, the study did not capture the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religious discrimination or the impact of this years violence in Gaza and Jerusalem on international antisemitism.

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Jews face discrimination across the globe, new report finds - Forward

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

THE QUESTION:

When Does Life Begin?

THE RELIGION GUYS ANSWER:

Those four words are regularly posed in the current abortion debate, so lets scan the lines in pregnancy that have been drawn.

Pre-scientific cultures spoke of quickening, typically between 16 and 18 weeks, when the mother first feels the unborn child moving in her womb. A famous example involves the unborn John the Baptist in biblical Luke 1:41. Some ancient Jewish authorities in the Talmud, and Roman and Greek philosophers, supposed that the unborn child formed earlier, at 40 days.

Then theres viability, when a fetus can live on its own outside the womb, typically reached around 23 or 24 weeks, or somewhat earlier or later in individual cases. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion before that point in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and after viability when there are risks to the mothers health, broadly defined.

The high Court on December 1 hears a case from Mississippi, which defied the Roe ruling and bars abortions after 15 weeks. A Missouri law, also under court challenge, puts a ban at eight weeks when everything that is present in an adult human is now present in your baby, according to the American Pregnancy Association. The Court temporarily left in place a ban in Texas (likewise in 13 other states) after six weeks, when pulsations can be diagnosed at what eventually becomes the fully formed heart.

Many modern Christians believe that life begins at conception (sperm first meets egg) or implantation (fertilized egg attaches to the mothers womb) while some put the line a bit later at twinning (after which multiple pregnancies do not occur).

Note the brief filed last month in the Mississippi case by pro-choice religions including mainline Protestant churches, non-Orthodox Judaism, Unitarian Universalists, and others. It says numerous religious traditions posit that life begins at some point during pregnancy or even after a child is born. That perhaps refers to the judgment of some Jewish authorities that the baby only becomes a person at birth, though thats different from when life begins.

Pro-choice Supreme Court briefs contend that when life begins is a question of religious belief and therefore not the business of government to determine. That assertion is contested by conservatives such as Catholic author George Weigel, writing for First Things magazine. When human life begins is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of scientific fact, he writes. People believe in the conception line just like they believe that the Earth is spherical, not flat; that Venus is the second planet in the solar system; that a water molecule is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. . .

Christians like Weigel have a point if biological science determines the question. Its incontestable that at conception, or right afterward at implantation or twinning, a genetically unique entity in the human species exists that will automatically generate continual growth on its own unless abortion or natural miscarriage intervenes.

If so, then the question is not really when does life begin, which is firmly established by science. Rather, the issue religions, judges, politicians and citizens face is when protectible life begins. Does this tiny living organism have any inherent value and right to exist, balanced against the right of the mother to abort? Why or why not, at what stage of pregnancy, under what circumstances, and who decides? That takes us beyond biology to moral decision-making.

On that, the Catholic Church teaches that direct abortion is illicit even if performed to save the mothers life. This is defined in the 1974 Declaration on Procured Abortion from the Vatican doctrinal office, ratified by Pope Paul VI. Even a serious question of health, sometimes of life or death, for the mother can never confer the right to dispose of anothers life, even when that life is only beginning. Pope John Paul II affirmed this in his 1995 encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life).

The U.S. bishops 2001 medical directive notes that the church does not forbid treatments to cure proportionately serious pathological conditions of a pregnant woman that cannot be postponed till birth, even if they will result in the death of the unborn child as a secondary effect.

Among Protestants, however, even conservatives and evangelicals allow abortion to save the mothers life. So do all branches of Judaism. Consider the 2019 policy statement against New York States viability line issued by the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest organization of Orthodox rabbis. It declares that there is no sanction to permit the abortion of a healthy fetus, but if the mothers life is endangered then abortion is allowed, even at a late stage. The healthy adjective indicates that some Orthodox scholars permit abortion of compromised fetuses in extenuating circumstances, and some Protestant denominations agree.

The mothers-life exception has roots thousands of years ago in biblical law (Exodus 21:22-25). This passage concerns a pregnant bystander who is accidentally killed during a fight between two men. If she dies, the punishment for the killer is execution, but if only her unborn child dies a fine is paid. On that basis, Judaisms Mishnah is emphatic that the mothers life takes precedence over the fetuss life in rare cases of conflict.

What does Judaism say about other reasons to abort?The late bioethics specialist David Feldman compiled many rabbinical rulings with varying stands over centuries in Birth Control and Jewish Law (1968). A 2019 article by Rabbi Rachel Mikva of Chicago Theological Seminary summarized much the same about the history that underlies todays Jewish debate between stringent opinions versus lenient interpretations that expand justifications based on a womans well-being.

As Mikva observes, except for the Orthodox, contemporary Jews are reluctant to legislate moral questions for everyone when there is much room for debate, and they take that stance in current Supreme Court briefs.

[Disclosure: The Religion Guy co-authored Aborting America, the autobiography of gynecologist Bernard Nathanson, an atheist at the time, who ran the nations largest abortion clinic but then turned pro-life.]

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Central to the Abortion Debate: When Does Life Begin? - Patheos

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

Yom Rishon story was wrong

I was quite surprised to read your Sept. 17 article on Yom Rishon School in Los Altos. My child is in the photo used for the article, and both of my children attended classes at the school for several years, as toddlers, early elementary and now pre-teens. While it is true that our family is from one of the countries of the former Soviet Union, and that we speak Russian at home, I think you misunderstood the school and what it does.

Yom Rishon is a Jewish school, a place to learn about Jewish holidays and traditions, hear Jewish songs, make Jewish-themed crafts with your younger kids, and talk about characters from the Torah and art with your 10-year-old.

It does not teach Russian language or literature, and never has.

The classes are conducted in Russian, as it is a common shared language in our community, but this is a school of Jewish heritage, not one teaching Russian language and Russian heritage.

It is not so different from the weekend religious schools for children at the synagogues around the Bay Area, and I can directly compare as my children have attended both. It is not so different from teaching Jewish traditions in any diaspora, in the language of that diaspora.

Just look at the name and contents of the classes taught. Gan Haggim, for the youngest kids, is about Jewish holidays, My Jewish Discovery is for the early elementary kids, teaching Torah stories, values and traditions.

All the school events are organized around Jewish holidays. Over the years we have enjoyed picnics for Rosh Hashanah, making a shofar, celebrating Hanukkah, super colorful Purim shpiels and wonderful Passover seders.

For our part, we are grateful for what the school does and everything it taught our kids over the years, as it started their Jewish journey in a language they knew well.

Hanna FirmanSunnyvale

I was dismayed to read your article about the Yom Rishon School. As a parent of two graduates of the school, I was surprised to learn that we sent our children to study Russian culture and cinema.

The curriculum and the experiences you describe in the article could not be further from the truth.

The whole purpose of the school is to foster Jewish culture and traditions, not Russian ones.

The children in the school learn about Jewish holidays, Jewish texts and Israeli culture. Many of the young kids attending the school do not yet speak English. Their first exposure to Jewish traditions comes from Yom Rishon in Russian.

Yom Rishon is a unique institution in the Bay Area that caters to Russian-speaking Jews. It provides our kids with an opportunity to immerse themselves in Jewish life, something that we were deprived of growing up in the Soviet Union.

Your newspapers characterization of the institution as a place to learn about Russian culture does a great disservice to the school and its mission.

Georgiy GoldenbergLos Altos

The article in J. about Yom Rishon School, unfortunately, grossly misrepresented the nature and philosophy of the school.

My kids have attended this school in the past, and it is solely focused on Jewish culture, religion, language, history and traditions.

The article stated it was focused on Russian culture and language. The only relation Yom Rishon School has to Russian is the fact that it teaches Judaism in Russian, same as Jews who live, say, in Mexico learn about Judaism in Spanish.

I ask that you publish a public apology, take back these inaccuracies and state the correct information. This is a school that is solely dedicated to Judaism and Jewish culture, religion, language, history and traditions.

Alex LevichMountain View

EDITORS NOTE: The three letters above represent close to two dozen similar letters sent to J., and the writers are correct. Passing the joy of Russian language to the next generation, our Sept. 17 story about the Yom Rishon School, misrepresented what the school does. The Yom Rishon School teaches about Judaism and Jewish traditions; the primary language of instruction is Russian, which is the language shared by the students and their parents/grandparents. The school does not teach Russian language or literature. We apologize for any concern this may have caused.

Many thanks to Edmund Case and to J. for his opinion piece about including partners from different faith backgrounds in synagogue life (Who is included in the us of our prayers? Aug. 26).I am in a long-term interfaith relationship, and can attest to many of the points mentioned in the article. A rabbi once mentioned to me that he told his daughters he hoped they would marry Jewish men, and regarding interfaith marriage, he said, We have lost that battle.

Needless to say, these comments did not help my partner to feel at home. To be fair, I believe the rabbi was sincere and was trying to come to grips with changing demographics within Judaism.

I particularly appreciate these comments by Mr. Case regarding conversion: Conversion should not be a condition for inclusion. It should be seen as a positive outcome of inclusion.

Inclusion should happen for its own sake, to bring about that sense of belonging that we all want and need. That is the best way to foster a strong sense of community in any congregation.

Miriam MenzelSan Francisco

Shortly before I had opened the Aug. 31 issue of J. and read the article on Jon Grobman (He was sentenced to life in prison. Rescue dogs and a rabbi helped him find redemption), I had said to my husband:

After a day of reading and rereading the attributes of God on Yom Kippur, I understand what dogs mean to us. They share the attributes we ascribe to God. They are all-loving, all-forgiving, all-compassionate, all-faithful. Dogs stay close to us, and if they are not close by, they will be as soon we call out to them.

With the help of dogs, and a Chabad rabbi, Jon Grobman was redeemed from a judges painful decree. He was as much rescued by the dogs as he rescued them.

This story moved me on many levels. Thank you.

Natalie Krauss BivasPalo Alto

Reading Dena Stein and Rabbi Daniel Steins opinion piece on pregnancy and abortion (Our pregnancy story shows how wrong Texas new abortion law is, Sept. 2) broke my heart.

They received a scary ultrasound finding that their baby might have disorders, ranging from Down syndrome to much scarier outcomes. Had further testing confirmed a diagnoses, they would have gotten an abortion to prevent a substantial risk of bringing a child into this world that might know only suffering and death, but they were blessed [when] test after test came back negative.

A diagnosis of Down syndrome can be scary for a new or expectant parent. People with developmental differences are a minority, were largely institutionalized through the 1970s, and inclusion in schools is a relatively new practice and not universal, so many of us have no deep, first-hand experience being together.

The truth is that people with developmental differences are btzelem Elohim (in Gods image) just like the rest of us. Theyre exactly how theyre meant to be.

Were all people. None of us has the perspective to judge if anothers life is worth living or not, or if they experience the right emotions to make their life worthwhile.

Before my daughter was born, I probably would have felt the same way as the Steins. Im fortunate that my wife declined genetic testing, and that our daughter was born with Down syndrome. Being her parent is the greatest honor and blessing of my life (my typically developing son is an equal honor and blessing).

My heart has opened in ways I didnt know were possible, and the experience has been an impetus for tremendous growth.

She experiences all the emotions everyone else does joy, love, upset, anger, silliness and is a ray of sunshine in the world.

I think that most peoples decision to get an abortion instead of having a child with a developmental difference is from their fear of the unknown and from the false premise that its a kindness to prevent some types of people from being born. I hope that sharing a bit of my story will help people to look a little deeper.

Jack HalperinEl Cerrito

I thank Tye Gregory, the Jewish Community Relations Council and all of the other organizations, individuals and politicians who have worked to improve the proposed Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum and thus Assembly Bill 101 (Ethnic studies battle has given us insight and resolve for the long run, online, Sept. 22).

The final version of the curriculum appears to address the critical flaws of prior versions. However, I note that Mr. Gregory as well as other speakers on the subject seem to be hedging about AB 101s bona fides, indicating that much work remains to be done.

Why is that?

It seems to be the case that AB 101 permits a school district to use (at least some of) the earlier, materially flawed versions of the curriculum.

And while supporters contend that the very first blatantly racist version of the curriculum cannot be used (although I am not sure that statement is absolutely true), they do not so contend about the later but still very flawed versions.

In one of those versions, some Jewish people are said to benefit from white privilege. No other group is called out for the same.

So why then do these groups support AB 101? Is it because they fear battling other liberal-leaning groups with which they otherwise have much affinity? Because they fear the alternative?

It is not sufficient, in my opinion, to simply acknowledge that challenges remain. What are those challenges? Why should we accept a flawed AB 101 if those challenges remain?

If the thought is that we can save some fights for another day, lets at least be candid about what those fights will be in order to have a more fulsome and candid discussion of the benefits and detriments of the current legislation.

Again, this is not to take anything away from the tireless effort of our Jewish organizations and leaders to protect the Jewish community. Its just that, having made great strides, they should please let us know what problems remain, why they remain, what the tradeoffs are and what we should expect.

Bob ShindLos Angeles

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LETTERS: We got story of Yom Rishon School wrong; Etc. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

"Shrinking the conflict" is the hot political Israel/Palestine mainstream merchandise of these times.

As early as in his very firstinterview as prime minister-designate, back in June of this year, soon-to-be Israeli premier Naftali Bennett proclaimed that "shrinking the conflict" was his "philosophy" for managing the future of the Palestinians.

In late August, the new PM brought that very merchandise to the White House in his first meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden: continued settlement growth for Israelis with no freedom, rights, or independence to Palestinians and certainly no negotiations; all the while, no formal annexation and better "quality of life" for obedient Palestinians.

And this week, in his inaugural speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Bennett further shrunk the issue to the point of not even mentioning it.

In aninterviewto the NY Times just days before his very first meeting as Prime Minister with President Biden, Bennett described his government as one of "finding the middle ground how we [Israelis] can focus on what we agree upon." In that interview, Bennett brushed off the growing consensus articulated byPalestinian,Israeli, andinternational human rights groups, that Israeli policy its "middle ground" is apartheid.

Bennetts visit to DC was deemed a success. Just days ago, in his firstspeechas president before the UN General Assembly, Biden said, apropos of a two-state solution: "Were a long way from that goal." Thats the two state solution in which he purportedly continues to believe and which Bennett openly rejects.

Towards the end of his UNGA remarks, Biden spoke movingly of the courage of people in Belarus, Burma, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Sudan, Moldova, and Zambia, in fighting for democracy and human dignity. Somehow, in this part of his speech, Palestinians were erased. Indeed, they appear to be "a long way" from an American president daring to identify with their cause, their freedom and their fight for human dignity.

Israels longstanding model for successfully getting away with apartheid while suffering no international consequences was usually based on paying the required lip-service to "negotiations" and the never-ending "peace process," while carefully featuring an internationally digestible figurehead think Shimon Peres under Ariel Sharon to handle the marketing abroad. Even Netanyahu carefully followed this script: think hisBar Ilan speech,until Donald Trump entered the White House.

But now, with Trump out of the White House (at least until 2024), it has become essential for Israel to recalibrate its image. After four years of open alignment with Trump and with Trumpism Israel needed a non-Netanyahu to distance itself from those toxic residues.

In this key sense, Israels political elites have skillfully weighed the clear benefits of having a non-Netanyahu as Prime Minister even a former settler leader heading a most unusual coalition government to better handle a Democratic president in the White House.

Whats remarkable about this current state of affairs is that by merely not being led by Netanyahu, Israel manages to reboot its international image without any substantive change in policy. Its current non-Netanyahu PM doesnt even need to spray around the good-old lip service in fact he, most sincerely, openly states that there will be no negotiations and no Palestinian independence.

How is that internationally digestible? Simply because Bennett is not Netanyahu.

Just as with the 2020 "crisis" regarding potential formal annexation, the concern here isnt about meaningful policy, freedom, or human dignity. Its just about appearances and deniability.

Formal annexation was a red herring Israel does as it pleases anywhere in the West Bank regardless but if it were to go through formalization, it would have been a huge embarrassment for the EU (and for a non-Trump U.S. president) as it would expose the international unwillingness to hold Israel accountable.

Further, it would most publicly deflate the air out of the two-state solution balloon that the international community has been inflating with empty rhetoric for decades.

Same goes with regards to a Netanyahu vs. a non-Netanyahu continuing to lead Israels apartheid rule over Palestinians: consider how much more politically complicated it would have been for President Biden to accept no-negotiations-more-settlements from a Prime Minister Netanyahu. But from a non-Netanyahu? Easy.

The Israeli "middle ground" of millions of Palestinians half of the people living under Israels control enduring one form or another of subjugation, with only the Jewish half of the population having full rights (namely, apartheid) has thus got an extended lease on life. All that it took is to have a non-Netanyahu rebrand it as a philosophy of "shrinking the conflict."

And in reality, on the ground? Palestinians have for decades been witnessing and fighting against the actual shrinking of their lands, freedoms, and rights. They know all too well that "shrinking the conflict" that is, allowing Israel to continue with its relentless policies against them as long as the theft of their lands isnt formalized through official annexation spells out the further shrinking of their world.

Shrunk to what extent? Somewhere between the size of a Bantustan and a prison cell: obedient Palestinians could see their Bantustan allowed to economically improve; disobedient ones Israel rejects any form of Palestinian opposition or protest should expect facing measures ranging from being denied permits, to jail time, to being shot.

As settlements continue to expand and Palestinian homes continue to be demolished, as permanent infrastructure paving the way towards a million Israeli settlers in the West Bank is being built, as Gaza remains under blockade and Palestinians continue to be killed with impunity by Israeli security forces "shrinking the conflict" are the magic words a non-Netanyahu prime minister of Israel needs to articulate in order for the international community to accept an ever-shrinking Palestine.

This rebranding of stale ideas now being regurgitated think "economic peace" or "confidence building measures" does provide policy makers in Western capitals with renewed deniability for what they are actually doing: continuing to back Israeli apartheid. But people of conscience will never unsee the concrete blocks, bars and walls that Israel imposes on half of the people between the river and the sea.

Saving face for failed policies can only last that much longer, for as President Biden himself told the U.N., "The future will belong to those who embrace human dignity, not trample it."

So far, when it comes to Palestine, Biden has forgone his own advice and his proclaimed values: That is most unfortunate. The Palestinians are paying the price.

But U.S. foreign policy need not remain on the wrong side of history forever. As Palestinian activists and allies are shifting the discourse in Washington and elsewhere, eventually policy will follow.

Its time to push further and faster, for the power of truth-telling will shrink lies, distortions, and excuses. Unshrinking Palestine is not only the future we must embrace: it is the future we can make reality.

Hagai El-Ad is the executive director of BTselem.Twitter:@HagaiElAd

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On Palestine, Biden is on the wrong side of history - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

Uniteds Cody Cope gets around East Palestines Drennen Sevacko on a touchdown run Friday. (Morning Journal/Ron Firth)

HANOVERTON United scored on two long passes and a safety in the opening 2:48 on the way to a 47-12 win over East Palestine in Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference play Friday night.

The Golden Eagles have won four straight games to improve to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in league play. Southern, United and Valley Christian are unbeaten in EOAC play. The Bulldogs drop to 0-7 and 0-4.

United sophomore Luke Courtney hauled in a 55-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game, had a first-quarter interception defensively on a fake punt and closed out the first half with a school-record 44-yard field goal with room to spare.

The Eagles used three quarterbacks on their opening three drives freshman Parker Newburn, sophomore Andrew Ogilvie and junior Grant Knight and substituted frequently in the first quarter.

United scored on two of its first five offensive plays on Newburns 55-yard pass to Courtney and Ogilvies 46-yard touchdown pass to Brock Rhodes as the Eagles had 118 total yards right out of the gate.

In between, a snap went over the East Palestine punters head and Nick Hardgrove forced a safety to help give the Eagles a 16-0 lead with 9:12 left in the first quarter.

East Palestine drove 79 yards in nine plays to the United 1-yard line, but was stopped on downs after three clutch tackles by Daniel McCracken.

The Bulldogs held on downs on their own 20-yard line and marched down the field in seven plays including an Owen Jurjavcic 11-yard pass to Shane Richardson on fourth-and-10 to set up Jesse Lipps 43-yard touchdown run.

Lipp had a fine first half with 122 yards on 13 carries.

East Palestines Timmy Buskirk recovered a United fumble on the next play and the Eagles brought their first-team defense back onto the game.

Three plays later, Knight returned an interception 55 yards for a score and a 23-6 Eagle lead with 6:51 to play in the first half.

United junior Cody Cope scored on a 9-yard run at the 1:56 mark.

Two plays later, Hardgrove had an interception at the East Palestine 38 to set up Courtneys school-record 44-yard field goal as the first half expired.

In the second half, Knight added a 40-yard touchdown run and freshman Chance Cope collected a 5-yard scoring run.

Game notes

United had 201 yards on 22 plays in the first half. Seven different players ran the ball.

The Bulldogs had 164 yards in the first half on 36 plays most coming on Lipps 122 yards on 13 carries and a 25-yard run by Tyler Bistarkey.

Before the game, Emily McKarns was crowned Uniteds homecoming queen and Angus Cope the king.

East Palestine has lost 10 games in a row and 27 of their last 28.

Both teams return to league play Friday as United visits Wellsville and East Palestine hosts Columbiana.

EAST PALESTINE: 6- 612

UNITED: 33-1447

SCORING

ULuke Courtney 55 pass from Parker Newburn (Luke Courtney kick)

USafety, Nick Hardgrove tackled punter in end zone

UBrock Rhodes 46 pass from Andrew Ogilvie (Luke Courtney kick)

EPJesse Lipp 43 run (pass failed)

UGrant Knight 55 interception return (Luke Courtney kick)

UCody Cope 9 run (Luke Courtney kick)

ULuke Courtney 44 field goal

UGrant Knight 40 run (Luke Courtney kick)

UChance Cope 5 run (Luke Courtney kick)

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United gets to Palestine right from the start - Morning Journal News

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

It is important for those working for Palestine, whether they are inside or outside Palestine, to remember that they are working for a major central cause, and that this means that progress is achieved slowly and is dependent on a cumulative struggle to which everyone contributes, and is not based on individual or intermittent work. Therefore, we must not await the results because many of those who work for Palestine do not realise or feel any results.

Perhaps a generation or two of fighters for Palestine will see no results, and will not liberate a single inch of Palestinian land, but this does not mean that the achievements have stopped or that these generations live, struggle and die in vain. Rather, what has been achieved would not have been achieved without the sacrifices of past generations and their struggle for the same cause.

The Palestinian national project is like a huge building, and everyone who struggles for it puts an additional brick or stone on this building, but many builders may die before the building is complete and before they get taste living the life they worked for. This is the circle of life that does not change, as parents work to make their children happy, then the children follow in their footsteps until the flag is handed over to the following generations, and so on. In a major issue such as Palestine, it is not important to look at the results; we should not even wait for them, as they may not be achieved in our lifetime, because it is an issue bigger than everyone working for it. Moreover, waiting for the results and rushing them will lead to despair and retreat, and is not the way to achieve results.

In an issue like Palestine, it is only necessary to verify the correctness of the tracks, not to wait and rush the results, that is, to ensure that the correct path is adopted. It is not important to know when we will arrive to the end. This important theory applies to the "freedom tunnel" operation that occupied the minds of some of those in despair and frustrated, as they discussed whether it was an achievement or not, especially after the occupation forces re-arrested the six prisoners who liberated themselves from Gilboa Prison through the tunnel in an operation that astonished the world. The reality of the situation is that this operation was not originally expected to end in achieving freedom for the six prisoners or for others, as it was expected that they would be re-arrested or assassinated because all of Palestine is under occupation, meaning they are in a large prison with no escape. This ultimately confirms that they were the first to realise that the tunnel that took a year to dig, was not their path to freedom, but rather was an act of struggle added to the other struggles by the prisoner movement.

READ: Palestinian economy crippled by virus, Israeli occupation in 2020: UN

In the struggle concept, the prisoners were able to achieve what they wanted, by digging the tunnel and escaping from the Israeli prison. They took a step forward in their struggle project, and that is enough for them. In the same concept, everyone who works for Palestine and believes that it is a central and major issue and they must do what they can in their journey without thinking of the results or the question: When will we arrive? Some of the smaller workers in the Palestinian cause and other causes cannot feel their impact, and in many instances, what they do goes to waste. Despite this, there is a purpose for what they did, which is for them to feel that they have fulfilled their duty and did what should be done.

The most important conclusion here is that those working for Palestine should not await the results or victories and should not expect that Palestine will have a date with freedom next year. They must not expect that the occupation will end in 2022 because although all of this can happen, no one can predict when and therefore awaiting the results and rushing them is the path to desperation and frustration, not achievement and work. What is required by all of the workers is to continue their struggle until the flag is handed over to those after them, and nothing else.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 27 September 2021

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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We must work for Palestine, but should not await the results - Middle East Monitor

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

Now free, the feminist lawmakers heart aches for her late daughter and other Palestinian women who remain imprisoned.

After her release from an Israeli jail, Palestinian parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar is overcome with feelings a lot, but none those are joy. In her 58 years, most spent as a political, humanitarian and civil society leader, shes been detained multiple times, but this time she admits, it was particularly challenging, harder.

Jarrars 31-year-old daughter Suha, also a human rights activist, suddenly passed away from cardiac arrest in July in Ramallah, and Israeli authorities didnt allow her to attend the funeral.

I had mixed feelings, that I really wanted to run to her, now that I'm free, Jarrar told TRT World after her release. But at the same time, I was really sad that Suha wasnt waiting for me this time.

Her latest arrest came in October 2019, when the Israeli army knocked on her door just a few months after she was released from her previous detention that lasted 20 months. Held without trial or charges several times in the past, Jarrar was sentenced to two years for being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) since leftist political group including both a political party and an armed wing since 2006. Israel, the United States and other Western countries list the organisation as a terror group.

Jarrar was elected as a member of the now-defunct Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) that same year and was appointed to the Palestinian National Council (PNC). Her work mainly focused on community organising, and issues surrounding social change and former prisoners.

Israeli authorities could not find any evidence of Jarrars personal involvement with organizational or military aspects of the organisation.

More than 400 organisations are labelled as hostile, or terrorist by Israel. Besides PFLP, all major Palestinian political parties, including the ruling Fatah party, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as well as some charitable organisations, and media outlets are included in the designation list.

Practically, this means that any political activity or activism within Palestine in relation to these designated organisations can lead to criminal charges by Israel. In Jarrars case, her ever changing indictments on several counts each time involved charges such as attending a book fair, and visiting a former prisoner.

Jarrars first arrest was in 1989, less than a year after her second daughter Suha was born - for participating in International Womens Day protests. Her husband of over 40 years, Ghassan, a children's toys and furniture manufacturer, then was already behind bars, where he would stay for 11 years in total. Growing up, Jarrars two daughters have seen both of their parents being arrested and released over and over again, and in their adulthood, they too, became activists.

Leaving the prison, the first thing Jarrar did was head to the cemetery in Ramallah, where she was only allowed to send flowers and a kiss from prison to say goodbye to Suha. As Ghassan held her tight, she hugged her daughters tombstone and shed tears before making any political statements.

Over the years, Jarrar was able to attract immense international support and media attention with her resilient stance. But she isnt apologetic about prioritising her mourning.

Were human beings...and were not ashamed of crying, Jarrar recalls explaining herself during the funeral. For her, embracing and showing us what makes her human is a testament to being a humanitarian.

The occupation doesnt realise that we are human beings, she says. It doesn't treat us in a humanitarian way.

The women that were left behind

While mourning, the next priority for Jarrar was the freedom of around 40 Palestinian women who are still held behind bars. Freedom is a basic human need,'' Jarrar repeated several times over the phone.

What women prisoners need (first and foremost) is only to be free -- out of the prison, she said. I hope my people will be free from occupation, too.

The lawmaker was advocating for Palestinian women and was drawn closer to womens rights when she was imprisoned in 2015 and she collected stories of other Palestinian women in prison. She taught them English, and assisted efforts to revive the old Palestinian prisoners tradition to educate themselves while in prison.

At that point, Jarrar was the only woman who was under what Israel calls administrative detention -- a controversial Israeli policy that allows suspects to be held without charges or trial for renewable six-month periods that often turns to lengthy detentions with the approval of military courts. By international law, its only allowed when under emergency and only if there is a fair hearing where the suspect can challenge the court.

There are no specific charges against her except that she was elected to the Legislative Council on a list that Israel rejects, her husband Ghassan said. It is a political persecution.

There are around 4,850 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 520 administrative detainees and at least 220 children.

Not being with her daughter in her final moments was only the most recent consequence of the lawmakers advocacy. After attending a Human Rights Defenders' Summit in Paris in 1988, Israel banned her from travelling outside of the occupied Palestinian territories.

"I belong to my people, who are under occupation. Whatever I have done in the past and will do in the future, is for them," she says, with no regrets.

I will continue my work for the freedom of my people and against the injustice around the world.

Source: TRT World

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Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar is free again, and not ashamed of crying - TRT World

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

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Tom Anderson is a member of Shoal Collective and was involved in the production of the book highlighted in this article.

A new book edited by writers cooperative Shoal Collective brings together ten interviews with radical Palestinian women.

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The aim of the book according to its editors is to give readers a three-dimensional and intersectional understanding of the Palestinian struggle. According to Shoal Collective:

The idea for this book came out of a concern that solidarity movements have a tendency only to engage with Palestinians about their fight against the Israeli occupation. Sometimes this can be a barrier to seeing them as fellow revolutionaries, and as comrades in our intersecting struggles for a better world and against authoritarianism, white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism and state control.

The editors hope that: the breadth of topics covered in the interviews will help people outside Palestine to understand the Palestinian struggle in a three-dimensional way, and to see Palestinian radicals as allies in our global struggles for freedom.

The interviews describe how the women have been politicised by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and how the situation left little option to them but to be radical.

According to Lina Nabulsy, one of the women interviewed:

I just woke up one day and there was an occupation, there were soldiers on the streets. I grew up with the occupation. My mum tried to protect us, me and my sisters, to make sure that we didnt get into politics, but it didnt work.

She continued:

During the [Second] Intifada I went to throw rocks at the Israeli soldiers. But I was never a good aim and I ended up hitting the shebab [the other demonstrators]. So instead I helped by carrying buckets of rocks to the frontlines.

The Second Intifada was the Palestinian popular uprising against Israels military occupation which began in 2000.

Sireen Khudairy another of the women interviewed describes her realisation of the reality of life under Israeli occupation when she visited the Jordan Valley for the first time. The majority of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley are forbidden by the occupation to build anything including houses and schools and many are unable to connect their communities to water or electricity:

[When I was young] I went to visit a relative in Al-Maleh in the north of the Jordan Valley. It was the first time I had been there. I returned home feeling totally sick. The people in Al-Maleh didnt have water or electricity. They lived in a very bad situation. After that, I started to ask my father more about the situation in the Jordan Valley. I was thirteen years old then.

Khudairy describes organising a demonstration when she was a teenager after a friends brother was shot dead by Israeli soldiers:

When I was fifteen years old, me and my friend led a demonstration. She had received a note from a friend of hers during class saying that her brother had just been killed. The teachers tried to calm her and say that she couldnt be certain it was true, but we ignored the teachers and left the class. We went and asked other students if they wanted to come and protest with us.

Shahd Abusalama who was born in Gaza but now lives in the UK describes how her experiences, and the experiences of other Palestinians, mean that struggle is a way of life. Here she comments on how people in the UK use the term activism:

This activism is a funny term for me, because we [Palestinians] are born into a complex situation and activism what people call activism is almost a way of life for us. I was born into a politically active family. My dad was an activist and he spent a total of 15 years in Israeli jails for his membership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [a revolutionary socialist political party, historically part of the Arab Nationalist Movement and later the Palestine Liberation Organisation]. All of these political parties are considered terrorists under the Israeli occupation. All my family really men and women were to some extent actively engaged in what was happening, but it was really a way of life, a way to overcome our feelings of helplessness.

Some of the women interviewed critique the increasing authoritarianism of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA was created during the 1990s Oslo Agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, and has always been dominated by the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). When Hamas won the 2006 elections, Fatah was unwilling to let go of power, and violent fighting ensued. Now, the West Bank is controlled by Fatah backed up by the US and EU while Gaza is controlled by Hamas. No presidential or parliamentary elections have taken place in Palestine since 2006.

A recent poll showed that 80% of Palestinians surveyed wanted to see Mahmoud Abbas the PAs president resign.

According to Nabulsy:

There are no elections, so we dont have any form of choice. The last election was in 2006

She continued:

Many people outside of Palestine still think that the Embassy represents us. But there is no such thing as the Palestine Liberation Organisation any more. Its institutions have collapsed. The PA is more destructive for the struggle right now than anything else.

Nabulsy describes her realisation that the PA security forces were working on behalf of the occupation:

I realised that police were getting trained to fight against their own people. Soldiers were getting trained in protest dispersal. Our security forces were getting trained by Americans and Europeans.

Nabulsy goes on to describe how after the Arab Spring rebellions across the Middle East and North Africa Palestinian women took part in the movement for a new society in Palestine. She said:

The revolutions happening in the Arab world awakened the desire in Palestine to stand up and shout. Palestinian women felt that this was our time to scream too.

She goes on:

We started having debates as activists what kind of liberation do we want? If this is what I am going to get then I dont want it. I dont want to fight for another capitalist form of a colony. I dont want the democracy that theyre talking about. I dont want an Arab state like Egypt. I dont want to live in a place where Im not free as a woman. We started to ask a lot of questions like this. Its not just about ending the occupation. Its much more global than that.

She describes her first-hand experience of the PAs repression of protests against them since the Arab Spring, and of the PAs collaboration with Israeli security forces:

Here in Ramallah the protests got crushed by the PA. They targeted us and went after us individually, isolating us from each other. There was coordination between the Palestinian and Israeli security forces to get activists. [Later on] my friend Basil Al Araj was tortured by the PA, and then released so that the Israelis could assassinate him.

Nabulsy goes on:

Female activists involved in the movement were branded as whores on the streets of the headquarters of the president.

When I was arrested and taken into custody by the PA I saw people bleeding, being tortured. You get tortured first in the Palestinian prisons, and then your forced confessions get used by the Israelis.

Similarly, Khudairy describes her experience of arrest by PA forces. She was being harassed because of her work with anti-occupation group Jordan Valley Solidarity:

The Palestinian Authority detained me for a day in December 2013, and psychologically they treated me worse than the Israelis. Or maybe it just felt worse because I felt that they should be my people. They were talking to me like I was an enemy, saying that they had a peace agreement with Israel, and that I should respect this agreement.

Another theme running through the interviews is how Palestinian society is affected by international funding. According to Nabulsy:

European funding has destroyed the essence of the Palestinian grassroots. We used to have Popular Committees that would cooperate with each other. We didnt rely on the mercy of America and Europe. But now we are slaves to government funding.

She goes on:

The funders dont deal with the occupation. For example, they talk about the problem of water but they work around the occupation and they wont talk about the core problem, which is that Israel steals our water.

The EU gives caravans to the people of the Jordan Valley, and then when the Israelis come and bulldoze them there is no political will to do anything about it. Fuck them and their caravans!

Ghada Hamdan another of the interviewees tells a similar story:

[In Palestine] Working for an NGO is considered to be a good middle class job. But if these NGOs are dependent on Western funds, your project starts to depend on the agendas of Western NGOs, as its them that make the decisions about what they will fund. They will make you sign papers about who you can collaborate with. They say that you cant collaborate with terrorists: people they define as Hamas, someone who was in prison, someone who threw rocks at the Israeli army. A terrorist for them could be a freedom fighter for us.

The interviewees take their inspiration not from states but from peoples movements worldwide:

According to Palestinian artist Izdihar Afyouni:

As a Palestinian, I am forever indebted to Black revolutionary thought to form my discursive political frameworks. The first revolutionary text I read was Assata Shakurs autobiography. That was the text that led me to the works of other Black Panthers, like Malcolm X, who was a vocal anti-Zionist and stood firmly in support of Palestinian liberation and against American funding of the settler-colonial project. Angela Daviss text, Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement, is an incredibly urgent rallying call for cross-border solidarity in the face of institutionalised racism and state violence.

Abusalama says:

I feel strong affinity with the Irish, Black, Kashmiri and Kurdish struggles, for example. I think for us this kind of reaction is a matter of survival; it reminds us that we are not struggling alone. Its almost an attempt to reclaim our humanity in an immensely dehumanising situation.

Several of the women talk about how preserving Palestines cultural heritage is a form of resistance.

According to Abusalama:

Im looking from a distance now, and I realise how so many elements in our [Palestinian] culture are basically founded on community and communal solidarity you see this in a lot of things. You see this, for example, in the folk dance of Palestine in Dabke, and how people enact it. In funerals and festivals of freedom and things like that. And peoples compassion with each other I would say that capitalism still failed to make people centred on themselves in Palestine because of this collective experience and this sense of community as well.

Abusalama goes on:

The narrative of resistance is embodied in the songs, the way our bodies move and the way people come together, holding hands and dancing together, theres a lot of beauty to it.

Khudairy also emphasises the importance of traditional Palestinian culture in maintaining the spirit of resistance in Palestine. Shes established a womens centre in Bethlehems Dheisheh refugee camp called Dar Siti, or My grandmothers house:

[Dar Siti] will be a place for friends to stay, for studying, and a meeting place. Dar Siti will be based on the grandmother style of living,with the traditional style of sitting on the floor. And cooking in the way that our grandmothers cooked. We want to reclaim our old culture, the old ways of living. Dar Siti will be a place for activists and artists, to be more close to the community, to talk to them, and to build their work together.

The women of Dheisheh are organising social activities for the families of prisoners and martyred people, and [theyre also organising] protests to support prisoners. We all try to sit and talk together about our different situations. Thats really important. Womens organising is very strong in Dheisheh now.

According to Mona Al-Farra, speaking from the besieged Gaza Strip:

What [the Israelis] are trying to do in Gaza is a new kind of genocide. Part of that genocide is that they want to destroy our culture, our heritage. Me and my comrades, we want to keep the Palestinian identity alive, and not to allow them to crush us with their boots.

The women interviewed were all strongly in support of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli apartheid and colonisation

According to Ghada Hamdan:

I support the boycott movement, especially to influence the people abroad. Israel wants international support and to be able to do business abroad. If Israel feels excluded and alone,and no-one wants to do business with them, then they will start reconsidering what theyre doing.

Mona Al-Farra comments:

Id like to mention something before I forget. And that is that the BDS movement has done very well. I work within the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) to encourage people here in Gaza, in hospitals and medical facilities to boycott Israeli companies and we succeeded a great deal.

And Abusalama argues:

The BDS [campaign] is very, very powerful; its growing. The fact that Israel is delegating a whole ministry to combat the BDS The Strategic Affairs Ministry [an Israeli government ministry established to counter the success of the BDS movement], this signifies how threatened and insecure they are.

Shoal Collective asked Nabulsy what sort of liberation she would like to see. She said:

For Palestine, and all around the world I would like to see a place where were allowed to live life. I want a completely different world. I want liberation. A world where respect is returned to humanity in all forms and colours.

She concluded:

If we die in the process of fighting for this world, then at least we have died fighting the good fight. The moment we stop believing we can get to this utopia then we dont have anything left to fight for. Why would you take another breath if you didnt believe anything can change?

Featured image via Shoal Collective / Active Stills (with permission)

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A new book brings together ten interviews with radical Palestinian women - The Canary

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Posted By admin on October 2, 2021

New Palestines Elliott Canova has his eye on the ball after a corner kick at New Palestine High School on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. Canova headed the ball away from Pendletons Warner Sims. (Richard Sitler/Daily Reporter)

NEW PALESTINE A year ago, his first as the teams head coach, New Palestines Brett Canova said his club was going into the season focusing more on team culture than wins and losses.

He was just being realistic about a young Dragon team coming off a 3-13-1 campaign.

That was exactly the case in 2020, New Palestine finished 2-13 and 1-6, and in last place for the second straight year, in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.

Fast forward to Thursday night at New Palestine High School.

Sophomore Elliott Canova one of two sons of the coach playing on the team scored a goal five minutes into the second half, his second of the night, to give the Dragons a 2-1 lead over Pendleton Heights. It was a lead they held the rest of the game on their way to a share of the HHC title.

Hard work and dedication, Elliott Canova said on the teams turnaround. I think a lot of teams thought, Its just New Pal. Well run em out. We came out and outworked them. We worked as a team and never lost hope. Weve went from worst to first. What can I say, thats pretty cool.

The sophomore scored both Dragon goals. He evened the match 1-1 midway through the first half.

On a breakaway, assisted by sophomore Andon Colclazier who had just entered the game, Canova scored with 20:05 remaining in the opening period.

Senior Ethan Windham got the assist on the second-half, game-winner. He was one of seven recognized on senior night, in a ceremony prior to the varsity kickoff.

Along with Windham, one of the clubs tri-captains, the group included captains Samuel Bacon and Garrett Canova as well as Zachery Smith, Eli Kleine, Josh Lambdin and Juan Camacho.

Coach Canova said that senior group was the key to his club going from cellar dwellers to co-conference champions.

Its our seniors, Brett Canova said. Not that the others have been bad, but they have been the class of the program since they got here. Theyve led the way. Their work ethic and everything theyre doing, I appreciate it. I love it.

The young guys are following suit.

New Palestine will finish conference play 5-2, sharing the title with three other teams, including Pendleton Heights, Yorktown and Greenfield-Central. The Cougars got a part of the crown with a win Thursday over New Castle.

We won the ball in the midfield and I looked up and saw Elliott making a good run and he seemed to be open, Windham said of the game-winner.

At practice (the seniors) try to push everyone to be the best they can be, he added on how the team has shown such a huge improvement. Im proud of everybody from the freshmen to the JV, who has improved as well, not just the varsity. Its a team effort of dedication.

The Dragons are 7-9 overall.

Pendleton Heights came in with a chance to be outright conference champions.

Early it appeared they had no plan on sharing the title.

Less than three minutes into the game the tandem of juniors Cole Bubalo and Kam Kail, as they have multiple times this season, hooked up to get the visitors on the board.

At the 37:33 mark, Kail scored his 15th goal of the season, assisted by Bubalo, his ninth helper.

They would have other opportunities but could not get anything by New Palestine goalkeeper Blake Bobrow.

The boys did what we asked them to. We wanted them to come out strong. We knew it was their Senior Night, Pendleton Heights coach Kyle Davy said. We put a goal away in the first five minutes and were hoping to take over the game. Our guys did a great job of coming out strong, but then we just got too comfortable and sat back and let them control the game.

Weve given up goals this year and weve never folded, coach Canova said. Weve battled and battled and battled. We calmed down. The game changed and we went forward and when we got opportunities we sealed them.

A four-way tie for the conference championship showed how close the HHC has been all season.

Coming into Thursdays matchup, the Arabians had won their last two games over Mt. Vernon and Shelbyville on penalty kicks. Their lone loss, prior to losing to the Dragons, was against Yorktown.

New Pals losses were to Yorktown and Greenfield-Central. G-C dropped contests to Pendleton Heights and Yorktown, while the Tigers losses were to Mt. Vernon and Delta.

The Marauders finished just one game behind the co-champions with a 4-3 HHC record.

Shelbyville was the defending HHC champion. New Palestine is champion for the first time since 2015. Pendleton Heights won the league in 2014. Greenfield-Central won the HHC in 2019.

I never thought coming into this season we would win a championship, coach Canova said. Midway through the season all of a sudden we started playing well. The Mt. Vernon game we put it together. The boys have just been resilient and smart. They play with heart. Its senior night and they got the job done.

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Worst to First: Dragons soccer team gets share of HHC title - Greenfield Daily Reporter

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