Vandals attack Jewish sites on both U.S. coasts

SACRAMENTO, California (WJC)–Anti-Semitic messages and symbols have been painted on a synagogue in California. Tuesday’s attack on Congregation Beth Shalom, in the Sacramento area, included a swastika, the phrase “Kristallnacht still lives” and the symbol of the SS, which ran the Nazi death camps. Bushes lining the outside of the synagogue building were also set afire. The vandal was captured on a surveillance video camera.

Congregation Beth Shalom was one of three Sacramento-area synagogues targeted by two arsonists in 1999. Benjamin Matthew Williams, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, and his brother, James Tyler Williams, pleaded guilty in September 2001 to setting the fires, which caused almost US$ 3 million in damages. They were sentenced to 30 years and 21 years and three months, respectively, in jail.

Meanwhile, a Florida Jewish community center was vandalized on Monday. Swastikas and the phrase “Jews shall die” were painted on the Soref Jewish Community Center in Coral Springs. Also Monday, a heavy object was heaved through the window of a Lubavitch education center in Miami Beach, the ‘Miami Herald’ reported. The vandalism appeared to be a random act, a police spokesman said.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

TV’s most prodigious interviewer tells of his own life

By Sara Appel-Lennon

LA JOLLA, California-He appeared last Sunday at the San Diego Jewish Book Fair to promote his book, My Remarkable Journey. Brooklyn boyhood friends called him “Zeke the Creek the Mouthpiece” since he loved to talk. To this day he refers to himself as the little Jewish kid from Brooklyn. He said “I left Brooklyn but Brooklyn never left me.”

From age five, he loved listening to the radio and yearned to be a radio star. His suspenders became his trademark. He has been married eight times to seven women. His birthday was November 19, 1933.

His full name is Lawrence Harvey Zeiger… He became known as Larry King because he was told his last name sounded “too ethnic.”

King has been a broadcast journalist for 52 years. He conducted more than 40,000 interviews, which equals 88 interviews per year. He interviewed every United States president since Gerald Ford. His nickname is” The Mohamed Ali of Broadcast News.” 

When King was age 10, his father died of a heart attack at age 44. Regardless, King smoked for 35 years, including in the shower, the bath, and on the air. The night of his heart attack was the same night when the Surgeon General was on his show. After three people told him he didn’t look so good he went to the hospital. He even smoked on his way to the hospital as he was having a heart attack. On February 20, 1987 he quit smoking.

As far as religion, King said… “I’m an agnostic…I just don’t know…I see a lot of it as superstition.” He said that he never received answers about God or the Holocaust. King said that if he were to interview God, he would ask God if he had a son.

To King, being Jewish is all cultural. Jerusalem, Israel is his favorite place in the world. King is now married to a devout Mormon woman and they have two sons, nine and ten years old.

In regards to humor King said… “I think the Jew has a remarkable ability to laugh” He said that Jews can think funny, say, and deliver funny lines.

Jackie Gleason helped King to become famous. King and Jackie Gleason were friends. Gleason often took King to the Honeymooner shows. One night, King served as the Master of Ceremonies at a welcome dinner for Gleason.

He asked King “What in your profession is impossible?” King responded that it would be impossible for Frank Sinatra to be a guest on his show for three hours from 9 p.m. to midnight.

Gleason told King that Sinatra would be on his show the following Monday night. The media took out a full page ad in the Miami Herald for $25,000 stating that Sinatra would be on King’s show the following Monday. King called Gleason for reassurance.

Sinatra showed up the following Monday and asked ‘Who’s Larry King?” King told the audience that he never lies to his listeners. He introduced Sinatra and asked Sinatra on the air why he was there.

I admire that King did not pretend to be friends with Sinatra. From that day forward, the two became friends.

What motivated Sinatra to appear on King’s show?  It turns out that three years before  Sinatra had lost his voice and was unable to entertain at a scheduled show. Sinatra asked Gleason if he would fill in for him. He told Gleason that he owed him a favor, and King’s show was it. This favor helped King to reach fame and fortune.

King mentioned he has become wealthy and he followed that financial fact with this story:

King went to New York to see a tailor to make a suit for him. The tailor said he couldn’t do it since he didn’t have enough material. He asked a tailor in Chicago and received the same response. He went to Miami and again received the same answer. He returned to his hometown of Brooklyn. He went to a little tailor shop and made his request. The tailor said that he could make him a suit, two pairs of pants, and a vest. King was amazed and asked how it was possible. The tailor smiled and said that in Brooklyn he’s not that big. 

Appel-Lennon is a San Diego-based freelance writer. Her email: appels@jewishsightseeing.com

Gathering plans protest if Holocaust denier Irving comes to New York City

 

NEW YORK (Press Release)–The notorious Holocaust denier and antisemite David Irving is to give a secretive lecture in New York City this weekend and Holocaust survivors are calling for peaceful protest against “this person of hate and his hateful ideas.”

The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants, representing 80,000 families across the country, underscored that Irving’s appearance in New York, home of the largest Survivor community in the nation, was “morally repellent and particularly offensive.”

The American Gathering is alerting venue owners to the possibility of inadvertently renting space to David Irving.  He is on a so-called book tour and does not allow attendees to know where he will be until a few hours before the event.

Last month, he and his white supremacist friends tried to hijack the City Hall in Jackson, Mississippi for his talk. Following an appeal from the American Gathering to the mayor, Irving was a no-show and moved his “talk” to a Ridgeland hotel while warning that he would still be coming to New York. In Mississippi, he told the local newspaper that, “We sat around plotting as neo-Nazis do, [and] finding synagogues we can set on fire and tombstones that we can throw around.” A few weeks later in Palm Beach, his meeting ended with  two attendees getting into a knife fight in an adjacent parking lot.

Irving is considered one leading advocates of Holocaust denial in the world. In 2000, Irving, who calls himself a Holocaust revisionist, sued Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books for libel for calling him a denier and antisemite. The British courts found that Irving was an “active Holocaust denier,” as well as an antisemite and racist, and that he “associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.” The judge also ruled that Irving had “for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence.” Irving was later jailed in Austria, in 2006, for his abhorrent views.

Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering said, “In making news of Irving’s planned appearance public, we hope to alert managers of public spaces of Irving’s surreptitious methods of engaging them. We believe that his message of hate should be protested and confronted by all peaceable and lawful means.”

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Preceding provided by the American Gathering

Magazine honors Kaplan as a ‘woman who means business’

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)–Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego President and Chief Executive Officer and Miriam and Jerome Katzin Presidential Chair holder Marjory Kaplan is among a group of women recently named a recipient of the San Diego Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business award. These women were recognized for their outstanding contribution to business, the government and the San Diego community. This is the 16th year honoring Women Who Mean Business in San Diego County.

Kaplan was chosen by a group of independent judges from 167 nominees. The winners were announced and recognized on stage at the Journal’s recent Women Who Mean Business luncheon.

Kaplan has served as chief professional of the Foundation since 1994. During her tenure, Foundation assets have grown to approximately $207 million from $14 million. In fiscal year 2008-09, the Foundation topped the list of the region’s foundations in funds granted for the fifth year in a row, awarding and facilitating more than $62 million in 4,700 grants to 1,000 Jewish and general organizations in San Diego, Israel and around the world.

With Kaplans entrepreneurial oversight, the Foundation has also developed innovative programs, many of which have become national models including the Endowment Leadership Institute (ELI), a unique, high-quality, results-oriented program with the goal of transforming the culture of legacy giving in San Diego, and Youth Philanthropy, a program that encourages young people to become philanthropists by teaching them to give strategically and effectively.

“Under Marjory’s strong and creative management, the Foundation has become a philanthropic force for change in San Diego and beyond,” noted Murray Galinson, Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “We are pleased and proud that San Diego Business Journal has recognized her innovative leadership.”
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Preceding provided by Jewish Community Foundation

 

Britain’s chief rabbi says religion and politics should be separate

 

LONDON (WJC)–Britain’s chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, has said that Muslims needed to learn to separate religion from power. In a lecture in London to a Christian think tank, Sacks said: “One of the great advantages of being Jewish, is you know how to sing in a minor key. We have had 26 centuries of experience, ever since the Babylonian exile, of living as a minority in the midst of a culture that does not share our views.”

He added: “I have no doubt that Islam will work its way through to the essential situation that Judaism arrived at and Christianity, namely the substantive separation of religion from power. But there’s no quick way of getting there. It’s quite a difficult and painful process.

“Only Muslims can do it. I do see some wonderful Muslims in this country and elsewhere going through that process. Some of the Muslim thinkers today are some of the most courageous thinkers I have come across and it is very striking how many of them are women.”

Sacks blamed Europe’s falling birth rate on a culture of “consumerism and instant gratification”. He said the continent was “dying” and accused its citizens of not being prepared for parenthood’s “sacrifices”.

Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Ahmadinejad expected this year by Chavez in Caracas

CARACAS (WJC)—Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has said that he expected his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit Venezuela by the end of the year.

Chávez made the announcement on his weekly television and radio broadcast “Aló Presidente” while flanked by Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela, Amad Sobani. The Venezuelan leader visited Ahmadinejad in Tehran in September. Venezuela has built close relations with Iran in recent years, including the signing of numerous agreements to cement economic, political and military cooperation.

“Iran is attacked like us by the empire,” Chávez said during the program, referring to the United States. “We are accused of exporting terrorism, but they are the killers.” Iran’s spreading influence in South America has been causing concern both in the United States and Israel.

Israeli President Shimon Peres is expected to raise those concerns during an official visit to Brazil and Argentina, which are home to the largest Jewish populations in South America. Israel has not had diplomatic relations with Venezuela since January, when Chávez expelled the Israeli ambassador to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. Peres is scheduled to give the first speech ever by an Israeli official to the Brazilian Parliament. He is leading a delegation that includes Israel’s tourism minister, business leaders and senior members of the Israeli defense industry.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Bibi’s priorities: Peace with Palestinians, no nuclear weapons for Iran, and replacing oil as an energy source

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–Following is the text of the speech Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered on Monday to the United Jewish Communities convention.

My dear friends, leaders of the Jewish communities of North America,
 
The history of the Jewish people has been marked by a paradox. We are at once both small and great. We are few in number but luminous in achievement. In the ancient world, the Jews were a small people on the foothills of Asia touching the Mediterranean. But in Alexandria some 2200 years ago, the Bible was translated into Greek, and the world has never been the same since.
 
The Jews brought to civilization at least three big ideas: the idea of monotheism, the belief that all people have innate rights that transcend the power of kings, and a prophetic vision of universal peace. It is impossible to fully describe the revolutionary impact of these ideas throughout history, nor the poetic power of the Biblical stories that overshadowed much of the literature of the ancient world.
 
As in antiquity so in modernity.
 
Israel is one of the world’s smallest countries. But our success in science and technology, agriculture, medicine, and the arts belies our size. And on this continent, the Jewish community accounts for less than 2 percent of the population, yet its creative accomplishments in every field are legend and legendary. In modern times, Jews everywhere have made extraordinary contributions to humanity.
 
So, smallness and greatness have thus accompanied our people throughout nearly 4,000 years of our history. But our conspicuous achievements often masked our small size and the vulnerability that comes with being small.
 
Being prominent but small, we often could not defend ourselves against larger foes who envied our achievements, despised the ideas we championed, and periodically sought to expel or even annihilate us outright. The rebirth of Israel did not eliminate such attacks. But it fundamentally changed our ability to repel them.
 
In 1948, some 600,000 Jews, their backs against the sea, fended off the assault of much larger enemies sworn to our destruction. We were aided by many of our fellow American Jews. You gave money, arms, and most important, tremendous moral support.
 
You helped Israel absorb waves of immigrants, you spearheaded the historic struggle to free Soviet Jewry and you have tirelessly worked to strengthen the American-Israeli alliance which is a cornerstone of Israel’s security. Today, you support Birthright, Masa and Nefesh B’Nefesh – these are programs that promote Aliyah and strengthen Jewish identity, thereby ensuring that our numbers are not further diminished and dwindled by the forces of assimilation.
 
Strengthening Jewish identity can no longer be a task exclusively for the Diaspora. It is increasingly the responsibility of the Jewish State. Over a decade ago, I was proud to be the first Prime Minister to allocate state funds to bolster Jewish identity outside of Israel. And I assure you that in my second term, I intend to do even more.
   
The result of our joint efforts has been a stronger Israel. And only a strong Israel can achieve peace. But even a strong Israel is still a small Israel. And a small Israel demands a secure peace. Peace in our land, the peace of Jerusalem, our eternal capital, is one of our oldest longings, expressed in our Psalms and our prayers.
 
Peace between Israel and our Arab neighbors: the first and immediate result would spare our children the horrors of war. It would spare our children the horrors of war. It would spare our grandchildren the horrors of war. What a great gift. Peace could usher in a new age of economic progress for the benefit of all. We have already signed peace agreements, two of them, with Egypt and Jordan. And we are eager to achieve peace with all our other neighbors, especially with the Palestinians.
 
I believe there is no time to waste. We need to move towards peace with a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose. I want to be clear. My goal is not to have endless negotiations. My goal is not negotiations for negotiations sake. My goal is to reach a peace treaty, and soon.
  
But to get a peace agreement, we must start negotiating. Let’s stop talking about negotiations. Let’s start moving.
 
This past June at Bar-Ilan University, I put forward a vision of peace that has united the vast majority of Israelis. In this vision of two states for two peoples, a demilitarized Palestinian state would recognize the Jewish state.
 
Now, what do I mean by a Jewish state? It is a state in which all individuals and all minorities have equal individual rights. Yet our national symbols, language and culture spring from the heritage of the Jewish people. And most important, any Jew from anywhere in the world has a right to immigrate to Israel and become a citizen.
 
I want to make it clear:  Any Jew, of any denomination, will always have the right to come home to the Jewish state. Religious pluralism and tolerance will always guide my policy.
 
What does a Jewish state mean for the Palestinians? They must abandon the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees, give up irredentist claims to the Negev and Galilee, and declare unequivocally that the conflict is finally over.
 
Yet, even after we achieve peace it may take years for the spirit of peace to permeate most levels of Palestinian society. Therefore, any peace agreement we sign today must include ironclad security measures that will protect the State of Israel.
 
Here comes that paradox again.
 
Israel is powerful but small. No matter where our final borders are drawn, Israel will remain exceedingly small. I am not sure you know how small Israel is. The United States and Canada are each roughly 400 times the size of Israel and the Arab world is 500 times the size of Israel. Egypt alone is roughly 40 times larger and even a small country like Jordan, our neighbor to the east, is almost four times as big. Israel is bigger than Rhode Island, but that’s about it.
 
Small countries are not necessarily insecure. Belgium and Luxemburg are small but they today are not insecure. Yet if their neighbors included radical regimes bent on their conquest and destruction with terror proxies firing thousands of missiles on their people, believe me, they would feel insecure. Anyone would. Because of our small size and the radical and violent neighborhood in which we live, Israel faces security threats like that of no other nation.
 
A few facts to drive the point home.
 
A few days ago, the Israeli navy interdicted a ship carrying hundreds of tons of rockets and explosives from Iran bound for Hizbullah via Syria. Last week, Hamas tested a rocket with a range of nearly 40 miles. Now, for a large country, that might not be too consequential. But in tiny Israel, Hamas and Hizbullah now have the power to reach Tel Aviv. Israel’s security therefore requires that any territory vacated in a future peace agreement must be effectively demilitarized.
 
An effective demilitarizion of Palestinian areas is an essential component of peace recognized by successive American presidents. I want to assure you Israel is willing to make great concessions for peace. But there can be no concessions on Israel’s security. We have to ensure that weapons do not flow into the Palestinian areas in the West Bank, which overlooks Tel Aviv and surrounds Jerusalem.
 
We cannot permit another Gaza or South Lebanon in the heart of the country. What we want is a durable peace, a peace that can be defended. We fervently hope that such a peace will hold, but we must be prepared to defend ourselves in case it doesn’t.
 
The UN report on Gaza, which falsely accuses Israel of war crimes for legitimately defending itself against real war criminals, in effect seeks to deprive us of the right of self-defense. This report must be firmly rejected.
 
We are proud of the Israeli Defense Forces. We are proud of our sons and daughters who are defending our country every day. We know that our army, Israel’s army, is as moral as any army on earth. In supporting the IDF and rejecting this report you’re sending a message to terrorists that they cannot get away with firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians. And you do something else. You support peace. For only an Israel that can defend itself is an Israel that can take further risks for peace.
 
I thank President Obama for resolutely opposing this twisted UN resolution. I applaud the overwhelming vote last week in the American Congress condemning this biased report. I know there are many Canadian friends with us here today. I wish to extend my thanks to Prime Minister Harper for his staunch support for Israel’s right of self-defense.
 
Last week, I watched a joint exercise of the IDF and some 1400 American soldiers to improve Israel’s defense against incoming missiles. I salute these American soldiers, and I thank their President, their Commander in Chief, President Obama for his commitment to Israel’s security. On behalf of the people of Israel, I send my condolences to the American servicemen and women who were killed at Fort Hood last week.
 
My friends,
 
My government is working to advance peace and we are not just talking. We have removed hundreds of security checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank. I personally extended the hours of operation on the Allenby Bridge and I’ve removed bureaucratic hurdles to Palestinian economic development.
 
These efforts, along with measures taken by the Palestinian Authority to improve security, have spurred an unmatched boom in the West Bank and has made life better for ordinary Palestinians. For the first time in years, businesses, banks and industry are sprouting. Restaurants, theaters, and shopping malls are overflowing. Thousands and thousands of Palestinian jobs are being created.
 
I think we can do a lot more to improve the reality on the ground, and we will. I intend to do a lot more.
 
Prosperity can help advance peace – but only so far. To truly resolve the outstanding issues between us, we must begin and complete peace negotiations.
 
We should not place preconditions for holding talks. Such obstacles to talks were never set in the 16 years of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. From the day my government was sworn in seven months ago, I have been calling for peace negotiations to start.
 
I said I would go anywhere, anytime to advance peace. And no Israeli government has been so willing to restrain settlement activity as part of an effort to re-launch peace talks. So I say today to the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas:  let us seize the moment to reach an historic agreement. Let us begin talks immediately.
 
I know there are many skeptics. I am not one of them. I believe that peace is possible. I know how committed the Israeli people are to peace and how committed I am to make peace. But I need and we need a determined Palestinian partner as well. A partner willing to shoulder the risk and burdens as we are.
 
I believe that with good will and with courageous leadership on both sides, and no less important, with the continued support of the United States, peace can become a reality. We can surprise a skeptical world.
 
Achieving peace is a great challenge facing Israel. At the United Nations in September, I spoke of another great challenge: preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. The Iranian regime tyrannizes its own people, sponsors and supplies terrorism, and openly pledges to wipe Israel off the map. Imagine how much more dangerous this regime would be if it had atomic bombs.
 
The responsible members of the international community must unite to prevent this grave threat to the peace of the entire world. I support President Obama’s continued efforts toward these ends, and I appreciate the firm position taken by the leading European countries. We must not succumb to the Iranian regime’s deceit and cunning. We must stand together to stop Tehran from realizing its nuclear ambitions.
 
In addition to achieving peace and preventing a nuclear Iran, there is a third momentous challenge before us – reducing the world’s dependence on oil. This would help cleanse our world after more than a century of industrial pollution. It would help our economies by decreasing our dependence on depleting resources. And it would end the massive transfer of wealth to some of the world’s most odious exporters of terrorism and fanaticism.
 
Here’s the question: can we dramatically reduce our dependence on oil?
 
Remember, sometimes, one or two inventions can change centuries of habit. For many centuries, salt was highly valued for preserving food. Caravans of camels carried it across the deserts, and it was nearly worth its weight in gold. The salt trade helped build economic empires, and the world’s dependence on salt showed no signs of slackening. But then came two inventions: canning and refrigeration. Virtually overnight, salt lost its immense value. The same thing may happen to oil. Scientific and technological breakthroughs could dramatically reduce the world’s dependence on petroleum. And Israel could play an important role in making that happen.
 
You know, of course, about our high-tech companies and venture capital funds, our engineers and scientists, our patents and our Nobel laureates. In biotech and agro-tech, in solar energy and desalination, and in many other fields, Israeli innovation is transforming the way we live.
 
Two perceptive writers recently wrote a book called, “The Start-Up Nation”. We are the start-up nation. Now we must use our minds to help achieve breakthroughs in the field of clean energy. For example, Israel could apply its unique expertise to the juncture of water and energy. The global need for water is rapidly increasing. Yet, a third of the cost of producing clean water is energy. Sea-water in abundance can be readily desalinated with solar power and channeled inland. Having mastered both of these technologies, Israel can make a decisive contribution to alleviating water shortages around the world, especially in the growing economies of Asia and the parched expanses of the Middle East.
 
I am in the process of establishing a national commission that will bring together Israel’s finest scientists, businessmen and engineers. We hope to work with other governments and experts to dramatically reduce our dependence on oil in the next decade, providing an example to be emulated by the rest of the world. If we could cross the oceans, fly the skies, and reach the moon, we should be able to harness water, wind and sun to power our world.
 
My friends,
 
I know that these three enormous challenges – achieving peace, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and developing alternative energies – seem daunting.
But I want you to remember another mission whose success seemed completely implausible when Theodore Herzl embarked on it over a century ago.
 
The challenges confronting Herzl’s vision of a Jewish state were not less than overwhelming. Most of the world’s Jews lived in Europe and had no intention of moving to the barren land of their forefathers. Few saw the clouds gathering on the horizon. Fewer still saw the need for action. But with a clear plan and a prophetic sense of urgency, Herzl helped the Jewish people overcome their tragic condition of powerlessness. His implausible idea gathered so much force that within a few decades our people emerged from the worst massacre in history to establish an independent state in our ancestral homeland. And then our small people then dedicated itself to the great task of building a modern Jewish state.
   
In an understandable moment of frustration, Herzl lamented, “The tragedy of the Jewish people is that we do not believe in ourselves.” But Herzl did not lose faith. He said, “We are strong enough to form a state.” “We possess all the human and material resources for this purpose.”
 
“If we will it,” he famously said, “it is no dream.”
 
My friends,
 
We have learned from history that if the Jewish people are united and determined, if we harness our hopes and our dreams, the hardest tasks are within our reach.
 
We are a small people but a great people; a people generous enough to pave a path toward a lasting peace; a people brave enough to thwart the dangers that confront us; and a people creative enough to once again help steer humanity towards a better future for all.

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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Adams, author of ‘From Ghetto to Ghetto’ relates his journey

By Yvonne Greenberg

LA JOLLA, California — In  From Ghetto to Ghetto: An African American Journey to Judaism, Dr. Ernest H. Adam’s new book, he movingly describes his childhood living with his family in squalor in a basement apartment  in Harlem, his coming of age during the Black Power Era as a young adult, and his journey to Judaism.  He converted to Conservative Judaism, fittingly had a Bar Mitzvah at age 50 on Martin Luther King’ Jr.’s birthday, and converted to Orthodox Judaism four years ago.

The 62 year-old Adams, who earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from Columbia University and his law degree  from New York University, delivered a serious lecture sprinkled with humor at the JCC on November 8th as part of the San Diego Jewish Book Fair.

Adams, his mom (who became a Jehovah’s Witness), dad, and two sisters lived in The Basement, which was also inhabited by mice, roaches, leeches, and had leaking pipes.  It had a putrid smell because it was where garbage was dumped.  As bad as The Basement was as a place to live, his parents always tried to keep it clean and livable.

He spoke of first encountering racism at the tender young age of 10 during the Jim Crow Era, when, craving a hamburger, he was unable to enter a White Castle restaurant because, as the sign outside warned, “Whites Only.”   He retrospectively determined that the assassination of JFK, which occurred when he was 17, had a profound impact on him.  He went to an Automotive Trades High School, which he admittedly had no interest in. In fact, his teachers told his parents that he was too intelligent for that school.  After high school he went to work on Wall Street and sported a large afro and wore dashikis to emphasize his Black identity.

He was admitted to NYU as an undergraduate, where he suffered “an intellectual crisis of confidence,” because he felt he was unprepared academically even though he did well in the required courses for the university. 

At  NYU Law School, he met Meyer Goldstein, with whom he became good friends. Like all good relationships, Adams’ and Goldstein’s friendship  flourished  because of a mutual capacity to listen and hear, but not judge. His friend’s father, Rabbi Baruch Goldstein, survived Auschwitz but his family perished in the Holocaust.  “I could see that Blacks in the United States were subject to the biological theory of race,  just like the Jews were subject to such a theory in Germany during the time of  Hitler.” 

Adams attended Friday night dinners with the Goldsteins “but I couldn’t understand why they had to light the candles and not just turn on the lights.”   The rabbi treated Adams like a son, once telling him “even if I had another child I couldn’t do any better.”

Two of  his Jewish friends warned him that Orthodox  Judaism was racist and rigid, but he discovered that to be untrue, and found the Orthodox to be very welcoming to him. 

Adams believes the Torah is the heart of being a  Jew and persuasively made the case during his lecture that God’s helping the Israelites was the first example of affirmative action. 

During his initial conversion to Judaism from being a “stone cold atheist,” the Rabbi asked Adams whether he had been circumcised.  When he replied yes, the Rabbi responded, “Thank goodness!” “In 2005, he converted to Orthodox Judaism.  He has visited Israel eight times and has always been well-received there.

Q and A

Why did you chose Judaism when there are other universal religions?

“The Goldsteins opened the door to me.  I attended many life cycle events where I got to see Jews up-close- and-personal and these encounters destroyed myths that I had about Jews and Judaism.   There is no rational reason why I chose Judaism.  I  just did.”

In a personal interview he clarified that he belongs to both Conservative and Orthodox synagogues.

He is married to Karen Ruth Sander, a white, Jewish-born  Reconstructionist, who at first felt uncomfortable attending the Orthodox services because she didn’t understand Hebrew, but really liked the people.  They had a child together, Eliot Akiva Adams, who will be two years old next month.

Adams stressed that they both make compromises with regard to Judaism, except that Adams  insists on a kosher kitchen.

Valley Center History Museum receives Salomon papers

VALLEY CENTER, California (Press Release)—The personal papers of former United Nations Ambassador Irving Salomon, who lived much of his life as a diplomat, rancher and philanthropist in this northern San Diego County community, have been donated by his family to the Valley Center Historical Society which has established the Salomon Archive.

Hundreds of documents, letters, photographs and memorabilia will be housed in a permanent archive at the Valley Center History Museum, and will be available for use by historians, scholars and researchers, said Museum President William Hutchings.

“We are fortunate that Colonel Salomon and his family retained documents spanning some 75 years, and are honored that they selected Valley Center to house this remarkable collection,” said Hutchings.  Most of the material had been in care of Col. Salomon’s daughter, former San Diego City Councilmember Abbe Wolfsheimer Stutz, who grew up in Valley Center. 

Col. Salomon retired in 1945 after a successful career a Midwestern industrialist, and moved to Valley Center where he bought a 2,300-acre ranch and began a new life as a rancher raising prize-winning Herefords, Hampshires and quarter horses.

It was as a diplomat, however, that Salomon earned an international reputation. He accepted an appointment from President Eisenhower to become a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations where he held rank as Ambassador.  He served the U.N. in a host of other capacities and, at one time, was given the rank of Under-Secretary.  Until shortly before his death in 1979 at age 81, he had traveled worldwide as a United Nations representative and as a U.S. State Department emissary on worldwide missions.

During his tenure with the U.N. Col. Salomon worked with dozens of world class leaders and often invited them to visit his Valley Center ranch.  First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Eisenhower were among many who were hosted by Salomon and his wife, Cecile.  Motion picture celebrities would often join the family at their home.

Widely respected as a humanitarian and philanthropist, Salomon was honored in 1972 by Pope Paul VI for distinguished and notable achievements. It marked the first time that a Pope had conferred Knighthood on a layman of the Jewish faith.

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Preceding provided by the Valley Center History Museum

Which was more important to Jewish history—Holocaust or creation of Israel?

By Arnold Flick 

LA JOLLA, California–In March this year, President Obama, while in Egypt, addressed the Muslim world. In speaking of Israel, he in essence described the founding of Israel as an event proceeding from the Holocaust. The Zionist community, both here and in Israel, has been very upset by this description and has responded that the State of Israel was on track for rebirth both before and regardless of the Holocaust.  

This has long been a point of interest to me. Thus for some years now I have asked individual Jews which do they think is the more important event in Jewish history during the 20^th Century: the Holocaust or the founding of the State of Israel. While recognizing that this is not a scientific poll, the responses have been illuminating.

My very act of posing the question has elicited responses. “Why do you want to know?” “It’s a meaningless question.” “What are you getting from this?” “Whose side are you on?”  Almost no one has said “That’s an interesting question.”  And with respect to this latter, remember, I have only posed this question to Jews, a people who find most questions interesting.

Answers have been of three main categories. The most frequent answer from the American non-Israeli Jews has been the Holocaust, often, but not always, followed by the remark, that without the Holocaust there would not be an Israel. Some have refused to answer.

The near universal answer from Israeli friends, without an apparent need to explain, has been Israel.

And of course, there is more. Those Jews whom I know to be on the far left politically have answered, without exception, “the Holocaust.”Jews whom I know to be on the political right, usually, but not always, have said “Israel.” Reform Jews have almost always said the Holocaust, conservatives lean to saying Israel, but not always. Jews identifying themselves as Zionists strongly lean to saying Israel. Myself being secular, I know very few Orthodox and have not had the opportunity to ask them.

In his speech in Cairo, President Obama gave a “Holocaust” answer to this question. As is known, President Obama has a circle of Jews close to him and these are, almost by definition, on the political left. Thus, to me, this particular answer in Obama’s speech, written as it likely was by someone close to the Jewish liberals surrounding the President, reflects the near unanimity of the political left in selecting the Holocaust. So in his speech citing the Holocaust, it may have been his Jewish advisors’ voice rather than his own. 

I think the question touches something fundamental in the Jew who identifies himself as Jewish: it relates to his personal definition of what makes a Jew. It does not take much reading in Jewish diaspora periodicals to know that “What is the minimum that makes a Jew?” is a question under debate. “Born of a Jewish mother, born of a Jewish parent, calling oneself Jewish without being of any other religion” are among the prevalent answers. Formal observance or a belief in G-d are not frequent answers to this question, nor is Bar or Bat Mitzvah. For men, a circumcision is required by most, but not by all. In short, there is an obvious spectrum of answers to this fundamental question, not only from the scholars, but from the man on the street as well.          

Many current far-left Jews, including some of my cousins, are the progeny of even farther left parents. The parents selected Yiddish over Hebrew, maybe Birobidjan over Israel, Workmen’s Circle over Zionism. When Stalin’s murderous anti-Semitism could no longer be overlooked, an ideological hole opened deep within the core of the parent. The Holocaust filled that hole, and became the central tenant of Judaism for the parents and their children. The child has now found his way into the arts, media, and social studies and continues to promote, now from a powerful lectern, this, i.e, his parents, core view of being Jewish. So his answer is the “Holocaust” as the seminal event of the Jewish history in the 20^th Century.

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Flick is a freelance writer based in San Diego