The sheer volume of anti-Semitic spoutings and sputters in the past couple of months poses a serious question for Jews: When should we laugh? When should we worry? When should we fight back?
On a Shabbat afternoon in February, state Sen. Alex Padilla spoke on a panel at Young Israel of Century City (YICC), a large Modern Orthodox synagogue in Pico-Robertson. The event was co-organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and Padilla knew what message he was expected to deliver. The panel’s trilingual title — “Israel at lo levad! Israel ¡No estas solo! Israel, you are not alone!” — made that clear.
A planned appearance by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in Pittsburgh has caused friction between the city\’s Jewish and black communities. Farrakhan, who has stepped up his campaign of anti-Semitism in recent years, is scheduled to appear on a panel Friday on a live radio broadcast from the Pennsylvania city.
Ireland\’s only Jewish member of parliament was appointed to the country\’s Cabinet as the new government was sworn in. Alan Shatter was sworn in Wednesday as justice minister in a coalition of his center-right Fine Gael Party and the liberal Labor Party. He represents Dublin South, where most of Ireland\’s Jews live.
“WALKING THROUGH A RIVER OF FIRE.\” The first public reading of “Walking Through a River of Fire: 100 Years of Triangle Fire Poetry,” editor and social activist Julia Stein’s new poetry collection, features contributing writers Hilton Obenzinger and Alice Rogoff. Stein hosts the event, and Nelson Motta of United Steelworkers, drawing parallels between workers struggles’ of 1911 and today, speaks on the campaign to organize carwash workers in Los Angeles.
Hundreds of rabbis and Jewish leaders have signed on to an online petition by Rabbis for Human Rights denouncing rabbinical defenders of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav. Late last month, dozens of religious Zionist rabbis sent a letter of support to Katsav, who was convicted in December by a three-judge panel of “rape, sexual harassment, committing an indecent act while using force, harassing a witness and obstruction of justice.”
Denmark said it will upgrade the status of the Palestinian delegation to a mission. Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen at a news conference Wednesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the status of Palestinian diplomats will advance from \”Palestinian general representation\” to the \”Palestinian mission to Denmark,\” the French news agency AFP reported.\”
The Brandeis University Hillel voted to reject Jewish Voice for Peace as a member group. Andrea Wexler, student president of the Hillel chapter at the suburban Boston school, explained in a letter to Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish organization that champions Palestinian rights, that Tuesday\’s vote followed the international guidelines of the student organization.
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