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Jewish Journal

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September 21, 2006

Amy Klein’s bibliographical guide for the perplexed

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment, Worldwide /

“To the best of our understanding, God created the universe as an act of love. It was an act of love so immense that the human mind cannot even begin to fathom it. God created the world basically as a vehicle upon which He could bestow His good. But God’s love is so great that any good that He bestows must be in the greatest good possible. Anything less would simply not be enough…. God therefore gave man free will.” — “If You Were God” by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (Mesorah, 1983)
 
“Don’t aim at success — the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the byproduct of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: You have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run — in the long run, I say! — success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.” — “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl (Pocket Books, 1984)
 
“When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives; We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, our meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves; creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.” — “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” by Julia Cameron (Tarcher, 2002)
 
“Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. We were made to have meaning. This is why people try dubious methods, like astrology or psychics to discover it…. When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything; without it, nothing is bearable.” — “The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?” (Rick Warren, Zondervan 2002)
 
“Tradition teaches us that the soul lies midway between understanding and unconsciousness, and that its instrument is neither the mind nor the body, but imagination. I understand therapy as nothing more than bringing imagination to areas that are devoid of it, which then must express themselves by becoming symptiomatic.” — “Care of the Soul: A guide for cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life” by Thomas A. Moore (HarperCollins, 2002).
 
“Many of us go through the rituals of survival with a deeper sense of something greater, or even something smaller. We may crave spiritual insight, or perhaps we yearn for simple pleasures, such as the time to close our eyes and take in the smells of a flower garden, feel the sun shining warmly on our faces, or to relish the comfort of a cozy oversized robe and good novel…. Indulge yourself by prioritizing self-nourishment — everyone benefits when you feel good.” — “The Book of Small Pleasures: 32 Inspiring Ways to Feed Your Body, Soul and Spirit” by Matthew McKay, Catherine Sutker, Kristin Beck (Barnes & Noble, 2001)
 
“God gave us a world that would inevitably break our hearts, and compensated for that by planting in our souls the gift of resilience…. If we could not temporarily put out of our minds some of the painful moments of our past, how would we find the courage to go on? … But if we would not remember, would we still be us? Those painful moments are such a large part of making us who we are….” — “Overcoming Life’s Disappointments” by Harold S. Kushner (Knopf, 2006)
 
“It is a fact that everybody wants happiness and does not want suffering; there is no argument about this. But there is disagreement about how to achieve happiness and how to overcome problems. There are many types of happiness and many ways to achieve them, and there are also many types of sufferings and ways to overcome them. As Buddhists, however, we aim not merely for temporary relief and temporary benefit but for long-term results. Buddhists are concerned not only for this life but for life after life, on and on. We count not weeks or months or even years, but lives and eons.” — “The Meaning of Life” by The Dalai Lama (Wisdom Publications, 1992)
 
“Human beings best qualify themselves for the world to come through a combination of studying Torah and good deeds…. Thus even the belief in the world to come is, in Judaism, a motivator to study Torah and to perform good deeds in this world.” — “To Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach to Modern Social Ethics” by Elliot N. Dorff (The Jewish Publication Society of Philadelphia,
 
2002)“We’ve forgotten that as mere mortals we are meant to search as much as to find. After all, each of us has had only a few decades of what has been a 14-billion-year evolution. We are finite creatures. How could we possibly have access to what is infinite: some all-encompassing Truth about the world or even our True selves? The fact is, there is no issue, large or small, that we can understand fully. When we think we’ve found the final truth, we’re a little less alive, a little less awake, and the world itself is diminished.” — “Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life” by Rabbi Irwin Kula with Linda Lowenthal (Hyperion, 2006)
 
“Judaism has survived 4,000 years, including 2,000 years without a homeland, without the Temple in Jerusalem, without any common geographical location, without support from the outside. Judaism and Jews survived because of the Torah. No matter where they lived, no matter what historical horrors or joys they experienced, the heart of their faith was carried and communicated through the way, the path and the teachings of the Torah.”

Amy Klein’s bibliographical guide for the perplexed Read More »

Genocide survivors turn into lobbyists for Darfur

Leave a Comment / Community, Politics /

Eli Wiesel and George Clooney have spoken out about it. Protesters have rallied against it. Even an online game seeks to draw attention to the ongoing genocide in Sudan’s Darfur.

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Now, a local group is taking a different approach to turning the world’s eyes toward the Sudanese government-sponsored violence that has left hundreds of thousands dead, more than 2 million displaced, villages destroyed and tens of thousands of women beaten and raped.

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Jewish World Watch, a consortium of 44 synagogues in Southern California committed to fighting genocide, has decided that it is time to put a face to the anonymous victims.

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Last week, the group assembled survivors of attempted genocides around the world, including the Holocaust and the mass killings of Bosnians, Cambodians, Armenians and Kurdish Iraqis. Volunteers and survivors boarded a couple of vans and embarked on what they called a “caravan of peace.”

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Timed to coincide with the opening of the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Jewish World Watch arranged for the survivors to meet with diplomats from seven U.N. member countries.

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One group of survivors met with officials from Great Britain, Greece and France in the morning, while another group met with representatives from Spain, Argentina, South Africa and Peru in the afternoon. All the countries but Spain and South Africa are members of the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to make decisions that U.N. member countries are required to carry out.

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As the first group gathered in Brentwood, Janice Kamenir-Reznik, president of Jewish World Watch, reminded the team of its mission.

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The Security Council has authorized the deployment of peacekeepers to Darfur, she explained, but the Sudanese government has refused to accept the troops. The goal for the day, she said, was to ask diplomats, “if Sudan continues to say no, will the United Nations send peacekeepers anyway?”

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“If not, there will be another 100,000 … dead in a few weeks,” Kamenir-Reznik said.

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Lucy Deutsch, a 76-year-old Holocaust survivor who was sent to Auschwitz at age 14, said she was ready for the challenge.

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“I want them to urge their governments to do something with Darfur immediately. Now. Even if they have to jump on their desks in the U.N.,” Deutsch said. “The people in Darfur shouldn’t have the same end that we had in Auschwitz.”

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Deutsch climbed into the van along with Chhang Song, a 67-year-old survivor of Cambodia’s killing fields, and Luqman Barwari, a 44-year-old former refugee from Southern Kurdistan, or northern Iraq.

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Kamenir-Reznik took a seat at the front and had everyone put on green wristbands, which read: Do Not Stand Idly By — Save Darfur.

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The group’s first stop: the British consulate. In the lobby, Kamenir-Reznik said she believed the day’s work would make a difference.

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“Advocacy involves taking many different strategies at the same time,” she said. “I don’t feel at all demoralized. I really believe … everything you do will build upon everything else.”

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And then, there they were, face-to-face with British Vice Consul Angus Mackay.
“Here we have the different faces of genocide from the past 100 years,” Kamenir-Reznik told him. “Not only were they victims of horrible governments,” she said, “but they were also victims of the world standing by.”

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The survivors introduced themselves and told their stories. “Auschwitz and Darfur are melting together in my mind,” Deutsch said.

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“It’s about time to take out the English hammer and knock some sense into the U.N. to act immediately,” she said.

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Mackay promised to relay the group’s concerns to Washington and London. He said he would do some research and send along the British government’s latest policy statements about Darfur.

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So far, so good, the group concluded, and it was on to the next meeting, at the Greek consulate. Consul General Dimitris Caramitsos-Tziras greeted the group warmly and spoke with a sense of resignation, or perhaps, realism.

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“The trouble spots around the world are growing in number, and so the demand for help is also growing,” he said. The high-demand has become “a serious strain on human resources.” Although Greece holds the presidency of the Security Council this month, “one country alone cannot influence the balance in a high-powered body like the Security Council,” he said.

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Still, the diplomat took notes. He, too, pledged to pass along the group’s message “to the authorities” and respond with feedback.

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“We’re listening,” he said, “and hopefully, we’ll be acting.”

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For Kamenir-Reznik, a promise to listen and relay the message was enough. But Holocaust survivor Deutsch expressed frustration.

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“I am not a politician nor a diplomat,” she said, “but if I would be a U.N. member, you would hear my voice screaming, not just talking.”

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Where were the strong, impassioned words she wanted to hear? Why was no one screaming?

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Finally, it was time to meet with a diplomat from France, a country that, like the United Kingdom, holds a permanent seat on the Security Council.
Francois-Xavier Tilliette, deputy consul general, welcomed the group into his office.

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“France is very concerned,” Tilliette said. “We need an urgent solution…. We must not turn a blind eye to this crime against humanity.”

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Deutsch smiled. “He used the words I wanted to hear,” she said after the meeting.

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The morning’s work complete, the group offered its reflections on the day. “I would give up a week of work for this,” said the Kurdish Barwari, a scientist at Amgen.

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“If we can save one person,” Deutsch said, “we’ve achieved our goal.”

Genocide survivors turn into lobbyists for Darfur Read More »

Direct Hezbollah rocket hit leaves Israeli/Arab ‘peace school’ in pieces

Leave a Comment / Education, Israel, Kids & Teens, Worldwide /

The one school in Acre that took a direct hit from a rocket during the war happens to be the only school in the city that serves both Jewish and Arab pupils — the el-Mahaba (“love” in Arabic) kindergarten for mentally and emotionally handicapped kids.

 

Direct Hezbollah rocket hit leaves Israeli/Arab ‘peace school’ in pieces Read More »

Controverisal Israeli security approach takes flight in U.S.

Leave a Comment / Travel /

The changes were inevitable. The Sept. 11 hijackers used box cutters as weapons, so box cutters were banned. Richard Reid smuggled explosives onto an American Airlines plane in his shoes, so passengers were ordered to remove their shoes for screening. The recent London air terror plot was predicated on liquid explosives, so now almost all liquids are forbidden, too.

 

Controverisal Israeli security approach takes flight in U.S. Read More »

L.A. ghetto fantasy emerges from visit to Israel

Leave a Comment / California, Israel, Opinion /

My mother was worried sick that her son was about to visit Israel at a time when Hezbollah rockets were raining down indiscriminately. To me, the danger seemed comparatively negligible.

My mom lives in San Diego. She had no idea that in the two weeks prior to my trip abroad, gang shootings had claimed three lives on the street where I lived in West Los Angeles. I would probably be safer anywhere but in my own L.A. neighborhood, where a gang war could erupt at any time.

I embarked on the Anti-Defamation League’s Campus Editors Mission to Poland and Israel in August, very excited and willing to learn about anti-Semitism. Perhaps, the most powerful experience for me about trip was when we visited the death camps in Auschwitz and Birkenau. I’d watched many Holocaust movies and seen tons of photographs related to the Nazi atrocities, but to actually visit the site where millions of people were marched to their death was something entirely different.

It was just like comparing the effect of listening to a rap song about mothers crying over dead gang members that used to be their innocent children, to being 9 years old, hidden in a bathroom with your cousins, crying because a mob of angry men with guns are trying to bust in through your front door. The trip made the stories real.

I wished I could take a group of college newspaper editors on a trip to the kinds of places I grew up in.

I could just hear the guide:

“Welcome to Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles, otherwise known as the Slauson ghetto. This street is one of the strongholds of the Culver City Boyz, a gang of approximately 800 mostly Chicano males. The housing projects, which you can see to your left, were recently attacked by the Venice 13 gang, and two members of Culver City were shot and killed. A war has been declared between the two gangs.”

The tourists then take pictures of the large graffiti letters, “CE X CE,” on a wall, which marks the territory of the Culver City gang.

“Now, if you follow me and look to your right, you’ll see a picture of a young man and boy on the sidewalk surrounded by flowers, candles and wooden crosses. The man, age 18, was a Culver City gang member who was shot down last week. The boy, age 9, was caught in the crossfire while riding his bike.”

I’ll have the man’s younger sister talk to the group. She’ll tell them about how she held him in her arms for an hour while he bled to death, until the ambulance finally came and hauled his lifeless body away. The police investigation: gang-related murder; case closed.

After the tours, I’ll organize interactive plays about domestic abuse, about families in which the most responsible person is just an alcoholic, and, just for fun, I’ll enroll them in a school where the main lesson is that they are nothing but potential criminals whose brightest hope of a future is not being welfare recipients.

If some of the participants get testy and refuse to accept this, their classmates will be ordered to verbally abuse and ridicule them. I’ll limit the abuse to just that and inform them that in a real-life situation, the abuse could turn physical and even fatal.

My fantasy visit to experience the conditions of the ghettos of Los Angeles may never happen. But the trip I took to Eastern Europe and Israel was no fantasy. It gave us a taste of the Jewish experience of suffering in Poland and renewal in Israel.

After visiting the Yad Vashem museum of the Holocaust in Jerusalem, I was overcome with emotion. So many atrocities were committed against the Jewish people, and yet they have risen above it.

The tours they lead of their neighborhood tell a story of triumph over oppression, over poverty, over injustice. It is painful and confusing to compare them with my fantasy tour of my neighborhood.

How did the Jews overcome all their years of oppression? Was it their culture? Their religion?

I became desperate in Yad Vashem.

I wasn’t looking at history in there; I was looking for answers.

Argenis Villa is a student at Cal State Dominquez Hills, where he writes for the student newspaper. He recently returned from the Anti-Defamation League Campus Editors Mission to Poland and Israel.

L.A. ghetto fantasy emerges from visit to Israel Read More »

Circuit

Leave a Comment / California, Circuit, Philanthropy /

A for Achievement

Supporters of the Friends of Sheba Medical Center filled the ballroom at the Four Seasons last week to honor three remarkable women — Rita and Sue Brucker and Dr. Elizabeth Morgan with their prestigious Women of Achievement Award.Morgan gained national attention in 1987 when she went to jail rather than allow her daughter to attend court-ordered visits with her ex-husband who, Morgan believed was abusing her daughter. As a result, Congress passed two acts to safeguard children.

Affectionately known as “Bubbe the Clown,” Rita Brucker has decorated the faces of countless children with cancer and was recognized as “Mother of the Year” and “Volunteer of the Year” by Bezalel Hadassah Chapter, among her other honors. Brucker praised the work Sheba Medical Center is doing to ensure the health of newborns, urging everyone to continue supporting their efforts.Daughter-in-law Sue, wife of Beverly Hills Councilman Barry Brucker, credited her parents with living a life of charity and service, setting an example she has embraced and passed on to her children.

“If my children, Lauren and Richard, and their peers are indicative of the next generation, I know we have nothing to worry about,” she told the attendees. Among her other honors and achievements, Sue Brucker has been feted by Hadassah of Southern California and is currently president of Temple Emanuel.Event Chair Ruth Steinberger and co-chairs Aviva Harari and Lynn Ziman called on writer/humorist extraordinaire and “Save Me a Seat” author Rhea Kohan to hostess the event. Kohan entertained the group with a humorous take on daughters, sons and living life in the middle-aged lane.

A boutique featuring a wide variety of items drew buyers before and after the luncheon — all designed to raise money for newborn screening at Sheba Medical Center. Seen wandering about checking out the boutiques were Beverly Hills School Board President Myra Lurie and her mother, Bess; Allison Levyn and her mother-in-law, Toni; Denise Avchen; Helene Harris; Marilyn Weiss; Lonnie Delshad, wife of Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Jimmy Delshad; Susie Wallach, Stacia and Larry Kopeikin; Amy and Noah Furie, and Nancy Krasne.

Aviva Brightens Bel Air

A misty day couldn’t dampen the spirits of Aviva Family and Children’s Services supporters last week when they gathered at the home of uber-philanthropist Robin Broidy for an elegant and successful benefit luncheon.

Broidy tented the yard in her Bel Air home for the delicious event, which was catered by Wolfgang Puck and featured a tempting Fendi boutique that contributed 15 percent of its sales to the charity — as well as the fabulous Fendi goodie bags.

The luncheon planned and executed by Broidy and underwritten by Susan Casden, raised more than $75,000 to support the worthwhile projects of Aviva. President Andrew Diamond updated the group and invited guests to tour the facility. The guest list was brimming with many of Los Angeles’ most charitable and giving women including: Linda May, Barbara Miller, Pamela Dennis, Lilly Tartikoff, Lola Levey, Diane Glazer, Jami Gertz and Annette Plotkin.

Founded in 1915, Aviva Family and Children’s Services provides care and treatment to abandoned, neglected, abused and at-risk youth in the greater Los Angeles community.

On the Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue-Beverly Hills held its “I Want It” event last week to raise funds for the Tower Cancer Research Foundation. Attendees, including Judy Henning, Bonnie Webb and Lillian Raffels, sipped martinis and nibbled morsels while wandering through the store trying to decide what to purchase with their $50 gift cards. The Henri Mancini Trio provided live music as fabulous frocks and jewels by designers such as Tony Duquette kept everyone mesmerized. The night was a complete success for cancer research and a fun shopping experience for guests.

Liberty for All

The first Torah scroll written exclusively to honor and memorialize members of the U.S. military was inaugurated in a ceremony Sept. 10 at the Chabad of Oxnard Jewish Center.

Known as the first letters of the Liberty Torah, it was inscribed by a Jewish scribe, or sofer, at the ceremony timed to coincide with the eve of the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 and marked by prayers for our military and peace in the world.

The Liberty Torah was initiated by Oxnard residents Dr. David and Edi Boxstein and their family to honor their son, Jonathan, who is currently serving in Iraq in the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

“The Liberty Torah gives everyone, regardless of their political or religious affiliation, the opportunity to honor all our soldiers who have served our great country throughout our history, and to pray for an end to all hostilities,” said Chabad of Oxnard director Rabbi Dov Muchnik.

The Torah was sent to Israel to be completed, and then will be returned to the Chabad of Oxnard Jewish Center for use in its holiday and Shabbat services.The event also featured live music, refreshments and a hands-on Torah writing workshop for children.

For more information, visit www.libertytorah.com, or call (805) 382-4770.

Happenings I

Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels was honored with a Peace Award from the Wilshire Center Interfaith Council and the Interreligious Council of Southern California at the Islamic Center of Southern California. Comess-Daniels thanked the Beth Shir Sholom community for enabling him to “pray with his legs” in ways that result in this kind of recognition and he gratefully shared the award with Beth Shir Sholom.

Happenings II

Screenwriter author Nora Ephron (“Heartburn, “Silkwood” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “When Harry Met Sally”) spoke to an overflowing crowd last Thursday night at the Writer’s Guild Writer’s Bloc event. Hosting Ephron and serving as moderator was megaproducer mogul Linda Obst, who offered insights into her longtime friendship with Ephron. Ephron entertained the audience with stories about her years in Washington, her experiences as a journalist and the agony of aging as chronicled in her new book ” I Feel Bad About my Neck.”

For more information about upcoming events, call (310) 335-0917.

Reflecting on a Great Cause


The UCLA Marching Band escorts Jewish Home Lifetime Award recipient Sylvia and Sherman Grancell into the gala Celebration of Life: Reflections 2006 event held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The beat of the UCLA Marching Band announced the opening of festivities last week when almost 600 people attended the Celebration of Life: Reflections 2006 dinner at the Beverly Hilton to benefit the Jewish Home for the Aging. A live auction hosted by Monty Hall raised $31,000 of the more than $500,000 total by offering blimp rides, a Wells Fargo box at Dodger Stadium, private screening with catering and Fox football studio viewing.

Circuit Read More »

Illegal aliens; Dems and Reps; Shocked, just shocked!

Leave a Comment / Judaism, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Worldwide /

Illegal Aliens
 
Roberto Loiederman’s article, “Living and Working [Il]legally in America” (Sept. 8), achieved its desired results. The Jewish guilt arose in me with each passing word like hot gases about to blow off the top of a volcano.How can I deny illegal Mexicans and others illegal entry into this country, when some of my own people have done the same thing? It was a very clever way of making me see my own racist tendencies that apparently Loiederman and the editorial staff at The Journal wanted me and other Jews who think like me to see.
 
It doesn’t matter how you try to explain it, some thickheads just will never get it. This is not about race; it is about sovereignty.
 
This issue is about the giving up of America and all its values and culture. It is about the transformation of that culture into something else, into something foreign.
 
We have millions of illegals who are draining our resources in this country. Public schools, emergency rooms, city services, to say nothing of the more hazardous conditions on public roads because nonlicensed and noninsured drivers are big problems, especially here in Southern California.
 
Loiederman must understand that America cannot support Mexico’s poor. It is estimated that 15 percent of Mexico’s workforce is now living in the United States.
 
For Loiederman to point to his own background to try and cloud the all-important issue of open borders is a travesty as an American and as a Jew. Once again, I shake my finger at The Jewish Journal and tell you that you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for supporting such positions.
 
Larry Hart
West Hills
 
Republicans and Democrats
 
Shame on the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) for making the outrageous and ridiculous assertion that Democrats are “turning their backs on Israel.” (Republican Jewish Coalition ads in Jewish Journal, Sept. 8)It is bad enough for them to deliberately distort the facts. But it is even worse when it is done as part of a reckless strategy to politicize support for Israel — a strategy that will have negative, long-term consequences for the vital U.S.-Israel relationship.
 
I readily acknowledge that President George W. Bush, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and many other Republicans have been reliable friends of Israel. But they have been no better friends than the vast majority of Democratic leaders — including President Bill Clinton, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi — all of whom are unwavering supporters of the Jewish state.
 
The RJC chose to feature former President Jimmy Carter in their political ads, but notwithstanding his comments to the contrary, he is an outlier on this issue and does not represent the mainstream of Democrats. Even more ludicrous is the notion that Cindy Sheehan speaks for any meaningful number of Democrats on the subject of Israel.
 
If Democrats wanted to sink to the RJC’s level, we could just as easily trot out statements made by a number of prominent Republicans and claim that the GOP, therefore, is hostile to Israel.
 
In the increasingly polarized American political system, support for Israel is one of the few issues that remains truly bipartisan. This gives Israel confidence that no matter which party occupies the White House or controls the House and Senate, America will always be committed to Israel’s security and right to exist free from terror.
 
The RJC is making a conscious effort to destroy that bipartisan consensus in the pursuit of illusory, short-term political gains. But they are not acting on behalf of Israel when they set one party against the other. This cheap ploy will inject uncertainty into the U.S.-Israel relationship and ultimately make Israel less secure.
 
If Republican leaders really care about Israel’s well-being, then they should renounce the RJC’s dangerous campaign and devote their energies to strengthening the longstanding, bipartisan consensus on supporting Israel.
 
Rep. Howard L. Berman
D-Van Nuys
 
Does the outrageous ad from the Republican Jewish Coalition (“The Democratic Party Just Abandoned Joe Lieberman,” Sept. 15) imply that Larry Greenfield and his compatriots would’ve supported Lieberman had he won the Democratic primary?As a liberal who strongly supports Israel and equally strongly opposes the war in Iraq, I resent the portrayal of me and others like me as Democrats, who by voting against Lieberman, would abandon Israel. Can partisan politics in our country get much uglier?
 
Sally Weber
Via e-mail
 
When I was growing up, the term “Jewish Republicans” was an oxymoron. They did not exist.
 
Now I see in The Journal advertisements for the Republican Jewish Coalition, wherein they castigate Neville Chamberlain as the great appeaser, which he no doubt was. However, they fail to mention that he was the leader of the British Conservative Party, and together with his Foreign Minister, Lord Halifax, were extremely friendly with Hitler.
 
This party, the Conservatives, was of the same ilk as America’s Republican Party, which was adamant in keeping America out of “Europe’s War,” as they were wont to call it. Well, they can’t change history, no matter how they try.
 
Syd H. Hershfield
Los Angeles
 
It is time for thoughtful Jews who want to preserve Western civilization and Jewish culture and learning for their children and grandchildren to realize that appeasement emboldens our Islamofascist enemies. Appeasement was interpreted as weakness by the Nazis and millions died.
 
We are fighting a pernicious global enemy that wants to destroy America, Israel, democracy and freedom. We will win this battle only if we understand that our vicious enemy has declared war on us.
 
We need to understand that the Islamofascists will only respond to strength and commitment. The RJC’s Neville Chamberlain advertisement appropriately speaks to this issue. The choice is clear. Either support candidates of either party who condemn Islamofascism and reject appeasement or be prepared to answer to the words of Edmond Burke that evil triumphs only when good men do nothing.

Illegal aliens; Dems and Reps; Shocked, just shocked! Read More »

Iconic Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci, 77

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment, Obituaries, Politics, Womans Voice /

The crusading Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci spent the last years of her life issuing fiery warnings against a Muslim world that she saw poised to overrun the West.
 
Critics accused Fallaci of sowing racial and religious hatred, but she became a heroine to many Jews and Israelis for her vocal defense of Israel and denunciations of new forms of anti-Semitism.
 
“She was the most loved and most hated woman in Italy,” said Clemente Mimun, the Jewish director of Italian television’s main news program.
 
Fallaci, who divided her later years between New York and her native Florence, died last Friday in Florence after a long battle with cancer. She was 77.A glamorous woman always seen with long hair and thick eye-liner and a cigarette poised in her fingers, Fallaci was a war correspondent in Vietnam and fought as a child in the anti-fascist resistance during World War II.

She never married but had a passionate affair with the Greek left-wing activist Alekos Panagulis in the mid-1970s. After his death in an automobile accident, she wrote a book based on his life, “A Man,” that sold 3.5 million copies.Fallaci became a celebrity icon in the 1960s and 1970s with incisive, baring interviews of global VIPs including Henry Kissinger, PLO leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. She also wrote a series of novels and other books.
 
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, marked a watershed.
 
Fallaci’s “The Rage and the Pride,” a vehement defense of the United States published soon after the attacks, became a best seller and provoked a storm of controversy with its strong language and uncompromising positions.
 
She followed with further books and articles that lambasted the West for weakness in the face of Islam and minced no words in her criticism of Muslims in general.
 
Islam, she wrote in her last book, “The Force of Reason,” “sows hatred in place of love and slavery in place of freedom.”
 
One of her most famous essays was a blistering attack on anti-Semitism published in April 2002 that read like a manifesto.
 
Repeating over and over the assertion “I find it shameful,” Fallaci unleashed a brutal indictment of Italy, Italians, the Catholic church, the left wing, the media, politically correct pacifists and Europeans in general for abandoning Israel and fomenting a new wave of anti-Semitism linked to the Mideast crisis.In the essay, Fallaci, who long had held pro-Palestinian views, declared herself “disgusted with the anti-Semitism of many Italians, of many Europeans” and “ashamed of this shame that dishonors my country and Europe.”
 
“I find it shameful,” she wrote,” and I see in all this the resurgence of a new fascism, a new Nazism.”
 
She recalled that in the past “I fought often, and bitterly, with the Israelis, and I defended the Palestinians a lot — maybe more than they deserved.
 
“Nonetheless, I stand with Israel, I stand with the Jews,” she wrote. “I defend their right to exist, to defend themselves, and not to allow themselves to be exterminated a second time.”
 

Iconic Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci, 77 Read More »

USC Trojans march for restored Torah; Backyard tashlich in Fairfax

Leave a Comment / Community, Congregations, Judaism, Up Front /

Trojans Greet Restored Torah
 
When the Trojan fight song rings out at a Torah restoration ceremony, where else could you be but at USC?

About 100 people gathered Sunday under the shade of sycamore trees in front of the university’s Bovard Auditorium to witness the ceremonial completion of a restored Torah scroll that will become the centerpiece of religious life at the Chabad Jewish Student Center.
 
“It’s an honor just to be here,” said Kaley Zeitouni, a sophomore. “I really feel like I’m witnessing an important moment in this community’s Jewish history. Every time I see the scroll at services I’ll remember that I was part of this event.”
 
Rabbi Aaron Schaffier, one of two Torah scribes involved in the scroll’s restoration, said the scroll is between 70 and 80 years old and probably originated in Eastern Europe. Its long journey to USC included a layover in Massachusetts, where it was used for several decades at a synagogue that has now merged with other congregations.
 
The ceremony was particularly moving for Abe Skaletzky, who was visiting his daughter, Michele, another sophomore at USC.
 
“I’m a ba’al teshuvah,” Skaletzky said. “So knowing this scroll might help other people return to Torah means a lot to me.”
 
After the last details of the restoration were complete, Schaffier stitched the scroll to its wooden dowels with kosher sinew. Rabbi Dov Wagner carried the Torah from Bovard Auditorium to the Chabad House under a chuppah to symbolize the scroll’s new life.
 
And that’s when seven members of USC’s marching band brought the moment to life. They began the procession with a rendition of the Trojan fight song, prompting students in the crowd to hold up the two-finger sign for victory.
 
During its installation at the Chabad House, the scroll was dedicated to the late Sandra Brand, a Holocaust survivor who established a fund to support the restoration of Torah scrolls to be donated to college communities.
 
— Nick Street, Contributing Writer
 
Backyard Tashlich in Fairfax
 
For a few years on Rosh Hashanah — until the raccoons ate all the fish and the fishpond was turned into a giant planter — members of Ohev Shalom, a small Orthodox shul on Fairfax Avenue, gathered in my parents’ yard for Tashlich.
 
The “pond,” mind you, is about four feet in diameter and maybe a foot deep. But it’ll do for the landlocked mid-Wilshire residents who don’t drive on Rosh Hashanah and want to participate in the custom of Tashlich, which literally means to cast off.
 
Orthodox residents across the city seek out small bodies of water in which to throw bread crumbs, symbolizing their sins, as they recite atonement-related prayers on the first day of Rosh Hashanah (unless, like this year, it falls on Shabbat).
 
Tashlich is a custom, not a law, and can be recited anytime during the 10 Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Ideally, the water should be flowing and have fish in it, but that isn’t always possible, so a small reservoir — or my parents’ fish pond — works, too.
 
A small slab of the L.A. River runs through Beverlywood, some people gather there on Rosh Hashanah to toss their sins through the chainlink fence into the trickle of water muddying up the concrete cutout.
 
Maybe not quite what the rabbis had in mind when they based the tradition on the quote in Micah, “And you will all their sins into the depths of the sea.” But then again, if bread crumbs can symbolize sins, why not fish ponds as the depths of the sea?
 
— Julie Gruenbaum Fax, Education Editor

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