Jewish website to facilitate birthday and Holy Day greetings for Gilad Shalit
NEW YORK (Press Release)–The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has launched a national campaign on behalf of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in 2006 and held incommunicado since.
A central feature of the mobilization is a new web site, which will provide people across the United States, in Israel and around the world, a vehicle to express their solidarity with Gilad, who marked his 24th birthday on August 28th and his fifth in captivity. The site also is a means to urge continued efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to press Hamas to allow the ICRC to visit Gilad to ascertain his conditions of detention and treatment in compliance with international law.
Individuals can submit a birthday or Jewish New Year greeting to Gilad directly through the giladgreetings web site or they can mail a personal card to the Conference of Presidents, which will deliver all the cards and greetings to the ICRC to be transferred to Gilad, who has been held in total isolation since he was kidnapped across Israel’s border.
Giladgreetings also features an original moving video and song about Gilad’s plight. The site also has background information, a special message from Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, links to Congressional resolutions on Gilad’s behalf and other items.
As part of the initiative, a 30-second video ad will be shown four times per hour daily between August 30th and September 5th on the hi-def digital billboard on the W Hotel at 47th Street in Times Square. Individuals can call the toll-free number 888-866-9697 to listen to an excerpt of the song that accompanies the video.
Tens of thousands of people across the United States, in Israel and around the world are expected to visit www.giladgreetings.org and to send electronic as well as printed messages to Gilad. “The Conference of Presidents will demand that Hamas allow the ICRC to deliver the messages to Gilad in accordance with international law,” said Conference of Presidents Chairman Alan P. Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.
“The cards also call attention to the fact that Hamas has refused repeated requests to allow the exchange of Red Cross messages between Gilad Shalit and his family. Many organizations have responded to the call and are reaching out to their members and affiliates to participate,” they added
“We appreciate and thank anyone who is willing to help our son Gilad and call for his immediate release,” said Noam Shalit.
Printed greetings can be sent to Gilad in care of the Conference of Presidents, 633 Third Ave., 21st Floor, New York, NY 10017. Cards also may be dropped off in specially-designated mailboxes at participating JCCs around the country, or at various Magen David Adom locations in Israel. A list of participating JCCs can be obtained from the Conference of Presidents. Each location will post a photo of Gilad and tell his story, further raising public awareness of his plight.
The electronic birthday greeting says, “We join with countless people of every faith and background in the U.S., Israel and around the world in marking your 24th birthday and recommitting ourselves to seek your freedom and reunification with your family.”
The electronic Rosh Hashana/New Year greeting says, “As Jews the world over gather to usher in the New Year, we reaffirm our commitment to you. The clarion call of the shofar reminds us of our obligations and responsibilities. We will raise our voices and do everything possible to gain your freedom. We pray that the New Year 5771 will see you reunited safely with your family and people in Israel.”
“As we approach Rosh Hashana, let us remember our responsibility to raise our voices and do everything possible to gain Gilad’s freedom, and to offer strength to his family until they are reunited with their son and brother,” said Solow and Hoenlein.
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Preceding provided by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
The Obama Administration miscalculates in Lebanon
By Shoshana Bryen
Shoshana Bryen
WASHINGTON, D.C–When Congress withheld U.S. military assistance to the Beirut government after Lebanese Army Forces (LAF) fired into Israel, Iran announced that it would pick up the slack. Tehran already supplies Hezbollah through Syria – a process improved, according to European sources, by a new Iranian agreement with Turkey not to block Hezbollah-bound shipments through its territory. Iran would thus become a supplier to both the Lebanese government and the Lebanese government-approved Hezbollah militia. One of those is considered by the U.S. government to be a terrorist organization.
But such is the fear of Iran in the Obama Administration that State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters never mind what Congress says. “I think that the statements by Iran are expressly the reason why we believe that continuing support to the Lebanese government and the Lebanese military is in our interest…Hezbollah is a fact within Lebanese society and much of our effort in supporting the Lebanese military is in fact the very professionalization that we think helps mitigate that risk.”
Crowley appears to be saying U.S. aid to the LAF will enable Lebanon to work against Hezbollah and Iran, and withholding aid would “force” Lebanon to turn to its “enemy” Iran. Evidence, please, because we find Lebanon to be acting out of weakness or affinity as an ally of Iran right now – in spite of our aid or because of it. There is no Lebanese effort to close the Syria-Lebanon border by which Iran provides increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah. There is increasing evidence that the LAF warns Hezbollah of UNIFIL activity and shares intelligence and weapons. There was even a report by a generally reliable source that Iranian intelligence and commando operatives visited southern Lebanon in August in the company of the LAF.
It is simply an American illusion that when Lebanon (or the Palestinian Authority, for that matter) takes American aid, it accepts American conditions. Crowley said, “We place conditions…and there are similar conditions in terms of how Israel is able to use the assistance we provide them… Nothing that we do is condition-free.” Really?
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr announced that Lebanon would accept no conditions on U.S. military aid that precluded its use against Israel, adding gratuitously or honestly that the LAF soldier who opened fire on the IDF was acting on orders. The Palestinians have similarly asserted that they will use their American military training as they wish, and we believe them.
Our greatest concern is that it appears to take only the threat of Tehran to make American officials jump to prop up what it hopes/wishes was a friend, throwing rational assessment to the wind.
The government in Beirut is not a single entity and not an independent one. Hezbollah sits in the Cabinet as well as in the south with its private army. Syria, once ousted by Lebanese democrats who believed in the Bush freedom revolution, is back now – and Syria is being courted assiduously by the Obama Administration even as it solidifies its ties to Tehran and an increasingly Islamist Ankara. We’re sorry for the Lebanese, but we have little hope that its future will be independent, multicultural and/or pro-Western.
The Obama Administration would do well not to supply it – or the Palestinians – with the ability to hurt our real friend and ally, Israel, just because Tehran blusters.
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Bryen is senior director of security policy of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Her column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, longtime JINSA supporter and national board member.
The Jews Down Under~Roundup of Australian Jewish News
Garry Fabian
Compiled by Garry Fabian
Major refurbishment for Jewish Hospital
SYDNEY, 25 August – After two years of renovations, a refreshed Wolper Jewish Hospital was opened by Governor of NSW Marie Bashir earlier this month.
The hospital now includes a state-of-the-art physiotherapy centre, an enlarged hydrotherapy pool and conversion of all rooms to private with full ensuite facilities.
The rehabilitation unit has been enlarged as well to accommodate more patient beds.
Federal Member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Health Minister Jillian Skinner and local mayors also attended the opening.
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The Israel – Australia MDA Connection
MELBOURNE, 25 August – Magen David Adom (MDA) Victoria will launch its annual appeal next week with the help of the organisation’s Israeli blood bank director, Professor Eilat Shinar.
Prof Shinar arrived in Australia this week to address gatherings on the Gold Coast and in Sydney, before launching the Victorian appeal next Saturday night.
Director of the MDA blood bank since 2007, Prof Shinar specialised in haematology at Hadassah Medical Centre before spending a number of years at Harvard.
“I am a passionate person. Studying and practising medicine gave me the possibility to work with people and hopefully to be able to treat them and help them overcome severe illnesses and pain,” she said ahead of her trip to Australia. “Although I loved my work at Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, working as the director of MDA blood services opened an even more challenging and interesting field.”
While in the country, Prof Shinar will also address school groups and meet with her
counterparts at the Australian Red Cross.
“Of course, I am hoping to learn from our peers in Australia. Israel has, unfortunately, accumulated much experience on the subject of preparedness and response to man-made disasters. We can and will share our experience in the
management of a national blood supply under these conditions,” she said.
It won’t be the professor’s first visit Down Under.
“I actually visited Australia 10 years ago when participating in a meeting of the Australian Society of Haematology in Perth and gave a lecture to the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Canberra,” she explained.
“I was overwhelmed by the excellent and lovely people I met everywhere [and] the very interesting nature. I hope to get more of both during my present visit to your lovely continent.”
MDA Victoria is appealing for funds to equip all mobile intensive care units in Israel with defibrillators. This will help increase the survival rate of heart attack patients from 55 per cent to 70 per cent.
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What’s in a name?
MELBOURNE, 25 August – Barristers presented evidence in the Supreme Court of Victoria this week during a civil trial over the naming rights of Melbourne’s Sassoon Yehuda Sephardi synagogue.
The trial was called to settle a dispute between the Sephardi Association and the estate of the late Albert Sassoon Yehuda, one of the shul’s founders.
Legal action was launched last year by the estate, which claimed Yehuda was entitled to naming rights to the centre in perpetuity, based on donations from the founder and later his estate.
The centre was recently renamed the “Lyndi and Rodney Adler Sephardi Centre”, after the Adlers were approached for a donation.
A sum of $150,000 was donated by the Sydney-based couple in exchange for naming rights to the centre, with the synagogue itself continuing to be known as Sassoon Yehuda.
The action was brought by solicitor Dan Horesh, Yehuda’s nephew, and the estate’s executor, who in May this year failed in his bid for an injunction against a sign displaying the new name.
A loan for an undisclosed amount was forgiven by the estate due to the centre’s financial difficulties, and the centre is currently carrying another loan from the estate.
Early this week, in the opening phase of the trial before Justice Peter Almond, Yehuda estate’s barrister, David Sharp, and barristers for the Sephardi Association, Henry Aizen and Daniel Aghion, presented documents.
The lawsuit by the estate named the Sephardi Association, its former president Donald Lelah and its former vice-president Danny Jaffe, as respondants.
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Hakoah-Maccabi top honours
SYDNEY, 24 August – Hakoah-Maccabi won its NSW Division One Youth League minor premiership when the under-15 team smashed Mt Druitt 6-0 last week.
Hakoah-Maccabi club chairman Jon Marcuson said he never dreamed of winning a minor premiership three years ago when the team joined the elite state-wide competition.
“It was unimaginable that we could take an ESFA [Eastern Suburbs Football Association] team and train them up significantly so they could win a minor premiership in a state rep comp,” Marcuson said.
Marcuson, Peter Grunfeld and Mick Vasin were the driving forces when the idea of a youth league was first touted for the club.
It was designed to give Jewish footballers the opportunity to play in a high quality competition.
“This is such a big achievement that everything else pales into insignificance because these are Jewish shleppers against the best of the state and we are smashing them every week.
“This minor premiership has been driven by the players. They are the ones that want training before school and they are the ones who have made the difference.”
The team dedicated the minor premiership to the memory of its former coach, Ian Gray.
The entire team was close to the coach, who died earlier this year, and six of the boys Robbie Ezekial, Justin Malek, Brad Karpin, Gilad Schwartz, Jared Engelman and Gareth Milner were ushers at his funeral.
“We all lost a great friend and mentor in Iggy but to the boys he was a true hero.
“For them to overcome Iggy’s passing, bounce back and actually go on and win the minor premiership is an amazing achievement and a credit to Iggy and every one of the boys.”
The team sealed the minor premiership and extended its lead to five points over
second-placed Stanmore with a 3-1 victory against Hills Brumbies on Saturday afternoon.
Hakoah’s under-15 team has now earned a rest and a second chance. The side will play the winner of this weekend’s qualifying final, between Stanmore and Fraser Park, next week.
While it was all smiles for the under-15 team, the under-18 team was knocked out of the finals race by fifth-placed Mt Druitt.
The team finished in sixth position on the ladder, two points outside the top-five, after they lost to Mt Druitt, 2-1, last Thursday.
In the last game of the season on Saturday, the Maccabi-Hakoah side defeated Hills 2-0, but because Mt Druitt won its final game of the season 3-0 against Fraser Park, the team missed out on the finals.
Coach Steve Lawrence said it was a tough end to the season.
“As far as the team goes, it’s the best season that I’ve had with Hakoah, but it was very frustrating to go so close and then not make the finals,” Lawrence said.
“As a coach, though, I didn’t achieve what I wanted to, which was making the semis, so I’m pretty disappointed.”
In other results the under-13 team lost to Hills 4-0, the under-14 team lost 3-1 and the under-16 team won 3-1.
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Kosher sex on the small screen
MELBOURNE, 26 August – The Jewish approach to sex and marriage featured on the small screen last weekend on the ABC’s Compass program.
As well as investigating Judaism’s take on the subject, the documentary, Sex, Faith and Marriage, explores the sexual nuances of Hinduism and Islam, debunking some misconceptions in the process.
“In a sensitive way, we get to see and learn about the sexual rules of each of these three religions, busting some myths on the way,” director, producer and writer Tracey Spring said of the program.
“Myths such as Jewish people only having sex through a hole in the sheet, or the belief that Muslim women are repressed, or the opinion that all Hindus are sex maniacs because of the Kama Sutra. In actual fact, they are very conservative.”
The Jewish perspective, including the laws of niddah (Jewish laws of separation) and family purity, is presented by mikvah manager Timmy Rubin and her husband Kalman, who met Spring when she visited the mikvah while filming another
documentary about Jewish celebrations for the ABC.
“I really connected with Timmy and I knew that if I ever did more on the subject, I would include her in it,” Spring explained. “I wondered what the rules are in different religions. Many things are taboo and there is a lot that people just don’t like to talk about, so I pitched the idea to my series producer.”
It was a labour of love for Spring, who was born Jewish, but not brought up following any religion.
“Many of the stories I have done have involved a process of self-education about Judaism.
“I am rediscovering all that,” Spring said of her heritage.
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Community anger over Age coverage
MELBOURNE, 26 August – Relations between The Age (a major daily newspaper) and the Jewish community leadership have further soured, amid claims of persistent bias in the newspaper’s reporting on Israel.
To make matters worse, Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) president John Searle said the newspaper’s editor Paul Ramadge appeared unwilling to conduct the most basic communication with the Jewish communal leadership.
A joint statement from Searle and Zionist Council of Victoria (ZCV) president Dr Danny Lamm on August 20, revealed that Searle had not heard back from Ramadge after a telephone message he left with his office on June 4 about the newspaper’s coverage of the Gaza flotilla crisis.
The JCCV and ZCV confirmed on Monday that the phone call, a June 8 letter from the ZCV’s public relations chair Sam Tatarka, and a June 10 letter from Searle had all been ignored by The Age.
Searle had written to Ramadge about his failure to respond to the phone message, advising the editor: “Your attitude bespeaks scant respect for the Jewish community.”
But following an AJN request to The Age this week for a comment, Ramadge responded to the JCCV and ZCV on Tuesday, apologising for the delay.
In last week’s statement, the JCCV and ZCV said The Age coverage of Israel ranged from journalist Michael Backman’s 2009 “smear job” on Israeli backpackers in Nepal, to biased reporting of the flotilla incident, to “the more subtle and insidious”.
As an example, the organisations pointed out the sub-editing of a story from UK paper The Daily Telegraph, in which The Age version changed “Jewish settlements” to “illegal Jewish settlements” and “West Bank” to “occupied West Bank”.
“I think the fact that they take a report from somewhere else and they republish it but add certain words or phrases that further colour the message is an indication of ill intent,” Dr Lamm said.
Searle and Dr Lamm accused the Melbourne broadsheet of “steering its readership to a more anti-Israel position” which has resulted in “legitimising anti-Semitism”.
“We make this statement with regret. However we have spoken to Mr Ramadge on a number of occasions, both privately and in public forums. While he is adept at making the right noises about The Age’s impartiality, his follow-through leaves a great deal to be desired. We believe that The Age’s record speaks for itself. Quite simply The Age is not a friend of our community.”
In a belated response to the JCCV and ZCV, The Age editor Paul Ramadge this week defended his newspaper’s Middle East coverage.
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A Kibbutz in Melbourne?
MELBOURNE, 27 August – The gum trees and burnished paddocks will add a touch of home, the summers might be hotter than Eilat, and the winters might
just feel the slightest bit like Carmiel.
Beyond that, a small group of Israeli families living in Melbourne might have to use their imaginations, and a measure of nostalgia, to conjure up their “kibbutz” experience on a shared property they are planning for Melbourne’s fringe.
Organiser Avi Cohen is determined to push ahead with the lifestyle project, which he hopes will create a better quality of living for his wife and three children, alongside what he hopes will be 40 other families.
The group of Israeli families, which plans to set up a collective living project on the outskirts of Melbourne, convened its first meeting last week, but still has some planning to do before it invests in a parcel of hectares not too far from the big smoke.
They are a mix of professions – engineers, doctors, teachers, computer programmers – all looking for a way to beat the suburban blues and dodge Melbourne’s astronomical real-estate prices.
Eilat-born Cohen, 49, who grew up in Tel Aviv and Arad, has worked in the building industry since arriving in Australia in 1987, so he has some insights into the types of housing the project might need.
Having lived on a moshav, Cohen wants a similar experience for his kids, who attend a Jewish school.
“They’re too much into electronic gadgets. I want them to have more of a social existence after school and I want them to grow up surrounded by greenery.”
He said other Israeli families interested in the idea are also looking to emulate an Israeli lifestyle, which is more spontaneous, social and group-focused. In fact, some Israelis have indicated to him they would like to move here from Israel if they could live in such a development.
Cohen is emphatic that the shared living experiment is not a socialist utopia in the
classic sense of the kibbutz movement.
“Nobody who is interested in this wants to be told how to eat and dress,” he said. “It’s not how kibbutz life is lived in Israel anymore and it’s not what we’re looking for here.”
In fact, the community will need to be within commuting distance of Melbourne, as the intending residents plan to keep working in their professions.
“We want to build our community in an area not that far from the Jewish community – they don’t necessarily have to be Israelis, they can be Jewish Australians,” said Cohen, who has placed a notice in a local Israeli community newspaper.
The group is currently researching subdivision laws to see how feasible their ideas are and plans to farm on their land.
“We want to farm organically, not as a commercial activity, but enough to sustain the residents,” said Cohen.
There have been previous attempts to build a “kibbutz”-style project near Melbourne, and some 600 similar enterprises are operating in the United States.
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Teaching the Teachers
MELBOURNE, 27 August – There is a worldwide shortage of Jewish studies teachers and leaders, according to senior lecturer at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rabbi Dr Howard Deitcher.
In Australia for the Zionist Federation of Australia’s (ZFA) seventh biennial Jewish
educators’ conference last weekend, Rabbi Dr Deitcher said that teacher training and
professional development should be a top priority and more resources should be invested in the area.
“Many communities around the world, like the US, South Africa and Latin America, are investing significant amounts of resources and money on training and ongoing development of teachers. I’m pushing very hard for this country to follow
suit,” he said. “The responsibility lies with both the schools and the wider community. Each [Australian] school really has to compete for the same outstanding teachers and not many young people are going into the area.”
And with more than 300 Jewish educators descending on Melbourne last weekend to examine current issues relevant to Jewish education and engage in professional development, it was a timely call.
ZFA executive director Robbie Franco was pleased with conference proceedings.
“The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive,” Franco said. “You could feel the excitement in the air and a number of people came over saying that it was better than anything before.”
Held at Bialik College, the two-day event involved seven international and more than 20 local guest speakers.
In addition to Rabbi Dr Deitcher, other international visitors included StandWithUs
Diaspora education director Michelle Rojas-Tal, Israel studies expert Scott Copeland, acclaimed Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai and developmental psychologist Dr Naama Zoran. Topics ranged from Hebrew and Yiddish studies to Jewish values and texts, Israel advocacy and informal education.
Franco credited the conference organisers, and cited the calibre of the speakers and breadth of the program as the major successes.
Educators from school teachers to university lecturers and youth movement leaders were called upon for input into the program, and were invited to partake in the two-day event. “It was a holistic effort,” Franco said.
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Three Jewish Amigos in Canberra
CANBERRA, 27 August – For the first time in two decades, three Jewish MPs will sit in Canberra’s Parliament House.
Among the trio will be Josh Frydenberg, who made history at the weekend when he became Australia’s first Jewish Liberal MP in the capital. He will sit opposite Labor MPs Michael Danby and Mark Dreyfus, who held their seats in the closest
election campaign since World War II.
Hundreds of wellwishers gathered at famous pizza restaurant Colombo’s, in the Melbourne suburb of Balwyn, to celebrate Frydenberg’s achievement in the seat of Kooyong.
“I say to everybody in the room, I am humbled by this challenge. I think Tony Abbott has led the Coalition brilliantly and while I will be a proud member of his team, I will be an even prouder member of Kooyong and as your representative,” the Mount Scopus Memorial College graduate said on the night.
Cheers rang out around the restaurant on Saturday evening each time a Liberal won a seat, with the general tone in the room optimistic at the possibility the Coalition could claim overall victory.
“Tonight is a historic night, not just because we won Kooyong, but because we could win nationally,” an emotional Frydenberg announced.
The win has been a long-time coming for the former adviser to then prime minister John Howard and then foreign minister Alexander Downer.
In 2007, the ambitious Frydenberg issued a preselection challenge to the blue ribbon seat’s incumbent, Petro Georgiou, but was defeated.When Georgiou announced he would retire at the 2010 election, Frydenberg worked tirelessly to persuade local Liberal members he should be preselected in the seat and was rewarded after a
vote in the middle of last year.
With a background in international relations, Frydenberg is predicted to take a strong interest in foreign affairs when he arrives in Canberra.
In his acceptance speech on Saturday night, Frydenberg, 39, thanked his fiance Amie Saunders, family, friends and campaign staff for their support and encouragement.
As in many seats around the country, there was a significant swing to The Greens, but Frydenberg won the seat easily. Kooyong, with Sydney’s Wentworth, are the only two Australian seats to have begun at Federation and never gone to the Labor Party.
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Electorate to lose Jewish voters
MELBOURNE, 27 August – Having just been through the rigmarole of one election, it is unlikely voters are looking to the next one. But the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is proposing a move likely to affect many Jewish voters, with the bulk of Melbourne’s Jewish community set to find themselves outside Michael Danby’s electorate.
If the AEC gets its way, voters living in Caulfield North and Caulfield East will move into the Liberal-held seat of Higgins, while South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor will end up in Melbourne Ports.
At the same time, residents of Caulfield South and Glen Huntly would shift into another safe Liberal seat, Goldstein, and Bentleigh, McKinnon and Ormond would be pushed into the safe Labor seat of Hotham.
Danby said the move would likely strengthen Labor’s grip on Melbourne Ports, but would split the Jewish community, going against the AEC’s criteria of not separating a “community of interest”.
“I love representing the Jewish community and I love representing the area,” he said, adding that he would be lodging a formal objection, as would the ALP.
The expert in electoral matters, having sat on the parliamentary committee dealing with the issue, also criticised the AEC over the announcement’s timing. “I’ve very surprised they exercised the discretion to announce all these potential seat changes during the election.”
Kelly O’Dwyer, the Liberal MP for Higgins who is poised to welcome thousands of Jewish voters to her seat, said she would not be lodging an objection. “Obviously, I am thrilled to potentially have more Jewish voters. I will represent all the people of Higgins no matter what the boundaries,” she said.
Every seven years, the AEC is required to look at electoral boundaries to ensure the correct number of voters are in each.
While the changes did not apply to last weekend’s election, an AEC statement said the
redistribution would not be deferred because of the federal election as the status quo could not be maintained.
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Local Media to spread good PR for Israel
SYDNEY, 30 August – An Australian plan to spread good news about Israel via social media will be presented at an upcoming international Jewish conference.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Robert Goot will set out the strategy blueprint to heads of Jewish communities from around the globe when the World Jewish Congress (WJC) governing board holds a two-day summit in Jerusalem from August 31.
The strategy will target younger people who get their news from blogs and popular websites, including Twitter and Facebook.
“It’s no use trying to communicate with people in forms that aren’t foremost in their minds,” Goot said.
Goot, the action plan’s principal author, said it was critical to break through to a generation that has been duped by repeated assertions that Israel is “an apartheid state”.
“It is not, but most young people, even those well disposed, would not know why it is not. They would not be familiar with what apartheid was in South Africa and how that is totally alien to Israel and even the territories.
“Young people know little of Israel’s birth and of its triumphs, such as 1967 [the Six-Day War] and Entebbe [hostage crisis], but have been fed a fairly constant diet of Israel as a pariah nation, an apartheid state, a serial human rights abuser, and the like.
“Unfortunately, young Jews are all too familiar with the accusations, but insufficiently familiar with the rebuttals.”
Describing “delegitimisation” as “a strategic threat to Israel”, he said the action plan would target boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns and aim for closer ties with churches, cultural groups, academia and the media.
Goot was asked to prepare the plan on behalf of the ECAJ, after a WJC strategic review looked into the challenges facing Israel, including “the assault on Israel’s legitimacy”.
The roof body’s leader will present the plan before some 150 Jewish community leaders.
“We’re focusing on building and strengthening alliances and coalitions we have internationally,” Goot said.
Further WJC meetings will discuss how to implement the strategy, which will also involve the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Affairs Office.
Senior Israeli leaders will attend the conference.
Goot added that Australia’s central role in devising the strategy was “a great tribute” to the local Jewish community.
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Fabian is Australia bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World
State Department denounces Ovadia Yosef’s comments about Palestinian leadership
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley on Sunday issued a statement condemning remarks by former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that , in essence, called upon God to strike down the Palestinian leadership.
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Preceding based on statements by the U.S. State Department and a column by Ira Sharkansky.
New CD captures cello and piano performance true to Beethoven’s genius
By Eileen Wingard
Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO–Bridge Records, a new label, has produced some adventurous recordings. In 2007, the company introduced a collection of songs by Sefan Wolpe (1902-1972), an unheralded genius whose lyrics were in German, Yiddish, Hebrew and English.
There followed other Wolpe albums such as a children’s puppet show tale, Lazy Andy Ant. Additional Bridge recordings include the live 1947 Carnegie Hall recital of Nadia Reisenberg
the brilliant Israeli pianist.
A recent release is the complete music for cello and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven performed by Laurence Lesser, cello and Haesun Paik, piano.
Lesser, a protege of the great Gregor Piatigorsky, currently heads the Cello Department of the New England Conservatory and has had a formidable career as a solo and chamber music performer as well as being a distinguished educator.
One could not ask for a more capable pianist for Beethoven’s music than the South Korean native, HaeSun Paik. Not only were the runs articulated like strings of pearls, but her carefully calibrated dynamics shaped the phrases into beautifully expressive entities. Since earlier works were titled for “piano and cello,” where Beethoven himself would perform the piano part, it is essential that these sonatas have the service of fine solo-ability pianists.
Lesser played his 1622 Amati cello with noble sound and beautiful musicality. The opening Twelve Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Oratorio Judas Maccabeus displayed Lesser’s fine lyrical qualities.
In the Sonatas in A Major, C Major and D Major, he demonstrated dramatic passion. Particularly impressive was the final fugue of the D major sonata, performed with exultant mastery by both musicians. These cello sonatas by Beethoven helped elevate the cello to its current importance as a solo instrument.
This complete collection of Beethoven’s cello works is a “must have” for all lovers of string music.
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Wingard, a former violinist with the San Diego Symphony, is a freelance music reviewer based in San Diego.
Laurie Phyllis Wohl sought for 1960 Hoover High’s 50th reunion
Editor, San Diego Jewish World:
I am writing to elicit your help in locating Laurie Phyllis Wohl who was a 1960 graduate at Hoover High School in San Diego. Laurie is the daughter of Elmer Wohl and his wife (cannot recall her name) and older sister to Jonathan. Mr. Wohl worked at General Dynamics in San Diego. The family lived around the corner from us on Bedford Drive in the Kensington area. I recall that they were members of Temple Beth Israel in San Diego. Laurie was planning to enroll at Wellesley College in Massachusetts for the Fall, 1960 term. At that point, as we both left San Diego to attend college, I lost touch with her.
Our high school is going to be celebrating our 50th reunion at the Town and Country Hotel in Mission Valley on November 5, 6, and 7. Laurie was an outstanding student and editor of the school newspaper. We would very much like for her to join us, renew friendships and, if possible, join us for the event.
Thank you most sincerely for any assistance you could provide. Please feel free to provide my name and email address to anyone who might be able to help.
Linda Mohr Crogan
katokat@san.rr.com
Should Pope Pius XII Become a Saint?
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
Fred Reiss
WINCHESTER, California — The Catholic Church has over 10,000 saints and “beati,” or blessed on the roster. Does it really make a difference if there is one more?
The answer is probably not for most rank-and-file Catholics. They already have three saints per day from among whom they can choose for feasting.
It matters to Jews who remember the actions and lack of actions by Eugenio Pacelli, Vatican Secretary of State until 1939, at which time he became Pope Pius XII. Prior to 1963, the world generally viewed Pius XII as a faithful shepherd to his people during a dark period in the world’s history. The liberal-Catholic writer Graham Green characterized Pius XII as, “a pope who many of us believe will rank among the greatest.”
In 1963, Rolf Hochhuth published his play, The Deputy, which condemned Pius XII and the entire Vatican hierarchy for failing to act to save European Jewry from death camps and the atrocities of the Nazis. John Cornwell’s 1999 book, Hitler’s Pope, continued the condemnation of Pius XII for supporting National Socialism and for failing to act on behalf of Jews. Gabriel Wilensky, author of Six Million Crucifixions, argues that Pope Pius XII actions during World War II can be attributed to the belief that he had more to fear from the survival of godless Communism then from the Nazi regime.
Many Jews and non-Jews believe that making Pius XII a saint is a disgrace. In Israeli’s Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, there is a plaque that delineates the perceived anti-Jewish actions of the Pope during the war. The plaque lists such things as the 1933 Concordat with Hitler to preserve the Church’s rights in Germany in exchange for recognizing the Nazi government, pigeon-holing a 1939 letter against anti-Semitism that his predecessor prepared, abstaining from joining the allies’ denunciation of the extermination of Jews, and failing to intervene in the deportation of Jews living in Rome to Auschwitz.
The sainthood of Pius XII certainly matters to the Vatican. Most Catholic scholars have cautioned the Vatican to move slowly with regard to his sainthood. Yet, for the papacy and the church hierarchy there seems to be a need for urgency. According to Celestine Bohlen, Pope Benedict’s December, 2009 decree moving both John Paul II and Pius XII closer to sainthood is filled with Vatican politics. She wrote that, “Benedict had hoped to satisfy both the conservative and the liberal wings of the Catholic Church”. Pope Benedict’s outward position is simple: Pius XII worked quietly and behind the scenes to rescue Jews from the hands of the Nazi war machine. Benedict is also quick to point out that many Catholics risked their own lives to save Jews.
It also matters to the Pave the Way Foundation, whose website declares, “We are a non-sectarian public foundation, which identifies and eliminates non-theological obstacles between the faiths”. From September 15 through 17, 2008 the foundation held a symposium in Rome to examine the papacy of Pius XII. At the conference, lawyers, linguists, researchers and foreign correspondents, priests and nuns, and even a Rabbi met to report on deeds and acts of Pius XII during World War II. In the proceedings, published under the title, Examining the Papacy of Pope Pius XII, the conference examined twelve commonly-held beliefs about the Pope. These beliefs included such things as the Pope was: anti-Semitic, obsessed with atheistic Communism, did not believe that the Church has an obligation to either protect or care for non-Catholics, and should be condemned for signing an agreement with Hitler in 1933. They also responded to the annotations on plaque at Yad Vashem.
The proceedings concluded that “the controversy about Pius has to a large degree been generated by those who ignore his endless efforts over many years to help victims of Hitler.” For example, the proceedings argue that Pius’ Concordant with Hitler occurred before he became Pope and was actually at the direction of his predecessor, Pius XI. There never was a letter opposing anti-Semitism, only drafts. The Pope did protest the deportation of the Jews from Rome to Auschwitz. Cardinal Maglione, his Secretary of State, delivered the first protest and the second was delivered through an assistant to German General Stahel.
Since John Paul II abolished the “devil’s advocate” portion of the canonization process, the question of whether or not Pope Pius XII becomes a saint may be more a result of politics than theology. If it is true that Pius’ strategy to save European Jews was to work behind the scenes, then that strategy failed. That alone should disqualify him.
Thousands of Catholics fall into the category called righteous gentiles, Christians who personally risked their lives and the lives of their families to save Jews. Perhaps they are more qualified for sainthood.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah. The author can be reached through his website, www.fredreissbooks.com.
Judah L. Magnes collection now at UC Berkeley
BERKELEY (Press Release) — The Judah L. Magnes Museum, one of the world’s preeminent collections of Jewish life, culture and history, has a new home at the University of California, Berkeley.
The 10,000-piece collection of precious music, art, rare books and historical archives – part of the Magnes Museum since its founding in 1961 – was transferred to UC Berkeley over the summer. Officials said that the collaboration would “partner a world-class collection with a world-class university, complementing the school’s academic offerings, raising the profile of the Magnes collection, and making it more accessible to scholars.”
The transfer was made possible by gifts totaling $2.5 million over five years from philanthropists Warren Hellman, Tad Taube, and the Koret Foundation.
Support from other Magnes Museum donors and auction of a part of the collection financed the renovation of a building at 2121 Allston Way, in the heart of the city of Berkeley’s arts and commerce district. The 25,000-square-foot space has a lecture room, seminar rooms and a state-of-the art space to exhibit the Magnes’ prints, paintings, photographs, costumes and Jewish ceremonial objects.
The new name of the Magnes Museum is the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at The Bancroft Library.
The Magnes’ Western Jewish History Archives, the world’s largest collection of letters, diaries, photographs and other archival documents relating to the Jewish settlement of the West, moved into The Bancroft Library. Musical manuscripts and sheet music were relocated to the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library.
“We are excited to acquire, steward and grow this precious cultural asset and ensure that it contributes to a much broader vision for our already robust Jewish studies programs at UC Berkeley,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau. “We thank Warren Hellman, the Taube Family, and the Koret Foundation, who have stepped forward to help make this vision possible. We also look to build on the foundation of support created in the last five decades by the many friends of the Magnes Museum who have given generously and made this collection the treasure that it is today.”
The Magnes Collection – considered among the world’s finest holdings of Jewish history and culture – features Hanukkah lamps, Torah ornaments, musical recordings, portraits, modern paintings and sculpture that date as far back as the 15th century. In some cases, long-separated papers of Jewish families will be reunited under one roof at The Bancroft Library.
“The Magnes has been a vital and vibrant part of the cultural life of the Bay Area for almost 50 years,” said Charles Faulhaber, the James D. Hart Director of The Bancroft Library. “There is such a close fit between the Magnes’ Western Jewish Archives and library collections and The Bancroft’s collections on the history of California and the American West that it seems like a match made in heaven.”
The core Magnes collections of Jewish art and ceremonial objects will be more available than ever to the public, Faulhaber added.
“I think that this is the best of both worlds – a new and revitalized Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life as an integral part of The Bancroft, and a prominent physical and programmatic presence at the heart of the Berkeley Arts District,” he said. “What’s not to like?”
That point is echoed by Frances Dinkelspiel, president of the Magnes Board of Directors.
“Moving the Magnes Collection to a new facility in the heart of downtown means it will continue to enhance the cultural life of Berkeley,” Dinkelspiel said. “The partnership with UC will also introduce the collections to a new generation of scholars. The board of the Magnes Museum is delighted that the collection will not only be preserved, but will flourish.”
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Preceding, with some updating, was provided by the University of California Berkeley
Israelis jockey and make speeches as new peace talks approach
By Ira Sharkansky
Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM — As I was still wondering who I was early this morning, I heard the 6 o’clock news report that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef had used his weekly sermon to curse the Palestinians and wish an early death for their leaders. “Abu Mazan and all the other evil ones should perish. May the Lord strike them with a plague, them and all those Palestinians who do evil upon Israel.”
The followers of Rabbi Ovadia view him as a holy man and a genius on the law of Torah. He had a term as the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, was the creator of the ultra-Orthodox party SHAS, and remains its spiritual leader. The pious kiss his hands when they are fortunate enough to get close. Political leaders and those who aspire to leadership seek the opportunity to don skull caps and enter the Rabbi’s rooms for a conference and hopefully a blessing.
The Rabbi is about to celebrate his 90th birthday, and is inclined to murky and outlandish comments. Usually one of his handlers is quick to correct or explain something likely to embarrass the community. So far we have not heard from a handler on these comments, perhaps because they are close to the sentiments of other party leaders.
Some years ago Rabbi Ovadia staked out a position of accommodation with the Palestinians. In order to save Jewish lives, it would be appropriate to make territorial concessions. He has returned to that theme, but more often has expressed himself on the hawkish side of the spectrum. He condemned the withdrawal of settlements from Gaza. Eli Yishai, the leader of SHAS MKs and Minister of Interior, is one of the most outspoken members of the government expressing skepticism about the upcoming talks with the Palestinians, and supporting a resumption of building in Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank.
Explanations of SHAS’s move to the right include the wave of violence that began in 2000, and the recognition of their voters’ tendency to distrust Arab intentions. SHAS supporters tend to be working class Israelis from families that came from North Africa, with memories of Arab hostility and being forced from their homes.
If leaders do not follow their supporters, they risk the loss of leadership.
There is also the matter of housing. Ultra-Orthodox Jews have lots of children, who marry young and have lots of children. Land is limited and expensive in the established ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. When Rabbi Ovadia made his initial comments about territorial concessions to save Jewish lives, there were no ultra-Orthodox settlements in the West Bank. Now there is Betar Ilit and Modiin Ilit, each with tens of thousands of residents and more building underway. Ramat Shlomo is an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in East Jerusalem where plans announced for further construction during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel upset the Obama administration.
There is pessimism in both Israeli and Palestinian communities in advance of the talks scheduled to be celebrated this week in Washington. 88 percent of the 1,751 people who have so far expressed themselves on a question asked by a popular Hebrew language internet site selected, “The conversations are destined to fail and collapse.” 12 percent chose, “The conversations will reach a formulation for a peace agreement.”
The Economist expressed guarded optimism about the talks, but noted that “Hamas is still absent from the table. This means that half of the Palestinian movement would not be party to any deal and will try hard to sabotage one.”
The campaign in behalf of the soldier held captive in Gaza also suggests that the Israeli population is more skeptical than optimistic. There were several days of paid commercials urging people to attend a rally in Jerusalem to mark his fifth birthday in captivity, and organizers hired 70 buses to bring people from all parts of the country. One media report noted that hundreds appeared, several mentioned thousands, and one estimated 6,000. The Israeli metric for a serious demonstration begins at 100,000.
Shalit’s mother used her speech at the rally to call on Sara Netanyahu, recently featured as asking her husband not to deport 400 children of illegal immigrants, to show similar concern for Gilad. Sara responded with a comment that her heart went out to the Shalit family, and that the prime minister worked hard to secure his release. The prime minister has indicated repeatedly that Israel would not pay the price demanded by Hamas as long as it included the release of terrorists likely to engage in further violence if set free.
A back bench member of Knesset expressed the hope that the prime minister would raise the issue of Shalit as part of the peace negotiations with the Palestinians. The journalist interviewing her noted that Shalit was held by Palestinians who opposed the peace process. The MK’s response was something like, “I guess that is a problem.”
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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University
Was the Holocaust the legacy of the Church’s teachings?
Six Million Crucifixions: How Christians Teachings About Jews Paved the Road to the Holocaust by Gabriel Wilensky, Qwerty Publishers, San Diego, CA. ISBN 978-0-984-33467-4, ©2010, $27.95, p. 309, plus appendices. Available in Kindle edition
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
Fred Reiss
WINCHESTER, California–Twenty-two of the highest ranking Nazi Party officials were tried from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946 in Nuremburg, Germany for crimes against humanity. In the Palace of Justice, the site of the trials, a large wooden cross looks down over the four judge’s chairs. Why a cross? Did it represent right’s triumph over might? The victory of good over evil? Did it symbolize the truth that God was on the side of the allies? Gabriel Wilensky, a life-long student of why the Holocaust happened, and author of Six Million Crucifixions, might reply that the cross deflects the truth that the teachings and preachings of Catholicism built the path to the Holocaust.
In part one of his four-part book, Wilensky begins building his case through descriptions of the actions of the early church, the time when Christianity separated itself early from Judaism. The time when early Christians accepted Jesus as the Messiah, whereas mainstream Judaism did not. To make Christianity acceptable to pagans, Saul of Tarsus, who changed his name to Paul, abolished the Jewish dietary laws and male converts no longer needed to be circumcised. In the fourth century, Constantine forbade Jews from seeking converts. The Council of Nicea replaced resurrection, which stood at the heart of Christianity, with crucifixion. As such, the council focused responsibility on the Jews, and from this point forward sermons excoriated Jews, which often led to violent actions against them.
In the second part Wilensky focuses on Christian anti-Semitism. Now that crucifixion is Christianity’s centerpiece, the words in Matthew (27:25), “His blood be on us and on our children,” form the basis of the church’s systematic effort to denounce the Jewish people. The church attacked the Jews through sermons, through discriminatory laws, and with symbols. As examples, a belief emerged in the mid-fifteenth century, that the intermixing of blood (Jews marrying Christians) defiles “old” Christians. Two statues stand at the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. The first, Ecclesia, the church, wears a crown and holds a scepter and the Challis of Christ. The second, Synagoga, is blindfolded. Blind to the knowledge that Jesus is God. A crown lies at her feet. The Jews have been dethroned as God’s people. According to Wilensky, there are over four hundred and fifty anti-Semitic verses in just the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. As often happened, these verses became ground for priests to sermonize and stir Christian against Jewish neighbor.
In Part III, Wilensky notes the similarities between the anti-Jewish actions of the Church and Nazism. The Catholic Church prohibited intermarriage between Jew and Christian (4th century). So did the Nazis. The Church did not allow Jews to hold public office (6th century). So did the Nazis. The Church burned the Talmud and other sacred books (7th century). So did the Nazis. Christians could not patronize Jewish doctors (7th century). So did the Nazis. Jews were distinguished from their Christian neighbors by markings on their clothing (13th century). So did the Nazis. Jews were compelled to live in segregated ghettos (13th century). So did the Nazis. Jews could not obtain academic degrees (15th century). So did the Nazis.
The final part focuses on the actions of the Pope and the Catholic Church during World War II. Wilensky notes the Eugenio Pacelli, first as the Vatican Secretary of State, and later as Pope Pius XII intervened on behalf of Jews who converted to Christianity, but not the Jews. He neither denounced the persecution nor the extermination of the Jews by the Nazi government. He spoke out against the treatment of Polish Christians, but not Polish Jews. He sought clemency for the convicted war criminals. He did not recognize the State of Israel.
Six Million Crucifixions brilliantly explains the anti-Semitic attitude of the Catholic Church and how, over the centuries, its repeated railings against the Jewish people created brutal waves of anger, which led to repeated mass murders of Jews in various locals throughout Europe. More importantly, Wilensky meticulously leads the reader down the Road to Hell, which he unmistakably shows was built by the Catholic Church. If nothing else, Six Million Crucifixions clearly demonstrates that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth!
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah. The author can be reached through his website, www.fredreissbooks.com.
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