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March 5, 2014

Haifa Symphony: Welcome to America, finally

Leave a Comment / Culture, Entertainment, Music /

For Polish conductor Boguslaw Dawidow, long tours with symphony orchestras have become a way of life. In 2011, as music director of the Opole Philharmonic of Poland, he took the orchestra on its first transcontinental United States tour, which included 48 concerts in 19 states. Now, as principal guest conductor of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra of Israel, Dawidow is leading 78 musicians on their first U.S. tour. 

While the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra are both well known, Haifa Symphony’s brand is less so. But the orchestra, founded in 1950, is a major musical center for the northern part of Israel, with a mission of bringing classical music to places without a symphony orchestra. 

With the U.S. tour, however, it appears to be making a move toward wider recognition, if not international stature.  

“The musicians were a little scared,” Dawidow said by phone while waiting to join the orchestra on a bus headed out of snowy New York to its next destination in Virginia. “It’s a daunting prospect to be doing 38 concerts in two months. But they are doing fine. They are accommodating to the winter climate. It helps that so far we’ve been given a surprisingly warm reception. Audiences are accepting us and liking everything.”

On March 9 and 10, the Haifa Symphony performs at the Valley Performing Arts Center on the campus of California State University, Northridge. The first concert features Weber’s “Euryanthe” Overture, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. The following morning, the program changes to Weber, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Before its last tour stop, on March 16 at Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall, the orchestra’s California visit also includes appearances in Palm Desert, San Rafael and at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. The Haifa Symphony is a full-time orchestra that works year-round and is supported by the city. There’s also a jazz band, mixed and children’s choirs, and programs for young people. 

Dawidow, who has served as principal guest conductor since 2011, admits his programming is typical of most touring orchestras — low-risk, standard repertory fare. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, for example, are frequently rated most popular by audiences.

But Dawidow pointed out that six of the tour stops would include Israeli composer Uri Bracha’s “Melodies for Mount Carmel.” Although the score, infused with a Romantic feel, never gets more modern-sounding than Stravinsky and Bartók, it’s not often performed here.

“Modern Jewish repertory is characteristic programming of the Haifa Symphony,” Dawidow, 59, said. “The choices for the tour, as much as possible, represent the music I love and that the audience will love.”

Along with the Tchaikovsky concerto, Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich will be performing another beloved score: Rachmaninoff’s melodically gorgeous Piano Concerto No. 2. At the March 9 concert in Northridge, he plays the composer’s fearsome Piano Concerto No. 3, widely regarded as the most technically challenging concerto in the standard repertoire.

“I’m doing four different programs,” Rabinovich, 28, said. “I’ve played six concerts so far, including one with Beethoven’s third piano concerto. I have 22 more to go. It’s a great opportunity for me to get these pieces under my fingers, and I’m really developing a deeper relationship with the orchestra and music.”

Rabinovich, a gold medal winner at the 2008 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, made his debut at age 10 with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. His first recording, “Ballets Russes,” released last year, features music of Prokofiev, Ravel and Stravinsky.

“I experiment with each performance,” Rabinovich said. “The hall’s acoustics, the piano you are given — every time is different. When a piano is out of tune, it can be frustrating. You do your best and use your imagination to connect the piano’s limitations to the sound that’s in your head. The power of imagination — it works most of the time.”

The pianist met Dawidow just two weeks before the tour began on Jan. 22, though he has performed with the Haifa Symphony since he was a kid. He recalled being “11 or 12 years old” when he played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466 with the orchestra.

“The maestro has amazing energy,” Rabinovich said of Dawidow. “A lot of the time, it’s a gamble, and you don’t know what’s going to happen, but musically speaking, we’re on the same page.”

Dawidow recalled being impressed after hearing Rabinovich in a solo recital. “This was a musician who could immerse himself in the music,” Dawidow said. “He has a style, but every time he plays, it’s different. His power makes me want to push a bit, and he gives back. Every concert brings more freedom and beauty. We don’t have to watch and think what might happen, because we feel it.”

The conductor said it’s his own provocative nature that got this tour off the ground: “I provoked the orchestra’s management and started to work with Columbia Artists Management on the idea,” Dawidow said. “I wanted to show the Haifa musicians America. If you don’t push, it doesn’t happen.”

Dawidow feels the same way about audiences reluctant to let classical music into their lives. “The public is interested in classical music, even if they don’t know it yet,” he said. “Music makes life easier. I show people that without classical — Schubert, Strauss and others — there would be no pop.” 

Like Leonard Bernstein, one of his teachers, Dawidow wants to take audiences on a memorable musical ride. “To be great, Bernstein taught me, you must be simple,” he said. “I’m looking for a simplicity that becomes open to the public. You have to be flexible. I must feel the audience is with me.”  

Rabinovich said the orchestra’s large Russian contingent is mostly responsible for producing a rich string sound and that its younger members are starting to make major contributions. “A lot of the winds are young people, and that section has a wonderful energy,” Rabinovich said. “It’s a nice mix.”

Dawidow, who loves to travel, called it “a pity” the U.S. tour is “only” 38 concerts. “It’s hard to say where I reside,” Dawidow said. “I’m a traveling conductor, so my life starts when I’m on the stage. I plan to be on the stage all the way.”

For tickets or information about the Haifa Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming performances in Northridge and Costa Mesa, visit this story at jewishjournal.com.

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Anti-Israel speakers and Jewish self-hatred

Leave a Comment / Opinion /

The global center of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is, when you think about it, South Africa. BDS, as an attempt to sound more reasonable and less hateful, rarely compares Israel to Nazi Germany, the way, say, arch-anti-Semite Roger Waters of Pink Floyd does. No, BDS argues that Israel practices apartheid the way  pre-Nelson Mandela South Africa did.

You can imagine, therefore, that it’s not all that easy being a proud lover of Israel in South Africa. That the Jewish community here pulls it off, remaining staunch Zionists, is impressive. But there are fissures in the support. Israel is under constant assault by some  African National Congress (ANC) ministers who make the false and erroneous comparison of Israel’s existential war against Islamic terrorists to the ANC’s struggle against white apartheid rule. 

It’s impossible for world Jewry to be the brunt of so much hatred, and to constantly be on the defensive about Israel, without some of that bile and poison seeping in. The constant attacks start playing with your head. Maybe there is something wrong with us Jews. Christianity has been declaring that Jesus is loving and the God of the Old Testament is vengeful for 2,000 years — maybe Judaism is too rigid. Maybe we’re overdoing it in Israel. With the Palestinians saying they’re humiliated by checkpoints, perhaps Israel is purposely trying to degrade them as opposed to instituting security measures to stop buses filled with children from being blown up. And maybe, just maybe, we Jews who live outside of Israel are simply giving Israel too much mindless support.

I remember twice visiting Dakar, Senegal, one of the poorest countries on Earth, and being struck by the advertisements for skin-bleaching agents all over the city. But maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Gorée Island is where millions of African slaves departed through “the gate of no return” to a life of chains in the Americas and the Caribbean. When you’re brutalized with that kind of hatred just for the color of your skin, you don’t always see beauty when you peer in the mirror.

The gradual trickle of self-hatred into the Jewish soul is evidenced in the growing American-Jewish call for Israel-hating speakers to be hosted by Jewish organizations at Jewish venues in order to demonstrate our open-mindedness. We first saw this with Swarthmore Hillel, when it bizarrely announced its “Open Hillel” policy, opening its doors to anti-Zionist speakers. To ask people who wish to destroy Israel to come and address Jewish audiences — and make no mistake about it, BDS is only about destroying Israel — is the equivalent of the ANC inviting white bigots to argue that apartheid should be reinstated. I am all for inviting Israel’s opponents to open, rules-based debates, where they are forced to rationally defend their positions in the marketplace of ideas, But what fool would allow poisonous, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic propaganda to be offered to impressionable Jewish minds without a retort? To invite people who want to malign and defame Israel to address Jewish audiences is proof of the old adage that there is no hatred like Jewish self-hatred.

The latest example of this was a group of Ramaz High School students in New York inviting author and Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi to give a lecture. Khalidi is a respected academic, but in the PBS documentary “Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence,” he throws out a blood libel against Israel, accusing it of “killing children and old people.” He does not mention that Israel has lost thousands of civilians to Palestinian terror attacks. He also makes the absurd claim that peace between Israel and the Palestinians will end the virulent anti-Semitism so often seen in the Islamic world. One can only surmise that Iran’s calls for the extermination of Israel and its Holocaust denial will magically cease just as soon as Israel signs away Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Although the invitation has since been rescinded by head of school Paul Shaviv, the students’ eagerness to host Khalidi as a lecturer is troubling.  The New York Times reported that Khalidi had been suggested to the students by Peter Beinart, which did not surprise me. Beinart, whom I was kind to and have hosted several times at the University of Oxford, has become the Jewish legitimizer of BDS. Beinart feels he can get away with joining the calls for boycotts against Israel because, he says, he only wants to boycott goods from Judea and Samaria in the West Bank. Of course, this would destroy mainstream Israeli companies that provide jobs for thousands of Israelis and Palestinians, such as SodaStream, Ahava cosmetics and even Victoria’s Secret, to name but a few. Beinart claims to be a Zionist, but as a leader of those seeking to destroy Israel economically, he is clearly pushing the term to its absolute limit.

Martin Solomon pointed out that in a 2006 appearance on PBS’ “NewsHour With Margaret Warner,” Khalidi claimed that neither Hezbollah nor Hamas is a “direct threat to the United States.” This was an astonishing claim given Hezbollah’s 1983 Beirut bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 American servicemen. Khalidi seemed to believe that U.S. peacekeeping forces, as an army of occupation, were fair game.

Of Khalidi’s book “The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood,” The New York Times columnist Clyde Haberman wrote, “When he talks about repressive Israeli measures having been ‘sometimes imposed on the pretext of security,’ critics are bound to ask: What pretext? How many suicide bombings of cafes and pizza shops does it take before a country has a right to end them by any method that seems to work?”

But while Khalidi’s opposition to Israel is not appropriate for high school students, it is perfectly appropriate for a debate we will conduct in New York on March 31, including Beinart, as well, to which I publicly invited him and where I can assure him he will be treated with the respect and courtesy he deserves. 

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‘Boyle Heights Heroes’ remembers L.A.’s Jewish roots

Leave a Comment / Community /

As the granddaughter of a rabbi who was also the first president of the Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights — the center of Los Angeles Jewish life in the first half of the 20th century — Annette Shapiro knows the importance of remembering your roots. 

During a Feb. 23 event at the synagogue, titled “Boyle Heights Heroes — Conversations With Local Luminaries,” she talked about how important it is for today’s local Jewry to know how the community got started and the important work it accomplished.

“The people who lived here started organizations that are still thriving today and doing wonderful things. Not only did they succeed in business, but they also succeeded in helping people in the community,” said Shapiro, a local philanthropist and current president of the board of the drug and addiction treatment center Beit T’Shuvah.

At its peak, Boyle Heights was home to a diversity of Jews, as well as 30 active synagogues. Today, one of the last remnants of Yiddishkayt in Boyle Heights is the Breed Street Shul. It’s now being used for events that bridge the gap between past and present, and to highlight the various ethnic and religious groups that used to and currently populate the area. 

The recent event, sponsored by the Breed Street Shul Project — the nonprofit overseeing the rehabilitation of the historic shul — featured four individuals who have dedicated their lives to service in the neighborhood. It was the first of what will be a series of events.

“We realized that many people in Los Angeles have no knowledge of this vibrant community, nor of the progressiveness of the relationships that were built here among the various cultural groups that were residents,” Sherry Marks, executive director of the Breed Street Shul Project, said. 

“Our idea with this series was to present a variety of viewpoints on a single topic — the inaugural [one] being community service and volunteerism — by former and current residents of Boyle Heights, who have been influenced and informed by their experiences here.”

The speakers included Shapiro, Donna Bojarsky and Gershon Lewis, all of whom have personal connections to the Breed Street Shul. Daniel Hernandez, the fourth member of the panel, grew up in the neighborhood and spoke about his experiences as a Hispanic person in Boyle Heights. The area used to be made up of Jews, Latinos, Russians and Japanese-Americans, but today it is predominantly a Latino neighborhood.

Bojarsky, whose late father had his bar mitzvah at the synagogue, works as a political consultant and founded L.A. Works, a volunteer action group, and the New Leaders Project, an organization for young Jews to gain training in civic duty. 

“A big notion of my sense of community responsibility comes from the stories of Boyle Heights, and this was an integral part of my family’s story,” she said. “Everyone here was an immigrant and hoping for a better life, and they wanted to have a good education and to fulfill their dreams. It’s a real opportunity for the Jewish community to come back and take that spirit that was very much part of Boyle Heights and work with another community to [uphold] those same ideals.” 

Lewis graduated from Roosevelt High School, located in Boyle Heights, and has worked to keep together the Wabash Saxons, a local philanthropy and social group established in 1939.

The Breed Street Shul Project, established in 1999, has used more than $1 million to clean up and restore the synagogue, which was littered with graffiti and falling apart for many years. Stephen J. Sass, president of the project, said, “When people come here, they see that we’ve turned that around. There is a life here   [at the shul] again for those who live in the neighborhood, and there’s a life here beyond the Jewish community. These events help us let people know that and reach out and develop our constituency.”

With the conversation series, which will have three more talks on food, art and music, Marks said she hopes to “restore the Breed Street Shul campus as a center for arts, culture, education and social service that benefits our current Boyle Heights neighbors, as well as provides a space for that harmony to reignite among cultural and religious groups.”

Although the work of the project is far from done, events such as the “Boyle Heights Heroes” series will continue to inform people about the history of the neighborhood and its impact on the community at large. 

“It’s important for people to know that when the Jews arrived in Los Angeles, Boyle Heights was where they came to live,” said Shapiro, who has also served on leadership boards of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Jewish Home and the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.

“The very Orthodox and the not-so-Orthodox were here. They could be Jewish. You could be a Jew in your home and in the community. That’s what they built.” 

‘Boyle Heights Heroes’ remembers L.A.’s Jewish roots Read More »

A Community Awoken

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Culture, Entertainment, Music /

Community Advocates has been involved in the effort to defeat “>Proposition 209 in 1996. Our “>observed, “prior to this vote (in the State Senate) we heard no opposition to this bill. However in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5.” 

Last Sunday, Community Advocates was part of a huge “>Sacramento and soon in Southern California. Other groups are activating their memberships and Chinese language A Community Awoken Read More »

Moving and shaking

Leave a Comment / Community, Moving & Shaking /

UCLA Holocaust historian Saul Friedlander has been named one of the winners of the 2014 Dan David Prize. He splits a
 $1 million award with Polish writer and activist Krzysztof Czyzewski and French historian Pierre Nora.

“To get the prize is quite an honor. I’m very, very glad, of course, and honored,” the 81-year-old Friedlander said in a statement published on the UCLA Web site.

Tel Aviv University serves as the headquarters for the prize. An initiative of the Dan David Foundation, the award recognizes innovative and interdisciplinary research in three categories: past, present and future.

“Professor Friedlander is credited with initiating a sustained debate over the proper interpretation of Nazi history and the extent to which the Holocaust and the history of the Third Reich should be considered exceptional,” a statement by the fundraising organization American Friends of Tel Aviv University said.

This is not Friedlander’s first significant prize. The inaugural holder of the 1939 Club Chair in Holocaust Studies at UCLA was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999, and his book “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945,” the second of two volumes on the Nazi persecution and extermination of European Jewry, was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 2008. 

Los Angeles Hebrew High School (LAHHS) recognized Barbara and Zev Yaroslavsky with the Chesed Award on Feb. 23. The event recognizing the couple’s dedication to L.A. Jewish life took place at Sinai Temple. 

From left: LAHHS supporters David and Susan Farkas, LAHHS honorees Barbara and Zev Yaroslavsky, LAHHS president Bobbie Blau and LAHHS head of school Dalia Orion Oz. Photo by Bell Productions

Zev Yaroslavsy, a 1964 alumnus of LAHHS who currently serves on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and his wife, a community activist, share a deep connection to the school. The two met when Zev Yaroslavsky was working as a shomer — hall monitor — at the school’s Sunday program and Barbara Yaroslavsky was working at the front desk of American Jewish University (then known as the University of Judaism), which housed LAHHS at the time.

Many turned out to express todah (Hebrew for “thank you”) to the honorees. Rabbi David Vorspan — founding rabbi of Congregation Shir Ami, rabbi-in-residence of New Community Jewish High School and a 1963 LAHHS alumnus — served as master of ceremonies at the gala event. Rabbi Richard Levy, faculty member of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, delivered the invocation, and musician Craig Taubman, who graduated from LAHHS in 1976, treated the audience to a musical tribute. Comedian Wendy Liebman also performed at the event, which was chaired by 1994 alumna Alisha Sela.

Zev Yaroslavsky’s sister, Shimona Yaroslavsky Kushner, presented the award with the honorees’ son David Yaroslavsky. Speakers from LAHHS included president Bobbie Blau, head of school Dalia Orion-Oz, educator Michael Singer and student Jake Shulman. 

Conejo Jewish Day School’s (CJDS) 13th annual gala benefit, on Feb. 23, honored Greg and Melissa Friedman. The evening, which took place at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, recognized the couple’s support of the school.

It also spotlighted Stuart and Carrie Greenberg, Michael and Leora Langberg, Michael and Debra Laskow, Fran Prager, Rabbi Yitzchak and Brocha Sapochkinsky, David and Gisella Scharf, and Chris and Kathy Vanderlaan, who participated in establishing the school. They were all recipients of the Founder Award.

CJDS, which opened in 2001, operates in Thousand Oaks under the auspices of the Chabad of the Conejo Valley. Its funding, however, draws primarily from private donors. The school serves nearly 100 students, from kindergarten to eighth grade, according to its Web site. 

Additionally, vice president of the CJDS school board Rebbetzin Racheli Muchnik and her husband, Rabbi Dov Muchnik of Chabad of Oxnard and CJDS rabbi, presented a surprise award to school president Alvin Schrage for his dedication in sustaining CJDS. 

From left: CJDS president Alvin Schrage receives an award from Rabbi Dov Muchnik of Chabad of Oxnard and his wife, Rebbetzin Racheli Muchnik, vice president of the CJDS school board. Photo by David Cooper

Jewish Journal columnist and radio personality Dennis Prager appeared as the guest speaker at the Luxe, and he delivered remarks that echoed the mission statement of the Jewish institution in the Conejo. He emphasized the role of Jewish education in providing youth with a strong sense of identity, according to Shula Bryski, rebbetzin of Chabad of Thousand Oaks. Bryski served as the evening’s master of ceremonies and helped organize the affair. 

Honorary chairpersons included Joe and Stevie Friedman, Gary and Fran Oppenheimer, and Zeev and Varda Rav-Noy. Banquet chairpersons were Bryski, Tovi Bistritsky, Jordana Goodman, Nomi Greenwald, Alon Marer, Racheli Muchnik and Rabbi Robbie Tombosky.

Moving and Shaking highlights events, honors, simchas and more. Got a tip? E-mail ryant@jewishjournal.com.

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With Esther’s voice, fighting violence against women

Leave a Comment / Opinion /

On Mar. 8, we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day intended to celebrate the economic and social advances made by women, while at the same time drawing attention to areas that still need action. It is striking that this year the day falls so close to Purim.

The proximity is not lost on us. We remember Vashti, who was killed for disobeying her husband. We celebrate Esther, who spoke out.

Not every woman has the ability to speak. Not every woman has access to education. Not every woman can go about her day without fear of violence.

It is for her that we must now speak.

We know the stories. We know that one in every three women will experience violence at some point in her life. We know that 1 billion women and girls are affected by violence, including rape, domestic violence, acid burning, human trafficking, dowry deaths and so-called honor killings. In times of conflict, rape is often used as a weapon of war.

The terrible consequences of this epidemic of violence rob countries of the contributions and talent of half their populations. Violence takes the lives of millions of women and girls and denies countless others their dignity and their right to live safe, productive lives. No country is immune. Violence crosses all national borders and affects women of all ages, social groups, religions and economic, racial and ethnic groups.

The Obama administration has taken key steps to support millions of women and girls by establishing the Office of Global Women’s Issues in the State Department, releasing the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security and developing a government-wide strategy to uplift and coordinate efforts to address gender-based violence in U.S. programs abroad. This comprehensive strategy improves existing foreign assistance programs with the goal of helping to prevent, reduce and ultimately end violence against women.

But it’s not enough to create a strategy — the U.S. Congress must take a stand against violence against women globally to effect true change. The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) will make existing efforts to stop violence against women more integrated, effective and efficient, placing women at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

The legislation would direct the U.S. government to implement its strategy to reduce violence against women in at least five countries where violence is severe. The bill would also permanently authorize the Office of Global Women’s Issues, an important move that will ensure the prioritization of women and girls in future administrations.

I-VAWA would also allow women’s organizations abroad to finally get the help they deserve. Programmatic support and capacity building will focus on both prevention, such as economic opportunity programs and public education campaigns to change attitudes, and intervention, such as health care for women who have been raped and who may become infected with HIV/AIDS. U.S. government agencies that engage in foreign assistance work overseas would be required to take all possible steps in their programming to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and to be coordinated in these efforts.

Addressing violence against women is crucial to global development and stability. When women and girls thrive, societies are more likely to prosper, reduce rates of HIV and AIDS, decrease child and maternal mortality, and increase participatory and democratic governments — all of which makes U.S. assistance dollars go farther. U.S. security — and the security of all countries — is only enhanced when the status of women is elevated.

I-VAWA is championed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), two powerful Jewish women leaders. The legislation was introduced in the House this past June and now has six Republican co-sponsors and will shortly be reintroduced in the Senate. This is now the fourth Congress to address this legislation. How many times does it need to be considered before it is passed?  On the heels of passing a strong, bipartisan Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, Congress has a historic opportunity to focus on women worldwide and finally pass I-VAWA.

This Purim, let’s remember Vashti, honor Esther and use our voices to stop violence against women and girls around the globe.

(Lori Weinstein is CEO of Jewish Women International, which is a steering committee member of the Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally and the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women.)

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Ukraine Jewish leaders criticize Putin in open letter

Leave a Comment / Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Worldwide /

A highly critical open letter to Vladimir Putin by leaders of Ukraine’s Jewish communities was published on the website of Ukraine’s Vaad yesterday.

The Vaad of Ukraine was established in 1991. Based in Kiev, it is an umbrella group that says it supports “265 Jewish organizations from 94 cities of Ukraine.”

The letter, written in Russian and co-signed by 21 Jewish leaders — including the Vaad leadership, an artist, an engineer, and others — excoriated Putin’s perceived hypocrisy and asserted the signers’ support of Ukrainian sovereignty “in the name of national minorities and Ukraine’s Jewish community.”

Since Russian troops invaded Crimea, a peninsula in southeastern Ukraine, on Saturday, Putin has justified his military action by claiming that he is acting to protect Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population.

In response to these allegations, the group spoke on behalf of a Ukrainian Jewish community that is historically “mostly Russian-speaking.”

In repeated statements from the Kremlin, Putin has asserted that Ukraine’s new government is composed of “fascists and neo-Nazis,” and he decried what he said was the anti-Semitism of Ukrainian protesters in his Tuesday press conference.

“Your certainty about the growth of anti-Semitism in Ukraine, which you expressed at your press conference, also does not correspond to the actual facts,” wrote the group. “Perhaps you got Ukraine confused with Russia, where Jewish organizations have noticed growth in anti-Semitic tendencies last year.”

Calling for Putin to cease his intervention in Ukraine and his calls for pro-Russian separatism within the country, the group stated that it does not wish “to be ‘defended’ by sundering Ukraine and annexing its territory.”

Instead, the authors wrote, “we are quite capable of protecting our rights in a constructive dialogue and in cooperation with the government and civil society of a sovereign, democratic, and united Ukraine.”

Among the cosigned are Josef Zissels, chairman of Vaad Ukraine; Alexander Gaidar, leader of the Union of Ukrainian Progressive Judaism Religious Communities; Grigoriy Pickman, “B’nei B’rith Leopolis” president; and Leonid Finberg, director of the Center for the Study of History and Culture of Eastern European Jewry at Kiev Mohyla National University.

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Kiev Jewish volunteers undergo disaster training

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

Jewish volunteers in Kiev underwent training on how to respond to multiple emergencies.

The training was given to about 15 volunteers this week by United Hatzalah and ZAKA — two emergency response organizations from Israel.

“The participants have been trained to provide first aid in mass casualty emergency situations, and include protocols for CPR, treating suffocation, injuries and diseases,” the two groups wrote in a joint statement Wednesday.

The training was part of the Jewish community’s preparations for dealing with emergency scenarios that may arise as a result of the still-unfinished revolution in Ukraine, and Russian incursions into Ukraine last week.

Moshe Azman, a Ukrainian chief rabbi, requested ZAKA and United Hatzalah give the emergency response seminar, which was prepared in cooperation with the Isralife Foundation.

Ukraine already has two unaffiliated quick-response teams that are made up of Jewish volunteers.

“We were pleased to come to the assistance of the Ukrainian community during their time of need and provide the emergency training their volunteers need to handle local emergencies in an efficient and timely manner,” said United Hatzalah’s president, Eli Beer.

The United States and Europe have accused Russia of “aggression” in the Crimean Peninsula, in southeastern Ukraine. Rabbi Misha Kapustin of the Ner Tamid Reform synagogue in the Crimean capital of Simferopol told JTA that Russian troops occupy the city, but on Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian troops were not in Crimea and suggested the uniformed men controlling key positions in Crimean cities belonged to local pro-Russian militias.

According to Israel’s Ma’ariv daily, several students from two religious seminaries in Kiev have been summoned to appear before reserves conscription offices set up by Ukraine in response to Russia’s actions, which included last week military maneuvers near the border with Ukraine.

The Ukrainian revolution began in November when demonstrators took to the streets to protest policies by the government of former president Viktor Yanukovych, which was seen to prioritize Ukraine’s ties with Russia over its relations with the European Union. Protests intensified, forcing Yanukovych to flee for Russia last week.

A temporary government was installed, and new elections were scheduled for May.

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Israel calls for peaceful resolution of Ukraine crisis

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released its first statement on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, calling for a peaceful resolution to the crisis there.

“Israel is following the events in Ukraine with great concern, worry for the well-being of all its citizens and hope that the situation will not deteriorate to the loss of human life,” the statement read. “Israel expects the crisis in Ukraine to be handled through diplomatic means and resolved peacefully.”

This is the first statement from Israel regarding the crisis since Russian troops invaded Crimea following the ouster of Ukraine’s president,  Viktor Yanukovych. The statement, according to Haaretz, came following pressure from the United States and leading up to a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.

The statement did not mention Russia, perhaps reflecting Liberman’s efforts in recent years to strengthen relations between Russia and Israel.

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California governor seeks drought help from Israel’s Netanyahu

Leave a Comment / United States /

California Governor Jerry Brown told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that he hoped Israeli water technology could help his state deal with a devastating drought.

Netanyahu, on a visit to Silicon Valley, and Brown signed a memorandum of understanding for research and development cooperation in various technological fields, including water conservation.

“Israel has demonstrated how efficient a country can be, and there is a great opportunity for collaboration,” Brown said.

Netanyahu said Israel's expertise in wastewater recycling, desalination and drip irrigation had solved its water problems.

On Saturday, Brown signed into law a $687 million drought-relief package to deal with a water shortage he has called the worst in the state's modern history.

In Silicon Valley, Netanyahu, who has dubbed Israel the “innovation nation,” met at Apple headquarters with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and also planned to see Jan Koum, co-founder of messaging app firm WhatsApp.

Netanyahu, who arrived in California on Tuesday after talks in Washington the previous day with President Barack Obama, said he hoped to drum up more Silicon Valley investment in Israel.

Israeli high-tech companies raised $2.3 billion in 2013 from local and foreign investors, the highest amount in a decade and up 22 percent from 2012, according to The Israel Venture Capital (IVC) Research Center.

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