Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 12, 2021

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Tackle Zach Banner once again got involved to support the local community.

On Friday, Banner hosted a Mothers Day dinner for MOMs Group Inc., a Pittsburgh nonprofit organization made up of women and mothers who have been affected by and lost loved ones to gun violence.

It was my honor to host them for a Mothers Day dinner and hear their stories and thoughts on ending gun violence, Banner wrote on Twitter, adding, Happy Mothers Day to all the superhero Moms around the world. Especially these ones.

The USC Shoah Foundation retweeted Banners tweets, saying We were lucky enough to partner a few weeks ago with@ZBNFL -and are following his work closely. We all have a platform to use our voices. #NeverAgain.

Banner has been known to give back to causes and groups in Pittsburgh before.

In December of last year, he gave up part of a game check to the Tree of Life Synagogue.

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Zach Banner Hosts Mothers Day Dinner For Women Who Have Lost Children, Loved Ones To Gun Violence - CBS Pittsburgh

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2021

For the SNF Paideia Program course, Jews, Race, and Religion, Steven Weitzman, the Ella Darivoff Director of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, designed curriculum and public lectures to address the overarching questions: What is the history of the category of race; how has religious identity been racialized; how do Jews fit into the racialized culture of the U.S.; and what is the history of how immigrants to the U.S. came to embrace whiteness in their self-understanding?

In describing the impetus for taking on an ambitious topic, Weitzman, also a professor in Penns Religious Studies department, explains, The last two years have seen the most violent attack against a synagogue in American history, protests for racial equality across the country, and a resurgence of white nationalism. In the wake of these developments, it became clear to me that many of usand I put myself in this categoryhave much yet to learn about the history of race and racism.

The events of 2020-21 mark what may be a new chapter in the history of race relations in the U.S. and, Weitzman reflects, as a scholar of religious studies, I could see that religion was an important part of the picture, too, though in less obvious ways. During the Capital insurrection, for example, there were many indications that both racism and religious belief, or rather their combinations, was motivating some of the violence. The study of Jewish experience offered a fascinating case study for how religion and race can interact to shape identity. It offers an opportunity to explore the history of prejudice, the intersectionality implicit in Jewish identity, inter-ethnic relations, and other topics.

These ideas were unpacked through both student discussions and lectures from outside voices, and presented a way to explore the SNF Paideia Programs pillar of dialogue across difference, along with citizenship.

The 11 guest lectures, ranging in topics from Alex Haleys Roots, Scriptures, and the Race for America, to Race, Class and Privilege: How Latino Jews Navigate Life in the United States, were extremely popular, garnering a total of 2,257 attendees. Students in the course were able to meet with the guest speakers in small groups over Zoom for Q&As each week. What the audience cannot see is the fantastic discussion between the students and the lecturers following the discussion, says Weitzman.

Students agreed. The small intimate dialogues create a sense of shared experience for the students, which was very important during a challenging semester of remote learning, says JJ Gluckman, a first-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences who started the semester at his home in Los Angeles. Gluckman signed up for the class because the subject spoke to his personal interest in the intersection of Judaism and politics. I was brought up Modern Orthodox but am also incredibly progressive. Since 2016, Ive really been struggling with what it means to be both [Orthodox and progressive]. My personal relationship with my faith, combined with the events of the past year, led me to think about Jews and race a lot more. The class came along at the perfect time.

Although Gluckman would have preferred to take the course while on campus, the remote environment has enabled him to include his family in the lectures. It has become a Shabbat dinner conversation, he says. My mother and grandparents both watch the lectures and then at dinner on Friday nights we sit around and talk about the ideas that were brought up. There is always some discourse, everyone came to it with a slightly different perspective and expectations.

As someone who participates in intersectional activism and is engaged in conversations around social justice, I walked in expecting conversations on how the concepts of race affected religion, and vice versa, Gluckman adds. My grandparents came at the class with a different understanding of race than I had, and were thus more surprised with the results.

Lilah Katz, a first-year student in the College from Bethesda, Maryland, also invited members of her relatives to join. My Jewish identity has always been really strong and its a core value of my family. Because the lectures are open to the public, my family has been coming. There was one topic that I really hated, but in a good way. It made me think about why I had such a strong emotional reaction, and I was able to have a conversation with my family about it afterwards.

This student feedback gets to the heart of how the class and lecture series connect to SNF Paideias mission of fostering citizenship, service, and wellness through dialogue across difference. The class and lecture series involve sensitive conversations about public concernabout the role of religion in shaping whiteness, about Black-Jewish relations where there have been long-standing tensions between the two communities, about Christian critique of the State of Israel, and about the marginalization of Jews of color, to name just a few examples, Weitzman says. In the class we are trying to model how to approach these subjects in an empathetic and informed way, not to paper over areas of conflict but to approach them with a willingness to listen and learn.

Though she hasnt declared a major, Katz is interested in history and Jewish studies. She went into the class with three main questions: What is race? What race am I? and What race do I get to say that I am? To be honest, I knew going in that I was not going to get a concrete answer about any of this. I just wanted to be well-equipped to have that conversation, she says. Through the readings, guest lectures, and all of the knowledge Professor Weitzman brings to the discussion, I feel much more equipped in my own identity and also talking about other peoples identities in a more conversational and informed way.

When asked what she will remember about the course in the future, Olivia Haynie, a first-year College student from Durham, North Carolina says, I will remember how this class challenged my perception of ethnicity and race. Ive learned that our assumptions about race and ethnicity are not stable categories. Being comfortable with that fact will help me in the future; I will remember that people cant be put into boxes like that.

Haynie was prompted to take the class because she is a multiracial Jew. She has been a committee member at her home synagogue that is focused on leading discussions on how the synagogue can be an ally to movements such as Black Lives Matter. There has been a lot of tension recently looking at our histories of instances of anti-Semitism in the Black Lives Matter movement, Haynie says. The readings on the history of Black and Jewish relations in politics and in social movements and the ideas of race around Judaism has really helped my approach to the committee and to the work Im trying to do there.

Other students have been integrating the course material beyond their individual and familial circles, utilizing the lessons in their other roles at Penn. Katz and Haynie are in a group working on a Penn Projects for Progress grant proposal to bring anti-racism education to greater Philadelphia area synagogues. Katz says, The idea is to provide Jewish anti-racism education and I was able to use a synthesis of the information and knowledge gained through the course in the grant proposal.

Katz, Haynie, and Gluckman are involved with Penn Hillel and have found the course helpful in bringing the conversation around race and religion to the greater Jewish Penn community. What has also been so gratifying to learn is that some of the audience members have organized their own study groups around the course, Weitzman says. We know of at least three synagogues that are doing so. We did not anticipate that. Weitzman and his co-organizer Mira Wasserman have made the course lectures and readings publicly available on The Center for Jewish Ethics website.

In his course, Wietzman posed a set of challenging enduring questions, well contextualized within the current tumultuous times, to probe carefully the complicated interplay of race and religion in the U.S. through the lens of Judaism. Further, as his students note, he was able to create a framework where students of diverse ideologies and backgrounds could come together and open dialogue about complicated issues.

Finally, the course aligned with the SNF Paideia Program mission, rippling out of the classroom to engage a larger public in discussions, inspiring undergraduate students to involve their own communities towards change, and inviting all to question unexamined assumptions.

This story is by Lisa Marie Patzer.

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

(RNS) If you ever doubted the remarkable appeal of the Netflix series Shtisel, consider this.

There is now a Facebook group that has devoted itself to ongoing discussions of the series, of which I am a member. A college friend invited me to join it.

He is an Irish Catholic.

He is not alone. There are many non-Jews who are Shtisel-maniacs. It testifies to the universal appeal of this story that happens to be about Haredi (so-called black hat, or ultra-Orthodox) Jews in Jerusalem.

Interest in the Haredim is not limited to a fictional story. It is also central to the story of what happened this past week at Mount Meron, the horrific tragedy of 45 deaths in a stampede at a religious festival.

Yesterday, someone asked a question online: To whom is Uncle Nuchem referring when he speaks of the evil doers?'

The answer: Uncle Nuchem, who is my least favorite character in the series, is referring to Zionists. He hates them, and he hates Zionism.

He is not the only anti-Zionist on the show. Recall the episode when Shulem forbids his students from watching the Israeli air forces air show on Israel Independence Day.

Let us understand the complexion of Haredi anti-Zionism.

The Haredim believe that a secular state is an abomination. They believe that only the Messiah, as the descendant of King David, can restore Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel.

They have no interest in the state of Israel. True they live there, but in fact, that is a mere geographical fact. In reality, they live not in Jerusalem, but in Vilna or other cities of Eastern Europe.

RELATED: Why Shtisel matters

It can get quite extreme, and it can get quite ugly. Consider Neturei Karta. This is a radically anti-Zionist Haredi sect, which actually advocates the dismantling of the state of Israel.

So much so that they have demonstrated with anti-Israel activists at various conferences, have made common cause with Iran and have trafficked with Holocaust deniers.

So, why are the Haredim anti-Zionist? Is it only about their view that only the Messiah can bring about a return to national politics?

It is actually far deeper than that.

First, the Haredim are anti-Zionist because statecraft is a distraction from real religion.

Running a state means worrying about taxes, sewers, roads etc. It is a waste of time. Better to focus on studying the sacred texts, which means Talmud.

A memory: More than 50 years ago, during the Six Day War, my parents got me a poster of SuperJew, a religious Jew emerging from a phone booth. It was about Jewish power.

Except: When we looked at the poster carefully, we noticed that the SuperJew had dirty hands.

And might even be giving a middle finger to the world.

This was either an evocation of the dirty Jew, or the realization that when you fight a war and run a state, your hands do get dirty, and/or it might seem like you are giving a middle finger to the world.

Which leads to my second point.

At its core, their anti-Zionism is a sanctification of Jewish weakness and passivity.

Consider the famous Talmudic passage about the three oaths.

Let me paraphrase it for you from Talmud, Ketubot 110a.

It teaches that after the Romans destroyed Jewish sovereignty, God demanded two oaths from the Jews and one from the nations of the world.

From the Jews:

And, from the nations of the world?

That they would not oppress Israel too much.

In other words: The Jews should know their place. The gentiles should not make our lives too difficult.

Perhaps this is where we got the nice Jewish boy thing.

Ever shake hands with a Haredi man? It is like shaking hands with a lox.

Why? Because someone once taught that a firm handshake derives from European chivalry. Therefore, it was treif for pious Jewish men to shake hands with a firm handshake. Power physical, earthly, state-sponsored is simply wrong.

Which is why Shulem takes a hard line on the air forces display it is about military power. Which is also why the sages rewrote the Hanukkah story to be about the miracle of the oil and not the miracle of the Hasmonean military victory.

The three oaths teaching has played a role in my own understanding of Zionism.

But, I play it differently.

Between the first century CE, when the Romans destroyed Judean sovereignty and November 1938, we all agreed to our oaths.

They werent overly mean to us. Yes, they expelled us from various countries, but we were able to rebuild our lives. We could survive.

But, November 1938 trashed the old system. With Kristallnacht, and the ensuing Shoah, they persecuted us too much.

Therefore, the nations of the world broke their oath.

All bets were off.

Therefore, the Shoah released the Jews from their oaths.

Of course, in its extreme, this attitude could seem to give carte blanche to a militant and overly aggressive attitude.

Which, in some quarters, it has done. The state of Israel has presented Jews with a question that we could not have imagined even 70 years ago: How do we handle military and state-sponsored power?

But, let us be clear.

Jewish weakness has not been such a bargain, either.

I turn to the late, lamented Israeli author and public intellectual, Amos Oz.

I would be more than happy to live in a world composed of dozens of civilizations: no flag, no emblem, no passport, no anthem. No nothing. Only spiritual civilizations tied somehow to their lands, without the tools of statehood and without the instruments of war.

But the Jewish people has already staged a long-running one-man show of that sort. The international audience sometimes applauded, sometimes threw stones, and occasionally slaughtered the actor. No one joined us; no one copied the model the Jews were forced to sustain for two thousand years, the model of a civilization without the tools of statehood. For me this drama ended with the murder of Europes Jews by Hitler.

Such is the anti-Zionism of the Haredim and yes, of many modern Jews as well, who prefer a Kumbaya vision of the world without countries and without the necessity of power.

I might want to live in an imagined world wherein Jews no longer need power.

But (and this is crucial):

That world does not exist. At least, not yet.

If that makes me an evil doer, so be it.

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Who are the 'evil doers' in 'Shtisel'? - Religion News Service

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

The current situation in West Asia is deteriorating; even there is a new administration in the U.S., which many thought would be promising for the peace process between Israel and Palestine and the stability for peace in Syria, and Iraq.

The renewal of the JCPOA agreement with Iran, or at least a new initiative, has been proven disillusioned. The situation in Syria is still precarious, the U.S. is still looting oil and there is no withdrawal of U.S. forces. Also, Iraq is still facing violence and suppression of the U.S. and its allies NATO. The U.S. is still occupying Iraq, since the illegal war and occupation in 2003. The situation with Israel and Iran is escalating, Israel is killing Iranian scientists and destroying Iranian tankers, loaded with oil for Syria, so people in Syria dont starve and have oil, their oil is stolen, every day, the U.S. and NATO stealing oil and sending it to the U.S. and Europe to sell it illegally to EU and U.S. citizens as gasoline for their cars.

Under the Trump-administration a so-called peace plan was developed, Israel signed peace treaties with Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and even with Morocco. It doesnt mean that the people of above-mentioned countries agree, it is just an agreement with the governments. Furthermore, it must be mentioned that the countries who signed a so-called peace treaty have predominantly Sunni-leaders and its population is diverse, for instance in Bahrain, the leaders are Sunni. However, the majority of the Bahraini population is Shiites, and the rulers of Bahrain are connected to the rulers of the KSA.

The U.S. and EU have chosen to let Israel make peace treaties with Sunni religion leaders, these are the countries who have the most oil, therefore they, according to human rights, are discriminating Shiites, throughout the Arab world. For Westerns, who have no idea of the Arab world, it looks like Israel is a democratic country seeking peace with its neighbors; a distraction from reality, the Zionist strategy, as we can call it, who continuously suppressing Palestinians, stealing their land, violating the so-called Oslo-agreements are violating human rights, detaining children and depriving the Palestinian people from right of free existence, as laid down in the UNs Universal declaration of Human Rights.

As long as the Western world, meaning the U.S. and EU are discriminating Arab people on religion, there is no peace, as long as the Western world its aim is only to steal oil and keep up its imperialistic policy, there will be no peace and prosperity for Arab people and as long as the Western world keep supporting the corrupt elites in these countries, there will be no peace.

There will be no normalization if the Western countries keep occupying Arab countries and most of all, if they dont recognize that Israel is ruled by Zionists, who have nothing to do with religion as such, the Zionist dream is and will be a Greater Israel, no matter how many Arab lives it has to sacrifice. When there is no real effort made for peace and as long as Western puppets-regimes, like the KSA and Bahrain stay in power there will be no normalization.

The United Nations (UN) is dominated by certain countries and therefore, the organization of the UN must certainly be adjusted after 75 years. The most important issue is that the charter must be fully respected and implemented especially under the COVID-19 pandemic where we see discrimination and violation of the boycott by Israel of sending vaccines to Palestine. The UN has, like most International Organizations, for instance the Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW who expelled Syria) a tool for Western governments only, also the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a good example of Western influence. These institutions dont acknowledge a multipolar world. They continue their hybrid war on the costs of many, mainly, Arab lives.

The (U.S.) Biden-administration policy towards Israel, will not see dramatic changes, Biden is pursuing the agenda of the Obama-administration, not even that, the policy of the Biden-administration is, I dare to say, the continuation of the war in Syria and Iraq, the unconditionally support towards Israel. Biden and his administration are under the influence of AIPAC and actually they have no real power in the U.S.

The real power in the U.S. (and Europe) are the deep-state, existing from many lobby groups.

As for the propaganda from the West, this is all part of the hybrid war, the U.S. and its partner NATO are waging this war on the countries who embrace the new Silk Road, Russia and China, also, they are spreading false information about the so-called Axis of Resistance. Blaming mainly Iran (Hezbollah and Syrias Assad) for wanting to expand its territories, using religion as a tool in this information war. Actually, its an answer to the hostilities of the Axis of Evil, introduced by the Bush jr. - administration, to destroy countries who didnt comply with the war of terror, after the 9/11 attacks on the WTC buildings. The West is known for using religion as a tool of war, they started this game in 1999, during the Yugoslavia war, there they started their practice of favoring Sunni Muslims above (in Yugoslavia) Orthodox-Christians. It seems like it has become the standard in their information war and psychological warfare.

The Palestinians are suffering deeply, since 1948 under the yoke of illegal occupation, driven out of their land the majority became refugees. The Arabs and most of all Palestinians have to bleed for the mistakes and atrocities done by the West. It has nothing do to with religion but only occupation, stealing land and resources. The Zionists and Western countries use religion as a tool of war, to divide and conquer. To remember Quds Day is to remember the exodus of the Palestinians and the land that was stolen from them, the injustice and criminal deeds of the Zionists.

Sonja van den Ende is an independent journalist from the Netherlands. Her expertise includes international affairs by special focus on Syria, West Asia and Russia. She is the former International Secretary at International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA - Vienna).

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Quds Day: To remember the injustice and criminal deeds of the Zionists - Tehran Times

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

The US, Canada, and Australia, three countries that emerged from white-settler colonialism, claim that the international conference on racism and xenophobia hosted by the UN 'unfairly' targets Israel.

Canada has joined the US and Australia in boycotting the 20th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, known as Durban IV, citing the events tradition of criticising Israels occupation of Palestine.

Canada opposes initiatives at the United Nations and in other multilateral forums that unfairly single out and target Israel for criticism," Global Affairs Canada spokesman Grantly Franklin said.

Calling the conference a forum for antisemitism, the spokesman also equated the criticism of Zionism and Israels policies to anti-semitism.

Canada is concerned that the Durban Process has and continues to be used to push for anti-Israel sentiment and as a forum for antisemitism. That is why we do not plan to attend or participate in events surrounding the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, the spokesman added.

His remarks came after Australia and the US announced their withdrawal from the conference. Similarly, in 2009 and 2011, Western countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand boycotted the conference, claiming the summit unfairly targets Israel.

However, the three white-settler countries are also worried about the growing calls for an apology over their role in colonialism, the enslavement of Africans and reparations to the colonised nations.

The conference, which will be held in New York in September, will mark the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of theDurban Declaration and Programme of Action under the theme of Reparations, racial justice and equality for People of African Descent.

The World Conference Against Racism is a series of international events organised by UNESCO to promote and support the struggle against racist ideologies and policies across the world. Four conferences were held in 1978, 1983, 2001 and 2009.

The 2001 conference, also known as Durban I, witnessed walkouts by the US and Israeli delegates offended by the draft resolution which called Israels founding expansionist ideology of Zionism racist.

The final draft of the resolution did not condemn Zionism but it recognised the self-determination rights of Palestinians and supported the independent state of Palestine.

In 2011, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Durban conference, the world leaders agreed on a declaration, proclaiming their "strong determination to fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and the protection of the victims thereof, a high priority for [their] countries." The year was also celebrated as the International Year for People of African Descent.

Last month, Human Rights Watch published a 213-page report in which the group said Israel pursues policies of apartheid and persecution against the Palestinians in the occupied territories and the Palestinian minority in Israel, which amount to crimes against humanity.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

Abu Ali al-Ansari, a political analyst and Islamic scholar based in London, tells the Tehran Times that the ArabIsraeli normalization is a betrayal by Arab monarchies and it will not lead to the disappearance of the Palestinian cause.

This normalization is one of the final nails in the occupation of Palestine, and it will be one of the reasons for the final destruction of both the Arab and European Zionist project in the region, notes Abu Ali al-Ansari.He believes that the Arab people are not in favour of the normalization, and he explains the reality is that the Arab monarchs have very little to do with the Arab people; they are closer to their Zionist masters and to the Empire be it the British or the U.S. Empires.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: How do characterize the current situation in West Asia?

A: The situation in West Asia is at a pivotal stage in history at this time. Most of the so-called Arab monarchies, including those who consider themselves to be the custodians of the two holy places, are firmly in the pocket of the Empire and the forces of the real Axis of Evil.

However, with His grace, there is also a massive resurgence within the populations of the Arab and Muslim countries, and the Axis of Resistance, the forces who have fought against various Western and Zionist projects like DAESH and so-called Israel are stronger than ever.

I believe that we are living in a historic time when soon we will see the demise of the Empire, and along with it its Axis of Evil, and the dawn of a new age in the regionWhile the propaganda mechanism against the Resistance Axis is in full swing, and working tirelessly, every move that the enemies make thinking they can harm the Axis of Resistance fails. It appears as if the Empire and its allies are stuck in quagmire after quagmire in the West Asia region (and elsewhere), and with the advent of the Coronavirus, their predicament becomes far worse.

I believe that we are living in a historic time when soon we will see the demise of the Empire, and along with it its Axis of Evil, and the dawn of a new age in the region, with His grace.

Q: What is your thought on the ArabIsraeli normalization?

A: This normalization is an academic exercise. It is nothing new. These Arab sheikhdoms, these oilfields and shopping malls with flags, run by the most corrupt of the corrupt people, have always been partners with the Zionist entity. Some even reference entities such as so-called Saudi Arabia and the so-called UAE as the Arab Zionists.

They have only ever given lip service to the plight of the people of Palestine. Providing charity, but never actually providing any useful support be it diplomatic or military to the Palestinians in their resistance to Zionist occupation.

The reality is that the U.S. has finally managed to get these Arab leaders to be honest, to express publicly that they are with the Zionists; and indeed, that the Palestinians need to give up the struggle for their rights and freedom from occupation.

This is a fatal mistake for these Arab rulers and given the way they have abused their own populations, it is but a matter of time till they are dealt the final and fatal blow.

These Arab sheikhs who in reality are just DAESH but with formal attire failed in Syria and Iraq, they are failing catastrophically in Yemen, and they should understand that the fire they have ignited in Yemen will burn them, and will be a means to the ultimate liberation of Palestine.

Q: Do you think the normalization can lead to forgetfulness of the resistance and the Palestinian cause?

A: I believe this is the intention of the Empire, this is exactly what they want. They want the Arabs to forget Palestine, to become taken in with the material benefits that they will allegedly obtain as a reward for the so-called normalization. However, I have no doubt that this is a mistake.

This normalization is an academic exercise. It is nothing new. These Arab sheikhdoms, these oilfields and shopping malls with flags, run by the most corrupt of the corrupt people, have always been partners with the Zionist entity.Even if sadly the majority of the people of these Arab oil fields and shopping malls with flags support this normalization; this normalization will not make the Palestinian cause disappear.

It will in fact polarise and make clear those who are with the oppressed and those who are with the oppressors.

This normalization is one of the final nails in the occupation of Palestine, and it will be one of the reasons for the final destruction of both the Arab and European Zionist projects in the region.

Q: Basically, can the normalization be generalized to Arab nations or it is considered a betrayal by Arab monarchies? In your view, will Arab nations come along with this betrayal?

A: I believe that the normalization is something for the Arab monarchs (who in and of themselves lack any real legitimacy, but thats another discussion for another time), I do not believe the Arab people are in favour of this.

After all, if your brothers home were stolen, his family killed, his daughters raped and his sons massacred, and then your brother is told he cannot fight back, would you expect your brother to accept this? Would you accept this? No person with any honor or dignity will ever accept this regardless of which faith they follow.

The reality is that the Arab monarchs have very little to do with the Arab people; they are closer to their Zionist masters and to the Empire be it the British or the U.S. Empires. They are servants of the Empire and only seek to occupy the Arab countries and peoples.As Ive said, this normalization is one of the final nails in their coffins.

Q: As you know, the Israeli regime has been violating human rights in the case of Palestinians, including the recent Israel blockage of covid vaccines from entering Gaza. How do you assess this brutal decision? Why have international organizations, especially the UN, been playing a passive role there?

A: Honestly speaking, this is not unexpected. There is little humanity when it comes to the Zionists, they are a fascist supremacist entity, who care little for anyone else.

For them to block the COVID vaccination from the people of Palestine is completely expected; as far as the Zionists are concerned the sooner all the Palestinians are removed from existence the better for the Zionists.

Arab leaders including organizations like the so-called Arab League have done nothing to help the people of PalestineThe real tragedy is that the Arab leaders including organizations like the so-called Arab League have done nothing to help the people of Palestine (aside from the customary lip service).

As for the so-called United Nations. The United Nations cannot be expected to do anything as long as it is owned and controlled by the masters and supporters of the Zionists, this is a reality. The UN is the one that is responsible for the occupation of Palestine, by doing nothing, doing less than nothing to help the Palestinians, even after UNSC resolution after resolution condemning the Zionists and declaring their behaviour in cases as war crimes.

The UN is impotent and will remain impotent as long as the veto remains (especially while it remains with the U.S., UK, France who are known and strong allies and partners of the Zionist entity).Sadly, to expect these intentional organizations to do anything that would counter U.S. foreign policy is wishful thinking.

Q: The Western media is trying to introduce the Axis of Resistance as a kind of expansion of the Shiite influence over the region. What do you think?

A: This is nothing new. The Western media is not really a news forum that provides real analysis; rather it is a mouthpiece for the foreign policy Zionist-inspired and controlled of the Empire. This needs to be understood.The Western media is more interested in keeping the people comatose and in their happy little delusions, worrying about non-issues than to educate the people on the reality that their so-called elected officials are committing, the crimes being committed in their names, and so on.

The current line taken by the Western media is nothing new at all. It must be understood that the Islamic Republic of Iran, more so the Islamic Revolution Guard Corp, and more so its Quds Force, that was led by the great martyr of Islam, Hajj Qassem Soleimani, may God rest his pure soul, and that now continues its march led by Sardar Ismail Qaani, may God protect him; and led by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khamenei, may God protect him, have taken the most important steps in ensuring that the West Asia region is kept free and to minimize the influence of the Zionist Axis.

Yes, Islamic Iran has supported unwaveringly the Palestinian Resistance, the Lebanese Resistance, the Yemeni Resistance, and more besides, because they are humane causes, they are causes where a people are standing up to oppression, occupation, and to tyranny.The Empire and its mouthpieces the Western Media have a problem with this, because this is a war on the information arena as well as the physical arena.

For every victory that the Resistance Axis has on physical arena, the enemies have to reduce the pain of that victory by creating an operation on the information arena (the soft war arena). This is why, the Islamic Resistance, the people standing against the forces of the Empire, must become stronger on the Soft War arena; that way, for every victory on the physical arena, there is also a monumental victory on the information arena; which ultimately will further break the back of the Empire.

Q: What will be Biden's foreign policy toward this dispute? Do you think the normalization continues in Biden's presidency?

A: As far as the U.S. is concerned, especially in matters of foreign policy; and more so than the foreign policy that is related to the Zionist entity, absolutely nothing will change (except to give more support to the Zionist entity). The U.S. is a firm ally to the Zionists, be it with a Democratic or Republican or any other party government. The same is the case with other Western countries, including the UK, France, and such.

While the formalization of normalization was started during the Trump regime, it will continue, and mark my words, become more expansive during Biden.

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The normalization will not make the Palestinian cause disappear: Political analyst - Tehran Times

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

Hungary, India, Turkey and BeyondThursday, 13 May 202112:00 PM CDT

Co-sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), the Chicago Center on Democracy, the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science, and the Arab Studies Institute

Widespread democratic backsliding is raising alarm bells about the future of academic freedom in democratic and autocratic regimes. Such fears are not unwarranted. Institutions of higher education suffer from systemic and multi-faceted attacks across the globe. Transgressions on university autonomy, restrictions on research and curriculum, widespread neoliberal transformation of funding structures, and attacks on the life and liberty of academics themselves demonstrate the extensiveness of the arsenal employed by a multitude of governments. Are the recent attacks on academic freedom spillover effects of democratic erosion? What pressures do academics face, and what awaits university campuses? Drawing from the comparative threads of authoritarian strategy seen across the cases of Turkey, Hungary, and India, this panel brings together scholars to discuss the state of academic freedom and democratic erosion followed by an open discussion with the panelists.

Dipesh Chakrabarty is the Laurence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the College at the University of Chicago. He is also the founding member of the journal Subaltern Studies, a consulting editor of Critical Inquiry, a founding editor of Postcolonial Studies, and has served on the editorial boards of the American Historical Review and Public Culture. His research combines the social history of modern India with postcolonial historiography in works that influence the field at large. Currently, Chakrabarty is working on a book project on the implications of the science of climate change for historical and political thinking and is working on two long-term projects: one on democracy and political thought in South Asia and the other on a cultural history of Muslim-Bengali nationalism. Recent books include Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference and Habitations of Modernity. His awards include the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indian Institute of Management, Toynbee Prize, and honorary doctorates from the University of London and University of Antwerp. He has, by invitation, been a visiting faculty/fellow at many universities of the world including the Wissenschaftkolleg in Berlin, the University of California at Berkeley, Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, and Princeton University.

Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and University Center for Human Values. She works at the intersection of law, political science, sociology, public policy and normative theory and studies constitutional systems in transition and under stress. Professor Scheppele examined post-1989 constitutions in eastern Europe, working as a researcher in the constitutional courts of Hungary and Russia, explored challenges to constitutional democracies as they responded to post-9/11 threats by developing comprehensive anti-terror programs that affected both civil liberties and separation of powers, tracked the spread of constitutional worst practices through the rise of the new populist authoritarians in Eastern Europe and beyond, and diagnosed and proposed cures for constitutional dysfunctions in the European Union and its Member States. Professor Scheppele was founding co-director of the Program in Gender and Culture (now the Department of Gender Studies) at Central European University and director of Princetons Program in Law and Public Affairs for 10 years. She has taught in law schools throughout Europe and the United States, is an elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, won the Law and Society Associations Kalven Prize for influential scholarship and has been a frequent recipient of research grants from the US National Science Foundation. She has advised constitutional drafting processes, governments and international organizations on matters of comparative constitutional law.

Zeynep Gambettiis Associate Professor of Political Theory at Boazici University. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Paris VII in 1999. Her work focuses on collective agency, ethics, and public space. She has carried out extensive research on the transformation of the conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement, with particular emphasis on space as a vector of relationality. She collaborated with Joost Jongerden to edit the special issue of The Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies on the spatial dimensions of the Kurdish question in Turkey. She has also published several theoretical articles and book chapters on Hannah Arendts political thought and subjectivity, in particular, The Agent Is the Void! From the Subjected Subject to the Subject of Action, in Rethinking Marxism (2005), and Conflict, Commun-ication and the Role of Collective Action in the Formation of Public Spheres in Publics, Politics and Participation: Locating the Public Sphere in the Middle East and North Africa (edited by Seteney Shami, SSRC Publications, 2009). She is the co-editor of Rhetorics of Insecurity: Belonging and Violence in the Neoliberal Era (with Marcial Godoy-Anativia, New York University Press, 2013), The Kurdish issue in Turkey: A Spatial Perspective (with Joost Jongerden, London/New York, Routledge, 2015), and Vulnerability in Resistance: Politics, Feminism, Theory (with Judith Butler and Leticia Sabsay, Duke University Press, 2016).

Susan Stokesis the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, Fulbright, the American Philosophical Society, and the Russell Sage Foundation. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research interests include democratic theory and how democracy functions in developing societies; distributive politics; and comparative political behavior. Her co-authored book, Brokers, Voters, and Clientelism (Cambridge, 2013) won best-book prizes from the Comparative Politics (Luebbert Prize) and Comparative Democratization sections of APSA. Among her earlier books, Mandates and Democracy: Neoliberalism by Surprise in Latin America(Cambridge, 2001), received prizes from the APSA Comparative Democratization section and from the Society for Comparative Research. Her articles have appeared in journals such as the American Political Science Review, World Politics, and the Latin American Research Review.

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LIVE EVENT - Democratic Erosion and Academic Freedom: Hungary, India, Turkey and Beyond (13 May) - Jadaliyya

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

When I was very young, what motivated me to go to shul on Shabbat morning was the fire station two houses away from the synagogue.

My dad was the rabbi of the only congregation in Annapolis, Maryland, and shul attendance was a family affair. If I behaved during services, my big brother would take me to the fire station afterward, and sometimes the firemen let me sit at the wheel of the hook and ladder truck. That made my week.

In recent days Ive been thinking a lot about my various experiences with shul attendance over the years. The sad truth is that though I am fortunate enough to have received my second COVID vaccine more than a month ago, I havent been back to shul, and Im not sure why. But the weather is getting warmer and Im running out of excuses.

Its ironic because these last few years Ive really enjoyed shul the services, the rabbis, the people, the singing. In my early years, not so much.

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As kids, learning to read Hebrew and becoming familiar with the prayers, the goal at services was to be the fastest.

Gary Rosenblatt

When I was about 10, I attended a family wedding in New York and stood in awe as I took in the sight of what seemed like hundreds of men in black hats and dark suits swaying fervently as they recited the afternoon Mincha prayer. I zipped through the silent Amidah and was waiting for the service to continue. A few minutes went by and then a few more minutes until it seemed everyone had finished.

I asked my brother what the holdup was, and he pointed to a very short older man, eyes closed, still in fervent prayer.

Thats Rav Aharon Kotler, the head of one of the biggest yeshivas in the world, he told me.

Whats taking him so long? I asked. Cant he read Hebrew?

As I got older, I learned about the importance of kavanah, or intention, putting ones heart and mind into the words we were saying as we prayed. But during my teenage years, prayer for me was associated more with obligation than choice.

Starting when I was 11, I attended a yeshiva in Baltimore through high school and lived during the week at the home of my maternal grandparents. My grandfather, a European-born, Yiddish-speaking Talmudic scholar, had his own shul on the first floor of the large cottage house. I lived in the attic, and once I became a bar mitzvah, I was needed most mornings to help ensure a minyan of 10 men.

Id know my presence was required because one of the shul-goers would ring a loud buzzer and hold it down for what seemed like minutes while I got up, less than enthusiastically, and dressed in a hurry. I attended out of a sense of duty, and I admit that if an 11th person showed up, I was tempted to go upstairs and back to bed.

The association of annoying alarms and shul attendance continued when I got to Yeshiva University. I soon learned that loud minyan bells were rung every weekday morning in the dorm to wake us up for services; attendance was mandatory. The first couple of weeks we would wake up with a jolt from those bells. But somehow, after that we didnt seem to hear them anymore.

One teenage bit of mischief came about in Annapolis on Rosh Hashanah when I was about 15. The shul was packed, and my friend Michael (whose father was the cantor) and I chose an arbitrary spot in the service and stood up from our front-row seats. There was a rustling and stirring behind us as, gradually, the entire congregation of several hundred rose, following our lead. As soon as everyone was up, we sat down, and they did the same. We did this a few times before my dad, seated facing us in his white robe on the bima, subtly signaled his displeasure

Over the years as an adult, with shul attendance no longer coercive, I have been blessed to have belonged to three synagogues (in the three states where we lived) that were true houses of prayer. Each in its own way was special, but they all had active and devoted members committed to Torah and led by learned, exemplary rabbis. And in each of the shuls, what I have enjoyed most in the service is when our joined voices blend in song, stirring a kind of transcendent feeling of collective prayer and community.

Those peak moments make the shul-going experience something to cherish.

Then came COVID. Houses of worship were closed, the virus was all around us, and we had no choice but to stay home. I missed the rhythm of walking to and from shul on Friday evening and Shabbat morning, feeling part of the spirit of the kehillah (congregation), and often lingering after services to catch up with friends.

But I became accustomed to staying home, and that had its own pleasant pattern: sleeping later, praying at home, spending more time with my wife and, when the weather allowed, meeting up with friends six feet apart on a bench outside.

I know Im not alone in my ambivalence about going back to shul now. Ive talked to friends about it and they, too, seem a bit mystified about what keeps some of us home.

I know Im not alone in my ambivalence about going back to shul now. Ive talked to friends about it and they, too, seem a bit mystified about what keeps some of us home. We know that going back would be good for the congregation, and probably for us, even though the prospect of COVID-limited attendance, singing and socializing is less than appealing.

Are we just lazy or fearful of becoming sick? Or have we become dependent on the safety and security of keeping close to home?

What would get me back to shul? No, its not the prospect of visiting a nearby fire station after services. Its the chance to ignite a spark of faith and commitment, andtime to take the next step back on the long path toward normalcy.

So there I was, on Saturday, back in synagogue. Sitting alone, at least six feet away from others, and wearing a mask, felt isolating at first, like praying alone in a room despite the others around me. But gradually the mood lifted and the familiar comfort of the prayers and the warm (if muted) greetings from fellow congregants made me feel at home again. I could get used to this.

Gary Rosenblatt was editor and publisher of The Jewish Week from 1993 to 2019. Follow him at garyrosenblatt.substack.com.

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What Will It Take for Me to Go Back to Synagogue? - Jewish Week

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

PITTSBURGH -- For more than two years the Tree of Life - Or L'Simcha synagogue, on a hilltop corner in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh -- has sat heavy with memory but empty of worshippers.

Since the morning in October 2018 when a gunman showed up at Shabbat services and killed 11 worshippers, the somber building complex has been by turns a crime scene, a place of mourning and the subject of long, emotional discussions about its future. Slowly, over months of deliberation, the Tree of Life congregation came to decide that the building would be its home for worship again as well as a commemorative site, a center for communal events and a place for people from all over the world to learn about confronting hatred.

By Tuesday morning, the leadership of the congregation was ready to announce the person chosen to help turn that vision into structure: Daniel Libeskind, the architect known for memorializing historical trauma and a son of Holocaust survivors.

"To me, in the end, the most critical thing is not that people stand there with their jaws literally hanging on the ground as they look at it," Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life said. "But that they can be able to say, 'Well look what the Tree of Life has accomplished. In the wake of what happened to them, that they could be at this incredible moment.' And we think Daniel Libeskind's the one to be able to deliver that."

There has been no shortage in recent years of places that once snugly fit into the patchwork of local communities -- schools, churches, synagogues, grocery stores -- but suddenly became internationally recognized sites of gun violence.

As the acute trauma receded in those places and life in the community mostly resumed, charged conversations have followed about how or even whether to mark what had happened there. Sanctuaries and classrooms have been replaced, but questions linger about how to do justice to memory.

OVERLAPPING CIRCLES

The vision at Tree of Life is similar, recognizing there are many overlapping circles of people who feel a stake in the site: the families of those who were killed, the members of the three congregations that worshipped at the synagogue, the Pittsburgh Jewish community, the city at large, the country as a whole and people, Jewish and non-Jewish, all over the world.

Libeskind, who in 2003 won the competition to design the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attacks, said strong but often conflicting motivations were familiar in undertakings like these.

"The same range, spectrum of emotions, ran through that project," he said of the World Trade Center design process. "Many groups, competing groups with different emotions. You know, 'Raze everything.' 'Rebuild even bigger, even taller.' 'Rebuild exactly the Twin Towers.' 'Don't build anything for the next 30 years.'"

"That is the range that you get," he continued. "There are different aspects that people want to remember and to delay and also to confront."

Libeskind had been in New York when the attack at Tree of Life occurred. He has designed museums and memorials that commemorate the evils of the Holocaust, but it rattled him deeply, he said, that such an eruption of violent anti-Semitism could take place in America -- the country his family had come to seeking freedom as Jews.

He would soon learn that the suspect had apparently chosen Tree of Life because one of the three congregations that worshipped there, Dor Hadash, had participated in a program for refugees with HIAS. Under its original name as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the same group had given Libeskind's family members financial assistance and helped them rent an apartment in a Bronx public housing complex when they arrived as immigrants in 1959.

"That struck in my heart," he said.

FILLED WITH GRIEF

In Pittsburgh, the months after the attack were filled with grief, condolence and recitations of the mourner's Kaddish. The wounded began to recover and some worshippers poured their anguish into activism. The gears of the judicial process began to turn, if slowly; Robert Gregory Bowers, the man charged with attacking the synagogue, has yet to go to trial. But in those first few weeks were also the beginnings of a delicate conversation about the building itself.

In December 2018, a Pittsburgh urban design firm, Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, began holding a series of listening sessions with members of the three congregations at the synagogue, which had been gathering for worship in the smaller chapels of other synagogues in Pittsburgh. Opinions about the future of the Tree of Life building ranged widely, from demolishing it, rebuilding it exactly as it had been, or creating something new.

Two of the congregations, Dor Hadash and New Light, decided not to return. But, Rabbi Myers said, a consensus began to form among members of Tree of Life that they wanted to come back.

"As time went on, it became clearer through all of these conversations," he said, "that the predominance was: We must return. If we don't, we give the message that evil won, because it chased us out of our building."

They would refurbish the 58-year-old sanctuary, keeping the tall stained glass windows that are the synagogue's most striking feature. But they would rebuild the rest of the campus, creating classrooms, a communal space, a Hall of Memories dedicated to the attack itself and a home for exhibitions and public programs of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

CONGREGATION IS EAGER

Libeskind said he planned to visit the site for the first time this month. The project will undoubtedly take time, but the congregation is eager for a permanent home, having been exiled from their building by the shooting and then kept from any physical gatherings at all by the coronavirus.

In an emailed statement, Andrea Wedner, who was shot in the arm that October morning and whose mother, 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, was killed, described the news about Libeskind as "an exciting next step in this long process of rebuilding."

"I am looking forward to entering a new Tree of Life building," Wedner wrote, "without fear or hesitation."

Also killed were Michele Rosenthal's brothers Cecil, 59, and David, 54, both men with developmental disabilities, who met worshippers at the door before services every week.

"They welcomed everyone who came through their doors to share their beloved building," she said in a statement on Monday. "We are hopeful that this new chapter for the building will be an opportunity to remember those who were taken and welcome more people in."

The Tree of Life - Or LSimcha synagogue in Pittsburgh has decided to refurbish its sanctuary but rebuild the rest of its campus, creating a Hall of Memories dedicated to the 2018 attack when a gunman showed up at Shabbat services and killed 11 worshippers.(The New York Times/Ross Mantle)

FILE -- Flowers at a memorial outside the Tree of Life Or LSimcha synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 25, 2019, nearly one year after the attack. The congregation has decided to refurbish its sanctuarybut rebuild the rest of the Pittsburgh campus, creating a Hall of Memories dedicated to the 2018 attack when a gunman showed up at Shabbat services and killed 11 worshipers. (Michelle Gustafson/The New York Times)

Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers outside the Tree of Life Or LSimcha synagogue, in Pittsburgh on May 2, 2021. The congregation has decided to refurbish its sanctuarybut rebuild the rest of the Pittsburgh campus, creating a Hall of Memories dedicated to the 2018 attack when a gunman showed up at Shabbat services and killed 11 worshipers. (Ross Mantle/The New York Times)

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Recalled to life - Arkansas Online

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Posted By admin on May 10, 2021

Daniel Libeskindthe architect who designed the new World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attackshas reportedly been chosen to refurbish the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were killed in an antisemitic mass shooting in 2018. Libeskinds appointment was reported by The New York Times on Tuesday; it states that he has been tasked with making it a functioning place of worship again as well as a memorial site. Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers said: The most critical thing is not that people stand there with their jaws literally hanging on the ground as they look at it... But that they can be able to say, Well look what the Tree of Life has accomplished. In the wake of what happened to them, that they could be at this incredible moment.... We think Daniel Libeskinds the one to be able to deliver that. Andrea Wedner, who was wounded and lost her 97-year-old mom in the shooting, told the Times: I am looking forward to entering a new Tree of Life building... without fear or hesitation.

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World Trade Center Architect Will Refurbish Tree of Life Synagogue Two Years After Mass Shooting - The Daily Beast

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