Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

An ongoing post-Brexit trade dispute between the European Union and Great Britain centered on Northern Ireland has threatened to cut off access to kosher food, raising the possibility that Jews would be forced to leave the province, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Wednesday.

Addressing parliament, Johnson said that Jewish communal representatives had pointed out that because of the problem with the food sector it was becoming difficult for them to have timely access or any access to kosher food"and that they were beginning to speak about the possibility of an exodus from Northern Ireland.

Now clearly we want to do everything we can to avoid that and to sort it out, but its going to take our friends in the Joint Committee to make some movement and to make that movement pretty fast, he stated, referring to an EU-UK body tasked with implementing the Northern Ireland protocol, part of the Brexit divorce deal Britain agreed with the bloc.

The protocol seeks to find a delicate balance between keeping open the border to protect the 1998 Good Friday peace deal that ended three decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and stopping goods flowing unchecked into the EU.

It effectively keeps Northern Ireland in a customs union with the EU while the rest of the United Kingdom is outside it, but this requires controls on goods arriving from mainland Britain. Disruptions to deliveries of some products have angered some pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland.

Earlier this week, the EU urged London to consider a Swiss-style veterinary agreement with Brussels on agriculturally food production to end a post-Brexit so-called sausage war row over certain goods moving between Britain and its province of Northern Ireland.

On Tuesday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews announced that its president, Marie van der Zyl along with Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Belfast Jewish community chairman Michael Black and local religious leader Reverend David Kale had met with Northern Irish Secretary Brandon Lewis to urge the Government to take action to avoid the Northern Ireland Protocol potentially ending Jewish life in Belfast.

In a statement, the Board stated that that Lewis had pledged his support, as well as that of the Prime Minister and the Governments lead EU negotiator Lord Frost but warned that if the kosher food supply comes to an end in September, as expected under the Northern Ireland Protocol, the community is likely to collapse.

The Belfast Jewish community is a great community with a rich history, but also an older and vulnerable one. We thank the Minister for his time, and urge the UK and the EU to generate a creative solution which means that Jews can continue to practice their faith in Northern Ireland, van der Zyl said.

In a tweet, chief Rabbi Mirvis declared his gratitude for Lewis commitment to urgently work with EU counterparts to resolve Protocol challenges preventing the precious Northern Irish Jewish community from accessing kosher food provision.

Despite Londons assurances to the Jewish community, the larger trade dispute is far from settled.

On Thursday, Brexit minister David Frost said that his country will not adopt European Union legislation on agriculturally produced food to solve difficulties with post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, urging Brussels to be more flexible to end a so-called sausage war.

In regard to the suggested EU legislation on agriculturally produced foods, Frost said that aligning with, or adopting, the EU's agri-food legislation is not going to be a solution.

According to the 2016 Irish census, there are now 2,557 Jews in Ireland, a 28.9 percent increase from 2011, when the last census was taken. Over half of all Jews in Ireland (1,539) live in the capital, Dublin.

The organized Jewish community numbers around 100 members, according to the European Jewish Congress.

How Israel, Fatah and the PA join forces to silence Palestinian protest: LISTEN to Amira Hass

More here:

Boris Johnson warns of 'Jewish exodus' out of Northern Ireland over threat to kosher food - Haaretz

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Boris Johnson warns of ‘Jewish exodus’ out of Northern Ireland over threat to kosher food – Haaretz
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

Anyone teaching the past by skipping over the unpleasant parts isnt teaching history. They are engaged in propaganda.

Jewish tradition understands this: Refusing to sugarcoat their own peoples culpability, the Sages themselves teach that the destruction of the Temple by the Romans is a consequence of baseless hatred among Jews.

Yet in nearly two dozen states, the movement to impose restrictions on the teaching of history is gaining momentum. Incited by a national hysteria over critical race theory, advocates of these educational fatwas are borrowing a page from authoritarian governments like Vladimir Putins Russia in a clumsy effort to avoid discussing the messy, controversial and painful moments in Americas history.

And as a professional historian, I can tell you that these bans will be terrible for anyone teaching or studying Jewish history.

What exactly is critical race theory, and how is it apparently in the words of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is seen as a potential presidential candidate teaching our kids to hate each other and hate our country?

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

Critical race theory is a body of ideas associated not with the discipline of history but with the practice of law. Adherents believe that the legacy of slavery is baked into American society and culture to such a degree that African-Americans continue to suffer long-term, systemic economic harm. It suggests that discussing reparations should be on the national agenda (hence the origin of these ideas among legal scholars).

The impact of systemic racism may be measured, for example, in things as diverse as the wealth gap between white and Black Americans with similar educations and the declining tree cover in neighborhoods with majority African-American populations. Critical race theorists look to the history of government policies from the 1930s like redlining, under which the Federal Housing Authority refused to underwrite mortgages in African-American neighborhoods with the explicit goal of separating incompatible racial groups. Blacks were, like Jews, forbidden to buy homes in newly developed suburbs, while white Americans received help from the government to purchase homes in these leafy neighborhoods and to build generational wealth.

The CRT framework, decades old, gained popularity (or notoriety, depending on whom you ask) after the summer 2020 wave of protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.

The bans on teaching with a critical race theory framework arent really against history per se, which is in the past and therefore stubbornly resists regulation. Rather, these decrees fall more precisely within the category of what are called memory laws. Historian Timothy Snyder described these laws as government actions designed to guide public interpretation of the past by asserting a mandatory view of historical events, by forbidding the discussion of historical facts or interpretations or by providing vague guidelines that lead to self-censorship.

Putin, however, pioneered a new approach to memory laws: Rather than protecting the weak, they also can be weaponized to strengthen the powerful. In the context of Russian history, the counterpart to American slavery is the Holodomor, a terrible famine that killed millions of Ukrainians from 1932-1933. Beginning in 2008, Russias Duma assembly passed legislation that forbade the discussion of Russian government policies that contributed to the genocidal nature of the famine, and established entities like the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russias Interests (an ideological antecedent to thenow-defunct 1776 Commission, then President Trumps last-minute attempt to promote a pro-American curriculum).

This is the intellectual home of the CRT bans. They share educational space with Polands ridiculous, offensive and dangerous 2018 law that criminalizes the suggestion that Poland bears any responsibility for the crimes committed by the Germans during World War II. The object of Polands memory law is not to prevent the resurgence of extremist antisemitism; it is to prevent Poles from confronting the complex legacy of collaboration with the Nazi occupation.

This brings us to the American versions of the memory laws. Tennessee, for example, recently passed SB 623, which lists 14 directives all tied to state funding. The requirements oscillate between the painfully obvious and the absurdly comic. On the one hand, Tennessee does not prohibit the impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history, or even the impartial instruction on the oppression of a particular group of people. On the other hand, it bans teaching that an individual, by virtue of the individuals race or sex, is inherently privileged (forestalling, presumably, lessons in how the redlining in the 1930s led to white wealth accumulation today, or how men enjoyed privileges over women well, at just about any point in history). The prohibition sits within the same category as promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government!

Despite the 1776 Commissions promise to unite, inspire, and ennoble all Americans, these laws will chill honest engagement with hard truths, forcing teachers to lie to their students, even if only by omission.

Furthermore, anyone teaching Jewish history will be challenged to find a way to present the legacy of antisemitism without running afoul of these regulations. The historical linkage between Catholic theology and the persecution of Jews, for example, is rife with difficult topics. They range from the medieval charges of host desecration and the horrendous blood libel to the popes kidnapping of 6-year-old Edgardo Mortara in 1858 (we could, unfortunately, continue at length). Protestants would also be discomfited by Martin Luthers anti-Jewish screed, On the Jews and their Lies (1543). The list of countries where Jews have lived in their diaspora is pretty much identical to the list of countries that have discriminated against Jews.

Obviously, the presentation of challenging material must be titrated to the specifics of the classroom, considering factors like the age and background preparation of the students. No responsible teacher wants to teach students to hate each other or hate America. But we all participate in a sacred covenant with our students: They expect us to tell them the truth. These memory laws, if enforced, would ask us to betray that covenant. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Read more:

Banning critical race theory will gut the teaching of Jewish history - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Banning critical race theory will gut the teaching of Jewish history – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

POIPU BEACH KAUAI, Hawaii, July 8, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- For the first time ever, Kauai has its own progressive rabbi who can perform Jewish ceremonies for visitors seeking an iconic destination Hawaii wedding or life cycle event. Known as the "Kauai Rabbi," Rob Kvidt also welcomes interfaith couples and LGBTQ.

Rabbi Rob began marrying couples on Kauai following years of study and his ordination at Rabbinical Seminary International in New York. Each bespoke ceremony is based on the couple's unique desires and Rabbi Rob develops a relationship with them in order to create a wedding that perfectly articulates their love and beliefs. His range of expression includes both the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements.

Custom vow renewal ceremonies are also available for married couples visiting the exotic Garden Island of Kauai. Rabbi Rob is available to conduct other Jewish life cycle events including Bar/Bat Mitzvah.

Rabbi Rob has created a wedding-focused website to share his vision of Kauai Jewish weddings and welcomes you to visit in order to learn more. https://kauairabbi.com.

Personalized service, an elegant presentation, and perfectly executed ceremonies celebrating love and diversity are Rabbi Rob's hallmarks, as mentioned on his website. A wedding is one of the most important days in a couple's lives. Rabbi Rob says "it is an honor to help enhance your celebration and joy while minimizing stress and worry."

Among his other interests and his love for Kauai, Rabbi Rob is a certification candidate at the Gamliel Institute specializing in Jewish end-of-life rituals. In his spare time, he is a seasoned traveler and a renowned Hawaii travel writer who co-authors the popular website, Beat of Hawaii.

Media Contact

Jeff Tucker, Kauai Rabbi Rob Kvidt, +1 (808) 353-8580, jeff@kauairabbi.com

SOURCE Kauai Rabbi Rob Kvidt

Read more here:

Kauai Jewish Weddings Now Offered by Island's First Reform Rabbi - WFMZ Allentown

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Kauai Jewish Weddings Now Offered by Island’s First Reform Rabbi – WFMZ Allentown
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

Tova Fry| Special to the USA TODAY Network

WATCH: North Jersey's most visible Jewish supporter of Palestinian rights

Rich Siegel of Teaneck, who is a professional musician and North Jersey's most visible Jewish supporter of Palestinian rights, answers some questions at his home in Teaneck.

Mitsu Yasukawa, NorthJersey.com

Contrary to the image presented in columnist Mike Kellys recent piece on a lone Jewish protester ata pro-Israeli rally held in Teaneck, New Jersey, as a member of Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace, I can say that we are part of a groundswell of Jews nationwide who say No! to apartheid in Israel and that nation'scampaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.

JVP is a national, grassroots organization. JVP members are inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, equality, human rights, respect for international law and a U.S. foreign policy based on these ideals. We work to build Jewish communities that reflect the understanding that being Jewish and Judaism are not synonymous with Zionism or support for Israel. Our work is part of a broader struggle and commitment to end racism, anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry and all forms of oppression. Other Jewish groups and individuals are sharply critical of Israeli policy as well such as the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, and If Not Now.

Nationally, JVP has more than 500,000 online supporters, more than 70 chapters and 15 student chapters, a Rabbinic Council, Artist and Academic Advisory Councils, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists. Our chapter has about 200 people on our mailing list, meets regularly, and holds educational and activist events, on our own and in coalition with others. Although most JVP members identify as Jews, we also have non-Jewish members.

The Israeli government continues to allow the provocative "Flag Marchers" to trample Palestinian Jerusalem, with fanatic mobs shouting Death to Arabs, resulting in the killing of a Palestinian woman and arrests of dozens more Palestinians, while conducting another bombing of Gaza. It is now even more important to expose the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of Jews who say Not in My Name.

We cant let Kelly's image of the lone Jewish protester stand, because it's not the reality. Weve been out there alongside our Palestinian siblings in countless marches and rallies in New Jersey, New York and across the country.

For subscribers: A lifelong NJ Jew became an advocate for the Palestinian cause here's why | Mike Kelly

Casualty of Israeli-Hamas fighting:: The Palestinian two-state solution?

Our very Jewish history of fighting against discrimination and oppression of Jews and against discrimination and oppression of all kinds doesnt fit the dystopian world of Israeli Zionism, where Palestinians are ruled by a different set of laws, courts and prisons than Jews, who occupy ever-increasing areas of land by expropriating the homes, land, and villages of the Palestinian people. We agree with Human Rights Watch and with the Israeli human rights group BTselem that Israel is an apartheid state.

In reaction to Hitlers Holocaust against the Jewish people, countless Jews have followed the false flag of Zionism, based on an ideal of building a Jewish state in a land without a people. But the land has a people Palestinians from whom the Zionists have stolen homes and land, and whom they have expelled, walled off, and closed off from their own fields, with separate roads only for the Israeli settlers. Gaza is an open-air prison, where residents must apply to leave, even for medical care or education.

Jews who criticize the settler-colonial state of Israel for these practices are called self-hating Jews as a way to shut down criticism and keep billions of U.S. dollars rolling into Israeli military coffers. Some in Congress have attempted to pass laws equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

JVP endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which is also attacked by reflexive supporters of Israel as antisemitic.

BDS demands that the Israeli government:

Ends its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967, dismantles the Wall; recognizes the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respects, protects and promotes the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

We cannot and will not accept the status quo of Israeli apartheid and colonialism, which is funded by our U.S. government. Now is the time to build on the momentum for freedom created by Palestinians across Palestine/Israel and throughout the diaspora and to bring everything we have to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, self-determination, and a future of equality, freedom and safety for all people.

We are determined to reset the path of the Jewish people in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We must all live together in peace, justice, and democracy.

Tova Fry is amember of the Northern New Jersey Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as a member of both the Oakland, California and New York/New Jersey Block the Boat campaigns,

Read the original here:

Jewish opposition to Israel's oppression of Palestinians is growing. Here's why | Opinion - NorthJersey.com

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Jewish opposition to Israel’s oppression of Palestinians is growing. Here’s why | Opinion – NorthJersey.com
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

An exhibition dedicated to the life and legacy of persecuted Jewish art dealer Max Stern will go forward this fall in Dsseldorfdespite opposition from scholars and the dealers own heirs.

The show, called Disenfranchised and Deprived: The Art Dealer Max Stern, will open at the Stadtmuseum in Dsseldorf on September 1 (until January 30, 2022), three years after it was initially canceled amid a dispute between local authorities and Sterns heirs over how the German city was handling the project. The heirs, a group of international universities, were concerned that German authorities were not being transparent enough about the works linked to Stern that remain scattered around Germany and have yet to be returned.

Dsseldorf mayor Stephan Keller plans to present an updated concept for the show next week. The exhibition will focus on Sterns personal and professional life as an important art historian and art dealer based in Dsseldorf.

Stern was running a successful gallery in Dsseldorf until 1937, when the Nazis forced him to dissolve his company. He fled Germany and eventually landed in Montreal, Canada, where he ran another successful gallery.

The large-scale exhibition was originally called off in 2017 by the mayor at the time,Thomas Geisel, after the Canada-basedMax Stern Art Restitution Project, run by heirs to his estate in both Canada and Israel, withdrew their support over concerns that the show was not being transparent about the potentially looted art that remains in German museums. Works once owned by Stern still hang in public museums in Dsseldorf.

While city authorities did not provide an official explanation for the cancellation at the time, they obliquely attributed it to current demands for information and restitution in German museums in connection with the Galerie Max Stern, according toThe Art Newspaper. (To the Art Restitution Project, this statement suggested they were more interested in securing the return of artworks than assisting with the show.)

Max Stern in 1925.

A letter to the mayor by Georgetown University professor Ori Z. Soltes stated that the German museum failed to heal wounds that remain open more than seven decades after they were inflicted, and instead unilaterally cancelled the project to protect its holdings, according toa 2017 report in the Globe and Mail.

Instead of the exhibition, in 2018, Germany held an international symposium on Sterns legacy in an effort to quell the disputes, before resurrecting plans for the show. (Its original rescheduled date, fall 2020, was called off due to the pandemic.)

While the show now has a new date, theMax Stern Art Restitution Project and the Canadian curatorial team are no longer involvednor are they happy about the new direction.

After the politically-controlled decision that prompted the cancellation of the original exhibition, Canadian scholars refuse to be associated with an administration that once questioned their academic legitimacy, a spokesperson for the project told Artnet News in a statement. They have dedicated a significant part of their careers to the study of Max Sterns life. We prefer to focus on our current research collaboration on Max Stern with Munichs Zentralinstitut fr Kunstgeschichte. Without the expert contributions of these Canadian and German scholars, there is no reason for our project to be involved.

See more here:

After Years of Heated Debate, an Exhibition Dedicated to Jewish Art Dealer Max Stern Is Moving Forwardand His Heirs Are Not Happy - artnet News

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on After Years of Heated Debate, an Exhibition Dedicated to Jewish Art Dealer Max Stern Is Moving Forwardand His Heirs Are Not Happy – artnet News
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

If as former Apple CEO John Sculley once said timing is everything, author Larry Goldsmith has managed to pull off the fictional coup of the decade by producing a work of fiction book that is totally outside of his experience.

Marc Marci, published in 2021, introduces the reader to Marc, a relatively typical teen raised in an observant Jewish household whose world is upended dramatically by his parents deaths just as he is about to start college. Despite their often-articulated and fervent wish that Marc pursue a university education, he is in no emotional shape to pursue academics, so he decides to postpone things by taking a gap year.

Marc survived the bomb blast but it triggered within him the deep-seated realization that he wanted to live his life as a woman, launching a painful, physical and emotional journey that would ultimately take him to a French physician specializing in transgender surgical procedures. Going through the surgery enabled Marc to envision himself as the woman he was becoming and the support he received from the community that had begun to build at this juncture in his life proved especially important to his metamorphosis.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

Caught in-between the world he occupied as a male and the one Marci was learning to occupy as a woman, she elected to pick up her life where it had previously been disrupted by fulfilling his parents wish of earning a college degree. She returns to the US, where she succeeds intellectually on myriad fronts as a student and also becomes completely immersed in what was already a deep and abiding Jewish faith. College life and her affiliation with an on-campus Chabad prove an essential element in Marcis transition, as readers quickly realize.

As her academic life ends and she falls into a career that is so successful it transcends ambitions she had hoped for in the past, Marci is supported not only by friends, lovers and business colleagues but especially by her Uncle Jack. He remains a pivotal figure in her life and his total acceptance of her as a woman helps heal some of the pain of her parents demise. Its at this point in her life that Marci acknowledges her deepest desires to find a loving partner, marry and have children.

Goldsmiths detailed investigation into the challenges Marci faces, roadblocks she overcomes and especially the realization that not every person she encounters would be as receptive to this metamorphosis. But just as life has begun to take the shape she desires, aspects of her past threaten everything she had built and this would test her mettle dramatically as her past life becomes fodder for investigators undertaking security clearances for a high-level job.

How many themes can a reader handle while taking this arduous journey with Marci? Hopefully, a selection of them. For starters, in todays growingly enlightened world, acceptance remains the backbone of this story as Marci figures out who she can trust including herself when it comes to navigating a confusing world.

Another important facet of this tale has to do with the secrets we all keep some of which have the profound ability to destroy a carefully built life, even when not all of the truth is told. Through it all Marci evolves, in great part thanks to the people who come to love and care for her.

Must a reader be enlightened about transgender issues before reading this book to fully accept the evolution of this character? That depends. One thing that wont be difficult to understand for readers of all sexual persuasions is the fear and trepidation anyone seeking to hide secrets experiences as fear of being found out is certainly not limited to people who have no interest in seeking another sexual identity.

What about the serendipitous circumstances that occurred the London bombing that disfigured Marcs body? Does it strain reader credulity to ask, Would Marc have transitioned had he not been the victim of this horrific circumstance? The answer will depend upon the reader and whether or not it feels logical that an underlying yearning to be a female existed just under the surface for Marc over time.

A serious thread that weaves throughout this complicated story is the never-ending relationship Marc and then Marci have with their unshakable Jewish faith. Being Jewish, she believes to her core, is part of her DNA no matter ones gender and a lifeline to the past that pervades everything that is precious to her as she travels this dicey road to self-acceptance, personal and professional success.

Will non-Jewish readers who know little about the faith be able to get through this work of fiction without the use of a reference book that explains the religions complexities? Thats a question that remains unanswered, though one can infer from the topic that this book is a more likely choice of someone who is curious about a variety of things and is willing to go the distance when Goldsmith transports the reader to the Jewish Chabad campus ministry that delivers another major turning point for Marci.

Further, Goldsmith has done his homework. According to Rabbi David J. Meyer, who wrote the article What the Torah Teaches Us About Gender Fluidity and Transgender Justice, Jewish traditional wisdom allowed for such possibilities, and especially our mystical texts, the Kabbalah, address the notion of transitioning from one gender to another.

As a new novelist, Goldsmith is still finding his storytelling legs. What he brings to his writing a background in legal forensics, obvious fascination with the topic and a passion for Judaism goes a long way in smoothing out the stumbles in this book. Marc Marci may not be the most skilled look at someone struggling with gender transformation, but it offers an honest exploration of a timely subject in the form of fiction.

MARC MARCI

By Larry Goldsmith

Vanguard Press

296 pages; $13.99

See the original post:

Jewish transgender transformation explored in new book - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Jewish transgender transformation explored in new book – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

Awaiter remembers every detail of an order but forgets those details as soon as the plates hit the table. Inspired by this thought experiment, German psychologist Bluma Wulfovna Zeigarnik conducted a series of laboratory tests to demonstrate that people have a better recollection of the puzzles they are prevented from finishing than those they have completed.

Evidently, our brains are wired to be preoccupied with the details of incomplete tasks. We have a deep-seated need to see things to the end. The human condition is to not be satisfied, to not let our minds rest, until we do what we set out do to.

The problem is, very often we dont. Very often, for whatever reason, we simply arent able to reach the finish line.

One of our great sages of the 20th century, Rav Eliyahu Dessler, writes, We are born in the middle of things, and we die in the middle of things.

Friends life is messy. Full of loose ends, false starts, unfulfilled objectives. The question is, what should our attitude be to this unsatisfying state of affairs?

In this weeks Torah portion, Massei, God gives Moshe the mitzvah of designating the cities of refuge safe spaces for those who have inadvertently taken a life to escape to, to seek refuge from avenging parties and for atonement. There were six cities of refuge to be established three east of the Jordan River and three west of the Jordan River.

The eastern territory had already been conquered by this stage, and to get things started, Moshe was tasked with establishing these first three cities. He did this with great enthusiasm, knowing that he would never get to establish the three western cities because God had decreed that he would not cross the Jordan River and lead the Jewish people into the Land of Israel. That mission was left to his successor, Joshua.

Analyzing the verse, Rashi comments that the six cities were a single bloc, and that none of the cities would be operational until all six were established. This means that the three eastern cities that Moshe set up did not become operational until Joshua conquered the western side of the Jordan River and established the other three.

In other words, not only did Moshe not have the chance to complete the task, he never got to see any of the fruits of his efforts realized. The Talmud (Makot 10a) says this was a mark of Moshes greatness that his passion for fulfilling Gods will was such that he threw himself into the task of establishing these cities even though he knew he would never complete it. The obvious lesson here is that we need to savor each moment, each accomplishment, each step along our lifes journey. On the one hand, its good to be goal-oriented and to keep an eye on the destination. On the other hand, we cannot be consumed with our goals to the point where we are unable to savor the small moments and the small victories. Because these small moments and small victories are an important part of our lives.

Every moment of life is precious. We learn this from pikuach nefesh the principle that virtually all the Torahs laws are suspended in order to save a life. Even if its to prolong that life for a few moments. Life is nothing but the sum of small moments. Each moment is sacred because life is sacred.

Torah learning provides a good illustration of the importance of small moments and small victories. The Mishna teaches that the mitzvah of learning Torah has no fixed limit. The Vilna Gaon has a novel reading of the Mishna. He says that this teaching applies at both ends of the spectrum there is no upper limit on the amount of Torah one can learn, but there is also no minimum amount; each word of Torah we learn is a distinct mitzvah with eternal value.

Kindness is another example. We have a Torah mandate to make this world a kinder, gentler place. But the mitzvah of chesed is fulfilled through incremental actions and gestures a kind word, a small gesture, a brief embrace. Tzedakah is another example a mitzvah performed one coin at a time. And prayer. It is made up of many individual words. Each of which has its own meaning and opportunity for devotion and connection to God.

We see this principle articulated most explicitly in the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot: It is not on you to complete the work, but nor are you free to desist from it. (Pirkei Avot 2:16).

Though the Mishnah is referring specifically to the mitzvah of Torah learning, which being Gods infinite wisdom, by definition, can never fully be comprehended or completed, it applies no less to every mitzvah we perform and all the objectives we pursue over the course of our lives. We are born in the middle of things, and we die in the middle of things.

This could also be the message at the beginning of our Torah portion, Massei, which chronicles the journey of the Jewish people in the desert in painstaking detail. Each leg, each stopover of the 40-year journey is mentioned by name. Why is that? If anything, theres good reason not to dwell on the drawn-out journey, which only became necessary because of the sin of the spies.

But perhaps the verse does so to underline that each step of a journey is important, each moment is significant, each mitzvah is a milestone. We should not look at life as one unit. We should savor each of its components.

The arc of Moshes life embodies this idea. He was appointed with the mandate to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, bring them to Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, and then to lead them into the Land of Israel. Due to events in the desert, Moshes mandate to lead the people into Israel was transferred to Joshua. And so, in a certain fundamental sense, his mission was incomplete.

The fairy tale ending would have been Moshe triumphantly leading the people into the Land of Israel. But the Torah is a book of truth. Its a description of life as it is. And in real life We are born in the middle of things, and we die in the middle of things. There are no neat beginnings and endings, no neat resolutions.

God is the master of the universe, and it is not in our hands to complete our arcs and wrap up our lives in a neat little bow. All we can do is focus on and appreciate each moment; take each task and each mitzvah one at a time; ensure we win lifes small victories.

All we can do is live with complete faith that Hashem will give us the time we need on this earth to do what we need to do what we were born to do even if it feels messy and unsatisfactory, even if it feels that things are incomplete.

The key is to live with humility and appreciation the humility that comes with understanding that we dont control everything, and the appreciation that comes with savoring each moment and each small victory. And we need to encourage that attitude in our children. To encourage them in each milestone accomplished, each mitzvah performed, each moment of grace and kindness, no matter how seemingly small.

As Jews, we believe in a Final Redemption an era of the Messiah, in which the world is perfected, peace and closeness to God reign on Earth, and human history is brought to a glorious close. We all long for such a time.

And yet, there is only one generation that will merit to witness this closure. We hope and pray that we are that generation that the redemption happens today and yet we carry on with our lives with the peace of mind that every good deed we do, every step we take in the right direction, every small difference we make in improving the world we live in is part of the unfolding of human history and leading inexorably toward the time we all long for.

Its about the small steps on the journey of life.

Rabbi Warren Goldstein is the chief rabbi of South Africa. This essay was archived on aish.com.

View post:

A Word of Torah: The Best-Laid Plans ... Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on A Word of Torah: The Best-Laid Plans … Detroit Jewish News – The Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

As I took my child to kindergarten this morning, I walked past a father, wrapped in tefillin, dropping off his son and waving goodbye with the leather straps between his fingers.

I get coffee and see men in their tallitot picking up fresh bread on their way to synagogue, women whispering the morning prayers at the bus stop, old men with a stick in one hand and a little Book of Psalms in the other, reciting as they walk.

This is Israel.

We look mad from the outside, a mad nation walking around in towels with fringes, with leather-strapped arms, talking to ourselves, humming as we walk.

Give me a break. Im tired. Im exhausted with being Jewish, keeping the faith, praying and observing laws.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

Never a day of rest, for the mind, for the soul.

We are believers, the sons and daughters of believers. The song goes on. Today I dont want to believe. Its too tiring. Just leave me alone.

Let me be a cat or an ant, let me be a tree or a flower, let me be a person with no God and no soul, just existing, enjoying what I see and feel without any need to give back, to fulfill or to believe.

Let me simply exist.

Every day I find myself thanking Hashem for having given me a Jewish soul, for having given me laws and rules to adhere to, for having given me a Torah, and for incredible ancestors who are watching over me and expect me to continue the chain of laws, tradition and faith.

Every day means today, even if its not any a particular day in Jewish history, not a fast day, not Shabbat, I dont have to build a sukkah, I dont have to clean my house for Passover, I dont have to prepare a festive meal for 45 people. None of that.

It is just a normal Tuesday. Yet I feel exhausted from my Jewishness.

I am exhausted from being Israeli and believing and fighting for this land, every inch of it, and its right to exist and defend itself even among its own people, the Right against the Left, religious versus non-religious, Arabs versus Jews.

I am exhausted from seeing and hearing tragic news from the past few months about death and collapse.

I feel the Earth moving under my feet.

Is there some kind of message we need to read here?

Is there a place where I can feel safe and secure?

Maybe we need to strengthen the foundation of our society wherever we are, reinforce our childrens education and the way we behave to each other as humans.

NINE YEARS ago, when I was told my daughter was sick, I was in the Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Department in Hadassah Ein Kerem. Wherever I turned there was a sick child. I remember seeing one of those big comfortable couches they put there for parents to sink into when they fall apart. I threw myself onto the couch, looked at my mother and said, I wish I had no children, no family, no suffering, no pain. Who needs this?

Why do I need to get married, fall in love, create other human beings who I will love more than anything in the world, and then see them suffer and feel this excruciating pain that I cannot deal with? Leave me alone. I should have stayed alone.

I remember looking outside the window and wanting to be a tree, just standing there, enjoying the sun; no feeling, no drama, no pain.

My mother took my hand and said, With no feelings, we dont live, we just survive.

Some will love more and cry less, some will cry more and love less but we all go through it in a way or another and that is what makes us who we are. Take this pain and use it, make something out of it. Write your story.

Life is scary, the world is taking a dramatic turn, tragedies happen and will happen again.

Right this minute, people are buried under the rubble of a Miami condominium. Children are crying for their parents, and parents are mad with grief over their children.

Still, let us not forget that we are the chosen people of God. We are all His children. We have been given a Torah and much work to do every day, from the morning when we wake up and say Modeh ani to the evening when we go to sleep and whisper Shema Yisrael.

We are not trees. We are not like the other nations who have no restrictions, no laws, no commandments, and no rich history and traditions.

We are the chosen nation and that is why Hashem demands more from us than any other nation, just as a parent with a brilliant child will always be more strict with that child in order to get whats best for him.

I turn on my computer and see the peaceful image of Rabbi Lipsker from The Shul in Bal Harbour, Miami, talking on CNN and explaining to Wolf Blitzer that whatever happened is not understandable; its something above our grasp of comprehension, theres no explanation, God is running the world, we need to do what we have to do.

No questions and most importantly, no searching for answers. We dont get a break from being who we were chosen to be. Every day is a new day, a new beginning, a new chapter, a new fight and a new prayer.

We have no choice, we are believers, children of believers. That is why we always survived and we will never give up.

So, no break today for you my dear from being who you are. Peace of the mind and soul begin with hard work. Get up and get the job done, pray, fight, love and cry.

Stop thinking too much. Let Hashem rule the world even if not always we understand His ways. It is not easy. Have faith.

I stare outside, a leaf falls from the tree.

Even trees feel.

I am sure.

The writer is from Italy, lives in Jerusalem and heads HadassahChen Productions. A director and performer, she also heads the Keren Navah Ruth Foundation, in memory of her daughter, to assist families with sick children. hjm74@hotmail.com

View post:

What do you do when you're tired of being Jewish? - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on What do you do when you’re tired of being Jewish? – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

(JTA) The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally happening, a full year after they were planned. And yes, theyre still being called the 2020 Olympics, even though theyre happening in 2021.

The Jewish athletes competing this year and there are many are the products of inspiring journeys. Theres the fencer looking for redemption, Israels first Olympic surfer, one of the greatest canoe paddlers of all time, a teen track star para-athlete, and so many more.

The games run July 23 through Aug. 8; the Paralympics will be held Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.

Here are many of the inspiring Jewish athletes to root for.

Basketball, USA

Is Sue Bird one of the greatest Jewish athletes of all time? Perhaps.

The basketball legend has won gold medals with the U.S. womens basketball team in the last four yes, four Olympics. (The team has not lost at the games since 1992.) Bird, now 40, is back for her fifth, and likely last, Olympics.

The child of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, Bird was born and raised in Syosset, Long Island. Shes been a basketball star since her debut for the University of Connecticut in 1998 and selection as the WNBAs No. 1 overall draft pick in 2002 by the Seattle Storm. In her nearly 20 years as a pro, Bird has won four WNBA championships (including last year in the COVID-19 bubble) and is a 12-time All-Star.

Bird also gained Israeli citizenship in 2006 in a basketball-motivated decision, so she could play for European teams. Her citizenship also allowed her to connect to her Jewish identity.

It was cool because what I found was in this effort to create an opportunity in my basketball career, I was able to learn a lot about a culture that I probably wouldnt have tapped into otherwise, Bird told the Washington Jewish Museum.

Read more on Sue Bird here.

The womens basketball tournament begins on July 26; the U.S. plays its first game on July 27 against Nigeria. The gold medal game is Aug. 8.

Rhythmic Gymnastics, Israel

Israels best chance at winning a medal is 22-year-old Linoy Ashram. The Mizrahi and Sephardi gymnast (her father is Yemeni Jewish and her mother is Greek Jewish) is set to compete in her first Olympics after winning in the individual rhythmic category at the European Championships in 2020 the first athlete to take the gold medal in decades who was not from a former Soviet country or Bulgaria.

Ashram has many firsts for her country: Shes the first rhythmic gymnast from Israel to win an individual all-around medal at the World Championships, the first to win gold in the World Cup series and the first to win a European All-Around title. Can she be the first to win gold in gymnastics at the Olympics? Well find out early next month.

Read more on Linoy Ashram here.

The rhythmic gymnastics competition takes place Aug. 6-8.

Tennis, Argentina

Diego Schwartzman is the highest-ranked Jewish tennis player in the world. Last year he broke into the top 10 for the first time, becoming the shortest top 8 player since 5-foot-6 Harold Solomon, also Jewish, in 1981. The Argentines listed height of 5-7 is called one of the more generous measurements in professional sports he likely stands around 5-4 (the U.S. Open lists him at 5-5). Watching him go shot to shot with players that are over a foot taller is nothing short of remarkable.

Nicknamed El Peque, or Shorty, the 28-year-old is set to play in his first Olympics. (For tennis, qualifications are based on world rankings, with the top 56 players becoming eligible.)

Schwartzman is open about and proud of his Jewish identity. Last year he wrote movingly on his familys Holocaust history, and how his great-grandfather escaped a train car headed for a concentration camp and ended up in Argentina.

I am Jewish and in Argentina, we have many Jewish [people] there, and all the people there know me, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2017.

Read more on Diego Schwartzman here.

The mens tennis tournament begins on July 24.

Beach volleyball, USA

Alix Klineman had played indoor volleyball for Stanford in college and professionally following her graduation in 2011. But in 2016, she failed to make the U.S. Olympic Volleyball Team and vowed to find another way to compete at the games. So she switched to beach volleyball. Unlike indoor volleyball, which has teams with rosters selected by coaches, beach volleyball is a two-person sport dependent on your own results with a partner.

I looked at the beach as a new opportunity and a chance to chase my dreams without anybody having to give me approval or put me on a roster, she said in 2019. The biggest thing was pursuing the Olympics and getting a new shot at that.

Klineman teamed with two-time Olympian April Ross she had been partnered with three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and they quickly rose in the rankings. They are entering the Tokyo Games with a world ranking of No. 2, with a more than solid chance of winning gold.

Klineman, 31, was raised in Southern California in a Jewish family. In 2015, she was inducted into the SoCal Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Read more on Alix Klineman here.

The womens beach volleyball tournament begins on July 24.

Surfing, Israel

Anat Lelior is Israels first and only Olympic surfer. Surfing is new to the Olympics, and only 20 men and 20 women will be competing this summer. Lelior, 21, qualified as the highest-ranked female surfer from Europe (Israel competes in European leagues). Lelior, who hails from Tel Aviv and served in the Israeli military, started surfing at 5, and by 12 she had won the Israeli national championships.

I know people arent aware of surfing in Israel, and the fact that I get to be the one to show people that were capable of more than they think, thats just amazing, Lelior told Surfline. But more than that, I want to show kids, women, everyone from everywhere, that they can do anything they want. Theres no limits. I mean, look at me. I had no idea that this would happen, and now Im going to the freaking Olympics.

Read more on Anat Lelior here.

The surfing competition is subject to change depending on wave conditions at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach. The womens competition is tentatively scheduled for July 25-28.

Baseball, Israel

The Cinderella story continues.

In 2017, Israels national baseball team which included several American Jewish players who became Israeli citizens to represent the country surprised observers by placing sixth at the World Baseball Classic, an international tournament of the worlds best teams, with wins over top squads from South Korea, Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands and Cuba. Israel was far from a top-10 powerhouse at the time, not even ranked in the top 10 teams in Europe. That made sense, as few Israelis play the sport.

Along the way, the team ginned up enthusiasm for baseball in Israel and gave some under-the-radar Jewish players, many who had spent several years in the minor leagues, new chances to shine. Oh, and there was that endearing mascot a life-sized Mensch on a Bench.

In 2019, Team Israel won the European Baseball Championship to qualify for the Olympics. The current roster is anchored by de facto captain Danny Valencia who has Cuban and Jewish heritage and hit 96 home runs over eight Major League Baseball seasons and Ian Kinsler, a former four-time MLB All-Star who made it to Israel on one of the last flights before COVID-19 shutdowns last year to earn his Israeli citizenship.

Only six teams are in play (the field also includes South Korea, Japan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the United States), so Team Israel has a chance of snagging a medal.

Read more on Ian Kinsler here, and keep an eye out for more JTA coverage of the team closer to the games.

The baseball tournament runs July 28-Aug. 7. Israels first game is against the United States.

Canoe slalom, Australia

Jessica Fox is known as the greatest paddler of all time: She has 10 World Championship medals, including seven gold medals, and seven overall World Cup titles. Her parents, Richard Fox and Myriam Jerusalmi, also were Olympic canoeists Myriam, a French-Jewish athlete, won bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Mom is now coaching her daughter.

Born in Marseille, France, Fox moved to Australia at 4, so her dad could take up a coaching position with the Australian Olympic team.

Both my parents competing in the Olympic Games is something pretty special, she said. It definitely inspired me to get to this position. Winning a medal is something that you dream [of] and Im proud to follow in my mothers footsteps.

Fox, 27, won silver in the K-1 slalom competition at the 2012 London Olympics and bronze in the 2016 Rio Games. This year, for the first time, women will also be competing in C-1 slalom so Fox, ranked No. 1 in the world, is favored to win not just one but two gold medals.

In 2012, Fox became the the second Australian Jewish athlete to ever win an Olympic medal.

Read more on Jessica Fox here.

The womens K-1 slalom competition is July 25-27. C-1 slalom is July 28-29.

Fencing, USA

Eli Dershwitz is returning to the Olympics for redemption.

At the 2016 Rio Games, the Jewish saber fencer lost in the opening round. In 2021, hes ranked No. 2 in the world and hoping to medal.

Dershwitz, who started fencing at 9, would win back-to-back NCAA championships for Harvard in 2017 and 2018. In Tokyo, he will aim to become the fifth U.S. man to win a medal in saber fencing. No American man has ever won gold in the category.

Born and raised in Sherborn, Massachusetts, to a Jewish family, Dershwitzs maternal grandparents are Holocaust survivors. He has a twin sister, Sally, who worked on the frontlines caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dershwitz grew up attending a Conservative synagogue in Natick, Massachusetts, and told Hillel International before the Rio Games that he considers himself a proud member of the Jewish community.

The Jewish community has been very supportive throughout my journey to the Olympics, and I look forward to representing them on the world stage, he said in 2016.

Read more on Eli Dershwitz here.

The mens saber fencing individual competition takes place on July 24; the mens saber team competition is on July 28.

Racewalking, Australia

Jemima Montag was perhaps destined for Jewish athletic greatness. Her parents, Ray and Amanda, met at the 1989 Maccabiah Games the Olympics for Jewish athletes held in Israel where Amanda was competing in the heptathlon and Ray was a cricketer. They hit it off on the flight home to Australia.

Growing up, the Montags encouraged their daughters (Jemima is one of three) to try everything, from long jump to shot put to ballet. But for Montag, race walking just clicked.

I found that my combination of endurance, hypermobile joints and fiery competitiveness were a great trio for racewalking, she said.

Montag soon became one of the best racewalkers in Australia, but after the World Youth Championships in 2015, she decided to step away from the sport. A family ski trip to Japan in 2017 reignited her competitive spirit. Her sister joked shed love to return to the country for the Olympics, and her mom encouraged her to go for it. A year later, at the 2018 Commonwealth Games a tournament of the Commonwealth nations, or the former territories under British control Montag won gold in the 20km event.

Montag credits her Holocaust survivor grandparents for her work ethic and resilience. When a training session or race feels tough, she thinks about them and reminds herself that grit and perseverance are in my DNA.

Read more about Jemima Montag here.

The womens 20km race walk will take place on Aug. 6.

Judo, Israel

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Or Ori Sasson won bronze in the mens heavyweight judo competition and became a national hero overnight not just for his skill but also his sportsmanship after one of his opponents, from Egypt, refused to shake his hand following a match.

Every boy and girl saw not only a great athlete but a man with values, then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Sasson in a phone call that was broadcast live on Israeli TV. You showed the true face of Israel, its beautiful face.

Sasson spent the pandemic year delay competing on Israels version of The Masked Singer his costume was a falafel sandwich and finished third. Watch one of his performances here.

This year, the Kurdish Jewish Sasson now 30 and likely in his last Olympics is set to compete in the heavyweight competition and in the team competition, an addition to the Olympics judo lineup. Judo has been the pride of Israels Olympic fortunes, winning five of the nations nine overall medals. (See more on one of Sassons teammates below.)

Read more about Ori Sasson here.

The mens 100+ kg competition is on July 30. The team competition is on July 31.

Judo, Israel

Sagi Muki made headlines when he befriended an Iranian judoka, Saeid Mollaei, who was forced to throw a match to avoid competing against an Israeli athlete. Mollaei fled Iran as a dissident and received refugee status in Germany. The story of their friendship is now being made into a TV show.

But Muki,29, is an Olympic medal contender in his own right. The half-middleweight judoka is a two-time Israeli national champion,a2019 world champion, and the 2017 and 2018 European champion. He was expected to medal at the 2016 Rio Games but was hampered by an injury.

Born and raised in Netanya, Israel, to a Yemeni Jewish family, he started focusing on judo when he was 8 years old.

The mens under-81 kg competition is on July 27.

Marathon, Israel

Maru Teferi, who was born in northwestern Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel with his Jewish family when he was 14, is the Israeli record holder in six distances, including the half marathon and the marathon. His fastest marathon time of 2:07:20, run right before the pandemic in February 2020 is just 6 minutes off the world record.

Now hes set to compete in his second Olympics. This time hell be joined by his wife, Selamawit Selam Dagnachew Teferi. Theyll be the first married couple to represent Israel at the Olympics.

Teferi, 28, met now-wife Selam while training in Ethiopia in 2012. Selam, 27, is not Jewish, but she moved to Israel in 2017 after the couple married and became an Israeli citizen. That made her eligible to represent Israel at the Olympics.

Even in our wildest dreams, we didnt think this would be possible, Selam said.

Read more about Maru Teferi here.

The mens marathon will take place on the last day of the Olympics, Aug. 8. To watch Selam, the womens 5,000m competition begins July 30; the finals are Aug. 2. The womens 10,000m is on Aug. 7.

Basketball, Japan

Avi Koki Schafer is sometimes listed at 6-foot-10. With that height, you would think he has played basketball his entire life. But the Japanese Jewish athlete didnt get into the sport until he was 16. Just seven years later, the 23-year-old will be playing for Japan in the countrys home Olympics.

Schafer, whose mom is Japanese and dad is Jewish American, grew up in Japan but spent his senior year of high school playing for Brewster Academy in New Hampshire before going on to play Division I basketball at Georgia Tech for two years.

He left his sophomore year to go pro in Japan and since 2019 has played professionally in his native country.

When I came back to Japan from the United States and decided to become a professional in Japan, I made the decision with an eye on the Olympics, he said shortly after being selected to the team. It is held in my home country and I want to show Japanese people what I can do.

Read more about Avi Schafer here.

The mens basketball tournament begins July 25. Japans first match is against Spain on July 26.

Paralympics track and field, USA

Ezra Frech is only 16 years old, but hes already made a name for himself as a para-athlete. The Los Angeles native competes in the high jump, long jump and the 100m race.

Due to a congenital abnormality, Frech was born with only one finger on his left hand, and he was missing his left knee and shinbone.At 2 he had surgery to remove the curved part of his leg, and had a toe attached to his left hand. By 9 he was on Ellen talking about his athletics and advocating for adaptive sports, and at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, he was the youngest athlete in the world to compete at 14.

Everywhere you go, people dont think youre capable of what an able-bodied person can do, Frech said. Ill go to my high school track meet and they dont expect the one-legged kid to go out and win the competition. When I was younger it got to me, but now its a motivation and excites me that I have a chance to prove people wrong, to shock them and turn some heads.

His mom, Bahar Soomekh, is a Persian Jewish actress. She fled Iran with her family in 1979. His dad, Clayton Frech, left his job in 2013 to found Angel City Sports to bring adaptive sports opportunities to Los Angeles.

Excerpt from:

Tokyo Olympics: All the Jewish Athletes to Watch - The Jewish News

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Tokyo Olympics: All the Jewish Athletes to Watch – The Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 9, 2021

By Dorsey Armstrong, Ph.D., Purdue UniversityThe Crusaders Attack on the Jews

In 1095, Pope Urban II called for Christian forces to head to the Middle East and retake Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land from the Muslim rulers who controlled it. Several of the Crusaders, on their way overland through Europe, got to the area of the Rhineland, which had several large Jewish populations. On reaching there, they decided to either convert or kill the Jews, whom they viewed as infidels.

The Jews who refused to convert killed their own family members in an act of mercy before the crusaders could do so. Some Christian leadersboth secular and religioustried to shelter and protect the Jews from the hysterical anti-Semitism that was raging through the Crusader ranks. For example, the Bishops of the respective towns of Mainz, Speyer, and Worms tried to shelter groups of Jews within the walls of their own households, but angry mobs proved too much for their defenses.

This is a transcript from the video series The Black Death: The Worlds Most Devastating Plague. Watch it now, on Wondrium.

When the Black Death struck in the 12th century, after the onset of crusading fervor, the Jews proved to be a convenient scapegoat for a population desperately looking for someone to blame for the horrific event they were experiencing.

Some chronicles make a point of saying that the accusations that Jews were causing the plague by poisoning wells and other water sources for various towns were obviously wrong because Jews were dying in numbers equal to the mortality rates of non-Jews. For a long time, most scholars assumed this was a lie meant to bolster the accusations against the Jewish populations. But some have theorized that there may have been some truth to this claim, in at least a few communities.

In some places in Europe, the Jewish population seemed relatively unaffected by the Black Death compared to the mainstream population. How was it possible?

It is essential to consider that the Jewish population in many places was confined to a particular part of a town or community, and very often there were actual physical boundaries or walls marking off the Jewish quarter from the rest of the city. This would have reduced their direct contact with a plague-infested Christian community.

Another thing that might support this idea that the Jews suffered fewer losses in some areas has to do with a theory surrounding the ritual practices associated with the holy celebration of Passover.

Learn more about the black death in England.

One of the rituals associated with Passover is ridding the home of chametzthis means any foodstuffs made of wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats. These things must be cleared out of the house, and this includes some serious sweeping and scrubbing: not even any crumbs should remain.

For the duration of the holiday, unleavened bread, or matzo, is consumed. If there was no food to consume, it would mean that there would not be rats. And, if people have gone so far as to actually scrub out their grain bins and have followed these protocols for several days, then the whole community will have less of a rat problem. No rats and no fleas would mean no bubonic plague.

As people in the middle age attempted to get to the root cause of what was causing the Black Death, and their suspicions fell on the Jews of each community. Many leaders took it upon themselves to round up some Jews, put them to the question, and get a confession about what was happening and how they were going about it. According to a chronicle account of a Franciscan friar named Herman Gigas, who, when, he attempted to explain the origins of the Black Death, noted:

Many Jews confessed as much under torture: that they had bred spiders and toads in pots and pans and had obtained poison from overseas; and that not every Jew knew about this wickedness, only the more powerful ones so that it would not be betrayed.

These confessions were made under the duress of torture methods variously identified as thumbscrews, the rack, the wheel, and many, many more. The confession played into the fears of an already paranoid populace by clearly suggesting that this was a well-thought-out campaign organized and run at the highest levels of the Jewish community.

Learn more about the epidemiology of plague.

According to Herman Gigas, as a result of the confessed information by Jews, many communities throughout Germany had blocked up their wells in order to avoid being poisoned.

They traveled long distances to procure drinking water, or sometimes even get drinking water from the local rivers, which in the Middle Ages was very unhygienic and equivalent to drinking out of the toilet.

As a result, the pogroms against the Jews continued to spread mostly throughout the German-speaking landspresent-day Austria to the Netherlands, including present-day Switzerland and Germany. The pogroms also took place in parts of what is present-day France and Spain.

Once the persecution had started in 1348, it continued well into 1349. The means of execution here were truly shocking. Chronicler Heinrich Truchess mentions the fact that not all of the members of the Jewish communities were executed at this timesome were kept back to be burnt on the third day after the Nativity of the Virgin.

The pogroms against the Jews continued to spread mostly throughout the German-speaking lands during the Black Death.

As a result of the confessed information by Jews, many communities throughout Germany had blocked up their wells in the Middle Ages in order to avoid being poisoned.

The forced confessions made by the Jews under the duress of torture methods played into the fears of an already paranoid Christian populace. They were convinced that the spread of the plague was a well-thought-out campaign organized and run at the highest levels of the Jewish community.

Visit link:

Why Were the Jews Blamed for the Black Death? - The Great Courses Daily News

Category: Jewish | Comments Off on Why Were the Jews Blamed for the Black Death? – The Great Courses Daily News
Tags: