May 18, 2011

Opinion: What Obama should tell Israeli Netanyahu when they meet in the White House Friday

Leave a Comment / Opinion, United States / Jewish Journal

What President Obama should tell Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu when they meet in the White House Friday:

(…) Anyway, Bibi, in the past several weeks I’ve been working with my staff on Mideast policy speeches. So, the Middle East has been on my mind. And I’ve actually reached conclusions and made decisions.

Now, please, hear me out. You know that this is coming from a friend and ally.

You and I don’t see eye to eye on many policy issues, including the turmoil in the Arab world. I know that. Where I see hope and promise, you see threat and danger. And you know what, I really get where you’re coming from. You live in this tough neighborhood and you want to play it safe. Believe me, I know a thing or two about tough neighborhoods.

But I also know that doing nothing about peace with the Palestinians is not playing it safe, neither for the sake of your people nor for the interests of my country and our allies.

Look, both you and I need a de-radicalized Middle East, and I believe that you and I have a chance help the Arab world transform in a direction that serves all of us.

You don’t see linkage between your conflict with the Palestinians and the turmoil in the Arab world. I respectfully disagree. Sure, demonstrations in Egypt, Syria, Libya, the Maghreb and the Gulf are primarily about domestic grievances. But Arabs don’t care only about domestic issues. They are becoming as globalized as anyone. They want to be – and increasingly are – a part of global society. But they still view their relations with you and with America – and often with the world at large – through the prism of the Palestinian issue. Like it or not, that’s a fact.

So look, we have a moment in which attitudes in the Arab world are changing. Including attitudes about the United States. And if America is not perceived as leading on the issue of Israeli-Palestinian peace, that will impact America’s relations with the Arab street, with the Muslim world and with the international community. What I’m saying is that I would be doing a disservice to my country if I failed to lead on this issue. Frankly, Bibi, America’s national security interests are at stake.

And, frankly, I find it difficult to fathom how you don’t see that yours are at stake too. Allow me to tell you, as Israel’s strongest and staunchest ally: we’re all looking at September. We hear the clock ticking. It’s not only the UN General Assembly vote on Palestinian independence. It’s also what comes after. It’s the slippery slope of international isolation that your country is facing, and the further erosion of America’s image as a world leader that I am facing. You have an interest in that too. The last thing you need is further international isolation and further erosion of the credibility of your strongest ally.

So what do I suggest?

I’ve actually decided to make another push for direct final status negotiations between your government and the PLO, without preconditions. This time, the talks would be anchored in a set of principles that I intend to make public very soon.

Yes: 1967 lines as a departure point, with land swaps. Jerusalem as a capital of both states. No return of refugees into Israel. End of claims. You know the deal. My people will show the bullet points to your people. We won’t surprise you. But we are going forward with it.

You probably remember, Bibi, that two years ago, I vowed to break the Kabuki dance that goes on when dealing with the Middle East peace process. I vowed to do things differently. To demand that leaders do what they are supposed to do: that they lead their peoples toward peace; that they not let domestic politics dictate their pursuit of peace. Well, it is time for me to do just that. It’s time for me to personally lead this effort.
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Please, join me. Let’s do the right thing. Together.

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Demjanjuk conviction: Better late than never?

Leave a Comment / Culture, Entertainment, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Jew / Jeffrey Hensiek

The best thing about last week’s conviction in Germany of Sobibor guard John Demjanjuk is that the case works from the bottom up. The low-level functionary was brought to justice.

The worst thing is that for every major war criminal such as Rudolf Hess, Hermann Goering or Adolf Eichmann, there were many multiple Demjanjuks. The nearly 200 high Nazi officials and others tried at Nuremberg — the most famous war crimes trials — were literally only the tip of the iceberg of perpetrators and collaborators. The pursuit of criminal justice in countries including West Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the United States comprises an uneven patchwork of efforts mirroring the inconsistency of the pursuit of property restitution.

The network of concentration, work and death camps ran alphabetically from Arbeitsdorf to Zuffenhause and geographically from the south of France to Estonia. This network operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week and required an overwhelming number of guards, supervisors, commandants and others. Thus, Demjanjuk’s conviction may be too little, too late. There should have been tens of thousands of such trials running continuously for the last 65 years.

Demjanjuk’s primary line of defense had been mistaken identity. It should have been selective prosecution.

Nonetheless, the conviction should be seen as better late than never.

Demjanjuk also claimed that he himself was a victim. I don’t doubt that. He found himself subjected to a procession of post-World War I atrocities: Soviet repression, a vast famine imposed by Stalin in the Ukraine and forced conscription into the Soviet army. Nazi occupation completed this tragic parade.

I also don’t doubt that his victimization created a context for his crimes. Just recently, the Rev. Patrick Desbois, who has made a career out of detailing the mass murders of Jews throughout the Ukraine, met with the staff at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. He talked about the unctuous moral relativism created by the Ukraine’s tragic history. His work suggests there is no immutable good in human nature; rather, as some snails change their bodies to fit different shells, man changes his moral shape to fit the confines around it. This is how neighbors came to not only betray neighbors, but to kill them. (And it is our newfound, deeper understanding of this shape-shifting that has kept some of us at the museum awake at night lately.)

Yet, not all citizens rose to the level of direct perpetrator. Demjanjuk elected to work with the SS. He was not tried and convicted for his sufferings as a victim of some of the worst events in history. He was tried and convicted for what he did after those experiences.

Demjanjuk’s conviction relied significantly on his identity card from the Trawniki SS training camp. It was there that Demjanjuk morphed from being a prisoner of war to being a full-fledged SS collaborator. In my first professional experience with the Holocaust, I worked on the Israeli Demjanjuk trial in 1987. Establishing the reliability of that document in that proceeding made up a significant part of the Israeli case. The courtroom work surrounding it remains one of my strongest memories of the trial and convinced me of the document’s veracity.

Recent revelations that the FBI questioned the document in its analysis of American evidence against Demjanjuk do not concern me. Law enforcement’s job is to question evidence and evaluate its potential effectiveness in a courtroom. The questioning by itself does not suggest the document is fake. The German court’s admission of the document, and the document’s ability to withstand defense challenges to its authenticity, are what matters.

I am also not concerned that Israeli jurisprudence ultimately overthrew Demjanjuk’s death sentence conviction. In fact, I am thrilled by it. The Israeli Supreme Court stood as the mirror image to the crimes of which Demjanjuk was accused. Ivan the Terrible, who Demjanjuk was convicted of being, was ruled by only one law, his sadistic will, and under that law he murdered and tortured thousands. In the country committed to the preservation of the Jewish people, rather than wrongly execute a single innocent man — even one suspected of single-handedly annihilating Jews — the Israeli legal system adhered strictly to the rule of law that is the cornerstone of justice.

I am thrilled, as well, by Germany’s commitment to trying Demjanjuk for different crimes, and the resulting conviction. The rule of law flourishes in the very same land where it was once perverted to serve as an instrument of mass murder. If man’s ability to be good can be so affected by external forces, war crimes prosecutions not only right the wrongs of a nightmarish era, they also signify an important protection against the forces that lead to the Holocaust.

Mark A. Rothman is the executive director of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

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Tribe Calendar: June 2011-August 2011

Leave a Comment / Culture, What's Happening / Shoshana Lewin Fischer

THURSDAY, JUNE 2

JUMP START TO FRIDAY
Toast the end of the week with friends (or co-workers). Check out the winery, sample a variety of wines, enjoy a self-guided tour, and learn more about the winemaking process. 5-7 p.m. $6 (bring your business card). Herzog Wine Cellars, 3201 Camino Del Sol, Oxnard. (805) 983-1560. ” title=”jgscv.org” target=”_blank”>jgscv.org.

“A FUNNY THING HAPPENED AT AJU”
Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn, co-authors of the humorous memoir “You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story,” discovered that, after 13 years of marriage, “We’re just not that into us!” Instead of giving up, they held their relationship together, proving that all you need is love, a healthy dose of complaining, co-dependence and pinot noir. 4 p.m. $10. Gindi Auditorium, American Jewish University, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 440-1246. ” title=”NewEyesPlay.com” target=”_blank”>NewEyesPlay.com.

TUESDAY, JUNE 7

TIKKUN LEIL SHAVUOT
Celebrate the holiday with a night of learning, discussion, Israeli dancing and, of course, cheesecake. Co-sponsored by Temple Aliyah, Temple Kol Tikvah and Congregation Shir Ami. 7 p.m. Free. Temple Aliyah, 6025 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills. (818) 346-3545. ” title=”jewishto.org” target=”_blank”>jewishto.org.

SUNDAY, JUNE 12

“THE LOST 10 TRIBES: WHERE DID THEY GO?”
Learn about the Jewish presence in sub-Saharan Africa, Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel and the myth of Native Americans as a Lost Tribe of Israel, the lost 10 tribes and the Book of Mormon, India’s Bene Menassah and more theories about the fate of the tribes. 5-9:30 p.m. $49. American Jewish University, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 440-1246. ” title=”jnf.org” target=”_blank”>jnf.org.

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

SHABBAT ON THE BEACH
” title=”mjcs.org” target=”_blank”>mjcs.org.

MONDAY, JUNE 20

11TH ANNUAL SHOMREI TORAH SYNAGOGUE GOLF TOURNAMENT
The West Hills synagogue hosts a day on the greens at the private Conejo Valley course, North Ranch Country Club. The day begins with a Breakfast of Champions and putting contest before the shotgun start, followed by on-course contests and a barbecue lunch, no-host cocktail reception and an award dinner. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. $295. North Ranch Country Club, 4761 Valley Spring Drive, Westlake Village. (818) 346-0811. ” title=”jewishsantabarbara.org” target=”_blank”>jewishsantabarbara.org.

MONDAY, JUNE 27

KOL TIKVAH GOLF TOURNAMENT
The seventh year of the 18-hole scramble tournament includes a chance to win a new car during a hole-in-one contest, a barbecue lunch, plus post-game raffles and awards, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. 10 a.m. (event begins). $200 per player (includes lunch, greens fees). Wood Ranch Golf Club, 301 Wood Ranch Parkway, Simi Valley. (818) 348-0670. ” title=”skirball.org” target=”_blank”>skirball.org.

JULY

MONDAY, JULY 4

GOLETA FIREWORKS FESTIVAL 2011
” title=”goletafireworks.org” target=”_blank”>goletafireworks.org.

FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR AT CALABASAS HIGH SCHOOL
” title=”cityofcalabasas.com” target=”_blank”>cityofcalabasas.com.

DENNIS P. ZINE FIREWORKS EXTRAVAGANZA
” title=”valleycultural.org” target=”_blank”>valleycultural.org.

FIREWORKS ON THE BEACH
” title=”santabarbaraca.gov” target=”_blank”>santabarbaraca.gov.

THOUSAND OAKS FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR
” title=”crpd.org” target=”_blank”>crpd.org.

FRIDAY, JULY 8

AN AMERICAN SHABBAT
Valley Outreach Synagogue hosts a picnic and Shabbat services at Oak Canyon Community Park. 5:30 p.m. (picnic), 7 p.m. (services). Free. Oak Canyon Community Park, 5600 Hollytree Drive, Oak Park. (818) 882-4867. ” title=”wrjpacific.org” target=”_blank”>wrjpacific.org.

SANTA BARBARA ART ASSOCIATION OPENING RECEPTION
Art at the JCC hosts a juried art show for the Santa Barbara Art Association. Paintings in a mix of media and genres will be submitted by SBAA members to be judged for excellence. Those chosen will exhibit at the Bronfman Family Jewish Community Center Gallery until Oct. 6. 2-4 p.m. Bronfman Family Jewish Community Center, 524 Chapala St., Santa Barbara. (805) 957-1115. ” title=”jha.org” target=”_blank”>jha.org.

SUNDAY, JULY 17

GENEALOGY IN THE ROUND
The community is invited to share genealogical success, failure, a brick wall or genealogical artifact. 1:30 p.m. Free. Co-sponsored by Temple Adat Elohim and the Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County. Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. To participate, contact (818) 889-6616. ” title=”valleycultural.org” target=”_blank”>valleycultural.org.

“RAGTIME”
Based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, the Tony Award-winning musical by the composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (“Once on This Island”) and playwright Terrence McNally (“Master Class”), intertwines the lives of three extraordinary families (wealthy whites, working-class African Americans and Jewish immigrants). The fictional characters interact with historical figures like Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit and Booker T. Washington as they recount class struggles, prejudice, love, tragedy and triumph in the New York of the 1910s. Through Aug 28. 8 p.m. $22 (adults), $18 (students and seniors), $16 (children, 12 and under). Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley. (805) 583-7900. ” title=”oxnardsalsafestival.com” target=”_blank”>oxnardsalsafestival.com.

40TH ANNUAL

MALIBU ARTS FESTIVAL
More than 200 exhibits and artists booths feature original art from all over California. Also, musicians, a children’s workshop and dining terrace featuring “A Taste of Malibu.” Through July 31. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. Outside the Malibu Civic Center, 23555 Civic Center Way, Malibu. (310) 456-9025. Tribe Calendar: June 2011-August 2011 Read More »

From Torah to cheesecake

Leave a Comment / Culture / Jewish Journal

Ask a group of average Jews what they know about Shavuot, and you’re likely to hear something like: “Oh sure, that’s the holiday when we eat cheesecake.”

From a biblical standpoint, Shavuot is one of the holiest days in Judaism, but as a holiday on the Jewish calendar it is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked.

It’s not that the cheesecake comment is wrong. Actually, all sorts of dairy foods are eaten on Shavuot. But the central reason for the celebration — that the Jews received the Torah from God — isn’t as well known as one might expect. Part of the reason, experts believe, is that there are few traditions associated with the holiday.

“Shavuot is the third of the harvest festivals, but there are not very many rituals attached to it,” said Rabbi Mark Blazer of Temple Beth Ami in Santa Clarita.

Blazer says that the other harvest festivals might be easier for people to connect with because they have specific food and prayer traditions associated with them.

“Sukkot, the first harvest festival on the calendar, celebrates the harvest of fruits, nuts and other agricultural products. It also commemorates our ancestors living in the desert for 40 years,” he said.

The unmistakable matzah we eat on Passover reminds us of our ancestors’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, and the seder is a widely observed tradition. But when it comes to Shavuot, Blazer says, “Eating cheesecake or blintzes really isn’t a big or important reminder to people.”

Furthermore, Shavuot celebrates the wheat harvest — a crop that was not easy for our ancestors to grow. Sukkot lasts eight days, as does Passover (which celebrates the harvest of barley). Fruits, nuts and barley all were readily available and abundant, so eight days of celebration seemed appropriate. With wheat being more expensive and less available, Shavuot became a one-day holiday. On a more practical level, many rabbis believe that the celebration of Shavuot might be a bit neglected because it traditionally falls toward the end of the religious school year.

So, how do you get the Jews to celebrate a holiday that is biblically mandated but not, er, well, all that exciting from a traditional standpoint?

The rabbis figured out that Shavuot, which marks the end of the counting of the Omer, also should represent the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, as the event occurred during the same period.

Today, many synagogues commemorate Shavuot by hosting all-night Torah study sessions. The idea is to replicate the excitement of the Israelites as they waited for Moses to return from the mountain with God’s laws. So what, exactly, is the deal with dairy foods on Shavuot?

That depends on whom you ask.

There are a couple of theories about how dairy became associated with Shavuot.

One theory holds that once the Israelites were given the Torah, they became obligated to keep the dietary laws of kashrut. Because they did not have the means to prepare kosher meat, they ate dairy products. Another idea that’s been explored also involves kashrut — that milk and meat must be kept and consumed separately, so the Israelites ate two separate meals, one meat, the other dairy. Of course, this is all open to interpretation.

Yet another idea comes from the Song of Songs, verse 4:11, which compares the Torah to milk. Just as milk can sustain the body, Torah is seen as nourishment for the soul.

Fortunately, this is one tradition that’s easy to follow. Let’s face it: Jews are pretty good about keeping up with food traditions. Kosher cookbooks and recipe sites overflow with delicious recipes for creative cheesecakes and blintzes.

This Shavuot, even if you don’t attend an all-night study session, grab some cheesecake and a glass of milk and remember the miracle of our ancestors receiving the greatest gift of our people — the Torah.

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July 2011

Leave a Comment / United States / Jewish Journal

July 2011 Read More »

Alleged plotter of synagogue attacks indicted in N.Y.

Leave a Comment / United States / Jewish Journal

A Manhattan grand jury has indicted a man who police say was plotting attacks against synagogues and other targets in New York.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the indictment of Ahmed Ferhani, a 26-year-old Algerian immigrant, on Tuesday. Ferhani and a second suspect, Moroccan immigrant Mohamed Mamdouh, 20, were arrested May 11 in Manhattan.

The two were arraigned in state court last week. Ferhani, who police have identified as the main plotter, was arrested after purchasing guns, ammunition and an inert hand grenade from an undercover officer.

Mamdouh’s attorney had agreed to allow prosecutors until June 2 to take the case against his client to the grand jury, The Associated Press reported.

Police say the two Queens residents had hoped to bomb synagogues and other targets. They are not believed to have ties to any terrorist groups.

Both men have denied the charges against them.

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Auschwitz sign repaired

Leave a Comment / Worldwide / Jewish Journal

The “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz and cut into three pieces has been repaired.

The iron sign was unveiled Wednesday in the laboratory of the camp museum. Repairs to the sign, which measures 16 feet across and means “Work makes you free,” took several months.

It was stolen from the former Nazi concentration camp on Dec. 18, 2009 and recovered elsewhere in the country 72 hours later. It was found cut into three pieces.

A copy of the sign has been placed above the entrance gate. The repaired sign will likely become part of a new exhibition, the BBC reported.

Five Polish men were convicted of carrying out the theft on behalf of a Swedish citizen, Anders Hogstrom, who acted as a middleman for a neo-Nazi buyer. Hogstrom founded the far-right National Socialist Front party in Sweden in 1994.

Auschwitz sign repaired Read More »

Rabbi loses title on ‘Jeopardy!’

Leave a Comment / Culture, Entertainment, Television / Jewish Journal

Rabbi Joyce Newmark failed to defend her title on the television game show “Jeopardy!”

Newmark, a Conservative rabbi and a member of Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck, N.J., lost on a show aired Tuesday night after easily defeating two other opponents the previous night and winning $29,200.

As is her general practice, Newmark, 63, wore a yarmulke during both tapings.

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N.T. Wright on what Hawking doesn’t get about heaven

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / Brad A. Greenberg

N.T. Wright, the Archbishop of Durham and a renowned Christian theologian, has a few words about heaven for Stephen Hawking. ” title=”post at the On Faith site” target=”_blank”>post at the On Faith site:

In the Bible heaven is God’s space while earth (or, if you like, ‘the cosmos’ or ‘creation’) is our space. And the Bible makes it clear that the two overlap and interlock. For the ancient Jews, the place where this happened was the temple; for the Christians, the place where this happened was Jesus himself, and then, astonishingly, the persons of Christians because they, too, were ‘temples’ of God’s own spirit.

Hawking is working with a very low-grade and sub-biblical view of ‘going to heaven.’ Of course, if faced with the fully Christian two-stage view of what happens after death—first, a time ‘with Christ’ in ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise,’and then, when God renews the whole creation, bodily resurrection—he would no doubt dismiss that as incredible. But I wonder if he has ever even stopped to look properly, with his high-octane intellect, at the evidence for Jesus and the resurrection? I doubt it—most people in England haven’t. Until he has, his opinion about all this is worth about the same as mine on nuclear physics, i.e. not much.

Read the N.T. Wright on what Hawking doesn’t get about heaven Read More »

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Opinion: What Obama should tell Israeli Netanyahu when they meet in the White House Friday

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Demjanjuk conviction: Better late than never?

Tribe Calendar: June 2011-August 2011

From Torah to cheesecake

July 2011

Alleged plotter of synagogue attacks indicted in N.Y.

Auschwitz sign repaired

Rabbi loses title on ‘Jeopardy!’

N.T. Wright on what Hawking doesn’t get about heaven

Jewish Journal