Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

Recho Omondi, right, pictured in 2016, was accused of antisemitism for calling Leandra Medine Cohen, pictured in 2020, a Jewish American Princess. (Getty Images via JTA.org)

By Ben Sales

Recho Omondi, a fashion podcaster who was accused of antisemitism for comments in a recent interview she conducted with a Jewish writer, has posted a lengthy apology to her listeners.

I owe the Jewish community and anyone else whos offended by my words an apology, Omondi said in a six-minute segment uploaded Tuesday morning to her podcast channel, The Cutting Room Floor. I said some really crass and reductive things about Jewish people, painting them with one big, broad stroke, and it really stereotyped and insulted a lot of my friends, and fans of the show, and strangers.

Omondi hasfaced accusations of antisemitismfollowing the interview with fashion blogger Leandra Medine Cohen nearly two weeks ago. Medine Cohen had stepped down last year from the publication she founded, Man Repeller, after facing blowback for firing one of her few Black employees a few months before the summers racial justice protests.

In the introduction to her interview with Medine Cohen, Omondi, who is Black, claimed that many of the countrys racist white founders, including slave owners, were Jews. That false claim echoes a astereotypepromoted by some prominent American antisemites.

At the end of the podcast, Omondi referred to Medine Cohen as a Jewish American Princess and added, At the end of the day you guys are going to get your nose jobs and your keratin treatments and change your last name from Ralph Lifshitz to Ralph Lauren and you will be fine.

Medine Cohens comments in the interview with Omondi were widely panned as not self-aware. But in the days after the podcast was uploaded, listeners wrote that they were offended by Omondis words. Those listeners included several donors of small contributions to support the podcast on a crowdfunding site.

The Anti-Defamation Leaguecalled on Omondi to apologize. A widely read article about the podcast inThe Cut, a style and culture publication, appended a note about the antisemitism accusations.

The day after the podcast was uploaded, Omondi posted on Instagram, I want to recognize that I understand Leandra does not represent ALL Jewish people or the vast culture whatsoever. A few days later, she erased the comments about Jewish slave owners and the Jewish American Princess segment from the podcast.

In her apology Tuesday, Omondi, also a designer with an eponymous fashion brand, said she had not understood the nuances and diversity of Jewish life.

Its taken a second, because I was having to really come to terms with my own thoughts, biases, where those biases came from, she said. So Im really sorry for all the people that I disrespected and alienated from my own lack of understanding for, really, the depth of Jewish culture. I knew it was vast, but I didnt understand how nuanced it was. And now Im aware of the difference between, like, Ashkenazi and Sephardic and varying Jews of color and Black Jews, and the difference between it being an ethnicity, or the religion or a nation state.

Omondi added that she hadnt understood that Jewish American Princess was a slur, saying that she thought it was a b***y thing to say but didnt know about the whole history behind it thats still very alive and well for Jewish people. She also said her comments about keratin treatments and nose jobs were dark.

Within the fashion industry, she said, most of my experiences with Jewish people usually included a lot of racist, anti-Black energy, and it led me to judge the community as a whole unfairly, to be honest, but I realized theres a lot more black and Jewish solidarity and organizations and initiatives towards racial injustice than I ever knew about.

Omondi said that she didnt want to let this become my villain origin story and that she was grateful to those who called out her comments. She said all of my grievances about Leandra truly have nothing to do with her Judaism.

Im not gonna say and act like I knoweverything about Jewish culture, because Im learning about it, but, you know, Im not ashamed to say when I f***ed up, she said. Im not ashamedto learn more.

Medine Cohen does not appear to have addressed Omondis apology on Instagram or her personal newsletter. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has emailed Medine Cohen for comment.

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Fashion Podcaster Accused of Antisemitism: 'I Owe the Jewish Community an Apology' - Jewish Exponent

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

Kapur frames his story around three couples. After founding Auroville, Blanche Alfassa, a Sephardic Jew born in Paris, becomes known simply as the Mother. Her prime disciple, Bernard Ensinger, a French Resistance fighter who survived a Nazi concentration camp, she dubs Satprem, the one who loves truly.

Most of the narrative, however, focuses on John Anthony Walker, a scion of the American elite, and Diane Maes, a Belgian of more humble origins. They are the storys tragic victims of utopian fecklessness. Kapur and his wife, Dianes daughter Auralice, bind past and present together.

Johns ambivalence about his privileged background always battles with his reliance on family money. His father is director of the National Gallery of Art and well-connected in Washington society; his mother hails from Scottish aristocracy. At Harvard, he dabbles in Buddhism, LSD, and yoga. He volunteers for Robert Kennedys presidential campaign and is nearby when RFK is assassinated.

For a while, John lives in splendor in Pondicherry. Once in Auroville, he is generous with his parents money, funding community construction projects and handing out rupees to poor Tamil villagers. Though he resolves to build a mansion, designed in Renaissance Italian style, his bedroom will be tiny and spartan, like a monks. Johns problem according to one observer, is that he was born a swan and wants to be a crow.

The Mother and Satprem concoct a form of yoga they claim will promote human amity and evolution, and pave the way for immortality. After her body belies the claim to eternal life, in1973, her followers build a huge temple, the Matrimandir, in her honor. While working on its construction, Diane falls from high scaffolding, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Satprem, a kind of French Svengali, insists that her fall is an omen of Aurovilles failure to abide by the Mothers teachings. She must refuse medical treatment and instead use her condition via meditation and willpower to become the instrument for human transformation. John, now her partner, is left to tend to her and her 4-year-old daughter, Auralice.

Satprem is a harsh taskmaster whose edicts result in conflict between the residents of Auroville and its governing body at an ashram in Pondicherry. Even within Auroville, Revolutionaries square off against Neutrals. Never mind freedom and egalitarianism. Coercion and groupthink rule. Schools are shut down, books burned. A girl is prohibited from a tennis court unless shades of the Chinese Cultural Revolution she denounces her parents.

For a time, John and Diane seek refuge in Pondicherry. So do the authors parents. John and Diane eventually return, but find themselves in a defensive crouch, increasingly isolated from others; living in a hut, while their mansion remains unfinished. Dianes condition does not improve, and John, for unknown reasons, suffers pain, fever, and partial paralysis. He vomits up a foot-long worm. He refuses medical intervention and soon is dead, Diane commits suicide by poison. Auralice is only 14. (This is no spoiler. The author reveals the gist of their fates early on.)

Kapurs aim in writing this book is to fathom why and how his wifes mother died. Its a complex tale made somewhat more fathomable by the treasure trove of letters, diaries, and interviews at his disposal. In poignant passages, for example, we witness John writing about the possibility of a progress that is infinite, and his fathers halting attempt to understand this alien worldview. Since there is less material about Diane, Kapur must rely on the larger context for explanation. In the end, she remains a mystery, even to her daughter.

With two young sons in tow, the adult Akash and Auralice eventually return to a more placid Auroville where strife and dogma have dissipated. Having known each other since they were young, they feel like exiles in America, and Auroville, for all its faults, feels like home.

Kapurs prose is nimble and fluid, as his attitude toward his material shifts from dismay to anger to anguish and, finally, to hope. He has always distrusted faith, he writes, and never had much patience for wide-eyed schemes that aim at dramatic transformation. However well-intended, they inevitably sacrifice individuals on the altar of ideals. Diane and John ended up on that altar.

Despite everything, Akash and Auralice stubbornly cling to a vision of a better world. Its a vague yearning that the author cant quite put into words. Readers may be pardoned for being more skeptical.

BETTER TO HAVE GONE: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville

By Akash Kapur

Scribner, 344 pp., $27

Dan Cryer is author of the biography Being Alive and Having to Die: The Spiritual Odyssey of Forrest Church and the memoir Forgetting My Mother: A Blues from the Heartland.

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A search for utopia recalled in Better to Have Gone - The Boston Globe

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

One evening in 2001, on a dusty hilltop in the West Bank Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit, Rivka Ravitz was bathing her children. She was a 25-year-old mother of four at the timeand the chief of staff for Likud party Knesset member Reuven Rivlin.

Her phone rangPrime Minister Ariel Sharon was on the line.

Where is Ruvi [Rivlin]? Sharon asked.

Ruvi is in the middle of something, she said, holding a child steady with one hand, propping the phone on her shoulder with the other.

Ah, Rivkeleh! How are you? Tell him that I need him.

Sharon, it turned out, would eventually reach out to his longtime friend to inform him of his decision to disengage from Gazaa move that would cause Rivlin to step down from his position as Israels communications minister at the time and later cast a vote against his friends decision.

I saw leaders up close, their fears, their fights, she reflected years later. It was hard to watch it upfront.

For the last 20 years, this was Ravitzs life: serving as chief of staff to a leading politician, and then president of Israel, observing some of Israels most historic moments in recent decades, emerging as a prominent back-room player in Israeli politicsall while raising 12 children at home.

I met Ravitz, now 45, in June at the Loews Regency New York Hotel, where she was rushing around, waving at Israeli secret service agents, her phone glued to her hand. She was in the United States to accompany Rivlin on his final official trip as his term as president came to a close. At the White House on June 28, President Joe Biden kneeled in front of her, allegedly after hearing that she was a mother of 12.

Over the years, Ravitz has wielded power behind the scenesbut now, she is stepping into the limelight.

Her shoulder-length dark brown wig, or sheitel, common among married Orthodox women as a head covering, and uniform of long, dark skirts are unusual for such a high-powered positionand her home life is far from typical, too.

Ravitz is a member of Israels rapidly growing Haredi community, which makes up around 12 percent of Israels population and doubles itself every 16 years, growing at double the rate of the rest of the country. Haredi children make up a quarter of students in Israels elementary schools today. And while Israeli Orthodox women tend to work at an even higher rate than their secular Israeli counterpartsa trend that is changing the communityRavitz was a trailblazer, having entered politics at a time when no Haredi woman did.

I am proud to be part of the Haredi community, and I am ready to pay the price for it, she told me. For example, my sons learn in cheyder [a religious boys school]. They do not learn English and barely any mathematics. Its not written in the Torah that one cannot learn foreign languages, but the cheyder doesnt teach it. Acknowledging that she will accept that her children wont receive a full education in exchange for communal acceptance, she added: I really want my son to learn English, mathematics, computingits important to me, but I am ready to pay the price. I am proud to live in this community.

Ravitz was born as one of 10 children to American immigrants living in Israel. She married her husband, Yitzhak Ravitz, at the age of 18 and had planned on being a special education teacher of English after completing one of the elite Haredi womens seminaries in Jerusalem. But that summer of 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu was elected for his first term as prime minister, and her father-in-law, Haredi Rabbi Avraham Ravitz of the Degel HaTorah party, was appointed to chair the Knessets finance committee. He asked her to work for him. At first, she refused, saying she was planning to be a teacher.

He asked me, How much are you getting there? I said, 700 shekels a month. He said, Ill get you a starting salary of 4,500 a month. (At the time, employing family members was permitted in the Knesset.)

Like most things in the Orthodox community, parnasathe need to earn a livelihoodallows for a certain amount of leniency, even for a Haredi woman to take the unorthodox position of a parliamentary aide.

In the late 1990s, she was the only Haredi woman in those corridors.

The Knesset was very secular at the time, though the food was kosher, she said. I was very innocent but also very strange there. Only four or five members of the Knesset were [Ashkenazi] Haredi at the time, and all their staff was male. I was very young, and everyone was constantly saying, Wow, shes pregnant! Wow, shes Haredi! (There were, in fact, 14 Haredi members of the Knesset in total at the time, counting the Sephardic Shas party.)

But Ravitz took to her work immediately. She would take home materials to read, staying up all night to study law, taxes, and finance. Every day offered different adventuresone day a meeting with broadcasting authorities, another day with the education ministry, another with defense

But Ravitz could never have gotten to where she isa trailblazer operating within the lines of religious community strictureswithout the support of the men she had at either side of her, namely her famous father-in-law and her supportive husband. This is a world where male bona fides matter; historically, exceptions were made for daughters and wives of prominent men in the community, offering them allowances to push boundaries and take on unusually public roles.

What was strange was my father-in-law [employing] a Haredi woman, she said. I owe him a debt of gratitude. He gave me this opportunity. He had faith in me. A Haredi rabbi to take a woman, even a daughter-in-law, to work for him was a very strange thing at the time.

In 1999, new regulations forbade Knesset members from employing family members as aides. Rivlin, who sat on the finance committee with the older Ravitz, invited the young Ravitz to work for him.

Over the years, and the pregnancies and births, Ravitz grew more powerful, as Rivlin climbed the ranks of Knesset life, eventually winning the presidential seat in 2014. Her husband, meanwhile, has also pursued a political careerfirst serving as deputy mayor of Beitar Illit and now as head of the city council in Telz Stone, an Orthodox town of 6,000 people that is part of Jerusalem and where they currently reside.

Ravitz was present at the notorious 2015 meeting between Rivlin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin that would later be reported as the submarine affair: When Rivlin shared Israels concerns about German sales of advanced submarines to Egypt, Merkel responded, But you approved it. Rivlin stepped out onto the balcony to call Netanyahu immediatelythe prime minister, it turned out, had approved the sales without informing the defense minister or the president.

For Ravitz, it was just another day of life in her front-row seat: Rivlin standing with Merkel on the balconyI watched this happen. I watched how Netanyahus fall from power was triggered from this moment, she recalled. Defense Minister Benny Gantz later formed an inquiry panel to investigate the submarine affair, essentially declaring war on his own coalition partner.

Ravitz has met with Pope Francis (a meeting where she did not shake the pontiffs hand, for which she received special praised in the Haredi community, despite not shaking other male leaders hands), Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau, King Felipe VI of Spain, and Vladimir Putin, among others.

Yet no matter how powerful Ravitz may beand even within her own community, she is viewed as a liaison to power, often getting calls and requests to help with a good wordshe is barred from running for office in any of the Haredi political parties, the very parties that represent her community and the parties with which she identifies most.

Haredi politicians insist that this is what the women in their communities really want. There are no Haredi women who want to run for the Knesset, Moshe Gafni, the leader of the United Torah Judaism party, explained in a 2015 interview. Speaking to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Gafni argued that if he were to nominate women for his party, the Haredi women wouldnt vote for us. The Haredi women in our generation, unlike previous generations, are more religious than even the men, and their opinion is very clear on this topic.

Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Sephardic Shas party, insisted as recently as March that the Knesset is not a womans natural place and that it is against religious womens views on life.

But Ravitz, sitting in her Loews Regency suite, is not worried. The Haredi politicians say its religious law that women cannot be Knesset members. But I think theyre just afraid, she said firmly, with a knowing smile. Theyre afraid that well take their places. In Israel, parties have their own bylaws as to how candidates are chosen for roster lists, and Haredi party lists are solely determined by leading rabbis.

As time passes, these community representatives may be slipping from power. The Haredi parties have been pointedly excluded from the coalition in power in the Knesset today, and aging politicians now face a younger Haredi electorate in which women are increasingly working outside their own communities; this generation is politically disillusioned, especially after the chaos wreaked by both the pandemic and the recent civil catastrophe in Meron, in which 45 people were killed in a large crowd stampede during a notoriously unsafe and overcrowded religious ceremony.

Ravitz points out that in her community, change happens slowly. I understand that many of the women fighting for this are doing it for me, she recently told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. But I am at a privileged point, perhaps I am even spoiled, that I can say that I do not support their fight because it is opposition against the [religious] establishment.

Someone, after all, must do the dirty work of fighting in the public sphere, raising awareness about the misogyny that even traditionally minded women face, even those who do everything right, even those who give birth to 12 children. And Ravitz is relieved that she does not have to be involved; she wont go on that crusade, but shes happy to quietly welcome others who do. I will not defy. I want to work from inside, she said to the Haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat.

Ravitz is, in many ways, the face of many Orthodox Jewish women, who identify as Haredi, who follow rabbinical rulings and who are uncomfortable in questioning the status quo publicly, who are devoted to traditional family values and community lifeyet who are ready to step into leadership positions previously barred to women.

Outside her community, the Haredi woman can do whatever her heart desires, whether its finishing a Ph.D. in public policy at the University of Haifa, meeting with Putin, or visiting Arab countries on secret missions that she cannot speak about. But in her own community, her public role is limitedfor now.

Ravitz told me that she believes that one day she will be a Knesset member herselfas part of the very same party whose leader said no Haredi women want to run for the Knesset.

I believe that in the 2020s, this wont hold for long, she said. There will be a law that will pass that will say its discrimination for a party to bar a woman from being a Knesset member. And then, these parties will search for someone who is mainstream, not someone who is in opposition to them, not someone who screams against them. And then Ill tell them, Listen, let me think about it. And then theyll beg! And then, maybe, maybe, Ill agree.

Update, July 20, 2021: This article has been updated to clarify the number of Haredi members of the Knesset in 1996.

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Will Rivka Ravitz Break the Glass Ceiling of Ultra-Orthodox Politics in Israel? - Foreign Policy

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

The music will be back at Central Parks Music Haven this summer.

For three Sundays in August, the outdoor stage in Schenectady will feature local musicians, like the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra, and some from further afield, like Israeli/Iranian pop artist Liraz.

Im thrilled to keep Music Haven on the map this summer and welcome friends and neighbors back to the heart of the park, said Producing Artistic Director Mona Golub,who has produced concerts in Central Park since 1990.

Last year, Music Haven was canceled due to the pandemic and planning this season came with several challenges, including restrictions on international travel.

It really wasnt until late March, early April that I sensed there might be some opportunity for a few pop-up concerts towards the end of the summer, recognizing that an ungated space is very different from a concert venue that can control who enters by ticket and who sits where, Golub said.

Finally, as restrictions in New York State lifted, Golub felt that August would be the best time to host the abbreviated series, which typically brings in artists from all across the globe.

It was important to me to present a few shows that would maintain the integrity of our brand. In that sense, caliber and mission both come into play so Im pleased that we can offer a little bit of Americana, a nod to our global mission and the return of a local tradition as we present our hometown Schenectady Symphony Orchestra, Golub said.

The first show of the series kicks off at 7 p.m. on Aug. 15 with Albert Cummings, a blues guitarist who cut his chops in the Capital Region and is touring in celebration of Believe, his latest album. Wyld Blue, winner of the 2019 Eddies Award for Blues Band of the Year, will kick off the evening.

The second concert of the season, which is slated for August 22, will take audiences further from home. Liraz will be joined by several members of the Ethiopian jazz collective Anbessa Orchestra, which is based in New York City. Liraz, who is of Sephardic Jewish descent, worked on her latest album Zan under challenging conditions. To produce it, she had to smuggle recordings from Iranian musicians out of the country and then add her own vocals. Palestinian Kanun virtuoso, Firas Zreik, will set the stage as the evenings special guest.

The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra will close out the series on August 29. The program, which will be directed by Glen Cortese, is inspired by The American Songbook, and will include classics from the Tin Pan Alley era by Gershwin, Porter and Berlin, some Copland and traditional American folk tunes. It will also feature songs from John Williams like The Cowboys Overture, and a Star Wars medley. Special guest vocalists, Mia Scirocco and Casey Grey will be featured throughout the evening.

In past seasons, attendance was typically around 1,500 a concert.

We fully expect that there will be some caution going into these three shows that we perhaps havent seen before. Nevertheless, we will do our best to ensure a wonderful experience for everyone for chooses to join us, Golub said.

Even as this season nears, Golub is already looking toward planning 2022s line-up.

She said her wish list for performers is now stacked because of the lost 2020 season and a shortened season this year.

The diversity, the caliber, is just stunning. I relish the opportunity to bring in some of the folks with whom Ive been speaking with across the last couple of years . . . Theres a lot of good in store, Golub said.

Each show kicks off at 7 p.m. Proctors will be the rain site. There will be wine and local craft beverages available from Wolf Hollow Brewing Company and Nine Pin Cider, as well as ice cream from Ben & Jerrys. Micheles Charcoal Pit will also return.

For updates visit the Music Haven Concert Series page on Facebook.

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Schenectady's Music Haven returns in August with concerts - The Daily Gazette

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

Big-ticket Manhattan openings like Dhamaka and Sona have grabbed the spotlight lately, and indeed these places are very good at revealing aspects of Indian cuisine the city hasnt seen before. But a more obscurely located restaurant opened during the pandemic thats every bit as good and just as unique. Named after a coastal region known for its rivers, rice paddies, and monsoons, Kuttanadan focuses on the food of the countrys far southwestern state of Kerala.

There were at least three previous restaurants presenting food of Kerala, though not quite so comprehensively, on the border of eastern Queens and Long Island: Taste of Cochin, Five Star Indian Cuisine, and Kerala Kitchen. Last July, Kuttanadan appeared on the Bellerose, Long Island, side of Jericho Turnpike near 248th Street, while across the street lies the Queens neighborhood of Floral Park.

Once known as the fabled Malabar Coast an Arabic name for a major destination in the spice trade for centuries the food of Kerala shows Portuguese influences, as seen in the sardine fry ($10). Id never seen sardines in an Indian restaurant before. These are fresh as an ocean breeze, slashed on the sides, flame-grilled to a crisp char, and presented six to a plate in all their impeccable plainness an amazing seafood deal anywhere in New York City.

Indeed, a large proportion of Kuttanadans menu is devoted to fresh seafood, much of it simply presented, including grilled mackerel, king fish curry, shrimp fry, fish peera (chunks of fish tossed with shredded coconut), and mackerel mango curry (in a chile-laced paste of coconut and fruit). The use of seafood may not be surprising in a seaside region, but the large sections of the menu devoted to pork and beef, two meats absent from many Indian restaurants, is an unexpected revelation.

The reason for this prohibition is the combined influences of Hinduism, for which the cow is considered sacred, and Islam, which eschews pork in diets. But the influence of traders and colonialists from the Middle East and Europe has made the eating of those meats a long-established practice. In addition, an 18 percent Christian minority has been traditionally permitted those meats, and there once was a Sephardic Jewish population that could eat the beef but not the pork. A recent ban on the slaughter of cattle has been met with pro-beef protests in the state.

But beef and pork are still given starring roles in the Keralan restaurants of Queens and Long Island. The four pork dishes here range from dry-cooked to lots of gravy, as our server told us. Dragging a friend along whose family comes from Karnataka, just north of Kerala, we picked pork roast ($17), a dish that sits at the midway point on the gravy scale in terms of how much sauce it has. It featured generous chunks of meat and fat in a mellow sauce swimming in oil, similar to how Sichuan food flaunts its chile-infused oil. We were impressed to find crescents of chewy coconut, and the dish had an agreeable gingery flavor.

Other dishes unique to Indian cooking in New York were in store. My friend and I are both from Texas, and we were delighted when the picturesquely named beef devil ($25) turned out to be sliced brisket, and lots of it. Owner Feban Simon had warned us that it was ultra-spicy, and it left our tongues burning but with black pepper rather than chiles. Black peppercorns are native to the Malabar Coast, and according to K.T. Achaya in Indian Food: A Historical Companion, black pepper was commonly used in a broad range of recipes to produce a burning sensation in the mouth before chiles were introduced from South America to India in the 15th century, possibly by Vasco de Gama.

There are seven entrees involving beef, including beef ularth ($20), a stir fry flavored with green chiles, coconut, and curry leaf. Chef Aneesh Alleppy also does a Deep South version of biryani with a choice of main ingredients, including shrimp, yuca, boiled egg, lamb, and beef, but we picked goat biryani, which comes with the rice festively painted multiple shades of brown, yellow, and red, dotted with yellow raisins and toasted cashews. It was altogether one of the best goat biryanis wed ever tasted, and weve tasted plenty.

There were many other things we didnt try because there were only two of us: an egg burji (scrambled with garlic, ginger, and spices); a mutton vindaloo; an intriguing-sounding item identified only as vegetable stew; and a selection of Indo-Chinese dishes, like chilly gobi, that have become a feature of nearly every Indian menu in town.

And dont miss the signature bread of the region, called Malabar fresh paratha ($2). It had multiple buttery layers like a croissant, was huge in size, and proved better than basmati rice as an accompaniment to the sometimes sauceless dishes at Kuttanadan. But whether you eat beef and pork or avoid them entirely theres much to love among the chicken, seafood, and vegetarian dishes at Kuttanadan.

Note: As a result of the pandemic, Kuttanadan currently permits only takeout and delivery.

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Kuttanadan Serves Some of the Best Indian Food in Queens and Long Island - Eater NY

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This case study is part of the Diaspora Emergency Action and Coordination Platforms (DEMAC) Research study on diaspora humanitarian response and engagement.

Ukraine has been blighted by unrest and conflict for decades with many Ukrainians leaving to seek a better life elsewhere. Over 1 million people have received humanitarian assistance in 2020, with the focus on the conflict-affected eastern Ukraine, in addition to the COVID-19 response.

Recent estimates put the size of the Ukrainian diaspora at some 7 million, although other estimates consider 12-20 million to be more realistic. There are approximately 1,000 Ukrainian diaspora organizations aroundthe world.

This case study identified 23 Ukrainian diaspora organizations that were regularly active in humanitarian response.Nearly half were based in North America and the other half in Europe, Israel and Australia. The majority of diaspora organizations were created spontaneously after the unrest of 2013-14. Older diaspora organizations were initially created in order to promote Ukrainian culture in their countries of residence, with little focus on humanitarian response in Ukraine, with the exception of small-scale provision of support. With the outbreak of conflict in 2014, the main motivation for the humanitarian response was a wish to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine, driven by patriotism and empathy for fellow Ukrainians.

Most diaspora organizations focus their humanitarian response on health and rapid assistance such as providing food, cash, and clothes to those in need. A key feature of Ukrainian diaspora organizations humanitarian response is that they have tended to follow an initial response by those on the ground. Diaspora individuals have then picked upon the momentum from abroad and formed groups to firstly send cash to purchase basic assistance, before following this up with more complex forms of support, such as medical training and equipment.

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Diaspora organizations and their humanitarian response in Ukraine - Ukraine - ReliefWeb

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

With the aim of rectifying disparities that continue to impact the art world, a new art prize will be given out every other year to artists who are Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) or from the Asian Diaspora. Titled the Gold Art Prize, it is being founded by advisor Kelly Huang and Gold House, a California-based nonprofit focused on Asian and Pacific Islander leaders.

The biennial prize will go to five artists each time, with each winner taking home $25,000. The winners of the first edition are set to be revealed in December. A catalogue devoted to the winners work and a video series will also complement the award.

In an interview, Huang said that conversations about starting the Gold Art Prize began two years ago, though recent forms of violence and racism toward these communities have only underlined the need for the award. With the pandemic and the increase in anti-Asian hate in this country, it felt more imperative for us to come together as a community around something really positive and to center our efforts around supporting artists, she said.

She continued, For us, the goals are very clear: its to support artists first and foremost, to increase scholarship, and to inspire the current and next generation to be more engaged with contemporary art.

To assemble an initial list of nominees, Huang and Gold House brought together a group of well-regarded curators that includes Whitney Museum curator Christopher Y. Lew, Los Angeles County Museum of Art curator of contemporary art Christine Y. Kim, and Sohrab Mohebbi, who is at work on the next Carnegie International.

Their nominations will go to a jury that will be balanced between notable art patrons like ARTnews Top 200 Collector Komal Shah and Whitney vice chair Miyoung Lee, and celebrities whose fame exceeds this industry, including chef Padma Lakshmi, fashion designer Prabal Gurung, and actress Gemma Chan.

Bing Chen, president of Gold House, said he was sure to tap household names in an attempt to widen the winners reach in areas beyond the art world. Fine art is everywhere and should be accessible to everyone. Having more people who have an authentic and personal passion for fine art extends leverage as well as accessibility. You have a new legion of visibility for your art, so youre not focusing on the same traditional folks and galleries.

The award represents one attempt to undo centuries of under-representation for AAPI artists. We know that representation matters, Huang said. Our histories matter, our voices matter, and our ideas for the present and future matter. Artists are the ones who articulate that best, in my opinion, and were supporting that here with this cash prize. Were shining a spotlight on these artists to ensure that we wont be overlooked again.

A list of the 32 finalists for the Gold Art Prize follows below.

Correction, 7/20/21, 3:35 p.m.: A previous version of this article misstated Christine Y. Kims title. She is curator of contemporary art at LACMA, not associate curator of contemporary art.

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

On this Tuesday, July 20, episode of Sundial

Over the past week, Cuba has experienced some of the largest political demonstrations since the Cuban revolution in 1959.

The protests, and anxiety over the future of the country, have made their way to South Florida, where thousands have taken to the streets and organized efforts to get aid into the country a difficult feat.

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Cuban artists, musicians, writers and academics have been at the forefront of the calls for Libertad or freedom. Its known as the San Isidro Movement, which has been pushing the culture and language around resistance.

Its also stirring political pressure in the U.S. and around the world.

President Biden announced plans Monday to look at remittances and the U.S. Embassy in Havana raising questions about the role the U.S. government should play.

Sundial gathered a panel of speakers to discuss the situation in Cuba.

The panel included:

This excerpt of the conversation has been edited for clarity.

Historic Protests Calling For Change In Cuba

RIVERO: There had always been little bits of protest, small groups of dissidents that have always been present ever since the Cuban revolution came to power. And the last big one, if you can call it that, was in 1994 in Havana. They call it the Maleconazo. That was a big thing, but it was only in Havana.

So these things have been popping up in small cities and in big cities, but never at the same time. And what we saw last week was, because of social media, because people in San Antonio de los Baos (southwest of Havana) started live streaming when there was a march in that town. Cubans are connected to the internet now, the government allowed cell phone connections with the internet about two years ago. So now a lot of people are connected and they started seeing that and then going out to the streets in their own towns. We've never seen something like that happen before.

GAMEZ TORRES: They delayed, as far as they could, the introduction of internet service in Cuba. That's the first thing, You know, it was years and years and Cubans were isolated. They were not connected. The problem for them is that they needed to connect to the international economy. And at some point they needed to provide internet service. So the service has been coming back.

They are still censoring communication platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Facebook. But they do need to provide the service because now they need it for their own economy. So they have a big problem. I understand that they are censoring, for example, images of the protests. If you try to send someone a video via WhatsApp of the protest, that person is not going to get it. So in a way, they are trying to fine tune their own tools for censorship.

GUTIERREZ-BORONAT: When we say intervention, we're very clear on what we're saying. We're up against a regime which has crushed uprisings throughout history in a very bloody manner. It's a regime that has directed repression and crushing popular movements in Nicaragua and Venezuela, even in Syria. So it's a very bloody regime. It's a criminal regime. And we're afraid for the Cuban people. We're seeing violence taking place and hundreds of arrests. What we're saying is that no option should be off the table when you're dealing with a regime such as this. Strategic intervention, both humanitarian and also military by the U.S. in Bosnia, Serbia and Libya was essential in protecting peaceful protests against the regime.

And the other thing I also want to say: it's a moment of unity in the community. And I'm seeing Cubans from all parties, from all different walks of life, uniting in expressing support for the protest in Cuba and desiring that they're protected from the violence taking place and from the disappearances happening. Overwhelmingly, Cubans have put domestic politics behind. We're all unified.

Historic Protests Calling For Change In Cuba

Artists On The Frontlines

DE LA FUENTE: It's not a coincidence that the very anthem of dissent and protest in Cuba now is a hip-hop song with prominent musicians. Those who are participating from Cuba, Michael Osorbo and El Funky, are both self-identified as hip-hop artists, as rap artists. But if you want to record the sounds of Cuban descent and the sounds of Cuban protest, during the last thirty years, hip-hop is the place to look. The sort of play that the song Patria y Vida does with the official slogan for the revolution is something that hip-hop artists have done before.

GARCIA: Michael, who's been mentioned, and Manuel Otero Alcantara, theyre both in prison. And it's not just them. Those are the ones that we know. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of others that for putting those words into a rap song or making an image that serves against the government, are completely surveilled both at home and on the street. There is no sense of privacy. There are intrusions, home invasions, jailings that are happening. There are no human rights, definitely no artistic rights. But you can't have artistic rights without human rights and freedom of expression. And none of that exists [in Cuba].

Artists In The Frontlines

The Diaspora In South Florida

RODRIGUEZ: I've been an activist against the current U.S. policy towards Cuba because I do believe that it's impoverished the people and actually it makes it more difficult to achieve any kind of democratic standards. However, we do need to ask for accountability from the Cuban government because of what happened.

If we say that all the responsibility of what happens in Cuba is because of the embargo, then Washington is governing Cuba, and the Cubans are not governing themselves. So there is a responsibility within the Cuban state and for the Cuban government because they have been able to do so many things, so many reforms.

For example, the protests are in part because of an unfinished economic reform that was advertised in the times of Raul Castro. People are really complaining because they are not seeing any results. Yes, the embargo is there. The embargo is certainly causing a lot of economic pain to the Cuban people. But the main responsibility of not taking the appropriate measures, not doing the right thing, not following the recommendation of their own scientists, economists, sociologists the only one responsible for that is the Cuban government. I do think it will help to change the policy towards Cuba. But we cannot say that, for example, the limits of the freedom of expression is because of the embargo.

DIANNE: I was reloading my family members phones in Cuba. They let me know that they ran out of data extra fast because they were recording and trying to connect to others on the island about what's happening. This gave me the idea that probably a lot of other Cubans were running out of data and I wanted to connect them. And I felt like it's the only thing I could do.

We use a company called Cuba Messenger. They have an app, it's very user friendly. You sign up with your phone number and email and a credit card, and after that, you simply add contacts to your profile and you can buy them data. So for $22.99, we buy them five hundred Cuban pesos worth of talking minutes and two gigabytes of data. This usually can last them a couple of weeks depending on how much they use it. But because most Cubans are out on the streets and they are recording the protest, it runs out rather quickly.

I honestly didn't think this was going to grow to the magnitude that it has. I thought I would be able to help 10 or 20 people and we've now done over 1,000 phones in six days. There is fear of the government tracking us, but the fear doesn't outweigh how important what we're doing is, and so we just have to keep going.

I have had the chance to connect to many people recharging their data, some activists, lots of families, many people are thankful. Many people share very sad stories. They tell me they're able to talk to their grandmother that has COVID and [is] in a hospital bed. Things like that. They just want freedom. That's what they're screaming in the streets. They're not screaming end the embargo, they're screaming freedom. And in the end, the U.S. cant give them freedom. Cuba gives them freedom. It's their country they're fighting for, that they want. So that's the main message that I hear. They just want to live free to use their voice to be able to protest.

The Diaspora In South Florida

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

After a month in office, it is time that the new government reapprove the Kotel compromise plan and formally establish an egalitarian plaza at the southern Western Wall. In addition, there is no better time to do it than today, the day that the Jewish people mark the fast of Tisha Beav.The reason this is imperative now is due to a series of recent events that have taken place at the temporary prayer platform at the southern section of the Western Wall, which is meant to be reserved for the use of Masorti (Conservative) and Reform groups.

An organization calling itself the Joint Committee for Preserving the Holiness of the Western Wall gave notice last week that it was starting to conduct a series of prayer services and classes at the platform and had set up a mechitza, or gender separation divider, in opposition to the egalitarian nature of non-Orthodox prayer services that are held there.

Present at the incident was Shlomo Aviner, a far-right rabbi who heads a yeshiva based in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalems Old City.

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While Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai denounced the activities of the activists as baseless hatred, government action is required to safeguard and protect the rights of non-Orthodox Jews to pray at the Western Wall.

A reminder: In January 2016, the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu approved a plan drafted by then-cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit and then-Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky under which the temporary platform would be upgraded and a special government committee would be established to oversee its management. Other parts of the plan included the construction of a new entrance to the main Kotel plaza that would also be for the egalitarian prayer platform.

The plan was never implemented and 18 months later, in June 2017, Netanyahu held a vote to reverse it under pressure from his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.

Since then, the plan has been stuck and as illustrated throughout the past week, it has also been held hostage by right-wing Orthodox political interests.

The government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has declared their desire to repair relations with Diaspora Jewry. One of the first ways to begin that process would be by implementing the plan that would provide a large number of Jews in the United States who belong to the Reform and Conservative movements a respectable place for prayer at one of Judaisms holiest sites.

Doing so, would also show the extremist groups that are trying to take control of the southern section of the Western Wall that they do not have a monopoly over Judaism and Jewish life in Israel and that every Jew deserves to have a place to pray the way they want at the Kotel.

What Aviner and his followers did was try and create division among the Jewish people. They are trying to ostracize a significant portion of Jews who live in the Diaspora and to create a single form of Judaism that belongs only to them and those people who practice religion the way they do and the way they say it should be observed.

This government has a unique opportunity to set things straight and recalibrate the way religion is meant to be observed within a democracy like Israel strives to be. There are no haredi parties within this government and based on recent comments made by members of Shas and UTJ, they will not be joining soon.

This provides the Bennett-Lapid government with the opportunity to create a new equilibrium between religion and state in Israel. Now is the time and there is no better way to start than by creating equality at the Kotel, one of the most powerful symbols for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

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Posted By admin on July 21, 2021

Two garden beds at Longue Vue House & Gardens are rooted in the global diaspora of people from Africa, featuring herbs and vegetables with deep connections to the past.

The culinary and medicinal beds, located in the Discovery Garden and on the East Lawn of the museum grounds, include plants that have been essential to the food and medicinal traditions of African Americans for centuries.

Longue Vue's inaugural gardener-in-residence, Jakilah Mason, created the beds as part of the museum's new creative residency program.

Jakilah Mason curated gardens made up of herbs and other plants that are part of the legacy of the African Diaspora as a gardener-in-residence at Longue Vue House and Gardens.

"They are all plants that are ingredients you would commonly find in dishes, medicinal teas, spiritual remedies, etc., utilized by people of African descent," Mason said. "A few are unique varieties that are commonly eaten in Africa."

Chicory, artichokes, rosemary, black-eyed peas, cayenne pepper, fennel, mint and chives are among the plants currently growing in the diaspora project. In the winter, greens flourished, including collards and mustard.

Black-eyed peas are native to Africa and a staple on the continent, Mason said. Akara, or black-eyed pea fritters, are common in West Africa, the Caribbean and in Brazil.

This bloom that will turn into okra.

Okra is said to have been brought here by Africans along the transatlantic slave route, said Mason. Mint tea is commonly used as a digestive aid and as a cough suppressant.

Rosemary is anti-viral and anti-bacterial and used as a common household cleaning ingredient. It also has spiritual associations with clarity, especially intellectual clarity.

And chicory? That's been a digestive aid for centuries.

Chilis are seen in the garden.

Some plants in the beds are native to other places, but all were used in Africa long before Western colonization.

Masonwas inspired by studying herbal remedies and African diasporic philosophies and religions. Both played a role inthe designof the gardens and in the topics Mason chose to contribute to the museum's cultural and educational programs.

An artichoke is in bloom.

"I really just wanted to grow some of the plants my ancestors have grown,"Mason said."To learn from and about them and have them around for other people to enjoy."

Longue Vue House & Gardens, the former estate of philanthropists Edgar Stern and his wife, Edith, was created with an eye toward public education long before becoming a museum. The 100-year-old gardens were designed by famous landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman. The Sterns' house was built by architects William and Geoffrey Platt and is still filled with the couple's furnishings and art.

"Education was really the strongest part of the legacy that they wanted to leave to future generations," said Amy Graham, director of gardens at Longue Vue. "That was their purpose in initially creating the gardens."

A mint plant is seen in the garden.

The Discovery Garden, or children's garden, where some of the residency plots are located, is new in Longue Vue terms. It was built in 1998 and is the only garden on the museum grounds that's not historic.

"We can make changes here, feel free to try and create new things here, like this garden," said Graham. She said she is excited about the growing residency program and its connection to innovation and education.

"The creative residencies are open to artists of any discipline, dancers and musicians," said Graham. "We recently had a culinary artist in residence."

Mason point to the tiny beans emerging.

A love of gardening and cooking was passed down in Mason's family. Continuing that tradition is a way to stay connected.

"My mother is a self-taught gardener and cook, my paternal grandfather started a community garden, my paternal grandmother loved to cook," Mason said. "I also remember my grandmother was fond of flowers."

Mason recently led an educational garden walk titled "Chamomile, Callaloo, & the Crossroads" and a food workshopat Longue Vue. The walk focusedon the ways Africa's people and cultures influenced Western medicinal and culinary traditions. In the food workshop, children and adults learned to prepare pikliz a spicy Haitian pickled relish made from carrots, cabbage, and peppers with vegetables harvested from the diaspora culinary beds.

"Most of the produce was from here," said Graham. "We used our vegetable gardens, including the Victory Garden planted by the Sterns during World War II."

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