Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

The government will provide free entry, in perpetuity, to everyone visiting the proposed new Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced today (28 January 2021).

Giving universal free access to the memorial puts the UK on the same footing as the most important monuments and museums and will reassure Holocaust survivors their testimony will be freely available to all when they are no longer able to tell the story themselves, forever.

The Memorial, which is planned to be built next to Parliament in Victoria Tower Gardens, will be the focal point for national remembrance of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust and all other victims of Nazi persecution.

The learning centre will be a world-class facility, giving visitors powerful and engaging experiences to learn about the Holocaust and subsequent genocides through a variety of mediums including historic photographs, film footage and audio recordings.

Government support will supplement funds raised from visitor donations and other charitable contributions to cover the running costs of the Memorial and Learning Centre which, subject to planning permission, is expected to open in 2024.The government has already announced that it will contribute up to 75 million towards construction costs, to be supplemented by 25 million from charitable donations.

The Communities Secretary also announced a further 25,000 funding to support the work the Wiener Library does in using its archive to bring closure to families who lost loved ones during the Holocaust.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

Free entry, in perpetuity, to the proposed UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre will mean that there are no barriers to people commemorating and learning about the evils of the Holocaust and is in keeping with our national tradition of free entry to monuments and museums of great national significance.

As first-hand testimony from survivors becomes rarer and rarer, it is incumbent on all of us to be their witnesses.The Memorial will serve as a continual reminder to us all of why we need to make a stand against antisemitism, racism and hatred, whenever and wherever we find it something that this government will always do.

Ed Balls and Lord Eric Pickles, Co-Chairs of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, said:

This is the clearest demonstration of the Governments commitment to addressing Holocaust Remembrance. Free access will widen the visitor base and enable the centre to extend its message and work to a greater range of people. The centre will work closely with other institutions, both national and international, to tackle Holocaust denial and Antisemitism.

Marie van der Zyl, Board of Deputies of British Jews President, said:

We welcome the news that entry to the proposed Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre will be free to all visitors. We thank the government and the Secretary of State for this important announcement.

UK and international visitors will now have the opportunity to discover the truth about the Shoah, genocide and the dangerous places to which racism leads.

We hope this will increase understanding; help stop the lies and falsehoods surrounding this terrible period; and enable us all to confront prejudice wherever it is found.

Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive, Holocaust Educational Trust, said:

The Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre will do immeasurable good for Holocaust education and remembrance in this country and I am delighted that it has been confirmed that this important resource will be accessible to all. We must ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten, and that its lessons are learnt for generations to come.

Sir Ben Helfgott MBE, Holocaust survivor, said:

The Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre will ensure that the memory of those who perished in the Holocaustare never forgotten and that the testimonies of those who survived are protected and remembered. These are fundamental to conveying the lessons of tolerance and understanding.

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Jenrick announces free admission to the proposed UK Holocaust Memorial - GOV.UK

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

MONTREAL -- At 99-years-old, Cote St. Lucs Saul Bruck still loves to show off to his grandchildren by dancing, and he still goes to work almost every day.

To sit in the house and look at the walls and watch TV is not the best thing, he says.

Bruck, who his granddaughter says isnt exactly tech-savvy, likes to point to his head, saying his "computer" is sharp.

This computer is the best, he says But that computer stores some of the most horrific stories in history.

In 1940, while living in Poland, the Nazis imprisoned him and his six siblings in concentration camps. Between 1940 and 1945, Bruck says he was sent to nine different camps where he endured slave labour and lived in fear of being the next subject of the deadly experiments of Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele, also known as the Angel Of Death.

The way we were living, every day was a bonus because the next day we didn't know if we would be alive or dead. Every day we waited for Dr. Mengele to come and make a new selection," he says.

Bruck's mother was among the more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, murdered at Auschwitz. Five of his six siblings surved the war and immigrated to Canada.

Today, Bruck keeps that history alive by giving talks about the Holocaust.

Things like that should never happen again, because the atrocities and the torture that we went through is not to describe, he said.

In years past, survivors and their families flocked to Poland to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz. But this year, the pandemic has moved the ceremonies online, including those at Montreal's Holocaust Museum.

"This year is, of course, more difficult because we have to adapt to the challenges or organizing a virtual event, but on the other hand, doing something online opens our events and our activities to audiences that we normally wouldn't have been able to reach," said museum spokesperson Sarah Fogg. "We have a duty to learn the lessons of the past and to build a better future based on these very hard lessons from history."

In Vatican City, the pope gave a message to never forget the Holocaust, but at the same issued a warning, saying that with the rise of extremism, atrocities can happen again.

To remember is an expression of humanity," the pope said. "To remember is a sign of civility. To remember is a condition for a better future of peace and fraternity."

Brucks daughter-in-law, Marcy, works with the Foundation for Genocide Education, going to area high schools and speaking to students about the Holocaust.

She says she is often shocked to see how little some students know of the Second World War.

Some are quite well-informed, but others dont know that 6 million Jews were killed, and some dont even know who Hitler was. They know hes the bad guy with the mustache from many years ago. Its surprising, she says.

Bruck says he survived the war, not because he was smarter or stronger than others, he was just luckier.

A gram of luck," he says, "is worth more than a ton of diamonds.

Continued here:

99-year-old Montreal man credits luck for surviving the Holocaust - CTV News Montreal

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

Family is at the core of our food, and our story, Rabiyah wrote on Instagram. Our family members include some of the last Iraqi Jews that grew up in Iraq. Their memories feel so important to preserve.

In December, Rabiyah partnered with the Brooklyn-based collective Experimental Bitch Presents in their production of a play called In The Kitchen. Rabiyah developed the recipe for baaba beh tamur, an Iraqi cookie typically made for the Jewish holiday of Purim. To adapt to the pandemic, the project was a play-in-a-box: audience members received boxes with the audio play and the ingredients and recipe for the cookies.

Listeners heard the voice of Hannah Aliza Goldman, an actor, performer, writer, and food historian, draw on her own family historyher fathers lineage is Sephardic from Morocco, and her mother is Ashkenazi.

In preparation for the play, Goldman retraced her grandmothers journey and returned to the village in Morocco where she grew up. In the 1930s, more than 250,000 Jewish people lived in Morocco, while today that number hovers around 3,000. For Goldman, much like Rabiyah, cooking traditional Sephardic recipes is a way to rebuild lost connections to that side of her cultural heritage.

In Jewish culture we have different definitions of homeland, Goldman said. My grandmother was very religious. For her, Eretz ZionIsraelwas the homeland and they chose to move there for religious reasons. In the same vein, Morocco was also her home.

Championing Sephardic and Mizrahi cuisine while telling the stories of migration and multiple homelands is a way of preventing cultural erasure, said Coral Cohen, the plays director. For this reason, she plans to work with other Sephardic and Mizrahi artists in the future as well. Like Goldman, Cohen comes from a Mizrahi and Ashkenazi family. Being white-passing, its important to acknowledge the privilege that we have, but really important to strongly identify as Mizrahi Jews, as Sephardic, as Iraqi, or Persian, because we are so erased in this country, Cohen added.

Cohen and Goldman relied on community partners, such the Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network, a community of LGBTQ-identifying Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews who gathered around meals before the pandemic, to get the word out. The Q Network was inspired to use food as a way to reconnect with heritage, tell stories, and demonstrate that there are multiple valid ways of being Jewish.

Link:

The Awafi Kitchen Connects Iraqi and Jewish Food Cultures - Civil Eats

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO of US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer, shared the story of his parents, Jews from Thessaloniki, and how they managed to be among the 2,000 survivors from a community of 50,000 nearly eradicated by the Holocaust.

Bourla made his online remarks to the Sephardic Heritage International on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. He posted both the video and a transcript of his remarks to his LinkedIn account.

Bourla's remarks follow:

Remembrance. Its this word, perhaps more than any other, that inspired me to share my parents story. Thats because I recognize how fortunate I am that my parents shared their stories with me and the rest of our family.

Many Holocaust survivors never spoke to their children of the horrors they endured because it was too painful. But we talked about it a great deal in my family. Growing up in Thessaloniki, Greece, we would get together with our cousins on the weekends, and my parents, aunts and uncles would often share their stories.

They did this because they wanted us to remember. To remember all the lives that were lost. To remember what can happen when the virus of evil is allowed to spread unchecked. But, most important, to remember the value of a human life.

You see, when my parents spoke of the Holocaust, they never spoke of anger or revenge. They didnt teach us to hate those who did this to our family and friends. Instead they spoke of how lucky they were to be alive and how we all needed to build on that feeling, celebrate life and move forward. Hatred would only stand in the way.

So, in that spirit, Im here to share the story of Mois and Sara Bourla, my beloved parents.

Our ancestors had fled Spain in the late 15th century, after King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, which mandated that all Spanish Jews either convert to Catholicism or be expelled from the country. They eventually settled in the Ottoman Thessaloniki, which later became part of Greece following its liberation from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.

Before Hitler began his march through Europe, there was a thriving Sephardic Jewish community in Thessaloniki. So much so that it was known as La Madre de Israel or The Mother of Israel. Within a week of the occupation, however, the Germans had arrested the Jewish leadership, evicted hundreds of Jewish families and confiscated their apartments. And it took them less than three years to accomplish their goal of exterminating the community. When the Germans invaded Greece, there were approximately 50,000 Jews living in the city. By the end of the war, only 2,000 had survived.

Lucky for me, both of my parents were among the 2,000.

My fathers family, like so many others, had been forced from their home and taken to a crowded house within one of the Jewish ghettos. It was a house they had to share with several other Jewish families. They could circulate in and out of the ghetto, as long as they were wearing the yellow star.

But one day in March 1943, the ghetto was surrounded by occupation forces, and the exit was blocked.My father, Mois, and his brother, Into, were outside when this happened. When they approached, they met their father, who also was outside. He told them what was happening and asked them to leave and hide. But he had to go in because his wife and his two other children were home. Later that day, my grandfather, Abraham Bourla, his wife, Rachel, his daughter, Graciela, and his younger son, David, were taken to a camp outside the train station. From there they left for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mois and Into never saw them again.

The same night, my father and uncle escaped to Athens, where they were able to obtain fake IDs with Christian names. They got the IDs from the head of police, who at the time was helping Jews escape the persecution of the Nazis. They lived there until the end of the war all the while having to pretend that they were not Jews that they were not Mois and Into but rather Manolis and Vasilis.

When the German occupation ended, they went back to Thessaloniki and found that all their property and belongings had been stolen or sold. With nothing to their name, they started from scratch, becoming partners in a successful liquor business that they ran together until they both retired.

My moms story also was one of having to hide in her own land of narrowly escaping the horrors of Auschwitz and of family bonds that sustained her spirit and, quite literally, saved her life.

Like my fathers family, my moms family was relocated to a house within the ghetto. My mother was the youngest girl of seven children. Her older sister had converted to Christianity to marry a Christian man she had fallen in love with before the war, and she and her husband were living in another city where no one knew that she had previously been a Jew. At that time mixed weddings were not accepted by society, and my grandfather wouldnt talk to his eldest daughter because of this.

But when it became clear that the family was going to head to Poland, where the Germans had promised a new life in a Jewish settlement, my grandfather asked his eldest daughter to come and see him. In this last meeting they ever had, he asked her to take her youngest sister my mom with her.

There my mom would be safe because no one knew that she or her sister were of Jewish heritage. The rest of the family went by train straight to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Toward the end of the war, my moms brother-in-law was transferred back to Thessaloniki. People knew my mom there, so she had to hide in the house 24 hours a day out of fear of being recognized and turned over to the Germans. But she was still a teenager, and every so often, she would venture outside. Unfortunately, during one of those walks, she was spotted and arrested.

She was sent to a local prison. It was not good news. It was well known that every day around noon, some of the prisoners would be loaded on a truck to be transferred to another location where the next dawn they would be executed. Knowing this, her brother-in-law, my dearest Christian uncle, Kostas Dimadis, approached Max Merten, a known war criminal who was in charge of the Nazi occupation forces in the city.

He paid Merten a ransom in exchange for his promise that my mom would not be executed. But her sister, my aunt, didnt trust the Germans. So, she would go to the prison every day at noon to watch as they loaded the truck that would transfer the prisoners to the execution site. And one day she saw what she had been afraid of: my mom being put on the truck.

She ran home and told her husband who immediately called Merten. He reminded him of their agreement and tried to shame him for not keeping his word. Merten said he would look into it and then abruptly hung up the phone.

That night was the longest in my aunt and uncles life because they knew the next morning, my mom would likely be executed. The next day on the other side of town my mom was lined up against a wall with other prisoners. And moments before she would have been executed, a soldier on a BMW motorcycle arrived and handed some papers to the man in charge of the firing squad.

They removed from the line my mom and another woman. As they rode away, my mom could hear the machine gun fire slaughtering those that were left behind. Its a sound that stayed with her for the rest of her life.

Two or three days later, she was released from prison. And just a few weeks after that, the Germans left Greece.

Fast forward eight years and my parents were introduced by their families in a typical-for-the-time matchmaking. They liked each other and agreed to marry. They had two children me and my sister, Seli.

My father had two dreams for me. He wanted me to become a scientist and was hoping I would marry a nice Jewish girl.I am happy to say that he lived long enough to see both dreams come true. Unfortunately, he died before our children were born ... but my mom did live long enough to see them, which was the greatest of blessings.

So, that is the story of Mois and Sara Bourla. Its a story that had a great impact on my life and my view of the world, and it is a story that, for the first time today, I share publicly.

However, when I received the invitation to speak at this event at this moment in time when racism and hatred are tearing at the fabric of our great nation I felt it was the right time to share the story of two simple people who loved, and were loved by, their family and friends. Two people who stared down hatred and built a life filled with love and joy. Two people whose names are known by very few but whose story has now been shared with the members of the United States Congress the worlds greatest and most just legislative body. And that makes their son very proud.

This brings me back toremembrance. As time marches on and todays event shrinks in our rearview mirrors, I wouldnt expect you to remember my parents names, but I implore you to remember their story. Because remembering gives each of us the conviction, the courage and the compassion to take the necessary actions to ensure their story is never repeated.

Thank you again for the invitation to speak today.And thank you forremembering.

Stay safe and stay well.

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Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's parents among the few Thessaloniki Jews to survive the Holocaust | Kathimerini - http://www.ekathimerini.com

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

In recent years, Jewish communal leaders and philanthropists have come to recognize that the American Jewish communitywidely presumed to be white-skinned and Ashkenazi (from Central and Eastern Europe)is far more diverse than they imagined.

With the help of philanthropic partners, the Jews of Color Initiative, a Berkeley, California-based fund led by Executive Director Ilana Kaufman, is raising consciousness about underserved Jews of color and working to create a more inclusive and welcoming ecosystem in the organized American Jewish community.

Though Jews of color have been undercounted in Jewish population studies for decades, data from several reputable studies point to the fact that Jews of color represent at least 12 to 15% of the American Jewish population. That percentage does not include Jews of Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) and Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) ancestryand it is growing.

Yet the majority of Jews of color, arent showing up in synagogues, Jewish community centers or religious schools. One reason for their absence is that they dont feel welcome, says Kaufman, whose organization is committed to building and advancing the professional, organizational and communal field for Jews of color.

As the Jews of Color Initiative was being founded, we heard from Jewish community members of color, our families and friends, that often when attending services and community programs, they might be racially profiled, says Kaufman. Sometimes when freshening up in the restroom, they might be asked to change an empty paper towel dispenser; when picking up a daughter from religious school, they might be assumed to be the nanny; when attending a program in a community space, be asked if they need help or if they know someone in the community or why they are there that evening, says Kaufman. Each example is an expression of racism that is seen and heard.

Such blatant instances of racism, adds Kaufman, occur in addition to more subtle examples, such as looks of wonder; the pervasive use of language and customs that exclude Jews who are neither Ashkenazi or white; the resistance, on the part of some, to come to terms with and deeply understand the impact of racism and white supremacy in the United States, including in our Jewish communities.

In 2017, Kaufman was part of a group of 12 Black Jews invited to the Leichtag Foundation to discuss issues around racial justice. It was a sincere, curious and sometimes awkward conversation with a group of funders and colleagues coming together in the very heightened racial climate [during] 2016, recalls Kaufman. It was hard, because race is hard and talking about race and racism is hard.

Yet the group persevered, with white funders and colleagues asking questions expressing concern about the experiences of Jews of color and seeking information about what needed to change.

There was clearly a need for funding and there was also some curiosity about to what extent creating a hub of some kind would benefit, not only Jews of color, but the whole Jewish community, Kaufman says.

After two days of discussion and soul searching, the Jews of Color Field Building Fund was created. Kaufman, who was then working as a public affairs and civic engagement director for the Bay Area Jewish Community Relations Council, came aboard as a contract program officer for the pilot fund, which started with just $60,000. The fund was held at the Coastal Community Foundation in San Diego and was supported by the Leichtag Foundation. The Jim Joseph Foundation and Walter and Elise Haas Fund soon joined the effort.

We ended up with $160,000 and we gave away $110,000 in grantmaking that first year, says Kaufman. Fast-forward three years, and our name has gotten shorter and our budget has gotten larger.

The JoCIs fundraising goal for 2020-2021 was $450,000, but due to funders responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impact on people of color, Kaufman now expects to raise $828,000 this year.

In addition to the Leichtag and Jim Joseph foundations and the Haas Fund, the JoCI is currently supported by prominent philanthropies, including the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and the Rodan Family Foundation.

This years grantees include Hillel International, Avodah, Reconstructing Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism.

The Jews of Color Initiatives grantmaking is limited to field building, says Kaufman. Were informed by the Bridgespan Groups field-building guide and we focus on resourcing, leadership development, establishing best practices, policy, identity and research. Research, says Kaufman, is especially important, since most white Jews know so little about Jews of color.

Every time I would go present about Jews of color, I would have a conversation and someone would ask, Yeah, but how many Jews of color are there really? So, then I thought, OK, we have to go out and do research.

The JoCIs first demographic study, Counting Inconsistencies: An Analysis of American Jewish Population Studies, with a Focus on Jews of Color, was funded by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and released in 2019. The study discovered significant irregularities in the ways previous demographic studies were conducted, which made it difficult to gain a full understanding of how many Jews of color actually live in the U.S. For example, many Jewish population studies failed to include questions about race or ethnicity.

Based on these inconsistencies, the researchers recommended that future Jewish population studies adopt better and more consistent practices for sampling populations, weighting responses, and formulating more comprehensive and sensitively worded questions.

In January 2021, the JoCI commenced the Count Me In survey, which asks Jews of color to share experiences and perspectives on Jewish identity, systemic racism, and their aspirations for the Jewish community. The JoCI hopes that the survey, which will close on Feb. 19 and be released in July, will garner 1,000 responses.

Strengthening the local Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay area for future generations is a funding priority for the Rodan Family Foundation, which was established approximately two years ago. Elana Rodan Schuldt, the foundations president and CEO, says that initially, the foundation wasnt sure what that goal would mean.

Frankly, I was thinking about my kids, and my peers kids, and what are they coming of age with and how will Judaism be relevant for them, says Rodan Schuldt.

We wanted to be very objective, so we looked at all the available data and were able to talk to most local organizations and leaders. What was glaringly obvious to us is that theres a mismatch between who our Jewish community is from a demographic perspective and what the demographics of organizational Jewish life looks like.

Considering trends such as intermarriage and the lifestyles of modern Jewish families, says Rodan Schuldt, we felt it was imperative to start reaching people not showing up in our community, especially Jews of color, and bringing Jewish life to them.

Rodan Schuldt hopes the Rodan Foundations support of the JoCI will strengthen the field of practitioners and organizations supporting Jews of color and help current Jewish institutions and organizations to do that hard work of readying themselves to be places where Jews of color can thrive and want to show up. She also hopes the Rodan Foundations investment in the JoCI will catalyze other funders to prioritize this and start putting their dollars to it.

The Jim Joseph Foundation has done just that. Jon Marker, senior program officer for the Jim Joseph Foundation, says they support the JoCI because of a recognition that the dominant narrative of who Jews are in the United States, and who our institutions are made of, center around European Ashkenormative Jewish experience, which is limited and does not encompass all the places where Jews come from.

The narrative doesnt encompass the nuance and richness and memory that exists in multiracial and multiethnic families that have existed for generations, says Marker. If our goal is to focus on helping young Jews to find meaning and purpose through Jewish wisdom, we need to recognize that a purely Ashkenazic narrative is not going to resonate with everyone and its not going to speak to the complexity and richness and resilience of our narrative.

Both Rodan Schuldt and Marker agree that partnering with the JoCI makes their work especially rewarding. First and foremost, says Marker, its a tremendous joy to work with Ilana [Kaufman] and the team shes assembled. Theyre incredibly strong leaders who bring a rich wisdom and lived experience within the American Jewish community. They also bring a skillset for nonprofit management and how to grow a field and ecosystem that is important, not because they are Jews of color, but because they are talented leaders.

Kaufman does her best to ensure that the grant application process is relatively painless. We try to do grantmaking in ways that are excellent, low barrier, low labor, low panic and low stress because it just makes for a much better experience, says Kaufman, who awards grants throughout the year.

Were here to support [communities and nonprofit leaders] but its not about us, Kaufman says. Were just facilitators, were a pathway. This is about the community becoming its next version of its best self.

Link:

How the Jews of Color Initiative Is Funding Work for a More Inclusive Jewish Community Inside Philanthropy - Inside Philanthropy

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

Three weeks after the deadly storm of the Capitol, a terrorism bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security shows the country remains on high alert.

WASHINGTON (CN) Extremists opposed to the election of President Joe Biden have not gone away, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to release a terror bulletin on Wednesday that says things could turn violent.

Issued by Acting Secretary of Homeland Security David Pekoske, the warning notes a heightened threat environment across the United States, coming to a boil amid long-standing racial and ethnic tension and anger over Covid-19 restrictions [and] 2020 election results.

Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence, according to the post from the National Terrorism Advisory System.

The advisory will remain in effect through April 30, with Homeland Security saying in a statement Wednesday that it is not aware of a specific, credible plot.

Violent riots have continued in recent days and we remain concerned that individuals frustrated with the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances and ideological causes fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize a broad range of ideologically-motivated actors to incite or commit violence, the agency said.

While DHS issues warnings through its National Terrorism Advisory System periodically, it is unusual for the concerns to highlight domestic extremists. Typically, the posts warn of risks that involve foreign governments or radical groups.

In the Senate, an impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump is imminent after he spent weeks stoking supporters to contest his loss of the 2020 election. Hours before an armed mob of Trump supporters briefly overtook the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Trump held a rally at the White House where he claimed falsely that he won the election by a landslide, and that supporters would have to fight like hell and go to the Capitol to stop a ceremony where lawmakers would certify the outcome of the election.

Police killed one rioter who tried to enter the Speakers Lobby, and one officer later died from wounds inflicted by the mob.

The article of impeachment charging Trump with incitement points not only to his words at the Jan. 6 rally but to his emboldening of white supremacists and other far-right-wing groups with his anti-immigration policies and talk of law and order during Black Lives Matter protests over the summer.

Pekoske, who issued the advisory warning, is currently warming the seat at the top of Homeland Security for Alejandro Mayorkas, President Bidens pickto head the department, whose Senate confirmation process is underway.

Mayorkas would be the first Latino and the first immigrant to hold the job.

Mayorkas was born in Cuba to a Sephardic Jewish father and to a mother who fled Europe in the late 1930s, seeking escape from Nazi death camps.

When Fidel Castro took power, the family uprooted to Miami, Florida.

Mayorkas previously served as U.S. attorney under former President Bill Clinton and head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under former President Barack Obama. He was influential in establishing Obamas Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

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Feds Warn That Election Conspiracy Theorists Are Planning More Violence - Courthouse News Service

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

The United Nations designated 27 January as the annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the allied powers in 1945. This day is also designated in Greece as Remembrance Day of the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust. Today, along with the international community, Greece honours the memory of the millions of Jews, Greeks and non-Greeks, who fell victim to the most horrible crime in modern history, reaffirming its unwavering commitment to counter anti-semitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance that may lead to group-targeted violence.

This year, on 1 March, Greece is also assuming the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a network that unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education, research and remembrance and to uphold the commitments to the 2000 Stockholm Declaration. Greece, having been a full member of IHRA since 2005 has undertaken the responsibility to preserve the collective memory of those who have perished during the Nazi genocide keeping these memories alive as a bulwark against any form of anti-Semitism, racism or intolerance, and as something new generations must avoid.

In honour of Greeces upcoming Presidency of the IHRA, a ten-day virtual event Heritage and Memory: A Focus on Jewish Greece, organized by the Consulate General of Greece in Los Angeles, the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center, and the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival will be held from 17 January to 6 February, under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her Excellency Alexandra Papadopoulou, Ambassador of Greece to the United States, who will offer welcome remarks during the event, noted that this ten-day event will provide important information about the history of Greeces Jewish community and its darkest hour, underlining the need to reaffirm a relentless commitment to be vocal and take action so that people never forget and that these horrors are never repeated. Dr. Efstathios Lianos-Liantis, Special Envoy of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Combating Anti-Semitism and Safeguarding the Memory of the Holocaust and Head of the Greek Delegation to the IHRA will also offer welcome remarks during the event.

The ten-day event includes four presentations by distinguished speakers that will present views of Greeces Romaniote and Sephardic communities to an international audience, a book discussion, as well as free screenings for eleven films and one extended preview that look at the Jewish communities of Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Kastoria, Zakynthos, and Rhodes. Partners include the Panepirotic Federation of America and the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies. The event is being supported by the philanthropists Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank.

More precisely, the event will comprise the following:

Conversations and a Book Discussion

27 January at 10 am (PT)Conversation with the Honorable Moses Elisaf, Mayor of Ioannina, the first Jewish mayor in the history of Greece. (Co-Sponsored By The Panepirotic Federation Of America). Introduced By Her Excellency Alexandra Papadopoulou, Ambassador Of Greece to the USA.

29 January at 10 am (PT)Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos, Museum Director Of Kehila Kedosha Janina, NY gives us a virtual tour of Kehila Kedosha Janina, the only Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Meet Me On The Corner Of Broome And Allen: A Visit To Kehila Kedosha Janina (Co-Sponsored By The Panepirotic Federation Of America)

30 January at 10 am (PT)Book Discussion with Rika Benveniste, the award-winning author of the book Luna. An essay in historical biography (in Greek) at an open meeting of a Modern Greek Book Club.

1 February at 10 am (PT)Leon Saltiel, Historian, University Of Macedonia, Thessaloniki will discuss the destruction of Thessalonikis ancient and vast Jewish cemetery which commenced in December 1942. Dehumanizing The Dead: The Destruction Of Thessalonikis Jewish Cemetery During World War II

3 February at 10 am (PT)Rena Molcho, Historian & International Award-Winning Author Problems Of Incorporating The Holocaust Into The Greek Collective Memory

READ MORE:Jewish community of Melbourne celebrates Hannukah at Federation Square

The majority of films will be available worldwide for online viewing throughout the entire ten days of the event. Several films trace the experience of Jews who were sheltered by Christian Greeks during the Nazi Occupation. The screenings are organized by theLos Angeles Greek Film Festivalthat has always been present in supporting filmmakers and films that make a difference in art and in life as well, as Aris Katopodis, the Festivals Artistic Director, stated.

The Queen Of Rebetiko: My Sweet Canary Cloudy Sunday. [You can readherea previous interview of the film director Manoussos Manoussakis to GNA] Magic Men Trezoros: The Lost Jews Of Kastoria Romaniotes: The Greek Jews Of Ioannina Life Will Smile Eleftheromania The Great Fire Of Salonica: Birth Of A City [You can readherea previous interview of the documentary director Gregory Vardarinos to GNA] Heroes Of Salonica Island Of Roses: The Jews Of Rhodes In Los Angeles Kisses To The Children My People: The Jews Of Greece (Extended Special Preview)

Free tickets for film screenings can be found at:https://heritage.eventive.org/films.

READ MORE:New app gives Israeli visitors insight into Greeces Jewish history

The presence of Jews in Greece traces back to antiquity. The Greek Jews, known asRomaniotes, are considered among the oldest Jewish communities in the world today and they are the oldest Jewish community in Europe. According to archeological findings, the Greek-speaking community of Romaniotes has lived in Greece continuously, since Hellenistic times (3rd century B.C.). Large Romaniote communities were located on the mainland (Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Arta, Preveza,Volos, Chalcis, Thebes, Corinth, Patras) as well as on some islands, like Rhodes, Chios and Samos.

The Jewish population of Greece increased dramatically in 1492, when theSephardic Jewswere expelled from Spain because of their faith. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Jews were expelled from the country while a great number came to the Ottoman Empire to rebuild their lives. In Greece, they settled in large numbers in key commercial cities in the north of the country and the Aegean islands, such as Thessaloniki, Kavala and Rhodes, bringing with them their own traditions, language, craftsmanship and occupations.

TheSephardic Jewish community of Greeceflourished for almost five hundred years, especially in the northern city of Thessaloniki, or Salonika. The city had become the Jewish centre of Europe, a veritable Jerusalem of the Balkans the city and mother of Israel, according to Jewish poetSamuel Usque.

The Jewish population of the city was approximately 50,000 at the time of the German occupation in 1942. Almost all the Jewish people transported in trains from Thessaloniki were murdered upon their arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau; this represented about 90 percent of the citys total Jewish population.

In total, roughly 85 percent of Greeces Jews perished out of the prewar population of 72,000. There are only about 6,000 individuals who identify as Jewish living in Greece today, with a little fewer than 2,000 living in Thessaloniki. (Source:Jewish Museum of Greece, Research Center)

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Heritage and Memory: A Focus on Jewish Greece a virtual event for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day - Neos Kosmos

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

MONTREAL -- Members of Quebecs Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities have filed an injunction request over the provinces restrictions on religious gatherings.

The communities are turning to the courts after exhausting all other means to get government authorities to make adjustments to enable members of our communities to be able to pray in a safe environment, Max Lieberman of the Council of Hasidic Jews of Quebec said in a statement, in order to have their fundamental rights respected.

This comes after several incidents on the weekend where police descended on synagogues where over 10 people were in attendance.

A spokesperson for the council told CTV News it was their understanding places of worship were allowed to accommodate 10 people per room with separate entrances.

The Quebec Ministry of Health said it had advised Quebec Interfaith RoundTable, which had been representing religious communities in conversations with the government about public health restrictions in the pandemic, that relaxation of rules for religious gatherings announced last week allowed a maximum of 10 people per building.

On Monday, Montreals public health department apologized to the Hasidic community for changing its position on gatherings. It first authorized gatherings of 10 people per room, but then changed course, saying that was not permitted under the provinces COVID_19 decree.

The injunction request will be heard by a tribunal on Monday, according to the council.

-With files from The Canadian Press

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Members of Quebec's Hasidic Jewish community file injunction request over gathering restrictions - CTV News Montreal

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

A man was arrested after randomly assaulting Jews in the heart of Williamsburgs Hasidic community.

It happened on Tuesday afternoon at 2:30PM, when the suspect punched two Hasidic men walking on Lee Avenue near Rutledge Street. No words were exchanged prior to the attack.

A crowd began chasing the suspect, and Williamsburg Shomrim arrived in seconds.

The man was apprehended at Penn Street near Marcy Avenue as the NYPD arrived, and was taken into custody.

Williamsburg Hatzolah responded to evaluate both victims. Thankfully, they were not seriously injured.

Sources tell YWN that a knife was found on the suspects possession when police searched him.

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Williamsburg: Suspect Armed With Knife Arrested After Assaulting Jews On Lee Avenue [VIDEOS & PHOTOS] - Yeshiva World News

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Posted By admin on February 1, 2021

After places of worship were forced to shut their doors earlier this month, the government changed its tune Friday, allowing indoor gatherings of up to 10 people.

The move has garnered mixed reaction and interpretation from religious groups in Quebec.

As religious leaders for any religion I think God is everywhere, so we have to adapt according to the situation which we are, said Ahmadiyya Mosque Imam Nabil Ahmad.

The Ahmadiyya Mosque in Montreal North hosts prayers five times a day. Worshippers bring their own mat and mask, and must register ahead of time to secure a spot.

Right now as (per) the guidelines of Quebec we have a total of 10 people that can come pray, so not above that, Ahmad said.

The Anglican Church is choosing to continue broadcasting their masses online, prioritizing the safety of its community.

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We have established fairly careful protocols and over the time, most of our parishes have adapted and are able to meet online and so we havent felt that it was necessary or worth the risk to meet in that sized group, said Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church will still publish masses online but its also opening church doors to the public. The Catholic Archbishop of Montreal Christian Lpine welcomed the guidelines even though they are rather small.

The fact of being able to receive up to 10 people for a celebration is something very positive encouraging, because it means we can open the church, he said.

While most religious leader say the guidelines are straight forward, others were clearly confused.

Police say they broke up more than 10 illegal activities in the Hasidic Jewish community this past weekend.

SPVM Deputy Director Simonetta Barth said more than 223 people were identified for not complying with the decree and police are launching an investigation into multiple members of the Hasidic community for allegedly assaulting officers, after officers broke up prayers last Friday night.

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But Hasidic community members blame a flip-flop in public health guidelines for the mishap. They received three separate directives from public health officials in three days, each email listed different directives.

Despite the confusion, Quebec Premier Franois Legault told reporters Tuesday no one is exempt from public health measures.

What happened last weekend we may look at the confusion but now its very clear and what I saw was that they were more than 30, he said.

A spokesperson from the Hasidic community told Global News it is still pondering the best ways to pray and observe the law before Shabbat prayers this coming Friday.

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Quebec religious groups have mixed reactions to latest gathering guidelines - Global News

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