Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

The Nazis in World War II concentrated mostly on murdering Eastern- and Central-European Jews; the suffering of the half-million Jews of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya under the Nazis is less well-known.

After years of relative scholarly neglect, researchers have begun to pay more attention to the experience of these Jews during occupations by the Germans, the Italians and the pro-Nazi Vichy government. According to the Yad Vashem website, Many of the Nuremberg Laws enacted against the Jews of Germany in the mid-thirties were copied in Morocco and Algeria, and the Jews found themselves in desperate straits.

The Allies successful military campaigns in 1942 and early 1943 culminated in the Axis powers surrender in North Africa, ending Jewish torment there earlier than in Eastern and Central Europe.

North African Haggadot customarily open with the line We departed from Egypt in great haste. The Hitler Haggadah begins, The Americans came in great haste. The traditional Haggadah features a discussion of the four types of children wise, wicked, simple, and unable to formulate a question and the approach a parent should take to each. In The Hitler Haggadah the passage reads, The Torah speaks of four sons: England, the wise one. Hitler, the wicked one. America, the good one. And Mussolini, who isnt worthy of our words.

Although not found in the earliest Haggadot, the vehi she-amdah prayer, which asserts the inevitability and universality of antisemitism, is central for many Jews. It was not only one [tyrant] who tried to destroy us. In every generation they try to destroy us. But the Blessed Holy One saves us from their grip. The Hebrew word hi (meaning she or it) at the beginning of that prayer has challenged interpreters of the Haggadah, as it has no obvious antecedent. The Hitler Haggadah fills in the gap: She being Russia, who stood up for our fathers, and for us. For it was not only Hitler who tried to destroy us, but also Mussolini and others, many others who tried to destroy us. And the blessed Allies saved us from their grip.

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The traditional Haggadah says, We cried out to the Lord, God of our fathers; as it is said: During that long period, the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned from their suffering and shouted out and their cries from their servitude rose up to God. The Hitler Haggadah says, And we cried out to Roosevelt, blessed be he, as it is written, And Hindenburg died, and Hitler rose in the place of his ruin and the Israelites groaned from their suffering and shouted out and Roosevelt heard their cries under the strain of oppression.

Where the traditional Haggadah speaks of Gods power, compassion, and salvation, Nisim focuses on human beings. The Jews cry out to Roosevelt, who hears their cries. Nisim even refers to President Roosevelt as tabaraka shemiyato (yitbarakh shemo in Hebrew; may his name be blessed or blessed be he in English), a phrase generally reserved for God. Roosevelt is not the only Allied leader who takes the place of God; a little later on Nisims Haggadah reads, Therefore we must thank Russia, honor and glorify Stalin.

In modern times, particularly in secular Zionist circles, rewriting Haggadot to concentrate not on God but on the accomplishments of Jewish leaders of the past (Moses, Miriam etc.) or even of the present (the pioneering Zionists) is not so unusual. Moving non-Jewish leaders to the Haggadahs central stage is.

While Nisim cannot be blamed for his ignorance of the future, in retrospect his festive mood about Hitlers defeat in North Africa in 1943 is jarring, since millions of Jews were yet to die at Hitlers hands in Europe. The dissonance makes Nisims work even more fascinating. It shows how one non-European Jew in this period could be so isolated and yet at the same time so daringly secularized and modern.

THE HITLER HAGGADAH:

By Simon Coiffeur

/Nissim ben Shimon

in Judeo-Arabic

English translation:

Adi and Jonnie Schnytzer

Mineged/Print-O-Craft

108 pages; $19.99

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How a Moroccan Jew celebrated liberation from Hitler with a Haggadah - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

MADRID (JTA) Matilde Gini de Barnatn and her daughter Viviana Rajel Barnatn didnt set out to make Jewish history in Spain.

In the 1960s and 70s, Matilde, now 85, established herself in Argentina as a prominent researcher, teacher and scholar of the history of Sephardic culture and the Spanish Inquisition in Ibero-America. Her extensive expertise and recognition in Argentine intellectual circles helped her become a close friend of the renowned writer Jorge Luis Borges.

Viviana Rajel, now 55, studied acting in Buenos Aires.

But in April 1986, as Israel was establishing its diplomatic relations with Spain, so did the Spanish government with its Jewish ancestry. Through its state-owned public radio service, the country set out to develop a cultural project in the form of a radio show to reintroduce Ladino or Judeo-Spanish, an endangered Romance language spoken in the Sephardic Jewish Diaspora as a vital piece of Spanish heritage.

It was a gesture of friendship between Spain, Israel and the Sephardic communities around the world, according to Viviana Rajel.

Due to the lack of native Ladino speakers in Spain at the time, there was virtually no one available to take on the endeavor. Through academic networks of Sephardic scholars that linked Spain with Argentina, Matilde was found and asked to relocate and be the projects primary role which its developers pitched as a way to redress the historical wrong of the Spanish Inquisition, the 15th-century expulsion of Jews from the country.

Viviana Rajel followed her mother because she wanted the show to portray the matriarchal essence behind the oral tradition of Ladino, which traditionally passes from generation to generation through the women of the family.

Hence was born Emisin Sefarad (or Sepharad Broadcast), a weekly radio show available online and on shortwaves in Judeo-Spanish that broadcasts every Sunday on the Spanish National Radios overseas service. April marked 35 years of the program, which has aired uninterrupted since its launch.

It is against this background that the 35th anniversary of the show must be understood, as the Spanish public radios effort to promote the mutual knowledge between Jews and Spaniards and also encourage integration and intercultural dialogue, Luis Manuel Fernndez, director of foreign languages at the Spanish National Radio, wrote in an email to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. It is about adding value to what binds both groups of people through the culture they share.

From a folkloristic perspective, the program is a vibrant showcase of the rich and diverse repertoire of Jewish liturgical melodies. It usually plays a mix of romanceros (narrative ballad poems), kantikas (poetic chants) and dichas (proverbs) that Sephardim carried and maintained orally throughout the lands that sheltered them after the Spanish expulsion mostly the Ottoman Empire and countries in northern Africa such as Morocco and Algeria.

Viviana Rajel and Matilde hold a CD of songs in Judeo-Spanish titled Lus de Sefarad. (Courtesy)

Although Judeo-Spanish is predominantly a medieval language, for centuries it has become more of a linguistic melting pot, absorbing expressions and words from the cities and local dialects where Sephardic Jews have settled. Although no reliable figures are available, it is estimated that at least 300,000 people currently speak Judeo-Spanish.

It is a fusion language, with many variations because different linguistic sources have nourished it. It has not only archaisms but also influences from Hebrew, North African Arabic, Turkish, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Portuguese, and French, said Matilde.

But Matilde and Viviana Rajel, the producers and directors of the show, dont rely solely on yesteryear content. Besides the historical perspective, every episode contains contemporary content, including interviews with leading figures of the Jewish world to information on current news events and fresh contemporary takes on Sephardic music, food and literature. Listeners get both a new and ancient mix.

The June 13 show opened with a series of current events about Spain and Israel, highlighting the Spanish governments efforts to reactivate its tourism industry following the pandemic and providing an update on Israeli news about its new government and in the wake of the recent violence with Gaza.

There was an interview with Rodica Radian-Gordon, who became Israels first female ambassador to Spain in 2019. Viviana Rajel closed the show with a unique contemporary musical piece titled Las Yaves de Sefarad (The Keys to Sepharad).

Ladino is not just what used to be in the past and has remained there. It is a truly living language, Viviana Rajel said. Along with the historical and cultural inheritance, we are in charge of showing the contemporary side of all that happens in the world of Ladino.

It may seem that there are very few activities and novelties around the language, but there are plenty of them. There are so many people composing music, writing books and organizing hundreds of events every year. We feature all of it.

The Barnatns, who hail from vibrant and historically Jewish Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, have a personal stake in the project. Their story is a diasporic one: Their predecessors, as many thousands of Jewish families of that time, were expelled from the Spanish territories belonging to the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Castile following the Alhambra Decree in 1492. In the 1920s, Matildes grandmother sought refuge in South America, first in Uruguay and later in Argentina, arriving from the Greek island of Rhodes.

Practically since they debuted, the pair have unwittingly become the guiding lights of Judeo-Spanish not only within Spain but across the Jewish world. Over the years they have participated in dozens of lectures, conferences and symposiums, and their work also has led to the publication of several books, most notably the CD-book of contemporary Sephardic poetry La Ija y la Madre Komo la Unya y la Karne, which comes with piano music accompaniment.

Antonio Buitrago Molina, director of the Spanish National Radios overseas service, says that its thanks to Matilde and Viviana Rajel that the language has remained alive among their audience.

The radio is a very useful form of communication for the speakers to continue using Judeo-Spanish and for the survival of their own cultural heritage, he said.

Since 2015, when Spain opened the door for the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled in the 15th century to acquire Spanish citizenship under the law of return and received more than 130,000 applications there has been a burgeoning interest to pick up Judeo-Spanish among younger generations.

Today theres a resurgence in the study of Ladino courses from students who are interested in all things Spanish. An interest that doesnt come only from nostalgia, and not exclusively from Sephardic descendants either, said Ora Schwarzwald, professor emeritus of Hebrew and Semitic languages at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

The possibility to obtain Spanish citizenship and honor their culture is just one of the many reasons why people come to the Ladino classes. We see it in many universities, not only in Israel but in Turkey, the United States, and Europe.

The success of the long-running show also lies in its constant reinvention, adapting with fresh perspectives to newly found audiences. Viviana Rajel is the creative and innovative side composing her own music and mixing up the format, bringing in the gastronomy and current events material while Matilde is the soul and the historical part.

As for the future, both mother and daughter are fervent believers that the language wont disappear as long as its kept in use. Matilde is particularly optimistic about the years to come.

The fate of a language, as the outcome of a culture, is unforeseeable. But I hope that the conservation and expansion will continue by speaking it and writing it, and showing its vast richness in literature, TV, radio, etc., she said. That the learning process keeps going on for children and adults and for anyone who wishes to learn this precious language, which is a great legacy for all of us.

There are many of us who speak it, and we are lovingly spreading it and preserving it, Viviana Rajel said. It is a treasure that we have to take care of. The key to Sepharad is the language.

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For 35 years, this mother-daughter duo has run a radio show on Ladino and Sephardic Jewish culture from Madrid - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

Behind every work of art created by Oreen Cohen, a partner at Pittsburghs OOA Designs LLC, is the voice of her mother fused with the influence of Israel.

Long before Cohen graduated from the University at Buffalo and then Carnegie Mellon University where her masters work included an allegorical film involving the burial of a gilded casket filled with sunflower seeds in Braddock, Pennsylvania her Sephardic Israeli-Moroccan mother would utter short Hebrew aphorisms. Sometimes her mother would say, moach vlo koach, which translates to brains and not strength, or aph echad lo yaaseh li kever shel zahav, which means no one will build me a casket of gold.

Growing up in Rochester, New York, to bilingual parents, those maxims resonated with Cohen, and as she matured, she continued tapping them for meaning like when classmates considered her to be brutish because she was a woman who worked with metal.

Id be scrapping and pulling things from dumps, and when I was in those situations dragging some heavy piece of metal out of a ravine moach vlo koach brought me back to my body and my mind, Cohen, 35, recalled. Id think more cautiously about how to approach something not just even how to pull this thing out of the ravine, but to people and places and to finding an approach to things.

Between a Stone and a Shrine Video Performance. Still image, 2014, courtesy of Oreen Cohen

The idea that no one will build me a casket of gold reinforces the notion that as an artist, you work to leave your own legacy, said Cohen. Youre working for yourself and by doing so you are creating your imprint on the environment and people around you.

In addition to her mothers words, traveling to Israel each summer with her parents until the age of 14 also helped forge the artists identity. She fondly remembers the details of those trips: How they often occurred before the school year officially ended; how she carried her American school work in tow; and how the days were spent at her aunts moshav, Merhavia, near Afula in northern Israel. There, she watched her uncle, a mechanic, toil away with discarded pieces of metal, and build his own tractors a huge influence on my artwork, Cohen said.

More than a decade after the last summer trip, in 2014 Cohen honored her uncles expertise by taking steel, HVAC pipes, a Fresnel lens, satellite dishes, mirrors, tires, auto glass, resin, reflective tape, bearings and a steel turntable, and crafting a sculpture titled, A Sharper Lens. The piece, which debuted at Governors Island, in New York City, and alluded to the sites military history, represented a battle between an artillery cannon and an Iron Dome. Through the use of kinetic kaleidoscopes, A Sharper Lens allowed visitors to engage in a battle of perceptions, said Cohen.

A Sharper Lens, 2014. Photo courtesy of Oreen Cohen via oreencohen.com

Its been seven years since Cohen displayed that piece, and during that time has she branched into other media, helped various nonprofits develop youth programming and partnered with Pittsburgh-based visual artist and educator Alison Zapata to create OOA Designs LLC, which specializes in creating site-specific public and private art commissions.

In 2018, OOA Designs big break arrived when the group was selected to redevelop Wightman Park in Squirrel Hill.

In creating four pieces for the project, Cohen and Zapata were inspired by the parks environmental efforts its introduction of various plants to aid pollination and facilitate water retention, and the placement of tanks underground to collect stormwater as well as its history. Years earlier, Wightman Park was home to the Lorenz & Wightman Glass manufacturers.

Wightman Park, Squirell Hill Pittsburgh PA 2021 OOA Designs llc: Oreen Cohen and Alison Zapata, Commissioned by the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works. Photo courtesy of Oreen Cohen

OOA Designs bridged two elements steel and glass said Cohen, as a nod to Pittsburghs past and to honor the 11 Jewish Pittsburghers murdered on Oct. 27, 2018, as there are 11 pieces of glass within the parks main sculpture.

As a Jewish artist I was very impacted by that event, and we wanted to commemorate it, she said.

Since Wightman Parks dedication eight months ago, Cohen has continued creating.

In addition to working on private commissions, OOA Designs was recently selected to participate in the City of Pittsburghs Art in Parks program the permanent piece will be installed at Emerald View Park near Mt. Washington prior to Summer 2022.

More personally, Cohen welcomed the birth of a daughter, Daeora Esh, four months ago.

Dae is Korean for greatness, Cohen said, And the second part of her first name ora, Hebrew for light, was the name of my aunt who died who was also an artist. The middle name, Esh, means fire in Hebrew.

By melding Korean and Hebrew words, Daeora Eshs name is infused with meaning, like all of Cohens creations. Said the artist, Her name is great light fire, and she is definitely the greatest light in my life. PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.

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Getting to know: Oreen Cohen | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net

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Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

Rabbi Lenny Sarko had a problem that was threatening to derail his career.

After spending years as an environmental scientist creating recycling systems for corporations nationwide, Rabbi Sarko realized he was done with all the travel and decided to pursue a job related to his one true passion: Judaism. That was 15 years ago, and since then, he has been embedded with synagogues in Indiana; Tampa, Florida; and Columbus, Ohio, before landing at Congregation Emanu-El Israel in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where he has been for the past two years.

Before moving to the Pittsburgh area, though, Rabbi Sarko suffered from a serious health scare. About five years ago, he experienced bleeding in his eyes as a result of Type 2 diabetes that left him with about 80 percent of his left eyes vision but only 10 percent to 15 percent in his right eye. He can still mostly read, and his eyesight hasnt deteriorated further, but the damage was also irreparable, and there are certain things he just cant do anymore, such as driving at night.

I kind of have a foot in both worlds, both those who struggle with vision issues and the sighted, Rabbi Sarko said. Being that and a rabbi, it put me in a rather different position than most people might ever find themselves in. ... Not being able to read was a potential horror story.

As a rabbi, not to be able to have access to books was very scary to me, he continued. That started me to say, OK, as a Jew, you find solutions. The first solution was to learn English Braille. After that, you start asking other questions like, If theres English Braille, is there Hebrew Braille? Yes. ... Then, I asked the question: Is there such a thing as a Braille Sefer Torah?

A Sefer Torah is a sacred Jewish scroll containing the five books of Moses that usually is subject to strict rules regarding its production and how its to be read. After being unable to locate a Braille Sefer Torah currently in existence, Rabbi Sarko decided to take matters into his own hands and, after almost three years, created what may be the worlds first Braille Sefer Torah.

It was a fairly herculean undertaking, as standard Torahs generally cost about $25,000 a pop and take about a year for a scribe to complete, Rabbi Sarko said. His special Torah took so long to make because he spent an extra year developing a mistake-free process to manually poke Braille holes onto a scroll. Generally, scribes have to start over after committing even the smallest blunder, which meant he had to effectively eliminate any potential margins of error.

Now that hes perfected the process, Rabbi Sarko says, My plates can be used to make hundreds and thousands of Torahs going forward. He said he can probably make a Braille Torah in four or five months by himself and one or two months if he has help.

Because Braille isnt a language but rather a way to represent speech in a different way, Rabbi Sarkos Torah is just Hebrew in Braille as opposed to a transliteration. Torahs are supposed to be read and not memorized, which a Braille Torah makes possible for blind and visually impaired Jews. A Braille Torah must be touched while reading it, which technically isnt allowed under Jewish doctrine. Rabbi Sarko isnt worried about that, though.

In one respect, youre telling a blind or visually impaired person theyre a full member of the community, he said, then youre turning around and telling them they cant do this. To me, thats an important part, and I started to ask questions. ... Judaism across its millennia has always adjusted to context. How do we do a mitzvah in this situation?

The word mitzvah is the Hebrew word for good deed, and its also exactly how Erika Petach would describe what Rabbi Sarko has accomplished. As the president of Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that helps folks in those categories reach their highest levels of independence, she loves the concept of a Braille Torah and how it will impact the local Jewish community.

I think its awesome, she said. Our goal at BVRS is 100 percent inclusivity for everyone we serve. This is a way that this individual is making the reading of the Torah 100 percent inclusive.

BVRS offers a variety of free programs to the blind and visually impaired, including professional assistance, residential services, access technology lessons, personal adjustment to blindness training and low-vision rehabilitation. Petach said it also frequently aids its more religious members via volunteers who help them get to and from houses of worship.

She has been with BVRS for 11 years and said certain technological advances such as 3D printing have opened up a lot of opportunities to provide things in tactile formats for the population she serves. Whats possibly even more valuable, though, is making sure the blind and visually impaired know about innovations such as Rabbi Sarkos Braille Torah.

The more people hear these stories about what there is for people who are blind or the capabilities of people who are blind, that starts to knock down barriers, she said.

As for Rabbi Sarko, he wants to begin stockpiling Braille Sefer Torahs and lending them out to congregations and individuals across the country for specific occasions. Hes attempting to fund this endeavor with grants hes applied for through the Devarim Institute, his Jewish education nonprofit.

He estimated there are more than 300,000 blind or visually impaired Jews in the United States. Rabbi Sarko invites any of them in Western Pennsylvania to visit Emanu-El Israel and check out his invention for themselves.

Come read the Torah! he said. Do it! This is a wonderful mitzvah. Theres nothing more thrilling. ... Its so meaningful for them. I cant think of a nicer gift to give to people.

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A rabbi was having trouble with his vision. So, he created a Braille Sefer Torah - Frederick News Post

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Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

Updated June 30 at 10:50 a.m.

Almost immediately after learning that the unique Jewish adult education center HaMaqom would be closing, Rachel and David Biale Jewish educators with links to the Berkeley institution since its founding in the 1970s knew they had to do something.

Lehrhaus has been what I would call the crown jewel of the Bay Area Jewish community for 47 years, David Biale said, referring to the centers former name for 45 of those years (it was changed to HaMaqom | The Place in 2019). It fulfills a very important need in the community. To see it disappear feels just wrong.

Founded as Lehrhaus Judaica in 1974, HaMaqom announced in a June 17 press release that it would be permanently shutting its doors at the end of the summer. Board president Lisa Douglass said at the time that the decision to dissolve the nonprofit had been extraordinarily difficult, adding that she believed it was not the end [but] a new beginning for our programs, staff, and extraordinary educators.

In a way, she was right. The Biales announced Tuesday they are launching a new Bay Area adult learning center, dubbed the Free Jewish Lehrhaus. They are reclaiming the name of the original center, which was modeled after the interwar hub for Jewish learning in Frankfurt, Germany, known as the freies jdisches Lehrhaus, or Jewish House of Free Study.

In a phone call with J. on Tuesday, the Biales who are in the process of incorporating as a nonprofit and already announced an impressive slate of teachers and board members said they were meeting with a possible funder later in the afternoon, and with a second later in the week.

Among the teachers joining the project: UC Berkeley Hebrew professor and renowned Bible translator Robert Alter, Graduate Theological Union director of Jewish studies and scholar of medieval Judaism Deena Aranoff, and Daniel Boyarin, the Taubman professor of Talmudic culture within Berkeleys Near Eastern Studies department.

Some of the teachers who have signed on have taught at HaMaqom, such as former executive director and Biblical Hebrew scholar Jehon Grist, longtime HaMaqom leader Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan and founding director Fred Rosenbaum, while others are new, including Jewish educator Rachel Brodie and UC comparative literature professor Chana Kronfeld.

David Biale described the initiative as a Lehrhaus without walls. The idea, at least for the first year, is to maintain as lean a budget as possible and keep overhead to a minimum. Administrators will serve on a volunteer basis, and there will be no full-time staff or permanent office space. Classes will be held at synagogues, JCCs and online. Possibly also in peoples homes, he said.

The funding priority will be to secure compensation for teachers. Thats where the money has to go first. It doesnt have to go to a building, it doesnt have to go to a fancy salary for an executive, he said.

While HaMaqom has been reluctant to share details about its dissolution, tax filings show the organization spent heavily on executive salaries. Last year, while earning about $1.85 million in revenue, the nonprofit spent more than $1 million on salaries and other compensation. Three executives earned in the six figures, the filings show; withthe executive director earning $239,000.

Current HaMaqom executive director Rabbi Ruth Adar, who had been a major donor to the organization, took the helm in March. She told J. that after taking a deep dive into its finances, she realized HaMaqom was not financially sustainable. She also told J. that she is not taking a salary.

Biale, a professor of Jewish history at UC Davis, has extensive ties to the institution dating back to its early days. He and Rosenbaum were studying Jewish history together at Berkeley in the 70s when the latter wrote a paper on the Jewish cultural renaissance of Weimar Germany. The paper would serve as the intellectual inspiration for Lehrhaus Judaica, a unique American version of Frankfurts hub for Jewish religious, linguistic and philosophical discourse. Biale and Rosenbaum would teach side-by-side at Lehrhaus in its early years.

Rachel Biale, an Israeli-born social worker and author, shares an extensive background in Jewish adult education and in the nonprofit world. She directed Jewish programming at the Osher Marin JCC for seven years, and served on the board of the East Bays Jewish Family and Community Services for six.

What does the Jewish community need now?

She described the decision to start Free Jewish Lehrhaus as an immediate reaction to the stunning, unexpected news that HaMaqom was closing. She has a deep connection to Lehrhaus that goes back to the beginning her book Women and Jewish Law emerged out of a 1977 Lehrhaus Judaica course.

I thought I was going out to pasture, she joked of her retirement. Then this fell from the sky.

Board members for the new initiative include Rosenbaum, Biale, Stanford Jewish studies professor Steven Zipperstein, Rabbi Raphael Asher, Rabbi Judy Shanks, former Jewish LearningWorks CEO David Waksberg and more.

Among the new programs aims, the Biales stressed, is to combine the experience and expertise of renowned scholars while updating the Lehrhaus model to meet the needs of the Jewish community today.

What does the Jewish community need now? David Biale said. Fred answered that question nearly 50 years ago with Lehrhaus. The answer now is going to be similar, but in some ways different.

Crediting HaMaqom, Biale added, They asked the questions are there communities of learners we are not reaching? Younger people, or people who are not your standard, white, Ashkenazi, middle-age or older Jews? Those were good questions to ask. We want to see how we can address those questions as well.

Biale, who will be on sabbatical in the fall, said he is very probably going to be retiring from UC Davis in a year.

I didnt have a clear idea of what I was going to do in retirement, he said. After the HaMaqom closure was announced, he and Rachel both had this instinctive reaction that we have to do something about this. We have to throw ourselves into it.

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New Lehrhaus rises from HaMaqom's ashes J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

Shirley Benyas, 93, a resident of Jewish Senior Lifes Meer Apartments in West Bloomfield for the past six years, has been teaching a Yiddish class for other Meer residents for nearly two months.

Benyas learned to read, write and speak Yiddish through an afterschool program from the time she was 8 years old until her first year in college. She was also a Detroit Public Schools teacher for nearly 40 years.

The class takes place once a week, on Thursdays at 3 p.m.

Before Meer residents were allowed to congregate in the main halls and take part in in-person activities again, activities and programs took place over the building intercom.

At one point, there was a singer who was doing some Yiddish songs, and someone asked, what does it mean? They didnt know the translations to the songs, Benyas said. At the same time, theres a woman here who was doing a class on making Hebrew readings easy, and I thought if theyre doing Hebrew, why cant we do Yiddish?

The class consists of many residents who heard Yiddish being spoken by their parents growing up, remembering certain things and wanting to know the meanings and to learn more of the language.

There are also some in the class who have never heard the language.

There was one woman who never heard any Yiddish because her parents came from Hungary and it was never spoken there, and she has come a tremendously long way, Benyas said.

The class has translated songs theyre familiar with, translated idioms, menus and foods they could order, read stories in Yiddish like fairytales and read poems in Yiddish such as Shakespeare.

Benyas has also told the class about the history of the Yiddish language and how it came about, which she believes is very important.

A recent class assignment saw the attendees trying to tell a little bit of their life story in Yiddish in four or five sentences.

Its an experiment for the other people and an experiment for me, because I had never taught this as a language, Benyas said. Each week, we try to do something a little bit different, and those who come seem to like it very much.

Benyas said one woman who attends the class is 100 years old, and she describes her as very bright. Benyas students are eager to continue learning.

I get a kick out of it when they pick up the things weve talked about, Benyas said. If they understand a little bit and they get a few more words and they can use them, thats great.

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'Zeyer Gut!': JSL Resident Does a 'Very Good' Job Teaching Yiddish to Her Neighbors Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on July 3, 2021

In Germanys Neo-Nazis & the Far Right, producer Evan Williams sets out to trace that countrys recent rise in far-right extremism and violence by documenting attacks and plots against Jews, immigrants and political opponents, as well as how the authorities have responded to the threats.

Williams spoke with FRONTLINE about what motivated the investigation, what he found and what he hopes we can understand about the resurgence of a dangerous ideology.

Youve been covering the far right in Europe for almost a decade. What sort of arc has the story taken over that period of time?

Theres definitely been an increasing far-right sentiment in many parts of Europe growing over the past several years. And its been manifesting itself in different ways. For example, in France and Austria, theres this interesting movement called the Identitarians, who see themselves as not strictly neo-Nazi but certainly anti-immigration, pro-white European, usually educated, quite wealthy, young people who are part of a new movement trying to establish or work for a Europe which is more like them. Thats in response to multiculturalism and to immigration.

And then on the more extreme side, you had manifestations such as the Golden Dawn in Greece which was a much more avowed and obvious neo-Nazi party and group, that was more into intimidation, as much as they were also into supporting poorer aspects of the Greek community, [quote unquote]. And one of the members at the time compared themselves to Hezbollah and said: Hezbollah look after their people. Were a social organization. And they were tapping very deliberately into an electorate of the Greeks who were struggling at the time from the economic crisis and who felt abandoned by the government.

Now we see ourselves in Germany, where theres also been a great upsurge in far-right, extremist violence, in terms of threats, in terms of the issues we cover in the film the attacks. Also, theres been a [more than] 20% rise in antisemitic attacks of all forms, not just violence, but all forms, over the past three to four years in Germany. And I think all of these things have a consistent thread, which is, they are often a response by a section of the community to what they perceive to be changes whether its immigration, too many refugees, jihadi attacks, of which thereve been many in Europe, or an economic crisis or economic crises that continue.

And these groups, what Im noticing over the past several years is, theyre certainly not going away, and theyre not weakening. If anything, they are developing different strategies to expand their support. And we saw that in Germany, very interestingly, with the far right trying to co-opt or influence the anti-COVID restriction rallies that had been organized in very great number by the Querdenker movement in Germany. Theres an issue there with the state intelligence service, warning that the extreme far right is trying to boost its popularity and support through those sort of movements.

What did you learn about whether Germanys far right is connected to or inspired by extremists in other countries?

I think all of us collectively, internationally, are only just coming to terms with whats going on online. And it was a revelation to me. When we started looking at the young man who attacked the synagogue in Halle, Germany, with the intention of a mass shooting, there were [more than 50] Jewish people inside during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of their year. He also had handmade grenades and other explosives. So had he got into that synagogue, it would have been potentially a massacre on the scale of Christchurch [2019 attacks on mosques in New Zealand that killed 51 people and left dozens injured].

And what we discovered, through experts whove looked at this and through also plaintiffs in the case or survivors, was that he was radicalized online. He had no overt connection to the far-right scene in the real world [through] person-to-person contacts. It looks like he was completely radicalized online.

And this happened through his gaming connections. What we discovered is that there are these international groups who are playing violent games with each other a community, a clan. Within these clans they start communicating ideas, and they start radicalizing each other in this particular case, often with antisemitic conspiracy theories, wild conspiracies [that are] anti-immigrant, often misogynistic as well, very crude and upsetting thoughts. An underlying part of this is antisemitic, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim.

And it became apparent when we talked to the plaintiffs who were in the trial every day and also to online extremism experts, that the federal prosecutors who were prosecuting the case really had no idea how they should go about finding out more about this radicalization. And nor did they, by their own admission in court.

There has been an explosion in the amount of neo-Nazi, antisemitic, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim material overtly neo-Nazi, which is illegal in Germany being shared online. The effect is its normalizing antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant thought. And one of the state prosecutors in the [film], Christoph Hebbecker, says to me when he started this three, four years ago he set up the countrys first unit to look at prosecuting online hate he had no idea about the scale of this stuff.

And he said a really interesting thing, which was the people that are doing this are not your classic skinhead neo-Nazis. They are increasingly normal people living normal lives. And he said thats what worries him the most, and hes talking about tens of thousands of people being involved in sharing this stuff. And it doesnt mean everybodys going to go out and become a mass shooter. But it certainly means that theres more normalization for those who may then go and do that that this is OK.

Germany criminalizes Holocaust denial and has strict laws against Nazi symbols and hate speech. How did you find that impacted German authorities response to extremism?

If somebody shares a swastika or overtly Nazi material, which is illegal, or they overtly deny the Holocaust, then theyre breaking the law, and if the authorities become aware of it, they will be pursued. What happens in our conversations with people who are more of that far-right ideology or thinking [is theyre] aware of the limits and will go up to the line. Their idea is still very clear. Their beliefs are still very clear. But they wont necessarily break the law when they talk to you.

And they say: This is a problem for freedom of speech. We should be able to say whatever we like. We should be able to question whatever we like. This is one of their platforms. And its one of the things that they use in a way that gains some support and popularity, because its presented as a freedom of speech issue, rather than the denial of an abhorrent part of history.

There has been an explosion in the amount of neo-Nazi, antisemitic, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim material being shared online. The effect is its normalizing antisemitic, anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant thought.

And to get back to an earlier question you had about the online thing: German authorities and online experts told us that a large amount of this neo-Nazi online hate is actually being generated from the United States. And it is often presented on sites which are being created in the States. And theres an increasing popularity or an appetite for this material in Germany. So, its almost like theres sort of an echo between the two. But whats going on in the States is having an impact globally, on online hate and extremism around the world, and particularly in Germany. And as we saw with the Halle attacker, and that then led to actions.

And its a point made by a couple of people in the film. One is the father of a man who was killed in Hanau [in Germany]. Armin Kurtovi, who says it starts with thoughts, it leads to words, and words lead to actions. And by that stage, its too late. Theres a big wake-up call for all of us here about how these neo-Nazi, extremist thoughts are being echoed in the online world. Nobody really knows.

The issue about the Halle shooter this is a point made to us by one of the plaintiffs and the survivors: Because the police didnt investigate his connections online, nobody knows whats still out there. Nor do we know exactly how he was radicalized and by whom. What were the steps? What is the clan? Who are these people? What are they saying to each other?

In the film, there are examples of how radicalization is happening on social platforms: propaganda being shared, people being recruited, etc. Since you began reporting this story, have you seen any new efforts by German authorities to tackle this?

Lets take the online hate, to start with, and the neo-Nazi material there. [State prosecutor Christoph Hebbecker] told me that I think he was the first one to start [a specialized unit dedicated to digital hate crimes]. Hes in Frankfurt. In the past couple of years, he told me, other states have started to realize the potential threat here and the problem [and] are starting now to set up these digital hate crime units. But he said a very interesting thing. When he first set his up, he was sort of laughed at by other prosecutors saying: Look, weve got a lot of things to do. Why are you worried about this?

Nobody knows whats still out there. Nor do we know exactly how he was radicalized and by whom. Who are these people? What are they saying to each other?

So theres this general and possibly generational change that is only slowly starting to occur, where people are realizing this material is out there, its being shared to an extraordinary degree, it breaks the law in Germany not necessarily in other places but its also connected to and leading to acts of real violence in the real world. [I]ts early days, I think, in terms of law enforcement.

Did you get a sense for how underreported this story is within Germany? Or is it reported but dismissed by politicians and/or the general public?

Well, theres some extraordinary, fantastic reporting done in Germany. Theres a very vigorous and sophisticated media landscape there, of course. I found that a lot of issues are reported within Germany. Theyre not so much reported or understood outside Germany. I dont think we have a real understanding of whats going on inside Germany at the moment, in terms of this.

My feeling was, certainly when I started researching this probably a year ago, maybe even a little bit more, there was not as much official response or reaction to this issue as there is today. I would say theres been a change in the past year, that theyre taking it more seriously. In fairness, I think there is an understanding now officially, at the top levels of government, that this is a problem. As we show in the piece, its not just a problem with a bunch of guys in a field or a garage getting together, known neo-Nazis. This is now a problem inside the police forces, inside the military. There is this far-right, extremist sensibility and belief system going on that theyre only just starting to root out slowly, almost bit-by-bit.

What do you hope an American audience takes away from this film?

I hope its a greater understanding of whats going on in Germany. I think its important for us to understand whats going on there, given its history, given the fact that the Holocaust was there, and Nazism was effectively born in Germany. Its increasingly important, with the interconnected world that were now living in. We know that ideas are transmitted very quickly between Germany and the United States, particularly in these far-right extremist circles. Whats happening in Germany is fed into America and echoed very quickly. And vice versa. So, I think weve got to understand that theres that connection.

One thing Id like us to take away from this is: We talked to a few people in the piece, and we talked to more in the research period. People who receive far-right threats and one of the main motivations for me doing this was to try and get a greater understanding of what that really means and feels like, because we hear about it, but we dont often really think about it. If youre receiving a threat from the far right, I was intrigued journalistically and on a human level, just what does that mean for your life? How serious is that?

And we found, in Germany, that its very serious indeed. If you are identified by the far right publicly, and named, all sorts of things start to happen. Your address is shared, for example; you start receiving all sorts of hate mail and threats. And we know now that there are some individuals who are not very far away from actually performing violent acts against those they think are targets of the far right.

So, it is a very dangerous situation for many, many people in Germany, much more dangerous than I think we understand outside the country. And I just think we need to be aware of that and understand what that means for people. Because if you let that happen, and you let it grow, thats a major problem for society, I think.

For an in-depth look at the far-right threat in modern-day Germany, watch Germanys Neo-Nazis & the Far Right. The documentary is supported by Exploring Hate, a multiplatform public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York aimed at offering an in-depth understanding of the rising tide of hatred, hate crimes, antisemitism and racism. Watch the documentary Tuesday, June 29, 2021, at 10/9c on PBS (check local listings) and on YouTube, or stream it that same day starting at 7/6c at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS Video App.

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'A Big Wake-Up Call': Filmmaker Evan Williams on Germany's Neo-Nazis and the Far Right - FRONTLINE

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ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DROP IN AND TALK WITH A PROFESSION.AL WININTHROP, DAVID BIENICK, WCVB NEWSCENTER 5 MARIA: AUTHORITIES BELIEVE NATHAN ALLEN ACTED ALONE BEFORE HE WAS KILLED BY POLICE. 5 INVESTIGATES KAREN ANDERN REPORTS TONIGHT THAT THE THREAT FROM EXTREMISM IN MASSACHUSETTS IS FAR FROOVM ER. >> WE DONT KNOW HOW MANY OTHE PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE LIKE THIS. KAREN: THE DEADLY ATTACK REPORTS OF NATHAN ALLANS WHITE SUPREMACIST VIEWS A SHOCK TO MASSACHUSES. THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE O NEW ENGLANDS ROBERT TRESTAN IS WORRIED ABOUT WHAT ELSE WE COULD BE MISSI. 5 INVESTIGATES LOOKED BACK AT 5 YEARS OF OFFICIAL HATERIME C STATISTICS IN MASSACHUSETTS. AROUND 400 HATE CRIMES A YEAR ARE REPORTED BY POLICE. >> WHEN YOU LOOK AT HATE CRIME STATISTICS, FOR INSTANCE, SOMEONE HAS TO HAVE ALLEGED TO HAVE COMMITTED A CRIME. THEY HAVE TO CALL LAW ENFORCEMENT. IT HAS TO GET REPORTED. BUWET KNOW THAT ACTS OF HATE THAT OFTEN FALL BELOW THE CRIMINAL THRESHOLD ARE HAPPENING EVERY SINGLE DAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY. KAREN: WHAT DO THE STATISTICS NOT SHOW US? >> THE STATISTICS DONT OWSSH HOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE MAY BE OUT THERE LIKE THIS MAN. THE ADL KEEPS ITS OWN STATISTICS AND TRACKED 73 ANTI-SEMITIC IIDNCENTS IN MASSACHUSES TTALONE LASTEAR. KAREN ANOTHER CONCERN AN : INCREASE IN THE LEVEL OF VIOLENCE IN HATE INSPIRED ATTACKS. >> PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO TNO JUST THINK AND TALK OUABT HATRED, BUT PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO ACT OUT. IS THERE SOMETHINGN ITHIS CASE THAT SOMEONE MIGHT HAVE MISSED? NOT NOT INTENTIONALLY, BUT IF THERE WAS SOME ACT HERE OR SEOM FACT THAT GOT MISSED ALONG THE WAY? ITS IMPORTANT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT TO KNOW THAT, BECAUSE IT MAY HELP EITHERAW L ENFORCEMENT OR PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY TO RECOGNIZE SOMETHING IN THE FURUT KAN:RE THE ADL SAYS ITS IMPORTANT TO LEARN NOT ONLY HOW NATHAN ALLAN CAME TO HIS RADICAL BELIEFS, BUT A

Deadly shooting in Winthrop raises red flags over hate crimes

Updated: 7:41 PM EDT Jun 29, 2021

Authorities believe the suspect who shot and killed two people in Winthrop acted alone, but his deadly attack on the Black bystanders is raising red flags.The murder of two people of color by Nathan Allen, who allegedly espoused white supremacist views, should serve as a warning that extremism is more prevalent in Massachusetts than people may think, according to an Anti-Defamation League executive."We don't know how many other people are out there like this," Robert Trestan, ADL New England's regional director, told 5 Investigates. "It's a reminder that there is a lot of hate within our community and no community is immune."We looked back at six years of official hate crime statistics in Massachusetts and found about 400 hate crimes a year are reported by police, but Trestan says statistics don't tell the whole story. "When you look at hate crime statistics, for instance, someone has to have alleged to have committed a crime. They have to call law enforcement. It has to get reported. But we know that acts of hate that often fall below the criminal threshold are happening every single day across the country," he said. "The statistics don't show us how many other people may be out there like this man." Trestan said the ADL keeps its own statistics and tracked 73 antisemitic incidents in Massachusetts last year.Another concern at the ADL is an increase in the level of violence, according to Trestan."People are starting to not just think and talk about hatred whether it's racism, antisemitism or Islamophobia, or whatever it might be but people are starting to act out," he said.That's why analyzing what may have prompted Allen to act is important to discern, Trestan said."Is there something in this case that someone might have missed? Not intentionally, but if there was some act here or some fact that got missed along the way, it's important for law enforcement to know that because it may help either law enforcement or people in the community to recognize something in the future," he said.

Authorities believe the suspect who shot and killed two people in Winthrop acted alone, but his deadly attack on the Black bystanders is raising red flags.

The murder of two people of color by Nathan Allen, who allegedly espoused white supremacist views, should serve as a warning that extremism is more prevalent in Massachusetts than people may think, according to an Anti-Defamation League executive.

"We don't know how many other people are out there like this," Robert Trestan, ADL New England's regional director, told 5 Investigates. "It's a reminder that there is a lot of hate within our community and no community is immune."

We looked back at six years of official hate crime statistics in Massachusetts and found about 400 hate crimes a year are reported by police, but Trestan says statistics don't tell the whole story.

"When you look at hate crime statistics, for instance, someone has to have alleged to have committed a crime. They have to call law enforcement. It has to get reported. But we know that acts of hate that often fall below the criminal threshold are happening every single day across the country," he said. "The statistics don't show us how many other people may be out there like this man."

Trestan said the ADL keeps its own statistics and tracked 73 antisemitic incidents in Massachusetts last year.

Another concern at the ADL is an increase in the level of violence, according to Trestan.

"People are starting to not just think and talk about hatred whether it's racism, antisemitism or Islamophobia, or whatever it might be but people are starting to act out," he said.

That's why analyzing what may have prompted Allen to act is important to discern, Trestan said.

"Is there something in this case that someone might have missed? Not intentionally, but if there was some act here or some fact that got missed along the way, it's important for law enforcement to know that because it may help either law enforcement or people in the community to recognize something in the future," he said.

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Deadly shooting in Winthrop raises red flags over hate crimes - WCVB Boston

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Posted By admin on July 1, 2021

Fact-Check

Randy Hillier refuses to identify the source of a quote linking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a white nationalist conspiracy

by PressProgress

June 30, 2021

The Claim: Did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau really say that he has a plan to replace old stock white Canadians?

A meme tweeted by independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillieralleges Trudeau said:

The very concept of a nation founded by European settlers is offensive to me. Old stock White Canadians are an unpleasant relic, and quite frankly, replaceable. And we will replace them.

Hillier added that the quote reveals the real disease behind COVID and encourages people to loathe ourselves, our ancestors success & our faith:

This is the real disease behind covid. Many Canadians & the West have embraced a false belief system- that we are evil, undeserving of prosperity & freedoms. That our only path to redemption is to be self loathing of ourselves, our ancestors success & our faith.

Randy Hillier (Twitter)

Rating: Randy Hilliers meme has been labelled false.

There is no evidence Justin Trudeau ever made the statement attributed to him in this meme. When asked, Hillier repeatedly refused to identify the original source proving the quote is real.

About the Source: Randy Hillier is the MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston. Though he was elected as a member of the Ontario PCs in 2018, he was suspended from the party by Doug Ford in 2019 for making insensitive comments towards parents of children with autism.

Hillier has spent the pandemic promoting events in small town Canada organized through the No More Lockdowns Canada group. In April, he was condemned by the town council in his own hometown of Perth, Ontario.

More recently, hes been promoting a Dominion Day celebration on July 1st, which seeks to honour our heritage in the face of various social forces who seek to erase our history and cancel our traditions.

How it Spread: Hilliers tweet picked up nearly 2,000 engagements from his 36,000 followers, including over 600 retweets and more than 1,100 likes.

The replies of many of Hilliers followers show they believe the quote to be real, stating that the meme reveals Trudeau to be a monster and the greatest threat facing Canada. Others approved of the quote and commented that now is the time to stand up and remove the garbage people.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network described the meme as white nationalist propaganda.

The Reality: Once again, there is no evidence Trudeau ever made this statement.

In a statement, Hillier refused to identify the source of his Trudeau quote and announced that he had conducted his own fact-check on PressProgress, concluding that it is a shill organization for Marxist propaganda.

It is difficult to trace the origin of Hilliers meme, however, one of its earliest appearances was on November 4, 2017 when Hollywood actor and outspoken Trump supporter James Woods flagged the meme as obviously fake.

This is so obviously a fake meme, Woods tweeted. Not necessary to put Trudeau in a bad light. He accomplishes it by himself.

James Woods (Twitter)

Around this same time in 2017, the meme was circulating on alt-right blogs.

Henry Markow, a bloggerdescribed by the National Post as a prominent anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, posted the meme on his blog about neo-Nazi Paul Fromm and the the globalist Jewish agenda.

The quote later appeared in the comments of an alt-right blog called Vox Popoli, which is run by Theodore Beale. The Anti-Defamation League describes Beale as a misogynist and white nationalist who frequently blogs about the destruction of Western civilization.

Beale has said that the alt-right is focused on securing a future for white children, which clearly paraphrases the white supremacist 14 words mantra.

The meme, which has reappeared over the years, has even stumped self-described old stock Canadians.

In 2018, the right-wing Facebook page Old Stock Canadian posted a note to their followers indicating that they keep getting these messages over and over again asking for the source of the quote in the Trudeau meme.

I am trying to find the original source, the Facebook pages admin said. We tried to verify the quote but to date, we have not been successful.

We believe the quote is inaccurate.

Old Stock Canadian (Facebook)

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Excerpt from:
Randy Hillier Shared a Meme Claiming Justin Trudeau Wants To 'Replace' White People. The Quote Appears To Be Very Fake. - PressProgress

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Posted By admin on July 1, 2021

The editorial board operates independently from the U-T newsroom but holds itself to similar ethical standards. We base our editorials and endorsements on reporting, interviews and rigorous debate, and strive for accuracy, fairness and civility in our section. Disagree? Let us know.

A week after people in Coronado threw tortillas at a high school basketball game upon the defeat of a team from a largely Latino Escondido high school, the specters of cultural insensitivity and racism arose at San Diego State University last Friday when two women vandalized the Chabad House, a center for Jewish student life and community.

Security video shows one vandal shaking the frame of a large menorah by the building so hard one of its branches broke off and the other holding a piece of a banner torn near the buildings entrance.

Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah told a reporter with The San Diego Union-Tribune, The hard part was seeing that people really wanted to attack it, and in a way to attack us and our beliefs and what a menorah represents to us. That was really painful.

So many national conversations have been about pain over the past year, particularly related to racism. Black Lives Matter protests swept the nation after George Floyds murder 13 months ago. Stop AAPI Hate documented more than 6,600 reports of violence or discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islanders between March 2020 and March 2021. And the Anti-Defamation League reported more than 17,000 tweets using variations of the phrase Hitler was right over one week in May.

Now, twice since April, SDSUs Chabad House has been targeted. A GoFundMe page is raising funds for repairs and an SDSU statement struck the right note of anger and support for the Jewish community. But SDSU needs to do more to combat antisemitism and show intolerance is unacceptable.

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Opinion: Antisemitism must not be tolerated at SDSU or anywhere - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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