Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

Courtesy of Zoy Chang

Rabbi Ephraim Einhorn with members of the Taiwan Jewish Community group at his 99th birthday party in 2017.

(JTA) Ephraim Einhorn, a rabbi and businessman who helmed Taiwans fledgling Jewish community after a career that included clandestine missions on behalf of oppressed Jews, has died.

Einhorns death on Wednesday morning in Taipei, just hours before the beginning of Yom Kippur, came after an extended illness and weeks of intermittent hospitalizations. He had turned 103 three days earlier.

Einhorn was Taiwans first resident rabbi and, for 30 years, the only one to serve the community that now includes an estimated 700 to 800 Jews. He was also a teacher, diplomat, businessman, scholar and father whose personality loomed large.

He was sometimes impatient with people and could be intimidating. But at the same time you felt underneath that layer there was a great deal of kindness and empathy, said Don Shapiro, a former president of the Taiwan Jewish Community group, who first met Einhorn in the early 1980s. So he was a very complex individual. I dont think Ive ever met anyone else even closely like him.

Einhorns life spanned a century of upheaval and renewal for the Jewish people. Born in Vienna in 1918, he attended several yeshivas across Europe before moving to the United Kingdom. (His parents, who remained in Austria, were murdered by the Nazis.) According to his retelling, he gained admission not by applying in the regular manner, but by impressing rabbis with his mature knowledge and fantastic memory of proverbs his rabbi father encouraged him to memorize when he was young.

After earning both rabbinic ordination and a doctorate in philosophy from a London yeshiva that is now defunct, Einhorn began working with the World Jewish Congress, first in England, and later in the United States, where he simultaneously led several congregations as a rabbi in the late 1940s through the 1950s.

His position with the World Jewish Congress included often-clandestine missions to countries in North Africa and the Middle East to try to help Jewish minority communities facing persecution, according to AmCham Taipei, an American business group in Taiwan that honored Einhorn in 2016.

On one mission to Iraq in 1951, according to WJC archives, Einhorn posed as a Protestant minister to investigate a group of Iraqi Jews who had allegedly been tortured under the suspicion of being Zionists. Einhorn boasted about the mission to local papers in Detroit, where he was serving as a rabbi at the time, even though he was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

He had a passion for publicity, a top WJC official, Maurice Perlzweig, said at the time. Einhorn remained involved in the organization in following years, but Perlzweig wrote to other officials that the organization would no longer support his frequent international travels, as there was an infinite possibility of mischief if he were let loose.

By the next decade, Einhorn began pursuing business activities that would take him to far-flung, often otherwise hard-to-access locations. He founded the World Patent Trading Corporation in 1968 and opened an office behind the Iron Curtain in Prague, where he had family. But by 1973, he was expelled from Czechoslovakia for activities that Soviet leaders said were incompatible with the interests of the State but did not detail publicly, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report from the time.

In 1975, Einhorn arrived in Taipei as a financial advisor on a Kuwaiti trade delegation. Already almost 60 years old, Einhorn had an impressive resume. He spoke seven languages (though he never learned Chinese), and upon meeting people, he handed new acquaintances a stack of roughly a dozen business cards: chairman of Republicans Abroad in Taiwan, vice president of the World Trade Center Warsaw, honorary representative of the Poland Chamber of Commerce, and on and on.

Courtesy of Einhorn

From left to right: Einhorn, then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou and Taiwans representative to Israel R.T. Yang, in the early 2000s.

When he began officiating bar mitzvahs and holding holiday services, some within the Jewish community were justifiably skeptical; he didnt tell people much about his past. Some wondered if he was working for Mossad or the CIA, according to people who were part of the community at the time.

He wasnt very popular in the old days and people were a bit suspect about people working with Arab countries, said Fiona Chitayat, a former longtime community member.

She added, All I know is that he had unbelievable connections in Taiwan.

Often, Einhorn used those connections to help people. He bailed fellow Jews out of jail, helped them resolve visa issues and once even helped arrange a special medical flight with the assistance of contacts he had met in his business and political ventures in Taiwan and beyond its borders.

He was very closely related to some formerly Eastern European countries, and he personally went out of his way to help our diplomats there, said Leonard Chao, who had previously worked for Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Einhorn helped Taiwan establish early connections with countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, among others, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Always one to claim center stage, Einhorn opened his own congregation in 1979 at the President Hotel, and later the Ritz Hotel. After joining forces with the Taiwan Jewish Community around 2000, he chose to keep his congregation separate when Chabad Rabbi Shlomi Tabib arrived in 2011 and offered to work together.

Einhorn led Taiwans Jews in worship for more than four decades, even as the number attending services waned to fewer than the 10 required for many prayers for several years in the 2000s, and even as his health began to decline more recently.

I am the rabbi, the shamash and the treasurer. And I pay all the bills, Einhorn told JTA in 2007. Somebodys got to do it.

Though he was trained as an Orthodox rabbi and worked in Orthodox synagogues in North America, Einhorn maintained a congregation that was open to all including non-Jews who were interested in converting or even just observing. Taiwan Jewish Community events drew attendees from across the local community and even included an in-person Passover seder this spring, one of the only sanctioned communal seders in the world because COVID-19 was well controlled in Taiwan at the time. Einhorn was present.

By Archi Chang

A group photo at the Jewish Community of Taiwans 2021 Purim party, where no masks were required. Rabbi Ephraim Einhorn, in a wheelchair, can be seen at the front left.

In 2019, as leading holidays and weekly services independently became more difficult for Einhorn, the community invited a cantor, Leon Fenster, who had previously spent time as a religious leader in Beijing, to assist him and help lead the community. Fenster will now take over for him.

We have to be very grateful to [Einhorn] for having preserved the elements of Jewish life that have continued in Taiwan, Shapiro said. Without his presence here before Chabad, and over quite a few decades, things would have turned out very differently.

The communitys loss was still fresh in the hours after his death, when local Jews came together for Yom Kippur services, the first High Holiday without him in decades.

Dr. Einhorn in my opinion was the one thing that gave consistency to the Jewish community over the past 50 years and will be missed by many as the Jewish Community of Taiwan moves into a new era, said Jeffrey Schwartz, an American businessman who has been involved with the community since his arrival in the 1970s and will open a new Jewish community center in Taipei this winter.

Einhorn especially loved to learn and teach. His door was always open to people who had philosophical or religious questions, and his vast library which Einhorn claimed was the biggest collection of Jewish books in Asia was always on loan.

Some people buy clothes, some ladies buy bags. He buys books. It was the only thing he spent his money on, said Yoram Ahrony, an Israeli community member who has been close with Einhorn for almost 40 years.

Researcher Jonathan Goldstein described Einhorn as a community storyteller, calling him the maggid of Taipei. An interview from 2010 that religious scholar Paul Farrelly conducted with Einhorn shows his philosophy of openness, and passion for learning by teaching.

Everybody has something to say, to make a contribution. Everybody has a point of view, Einhorn said. To know what you dont know is the beginning of wisdom most wonderful thing in the world is to say, tell me, I want to learn.

He will be buried in Petah Tikvah, Israel, and is survived by his longtime companion Eugenia Chien; two daughters from his marriage to Ruth Weinberg, Daphna and Sharone, living in the U.S.; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The post Ephraim Einhorn, longtime Taiwan rabbi with history of international intrigue, dies at 103 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Ephraim Einhorn, longtime Taiwan rabbi with history of international intrigue, dies at 103

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Ephraim Einhorn, longtime Taiwan rabbi with history of international intrigue, dies at 103 - Forward

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

Here is an interesting sermon from Rosh Hashanah. Jonathan Blake, a leading Reform rabbi in New York, likens Israel to Abraham and says there is a good Israel and an Israel of dangerous fanaticism that lifts a knife against the innocent. Then he calls on American Jews to restrain the bad Israel by redirect-ing money away from it.

Rabbi Blakes Rosh Hashana sermon is important because he humanizes the Palestinians while deeming Israels policies towards its Palestinian people as fundamentally broken, Rabbi Michael Davis, a seminary professor and independent rabbi in Chicago, writes. I remember just 10 years ago when it felt transgressive, bold and dangerous (to my career) for me to affirm Palestinian humanity from the bimah of my Reform temple. Suggesting that Israel has homicidal intentions toward its Palestinian populations is yet another a striking departure from what was acceptable for rabbis until just recently. Blakes Abraham-Isaac parallel sets up Israel as a child killer, giving American Jews the role of restraining Israel/Abraham from his murderous tendencies towards Palestine/Isaac.

Blake is on the board of the pro-Israel group Zioness and sponsors students trips to the AIPAC lobby conference. And in this sermon he says that Zionism is a historical and moral imperative for Jews and links the nonviolent BDS campaign for Palestinian human rights to terrorism.

His temple, Westchester Reform Temple in posh Scarsdale, is establishment as they come. Rick Jacobs was for 20 years a senior rabbi at Westchester Reform before before moving up to headthe Union for Reform Judaism.

But lets hear from Blake.

His sermon on Abraham and Israel can be found at this link, under ErevRH Adult service 5782, starting at minute 38.

Blake says Abraham was two irreconcilable characters: on the one hand a moral hero and paragon of restraint, on the other a militant zealot and extremist. Abrahams family saw his worst side. Rough, intolerant, fanatical even a toxic narcissist, Abraham barks orders at his wife, casts out son and concubine, and when he hears a mysterious voice telling him to kill his other son, willingly complies with its outrageous demand. Of course Isaac survives, thanks to the angels intervention, but he is fated to dwell to the end of his days in the shadow of his father [with a] legacy of family trauma inflicted by a man intoxicated with grandiose visions, Blake says.

Segue to Israel.

How uncannily [the two Abrahams] resemble the Israel of today. A split personality Israel. An Israel that inspires me on one hand and vexes me on the other. An Israel that stirs in me great admiration, love even, as well as grave concern.

Blake says its a fraught time to share such thoughts meaning that people will see him as a traitor in light of the widespread condemnation of Israel for the Gaza attack of last May. But the rabbi is on Israels side.

Recall the international outcry, the vast majority of it castigating Israel. Recall the 24/7 new cycle that kept this story front and center for two weeks while other headlines like the May 16 terrorist bombing of a school in Kabul [killing 90, mostly girls] barely registered.

It has been four months and I remain shaken, despondent, angry. And Im not alone.

Israel is misunderstood and maligned. But even Jews are hearing the criticism.

We find it alarming that so many of our young people are caught in the crossfire of a debate characterized by a surplus of moral outrage and a shortage of reason or understanding.This spring as many of you are aware, our students were pummeled with a steady stream of social media, public demonstrations, quads festooned with posters accusing Israel and Zionism of racism, apartheid, colonialism, ethnic cleansing and even genocidewords that have become part and parcel of the daily conversation about the worlds only Jewish state.

In such an emotionally charged milieu with such hysterical rhetoric, framing the public conversation around Israel, is it any wonder that students feel worried and confused? We should all feel worried and confused. I know I do.

Blake cited the recent survey showing that a quarter of American Jews agree with the statement Israel is an apartheid state. Nearly as many say Israel is committing genocide. And one in five Jews under 40 say that Israel does not have a right to exist. These Jews dont know the real, messy Israel.

I am doubling down on my commitment to educate the Jewish community about the real Israel, the real messy beleaguered, beautiful, bewildering, singular Israel. Im determined to do my part to demand an end to the delegitimization of the worlds only Jewish state.

I am determined also that we embrace complexity and reject one dimensional narratives about Israel, both reflexive demonization and reflexive defensiveness. We must understand that there are today two Israels that like the two Abrahams coexist uncomfortably within the same body. Theres the Israel of moral greatness and theres the Israel of dangerous fanaticism.

Blake then lauds Israel as a startup nation and a humanitarian nation that embodies Jewish destiny and Jewish values. He praises Naftali Bennetts government for unifying right and left and including an Arab party.

But Israel has been intolerant toward Palestinians.

It is a state that has eroded its democratic credibility by passing laws of dubious necessity that chauvinistically privilege Jewish culture and Hebrew language while disregarding the cultural sensitivities of the more than one in five of its population who are not Jewish

A country that continues to encroach on Bedouin and Palestinian lands with ever expanding development projects and settlements, further marginalizing and aggravating already underprivileged populations. A country that has empowered some of its most fanatical religious and ultra nationalistic voices in the name of security to the long-term detriment of security, much less peace.

About this Israel, the Israel that resembles the second Abraham, whose religious fervor nearly led to the sacrifice of his own child, we must unflinchingly speak the truth, because we are Jews and thats what we do. The Torah regards as an act of love and a moral obligation to offer reproof when ones fellow goes astray. We do not prevaricate, we do not dismiss uncomfortable truths.

The occupation is a morass with no end in sight, fostered by wealthy fanatical donors.

In the Israel of today, extremists, cynical political officials and wealthy patrons have coopted a 54 year long military occupation of the West Bank for their own ideological purposes, a grandiose vision of Jewish totalitarianism in the biblical holyland. What began as a necessity for Israels security has now become a moral and political morass with no end in sight.

Blake acknowledged that the U.S. also struggles with racism and inequality; and he jabbed at Palestinian leaders for passing up every opportunity to make peace, preferring terror, preferring BDS, preferring griping to the United Nations, preferring the status of perpetual victims.

But Jews need to restrain Israel. Here the rabbi called for restricting aid to Israel.

We are Jews and we have a shared stake in the Jewish state and it is our work that is not doneSo too may this Rosh Hashanah bring about in us a reckoning with the reality of the two Israels

When we teach about Israel, [Rabbi Bradley Artson] says, we can endeavor to tell the messy truth of a persecuted people searching for safety going to a land full of meaning for the Jewish people.. but also full of human beings who did not ask for new neighbors.

When we vote we can vote for leaders who wont continue paying lip service to peace while funding violence. We can use our position as citizens of Israels biggest benefactor to push to regulate and redirect funds in equitable ways that promote a peaceful and just future.

And when we pool our philanthropy and direct our giving, we can pay attention, Is our tzedaka supporting those who build peace or those who sow hate and violence disguised in the name of justice and Jewish continuity. Is our tzedaka supporting those who plant trees with their neighbors or those who are planting over their neighbors homes? The question is, how can Israel exercise its considerable power morally.

Blake wound up by saying Jews must come to terms with Jewish power and Israels power. He offered the lachrymose view of Jewish history, a recitation that says Jews must achieve sovereignty and break heads.

To be powerless is to be pure, to be pure is to be innocent. But innocence comes at a price, one that has been particularly terrible for Jews. 19 centuries of expulsions, ostracism, massacres, blood libels, torture and systemic discrimination led to Zionism, which was very simply a movement and a demand for sovereign Jewish power in the land of Israel. That the state of Israel was born, raised and remains under fire is not a sign of the failure of Zionism, it is a reminder of its necessity. I believe in the necessity of Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, the declaration that we deserve to live free from terror and violence in our national homeland. But I believe in more than just the necessity of Zionism, I also believe in Zionism as a moral imperative that rectifies millennia of injustice and suffering..

The great moral dilemma of our time is, how to exercise this imperative morally.

Blake lamented Israels treatment of Palestinian demonstrators at Al Aqsa mosque and commented, The moral exercise of power rests on the ability to discern when to raise the knife.

My friend Rabbi Michael Davis comments: Rabbi Blake should be praised for his honesty in reporting so many uncomfortable facts that undermine the old Jewish consensus around Israel. That he could deliver such a sermon and not suffer professional consequences reveals how far the conversation has moved in the Jewish community. This progress is thanks, in no small part, to the consistent work of dissident Jewish organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.

Yet, there is a still a long way to go. It is deeply disturbing that reflexive repudiation of BDS continues to be a touchstone for almost all Jewish organizations and synagogues, including Westchester Reform Temple. BDS is a non-violent call equality under Israeli law. As a non-violent campaign for justice, BDS is no different from Martin Luther Kings work in the 1950s and 1960s. If the beneficiaries of the BDS campaign were anybody else but the Palestinians, Jewish leaders like Rabbi Jonathan Blake would enthusiastically endorse this strategy, not link it to terrorism, as he did in this sermon.

So where are the Palestinian voices in mainstream media?

Mondoweiss covers the full picture of the struggle for justice in Palestine. Read by tens of thousands of people each month, our truth-telling journalism is an essential counterweight to the propaganda that passes for news in mainstream and legacy media.

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Leading rabbi connected to AIPAC calls for limiting aid to the 'fanatical,' violent Israel - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

When Category 4 Hurricane Ida recently wreaked havoc on New Orleans, power, basic supplies and patience quickly grew scarce.

Having seen firsthand how hurricanes can affect a city, several Houston Jewish community members sprang into action.

At 2 a.m., Sept. 3, a large truck carrying 550 gallons of fuel arrived in the Crescent City, courtesy of Chabad of Texas.

A free distribution was set up by sunrise and more than 100 New Orleans residents were able to get much-needed fuel for generators and vehicles.

The lack of power resulted in pretty much a total shutdown of the city, with no access to basic needs, Chabad of Louisiana Rabbi Mendel Rivkin told the JHV.

In the heat with no air conditioning, there is a big run on generators and fuel, but there is no gas station access. It became a very glaring need in a hurry.

Rabbi Chaim Lazaroff of the Chabad Lubavitch Center, Texas Regional Headquarters, contacted Rabbi Rivkin and others in New Orleans to see what they could do to help.

Rabbi Lazaroff then reached out to his network in Houston and a plan was set into motion.

Houstonian Pinny Bard-Wigdor was one of the key volunteers who coordinated the acquisition and delivery of the fuel. Finding the fuel and a method of delivery was not an easy task, however.

Honestly, I didnt think we would be able to do it because of the magnitude of the situation over there, Bard-Wigdor told the JHV. Also, companies were wanting outrageous amounts of money to do it.

I spent a whole day calling companies as far away as California to see if we could make it happen. I was persistent and kept putting different pieces of the puzzle together. Thank G-d, we were able to pull through for the community. We made sure they werent left alone and made it happen for them.

Hurricane Ida was not Bard-Wigdors first experience in hurricane relief.

A New York native, Bard-Wigdor moved to Houston the week of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and helped coordinate getting 18 truckloads of supplies delivered from New York.

We have to be there for each other, especially in times of disasters, he said.

After receiving the shipment, Chabad of New Orleans set up a free distribution starting at 8 the next morning, available to anyone and everyone in need.

We had a mass distribution line and a whole bunch of people were able to take advantage. We had it open for two to three hours and we had a steady strand of people.

Word got out and if people showed up and they were in need, we gave it to them. No questions asked. It gave people some relief for a day or two.

Rabbi Rivkin credited Chabads network for springing into action quickly.

The network is powerful, Rabbi Rivkin said. Different organizations have different structures, and each structure has its advantage at times. Chabad happens to have a very nimble structure and it allows us to be nifty in responding to situations like this, making it very effective during an actual crisis. In the moment, the ability to be nimble allows us to help people in a quick way.

Three days later, Chabad of New Orleans hosted about 65-70 people for Rosh Hashanah.

I think we were the only services available in the New Orleans area, Rabbi Rivkin said. Many of our people had evacuated, but we had a lot of other people who had nowhere else to go. Thanks to some generous supporters, we were able to feed them all.

It was a nice moment after a tough week that was aided by a neighboring city.

We are very grateful to our neighbors, Rabbi Rivkin said. We are old friends with the Houston Chabad community. They literally took us in during Hurricane Katrina. So, we have a relationship that goes back a while in hurricane relief. This time was no different. They took initiative and it was amazing.

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From Houston to New Orleans with love: - Jewish Herald-Voice

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

Dont miss a thing with our guide to 30+ Hispanic Heritage Month events taking place across Houston from Wednesday, September 15 through Saturday, October 16, 2021.

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 each year, kicking off right around the date when Mexico and many other nations in Central and South America declared independence from Spain.

This year, the city of Houston welcomes back annual traditions and popular fall favorites that help to make Hispanic Heritage Month a festive time of the year.

Take a look at our guide to dozens of events taking place across the city and beyond:

A longtime Houstonian, Justin Jerkins keeps an eye out for all sorts of happenings in H-Town, including breweries, sports, concerts, must-see destinations and much more while serving as Editor-in-Chief of 365 Things to Do in Houston.

Read more here:
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 with our guide to Houston concerts, events & more - 365 Things to Do in Houston

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

Hello Thursday.

September 16 2021

Today were hearing from architectural historian Brittany V. Lavelle Tulla of BVL Historic Preservation Research who is sharing news about the lesser known history of downtown Charleston. Want to join the conversation? We invite you to write for us. Learn how to share your voice here.

The Tobias Scott House on 17 Water St. was constructed in 1866 amidst the ruins of a war-stricken Charleston and occupied by newly-freed Black craftsman Tobias Scott and his family from 1867 to 1896.

During this time, Tobias produced luxury fans, made from turkey feathers, for the Charleston elite.

Tobias Scott House at 17 Water St. | Photo by Brittany V. Lavelle Tulla

Two of his fans are currently in the collection of the Charleston Museum. According to the collection, President Theodore Roosevelt purchased one of Tobias feathered fans during his visit to Charleston at the turn of the twentieth century. Interestingly, recent construction work at 17 Water St. unearthed large turkey bones buried in the backyard.

Through his success in making fans, Tobias was able to send his children to college + they became part of the first generation of Black Charlestonians to receive higher education following the Civil War.

Dont stop reading now.

The button below will take you to the history of the Philip Moore House, which was home to the the bicycle clamp seat invention and the history of the Queens infamous blind tiger on State Street.

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The Kinfolk restaurant on Johns Island is now offering The Motha Clucker a sandwich featuring Nashville Hot Chicken, pulled pork, cheese sauce, fries + pickles.

This mighty sandwich is only available to order online. View the entire menu. Talk about some major motha cluckin news.

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Just use #CHStodayon social media.

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September 15, 2021 - Local history you've never heard - CHStoday - CHStoday

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

The story of the six Palestinian political prisoners should inspire hope and action, not throw us into despair.

For four days, Palestinians inside Palestine and living in exile in the diaspora were euphoric. In an act of extraordinary creativity and determination, six brave Palestinian political prisoners tunnelled their way out of an Israeli maximum-security prison.

It was presumed they did so with a spoon, as they would have had no other tools.Certainly, they had no heavy machinery typically necessary for such a feat.The tunnel openings were exceedingly narrow, leaving everyone baffled how six grown men were able to pass through them.

I was immediately reminded of these lines from a Mahmoud Darwish poem:

The Earth is closing on uspushing us through the last passageand we tear off our limbs to pass through.

Indeed, when two of them Yaqoub Qadri and Mahmoud Abdullah al-Arida were captured on the fifth day, images released of them showed they had shed a tremendous amount of weight, presumably to fit through the opening. It was life imitating art they tore off parts of their bodies to make the passage to freedom.

The following day, Zakariah Zubeidi and Mohammad al-Arida were captured. Ayham Kamamji and Munadil Infaat remain free, fighting for their lives, holding out as long as they can.

Israeli police snapped photos of the men they shackled, distributing ones that showed the most anguish in their expressions.Someone promptly photoshopped smiles on the faces of Yaqoub and Mahmoud, and the edited pictures went viral.

Many have criticised the alteration of those photos. They argue that we have to look squarely at their pain and defeat as if we are too stupid to understand what this moment means for them.

I believe whoever altered the photo did our society a great service, and I hope he or she does the same for Zakaria and Mohammads photos. The Israeli authorities disseminated those painful photos for a reason.

They want to reflect the heavy weight of them onto all of our hearts and let defeat and depression set in, as it seems to be doing. They want our deflation to be as big or bigger than our initial celebration.

They want to erase from our minds the knowledge that six defenceless, emaciated men with nothing but perhaps a spoon, shook the colonial Zionist project to its core.It terrifies them that we could collectively contemplate the depths of hope and determination that propelled those six heroes to accomplish what everyone assumed was impossible.

Because if we did truly ruminate on that primal impulse for freedom, on the boundless hope in the heart of every revolutionary and fighter, we might find our own individual and collective power.

We might begin to understand that nothing is impossible, and freedom is within our reach. We might begin to organise a collective system to protect the remaining two Ayham and Munadil to keep them free and alive and encourage more defiance and resistance.

We might rise up to rid ourselves of the treacherous and illegitimate regime of Mahmoud Abbas, and install a revolutionary leadership, willing to protect its own people, instead of protecting those whooccupy, rob, and oppress Palestinians.

Our brave political prisoners knew the risks they were taking. This is what revolutionaries do.They would rather fight than capitulate.No matter what happens now, what they did cannot be undone.The blow they dealt to Israel cannot be undealt.They sacrificed so much to give us all hope.How dare we now give in to depression and the sense of defeat?

It was not defeat or depression that motivated them to spend sleepless hours digging a massive tunnel without adequate tools.It certainly was not a belief in Israels carefully cultivated perception of omnipotence.

The least we can do to honour them is to carry forth the torch of hope and the impulse for liberation that surely were at the heart of their heroism. We can solidify our defiance and refusal to live forever exiled or captive on our knees. We can understand that nothing is impossible, including ending this cruel Zionist regime. In the face of the horrors we know those heroic political prisoners are now facing, we have no right to depression or defeat at this hour. We can be certain that is not what they sought to inspire in us.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.

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#PalestinianPrisoners: This is not the time to despair - Al Jazeera English

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

A better understanding of the central, unifying themes of each of the Jewish holidays and their unique, separate liturgies can be like throwing open the doors and windows of a dark and stuffy room and this is especially true when it comes to Yom Kippur, the holiday that has the most remarkably different prayer service of them all.

With this understanding, one comes to realize what a jumble of half-digested ideas we normally face when we recite the Amidah/Shemoneh Esrei, the standing, silent devotional that is at the center of every Jewish prayer service, and also the other prayers. We sort of understand davening and tefilot, though we secretly think theres a little more to it than that. Some of us even think theres some sort of connection between the random ideas in the prayers, the calendar, and Jewish history, but we fail to hear such thoughts from the vast majority of pulpit rabbis, and cant recall learning these things from the teachers we had in our youth.

Keeping the Beit HaMikdash (the ancient Holy Temple constructed in Jerusalem by King Solomon, son of King David) at the center of our consciousness during prayer brings a flood of light and a breath of fresh air to Yom Kippur and shows us that there is a dazzling clarity to the structure of the liturgy that the ancient rabbis developed it is breathtaking when we suddenly see it. And if we do not see it, we dont know the first thing about what Jewish prayer is, who we are as a Jewish People, where we come from, and where our destiny lies.

The Beit HaMikdash is unique: God has indicated just one place on earth for the construction of His Holy Temple. Put another way, God has chosen just one nation [one people], to have a special, unique responsibility to worship Him with ritual sacrifice on His Holy Mountain in the Holy City of Jerusalem in His Holy Land.

September 15, 2021 12:21 pm

It was not for some haphazard reason that the ancient rabbis who composed the text of the weekday Amidah selected to include the insertions for Rosh Chodesh, Chol HaMoed Pesach, and Chol HaMoed Sukkot in the bracha (blessing) that begins Look with favor, L-rd our God, on Your people Israel and pay heed to their prayer; restore the service to Your Sanctuary and accept with love and favor Israels fire-offerings and prayer; and may the service of Your people Israel always find favor, and afterwards concludes May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy. Blessed are You, L-rd, who restores His Divine Presence to Zion.

The Jewish holidays are all inextricably bound to the Beit HaMikdash.

All of the distinguishing components of the liturgy of the holiday of Yom Kippur from Kol Nidrei, and including Yizkor, the once a year recitation of unique shemoneh esreis (and their Piyuts, [poems]) the reading of the Book of Jonah, the Neilah service, up to and especially including the sounding of the shofar at Neilahs conclusion form a tapestry that can, and should, be seen as one long love song to Hashem, thanking Him for granting the Jewish People the privilege of having the Land of Israel, the City of Jerusalem, and especially the Temple Mount (adjacent to the Western Wall), and the sacrificial offerings that were made there and that the ancient Prophets proclaim will be made again.

Make no mistake about it, these things and places are the exclusive heritage and property of the Jewish People. Yom Kippur should remind us of this.

Yom Kippur is too often seen in a limited way as just the Day of Atonement for an individual as an individual (which it undeniably is at its unique core), but in addition to that, this holiday, as with all others in the Torah, simultaneously contain within them both historical commemorations as well as a component of national obligations and national aspirations. One facet is in no way exclusive in such a way as to negate the others. All elements work together in harmony to create a whole.

What we in America refer to as the High Holiday season is thought by many to begin with the daily Selichot services, and that itself is preceded by the twice daily recitation (in the Ashkenaz tradition) of Psalm 27 many weeks before. Psalm 27 uses the words Sanctuary, Shelter, and Tent while speaking about offerings and makes no outright references to penitence or atonement.

In the Selichot we implore God to remember the Land (of Israel) and to bring us to (His) Holy Mountain (the Temple Mount) so that we may make offerings on the Altar, and we also make reference to the visit there by Abraham and Isaac, when Abraham demonstrated he was prepared to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. But on Yom Kippur, these topics are not just in the background of the liturgy; they make up its forefront from the very beginning.

We begin Yom Kippur with Kol Nidrei, and due to its inspiring melody and dignity with which the physical setting is conducted in, complete with Torahs and talesim at night (the one time a year), we instinctively know something that transcends the ordinary is going on.

After the Maariv shemoneh esrei there is a unique Selichot service this being the only instance of the entire year when there is a lengthy additional section of prayers after shemoneh esrei. Here we request of God that He bring us to Your Holy Mountain. The next day at Yizkor, an emotional highlight of the day for many, we speak of God dwelling in Zion that is on the Temple Mount, in the Beit HaMikdash. The Mussaf shemoneh esrei is the longest prayer service of the year. And the larger part of that is the Chazzans repetition. Within this section more time is devoted to a highly detailed and vivid description of the High Priests sacrificial service in the Holy Temples Holy of Holies the only time of the year any human stepped foot inside. Included in this section is the lament that Since our Temple was destroyed we have no choice to recite words in place of the High Priests offering sacrifices, and we explain how we are like orphans without the Temple and we beg God to bring the Temple back among us.

During the afternoon Mincha service, the entire Book of Jonah is recited the only time of the year that it is. And in the universally recognized episode of the whale (or more correctly, the large fish) Jonah cries to God his prayer came to You, to Your Holy Temple.

And Neilah is the only day of the entire year when we add a fifth shemoneh esrei. At the conclusion of this one-time-a-year event, we mark the end of the Yom Kippur by saying: Next Year in Jerusalem! In reality, this means Next Year on the Temple Mount in the Holy of Holies in the Holy Temple, where the Yom Kippur offerings will be made in Messianic times.

This focus on Jerusalem, on the Holy Temple, and on the Holy of Holies, is the essence of Yom Kippur. It is what our ancestors dreamed, and prayed for during the nearly 2,000 year nightmare of exile. This Dream of Zion is the engine that created the available momentum that was harnessed by the modern Zionism of Herzls time, and used to create the modern State of Israel.

Moshe Phillips is a commentator on Jewish affairs whose writings appear regularly in the American and Israeli press. He was a US delegate to the 38th World Zionist Congress in 2020. His views are his own.

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Yom Kippur: The Zionist Holiday You Never Knew - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

The six terrorists who escaped prison on the eve of Rosh Hashanah (September 6), were hailed by the Israeli Left as freedom fighter heroes. I say Left because those who praised the terrorists were not condemned by the Lefts representatives in the political, media and academic spheres. And I say Left because voices of praise came from the Lefts crme de la crme. I could name many, but one would do Zeev Raz, who in 1981 was the fighter pilot who led the air strike on the Iraqi nuclear reactor. Raz is also a former Kibbutznik, which means he is part of the kind of people that until not so long ago were viewed as representing Israels best, which makes Raz the cherry on top of the crme.

On the day the six fugitives humiliated Israel by escaping their prison, Raz wrote the following on his Facebook page: The surprising joy I felt after reading about the six that have escaped tonight from prison reminded...

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Zionism, My Friend, is Blowin' in the Wind - Israel Today

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

From their inception and through the 19th century, Jews were a nation-religion. That is how they viewed themselves and how the world viewed the Jews. There was no separation between the Jewish religion and Jewish nation. They were one and the same.

Since the turn of the 19th century, however, there have been attempts to denationalize Judaism and reduce it to a religion first on a small-scale in parts of western Europe, and then through a large-scale denationalization that occurred in the United States. Both attempts have failed.

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First attempt at Jewish denationalization: Europe

At the outset of the French Revolution, some French Jews began to claim that they were French, and were the members of the religion of Moses. But very soon it became evident that this is not the way the French viewed the Jews neither as friends nor foes.

When Napoleon conquered Palestine, he was ready to give it to the Jews, calling them the rightful heirs. He declared: Israelites, a unique nation, who, in thousands of years, lust of conquest and tyranny, have been able to be deprived of their ancestral lands, but not of name and national existence.

In French official documents through the 20th Century, the term for Jew was Israelite. This disconnect between French Jews self-perception as a religion and the way they are viewed by the outside as a nation came to the fore in the Dreyfus Affair. Captain Alfred Dreyfus did not consider himself to be part of the Jewish nation. For him he was a proud French patriot, but the French viewed him otherwise, and through a broad conspiracy spanning multiple branches of the French government, military and press, he was falsely convicted of treason.

Denationalization attempts spread to other parts of Western Europe, but only affected a small percentage of world Jewry. The majority of Jews at this time lived in insular communities, mostly in Eastern Europe.

However, during the early 20th century, after Jews migrated to America, Jewish denationalization became widespread.

Second attempt of Jewish denationalization: America

The core of American Jewry quickly developed a self-perception that Judaism is a religion, akin to Christianity or Islam, and not a nationality. The Jewish nation-religion that was in-place for thousands of years was abruptly reduced to The Jewish Church. Moreover, it disassociated itself from its ancestral land. A new invented form of Judaism emerged: Judaism without Judea.

This was understandable. For 2,000 years in Europe, Jews were persecuted and hated. The American Revolution rebelled against deeply rooted European dogmas. This included Europes chronic opposition to Judaism, what Theodor Herzl viewed as incurable, adjusting based on evolving European and Jewish circumstances. But in America, Jews were not only free, but accepted. They became part of a new nation: America, which they loved and were grateful for. With the dominating homogeneous Mayflower narrative in America at the time, Jews who wanted to fit in and resemble their patriotic American neighbors felt they had to suppress their Jewish ethnological national affiliation. There was simply no room for another national identity.

But circumstances in America have since changed.

By the 2020s, there has been a shift from a homogeneous American ethos toward an America with multiple branches, anchored in a strong core American trunk (in sharp contrast to European Cultural Pluralism, a loose combination of societies in competition and conflict with one another).

There is also a broad recognition that an American has multiple identities: his profession, sexual orientation, race, state and indeed his ethnological national affiliation. At the same time, it is clear today that ones political nationality (for whom you vote) is different from ethnological national affiliation. One can be a proud German-speaking Tyrolian and hold an Italian passport, and one can be a proud Irish-American and have no political connections to Ireland. Unlike in the 1960s, nobody accuses President Biden of dual-loyalty.

So unlike in the past, a Jew who wants to be in tune with prevailing American realities would celebrate his ethnological national affiliation, which is Zionism.

However, an attempt to suppress ones Zionist affiliation creates an inevitable disconnect a less honest relationship between the American Jew and his surroundings. Imagine Biden claiming he was not Irish, or Kamala Harris denying her Indian or Jamaican ethological national affiliations.

Zionism as a conduit to ones Judaism is not just in-line with prevailing American realities, but also needed, as legacy connectors to Judaism has faded: religious observance has declined, and memory of the Holocaust and nostalgia for the Eastern European past eroded as the generations pass.

In the same century that religiosity dramatically receded, the national aspect of Judaism was dramatically augmented. Hence, after a few decades of brewing, the organizing principle of the Jewish nation-religion is now shifting from its religious element Rabbinic Judaism (Judaism 2.0) to its national element: Zionism (Judaism 3.0). This is similar to the organizing principle of Judaism shifted at the onset of the exile after the destruction of the Temple from Biblical Judaism (Judaism 1.0) to Rabbinic Judaism.

The attempted metamorphosis of Judaism in America from an ethnological group to a self-proclaimed religious minority has failed. It is time for all Jews to own-up to that to stop defining themselves as a religious minority that does not practice religion (Judaism 2.0), and instead define themselves more naturally through their ethnological national affiliation, Zionism (Judaism 3.0).

Once they do so, they will not only be in greater unison with the predominant American ethos, but will also fuel energy to all other aspects of Judaism: its religious, cultural, communal, and to the cherished Jewish value of tikkun olam (repairing the world).

The tikkun olam nation

The vast majority of American Jews engaging in tikkun olam do not do so wearing a Jewish hat they do so as individuals or part of community-wide charity organizations. Notwithstanding the important work of Jewish charity organizations that help thousands of individuals, there is no large-scale high-impact collective Jewish tikkun olam in America.

But by the mere recognition that Judaism transformed, and Zionism is now its organizing principle, the American Jew will partake in a successful collective massive endeavor of tikkun olam that has enormous global impact.

Israels immense contribution to humanity is globally recognized by the Jewish states friends and foes alike. Innovations produced in Israel improve the lives of billions of people around the world, and save millions of lives each year. Whether by addressing famine and drought by turning air into water, increasing longevity through biotech innovations and cutting edge medical research, or through daring social and cultural innovations, the Jewish state has turned into the tikkun olam state.

Centering ones Jewish identity around Israel certainly does not mean one needs to agree with its policies. After all, Rubio and Cruz do not agree with the Cuban government. Moreover, criticism of Israel which many American Jews partake in is itself a form of connection to ones Judaism through Israel. Indeed, for some American Jews, criticism of Israel is the main Jewish-related activity. Zionism is where an American Jew meets his Judaism.

Quite simply, in an under-engaged environment, it is easier to connect to Judaism through the country you do not visit than through the synagogue you do not visit. This is especially true when this country is the most relevant aspect of ones Judaism, through positive and negative connections alike.

Synchronizing ones self-perception of Judaism with the way the world looks at the Jews can lead to both reconciliation with the worlds nations, and to greater collective Jewish contribution to humanity. As Herzl predicted: The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness.

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Holding up a mirror to the Jewish people - where do we go from here? - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on September 16, 2021

(RNS) Forty years ago, as I prepared to ascend the bima for my first High Holy Day sermon as a rabbi, one of the elders of my congregation pulled me aside.

Rabbi, he said to me, Preach the Dickens at em.

I said to him: OK. Just dont have any great expectations.

Forty years later this year, on Rosh Hashana, I preached the Dickens.

These are the opening few words of Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, in which he describes the mood in Europe on the edge of the French Revolution:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

For us as American Jews, it is the best of times, and it is the worst of times. We have never been more successful, and we have never been more nervous.

There has never been a Jewish community that has enjoyed the wealth, the cultural influence, the political power and the acceptance that we American Jews enjoy. From the number of Jews in the Biden cabinet, to the fact that the use of Yiddish is an accepted part of American culture, to the fact that their Jewish identity would never bar our children and grandchildren from a university, to the fact that we are the most successful immigrant group in America.

But, it is also the worst of times. We sense something has turned against us.

We are in the middle of a second pandemic. It is a pandemic of anti-Israel sentiment, which has increasingly become a loud, vulgar antisemitism. More than 60% of American Jews say they have experienced antisemitism over the past six years. Anti-Jewish hate crimes made up a stunning 58% of all hate crimes and we are only 2% of the American population!

What makes it worse is that many of our young people do not fight such anti-Israelism.

Quite the opposite. They have adopted it.

Those young people are not (I hate this term) self-hating Jews. Many, if not most, love being Jewish.

They want a Judaism they can square with a vision of social justice. Unfortunately, this has led some of them to use very sloppy and painful and even obscene words words like apartheid, and genocide and ethnic cleansing none of which have anything to do with the realities of Israel and Palestine.

My hero is a young man named Blake Flayton, a student at George Washington University. He shares my deep concern for what is happening to young Jews in this country, and he created the New Zionist Congress.

These are his words.

We aim to transform ourselves. From crouching to standing, from defending to affirming, from shame to pride. We will not beg for scraps in exchange for a seat at a hostile table. It is our Zionism that inspires us to build our own spaces, amplify our own words, and to reject any movement that mandates we sacrifice part of ourselves to be welcomed.

Blake is saying: We want to join you in your quest for justice in this world. But do not think for a minute we are willing to sacrifice one piece of our Zionism.

How do we respond to antisemitism?

We respond to antisemitism through pro-semitism through finding the best that is within our tradition.

Let us talk about the blowing of the shofar.

The sages say the blasts of the shofar should remind you of a weeping woman.

The scriptural readings for Rosh Hashana offer us (to quote a failed presidential campaign) binders filled with crying women. So, which woman?

The ancient sages offer us two possibilities.

The first is that the cries are the cries of Sarah. Her silent cries permeate the Akedah, the story of the binding of Isaac, which is our Torah reading. The sages imagined she thought her son Isaac had really died. She howled and when we blow the shofar, we remember her cries of anguish.

But the second is even more tantalizing. In this interpretation, the sages go outside of the scriptural readings for Rosh Hashana straight to the mother of Sisera.

Sisera was a Canaanite general who led a coalition of forces against the Israelites. The heroine Deborah defeated that coalition. Another woman, Yael, killed Sisera by luring him into her tent and then smashing his skull.

When Siseras mother discovers her son is dead, she wails and some ancient rabbis believed her wails were the origins of the shofar blasts.

Yes, of course, we feel empathy for Sarah.

But, Siseras mother? Mrs. Sisera was the mother of a barbaric Canaanite general who came after us with brutality and with treachery. Today, Sisera would be part of the Islamic State or al-Qaida or the Taliban. And we should care about her feelings?

Yes. That is the astounding thing. We care about her and her feelings just as we care about the feelings of Sarah.

I want to feel empathy with my own people, with my own tribe.

And: I want to feel empathy with others, as well.

I start with empathy for my people, for our people, for the Jewish people. I empathize with our peoples history, with its struggles, with the words we have created and the visions we have shared. This is my family.

That empathy includes Israel. That is a love, and that is a solidarity, and that is a fundamental part of my faith for which I will not apologize.

Judaism says: You think you have to abandon your own story in order to feel empathy with those who are powerless? No! That is your story! You care for others because it is at the beating heart of your story!

On some level, on many levels, that empathy demands I hear the stories of those who are not me, as well.

Consider the words of the Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, in his book Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. He imagines the Palestinian who lives in the next village, just beyond the borders of Jerusalem.

I see my presence in Israel as part of the return of an indigenous, uprooted people, and a reborn Jewish state as an act of historic justice, of reparation. I see your presence in this land as an essential part of its being. Palestinians often compare themselves to olive trees. I am inspired by your rootedness, by your love for this landscape. Do you see me as part of a colonialist invasion that was a historic crime and a religious violation? Or can you see the Jewish presence here as authentic, just like your own? Can you see my life here as an uprooted olive tree restored to its place?

Yossi is asking: Is there room in the Jewish soul and in the Palestinian soul to see each other as part of the same story?

The answer must be: Yes.

To our young people, and others:

The Jewish people needs your presence, and it needs your heart. Israel needs your heart. When you see policies and actions that demand critique and if you do not, I will make a small list for you then I want your love to speak out. When we Jews need to criticize what other Jews do, and what the Jewish state does, let us do it out of love, out of chesed.

You want to repair the world that great task of tikkun olam. I am with you.

But, may I remind you of the motto of our international Reform youth movement?

Three acts of tikkun:

If you try to blow into the wide end of the shofar, you get no sound.

The music only emerges when you blow into the narrow end. Only when you start with yourself and with your people.

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I preached the Dickens about antisemitism - Religion News Service

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