Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 2, 2020

When President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, he called her the Thurgood Marshall of gender equality law. President Trump, whom she disliked, described her as an amazing woman who led an amazing life. She was the first woman to receive tenure at Columbia Law School and the first Jewish woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Prime Minister Netanyahu eulogized her as one of the great judicial leaders of our time [s]he was proud of her Jewish heritage and the Jewish people will always be proud of her. In a religious freedom case she sided, albeit unsuccessfully, with an Orthodox Jew who was prohibited from wearing a kippah while serving in the Air Force. But one of her judicial decisions, involving an appeal by another Jew, exacerbated a division within the Jewish community between those who openly objected to the defendants original sentence and those who remained conspicuously silent.

In 1983, acting on the instruction of President Reagan, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, an Episcopalian whose paternal grandparents had left Judaism, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Israel establishing strategic military and intelligence cooperation. Jonathan Pollard, a Jewish American analyst of Naval Intelligence, realized in 1984 that sensitive information about terrorism, Syrian deployments and Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was being withheld from the materials provided to Israel. He raised the issue with his superiors several times, to no avail. Convinced that the absence of these materials reflected Department of Defense policy, he offered his services to Israeli intelligence.

For eighteen months Pollard gave the Israelis classified information about every country from Morocco to Pakistan, including Syrian and Iraqi nuclear and biological research, Libyan air defense systems, Iranian radar stations and Soviet-built air-to-air missile systems, as well as satellite photos of PLO installations in Tunisia (bombed by the Israeli Air Force shortly afterwards). The CIAs damage assessment, declassified twenty-five years later, did not claim that the intelligence provided by Pollard was transferred by Israel to another country. No American agent, soldier, official or civilian was harmed or compromised.

Pollard was called in for questioning by the FBI in late 1985. His main Israeli handler, later Minister Rafi Eitan, stated that he then gave him an agreed upon sign to execute a prearranged escape plan, but Pollard wandered around for three days and finally showed up (with his wife) at the Israeli embassy. No ambassador would have given him diplomatic shelter. I immediately said throw him out, Eitan recounted, and the Pollards were arrested.

Pollard agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government (in this case, an allied country), waive his right to trial by jury (which saved the government time, money and the discussion of sensitive information), cooperate with damage assessment, submit to polygraph examinations and criminal interviews. In return, in addition to not charging him with other crimes and entering into a plea agreement with his wife (which would otherwise not have been offered), the prosecution made three crucial promises: (1) to bring to the Courts attention the nature, extent and value of his cooperation and testimony, representing that it was of considerable value to the governments investigation, damage assessment and enforcement of espionage laws, (2) to recommend a substantial period of incarceration (but not the maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the usual sentence for this offense being no more than 6-8 years and actual jail time averaging 2-4), and (3) to limit its allocution to the facts and circumstances of Pollards crimes.

The prosecution, nevertheless, submitted to the Court a classified and unchallengeable 46-page memorandum from Weinberger cataloguing the substantial and irrevocable damage inflicted. The day before sentencing it submitted his unclassified supplemental declaration asserting that even in a year in which several spies for the United States main adversaries had been apprehended, it was difficult to conceive of greater harm to national security, and that Pollards punishment should reflect the perfidy of his actions [and] the magnitude of the treason committed.

As pointed out by a non-Jew (Robert Blewett, who filed an amicus curiae in Pollards appeal), Weinbergers use of the word perfidy suggest[ed] a conscious or subconscious acquiescence to discredited and recently excised church liturgy that spoke of the perfidious Jew an ugly stereotype drawn from medieval theological anti-Semitism. Furthermore, the Constitution reads that Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. It may carry the death penalty but clearly does not apply to non-enemies. The nations top national security official in effect suggested to the sentencing judge the governments interest in seeing the maximum sentence imposed, in violation of the plea agreement.

Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment the same punishment as received by John Walker, Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames, who betrayed the US by selling top secrets to the Soviets, endangered US security and claimed the lives of many US agents. Mrs. Pollard was sentenced to five years, released on parole after three years and made aliyah.

Mr. Pollards lawyer, unexplainably, did not appeal his conviction within the ten-day statutory limit. He later made an unsuccessful motion to have the sentence reduced and, again, did not appeal when the motion was denied. In 1990, having served the intervening time in prison, Pollard sought the Courts approval to withdraw his guilty plea something the district judge denied without holding a hearing.

In 1991, Pollards new attorneys appealed the disproportionate sentence to the DC Court of Appeals before judges Ruth Ginsburg, Laurence Silberman and Stephen Williams. The appeal was denied by a vote of 2 to 1.

Ginsburg and Silberman sided against Pollard in a highly technical and convoluted decision that mentioned our dissenting colleague five times, suggesting that the panel had debated intensely. While admitting that [i]t does appear that the government was engaged in rather hard-nosed dealings, the key point made by the majority was that Pollard had waited too long.

In his riveting dissent, Williams characterized the decision as a fundamental miscarriage of justice. He spoke to the heart of the issue the breach of faith in the execution of the plea bargain: The government complied in spirit with none of its promises; with the third, it complied in neither letter nor spirit.

Though not wish[ing] to be too critical of the government, Williams closed his opinion with Macbeths curse against the witches whose promises and their sophistical interpretations of them [had] led him to doom: And be these juggling fiends no more believd, / That palter with us in a double sense; / That keep the word of promise to our ear, / And break it to our hope. The contrast between the cold analysis of the judges that sided with the government and the hot dissent of the judge that sided with Pollard couldnt have been more striking.

Mindful of Ginsburgs appointment to the Supreme Court a year later, Pollards father wrote a bitter letter to the editor quoting a statement that he attributed to Professor Ruth Wisse: Modern Jewish courtiers have made a specialty of sacrificing their fellow Jews for the sake of their own advancement or to win the approval of other people.

The three judges went on to long illustrious careers on the bench. Williams died of COVID-19 in August. Ginsburg survived metastatic colon cancer but succumbed to pancreatic cancer on Rosh Hashanah eve. Silberman is currently a Senior Judge in the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Weinberger was indicted on five felony charges related to the Iran-contra affair, including perjury and obstruction of Congress, but was pardoned by President Bush (Senior) before the trial. He omitted his involvement in the Pollard case from his memoirs. Questioned by a journalist about the omission, Weinberger nonchalantly responded, because it was a very minor matter made far bigger than its actual importance. Asked why so, he replied I dont know why it just was.

As for Pollard, the Supreme Court refused to hear his case. All requests of clemency by Israeli prime ministers to different US presidents were denied. The only American to ever receive a life sentence for spying for an ally, he became eligible for parole and was released after thirty years, many of which he spent in solitary confinement. His parole conditions included not owning a smartphone, unfettered monitoring and inspection of his computers and those of any employer and a requirement to remain in the United States (and thus not make aliyah as he intended) for five years. These terms are due to expire next month but could be extended. Stay tuned.

Continued here:

When Ruth Bader Ginsburg got it wrong on Pollard - The Times of Israel

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on When Ruth Bader Ginsburg got it wrong on Pollard – The Times of Israel
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

Tamar Elisheva Jonas, from the Bronx, and Elliot J. Shalom, from Brooklyn, each moved to Israel she in 2015 and he in 2017 and then met in May 2019 on a blind date in Tel Aviv.

The intention from the first date was it could potentially lead to marriage, said Mr. Shalom, 25, who goes by Eliyahu, and is one of six children from an Orthodox Jewish Syrian family, while she is one of nine from an Orthodox Ashkenazi family.

Phrases my mom uses are not in Yiddish, but Arabic, he said, explaining their different customs, and our food is a little spicier.

Ms. Jonas, 23, did not have much to go on from his first call.

He was very nervous, she recalled, but her eyes lit up when he texted her suggesting they go to Topya, her favorite frozen yogurt place in Tel Aviv.

Ms. Jonas, who is pursuing a degree in social work at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, took time off until recently to work in avocado fields and olive groves at moshavim, agricultural settlements in the Upper Galilee. From 2016 to 2018 she served in the Israeli National Service working with at-risk youth in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

I was a huge fan of Tamar, said Mr. Shalom, who is the senior project manager of digital technology at IDW Publishing, a publisher of comic books and graphic novels based in San Diego. From April 2017 to October 2018 he was a paratrooper in the Israeli army, and graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College. She wasnt afraid to challenge me.

It wasnt until the fourth date that he struck a chord with her.

He told me how he wanted to change the world, she said, as they sat in Sarona Park in Tel Aviv over tea with cookies. We both want to change the world.

In July he sent her roses and a love note while she visited her parents in the Bronx before spending a few weeks as a division head at Camp Moshava in Honesdale, Pa., which inspired her move to Israel after high school.

After she returned to Israel he supported her decision to move up north to pursue her farming dream.

In December she began having stomach problems, which she attributed to too much junk food, not enough water and working hard. But, during a week off, on April 28, Israel Memorial Day, she went for a colonoscopy in Jerusalem, and was diagnosed with stage three colorectal cancer.

It was shocking, she said. It was a really, really hard time. Eliyahu was there every minute. We havent been apart for more than 24 hours.

After her parents strongly suggested she return to New York for treatment, they packed their bags with one-way tickets. Her first of six cycles of chemotherapy began at Sloan Kettering on May 26, to be followed by surgery in October.

Our plan was the minute Im healthy and out of surgery we would go back to Israel, she said, but to be safe she was told to undergo a second surgery, and stay until Spring. We very much decided to get engaged and married in three weeks, she said, allowing them, as Orthodox Jews, to finally touch. We never held hands, and I knew after surgery I wanted to be as close to him as possible.

They were engaged Aug. 19, and married Sept. 10 outside Temple Emanu-El in Closter, N.J., legally by Rabbi Jonathan I. Rosenblatt, after a religious ceremony by Rabbi Jack Savdie, with about 220 guests in an open-sided tent and more than 100 via livestream.

This was not our fairy-tale story, we both cried a lot, Ms. Jonas said, noting they both had wanted to marry in Israel. We love New York, but we belong in Israel, she added. Were hopeful and appreciative and have each other to get through this.

Ms. Jonas added that besides Mr. Shalom, her faith, and the prayers of her family and the international community keep her strong.

Im excited to be spending the rest of my life with the most incredible woman in the whole world, Mr. Shalom said.

Read more:

Awaiting a Return to Israel, Hand in Hand - The New York Times

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Awaiting a Return to Israel, Hand in Hand – The New York Times
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

Breast cancer and other medical illnesses remain a risk for women even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, due to concerns about the virus, many women have postponed their annual screening mammograms, increasing their risk of undetected cancer. East Georgia Regional Medical Center is encouraging women who may have delayed their mammograms to schedule the screening now, because when breast cancer is detected early, life-saving treatment can begin immediately.

When screenings are delayed, diagnosis is delayed, and treatment is delayed, said Dr. Alan Scott, Chief of Staff at East Georgia Regional Medical Center. But the best chance for survival of any cancer is early diagnosis and treatment. Women should not be afraid to get a mammogram. Many stringent safety precautions have been put in place in our imaging center to protect everyone from COVID-19, so as a doctor, Im telling you if youve put off a mammogram, dont put it off any longer.

Nearly all breast cancers can be treated successfully if found early. The most effective way to detect breast cancer at an early, treatable stage is to have yearly mammograms. Since mammography became widely used in the 1980s, the U.S. breast cancer death rate in women has dropped 43 percent.

Here in Georgia, female breast cancer was the most frequently occurring cancer site for women in 2017, the most recent year data is available.

The American College of Radiology and Society of Breast Imaging recommend that all women, particularly African American and those of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, should have a risk assessment at age 30 to see if a screening earlier than age 40 is needed. Women who were previously diagnosed with breast cancer are recommended to be screened with magnetic resonance imaging, an MRI.

For women of average risk, the ACR and SBI recommend annual mammograms starting at age 40, with no upper age limit as long as the woman is in good health. A screening mammogram can help detect breast cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages.

For the protection of patients and staff, East Georgia Regional Medical Center and Statesboro Imaging Center are pre-screening all patients for any COVID-19 symptoms, limiting appointments to maintain social distancing, requiring staff and patients all wear masks, and cleaning commonly touched surfaces with greater frequency.

Mammograms can be scheduled by calling (912) 764-5656.

See more here:

EGRMC: Breast Cancer Screenings Should Not Be Delayed Due to COVID-19 - All On Georgia

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on EGRMC: Breast Cancer Screenings Should Not Be Delayed Due to COVID-19 – All On Georgia
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

Mom got her chicken soup recipe from her mom. Its a simple, brothy affair with lots of dill, the kind of soup thats popular throughout the Yiddish diaspora, often referred to half-jokingly as Jewish Penicillin, because it always makes you feel better, no matter what ails you.

Yiddish is the native tongue of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, is based mostly on German but also contains Russian and Slavic words and a Hebrew alphabet. Its a culture as much as a language, with its own traditions, recipes, and history of struggle of a community that has always been more a state of mind than a nation with borders. Throughout our tumultuous history, chicken soup with dill remained a constant.

Mom, her mom and their foremothers have all helped carry the torch forward to this point, all but assuring it will continue into the next generation as my kids are fans of chicken dill soup. But there is one aspect of this tradition that wont continue: the step where you put a raw chicken into a pot of water. The idea of boiling a raw chicken bothers me the way boiled hot dogs do. I have to brown it first. And if you try it once, youll never go back.

It began when I started bringing home rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, as a quick way to make soup. You put a greasy brown bird in a pot of water with some veggies, and by the time its hot the soup is done. I quickly realized that convenience wasnt the only perk of cheaters chicken soup, as I called it.

I was pleased to taste the rich flavor those soft and juicy chickens gave to my soup, and decided to learn how to recreate that magic in my own oven. Turns out, roasting your own chicken requires little more than a chicken, and a sliver of foresight.

Alas, on a typical afternoon, by the time my thoughts turn to dinner its too late to roast a chicken. But If you give me a raw bird and 4-hours notice, I can brown it with the best of them. Anyone can, because its about as easy as turning the oven on and putting in the chicken.

In my house, by the time a browned chicken makes it into the soup pot it looks like its been accosted by piranhas, and thats OK. The carrion crows posing as my children are part of the plan, because I roast a six-pound bird, which leaves plenty of meat left over for soup, even after feeding us dinner. My kids are trained to save their bones, which I collect after dinner, smashing them with a frying pan to release their marrow. I use the broken, browned bones make a lusty bone stock.

My soup isnt clear like Moms. The rich, murky broth hides the chunks, including the tomatoes and potatoes I sneak in, breaking further from tradition. But even in my relatively busy and rebellious bowl of soup, the dominant dill flavor remains.

Oven-Browned ChickenI roast my chicken with an herb or mix of herbs like Italian seasonings, harissa, herbes de Provence, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme. When browning a bird for Jewish Penicillin, the herb might as well be dill.

1 6-lb chicken cup olive oil3 teaspoons salt1 teaspoon pepper1 tablespoon garlic powder1/2-cup dried dill (or 3 ounces chopped fresh dill)2 medium-sized Potatoes, cut into quarters4 cloves of smashed garlic1 onion, quartered2 sticks of celery, chopped in -inch pieces2 medium sized carrots, cut into 1/2-inch coins

Rinse the chicken and let it dry or dry it with a towel. Place the seasoned bird in a deep pan large enough that the chicken doesnt quite touch the sides of the pan. Rub it with the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, rub the remaining oil and spices on the potatoes, garlic, onions, celery and any organ or neck meat that came with the bird, and stuff it all into the cavity. Place any veggies that dont fit around the bird.

Bake uncovered, breast-side down, at 325 degrees for 3 hours (or one hour per two pounds of bird), turning over at once for the last 45 minutes.

That night for dinner, enjoy some oven-browned chicken and juicy vegetables from the cavity. After dinner, strip all the remaining meat off of the bones and cut it into bite-sized chunks for use in the soup.

As for the bones, break or cut them if possible, to let out the marrow. Boil the bones for as long as you can, covered. I use a pasta boiler with the broken bones in the insert so I can easily remove them when its time which it isnt quite. Turn off the before getting ready for bed, so that the pot is cool enough to put in the fridge, bones and all, before you turn in for the night.

The next morning, strain the bones out and skim as much fat as you care to, and return the broth to the fridge until its time to make zup, as we say in Yiddish.

Moms Medicine

1 3-lb raw chicken or the leftovers of a 6-lb roasted chicken and its accompanying broth1 cup dry dill, a bunch of fresh dill, chopped2 onions, chopped2 cups chopped celery1 tablespoon salt, more to tasteMy additions: 1 pound of potatoes (Mom would use matzo balls), and lb chopped tomatoes for acid (other cooks might add a touch of lemon juice or vinegar)

If starting with a raw chicken: cut it into pieces and simmer in 8 quarts of water with a tablespoon of salt for two hours. Skim some fat, or not.

If starting with yesterdays chicken, add the leftover chicken meat to the broth you made from your broken, browned bones. Also add any remaining cavity vegetables.

Add the vegetables to the cooked chicken and broth, and simmer for an hour. Adjust salt and dill to taste.

Read more here:

Jewish penicillin: This soup is the cure for what ails you - Gaston Gazette

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Jewish penicillin: This soup is the cure for what ails you – Gaston Gazette
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

When journalist Ali Rogin was told by her doctor that she tested positive for the BRCA-1 gene which significantly increased her risk of breast and ovarian cancer she didnt quite know where to turn.

I really wanted to consume as many accounts as I could of people who went through the same experience that I did, Rogin told Jewish Insider in a recent interview. And there simply were not that many books out there that dealt with the experiences that I went through.

And so Rogin, a foreign affairs producer at PBS NewsHour, set about creating one. Beat Breast Cancer Like a Boss, which was released earlier this month, shares the first-hand experiences of 30 women at different stages of their fight with the disease, which is the second leading cause of death among women worldwide.

Some of those interviewed, like Rogin, are previvors women who, usually through some mix of family history and genetic testing, learn that they have either the BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene, which significantly elevates their risk of getting the disease. (BRCA is an abbreviation for breast cancer.)

Those who learn they are more at risk are likely able to take steps often a mastectomy and the removal of one or both ovaries to lessen their odds of getting breast and ovarian cancer. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) shared her story of undergoing a prophylactic double mastectomy during a February congressional recess after learning that she, like 1 in 40 Ashkenazi Jewish women, was a carrier for the gene.

Others were diagnosed once a lump was discovered and biopsied and in some cases, after the cancer had already spread to other parts of their body.

The women interviewed throughout the book range from actresses to musicians, authors, businesswomen and politicians. Some were contacts Rogin had amassed during more than a decade as a journalist. Others she reached through persistent cold-calling. She was able to tap into family connections to reach women in the entertainment industry her father, Max Weinberg, is the drummer for Bruce Springsteens E Street Band.

One of the women Rogin interviews is Sally Oren, who was diagnosed with breast cancer while her then-husband, Michael Oren, was serving as Israels ambassador to the United States. After learning of her diagnosis, Oren confided in a close friend, the wife of the Norwegian ambassador, who had gone through her own battle with the disease a year earlier and connected Oren with a group of diplomatic spouses who had all experienced or were in the middle of their own cancer fight.

They were great, Oren explained to Rogin. You can be more intimate with people who are going through the same experience as you. And also, you can be irreverent. You can be funny. Sometimes, people dont know how to behave [around people with breast cancer]. Its hard for them. I dont blame them, but they dont quite know what to do with someones diagnosis. But we laughed together. There was an ease at being able to express yourself. And youre seeing all these survivors. And thats comforting.

The actress Edie Falco, who was also interviewed for the book, told Rogin that when she was diagnosed, the doctor offered to connect her with other public figures who were discreetly going through the disease. (Falco did not go public with her battle until five months after she finished treatment.)

That kind of community, Rogin wrote, is common among survivors. They give each other updates on what was happening in terms of their medical situations. But then they talk about anything else, anything and everything, they talk about travel and books they were reading and people they were meeting and what was happening in their childrens lives, she wrote. And in that way, it enabled the building of really, really strong personal and deep friendships. But it also provided an environment where women felt vulnerable enough to share their fears and their concerns about breast cancer.

All of the women featured in Rogins book are alive today except one. Longtime reporter Cokie Roberts, with whom Rogin worked at ABC News, succumbed to the disease in 2019 after a resurgence a decade and a half after her first breast cancer diagnosis.

When Rogin interviewed Roberts in the summer of 2017, she didnt know the news veteran was battling a recurrence of the disease. When I interviewed her, I only asked her questions about her first battle with breast cancer, which had been many years prior. And so in my eyes, I was talking to someone who was a breast cancer survivor, Rogin said. I didnt know that she was back in the fight. Her cancer had returned, when we were talking. And it was aggressive and it had spread to other parts of her body. And she was, when I spoke to her, she was very sick.

Robertss death, Rogin told JI, was devastating, but it also forced her to readjust the way she viewed the fight against the disease.

Beating breast cancer does not mean going into remission and remaining cancer-free for the rest of your life, Rogin said. That is an extremely limiting definition of beating breast cancer. And it also forces this binary proposition whereby, if you dont beat breast cancer in that way, you have failed. Thats not fair. And its not accurate. And, to me, what beating breast cancer means in this book, when I talk about it, it means living every day with joy, and confidence, and defiance, even as breast cancer is always trying to ruin everything for you.

In the months following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and doctors offices have seen dramatic drops in the number of patients coming in for routine or in some cases, lifesaving medical visits.

Preventative care has been put on the back burner as well trying to stay home and remain safe. But its actually never been more important, Rogin told JI. Unfortunately, there have been studies since the pandemic began that show people are being diagnosed with cancers at more advanced stages, because theyre not going in for routine screenings that can catch it earlier.

The collection of womens stories, each of which Rogin intersperses with background information and additional details, take you from initial doctors appointments and diagnoses to treatment, and then, lastly, what Rogin calls in each section The Comeback how each womans life has changed.

Rogins own comeback is still happening. She made the choice, after finding out she was a carrier, to have a double mastectomy. Eventually, she told JI, she will have an oophorectomy to remove one or both ovaries, which will put her into early menopause.

For me, the notion of going through those changes in my 30s is really, really scary. But at the same time, I greet it with optimism, Rogin said. My aunt passed away of ovarian cancer, so I know that this is a very real possibility in my life. And whats worse than going into early menopause? Getting cancer. So the fact that I have this ability to hold up a crystal ball to my cancer future and make decisions based on that ability to see the future is incredibly empowering.

Learning at such a young age that she carried the mutated BRCA gene has empowered Rogin to do what she can to educate women about their own risk factors and encourage regular medical check-ups and testing.I want to use my experience to help others, Rogin said. I dont want to be defined by my possession of this genetic mutation. But Im totally cool being defined as somebody who has used challenges in her life to help others. I think thats in the spirit of tikkun olam.

Link:

Cancer 'previvor' Ali Rogin sets out to fill in the gaps for other women - Jewish Insider

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Cancer ‘previvor’ Ali Rogin sets out to fill in the gaps for other women – Jewish Insider
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

Its easier to admit to hatred of the Haredim than to envy of them. Its easier to give expression to hatred than to envy. We envy the Haredim, and hate them. The envy is over the obedience, the stubbornness and the herd-like behavior. They have no moderate left, radical left, white left and Mizrahi left. That is, they are a varied and multifaceted public, but they unite as one when (we) the enemy loom at the gates.

One can envy the Gur Hasidim, who would never consider marrying someone from Vishnitz but would go protest alongside them if that is the order that comes from above. We envy them because they are rigid and uncompromising, with none of that lets meet in the middle stuff. With them its all or nothing. We envy them because their public servants serve them and not themselves, and then we hate them because they trample on us on the way there.

LISTEN: How COVID killed Bibis legacy and resurrected his archrivalHaaretz

Their display of religious and political identity stirs powerful feelings of envy in us. The pride and the disregard for what others may think. They are part of the street, but not assimilated in it. Yes, they say, this is how we are, were different. You see the beard, the long coat and the shtreimel? So now you know where we live, what we eat and who we vote for. We who are so careful to avoid automatically labeling a kippa-wearing Mizrahi person as a rightist and a guy with glasses on a scooter as a leftist, are stunned by how they go right along with the diaspora Ashkenazi stereotype we created for them.

They dont wage wars, they present facts. They crowd in the synagogues not to protest or be defiant like the protesters on Frishman Beach. Theyre there because prayers are not the governments or anyone elses business. Nor do any of them rebuke another for protesting the wrong way, for being impolite, for holding a meal on Balfour Street during the lockdown, for not keeping quiet between 2 P.M. and 4 P.M.

We envy them, but we wouldnt trade places with them. The price of obedience, herd behavior and obstinacy is too dear. We wont live with eight kids in a cramped apartment, we wont depend on our wives to support us, we wont keep our children ignorant even if that was what would make us the most democratic country in the world. We wouldnt be willing to be wretchedly poor while our leading rabbis are incredibly wealthy (The admor of Gur is estimated to be worth $100 million).

We can distinguish between their generals and the soldiers, but still we envy them and hate them. We ourselves are startled to see how much racism and hatred of the other they evoke, and how much of it we harbor. Their scorn for democracy frightens us (Rabbi Shach called it an incurable decree) and their incredible ability to exploit it infuriates us.

Were angry about the fiction known as a Jewish and democratic state. This notion does not have any foundational basis anywhere. Weve been seduced into believing that it was handed down at Sinai or appeared in the Declaration of Independence. But it doesnt. It was no more than an amendment to a law that came into being in 1985 to prevent Meir Kahane from being elected to the Knesset. Ever since, their Jewish has been stepping on our democratic toes, and pushing that part to the wall. Theyve pushed us away from Judaism and tossed us to Israeli-ness.

They are not above the law, they dont even oppose it. But they have laws of their own, and you better not bother them with your laws. You take care of your health, and well take care of ours. No police officer who values his life will dare enter Bnei Brak on Yom Kippur to check if people are praying in the mandated capsules, and whoever wants to thank them for letting him drive to the beach on Shabbat should remember that he helped finance them himself with the taxes that came out of his pocket.

We envy them and hate them because they were the first to notice that solidarity is nonsense and unity is a joke. They were the first to realize its every tribe for itself. We envy their politicians who have Bibi by the balls. Oh how we wish we could say that about our politicians!

We envy and hate them for the skill and speed with which they take advantage of the weakness of our democracy. In his book Haredim, Ltd, Shahar Ilan illustrated the Haredims relationship with the state in a story told from their perspective: Cossacks overturn the cart of an apple peddler. Passersby snatch up her apples while she stands there shouting. Why are you shouting, they say to her grab some yourself.

We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting.

Please try again later.

The email address you have provided is already registered.

Go here to read the rest:

Why are Haredim hated and envied? - Haaretz.com

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Why are Haredim hated and envied? – Haaretz.com
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

He's a talented guy!

Bruno Mars is a talented guy - not only does he have an incredibly impressive voice, but he's also a fantastic songwriter too, with an impressive career. Having been a child star, Bruno is no stranger to the showbiz game, having been performing since the age of just four-years-old.

But where is he from? How did he get famous? And what is Bruno Mars' real name? We've answered all your burning questions about the 'Uptown Funk' singer below...

Bruno Mars is an American singer and songwriter from Hawaii. His dad is half Puerto Rican and half Ashkenazi Jewish, originally from Brooklyn in New York, and his mum emigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii as a child, and has some Spanish ancestry.

His birthday is 8th October 1985, which makes him currently 34-years-old.

Bruno was born Peter Gene Hernandez, and got his stage name from his father, who nicknamed him 'Bruno' at the age of two, who thought that he looked like wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

He told Parade magazine, "Bruno is after Bruno Sammartino, who was this big, fat wrestler. I was this chunky little baby, so my dad used to call me that as a nickname. Mars came up because a lot of girls say Im out of this world!"

Coming from a musical family, Bruno was performing from the age of four with his family band, The Love Notes. He became well-known for his impression of Elvis Presley, which won him a cameo role in 1992 film Honeymoon in Vegas, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker.

He learned to play the guitar, and made a demo which his sister in Los Angeles played for Mike Lynn, head of A&R at Dr Dre's label. He moved to LA after graduating from school at 17, and although he was signed to label Motown Records, it didn't work out and he was dropped less than a year after the signing.

Bruno landed a publishing deal in 2005, and was mentored by Steve Lindsey at Westside Independent, where he started working with Philip Lawrence and the pair became songwriting partners. In 2006, Bruno ignited the interest of Atlantic Records, but they waited three years to sign him so that he could develop as an artist, and he used this time to become a record producer and wrote songs for other artists.

When he wrote 'Nothin' On You' for B.o.B and appeared as a featured vocalist on the song, Bruno's star finally began to rise and he released debut single 'Just the Way You Are' in 2010, reaching Number 1 in both the UK and the US. After the success of 'Just the Way You Are', Bruno released his debut album 'Doo-Wops & Hooligans' in 2010, which spawned other singles 'Grenade', 'The Lazy Song' and 'Marry You' amongst others and reached Number 1 in the UK.

He supported Maroon 5 and OneRepublic on their tours in 2010, and performed on his own tour 'The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour' from November 2010 until January 2012. In 2011, he won his first ever Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for 'Just the Way You Are', and also earned six other nominations that year.

His second album 'Unorthodox Jukebox' was released in 2012, featuring singles 'Locked Out of Heaven', 'When I Was Your Man' and 'Treasure' and peaking at Number 1 in the UK. He went on his second tour, the 'Moonshine Jungle Tour', from June 2013 until October 2014. Bruno had a Las Vegas residency in 2013, and also had a huge year in 2014 - headlining the prestigious Super Bowl halftime show, voicing the character of Roberto in 2014 film Rio 2 and also co-writing and featuring on Mark Ronson's track 'Uptown Funk', which was one of the most popular songs of the decade.

Supporting Coldplay's Super Bowl halftime show with Beyonc Knowles-Carter in 2015, Bruno's third album '24K Magic' was released in November 2016, spawning singles '24K Magic', 'That's What I Like' and 'Finesse', which he later released a remix of featuring Cardi B.

He went on his third tour - the '24K Magic World Tour' - in March 2017, finishing in December 2018, and announced his second Las Vegas residency in February 2019. Bruno worked with Ed Sheeran on his 'No.6 Collaborations Project', appearing on song 'Blow' along with country singer Chris Stapleton.

In October 2019, Bruno posted a photo of himself in the recording studio, teasing that he was working on new music. This was confirmed by a representative in March 2020, who said that he's "in the creative process of working on his next album." Bruno is also working with Disney on a "music-themed theatrical narrative".

As mentioned already, Bruno has been the recipient of plenty of awards through the years! Here's a list of just a few awards he's won...

2011: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for 'Just The Way You Are'

2015: Best Pop Vocal Album for 'Unorthodox Jukebox'

2016: Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for 'Uptown Funk' with Mark Ronson

2017: Album of the Year for '25' by Adele (as producer)

2018: Album of the Year and Best R&B Album for '24K Magic', Record of the Year for '24K Magic', and Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for 'That's What I Like'.

2012: International Male Solo Artist

2014: International Male Solo Artist

2015: British Single of the Year for 'Uptown Funk' with Mark Ronson

2011: MTV Europe Music Awards - Best New Act and Best Push

2013: MTV Europe Music Awards - Best Song for 'Locked Out of Heaven'

2013: MTV Video Music Awards - Best Male Video for 'Locked Out of Heaven' and Best Choreography for 'Treasure'

Bruno has also won four Guinness World Records: 'Most Viewed Halftime Performance' for his Super Bowl Halftime show in 2015, 'Most weeks at No.1 on the U.S. Digital Song Sales' for 'Uptown Funk' in 2017, 'First Male Artist to Achieve three 10-million-selling-singles' in 2017 and 'Most followed male chart-topper on Musical.ly' in 2018.

Bruno has been in a relationship with model Jessica Caban since 2011, and apparently live together in the Hollywood Hills. The pair are very private about their relationship.

Bruno also previously dated Rita Ora, who confirmed the relationship in a 2012 interview, saying that it had been "love at first sight" after Bruno was hired to write some songs for her, but the relationships fizzled after two years because of their respective careers.

You can hear Bruno Mars' biggest hits on the Free Radio playlist.

For great music, brilliant banter and incredible competitions tune into Free Radio on FM, on your digital radio, on your phone, and on your smart speaker across the West Midlands. We give you the biggest hits from the worlds hottest artists. Youll find new favourites every day and hear the songs you've missed from the last few years.

Here is the original post:

Bruno Mars: Everything you need to know - Free Radio

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Bruno Mars: Everything you need to know – Free Radio
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

(KGTV) -- A forum discussing the growing problem of online hate will be held this Wednesday, September 30th.

It is hosted by the San Diego Anti-Hate Crime Coalition. The group coordinates outreach, education, and dialogue regarding bullying, hate incidents, and hate crimes in the San Diego region.

With the pandemic and many people at home, the organizations chairperson said hate speech has increased.

A lot of time, [people] dont have much else to do, but write and speak their mind anonymously. When you dont have to show your face, people become emboldened and say things they wouldnt say in public, said Christopher Tenorio, a federal prosecutor and chairman of the coalition.

Wednesdays discussion includes panelists from the U.S. Attorneys Office, City Attorneys Office, and the District Attorneys Office.

Other groups involved include the Anti-Defamation League, San Diego State University, the San Diego Citizens Advisory Board on Community/Police Relations, the Anti-Defamation League, the Consulate of Mexico in San Diego, and the Islamic Center.

The online event runs from 5 to 6:15 p.m. It is open to the public, but you must RSVP at: Shastity.Urias@usdoj.gov

Visit link:
Forum to discuss growing threat of online hate - 10News

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Forum to discuss growing threat of online hate – 10News
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS A few years ago Sam Ogden heard that someone carved a swastika into a Steamboat Springs High School students car along with other Nazi-inspired vandalism. The incidents made the local and national news. He said a few Steamboat friends acted shocked.

They told Ogden, This isnt the Steamboat I know. This isnt the Steamboat I graduated from, he said.

They blamed it on Trump, but I told them I dont know which high school you went to, but it (swastikas) was all over my high school, he said, pointing out he graduated in 2013 before President Trump was elected.

In middle school, people would push me into lockers and call me Jew boy or tell me I had a Jew fro, said the now 25-year-old park ranger. In high school, it was less overt more backhanded type of comments.

And he said swastikas were all over the school and not always accurately drawn.

In the bathrooms, I used to put sticky notes on them saying, if youre going to draw a hate symbol, at least do it correctly, Ogden said.

He handled the situation with humor and quickly realized that ignorance was mostly to blame, and surprisingly, TV and film comedy.

Kids were watching the Borat movie and South Park, he explained.

He said the shows featured anti-semitic tropes that were satirized, and those satiric messages went right over the kids heads.

In a county where only 30% of residents say they belong to a religious denomination, one might expect religion wouldnt play a major role in society, and issues like anti-Semitism would not be something students in Routt County would have to deal with.

Buddhist Tim McCarthy disagrees.

We all came from some religious tradition, whether youre practicing it or not, said McCarthy, who founded Exploring the Sacred with his wife, Marchele.

Exploring the Sacred is a forum of Routt County religious leaders that host discussions for the public that address critical issues in todays culture.

We all have a history that is steeped in some religion that plays out, McCarthy said. That hatred comes from somewhere Oh, youre part of that group. Im part of that group.

Steamboat Springs garnered media attention in early 2017 after Jewish congregant and mom Paula Salky went public, criticizing the high schools handling of several incidents targeting Jewish students, including swastikas drawn on their cars and lockers.While police reports were filed, Salky said the administration at the time did little to immediately address the situation.

They needed to use this as an opportunity to teach tolerance and make a difference, said Salky, who even sent educational tools used by the Anti-Defamation League to high school administrators.

Cindy Ruzicka, who teaches religion and Hebrew at Har Mishpacha, Steamboats Jewish congregation, said the high school missed an opportunity then to hit the issue head on. She said the school held an assembly that was supposed to address the issue, but her daughter told her the school assembly was very vague and talked generically about inclusivity.

When no concrete suspects were linked to the swastika incidents, Ruzicka worried about her daughter, a freshman at the time.

Those kids that were targeted didnt really identify as being Jewish, they were half Jewish, said Ruzicka, who helped establish Har Mishpacha 20 years ago. But for my daughter, who fully identifies as Jewish, it was an instant moment of complete fear. My daughter had a necklace with a Jewish symbol on it, and she just stopped wearing it.

Steamboat Springs Superintendent Brad Meeks recently reflected on the swastika controversy.

I know there was a lot of time spent on trying to track down who did it, and perhaps, more could have been done, he said. However, should this happen today, it would be handled differently because weve had additional training to respond to these type of incidents.

Meeks said the new training to deal with offensive acts was put into action last winter when a hate symbol showed up at Steamboats alternative school, and Yampa Valley High School Principal Karla Setter took immediate action.

She pulled information from the Anti-Defamation Leagues educational tools to create lesson plans that gave students historical context on hate symbols and their insidious effects on society.

All our students did a great job of engaging in a respectful way, and they have a better understanding of how damaging it can be, Setter said.

Yampa Valley High School went a step further and had students form small study groups where they had to identify a group they didnt understand or relate to very well be it the elderly, rich or poor, Christian or non-Christian or immigrant.

We were working to identify the other, and the implicit and explicit biases we all have, Setter said.

She said students also talked about how online platforms and social media can seduce impressionable young people with hate-oriented propaganda and ideology that makes them feel part of something.

Steamboat Springs Middle School Restorative Practices Coordinator Allison Wither said middle school is a particularly vulnerable time.

Its such a time of formative identity, Wither said. We start to identify who we are aside from our families and friends. That concept of other really comes out in middle school, along with awkwardness.

Wither is one of the districts interventionists who help students hash out problems between each other under the auspices of restorative justice. As of a year and a half ago, all teachers in the district have been trained in this technique, which bringsvictims and persecutors together.

We create a safe space to have those difficult conversations, giving everyone an equal voice in that process and allowing them to talk, Wither said.

Whether its homophobic language or religious discrimination, Wither wants the kids themselves to understand that everyone should feel safe in a classroom.

Your family may have certain feelings or beliefs about people, but at school, everyone should feel safe, Wither said.

Jay Hamric, the districts director of teaching and learning, said addressing tolerance issues with restorative justice is supplemented by a curriculum that addresses historys conflicts with race, religion and other values.

From an intense unit on the Holocaust to a major peace and justice project to world religion, students are challenged to go deep from eighth-grade through their senior year.

Throughout our district, we study different points of history and human conflict and study causes and how it impacts our current society, Hamric said. Weve created some pretty exciting programs in our district about racial and religious differences and creating tolerance.

Schools can only deal with religion on an academic level while most Routt County religious leaders believe the spiritual connection starts at the community level.

Our country is steeped in Christianity, and the rhetoric you hear from both presidential candidates is a Christian-based rhetoric, said Tim McCarthy of Exploring the Sacred. Politicians arent going to solve these problems. Its little communities coming together to make a difference. Change starts in your family and spills out in the community and goes in the other direction not top down, but from the bottom up.

Har Mishpachas religious teacher Cindy Ruzicka agrees.

Find someone who has different beliefs than you and have a conversation with them, Ruzicka said. When you speak to someone, the impact is far deeper than any reading exercise or film you watch. In many ways, Id rather be the educator, because I know fact from myth.

Ruzicka said another opportunity for unifying the community was missed when the county didnt allow for a menorah on the Routt County Courthouse lawn six years ago during the Chanukah holiday season.

They told us it was slippery slope If we allow a menorah, someone will want to put in a Buddah and so forth and so on, Ruzicka said. There are many communities that do allow for multiple religious symbols. Its unifying. How can it not be?

Local religious leaders from four of the five major world faiths who were interviewed for this article pointed to the Golden Rule as sacred in their texts: Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

And while Routt County is among the least church-going counties in the country, according to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, its religious leaders believe the population is mostly spiritually driven, be it prompted by a stunning environment or a god.

As leader of the largest denomination in the county, Holy Name Catholic Church, Father Ernest Bayer has a simple philosophy when it comes to others beliefs.

Approach them with a respectful mystery, he urged. All the major religions have a unifying principle love, peace and serving others.

Bayer also believes everyone has a void theyre trying to fill, and its better to fill that hole with spirituality and love, especially when it comes to teenagers.

Love is how we connect. The opposite of that is carving a swastika in someones car or intimidating them, Bayer said.

As a practitioner of Islam, retired professor Stephen Aigner moved to Steamboat in 2006 and carefully observed his new community. He discovered the interfaith group Exploring the Sacred and decided to become part of its panel of religious leaders.

Aigner said there are few followers of Islam in Steamboat, except mostly foreign visa holders, but they pray together every Friday at the Heart of Steamboat United Methodist Church. And while Aigner lives in a small town, he said the people of Steamboat are not small-minded.

You feel welcomed because people here appreciate different viewpoints, Aigner said. Theyre more curious and willing to learn more than virtually any other community Ive lived in.

Frances Hohl is a contributing writer for Steamboat Pilot & Today.

See the article here:
The religious divide: Incidents of anti-Semitism spotlight divisions in Routt County, one of nation's least religious counties - Steamboat Pilot and...

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on The religious divide: Incidents of anti-Semitism spotlight divisions in Routt County, one of nation’s least religious counties – Steamboat Pilot and…
Tags:

Posted By admin on September 29, 2020

Todd Little-Siebold points to, what he calls, a Sanitized Past when it comes to racism in MaineThe professor and expert in racism in Maine history agrees with DHS draft analysis ranking white supremacists as top safety threatDraft documents from the Department of Homeland Security released earlier this month say white supremacists present the most persistent and lethal threat in the United States. Experts in the subject of racism and hate crimes warn Maine is not immune to the consequences of hate. To understand the ideology and risk of white supremacy in Maine, you need to first understand a long history of racism here, says College of the Atlantic professor Todd Little-Siebold. Maine is 98% white, 99%, whatever. That didnt just happen. Its not as if thats the natural state of things, said Little-Siebold. Little-Siebold aims to break through, what he calls, a sanitized past and shed light on dark events in history, including 20th century KKK rallies and the killing of Native Americans during the colonial era. Maine had one of the most vibrant Ku Klux Klan movements in the first part of the 20th century, people just have no idea, Little-Siebold said. The Anti-Defamation League keeps track of modern day anti-semitic and extremist incidents through an interactive heat map on their website. Their data on Maine shows there have been 32 incidents over the last two years, including 26 instances of white supremacist propaganda being left in public spaces. Chris Magyarics, Senior Investigative Researcher with the ADL, agrees with the DHS draft analysis, first published by Politico, which states, We judge that white supremacist extremists (WSEs) will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland through 2021." While Magyarics says most white supremacists arent engaging in criminal behavior, he says, theres this belief system that theres a white genocide going on and in order to preserve the pure white race, some people feel the need to engage in violent behavior. White supremacist activity in Maine, he says, is mainly propaganda posted in public places from two groups: the National Socialist Club and Patriot Front. Magyarics says it's important to be vigilant and recognize white supremacist symbols such as these. Little-Siebold says the key to preventing ideologies such as this from developing is education.

Todd Little-Siebold points to, what he calls, a Sanitized Past when it comes to racism in Maine

The professor and expert in racism in Maine history agrees with DHS draft analysis ranking white supremacists as top safety threat

Draft documents from the Department of Homeland Security released earlier this month say white supremacists present the most persistent and lethal threat in the United States.

Experts in the subject of racism and hate crimes warn Maine is not immune to the consequences of hate.

To understand the ideology and risk of white supremacy in Maine, you need to first understand a long history of racism here, says College of the Atlantic professor Todd Little-Siebold.

Maine is 98% white, 99%, whatever. That didnt just happen. Its not as if thats the natural state of things, said Little-Siebold.

Little-Siebold aims to break through, what he calls, a sanitized past and shed light on dark events in history, including 20th century KKK rallies and the killing of Native Americans during the colonial era.

Maine had one of the most vibrant Ku Klux Klan movements in the first part of the 20th century, people just have no idea, Little-Siebold said.

The Anti-Defamation League keeps track of modern day anti-semitic and extremist incidents through an interactive heat map on their website.

Their data on Maine shows there have been 32 incidents over the last two years, including 26 instances of white supremacist propaganda being left in public spaces.

Chris Magyarics, Senior Investigative Researcher with the ADL, agrees with the DHS draft analysis, first published by Politico, which states, We judge that white supremacist extremists (WSEs) will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland through 2021."

While Magyarics says most white supremacists arent engaging in criminal behavior, he says, theres this belief system that theres a white genocide going on and in order to preserve the pure white race, some people feel the need to engage in violent behavior.

White supremacist activity in Maine, he says, is mainly propaganda posted in public places from two groups: the National Socialist Club and Patriot Front.

Magyarics says it's important to be vigilant and recognize white supremacist symbols such as these.

Little-Siebold says the key to preventing ideologies such as this from developing is education.

Read more from the original source:
Maine professor agrees with DHS analysis ranking white supremacists as top safety threat - WMTW Portland

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Maine professor agrees with DHS analysis ranking white supremacists as top safety threat – WMTW Portland
Tags: