Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

Every week, theres a fresh pot of soup simmering on a back burner on my stove. At first, there seems to be enough to feed an army. But as the week wears on, theres less and less, so I add to it. I slip in oddments that other cooks would store in plastic containers in the back of the fridge and find a fortnight later in rough shape a few roasted vegetables, some sauteed mushrooms, a spoonful of pasta, bits from the bottom of the salad bowl (yes, the greens go right in, vinaigrette and all). All of this fills the diminishing pot, and the soup is both replenished and reinvented on the fly.

Learn to make a nourishing, comforting pot of soup that will serve your family for several nights and and you can cut your food budget dramatically. Soup is a culinary phenomenon. Its inexpensive to make, can be reheated repeatedly, and only gets better. If there isnt space in your fridge, set containers of soup outside in a secure spot (dont tempt the neighborhood critters) when the temperature is above freezing, but not below 40 degrees.

One of the soups in my regular rotation is harira, a Moroccan bowl of chickpeas and lentils with rice or vermicelli noodles. Its a soup thats often served at the end of the day to break the Ramadan fast. Sephardic Jews in Morocco break the Yom Kippur fast with harira. Both communities serve it year-round.

There are several steps to a good harira, which probably has as many variations as cooks who make it. The recipe in The Chicken Soup Manifesto, by Jenn Louis, a former Portland, Ore., restaurateur, begins by soaking dried chickpeas overnight. The next day you poach a small cut-up chicken to make the broth. (Later, the meat will be pulled from the bones to enrich the soup). Root vegetables get a start in a bit of chicken fat or oil, with cumin, both ground and seed, coriander, and turmeric. Legumes are added in stages. The soaked chickpeas go in next, along with saffron, and when theyre halfway cooked, lentils and rice are added. Finally, stir in the shredded chicken, and watch the pot become thick and stewy.

Aside from the generous spices, its an interesting soup, not quite remarkable. Then you add the juice of a whole lemon (maybe two), and handfuls of fresh cilantro and parsley, and suddenly you have something exceptional. Louis instructs you to chop the stems with the leaves, which is probably how every cook in Morocco does it. Youd be surprised how much flavor stems add to the pot.

Taste the broth to see if it needs more lemon. Writes Louis, Squeeze in enough lemon juice to add as much tangy flavor as possible without it becoming sour. She says that classic accompaniments are fermented butter, called smen, along with plain thick yogurt, and flatbread.

Instead of chicken, you can simmer harira with lamb or beef. You can add chiles, red lentils in place of brown, ground cinnamon or cinnamon stick, or fresh ginger. Some cooks thicken the broth with a flour paste, others with egg and lemon juice (like Greek avgolemono). Louis lets the meat and legumes thicken the broth.

Its a bit of a project, but youll get something magnificent: a wholesome, nutritious, filling soup that youll enjoy making and eating.

Sheryl Julian can be reached at sheryl.julian@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @sheryljulian.

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Nothing is more comforting than steamy hot soup, especially this traditional Moroccan bowl - The Boston Globe

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

Theres a special place in my heart for Morocco. Its not just that every scene of the movie Casablanca is like an old friend. I grew up there. Memory can play tricks on us and I confess that my nostalgia for Casablanca may be idealized. But its there.

I remember the beaches where my father taught me how to swim. I remember the deserts where we would go on pilgrimages to the graves of holy Jewish sages. I remember our crowded Jewish neighborhood, where neighbors would talk to each other through windows.

I remember the kiosk across the street from where we lived, where an Arab man would make Moroccan donuts called sfhinz. I remember the magazine stand a block away from where my brother and I would bargain for cowboy magazines.

I remember the community oven where Jewish families would send their dafinas Moroccan cholent for cooking and then pick them up right before Shabbat. I remember those magical nights of Mimouna, the last night of Passover, when Arab grocers would help us gather flour, honey, dates and other ingredients for the traditional sweet tables.

And I remember something my parents always told us: The King of Morocco loves the Jews.

Every ethnic group has its mantras. For Moroccan Jews, that is on top of the list: The King loves the Jews. The King protects the Jews. The King protected us during World War II. And the King continues to protect us today.

Throughout instances of tension between Jews and Arabs in Morocco and they existed that protection stood the test of time, from one king to another. One of the kings top advisers is a Jew. Its a special connection.

Would this connection with Jews ever translate to a connection with the Jewish state? That was more complicated. A Jew in Morocco was much easier to accept than a Jew in the sovereign Jewish state of Israel. The conflict with the Palestinians only reinforced this distance.

That is why the announcement that Israel and Morocco have agreed to establish diplomatic relations is an extraordinary moment and means so much to me. I know it wasnt easy. In that part of the world, accepting the Jewish state is a risky move. But things are changing. Weve already seen it this year with the three other Arab countries in the Abraham Accords: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

These accords are a celebration of our common humanity.

When two countries say, We need each other, we can help each other, we can work together, that is humanity at work. If we go back far enough, we realize that Jews and Muslims share the same father, Abraham. We worship one God. We live in the same land. We love hospitality. We love music. We want to work and make a living. We love our children.

My friend Aomar Boum, a devout Moroccan Muslim, speaks to my mother not just in French but in Arabic. Her Shabbat food reminds him of the flavors from his childhood home in the south of Morocco. The bonds of culture can transcend the differences of religion.

The Judaism I grew up with in Casablanca was the Judaism of the sun, a Judaism inspired by mystical deserts and cozy neighborhoods. In our Jewish enclave, Jewish rituals and holidays kept us bonded to one another. We practiced our tradition in a Muslim land that respected our tradition. Its no surprise that after centuries, Arab culture came to color our melodies, our foods and our customs.

Moroccan Jews suffered after migrating to Israel in the early 1950s. There was plenty of discrimination against Sephardic Jews, who looked more like Arabs than European Jews. But Moroccan Jewry played a major role in the growth of Israel. Today, it has taken its proper place at the table with over 100 different nationalities populating the Jewish state.

I can imagine that Moroccan Israelis will gladly take advantage of the new direct flights between the two countries. They will have a chance to visit the land of their ancestors, where Judaism flourished and an Arab king watched over us.

We ought to light a candle tonight in honor of this victory for humanity. JN

David Suissa is editor-in-chief and publisher of Tribe Media Corp, and the Jewish Journal, where this piece first appeared.

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Another Chanukah miracle: Morocco and Israel | Opinion | jewishaz.com - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

The amazing dream and the tefila that was accepted * The remarkable Gaon, head of the Sanhedrin in the time of Napoleon * New from the House of Machon Yerushalayim

Only a few months ago, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Jewish communities throughout the world were hit hard, including the Jewish community in France, especially the community in Strasbourg.

One of the rabbis of the Sephardic community in the city, also known as one of its outstanding Torah scholars, contracted the virus and was hospitalized in serious condition. He lay on his sickbed intubated and respirated for several weeks, as the community fearfully poured out their hearts to Hashem to grant him a complete recovery.

One night, one of the Rabbis close followers had a dream in which an aged Jew with a shining countenance appeared to him, holding a sefer in his hand. According to the followers description, the elderly man was none other than Maran the Rosh Yeshiva, the Gaon HaRav Elazar Menachem Man Shach, ztzl who was holding the sefer, Yad David written by the Gaon Rabi David Zinzheim, ztzl. He instructed the Rabbis follower, Daven on his grave!

The following morning, when the dream was told over to the members of the community, there was a huge uproar, as the Rabbi was one of the heads of the Yad David Kollel in Strasbourg. Ten of the community members immediately got together and set out to the grave of Rabi David Zinzheim in Paristhere they cried out in prayer and pleaded fervently for the health of their Rabbi. And less than twenty-four hours after the tefilla, the miracle occurred: The Rabbi opened his eyes and, to everyones joy, began his recovery from the illness.

Rabi David Zinzheim ztzlwho was praised for his phenomenal knowledge of all the Rishonim and Achronim by the Chasam Sofer in his eulogy for him was appointed towards the end of his life by the ruler of France at the time, Napoleon Bonaparte, to serve as the head of the Sanhedrin that he initiated and founded. The greatness and wisdom of Rabeinu was well known, and it was not for naught that he was chosen by the French Emperor to head the honored Jewish body of authority: the Sanhedrin. And indeed, Rabeinu ruled strongly, displaying his tremendous genius and his extraordinary power as a posek, all as he stood unwaveringly in support of the people of his nation against those who wished to wrong them. Feeling obligated by the power and impact of his position, he moved to Paris, where he was appointed Chief Rabbi, thereby in essence, Rabbi of all French Jewry.

Years earlier, he completed his monumental work, Yad Davidhis chiddushim on all of Shas, which has been published by Machon Yerushalayim as a thirteen-volume luxury edition. Despite his many troubles and declining health during his leadership years, he invested all of his energy, knowledge and strength of memory in his ambitious and unique project: the great work that consists of over five hundred rules, arachim and chidushim from all areas of Torah and Shas, in the order of the aleph beis. He suffered both from troubling issues and from the lack of sifrei kodesh, therefore calling his work,Minchas Ani, Offering of the Poor, commenting, Because I composed it impoverished of Torah.

This great work has also appeared recently through Machon Yerushalayim as a large, impressive, three- volume set with an introduction that comprehensively depicts the history of the writer and an overview describing the amazing historical period in which he acted on behalf of French Jewry.

Today, during the days of the Torah Book Month, held by Machon Yerushalayim, you can find this work in book stores, alongside the hundreds of the well-known sefarim of the famed Machon. Older sefarim and newer ones, series that have become basic essentials in all Torah libraries throughout the world, such as the Shulchan Aruch Hashalem Friedman Edition, Tshuvos Harishonim, Otzar Mepharshei Hatorah Avraham Schonberger Edition, Minchas Chinush, Noda BeYehuda, The Responsa of the Maharam of Rottenbrg, Or Zarua, Shaar Hamelech, Shoel Umeishiv and many other sefarim are to be found in almost every Beis Medrash.

Having opened with the story about the amazing miracle that saved the Rabbi from Corona, we are compelled to mention the sefer, Neemnu MeodOrech Yamim that was published during the pandemic, containing hundreds of stories about the conduct of Gedolei Yisroel during periods of illness and epidemics throughout the generations. The sefer is part of the amazing series, appearing after the publication of the seven first sections about the Moadim.

Today, this tremendous abundance can be readily found, as mentioned, in all book stores at special sale prices, making it simple to bring the splendor of the written word to every home.

For purchasing and more information, please contact Machon Yerushalayim at 718-977-5315 or http://www.torabooks.com

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Saved from Corona by the Merit of the Gaon - Yeshiva World News

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

The miracle of Hanukkah occurred approximately 22 centuries ago on the 25th day of Kislev 3591, when the Hashmonaim, family of Kohanim, reconquered the Holy Temple from the Greeks, regained their freedom to practice sacred duties, and found pure oil that miraculously burned for eight days.

Observance of Hanukkah begins Our sages recognised the importance of this miracle and declared Hanukkah as "Days of Praise and Thanksgiving to the Almighty". Every Jewish household must celebrate by lighting the Hanukkiah (or Menorah) to symbolise the eight days during which the oil burned miraculously.

These days are to be celebrated with happiness and joy. While there is no obligation to make feasts or a commemorative dinner, it is fitting to sing traditional hymns - pizmonim and zemirot - during the meals on these days. Some homes prepare all kinds of pastries such as mamul, gheraibe, karabij, sambusak, (borekas), sufganiot (fried doughnuts), etc.

One may not engage in any activity one half an hour before Hanukkiah lighting time, such as eating a meal, studying, or any other activity that might distract one from lighting the Hanukkiah on time. It is customary for women to refrain from doing housework on the first and last day of Hanukkah, especially during Rosh Hodesh, including the first half hour after the Hanukkiah is lit. Some say that even men should refrain from doing any work during that time, but one may be lenient for men when it is necessary. Hanukkah presents and gifts are not a Sephardic custom.

The lighting ceremonyBoth men and women are obligated to light the Hanukkiah. It is the Sephardic custom that the father lights for the entire family. In the absence of the father, the mother should take the responsibility upon herself to light. Children even above the age of bar or bat mitzvah may participate by lighting the additional candles of a given night, while those under five years of age can only light the shamash (extra candle).

All candles must be placed in a straight line, and should be at the same height, except the "shamash", and the Hanukkiah should be placed in open view of as many people as possible, ideally on the left side of the door or a window. If the window is either not in the public view, or it is not possible to put it near the window, then the Hanukkiah should be placed on the dinner table, where the family members will see it. The Hanukkiah must be placed at least one foot off, and no more than 40 feet, above the floor.

The proper time to light is by nightfall, which is 15 minutes after sunset, with the whole family gathered together. The Hanukkiah should contain enough oil or wax to burn for 30 minutes after nightfall. Candles are placed from right to left, and lit from left to right. One candle and the shamash is lit on the first day, and a candle is added until the eighth night when all of them are lit. The lighting must take place where the Hanukkiah will remain; it is not to be moved once lit.

Prayers on HanukkahDuring the entire eight days of Hanukkah, one is obligated to recite the full Hallel with its blessings. "Yehi Shem" is recited in both Shahrit and Minha; Tahanun is omitted. The paragraph of "Al Hanissim" continuing with "Bime Matitya" is added during the Amida, in the blessing of "Modim", as well as in the Birkat Hamazon in the blessing of "Nodeh". If Al Hanissim is omitted one does not go back.

Hakham Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie, M.D. is the Senior Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates.

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The enlightening tale behind the festival of Hanukkah - Khaleej Times

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

The holiday of Hanukkah (which began this year on Thursday night, December 10th) looms in the popular imagination as a quirky sort of "Jewish Christmas," an overlapping occasion for gift-giving, gluttony andpandemics permittingjoyous family get-togethers. Though the two seasonal celebrations do share some common elements, a more authentic understanding of the eight-day Hebraic festival reveals dramatically distinctive themes.

Yes, both holidays commemorate events in the vicinity of Jerusalem: in the case of Hanukkah, the rededication of the Temple in 165 BC and for Christmas, of course, the birth of Jesus more than 150 years later. Both festivals emphasize the gift of light in the darkest of earthly seasons, as the multi-colored bulbs of modern Christmas decorations and the flickering candles of the traditional Hanukkah menorah readily attest. Christians indulge in celebratory food and drink, like the plum pudding glorified in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, or modern candy canes and egg nog, while Jews famously gorge themselves on tasty fried potato pancakes (latkes) or, in the Sephardic tradition, jelly donuts known as sufganiyot. Most strikingly, the two holidays provide an occasion for lavish gift-giving, though in both religious traditions (and especially in the case of Hanukkah) that's a modern innovation rather than an ancient, sacred tradition.

While the story of Christmas is straightforward and easy for anyone even vaguely aware of the life and ministry of Jesus to comprehend, Hanukkah's origins tell a complicated tale that's often distorted by well-meaning ecumenicists who seek to make the Jewish festivities more Christmas compatible. It's flat-out wrong, for instance, to describe Hanukkah as a celebration of religious liberty or tolerance: the Maccabees, who liberated and purified the Temple in the second century before Jesus, identified as rigorously orthodox, uncompromising upholders of Jewish law and sacred tradition. They began their epic struggle against fellow Jews who had taken on an alien, Hellenistic worldview in hopes of assimilating into the sophisticated Greek civilization that surrounded them. Only later did the Syro-Greek kingdom of Antiochus take sides in the civil war and seek to suppress basic Jewish rites like Sabbath observance and circumcision.

In prayer books over the last two millennia, only one passage specifically refers to the miraculous victory the Maccabees won in protecting their Mosaic law from the "modernizing" influence of faithless reformers. The Al HaNissim formulation ("On the Miracles"), inserted in daily prayers each day of Hanukkah, thanks God for delivering "the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the evil into the hands of the righteous, the sinners into the hands of those who engaged in Your Torah; You made yourself a great and holy name in Your world, and for Your people Israel You made great redemption and salvation as this very day."

In other words, the Hanukkah holiday provides an element almost entirely missing from the Christmas story: plentiful bad guys, bent on destroying the Jewish people (part of a long, still-flourishing tradition devoted to that purpose). The means of destruction remembered in the "festival of lights" involved the pollution of the holy Temple with darkness of idol worship of alien gods.

This more complete comprehension of Hanukkah (the Hebrew name for the holiday means "dedication," not "liberation") makes it less kid friendly and, alas, poorly equipped to compete with the charms of Christmas, especially with enchanting modern accretions like Santa Claus and lovingly decorated fir trees. There's also the inconvenient fact that, counterposed to the most important and emotionally resonant Christian holiday, Hanukkah ranks as a minor festival, with none of the restrictions on work that characterize the Sabbath and other holidays specified in the Torahthe Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament, canonized several centuries before the events that Hanukkah honors.

Growing up in a proudly Jewish home at a time that our city (San Diego) boasted only a tiny community of co-religionists that represented much less than 1 percent of the population, I used to fret over the fact that Hanukkah offered such a feeble alternative to the sentimental, ubiquitous allure of the Christmas traditions that all my Christian friends enjoyed. I remember speaking with my late mother about how much easier our Jewish commitment would seem if, through some calendrical manipulation, a more formidable holidaylike Passover, season of our liberation, for instancecould serve as the Judaic alternative to all the Yuletide magnificence. Sleigh bells, nutcrackers, reindeer in the sky, nativity scenes and soul-stirring entertainments like It's A Wonderful Life have, alas, no Hanukkah equivalents.

Today, however, I've come to recognize the appropriate counter-messaging built deep into the Hanukkah holiday's design, and appreciate the argument that every aspect of our tradition ultimately serves some permanent purpose. Hanukkah is not meant to be a universal holidayit's unquestionably particularist, celebrating the stubborn, age-old insistence of our separate people to maintain its distinctive, and occasionally peculiar, ways and customs. For children as well as for adults, the underlying theme involves the courage to be different, to resist ephemeral trends and fashions, no matter how appealing.

The Al HaNissim prayer also thanks God for delivering "the many into the hands of the few," announcing that Judaism's survival doesn't depend on global popularity contests. In the same way, the "miracle of the oil" emphasizes that the Jewish insistence on standing aside from the inclinations of the moment (Hellenism, anyone?), doesn't doom us to long-term irrelevance. The small cruse of oil with which the Maccabean rebels rekindled the great candelabrum at the rededicated Temple lasted for a startling eight days; so too the handful of Jewish people dedicated to our timeless faith have illogically outlasted all the more numerous and powerful nations surrounding us.

Today, with a reborn Israel representing an even more obvious miracle than eight days of unexpected light, and with an approaching deliverance from the COVID-19 nightmare providing Jews, Christians and all humanity with special reason for seasonal gratitude, may we celebrate both December holidays with authenticity and appreciation, welcoming their shared theme of promised light after long darkness.

Michael Medved hosts a daily radio talk show and is author, most recently, of God's Hand On America: Divine Providence in the Modern Era. Follow him on Twitter: @MedvedSHOW

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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The Real Hanukkah: More than a 'Jewish Christmas' | Opinion - Newsweek

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

Love, Lights, Hanukkah is another failure of the Hallmark Channels trying efforts to incorporate Chanukah into its Xmas movies.

The gist of the film is that a restaurant owner, Christina (Mia Kirshner), takes a DNA test and learns shes 50% Jewish. If the filmmakers knew anything about such tests, they would know that the proper phrasing would likely be Ashkenazi or Sephardic. Instead, they just go with Jewish because lets face itHallmark doesnt know what theyre doing with Chanukah films and it shows.

Christina has taken over the restaurant following the death of her adopted mother. After taking a DNA test and finding out the results, she hears from Becky Berman (Advah Soudack) about meeting up. All we know at this time is that they are somehow related. Becky invites Christina over for brunch where Ruth (Marilu Henner) realizes it is the daughter she gave up for adoption after finding out she was pregnant at 19 years old. Becky and Christina have so much in common. She has taken over running Lennys Sports Deli following the death of her father. Becky has a brother, Scott (David Kaye). Family friend David Singer (Ben Savage) grew up nearby and is also a food critic. He gave a negative review to Christinas restaurant.

Predictably, Christina decides to rush into all of these Jewish traditions while holding onto her own traditions as a Christian-raised woman. Even if she is halachically Jewish at birth, the film only makes me angrier. Someone can correct me if Im wrong but if her adopted mother ever baptized her, it would mean having to undergo the entire conversion process, which is an exhaustive process in and of itself. (A reader did correct me on this: no conversion is necessary.)

Nothing against my friends who are the products of interfaith marriages or are in one themselves but some of us just want a Chanukah film that has nothing to do with the other holidays at this time of year. Outside of maybe Full Court Miracle and Eight Crazy Nights, they just dont exist. Give me a Chanukah film with Rachel Bloom or Seth Rogen! This isnt so hard, studio executives. But of course, Hollywood has a sad history of not having their Jewish actors appear in Jewish roles. Its kind of a shame, really, but thisalasis another story. While non-Jewish actors still portray Jewish characters or real Jewish lives on screen, I reserve the right to be critical when they cant capture the mannerisms or look correctly. DO BETTER!

Listen, I would have loved a film about someone meeting her birth mother and not have Xmas thrown into the mix. This is without a doubt the biggest fault of Love, Lights, Hanukkah. Why couldnt her adoptive mother have been Jewish?!? Mia and Ben Savage are Jewish in real life so I was hopeful about the film when I saw the casting. Sure enough, Hallmark found a way to screw us over again. To my knowledge, Marilu Henner is not Jewish and yet Ruth is the most obsessed with Chanukah, calling it her favorite time of year. If Hallmark did their research, they might have made a film about the fall chagim or Pesach instead. If youre going to make a Chanukah movie, maybe gear it more toward Chanukah, less gentile-fying it, and MAYBE NOT CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE OUR RELIGION FOR YOUR BENEFIT.

I can think of a better film that manages to touch on adoption in a positive manner. The Bruk family of Montana, for instance. Their story is told in The Rabbi Goes West. For a limited time, you can currently watch the film through the Gene Siskel Film Center. This is just one story. There are Jewish agencies that do focus on Jewish adoptions.

I had low expectations going into the film because I saw the dreck that Hallmark came up with last year. These are not Chanukah movies and while I keep hoping they get better, Hallmark just doesnt learn. Its just another example of: how to get Jewish people watching holiday movies on Hallmark. Listen, there are so many potential ideas out there for Chanukah or, you know, THE OTHER JEWISH HOLIDAYS THAT ACTUALLY DO GET MENTIONED IN THE TORAH. The only reason why Chanukah gets so billed up in December is because people think its a major holiday because it falls in December. No, the major Jewish holidays fall in the month of Tishrei. Plus, the two spring and summer holidays, Pesach and Shavuot. Change seasons for the Southern Hemisphere. And I still havent touched on the things they did wrong!

Heres how billed up Chanukah is: I once had a co-worker ask me why I was working on Chanukah. They knew I took the days off for the Jewish holidays in the fall (because those are required by the Torah). I had to explain how Chanukah is a minor holiday where we are allowed to work and use our electronics. Media that helped to raise up Chanukah in such a level, this is all your fault. Not to get all Oliver Queen on you but you have failed our religion! The only reason gift-giving started was so that children wouldnt feel left out during this time of year!

Lets talk about wreaths. Jewish homes do not have wreaths. These are a Christian custom to celebrate the Advent, which also represents the second coming. Just so you know, Jews are still waiting for Moshiach to come. This is an extreme failure in production design and every Jew in the cast had a responsibility to speak up the very moment they saw this. The moment I saw a wreath on the Jewish home made me so angry that I didnt even bother to look for a mezzuzah on the door. Come on! This is just another example of trying to gentile-fy Jews so that their homes wont stand out on a street full of homes with Xmas lights. Its beyond offensive. DO BETTER!

Moving onto candle lighting. Jewish custom for Shabbas and Yom Tov is to light before reciting the blessing. The Chanukah custom is to light AFTER the blessings. It is not customary to light after the first blessing on night one. You have to wait until after reciting the third blessing before lighting. On all other nights, you must wait until after completing the second blessing before lighting. Whereas this film completely butchers the candle lighting altogether. DO BETTER!

Love, Lights, Hanukkah is another shanda for the Hallmark Channel as they continue to put Xmas into Chanukah.

DIRECTOR: Mark JeanSCREENWRITER: Karen BergerCAST: Mia Kirshner, Ben Savage, and Marilu Henner

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Love, Lights, Hanukkah: A Shanda For Hallmark - Solzy at the Movies

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccos main Islamist groups on Saturday rejected Rabats plan to normalize ties with Israel following a deal brokered by the United States.

The religious branch of the co-ruling PJD party, the Unity and Reform Movement (MUR), said in a statement the move was deplorable and denounced all attempts at normalisation and the Zionist infiltration. The Islamist PJD party was more nuanced, endorsing King Mohammed VIs actions support for the Palestinian cause while reiterating the partys firm position against the Zionist occupation.

Unlike its government coalition partners who backed the deal, it took the PJD two days to react after disagreements emerged between the partys senior leadership, according to a source close to the matter.

A core element of the deal brokered by President Donald Trump was U.S. recognition of Moroccos claim to sovereignty over the Western Sahara. A decades-old territorial dispute has pitted Morocco against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks to establish an independent state.

The United States made an important proclamation that stresses Moroccos sovereignty over its southern provinces and opens new horizons for strengthening Moroccos position in international circles. It also further isolates the adversaries of our territorial integrity, the Islamist party said in a statement.

King Mohammed VI has the last say over major diplomatic decisions.On Friday, Moroccos outlawed Adl Wal Ihssane, one of the largest opposition groups in the country, said normalisation deals a stab from the back to the Palestinian cause.

Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Daniel Wallis

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Moroccan Islamist groups reject normalizing ties with Israel - Reuters

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

JTA At a panel on anti-Semitism, four speakers known for their outspoken criticism of Israel including Rep. Rashida Tlaib attempt to make clear that they themselves do not hate Jews.

Tell everybody, I dont hate you. I absolutely love you, said Tlaib, a Palestinian-American and Democrat from Michigan who supports the movement to boycott Israel. If anybody comes through my doors or through any forum to try to push anti-Semitism forward you will hear me being loud with my bullhorn to tell them to get the hell out.

The panel, hosted by the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, had sparked substantial criticism from Jewish commentators and pro-Israel activists when it was announced both for giving anti-Zionists a platform to discuss anti-Semitism, and for being majority non-Jewish. Bari Weiss, the former New York Times opinion writer and editor, tweeted, So dismantling antisemitism is actually about dismantling *accusations* of antisemitism.

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An all-Jewish panel with a similar title, called Dismantling Anti-Semitism: Jews Talk Justice, is being hosted the night after the Jewish Voice for Peace event by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement, a coalition of nearly 300 groups, most of them Jewish.

Tuesdays Jewish Voice for Peace panel included, along with Tlaib, Marc Lamont Hill, a Temple University professor; Barbara Ransby, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor; and Peter Beinart, a Jewish essayist known for his writing on Israel.

Illustrative: Rep. Rashida Tlaib (right) attends a Shabbat gathering in a Detroit park on August 16, 2019, arranged by Jewish Voice For Peace Action to show the freshman congresswoman support, after a planned visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank by Tlaib and colleague Ilhan Omar was barred by Israel. (JVP, via JTA)

Hill and Ransby have also endorsed the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel, known as BDS. Beinart recently made waves for an essay calling for a single, binational Israeli-Palestinian state in place of Israel, a stark departure from his decade of advocacy for a two-state solution. Tlaib supports a binational state as well.

The panel, called Dismantling Antisemitism, Winning Justice, was moderated by Rabbi Alissa Wise, a longtime Jewish Voice for Peace leader.

The panelists on Tuesday all rejected the notion that pro-Palestinian advocacy, including support for an Israel boycott, constitutes anti-Semitism. They all said that anti-Semitism comes predominantly from the right, and agreed that it is best fought by allying with other oppressed groups in solidarity.

Illustrative: Jewish Voice for Peace members during a July 19, 2014 anti-Israel gathering in Boston. JVP has funded and advised Students for Justice in Palestine chapters for many years. (Elan Kawesch/The Times of Israel)

Palestinians that advocate for Palestinian rights are not the enemy, those of us who advocate for BDS as a strategy to advance the rights of disenfranchised and exiled Palestinians are not the enemy, Ransby said. The enemy is the kind of people who go into a synagogue in California, north of San Diego, and open fire to do deadly damage, a reference to the synagogue shooting in Poway, California, last year.

In a fundamental way, of course, we want a more just world for everyone, she added later.

Palestinians that advocate for Palestinian rights are not the enemy

The event included plenty of criticism of Israels treatment of Palestinians. At one point, Ransby likened the dilemma over criticizing Israel while fighting anti-Semitism to the dilemma African-American leftist activists faced over whether to criticize Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean anti-colonial activist who became a dictator.

My side of the debate argued that, no that we had an obligation to speak out because we had understood the struggle that he came out of, she said. Obviously there are historical differences, but I think of that in terms of how we view the silencing around discussing Israel and who has a right to critique and who has an obligation to critique.

The panel did include acknowledgement of anti-Semitism on the left. Hill, who was unable to attend the live event because of his fathers death but shared prerecorded responses, praised Jews who had worked with him in activist movements and said people need to call out anti-Semitism in their own ideological camps.

There were moments when I would be in movements or be in meetings, Id be reading a book or pamphlet or literature and I would hear the way Jewish people were being smeared

I not only became aware of anti-Semitism as an idea but I began to hear it and see it in practice, he said. There were moments when I would be in movements or be in meetings, Id be reading a book or pamphlet or literature and I would hear the way Jewish people were being smeared.

He added, I became keenly aware of how dangerous it is if we do nothing to stand in solidarity against anti-Semitism, to stand in solidarity with Jewish people as they fight for freedom, safety, dignity and self-determination.

Illustrative: Author Peter Beinart waits to speak at an event November 14, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/ David Goldman/File)

Beinart, who has argued for years that the Jewish community needs to welcome anti-Zionists, said he believes that, by the same token, Zionist Jews should not be excluded from progressive spaces. He also spoke of the need to combat anti-Semitism on the left.

Its very important that as we fight against the greatest anti-Semitic threat, which is the threat from the white nationalist right, that we also show a great concern to make sure that progressive movements are not tainted by anti-Semitism, he said.

He later defended the credentials of his co-panelists, who have all been accused of anti-Semitism for their views on Israel.

I know that there are probably a lot of people who are watching this who came to watch it because they dont like the folks on this panel, he said. Listen to the folks on this panel and what they said. Do they sound like people who hate Jews to you? Trust your gut.

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At US Jewish anti-Zionist group anti-Semitism panel, speakers say they love Jews - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

This weekend, it was reported that the official Roald Dahl website was updated with an apology for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahls statements. Although Dahl is best known for his delightful childrens stories of giant peaches and chocolate factories, the authors own head was filled with visions of misanthropic Jews controlling society.

There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, Dahl once said. Maybe its a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. Elsewhere he spoke of powerful American Jewish bankers and a U.S. government that is utterly dominated by the great Jewish financial institutions. Newspapers withheld news, he said, because they are primarily Jewish-owned.

Dahl was not ashamed of his antisemitism; the opposite, in fact. He was proud of it, for a very specific reason: He openly linked his Jew hatred to a hostile view of the Jewish state. Im certainly anti-Israeli, he said in 1990, and Ive become antisemitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism.

And its here that Dahls confession offers a lesson for us today, who frequently encounter Israels most fervent opponents insisting that their anti-Zionism is so unrelated to antisemitism. Those who suggest otherwise, were always told, act in bad faith to silence criticism of Israel.

Its this ugly victim blaming that the ghost of Roald Dahls antisemitism outs the lie to, like one of the grumbling antagonists of his own books. For Dahl exposed the truth, that anti-Zionism today is tightly entangled with antisemitism, with the former increasingly used to mainstream the latter.

Its something that civil rights leaders knew back in 1968. That was the year Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rebuked a student who attacked Zionists. When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews, Dr. King said.

Countless examples support his contention. Consider David Dukes stumble during a 2006 appearance on CNN. Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, was making his pitch about the malign influence of a certain demographic when he caught himself midway through the word Jew and changed course.

I know one thing, Duke said in response to a question about the Arab-Israeli conflict. You cant impose a solution from the Je the from the Zionist domination of American foreign policy. And then he gave up. Pearl and people like Wolfowitz, Feith, Wurmser, Kristol, Abrams we can go on and on, he said. It sounds like a Jewish wedding. They have set American policy.

Then, as now, Zionist meant Jew.

Consider, too, the man distributing anti-Israel pamphlets in Amsterdam who told a passing tourist, They lie, the whole world knows what the Jew is doing uh, what the Zionist [is] doing.

And the student who posted on social media God curse the Jews in Arabic, only to later insist it was a comment about Zionists. And the Twitter user who wrote, Fkn Jews Theyre parasites, but upon learning that his interlocutor was Jewish insisted, I meant Zionist Jews. Slip of the tongue.

Call it Jew er, Zionist hatred.

But as some fail in their herculean struggle to substitute Zionist for Jew, others take a more relaxed approach, swinging freely between the two terms. The founder of the American Nazi Party, for example, called for the execution of treasonous Jews while simultaneously railing against the Zionist conspiracy.

The oldest hatred crosses political and geographical borders, often accompanied by its newer euphemism. In Paris, for example, a Yellow Vest protester accosted philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, shouting both Damn Zionist! and, tellingly, Dirty race!

To a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, Zionists arent a race but rather a religion. Zionists do believe that theyre chosen people and have a sense of superiority over every non-Jewish person, she wrote in a pro-Palestinian Facebook group. They also believe, just like other two monotheistic religions, in life after death. A year earlier, the activist posted to the same group an article entitled, unironically, Why the Jews Are the Unrepentant Destroyers of All Thats Decent on the Planet.

Just as the slur about chosen Zionists who look down their (large) noses at non-Jews refreshes an old antisemitic trope with anti-Zionist veneer, so too have other staples of antisemitism been modernized. In simpler times, Jews controlled the money and the news. Now, boxing star Tyson Fury points to the Zionist, Jewish people who own all the banks, all the papers all the TV stations. The Jews killed Jesus? French comedian Dieudonn Mbala Mbala insists instead that Zionism killed Christ. While the old guard may still insist Jewish puppetmasters control global affairs, a Labour Party member claims Rothschilds Zionists (sic) runs world governments.

When you understand what Martin Luther King did about Zionist meaning Jew, it all starts to make sense. The administrator of a Facebook group who praised Hitler for having famously identified the evil of Zionism and showing the world how to eradicate it isnt confused about the Nazis. Shes one of them. (Her Facebook group, of course, was named Anti-Zionist.)

It is not hard to understand why those who dislike Jews disguise antisemitism as anti-Zionism. People arent sensitized to the latter prejudice. To speak in terms of Zionism instead of Judaism gives bigotry plausible deniability, spares the speaker potential rebuke, and ensures more people are receptive to their message. Its basic public relations.

The problem is not just that anti-Zionism is antisemitic in its hostility to the ideas that Jews should be safe. Anti-Zionism has been wielded as a cudgel against Jews living in the Diaspora. In 1968, over 10,000 Jews were driven from Poland under the flimsy pretext of anti-Zionism. And the Soviet Union was infamous for using anti-Zionism as a pretext to further oppress Jews.

It may be possible to promote anti-Zionism without engaging in antisemitism. Some Haredi Jews believe a Jewish state should only be ushered in by the Messiah. Utopian anti-nationalists might imagine a world with no countries, applying this dream equally to all states. Palestinians may understandably feel wronged by the Jewish state.

But those tempted to absolve such anti-Zionists for the harm they advocate should ask themselves whether they believe dogma, grievance, or self-interest also frees someone of responsibility for policies that are in effect anti-Black, anti-Muslim, or anti-gay.

Those concerned with Jewish well-being should, like Dr. King, be on alert to attacks against Zionists and Zionism. After all, its not only Dahl, Duke, and Dieudonn who use the Z word to conceal bigotry. The New York Times recently characterized Amin al-Husseini, a Palestinian leader who worked intimately with the Third Reich to kill the Jews wherever you find them, as having collaborated with the Nazis against Zionism.

Gilead Ini is a senior research analyst at CAMERA.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

The real lesson in the Roald Dahl apology? Anti-Zionists hate Jews.

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Posted By admin on December 16, 2020

THIS remarkable period of history has seen yet another country make the decision not to hold back its own people in servitude to a failed ideology of the past.

That is how Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler reacted to news last week that Israel and Morocco have agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, marking the fourth ArabIsrael agreement in four months.

Praising King Mohammed of Moroccos historic decision to make peace, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the relationship of the peoples of both countries has long been characterised by sympathy, respect, fondness and love.

King Mohammed VI said in a statement that Morocco would take three steps in the near future to advance relations.

In #breaking news overnight, Israel and Morocco have agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, US President Donald

Posted by The Australian Jewish News onThursday, December 10, 2020

First, there would be moves to facilitate direct flights to transport Jews of Moroccan origin and Israeli tourists to and from Morocco.

Second, the North African nation will seek to resume official bilateral ties and diplomatic relations [with Israel] as soon as possible.

Morocco will also seek to develop innovative relationships in the economic and technological fields.

As part of this goal, there will be work on renewing liaison offices in the two countries, as was the case in the past for many years, until 2002, King Mohammed said.

In a statement last Friday, Leibler said Morocco has a special place in the hearts of Israelis and Jews around the world.

For 2000 years, it has hosted a thriving Jewish population. Morocco protected its Jewish population when under Nazi occupation, unlike so many European countries. After 1948, many Moroccan Jews came to call Israel home. The Moroccan influence in Israeli culture is profound and celebrated, he said.

Hailing the announcement as wonderful news and noting Morocco is the sixth Arab nation to extend peace to the Jewish state, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin stated, We are witnessing the end of the wider ArabIsraeli conflict and the fulfilment of the Zionist vision of Israel living at peace with the peoples of the region.

Adding, The cultural ties between Israel and Morocco are already strong, with so many Jewish people claiming Moroccan ancestry, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said, Israel and Morocco have also had many reasons to work together strategically in the past. But this latest announcement brings the relationship into the open to the betterment of both countries.

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