Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

The new leader of The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has announced that the church is yet to commence services because it is waiting to led by God to do so.

This is coming one and a half years after the outbreak of COVID-19 which led to the restrictions of public gatherings.

Mrs. Evelyn T. B Joshua stated on Sunday that although members and leaders are eager to begin services, we have to first hear from the Lord and be guided by the revelations from the holy spirit before we can begin service.

We are getting ready and even yearning to start Services but we cannot go outside the will of God whose directive is what we shall continue to uphold, live and work on.

Present at the briefing were head of Environment department, Engr. Niyi Jegede, members of Finance department, Messrs Tunde olanipekun, and Abraham Showumi and chairman of Welfare department, Mr. Kola kareem among other prominent members.

She stated that before the demise of the founder of SCOAN, SCOAN was yet to start services unlike other churches and that the peculiarity of the church where foreigners are all eager to be present amidst the world health crisis even right now have always been put into consideration.

Her words: We have no fear whatsoever but dont forget a good Christian must also be a good citizen. We have continued to pray for Gods mercy for our nation and the world.

Besides, I am still mourning the passing of my husband. When the morning time is over and most importantly when the Lord intimates us to begin, we shall move swiftly in Gods grace. Be assured that Gods mercy endures and by His grace SCOAN shall come out stronger.

Speaking on plans to reopen for service, a member representing SCOAN legal department, Mr. James Akhigbe, revealed that various committees have been set up to ensure that there is smooth service in compliance with the Presidential Steering committee recommendations on COVID-19 protocol and the leadership is also waiting for the leading of the holy spirit.

Very soon the church will commence service but we dont do things based on human emotions, We dont conduct the affairs of SCOAN to please people but we embark on project because we have heard from God. We are very hopeful that God will give us the green light. Meanwhile, we can not say tomorrow because you cannot dictate to the holy spirit, he said.

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TB Joshua's widow: Why we are yet to begin services at Synagogue - Daily Trust

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

My husband asks me the same question each time I arrive about an hour after him to synagogue on Saturday mornings: How was it this morning?

The question is innocent enough. He wants to receive a general update on our mornings activities. Of course, I could meet his innocent question with a generous and satisfying reply: Good! My answer is to sigh and focus on my siddur. I take in the Hebrew letters: dependable, unmoving, unchanging. I need their earthbound pull, the heaviness of ancient time, to steady a morning filled with the dizzying motion of my children spinning in their own vortexes and striking out at one another every so often, just for the fun of it.

Why do you guys fight all the time? I asked Yael one Saturday morning. She looked at me with the grin of a preteen slightly supersized on her young face. Because its fun.

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Why cant a good old game of solitaire or reading a book be considered fun activities for my three kids?

Our home can be a pressure cooker. On Saturday mornings when we all begin to rattle, we just barely manage to zip, button, and lace ourselves up and head outside for the 10-minute walk to meet Leon, who has been at synagogue since its doors opened earlier that morning.

Here, in this sacred space, surrounded by white walls, smooth floors, and the friendly hum of prayers, the pressure is released and my childrens energies simmer. There is space and light, and there are other children to play with.

Sometimes we get there late, just in time for the end of the service. On one such occasion, as members began to clear their chairs and prayer books, I clutched mine tightly. I needed to pray. And as my children and husband joined their friends at kiddush in the main hall, I left them and the general grown-up chatter and made my way to the back of the synagogue space. I found a quiet spot near the door that opened onto the green foliage of early autumn. I stayed put, the words and letters drawing me in.

Instead of taking the words apart, I remembered theologian Henri Nouwen writing, we should bring them together in our innermost being... We should wonder which words are spoken directly to us and connect directly with our most personal story. My eyes were pulled to the word ahava (love), which begins the prayer Ahava Raba (A Great Love). In the prayer book, this prayer immediately precedes the Shema, Judaisms central declaration of faith. I started to play with the word in my mouth and was struck by the vowels: A-Ha-V-Aaaaaaaahhhhh. There is so much breath in that word. Its a word that both starts and ends with ah. In the middle there is a v sound, vet. When you add a dot in the middle, the letter becomes bet. Bet... as in Bereishit, the first word of the Hebrew Bible: In the beginning . . .

Over the span of that morning, I had sounded the first vowel Ah! with exasperation and was waiting for the ahhhhhhh, the moment of release. In the middle, bet, a new beginning, brought on by the prayer that entered me. The words ahava raba opened within me a new awareness, as if to say, This Great Love of yours can hold everything. It can hold the aaarrrgghhh of the childrens bickering and the ahhhhh of tenderness too. It can hold the frustration and the release.

This prayer reminded me that even though I can shift quickly between frustration and release, I need to pay attention to the bet. At the climax of the transition if I listen is the chance for a new beginning.

Kiddush had ended; my prayer time was concluded. I took this insight, this new perspective, with me as I gathered up my children and we headed home into the autumn air.

I invite you to pray to pause and gain new perspective by linking your personal story with an ancient one. My prayer space is often a synagogue, but your prayer space might be a mosque or a church. It might be the edge of your living room carpet, beneath a great tree in your backyard, or in your car before you go to work.

I pray because my soul needs a home a place in which to simplify complexities, in which to call for help without being a coward. Such a home, Heschel states, is prayer. How can prayer help us whenever we feel that we need to gather up our innermost selves, when we dont know what to do? Instead of seeking answers on our Facebook feed, we could incorporate into our routine the simple act of stopping our mad rush, offering a simple question in prayer What now? This moment can often untangle the knot of worry that is wound tightly around us.

When I pray, I step into a different dimension, an internal quiet Ayeka time par excellence. In this dimension, I dont feel obligated to answer the question, What am I supposed to be doing now? Prayer involves a different kind of probing. Prayer shifts the focus from doing to affirming. When I pause and return to my breath, or use ancient words to call out, I can connect to something far more essential the knowledge that I have the internal resources to move through what I am experiencing. In fact, we all do.

No matter what our faith tradition, the opportunity for quiet meditation is ever-present. Whether they are words from the Gospels, the Koran, or our own heart, the practice of regular prayer opens a channel to connect to a spiritual life that can simultaneously elevate and ground us.

The traditional Jewish prayer book is filled with words. More and more words have been added over the centuries to this repository of generations of Jews who yearned for a connection to the beyond. These time-worn words of the prayer book can open doors within us. When I utter them, I sink a bit deeper into my experience and feel something within me expand.

I chant the words.I meditate on them.I internalize them.I try to live them.

This meditative ritual, through its sustained repetition, powerfully reminds me what it is I yearn for.

When was the last time you felt the impulse to pray? What were the circumstances of your life at that time?

What word or phrase, if repeated over and over as a mantra, would give you calm, perspective, and a sense of direction?

Start saying that word, phrase, or mantra, and be open to its impact on you.

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Becoming a Soulful Parent: A path to the wisdom within - book review - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

Defense attorneys for the man charged in connection with the killing of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill have said that they will forego a review of hundreds of pieces of physical evidence in the case to protect the health and safety of themselves and their family from covid-19.

In a Sept. 10 letter, attorneys for Robert Bowers reiterated their request to prosecutors to delay the evidence review with the FBI until November, with the hope that the number of cases of the virus will have decreased significantly or, so that children or other family members could get vaccinated or booster shots.

Your opposition to our request to postpone the review until November, and Judge [Donetta] Ambroses apparent reliance on your opposition in denying our motion, has forced us to choose between Mr. Bowers right to have counsel inspect the physical evidence at this time and our own and our families health and safety, the letter said. We felt compelled to choose the latter.

At a status conference on Tuesday, federal prosecutors asked the court to conduct a colloquy with Bowers to ensure he knows his attorneys are choosing not to review the evidence against him.

The defense in the future could allege he had no idea his counsel took this position, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti.

He called the defense argument of having to choose between their health and safety and a need to review the evidence a false dichotomy.

Bowers is charged in federal court with killing 11 people from three congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Oct. 27, 2018.

Ambrose said she would consider whether questioning Bowers on the issue of the evidence review is necessary. If so, she continued, that could be accomplished at a suppression hearing scheduled for Oct. 12.

The letter attached to your motion did set up that dichotomy the choice between his right to review the evidence and their health perhaps dramatically, Ambrose said.

The two sides have been discussing and arguing about the physical evidence review for nearly two years.

An initial evidence review was conducted on Feb. 25, 2020, according to court documents, and was to continue into the next day.

However, less than two hours in to the second day, the defense ended its review abruptly asserting that their decision was based on unspecified defense strategy and deliberations, and stating that they would return at an unspecified time in the coming months, the prosecution said.

The government wrote in a court filing that the refusal to continue the review was unreasonable and that it appeared to be part of the defenses ongoing apparent strategy of unreasonable demands and intentional delay.

However, the defense said in a letter the same day that it ended the review so that they could resume at a later time when they could be more efficient and effective.

It is far more efficient to look at these remaining items after were able to make better sense of the source of many of these items, identified items we may want to see a second time, and after weve been able to get answers to some lingering questions, they wrote.

In the same letter, the defense noted that the restrictions on the in-person, physical evidence review were more cumbersome than theyd experienced before.

Among those restrictions, according to a letter by the defense, Bowers attorneys were not permitted to have a camera to take pictures of the items of evidence; were limited to having a single laptop computer with disabled video and audio recording capability; were provided only one item of evidence at a time and were prohibited from having any cell phones.

In addition, armed FBI agents remained in the room at all times, and two prosecutors remained, as well, taking notes.

Remaining items still to be reviewed, the defense said, include packets of bullets and DNA-related items.

In July, Ambrose ordered the parties to set dates for the second evidence review, writing that she expected it to be completed by the end of September.

However, the defense asked for a delay because of the rising infection rates of covid. Bowers attorneys asked that the governments prosecutors not be permitted in the room and that any FBI agents that are present not be involved in the case.

The prosecution objected, noting events that occurred during the first evidence review.

According to court filings, during the Feb. 25, 2020, review, a member of the defense team asked if they could handle a Glock firearm that was evidence in the case, and the FBI gave permission.

After lifting the weapon from the display table, the firearm fell or was dropped back on to the table with considerable force, although no visible damage was apparent, the government wrote.

In addition, while inspecting a Garmin device in evidence, a member of the defense inadvertently powered it on, prosecutors said. A similar situation arose with the handling of a camera.

In a court filing, the government argued that what happened demonstrates the need to having members of the prosecution team present during the review.

In just one day, one item of evidence was powered on, another possibly nearly powered on by a member of the defense team, and a firearm was dropped/fell with force onto the evidence examination table while being held by a member of the defense team, they wrote. Were those occurrences not witnessed and permissibly shared among the prosecution team, any alteration or damage to those evidence items would have been unknown to the agents and prosecutors who would later attest to the condition of the trial evidence.

The government said the defenses request is unfathomable.

Such a result is untenable and irresponsible.

On Sept. 9, Ambrose issued an order granting the defense request to keep prosecutors out of the evidence review. But it also denied the request relative to having unrelated FBI agents attend. The parties also agreed to allow the defense to take in one camera.

That same day, the judge denied the defense request to push the evidence review back to November.

At last weeks status conference, defense attorney Elisa Long said that it is their right to look at all, some or none of the evidence, and that their discussions with Bowers about that are not the business of the prosecution or the court.

Ambrose agreed.

There is no way to compel the defense to review the evidence, the judge said. But, at some point, there will be no more time. Its very important to get this case moving.

Repeatedly throughout the case, the prosecution has accused the defense of delay tactics assertions repeated this week.

Rivetti told Ambrose during the status conference that the governments witnesses, the victims and the families of those killed deserve to know when the case will move forward.

They all need a sense of when do we see this case getting to trial, he said.

Paula Reed Ward is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paula by email at pward@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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Federal prosecutors, defense spar over evidence review in Tree of Life case - TribLIVE

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

A web hosting company that has provided services to several controversial right-wing websites has confirmed that it has been hacked. CNN and The Washington Post report that the information has been made public by hacking collective Anonymous.

CNN and The Post report that 150 gigabytes of previously private data have been made public. Experts believe that the massive hack could shed more light on the far-right groups that attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and or advocate for violence against certain racial and ethnic groups.

The hosting company, Epik, has made a name for itself by providing web hosting capabilities to far-right groups who have been kicked offline by other companies who refuse to host their hateful content.

In recent years, Epik has provided hosting services to 8chan (a website that hosted the racist manifesto of a gunman who killed 51 people at a mosque shooting in New Zealand), Gab (a social media site that hosted the antisemitic rants of the Pittsburgh synagogue gunman) and Parler (an app on which some users coordinated the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol).

Epik was also in the news earlier this month for providing hosting capabilities to the Texas Right to Life's "Abortion Whistleblower" page an online form that was ultimately removed because Epik said it violated its terms of service.

On Sept. 13, independent journalist Steven Monacelli was the first to report that the hackers had stolen the private information about Epik's clients. Days later, Epik confirmed that "certain customer information for our domain-related systems was accessed and downloaded by unauthorized third parties."

According to The Post and CNN, Anonymous has taken credit for the hack. The internet vigilantes are known for conducting political activism through cyberhacking.

The Post adds that since the hack, Epik's security protocols "have been the target of ridicule among researchers" who say the company failed to take basic security precautions.

CNN spoke to experts who said that researchers would spend "months" pouring over the now-public data. They say the hack will likely provide new insight into the far-right ecosystem and the leaders of many of the U.S.'s most prominent hate groups.

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Anonymous says it has hacked a company known for hosting controversial right-wing websites - The Denver Channel

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

Over the years, I have received countless requests from desperate parents looking for emotional and practical support in helping their seriously ill children cope with all sorts of challenges. But there was one particular phone call I received that comes back to me every year as we approach the holiday of Simhat Torah.

What should be the happiest of days of the year, is just another day of pain and frustration, the mother cried.

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Feeling her pain and knowing that her son was certainly not alone, we made the decision to create a Simhat Torah celebration that would respond to the very unique and challenging needs of these special children.

What came about was a moving and truly magnificent experience. These children were wrapped up in an environment where they didnt feel like charity cases but were among equals. No longer was there any sense of the disabled being excluded. We looked on and realized that dancing doesnt require legs; a wheelchair can bring just as much joy. The scene of the Torah strapped to a childs chest because he didnt have the muscle strength to hold it on his own is one which those in the room will take with them for the rest of their lives.

Our decision to hold this program was also inspired by a famous story told of the great hassidic master Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov.

The evening of Simhat Torah came and the entire congregation had assembled for the service. The townspeople were gathered in the synagogue and were ready to begin the evening prayers but they couldnt find their rebbe. A search party went out until they found him dancing with a disabled child in the childs home.

As they entered the room, they asked him what he was doing there as opposed to being in the synagogue with all his followers? He explained that he had seen the childs parents go off to the shul leaving the child behind. If there was one place where I could be sure to find God on this holiest of days it would be here dancing alongside this special boy.

Sadly, our experience, and that of the hassidic master, represents more of an exception to the rule. For as much as we strive to accomplish as a community in caring for the needs of the disabled within religious settings, the reality is that there is so much more to be done.

We must first begin by changing our perspective. While these children are classically defined as disabled, perhaps thats not the proper term. Rather they are differently abled.

They dont deserve to be treated with pity but rather we need to find ways to include them.

From the many years of working with this community, I also know that they dont want to be accommodated. They dont want to feel that we are being inconvenienced by our efforts to help them. Rather, we need to understand that by including them we are not just helping these children, but rather we are simply doing what is right which is to treat every child (and every adult) who is facing challenges as equals. I admit that might not be easy because we know they sometimes require additional attention or physical accessibility. But they are no less deserving of being included than each and every one of us who is blessed with good health, mobility or whatever other manifestations distinguish between the enabled and the so-called disabled.

Simhat Torah is both a time of celebration and renewal as we mark the beginning of the next Torah cycle.

But it demands also to be a time of renewal in how we relate to all in our community. Let us internalize the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, as well as the lesson provided to us by that special boy whose rolling along the floor was as holy as any dancing we would ever witness. For even if we dance differently, we should always dance together, and in so doing we will always find a way to celebrate and live together.

Link:

On Simhat Torah, a call for inclusion - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

The Jewish Club is pleased to invite members of the Notre Dame community to celebrate Sukkot with us this weekend! Sukkot is a seven-day harvest festival in Judaism and marks the end of the agricultural year in the Land of Israel, the ancestral and religious home of the Jewish people. The holiday is a time of celebration and praise of G-d for a good harvest.

An important way families and Jewish communities celebrate Sukkot is to build a sukkah in their home or synagogue. The sukkah is a booth or hut, just like ones farmers would sleep under in the fields during the harvest. The actual sukkah is a flimsy structure with three sides and a roof made out of thatch or branches. The purpose of this sturdy, yet see-through roof is to allow for shade from the sun while also being able to observe the stars at night. The sukkah is also decorated with different ornaments and trinkets to create a special, comforting atmosphere. The goal is to spend as much time as possible under the sukkah, so meals will often be eaten under it. Keeping with the theme of the harvest, Jews will hold and shake plants from the Holy Land, including palm, myrtle, lulav (willow) and etrog (citron).

Theologically, the rabbis have compared the sukkah to the huts the Israelites lived in during the 40 years of wandering the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt. Sukkot is also considered one of the three great pilgrimage festivals on the Jewish calendar. The holiday occurs during the High Holy Days, a series of significant holidays in Judaism. In fact, Sukkot follows Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and most important Jewish holiday. Synagogues may also mark the occasion of Sukkot with special prayers and activities. Festival readings are read, such as Psalms of Praise. During the Hoshana prayers, in which we ask G-d to save us, Jews will march around the synagogue holding the lulav and etrog.

To celebrate Sukkot, the Jewish Club is happy to announce that a sukkah will be built on Bond Quad! The Jewish Club will be hosting two events this weekend to mark the occasion. On Friday, Sept. 24, from 6:30-7 p.m., the Jewish Club will host a special Shabbat celebration under the sukkah. The next day, on Saturday, Sept. 25, from 3-5 p.m., well join with members of the Jewish faculty and their families to enjoy snacks and beverages in celebration of Sukkot. Both events will be on Bond Quad, but in case of rain, well gather on Saturday in the Coleman-Morse first floor lounge.

All members of the Notre Dame community are invited to participate in this celebration, whether youre Jewish or not Jewish. We hope this holiday allows for a time of reflection, peace and community-building between the variety of diverse groups who are all proud to call Notre Dame their home.

If youd like to learn more about Sukkot, check out My Jewish Learning or Chabad.org.

Sincerely,

Bella Niforatos

senior

co-president, Jewish Club of Notre Dame

Sept. 23

The views expressed in this Letter to the Editor are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

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An invitation to celebrate Sukkot - Observer Online

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

American students are taught nothing about the famous queers throughout history. All my life I was taught the Shoah but it wasnt until I was in college and saw a student production of Bent that I learned they threw queers in the gas chambers, too. Kids arent taught about Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin, Stonewall, the Plague Years. And yet Tristans 14-year-old niece knows Yas Queen because of Broad City. It feels like were getting stripped for parts and the inside is hollowing out. It honestly feels like the community that I came up in is slowly fading away.

A modern companion to Tony Kushners Angels in America in tone and scope, The Inheritance notably received the Olivier Award for its London premiere in 2018. In addition to Tonys for Best Play and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, the production won for Best Direction of a Play (Stephen Daldry) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Lois Smith).

This image released by Polk & Co. shows Kyle Soller, from left, Paul Hilton, and John Benjamin Hickey in "The Inheritance." (Matthew Murphy/Polk & Co. via AP)

Credit: Matthew Murphy

Credit: Matthew Murphy

It feels remarkable, said Monda on his second Tony win. So happy for Matthew, Stephen, Andrew and Lois.

The Youngstown native, who earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in 2012, previously won a Tony for producing the 2019 Best Musical Hadestown. He was also nominated this year for producing Jeremy O. Harris racial drama Slave Play, which will return to Broadway in November.

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Wright State grad wins Tony for producing The Inheritance - dayton.com

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

(JTA) Were it not for Rudolph Vrba and Alfrd Wexler, would the world today know the true extent of the mass murder the Nazis inflicted during the Holocaust?

The two men, both Slovak Jews who escaped from Auschwitz, secretly recorded fastidious notes about details of the death camp unknown to the outside world. These included schematics of the gas chambers, the Nazis use of the deadly chemical Zyklon-B, the number of prisoners being brought in to their deaths every day and the planned construction of a new rail line for deporting Hungarian Jews directly to the camp. The information the men smuggled out of Auschwitz formed the basis for the Vrba-Wetzler Report the first time the international community had heard of much of these horrors.

The new Slovakian film The Auschwitz Report, directed by Peter Bebjak, somewhat clunkily dramatizes Vrba and Wexlers 1944 escape and attempt to get their message to an outside world still largely ignorant of what was transpiring at the camps. This being a Holocaust film, Bebjak also spends considerable time (a full half of his 94 minutes) re-enacting the hell of the camp itself.

These early sequences Nazis beating a man to death, shooting a fathers daughter in front of him, stacking naked dead bodies like meat are stomach-churning in a familiar way, and serve as the films intent to align itself with more brutal siblings like Son of Saul rather than softer works like Life is Beautiful. Whether you find such scenes a necessary tool of the never forget philosophy will likely depend on how many Holocaust movies youve already seen, and how many more you feel like you can tolerate.

The escapees are referred to in the film as Freddy and Walter and played by Noel Czuczor and Peter Ondrejicka. In one of the movies bolder (or perhaps simply more economical) choices, there is nothing inherently heroic or special about these men. We know just as much about their backstories as we do about any of the other prisoners, which is to say, none we only meet them in Auschwitz. This helps Bebjak and his co-screenwriters, Toms Bombik and Jozef Pastka, avoid the ugly yet typical Holocaust-movie misstep of casting the survivors in a more favorable light than everyone else, as though they simply had more strength of will than the ones who didnt make it.

But this approach also has a downside. None of the Jewish prisoners in The Auschwitz Report come off as real people whose lives have value outside of their striped uniforms. In fact, the only prisoner whos given a bit of individual backstory is pointedly referred to as a Franciscan. An early fake-out scene, in which one of the protagonists imagines himself being hanged by the camps gates, is meant to shock our senses; but the prisoners are so interchangeable that it has the opposite effect.

A 10-minute, unbroken sequence at the very end of the film seems to finally get at the moral concerns the filmmakers are after: Namely, how do you convince people of something so shocking that it defies belief? After theyve fled the camp and spent several days trekking through the woods, Freddy and Walter finally reach the Polish-Slovak border (this being during the First Slovak Republics brief existence as a Nazi-aligned free state) and, with help from the burgeoning Slovak resistance, get themselves an audience with a British member of the International Red Cross. Only, he doesnt believe their account.

The aid worker (John Hannah) notes that reports from his colleagues whove visited the camps make no mention of death squads, and that everything hes seen indicates the Nazis are treating their prisoners humanely a reflection of the real-life deception the Nazis played on the international aid community. He only snaps out of it when told that his colleagues, too, had been murdered by the Nazis. Its not just Jews! the Jewish men tell him, in one of the only lines of dialogue in the film that mentions Jews at all.

Its here, at the intersection of desperate pleas and uncaring bureaucracy, where we begin to understand why the Holocaust was allowed to continue for so long, while the world stood silent. The films provocative ending credits try to continue this theme; Bebjak underlays them with an audio montage of modern-day world leaders (including, yes, some familiar American voices) spouting hateful, nativist views. Some also traffic in Holocaust denial and Nazi appreciation.

The Auschwitz Report is hardly the first film of our modern era to try to make these connections, and the unfortunate truth is that some artists concerned about fascism and Nazis can draw that link more convincingly than others. By focusing so much on the unimaginable nightmare of Auschwitz itself, and very little on the actual work of the protagonists trying to convince people those nightmares were real, the film comes up short in its plea for us to grapple with the facts of history.

The real-life Vrba became a significant figure in the post-Holocaust Jewish landscape, appearing in Claude Lanzmanns Shoah and remaining intensely outspoken about what he saw as the moral failings of the international community that did not quickly act on his report. Though the report did help to save more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews from being deported to Auschwitz, many more perished at the camps before action was taken. The Auschwitz Report emphasizes this point, in its endless depictions of the camps horrors. And yet, its hard not to feel like this films real story the psychological gap between those horrors and an uncaring outside world has yet to be told.

Link:

The Auschwitz Report: Slovakian film follows real-life escapees who tried to warn the world - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

SKOKIE, IL Wondering what there is to do this week? Patch has you covered with the latest upcoming events taking place this week throughout Skokie. Here are some events taking place in town this week.

Want to see your event in the next roundup? You can add it to the calendar using this form. As always, it's free to post an event in your community. To reach more people, you can promote your event and share it nearby for $1 per day per community.

Here are all of this week's events in the Skokie area:

Check out more local events, or add your own, on the Skokie Patch community calendar.

Editor's note: This article was automatically generated based on event information mainly provided by community members. Patch has not independently verified most of this information, always check with organizers to confirm posted events are proceeding as planned. Click on any event in the list for more details. You can also reach out to content@patch.com with any questions or other feedback about this article.

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Skokie Area Events Calendar: Check Out Whats Happening This Week - Patch.com

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Posted By admin on September 28, 2021

BERLIN (JTA) Rising antisemitism, Germanys relationship with Israel, pensions for aging Soviet immigrants these are just some of the issues Jewish voters across Germany are considering before casting their vote in Sundays federal election.

The nation is replacing the retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel after a monumental 16 years in the position. The latest polls suggest a change in power is at hand, as the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has pulled ahead with 25-27% of the vote, which would put current Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz in charge of building a parliamentary coalition. Merkels center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and her successor Armin Laschet lag just behind at 20-23%, while Anna Baerbock and the progressive Greens are hovering around 15-17%.

Jews make up far less than 1% of Germanys population of 83 million, and for many, Jewish issues pale in comparison to some that the entire country is wrestling with, such as climate change and growing social inequalities.

But in some cases, Jewish issues have become national ones, and vice versa.

We spoke to a range of Jewish voters about what they are thinking about as they head to the ballot box.

IT consultant Herbert Lappe, 75, has been a member of Dresdens local Jewish community since his parents immigrated to Germany in 1949. He doesnt believe the main issues of this election differ for Jews and non-Jews in Germany. He is specifically focused on climate change and social justice, and on those issues, there are clear differences among the parties vying for the chancellery and seats in the Bundestag.

But on particularly Jewish issues, such as rising antisemitism and Germanys relationship with Israel, Lappe doesnt see much of a difference between parties (excluding the right-wing Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which he does not consider to be a democratic party).

All of the other parties differentiate themselves in nuance only, Lappe said. Theres no preference from a Jewish point of view.

Valentina Marcenaro, the 48-year-old director of Dresdens Youth and Art School, agreed.

Im not sure if theres such a stratospheric distinction between Jews and non-Jews in voting, she said.

Valentina Marcenaro (Courtesy of Marcenaro)

But for her, being Jewish in Germany means supporting tolerance, supporting diversity and being aware of the needs of minorities.

That sentiment rings true for Henrike Vogels, a 22-year-old student enrolled at two Berlin universities. Born and raised just outside of Hanover in central Germany, Vogels and her family didnt engage much with their Jewishness growing up. But in Berlin, Vogels has found a home with Base Hillel Deutschland, a pluralistic organization aimed at engaging young Jews. She says that more publicly identifying as Jewish and queer, combined with studying Torah, has influenced her political perspective specifically, how politics and elections can impact minorities. For these reasons and more, Vogels has a clear preference in Sundays vote.

I wish for a coalition that is between the Green Party, the Left Party, and the Social Democratic Party because I think they are the most progressive, she said, noting that she will cast her vote for the Greens. We need this progressive voice and I hope that they adhere to their promises of more social justice and climate justice.

Vogels will also be eagerly anticipating the results of a referendum to expropriate up to 243,000 apartments in Berlin from corporate landlords, an initiative that has picked up steam as the citys housing prices have increased.

However the election turns out, Vogels said she will continue to deepen her connection to her Jewish identity through German politics.

Theres a sense, especially in my generation, that we need to be more involved, she said. The perspectives of minorities are overlooked more often than they are not so we need to raise our voices.

Not every party with members in parliament is running a candidate for chancellor. Smaller parties such the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), The Left (Die Linke), and AfD are fighting for votes that will give them a possible role in a ruling coalition in the Bundestag though all of the other small parties have vowed not to govern with AfD.

Jewish support for AfD is rare, but it exists.

A group for Jews in AfD launched in October 2018, nearly a year after the previous federal election, in which the party picked up 12.6% of the vote the third-largest share in the country. Most polls currently have them at 11%, fourth overall.

Many dismiss the group, pointing out that it launched with just 24 members. Artur Abramovych, the groups 25-year-old chairman, admitted in an email that he has not been able to recruit any new full members since 2018. He blames the news in early 2019 that Germanys domestic intelligence agency was considering placing AfD under surveillance and giving the government more power to monitor the partys communications. The discussion alone scared away potential members, Abramovych said. (In March 2021, German courts suspended the surveillance following a court challenge from the party.)

But not everyone. Kazakhstan-born Oleg Bam, 53, voices his support for the AfD without hesitation. In a phone conversation, Bam, a software developer in Frankfurt, said he blames immigrants for the rise in antisemitism. He dismissed the right-wing extremist who attacked the Halle synagogue on Yom Kippur two years ago as an isolated incident.

Oleg Bam (Courtesy of Bam)

The Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), which monitors the countrys antisemitic incidents, disagrees with that characterization of the Halle attack. It primarily blames right-wing extremism, populism and the rise of conspiracy theories some of them related to the COVID-19 pandemic for the rise in antisemitic incidents in Germany in recent years. However, RIAS also firmly believes that antisemitism is a society-wide phenomenon.

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There have been numerous reports of antisemitic incidents leading up to the election, said Alexander Rasumny, a spokesperson for RIAS. In many cases, its someone smearing a campaign poster of a candidate from the Greens, SPD, The Left, or CDU and marking them as Jewish and/or trivializing the Shoah by comparing it to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite being a refugee himself as one of the more than 200,000 Kontigentsflchtlinge, or contingent refugees who immigrated to Germany from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s Bam sees no connection between historical Jewish persecution and the situation of the hundreds of thousands who ended up in Germany after fleeing Syrias civil war.

Theyre economic immigrants, not refugees, he said. They want a better life, I understand that, but Germany is not a Sozialamt [social services office].

While Bam insists that every Jew he knows among his family and friends supports AfD, broader support for the party among Jews appears to be minimal. The Central Council of Jews in Germany and dozens of other Jewish organizations have issued a statement discouraging Jews from voting for the AfD, alleging that antisemitism and right-wing extremism have found a home in the party.

In a follow-up email, Bam claimed that German media is censored by globalist American leftists.

We can do this! Merkel famously exclaimed in 2015, as she declared that Germany would take in hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern refugees. The decision would sharply split German society, and according to many observers, leave a political opening for the AfD and galvanize far-right extremists.

The move was a sticking point for Eli Maetzschker, a Jewish student at Touro College Berlin, a Jewish university affiliated with the American Touro college network. He plans to immigrate to Israel next year and serve in the countrys military. Though he insists his primary motivation to make aliyah is his connection to Israel as the Jewish homeland, he also says that 2015 played a role in his decision.

I suffered, said the 22-year-old from Berlin. When I was in high school, I got attacked not just verbally but also physically by Muslims.

Maetzschker said that some of those who attacked him were refugees. Others were born and raised in Berlin.

Eli Maetzschker (Courtesy of Maetzschker)

According to government statistics, relatively few antisemitic incidents have been perpetrated by people who came to Germany during the immigration crisis that began in 2011. But one such asylum seeker was involved in the deadliest Islamist terror attack on German soil, a car ramming at a Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people. A 16-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested recently on suspicion that he planned to attack a synagogue near Dsseldorf on Yom Kippur.

Maetzschker believes that 2015 marked the start of a leftward political shift among most of the leading German parties. He argued that the CDU shifted extremely into leftist positions under those 16 years of Merkel. That said, he is still a supporter of Armin Laschet, CDUs chancellor candidate, and is hoping for a coalition of CDU and FDP, another center-right party.

If we lose the center completely, he said. I dont even want to imagine this situation, because in the end, the Jews are always the losers. So it doesnt matter. If they are leftist or extreme right-wing, we will lose.

Jewish voters are German voters, said Jerusalem-born Daniel Navon, a 22-year-old student active with the Green Youth in Hamburg, a youth organization connected with the Greens. In that vein, he sees some Jewish issues as national ones.

Many of the Soviet Jews who immigrated to Germany in the early 1990s who make up the overwhelming majority of Jews in the country today are still in poverty. The Greens prioritize stabilizing and protecting the countrys pension system.

Daniel Navon (Courtesy of Navon)

Many descendants of the Kontigentflchtlinge have parents and family with a low pension, he said. So this is a big topic for Jewish voters.

Navon also mentioned Germanys relationship with Israel something Merkel prioritized as an important issue Jews will continue to watch. And he referred specifically to the recent attempted Yom Kippur synagogue attack in talking about the rising antisemitic atmosphere on the ground.

Things like that compel the Jewish community to advocate for specific policies, said Navon. And not just to respond to extreme examples of antisemitism, but to everyday antisemitism and discrimination as well.

Its not only the big attacks, though, that Navon is worried about he points to the fact that German students are forced to take school exams during Jewish holidays as an example of everyday antisemitism.

Institutional structures in Germany must improve in including Jewish life, he said.

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What Jews are voting for in Germanys national elections - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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