Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 20, 2021

Leslie Cannold has had enough of being even-handed and presenting Both Sides Now. She wants to cut to the chase: whats the right way to go? In her new column, Dr Cannold brings her ethical training to everyday dilemmas. Send your questions to [emailprotected] with Dear Leslie in the subject line. She might even reply

Dear Leslie,

I am appalled at those who attended that engagement party in Melbourne, violating every lockdown rule and laughing about it. But because Im also Jewish, I feel a bit embarrassed. And responsible. Am I?

Shamefaced in Balaclava

Dear Shamefaced,

OMG, dont get me going about that engagement party. Ive been fuming about it all week! The blatant disregard of rules designed to keep others safe and that everyone else is complying with despite the hardship. The high levels of amusement about that fact evinced by most of the 69 attendees, among them not just the groom-to-be who is an aspiring lawyer, but two medical doctors.

Then, and this really gets my goat, the decision of attendees of this illicit and now confirmed super-spreader event to trip merrily through the shops in the area including the Coles confining hundreds to the hardship and misery of 14 days of isolation. Grrrrrrr. Its totally, absolutely outrageous.

But heres the thing. Unless you were there or knew about it beforehand but did nothing to stop it, morally speaking you are in the clear.

Im not dismissing your sense of embarrassment and guilt. Im Jewish and have been fighting off both feelings all week, as have some of my Jewish friends. But while this episode has and will almost certainly continue to cause anti-Semites to crawl out from under their rocks and spew their abominable lies and hate, the truth is that the most morally egregious aspects of this gathering have nothing to do with the Jewishness of the attendees.

It has to do with their character and, sadly, self-serving and arrogance comes in all shapes, faiths and colours.

Having said that, I dont think there is any harm for individuals or groups representing minority communities to distance themselves from the heinous behaviour of their members. Such personal distancing is not an obligation, of course, but at a time when our interdependence and sense of collective obligation is heightened, it cant hurt.

I know I felt better when former Labor MP Philip Dalidakis said on Facebook that while the event was not representative of the overwhelming Jewish community those who took part should be ashamed and be dealt with in the strongest possible terms.

Dalidakis said something else important, too: The level of indifference to the health impacts of our wider community is appalling. The insular behaviour of those involved who have hidden behind religious observance or used other loopholes (incl health support exemptions) to continue to meet is outrageous.

If Dalidakis is right that one Melbourne religious community is taking advantage of the special privileges its been granted to avoid the worst of lockdown, Ill bet dollars to doughnuts other religious groups are too. And if thats the case, as Melbourne stands on a knife-edge regarding the current outbreak of COVID-19, perhaps its high time for the religious exemption to go.

Indeed, given the secular nature of a state like Victoria, its hard to understand why it was granted in the first place.

Dear Leslie,

I understand the concept of one-vote-one-value in a democracy, but thats not exactly how it works in my marginal electorate. Thats because most of the small proportion of voters who decide the outcome have absolutely no interest in politics or the issues so surely the value of their uninterest and apathy isnt equivalent to my passionate interest and political engagement and therefore they shouldnt get a full vote?

Marginal Voter

Hi, Marginal,

Your letter reminds me of Churchills famous observation that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

But while the witticism makes me smile, it raises the same question as your letter. Is it the theory of democracy thats the problem, or the practice, particularly as that practice plays out in your corner?

If the very idea of one-person-one-vote irks you, that makes you an epistocrat someone who supports epistocracy thinks, like you do, that those who know nothing, or less than nothing, about the workings of the world should have less influence on how it runs than those who know a lot.

But while this sounds sensible, the devil is in the implementation. What does the informed voter need to know about, and how informed do they need to be to retain an equal vote? What if I have PhD-level knowledge about a South American snail but can talk sensibly about little else? What if Im a repository of ancient Aboriginal language and traditions but didnt finish high school? Who decides and how? Through the presentation of a college degree? A score on a test?

Im actually a fan of Australias compulsory voting system precisely because it engages those you call apathetic. Universal voting moderates the hyper-partisanship tearing strips off democracy in places like the United States, where only highly engaged voters like yourself participate, and by so doing drag the extremes further left and right.

If its the practice of democracy in your corner of the world thats bothering you, the way I see it is, youre lucky.

Those in marginal seats have waaaaaay more chance of influencing policies in your electorate and the composition of the next government than someone in a safe seat. Not through being granted an extra-weighty vote for being so smart, but by having access to the handful of voters who if you can influence them can turn the vote your way.

So why not get organised and find out more about these folks who you live among and are your neighbours? Everyone has things they care about, things that offend and disgust them, and things that they want.

With less than a year until the federal election, the time to engage, activate and persuade them to your point of view is now.

Send your dilemmas to [emailprotected] with Dear Leslie in the subject line and you could get a reply from Dr Cannold in her new column. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity.

Read this article:

I'm Jewish and appalled at the super-spreader party. Am I responsible? - Crikey

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on I’m Jewish and appalled at the super-spreader party. Am I responsible? – Crikey
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 20, 2021

With Rosh Hashanah this year beginning at sunset on Labor Day, Ive combined traditions for a holiday dinner cookout.

A grilled head of cauliflower celebrates the head of the year. Apples and honey, symbols of a sweet New Year, make their presence known in the recipe for potato-apple skewers, which are a great accompaniment to the grilled chicken with the mustard-garlic marinade.

If a grill isnt available, you can make the cauliflower by baking it at 425 degrees after first microwaving it. The skewers and chicken can also be made in a broiler, grill pan or indoor electric grill.

Remove cauliflower leaves. Trim stem flat. Place in microwave-safe dish. Brush on all sides with marinade. Marinate 20 minutes. Pour cup water into dish. Tent with waxed paper. Cook in microwave on high until a fork can pierce about a quarter of the way through (6 to 12 minutes).

Grease the grill grates. Heat to medium-high. Place cauliflower stem side down. Brush with marinade. Grill 10 minutes. Flip. Brush with marinade. Grill 10 minutes. Brush all over with marinade, wrap in foil, place on grill and turn occasionally. Cauliflower is done when a fork glides through (about 20 to 40 minutes). Serve warm or at room temperature sprinkled with parsley.

Spicy tomato marinade: Mix 2 Tbs. tomato paste with 1 tsp. paprika, tsp. ground cumin, tsp. salt, tsp. sugar, to tsp. cayenne pepper, cup fresh lemon juice and cup olive oil.

Place marinade in a large bowl. Have ready 14 long skewers (if bamboo, soaked in water for 30 minutes).

Keep very small potatoes intact; cut others into 1-inch pieces. Steam or microwave in water with tsp. salt until a fork can pierce about halfway through. Drain. Put in marinade.

Cut apples into 1-inch pieces (discard cores). Stir into marinade. Marinate 20 minutes.

Thread each skewer with a piece of potato followed by apple and red onion, then repeat pattern. (Should make 12 to 14 skewers.)

Grease the grill grates. Place skewers over medium-high heat. Brush with marinade. Cook 4 to 5 minutes until browned. Turn. Brush with marinade. Grill 3 to 5 minutes until potatoes and apples are soft. Serve warm or at room temperature sprinkled with sea salt.

Honey-lemon marinade: Mix together cup olive oil, cup honey, cup fresh lemon juice, 1 Tbs. minced garlic, tsp. salt, tsp. ground black pepper and tsp. rubbed sage.

Remove 1 Tbs. marinade. Mix with 2 Tbs. oil. Set aside. Use fingers to separate skin from chicken. Rub marinade under skin. Rub remainder of marinade on both sides of chicken. Marinate 30 minutes.

Grease the grill grates. Place chicken skin side up over medium-high heat. Brush with marinade-oil mixture. Grill for 10 minutes, flip and brush again. Grill 10 minutes. Repeat as needed. Chicken is done when a cut down to the bone shows no pink but chicken is still juicy. Rest 10 minutes before serving garnished with red onion.

Mustard-garlic marinade: Place in food processor or blender cup peeled garlic cloves, cup olive oil, 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, 2 Tbs. chopped parsley, 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard, tsp. salt, tsp. ground black pepper, tsp. dried powdered mustard and tsp. paprika. Process into a coarse paste.

Read the original post:

When Jewish New Year meets Labor Day, it's time to get grilling - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on When Jewish New Year meets Labor Day, it’s time to get grilling – The Jewish News of Northern California
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 20, 2021

Akedah Fulcher-Eze grew up in a Black and Orthodox Jewish family in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Crown Heights and lived there during the violence of Aug. 19-21, 1991. Her family was well known to both Black and Jewish residents, and they were not alone, she says; the neighborhood was home to about a dozen other Black Jewish families. Yet their stories have been largely if not entirely missing from most media accounts of the riots and pre-existing tensions between the two groups a narrative that Fulcher-Eze says would drastically change the media accounts of the events, often portrayed as a pogrom of Blacks against Jews.

The founder of SULAM Africa and CEO of Eze Yoffi Edutainment Studios, organizations created to empower, uplift, and magnify African Jewish voices in modern Jewish media, Fulcher-Eze resides in Birmingham, Alabama, and Enugu, Nigeria. She spoke with the Forwards editor-at-large, Robin Washington, on the eve of the tragedys 30th anniversary.

Youve questioned the media narrative in articles about whats commonly called the Crown Heights Riot. What are the main things reporters got wrong and still get wrong?

First off, simply calling what happened in Crown Heights a pogrom or an antisemitic riot without ever focusing on the death of 7-year-old Gavin Cato or the circumstances surrounding it is a bit problematic for me. An accident involving the Rebbes motorcade took place and though the driver did not intend to kill Gavin, a child lost his life and another was permanently injured. Those children were hurt long before anyone threw a rock or smashed a window. We need to own that.

Tell me about your family, and the neighborhood when you grew up.

My family moved to Crown Heights in the 70s. First on Carroll Street and then to President Street. Our apartment was in the Jewish building in the middle of the block. Out of the 40 or 50 apartments, in that HUD building only three of the apartments were rented to Blacks. Though people for the most part got along, there was always tension around public programs and housing.

Blacks had lived in quiet conflict with their Lubavitch neighbors for years. Gavin was a child who bagged groceries for my mother and others. Seeing him pinned under a car, and his sister pinned to a wall while a driver with few injuries was rushed away by Hatzolah a Jewish ambulance service must have been a trigger. Those people were already mortified and in pain. Their pain turned to anger and their anger at being systematically ignored turned to violence. That fact was repeatedly ignored in the reporting. The Black people on my block werent antisemites, they were human beings tired of being displaced and treated like second-class citizens.

Akedah Fulcher-Eze

Over time, more and more Lubavitch families began moving into Black-dominated neighborhoods, crossing what was then the divide between Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, and something changed. Fewer resources were available for people of color and Blacks began to feel displaced. Section 8 apartment buildings were renovated and those that had been rented to low-income people of color before were now occupied by Hasidic families.

Your family was affiliated with Chabad?

Absolutely. My father worked for Rabbi J.J. Hecht, as a bookkeeper for the National Committee For The Furtherance Of Jewish Education. Rabbi Hecht was our Rav but he was also the Lubavitcher Rebbes personal translator. We attended Fabrengens at 770 regularly, received dollars and Kos Shel Brachah from the Rebbe himselfeven while maintaining a Sephardic minhag. Like most of the Sephardim in the area we attended a small Mizrachi shul with the other Sephardic Black Jewish families in our community.

I actually graduated from Bais Rivkah, the Chabad Lubavitch girls yeshiva, with honors at the top of my class. I spoke as class valedictorian at graduation. It was not easy, but we endured. People were blatantly racist in other parts of Crown Heights back then and not half as open minded as some are today. We were called ugly names. The n-word, and also schvartzeh, Brillo head, Vulteh Chayeh. The children refused to sit next to us on the bus rides home. We were often spit on and mistreated. Id be lying if I stated that we did not have difficulty in certain community spaces, but we were loved at home and on our block.

Whats the biggest misconception or misreporting of events?

A pogrom is an attack on Jews simply because they are Jews. No one was chanting Jesus killer or kill the Torah observers that night. People were not being attacked that night because of their Torah observance in fact, quite the opposite. Lubavitchers, for better or worse , were viewed as privileged community members with deep pockets, strong political ties, and lots of protectsia from the police at that time. Are these classic antisemitic tropes? Yes. But that doesnt mean there wasnt a kernel of truth to them or that people didnt believe them.

How were Black Jews perceived?

I dont think we were hated for being Jewish either. That night, Black Jews drove through Crown Heights, in their kippot, looking very Jewish, while Lubavitchers could not. So why werent we attacked? Maybe because Black folk werent concerned about our Judaism or our Torah observance that night.

Your family wasnt attacked.

Absolutely not. My parents actually drove their Lubavitch neighbors to and from the hospital that night, covered in blankets on the backseat of our black Fleetwood Brougham Cadillac. With a Chitas on the dash!

Thats amazing. Was their bravery acknowledged?

No. My parents were never publicly recognized for their bravery that night. Non-Jewish Black folk like Peter Noel and others were celebrated for their heroism but my parents were never acknowledged. My parents risked their lives that night hiding Jewish friends in the back of their car, and while those same people received a hefty settlement from the city for the trauma they endured, my parents received nothing, not even a thank you from our fellow community members. Last year, after my mother, of blessed memory, passed away, I asked a member of that family to confirm his experience that night. He eventually did, but only in a private Facebook message , nothing more.

Have you talked to reporters about the incident in all these years?

Repeatedly. But few seemed willing to change the anti-Black narrative already circulating in the media. The focus remained trained exclusively on antisemitism not at all on the traumatic experiences Black and Black Jewish families had endured in the community for decades.

Over the years, I have spoken with several Jewish journalists who have written stories about Yankel Rosenbaum, alav hashalom, and Crown Heights. But none that Ive spoken to have ever interviewed Black Jews living in the area at that time. Strange. When I asked why, one journalist answered, It just never occurred to me. For probably the first time in my life, I was actually speechless.

See the rest here:

The missing voices of Black Jews in the Crown Heights tragedy - Forward

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on The missing voices of Black Jews in the Crown Heights tragedy – Forward
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 20, 2021

Good morning, New York. Todays newsletter is abrisk 650 words.

#METOO RECKONING

The Conservative movement will investigate how its program officials have handled sexual abuse complaints, following decades-old allegations against a Long Island youth leader.

HAITI RELIEF

The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York is working with its partners in the local Haitian community torecommend organizations that are providing direct aid for survivors of this weeks deadly earthquakes there.

REMEMBERING

Stanley Aronowitz, a sociology professor at the City University of New Yorkwho was hugely influential in the labor and civil rights movements, has died at 88, our colleague Ron Kampeas reports.

TODAYS BIG IDEA

Elad Nehorai, a former member of Brooklyns Chabad Hasidic community, writes how an episode of Schitts Creek helped him cope with his decision to leave a community that proved toxic to me. Read his Alma essay here.

PEOPLE & PLACES

New YorkLt. Gov. KathyHochulis scheduled to speak at the Hampton Synagogue on Sunday, days before she is expected toreplace Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Leaders of the Times of Israel,Jewish Journal, Atlanta Jewish Times and70 Faces Media (The Jewish Weeks parent company) discussed Jewish journalisms impact on the Jewish future with Mike Leven, co-founder of the Jewish Future Pledge. Watch the video of Mondays webinarhere.

WHATS ON TODAY

Israel Therapy is for those who love the Jewish state or love to hate it, hate to love it, and wonder why it doesnt always love them back. Todays discussion: Why does it seem like Israel expects us to keep sending money yet have no say in how the country is run? Register here for this Streicker Center Temple Emanu-El NYCevent. 11:30 a.m.

Join My Jewish Learning to learn about the history of the Jewish community of Rome, Italy the oldest in Europe from 161 BCE through today. Through pictures, maps, and videos, tour guide Sara Pavoncello will address the Ghetto, the Nazi occupation, as well as uniquely Jewish Roman traditions of food and language. Register here. Noon.

Photo, top: Brooklyn Borough president and Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams, left, visited the Hampton Synagogue for a breakfast forum led by Rabbi Marc Schneier, right, Aug. 15, 2021. (Hampton Synagogue)

Originally posted here:

Conservative movement will probe abuse allegations Jewish relief for Haiti The 'must-stop' synagogue for NY pols - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Conservative movement will probe abuse allegations Jewish relief for Haiti The ‘must-stop’ synagogue for NY pols – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 20, 2021

Last Wednesday, California became the first state in the country to require educators at both public and private schools be vaccinated or get tested weekly. The mandate, however, left open the question about whether students who are eligible for the vaccine should be required to receive one.

Out of the seven Bay Area Jewish schools that responded to inquiries from J., only one Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto has implemented a full vaccine mandate for its eligible students, with medical and religious exemptions allowed.

At Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco, students will be complying with the same state order required of educators: Be vaccinated or get tested once a week along with a daily wellness check.

Daisy Pellant, head of school at Kehillah since July 2020, told J. she decided to move beyond strongly encouraging vaccines to a mandate for the well-being of the community.

We do think it is the right thing to do for the Kehillah community, the Bay Area, the United States and the world, she said. Weve had an extremely positive response from our community about this.

Based on survey responses from Kehillah families at the beginning of August, the student population is already highly vaccinated, she added.

There were indications from the survey that our community would be in support of this decision to mandate the vaccine, Pellant said. It was my decision to make. It was backed by the community.

In San Francisco, JCHS sent a survey to its student body on Aug. 2 to get a tally on how many people are vaccinated. According to Rabbi Howard Jacoby Ruben, head of school at JCHS for nearly 14 years, a substantial 97% of students are inoculated.

Mary Ellen Hunt, head of enrollment management at JCHS, said the schools vax-or-test policy was weighed over the summer and monitored as Covid cases have begun to rise in recent weeks.

Im not gonna pull my kid out of JCHS because they dont have a vaccine mandate, but I would feel safer if there was [one]

Michael C. Blacher, an S.F.-based attorney who specializes in education law, told J. in an email that before the delta variant, Jewish high schools in the state were not seriously considering vaccine mandates. But delta, he said, has been changing some administrators thinking.

Before the delta variant, I think most schools not just Jewish day schools felt that there were better ways to increase vaccinations and maintain a safe environment than requiring vaccinations, he wrote. However, since the rapid spread of the delta variant and the increased risk of infection, more schools have opted to require vaccinations. Whats changed is not the law or the legal risks, but the virus.

At least one JCHS parent, whose child is a 17-year-old rising junior, said she wished the school was implementing a full mandate. I feel pretty strongly that high schools should mandate it, Kelly Kozak said. I dont see any reason why they shouldnt.

Kozak told J. she has an autoimmune disease and that her other son is unvaccinated, as he is only 10 years old, and that other families probably face similar issues. We dont always know what is going on in peoples families and who is at risk, she said. I think [getting vaccinated] is a larger civic responsibility.

Naomi Laguana, whose son is a rising senior at JCHS where classes are to start on Aug. 26 (at Kehillah, its Aug. 19) said she thinks the schools policy has made the situation complicated.

Unless you have some sort of medical [or] personal issue, I am a fan of the vaccine and think it would be lovely if it was mandated, said Laguana, who said she considers the Covid vaccine to be like other immunizations that the state requires of students.

At the same time, Im not gonna pull my kid out of JCHS because they dont have a vaccine mandate, but I would feel safer if there was [one], she said.

The five K-8 Jewish day schools in the area that replied to queries from J. said that they are not requiring vaccine-eligible students, those 12 and older who make up roughly half of sixth grade and almost all of the seventh and eighth grades to get the vaccine.

However, administrators at some of those schools Oakland Hebrew Day School, Brandeis Marin, Brandeis School of San Francisco, South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale and Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos have encouraged eligible students to get the vaccine, and added that their policies could certainly change.

At Brandeis School, head of school Dan Glass said he would have considered mandating vaccines had he discovered that his students, teachers and parents were reluctant to get them.

Thats just not the case, said Glass, who said that a large number of students somewhere around 95% of those 12 and up are already vaccinated, based on rough data the school has collected.

Glass did say that if the Food and Drug Administration changes its emergency authorization of the three vaccines and gives them full approval, a school requirement might follow.

If [the] FDA [gives] permanent approval for [the] 12-and-up crowd, and it looks like theres a shift among K-8 schools, were going to go ahead and make it mandatory and not just rely on the high vaccination numbers among the community, Glass said.

In Sunnyvale, Rabbi Perry Tirschwell of South Peninsula Hebrew Day School said his school, which is on 5 acres and very spread out, is different from most other K-8 schools. That said, SPHDS is putting into place protocols such as masks, HEPA filters and requiring students to eat outside.

We are particularly well set up for Covid, Tirschwell said. We know this disease. Ive met this disease.

Tirschwell did add that if he was principal at a high school, he might have different policies surrounding a vaccine, but that at the moment, he doesnt feel it is necessary to implement a stricter requirement.

Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City and Contra Costa Jewish Day School in Lafayette did not respond to inquiries by J. Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto does not have a policy to share at this time, a spokesperson said.

Excerpt from:

Kehillah students must be vaxed. Other Jewish schools weigh options. J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Kehillah students must be vaxed. Other Jewish schools weigh options. J. – The Jewish News of Northern California
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 18, 2021

As Holocaust survivors grow older, time is of the essence in preserving their stories.

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society has a vision to build a Holocaust education center near downtown Phoenix to help do just that.

If we dont talk about the past, how can we protect the future?" asked Oskar Knoblauch. "We must teach our youth our past history. Most importantlywe must educate children to think for themselves."

Knoblauch, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor who now lives in Scottsdale, hopes to be able to see the center open. For one, he's part of an innovative hologram exhibit planned for the museum that will allow visitors to interact with his image and ask him questions about his experiences.

The center will be one of the few places in the world to have access to this technology. The technology wasfeatured in a "60 Minutes" episode that aired in 2020.

Organizers stress that they're a long way from raising the estimated $15 million it would take to build the center.

Valley residents Tom and SusanErnst covered the cost of the hologram exhibit. Susan's parents were both Holocaust survivors. Her father was the only survivor in his immediate family.

"Although my dad was a happy, productive loving family man with a keen sense of humor, he rarely spoke of his experiences and the tragic loss of his family.It wasnt untilas an adult, when I went with my family to a Holocaust museum in Detroit, that the flood gates opened and he shared his story with us in exquisite detail," Susansaid.

Phoenix is among the largest cities in the country without a Holocaust center. The center would educate visitors through local survivor stories, artifactsand immersive experiences.

"Education is a critical element of change, and this facility will help teach people of all backgrounds the value of diversity and inclusiveness.We need that more than ever today." Tim said.

Plans call for 17,000 square feet to be added to theexisting Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center, located at Margaret T. Hance Park downtown.

For his exhibit, Knoblauch was filmed and asked a series of more than 2,000 questions. The responses were recorded so visitors can receive answers from his hologram.

Knoblauch was a teenager during the Holocaust. Knoblauch and his siblings were assignedto work at the Gestapo headquarters inPoland. Knoblauch recalls the Gestapo being the most ruthlessmembers of the Nazis.

Henarrowly escaped death at the hands of the Nazis several times. He is constantly asked how he managed to survive, move forwardandforgive what happened to him.

Knoblauch believes that the ability to survive is something that everyoneintrinsically has within them. He also gives credit to his parents for their guidance and the values they instilled in him as a child.

Generations to come will be able to talk to Oskar and ask him questions and continue to experience the tragedy of the Holocaust through his eyes, said Dr. Lawrence Bell, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society.

The center would be a resource toteach younger generationsabout the past and to prevent it from ever happening again, said Anthony Fusco, educational coordinator for the Jewish Historical Society: We dont want to make the Holocaust and genocide into something that just happened toJews, what we are trying to say is that this can happen to anybody.

In 2020, the Jewish Historical Society received an $11,000 A Community Thrives grant from the Gannett Foundation and The Arizona Republic. Gannett Co.Inc., owns The Republic/azcentral.comand more than 200 media outletsnationwide.

Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa covers Arizona's nonprofit community. Reach her at rdelarosa@azcentral.com.

Read the original:

Jewish organization hopes to bring a Holocaust educational center to Phoenix - The Arizona Republic

Category: Holocaust | Comments Off on Jewish organization hopes to bring a Holocaust educational center to Phoenix – The Arizona Republic
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 18, 2021

I wonder what Elie Wiesel would have thought about Monday night's City Council meeting?

About 15 people wore yellow starsto liken the oppression they say they feel as they resist COVID-19 vaccination and masking to the oppression that Jews felt during the Holocaust.

They donned yellow stars to express their fear that vaccination and masking isprelude to a holocaust similar to theextermination of 6 million Jews by the Nazis.

As a resident of Springfield, I am embarrassed by their display.

It is self-indulgent and lacking in empathyto liken an inconvenience like a vaccination or a mask that would help the greater public good to genocide.

Wiesel, who died in 2016, lived through the Holocaust and wore a real yellow star.

He wrote the book "Night," which was published in English in 1960.

He was a Jewish teenager when imprisoned at theAuschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.His parents and his little sister perished.

I've read "Night."

No, your supposed oppression as anti-vaxxers is not like the oppression of Jews during the Holocaust.

No, a mask ordinance is not like the Nazis requiring Jews to wear a yellow star.

No, a resolution approved 8-1 to encourage Springfield-area residents to get vaccinated is not a first step in an inexorable march to genocide.

More: Springfield city council passes resolution encouraging vaccination over vocal opposition

When our nation waited desperately for a vaccine to end this pandemic, I never imagined so many, particularly here in the Ozarks, would resist.

Theresistanceuses disinformation that, like the virus, mutates.

Anti-vaxxers grossly misrepresenteddata from theVaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS).No, hundreds of thousands of people are not dying from vaccines.

Reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination are rare. More than 351 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through this week.

During this time, VAERS received 6,631 reports of death (0.0019%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine.

The FDA requires healthcare providers to report any death after COVID-19 vaccination to VAERS, even if its unclear whether the vaccine was the cause.

It seems that when one piece of disinformation is debunkedanother pops up. Likewhack-a-mole.

More: Pokin Around: An odd little market where you can buy milk, nightcrawlers or even a car

At that raucous Monday meeting,an anti-vaxxermisinterpreted data fromIsrael to try to discredit vaccines. She said Israel had more infections among vaccinated individuals than unvaccinated.

I certainly did not know that; I do not routinely track COVID-19 in Israel.

Yes, it is true.I do not out-of-hand dismiss numbers just because they donot support my pre-existing beliefs.

But the clear message from Israel is to get vaccinated if you don't want to get sick or die from COVID-19.

About 40 to 50 percent of new COVID cases in Israel are among the vaccinated,according to a news story published in an Israeli newspaper in June.

The Delta variant has spread widely since then.

This number of break-through infections certainly is concerning.

ButIsrael is the poster child for advocating for vaccination to end COVID-19.

More: Pokin Around: No tears over leaving this building; it's the journalism that matters

It has used lockdowns, masking mandates and widespread vaccinations to get to the point where 60 percent of its population is fully vaccinated.

That is the 11th best figure in the world, according to the New York Times. It represents 80 percent of Israeli adults.

From a peak of over 8,600 new cases a day in January, the number fell to a few dozen new cases a day in Israel in May. That is due largely to vaccinations.

Then the Delta variant hit Israel this summer, as it hit the Ozarks, as well. Delta is far more contagious.

What is important to note is that few ofthe vaccinated people in Israel who have become infected have become seriously ill. Almost none of them are dying.

It is clearly the unvaccinated who are dying of COVID-19 in Springfield, in Israel and around the world.

Those wearing the yellow stars failed to mention that.

More: Pokin Around: Missouri law changed to combat theft of catalytic converters and copper

Israel already has approved vaccine booster shots. As recently asFriday, Israellowered to 50 years old from 60 the minimum age of eligibility for a COVID-19 booster. It also recommends them for health workers.

The anti-vaxxers on Monday brushed aside scientists and medical experts who recommend vaccination by shouting out that they simply are in it for the money.

To me, the only way you can accept that degree of worldwideconspiracy is to have a worldview that consists of little more than araised middle finger directed at people ranging from Dr. Anthony Fauci to your family physician. It dismisses what humanity has traditionallyconsidered knowledge and expertise.

I would be foolish to think I will convince any of those at Monday's meeting to change their mind on vaccination or masking. I would be no more successful in that endeavor thanconvincing some people that Trump really lost the election.

It is the yellow stars that caught my attention from the Monday meeting.

In response, here's a dose of reality a vaccination, if you will taken from "Night":

"Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch. Something was being burned there. A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes … children thrown into the flames. (Is it any wonder that ever since then, sleep tends to elude me?)

"So that was where we were going. A little farther on, there was another, larger pit for adults. I pinched myself: Was I still alive? Was I awake?"

These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper for nine years, and overhis career has coveredeverythingfrom courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65806.

Visit link:

Pokin Around: What kind of world is it where vaccines and masks are likened to Holocaust? - News-Leader

Category: Holocaust | Comments Off on Pokin Around: What kind of world is it where vaccines and masks are likened to Holocaust? – News-Leader
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 18, 2021

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

By Rabbi Rachel Barenblat

I was a writer before I became a rabbi, and High Holiday sermons usually come easily to me. Some years I have so many ideas and teachings and hopes to share that I accidentally write more sermons than I need to give.

Not this year. This year I havent felt able to begin writing at all.The enormity of whats broken in the world feels paralyzing. In recent weeks weve seen unprecedented heat and wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, a flaming oil spill turning part of the Gulf of Mexico into an inferno and extreme flooding across Europe. Who by fire, who by water, the words of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, land differently this year. Dayenu, that could be enough to still my pen but theres more.

Last year, leading High Holiday services via Zoom from home, I spoke about our obligation to take care of each other by staying apart. I turned to the rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto for his teachings about hope during adversity. I imagined Rosh Hashanah 5782: Surely we would be vaccinated and safely back together!

The past 18 months of pandemic were hard even for those of us who have it easy (a job, a place to live, no illness). For many the isolation of sheltering in place was crushing, or numbing. For many without stable income or a roof overhead, the pandemic has been unimaginably worse. So, too, for frontline workers and those whose jobs are essential and often unseen.

When vaccines became available, my heart soared on wings of hope. But I hadnt reckoned with the power of social media influencers lying about the putative risks of the vaccine, or claiming the virus is a hoax or not that bad. The simple truth that vaccines save lives became perversely inverted and weaponized. Now vast numbers of my fellow Americans are refusing vaccination, claiming personal freedom at the expense of the collective good.

I keep thinking of the parable of the guy in the boat drilling a hole under his own seat. He doesnt seem to notice that his personal freedom is going to drown everyone else. As a parable, its tart and a little bit funny. In real life, its horrifying. Dayenu: that too could be enough to spark despair. But theres more.

The governor of Texas recently made it illegal for municipalities to require masks. To many, masks have become a symbol of government control. A mask is literally the least we can do to protect the immunocompromised (and all children under the age of 12). Refusing to wear a mask during this pandemic is like leaving your lights on during the London Blitz.

Combine the anti-maskers, and the anti-vaxxers, and the new delta variant (more contagious than chicken pox, and vaccinated people can spread it), and cases are rising again. Were facing another long winter of isolation and mounting death counts and it didnt have to be this way.

Between what were doing to our planet (which disproportionately harms those who are most vulnerable), and the impact of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers on public health (ditto), and the persistence of the Big Lie that the presidential election was stolen, and the lack of accountability around the Jan. 6 insurrection, its hard not to despair. How can I write sermons from this place? Im pretty sure no one comes to High Holiday services to hear their rabbi admit that shes given up hope.

I poured out my heart about this to my hevruta partner, who reminded me that in Torah even God sometimes despaired of humanity. When God despaired of us, it was our ancestors job to push back and remind God of reasons to hope for humanitys future. This is part of why we live (and learn!) in community: to help each other find hope when our hearts despair.

Indeed, the Torah readings most of us will encounter on Rosh Hashanah cue up that inner journey. On the first day we read about the casting-out of Hagar and Ishmael. On the second day, the stakes may feel even higher with the binding of Isaac. Yet these same Torah stories also remind us of the hope to be found in tough times. An angel opens Hagars eyes to a flowing spring, and she and her son are saved. An angel opens Abrahams eyes to the ram caught in the thicket, and Isaacs life is spared.

Our task is to see the traumas of this moment clearly and also to cultivate the ability to look beyond our own despair. The Days of Awe open the door to new beginnings, even when (or especially when) we cant see our own way back to hope for change. We just have to be like those biblical angels for each other: helping each other see the hope we cant find alone.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat is a founder of Bayit: Building Jewish and rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, Massachussetts. Since 2003, she has blogged as the Velveteen Rabbi.

More:

Rabbis Are Supposed to Offer Hope on the High Holidays. What if I Can't? - Jewish Exponent

Category: Rabbi | Comments Off on Rabbis Are Supposed to Offer Hope on the High Holidays. What if I Can’t? – Jewish Exponent
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 18, 2021

Rabbi Richard Hirsch, long time leader of Reform Judaism in the United States, Israel, and worldwide has died at the age of 95.

But, this death was not his alone. Rather, it marks the end of an era in Reform Judaism an era in which great leaders shaped the intellectual, moral, and political fabric of our movement.

Those leaders were all born within a few years of each other from approximately 1919 to 1926:

As you can see, that Greatest Generation of Reform leaders were a mixture of pulpit rabbis, movement professionals, and intellectuals sometimes within the same person.

These men and women provided a presence that filled my youth, my young adulthood, and decades of my career. To sit at their feet was a gift and a blessing. It helped define who I was as a Jew, as a rabbi, and as a human being.

They were all classic liberals, in the 1960s/1970s sense of the term. Anti-war, pro-choice, pro-civil rights, anti-nuke you knew where they stood, and you were challenged by what they taught.

But to Richard Hirsch, born in Cleveland in 1926. He was the founding director of the Religious Action Center in Washington, DC. He helped pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. He organized Jewish participation in the March on Washington (August 28, 1963) and the Jewish response to Kings call to Selma, Alabama. The Religious Action Center in Washington essentially became Dr. Kings Washington office.

That was Act One.

But, Act Two happened in Israel. Rabbi Hirsch and his family made aliyah in 1973. He successfully exported his passions to Israel, where he became the executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and the true architect of Reform Zionism.

But, beyond that: He personally made sure that the international headquarters of the Reform movement would be in Jerusalem. Because he knew, deeply and intuitively, that this was the source of every value that we hold precious.

That was Dick Hirschs full-throated Zionism (A Theology of Reform Zionism in Gil Troys book, The Zionist Ideas):

The State of Israel represents the return to the Land of Israel and the restoration of the Jewish peoples sovereignty.The eternal covenant between God and the people of Israel is inseparable from the Land of Israel.

In the Diaspora, Jewish life is voluntary. A person is free to decide onJewish identity and the extent of participation in, and support of, theJewish community. In Israel, Jewish identity is compulsory. By virtue ofliving in a Jewish state, the individual Jew is obligated to identify as a Jew

In the Diaspora, Jewish activity is confined to what is defined as theprivate sector: the home, the synagogue, the Jewish community. Judaismis a private experience observed in life-cycle events, the Sabbath and holidays. . . . In Israel, everything is Jewish: from economy to culture, politics, the army, and the character of society. In the Diaspora, Jews tend to distinguish between universal and particular concerns. In Israel, every issue is both universal and particular. It is impossible to separate between humanness and Jewishness. . . .

It is impossible to separate between humanness and Jewishness.

Too many would create an artificial and harmful dichotomy between the concern for the universal, and the concern for the particular; between the concern for the world, and the concern for the Jew; between the concern for social justice, and the love of Zion.

For Dick Hirsch, there were no such dichotomies. He lived in the often-bewildering crosswalk of If I am not for myself, who will be for me? and If I am only for myself, what am I? He never dreamed that he would have to choose, one over the other.

Consider how Natan Scharansky described Rabbi Hirsch:

At a time when there are voices calling for the disengagement of the Jewish people from Israel, here is a leader who understood very early on that there is no future for the Reform Movement and for the Jewish people without a strong Israel. At a time when so many think that human rights and Zionism pull in the opposite direction, here is a leader who proves by his own life that the struggle for Zionism and the struggle for human rights are one and the same.

No surprise, then, that the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, eulogized Rabbi Hirsch:

Rabbi Hirsch was a genuine Jewish pioneer. He charted his own remarkable course based not on popularity or prestige, but on his unclouded intuition, his broad understanding of shifting realities and his deep connection to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

On a personal note, I will miss him: our many visits together in Israel, when he insisted on making time in his frenetic schedule to spend time with me, sharing his passions, hearing about my life and dreams; our few visits at his final home in Boca Raton, where he was diminished and yet powerfully whole in spirit; his speeches and writings that always pushed me and challenged me.

I shall miss him. We shall all miss him. How powerful that his son Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch has inherited his voice, and has made it his own.

I am imagining that room in the World to Come: Borowitz, Lipman, Annette Daum, Dick Hirsch, Vorspan all of them.

I hope that God can handle it.

More here:

A great leader dies -- and with him, a whole generation - Religion News Service

Category: Rabbi | Comments Off on A great leader dies — and with him, a whole generation – Religion News Service
Tags:

Posted By admin on August 18, 2021

Thirty-six years after landing his first job out of rabbinical school, Rabbi Yoel Kahn has decided the time has come to retire.

He had held multiple Bay Area pulpit and Jewish agency jobs over the decades, but since 2007 had served as senior rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley. And it was from that Reform pulpit he announced recently he would be stepping down.

His send-off included the city of Berkeley proclaiming April 24 Rabbi Yoel Kahn Day and synagogue leaders announcing that the campus education wing would be renamed the Yoel Kahn Beit Limmud (house of study).

A farewell celebration was held on Zoom prior to his last day at Beth El on May 28.

Its Kahns human touch that will be most missed, his colleagues told J recently.

Hes an incredible people person, said Jeremy Alberga, Beth Els president. He connected so well with the young and old, people with diverse spiritual and political beliefs. He has a great sense of humor, tremendous wisdom and understanding of Jewish practice and Torah, and he used that to bring people together.

When he joined Beth El 14 years ago, replacing Rabbi Ferenc Raj, who had been there 12 years, Kahn helped the synagogue complete its transition into its newly built Oxford Street complex and get it on sound financial footing.

I dont think its a bridge too far to say his presence was critical for the survival of the congregation, said new senior rabbi Rebekah Stern, Beth Els associate rabbi for seven years. When he arrived, the congregation had just moved into our new building. The process had been long and very demanding on the leadership and the resources of the congregation. It was not a secure time for him to come. By the time he finished his tenure, we were on solid ground, and now were a thriving and energized place.

Founded in 1944, Beth El is one of the largest Reform synagogues in the East Bay, with 525 families, a nursery school and the popular summertime Camp Kee Tov, which first opened 54 years ago.

Being a rabbi is not about where you work but who you are

The process of relocating to the Oxford Street site was a long, costly and at times contentious one for Beth El. After the site was purchased in 1997, some neighborhood groups fought against the construction of a synagogue, a battle that lasted until groundbreaking in 2001. The project cost some $11 million, and when Kahn started his tenure, fundraising and final construction were still a priority.

I saw the congregation through hard times and it seemed to come out the other side, said Kahn, who also faced waning membership when he first arrived.

Whatever challenges Kahn faced during his tenure at Beth El, they paled in comparison to the battlefield conditions of his first job.

A UC Berkeley graduate, Kahn received his ordination from Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion in 1985. He was then named the first full-time rabbi at Congregation Shaar Zahav, which had been founded in 1977 as San Franciscos gay and lesbian synagogue, a logical posting as Kahn is gay. From the outset, he and his community confronted the HIV-AIDS crisis as it ravaged the Bay Area gay community.

With so many of his Shaar Zahav congregants dying of AIDS, during one High Holiday service at the height of the AIDS crisis, he found himself too overcome with emotion to lead the congregation in reciting the Unetaneh Tokef prayer, which reads in part, On Yom Kippur it is sealed who shall live and who shall die who by earthquake and who by plague.

[The AIDS crisis] was emotionally and spiritually draining, Kahn told J. in 2006. But the value and holiness of gay relationships was so affirmed for me by the faithfulness in caregiving I saw.

In 1996, after 11 years at Shaar Zahav, he took time out to earn a doctorate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. From there, he accepted a rabbinical post at Hillel at Stanford, followed by a stint at Congregation Shir Shalom in Sonoma. While serving as a staff rabbi at the JCC of San Francisco, Kahn was tapped in 2007 to return to the pulpit, this time at Beth El.

He had a very clear vision about what a synagogue can be at its best, said Stern, who grew up at the Berkeley synagogue before returning as a rabbi in 2014. He invested in the experience of its people. He really saw [Beth El] as a doorway, a step along the way for people to have a sense of connection to wider Jewish life.

Kahn said he is proud always to have been a champion for LGBTQ rights, but equally proud that this alone did not define his career.

Being a rabbi is not about where you work but who you are, he told J. I didnt set out to be a spokesperson for gay and lesbian Jews or rabbis, but it turns out thats where I was needed for the first part of my rabbinate. One of the things Im grateful about Beth El is, Im still an out gay man with a husband and family; thats part of who I am but not the No. 1 thing.

Kahn and his husband, Berkeley poet Dan Bellm, have been together for 40 years. They have a son, Adam, who lives in San Francisco. In retirement, Kahn plans to do some writing and had hoped to do some traveling, though the pandemic is putting a damper on that. He looks forward to taking on the role of Beth El rabbi emeritus in the months ahead, but for now, its one day at a time.

I feel my rabbinate at every stage has been about embracing and honoring people where they are, he said, and helping them find their own Jewish path.

Visit link:

Rabbi Yoel Kahn retires after 36 years of service to Bay Area Jews J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Rabbi | Comments Off on Rabbi Yoel Kahn retires after 36 years of service to Bay Area Jews J. – The Jewish News of Northern California
Tags: