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January 22, 2015

As L.A.’s Muslims condemn French attacks, a gap on what’s to blame

Leave a Comment / California, Is Featured?, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

Following the recent terror attacks in Paris by Islamic extremists that left 17 dead and 22 wounded at a satirical magazine and kosher market, the debate within the local Muslim community over what to blame and even how to label the ideology behind the attacks has only intensified.

Are the attacks in France, along with the surge of violence and persecution in Iraq, Syria and Nigeria, expressions of something called Islamism or Islamic extremism? Or are groups like Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL), Al Qaeda and Boko Haram political extremist movements that are exploiting Islam to advance their un-Islamic goals?

Much as they are being discussed in Christian, Jewish and secular worlds, these questions are subjects of debate within the Los Angeles Muslim community, where progressive Muslims and more traditional Muslims coexist, even as they differ when it comes to pinpointing the root problem of terrorism done in the name of Islam.

For Ani Zonneveld, the founder and president of As L.A.’s Muslims condemn French attacks, a gap on what’s to blame Read More »

Reclaiming Sephardic music, culture on road to Spanish citizenship

Leave a Comment / Culture /

When Maya and Noa Dori were kids growing up in Israel, they used to spend Shabbat with their grandmother Lisa Romano. One night, as Maya tells it, they walked outside and “started to pinpoint the stars.” Their grandmother quickly swatted Noa’s hand, furious. 

“She said, ‘It’s forbidden,’ ” Maya remembered during a recent phone call from Spain. 

When Maya and Noa asked why, their grandmother told them, simply, that horrible things would happen to their fingers if they counted the stars. For years, the mystery behind this star-crossed obsession vexed the sisters. 

As they grew up, Maya and Noa became more and more interested in their grandmother’s Sephardic heritage, until finally, a decade ago, Maya decided to try reclaiming her Spanish citizenship. As part of her research, the answer to the star-counting mystery finally revealed itself. 

During the time of the Inquisition in Spain, Maya explained, “They were hunting people that said they converted to Christianity, but at home preserved their Jewish customs and heritage. [The Inquisition authorities] stood at the corner of the street, [on] Shabbat, waiting for those trying to pinpoint three stars.” 

Those who were caught “were instantly recognized as Jews, and the Spanish would do terrible things to them,” she continued. The fear of counting the Sabbath stars was then passed down through the generations, all the way to Maya and Noa’s grandmother.

When Maya went before the Spanish authorities to reclaim her citizenship, she told them the story of her grandmother and the stars. Now, Maya and Noa are hoping to help other Jews of Spanish descent reclaim their birthright by applying for Spanish citizenship. To do so, they’ve founded an organization, Lisa Advisors, named after their grandmother. 

They’re holding a special evening of music and learning at the Roxbury Park Community Center in Beverly Hills on Jan. 29 at 6:30 p.m., hoping the Los Angeles Sephardic community will turn out to hear about their stories and to listen to some wonderful music.

“Two years ago, the Spanish government announced a big project about giving Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews,” Maya said. “A lot of people don’t know that they have a lot of things inside of their memory, inside of their family culture and history, that can be used as proof.”

Regaining Spanish citizenship is a different process than the process to regain German citizenship lost during the Holocaust. Because no one really has papers from the 1400s — when Jews were expelled from Spain — modern-day Spanish authorities rely upon a mix of information in making their decisions. Everything from family names, to Sephardic ketubahs, to knowledge of Ladino can be used as “proof” of Spanish ancestry. 

The proposal announced in 2012 would ease some of the current restrictions to seeking citizenship: residency in Spain will no longer be required, and dual citizenship will be permitted. In June 2014, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved the draft law. It is expected to pass in Parliament later this year, Maya said.

Once passed, “[The] law is only available for two years,” Noa stressed. “So you can imagine what kind of a mission we are on.”

When Maya began the process for herself 10 years ago, almost no one knew the process, she said.

“The clerks here in Barcelona were looking at me in a puzzled way, and called their manager because they didn’t know what to do with me,” she said.

Maya’s story was entered into evidence, along with a family Sephardic ketubah and some other items. 

“It was part of my case, and they sent it to Madrid,” she said.  Soon after, the Spanish authorities granted her request and gave her citizenship. 

Noa, who lives in Los Angeles, has been acting and singing since she was a child, first in Israel and later in the United States. She’s appeared on TV shows such as “Castle” and “Days of our Lives,” and performed duets with the likes of Adam Lambert. But even today, she recalls that her grandmother always wanted her to sing Ladino music more than anything.

“My grandma used to ask me why I was yelling,” Noa said by phone, of her grandmother’s reaction to the opera songs she would sing as a teenager. “She’d say, ‘Sing Morenica,’ ” referring to a popular Sephardic song. Although Noa went on to sing with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, she never forgot her grandmother’s words.

While Maya handles the academic and legal aspects of Spanish immigration — something that comes naturally to her as she’s a lawyer and has a doctorate in economics — her sister takes care of the cultural side. 

“I’m not a lawyer,” Noa said. “I’m a singer and a performer, so really this evening is about bringing the Sephardic Jewish community together, not just for the information purposes of if they wish to get European citizenship … but also to reminisce and to celebrate the Ladino music that I’ll be responsible for.”

As someone who’s already gone through the process, Maya knows that she can help those seeking to reclaim their own heritage. 

“I want them to really understand that we are one big family,” she said. “In Israel for many, many years … being Sephardic was not something people used to be proud of.”

Living in modern-day Spain, Maya knows that she can make a difference. 

“The Jewish community here is very small, and it would be nice to see more and more people coming,” she said. “We were important. We’re still important.” 

Reclaiming Sephardic music, culture on road to Spanish citizenship Read More »

Oxford Here We Come

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Culture, Opera /

Community Advocates’ vice president, Joe Hicks, is in the United Kingdom today for a very special event. No, he’s not meeting the Queen.

Tomorrow night Joe will be one of the debaters at the On the opposing dais will be Rev. Al Sharpton.

In the past few days Sharpton added some drama to the event when he asked for an opportunity to speak at the event but NOT debate the issue that is the subject of the evening. Apparently, the sponsors have agreed to allow him to make opening comments and then respond to questions, but not actively participate in the debate. A very unusual concession by the Union.

It will be a videotaped and available on YouTube in the next few days. Should make for fun viewing.

This is quite an honor for Joe and for Community Advocates.

Oxford Here We Come Read More »

Upward Mobility Act to tax services, boost revenue by $10 billion

Leave a Comment / California, United States /

State Sen. Bob Hertzberg of the San Fernando Valley recently introduced Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), also known as the Upward Mobility Act. It is an attempt to move past standard single-issue, stopgap tax measures, and to jumpstart discussion of a complete overhaul of California’s tax code. In its current form, SB 8 would expand the sales tax to include services, while lowering both corporate and personal income taxes. Health services, education services and small businesses with less than $100,000 in gross sales would be exempt from the new service tax. Additionally, SB 8 would maintain the personal income tax’s progressive structure and would incentivize an increase to the minimum wage.

Hertzberg, a Democrat representing the 18th District, says his bill would even boost the state’s revenue by $10 billion annually, to be allocated to schools and community colleges, to the state’s two university systems, to local governments and to a new earned income tax credit for poor families. A two-thirds vote from both state legislative houses is necessary to pass any tax increase. Critics say it could hurt industries covered by the new sales tax. The Journal spoke with Hertzberg by phone to better understand his thinking, and an edited version of that conversation follows.

Jewish Journal: Why does SB 8 emphasize the sales tax over the income tax?

Bob Hertzberg: We recently had a significant economic crisis, and the governor asked the people of California to tax themselves to get the state past the crisis. That tax starts expiring at the end of this year. The question that I’m asking is, what kind of tax structure will work best for California going forward? 

The tax structure that currently exists is of a different time. The reason we are going toward a sales tax on services is that services are the dominant part of our economy. We have moved from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, and most services aren’t exportable. With the current personal income tax, a small group of wealthy people pay the bulk of the money, and it’s a very volatile revenue source for the state. We are dramatically simplifying the personal income tax from nine rates to two rates, and we are dramatically reducing it as well. We need to reimagine our tax system for the future.  

JJ: Do you think the new sales tax on services could dampen job creation and the growth of California businesses?

BH: I don’t think so. If you’re an accountant right now, there is a chance you are already outsourcing to India, because it’s cheaper. The California economy is over $2 trillion. You have to look at this holistically. On the one hand, you are going to have a new tax. On the other hand, you are going to take the corporate tax code and put it in the shredder. What happens in politics is that people look at one side of this issue and can’t see the totality of the situation. You are adding a new tax, but you are getting rid of other taxes. 

JJ: What would the effect of SB 8 be on California’s poorer residents? Would the new earned income tax credit be sufficient to offset an increase in cost for services?

BH: That’s exactly right. It will cover the cost 100 percent. We modeled it with some very smart people, including Edward Kleinbard, who served as chief of staff of Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation, and Laura Tyson, who chaired the president’s Council of Economic Advisers under [Bill] Clinton, and they see the value of the credit. 

Also, the credit will be refundable, so you will automatically get a check. You have to apply for the existing earned income tax credit. We are going to automatically send people their credit checks. 

JJ: What are the major issues that still need to be worked out? What opposition do you foresee?

BH: I don’t know yet; it’s too early to tell. Clearly, every advocate in Sacramento who has a service business that is bellyaching is going to say that they can’t be taxed any more. It is going to take a lot of work. We are going to start the discussion in the legislature and create a process where we can get the best minds, get everyone’s opinions and then figure out what works. It will include hearings around the state. There are a whole host of thoughtful, smart people who are supportive of this plan. You engage and you find out if you made assumptions that are wrong, and if you did, you of course correct. It’s our democratic process.

JJ: Is there anything else you’d like to add regarding the aim of your bill?

BH: Before Proposition 13 [in 1978, which decreased property taxes], the tax dollars the government used to build were investment dollars. Property taxes were valuable because you could borrow against them and build a road, a school or a sidewalk. Since the proposition, the money the state has used to supplement local governments is operational money. It is not money we can use to invest. We moved away from being a society that builds infrastructure.

The first question we have to ask is, what do we want to do with the money? What’s its purpose? That is why our main focus points are education and infrastructure. If people want to rebuild a road or build a new senior center, they should be able to do it. 

Also, all of the additional money that will be raised will be going locally. There is an underlying message here of devolving power — getting money to the people. People will pay for services they can feel, touch, but when they can’t feel and touch them, they don’t want to write checks. 

Upward Mobility Act to tax services, boost revenue by $10 billion Read More »

Nisman mystery: Who killed AMIA prosecutor?

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

The mysterious death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman seems ripped straight out of a crime thriller.

Nisman — the indefatigable prosecutor collecting evidence of culpability in the 1994 bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people — was found dead in his apartment just hours before he was to present evidence to Argentina’s congress that he said implicated his country’s president and foreign minister in a nefarious cover-up scheme.

The charge? That the two agreed to whitewash Tehran’s role in the AMIA bombing in exchange for oil shipments to energy-hungry Argentina.

Nisman’s body was discovered late on Jan. 18 in his 13th-floor apartment with a single gunshot to the head.

Officials connected to the president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, quickly said evidence pointed to suicide, noting that a .22-caliber pistol and spent cartridge had been found near Nisman’s body.

But the suicide theory was dismissed out of hand on the streets of Buenos Aires and among people around the world familiar with Nisman and his work investigating the AMIA attack. Instead, they said Nisman, 51, was the victim of foul play. The suicide theory lost more ground on Jan. 20 with the revelation by the prosecutor investigating Nisman’s death, Viviana Fein, that no traces of gunpowder were found on Nisman’s hand. There also was no suicide note.

“The Jewish community has lost a stalwart hero, and Argentina and all people who pursue the truth and justice with a passionate zeal have lost a great fighter,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “Throughout the years, all kinds of forces have tried to put him down, to destroy him. Every time he uncovered new stuff or exposed some interests that weren’t happy, they set the courts against him or they set the police against him. And every time they tried to put him down, he fought it, he got up and beat them.”

The investigation of the 1994 bombing — the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history and one of the worst incidents of anti-Jewish violence in the Diaspora since World War II — was seen as hopelessly inept and corrupt until Nisman took over the case in 2005.

There were no significant arrests for years after the AMIA bombing, which was preceded by the deadly 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29. After 20 local men, including 19 police officers, were put on trial in 2001 on charges of involvement in the Jewish center attack, the investigating judge, Juan Jose Galeano, was caught on video offering one of the men a bribe in return for evidence. The case collapsed, the police were acquitted, and Galeano eventually was removed from the case and impeached.

Appointed to take over the case by then-President Nestor Kirchner, the late husband of the current Argentine leader who had called the handling of the case a “national disgrace,” Nisman launched a more professional investigation. He traced the links from the Iranian leaders who ordered the attack to the Hezbollah operatives who planned its execution, formally charging Iran and Hezbollah in 2006. Interpol eventually issued arrest warrants for six Iranian officials in connection with the bombing, including Iran’s defense minister at the time, Ahmad Vahidi. The Islamic Republic denied any connection and refused to hand over the suspects.

In 2013, when Argentina and Iran signed a joint memorandum of understanding to investigate the bombing, Nisman and Jewish community leaders in Argentina and abroad decried the deal as a farce. Many were particularly incensed that the deal was negotiated by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, a prominent Argentine Jew whose father, Jacobo Timerman, had been a well-respected Argentine-Israeli human-rights activist. The governments of Israel and the United States also denounced the deal.

Nisman challenged the arrangement in court as “wrongful interference” by the president in judicial affairs, and the probe never was implemented.

All the while, Nisman and his investigating team continued to press forward with their effort to bring those responsible to justice. Last week, Nisman filed a 300-page complaint alleging that Kirchner, Timerman and others were seeking to “erase” Iran’s role in the AMIA bombing in exchange for establishing stronger trade relations, including oil sales to Argentina. He was slated to present his evidence to Argentina’s congress on Jan. 19.

A few years ago, during a 2009 visit to New York, Nisman said a trial of the AMIA bombing should be moved outside Argentina if it is to have any chance of success.

“We’re thinking of taking this case to a court in a third country due to the challenges of pursuing it in Argentina,” Nisman said at a briefing at ADL’s national headquarters. “There is a practical impossibility of doing it in Argentina because Iran has said it won’t deliver the people we have accused. It’s also been hard for Interpol to arrest those people because whenever they leave Iran, they do so under diplomatic immunity.”

Even outside Argentina, Nisman said, it was highly unlikely that Iran would submit suspects for trial, but the move could bring some closure to the families of the AMIA bombing victims.

“I’m following the wishes of relatives and looking for a way to get them some closure,” Nisman said through a translator. “I cannot give up on ways of trying to get justice.”

Among Argentina’s 200,000 Jews — the largest Jewish community in Latin America — Nisman, who also was Jewish, was seen as a crusading hero.

So who could have wanted him dead? Many Argentines are pointing the finger at President Kirchner. By the night of Jan. 18, thousands had gathered outside the presidential palace to protest Nisman’s death, with some holding aloft signs reading “Cristina murderer.” The hashtag #CFKAsesina — Kirchner’s initials and the Spanish word assassin — was one of the top topics trending on Twitter in Argentina on Jan. 19.

In Jewish and Israeli circles, some analysts speculated that Nisman may have been killed by Hezbollah, whose operatives were fingered for carrying out the AMIA bombing on behalf of Iran.

Just hours before Nisman’s death — he did not eat dinner on Sunday night, investigators said, suggesting he likely was shot before dinnertime — several Hezbollah fighters were killed in an airstrike in southern Syria attributed to Israel. Among the dead were Mohammed Allahdadi, a general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Jihad Mughniyeh, son of the late Hezbollah mastermind Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a February 2008 car bombing in Damascus. Mughniyeh was the one whom Nisman found had coordinated and oversaw preparations for the AMIA bombing.

Hezbollah accused Israel of being behind the Jan. 18 airstrike. Israeli officials, adhering to protocol in such cases, declined to comment. But an unnamed senior Israeli security source confirmed to Reuters that Israel was behind the strike, but said it wasn’t meant to target a senior Iranian general.

“We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed — certainly not the Iranian general,” the source told Reuters. “We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence.”

Could Hezbollah have pulled off Nisman’s killing so quickly after the airstrike in Syria? It would be uncharacteristic for the Lebanon-based group, which typically has carried out its well-planned reprisals months or years after Israeli attacks. But some analysts noted Iran and Hezbollah have sleeper cells that can carry out operations on short notice.

The circumstances of Nisman’s death, assuming he indeed was murdered, certainly represent a failure of the Argentine authorities. Nisman had been under police protection, including the positioning of police guards outside the luxury high-rise where he was found dead.

Nisman had made several prescient references to the possibility of his untimely demise, saying as recently as Jan. 17, “I might get out of this dead.”

On Jan. 18, the guards assigned to protect Nisman said they hadn’t been able to reach him by telephone, and his newspaper lay untouched outside his apartment door. His mother was called and came with her spare key, but the lock was jammed with the key stuck in the other side. After a locksmith opened the door, Nisman’s body was found in the bathroom.

Jorge Kirszenbaum, a former president of the Argentine Jewish community’s political umbrella group, DAIA, said that a cousin of Nisman who visited the crime scene found a note to the maid with the next work day’s tasks spelled out.

Argentine-Israeli journalist Roxana Levinson, whose uncle, Jaime Plaksin, was killed in the AMIA attack, called Nisman’s death devastating.

“This death is like another bomb,” she said. “It’s a death sentence for truth and justice in the AMIA case.”

Now that Nisman is gone, it’s not clear what will happen with the AMIA investigation or his accusations against Kirchner and Timerman.

In another one of his eerily prescient comments, Nisman told a TV interviewer last week after news of his accusations against the president made the papers, “With Nisman around or not, the evidence is there.”

— A JTA correspondent in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.

Nisman mystery: Who killed AMIA prosecutor? Read More »

Asher Yatzar: A Blessing of Radical Consciousness!

Leave a Comment / Blogs, California /

There is a traditional Jewish blessing that I recite every time I come out of the bathroom (asher yatzar). In this blessing, we celebrate that our bodies are miraculously working, expressing gratitude for this fact, but also protesting our forgetfulness that God is keeping us alive. This miracle is even greater then a beautiful sunset. We can live without the beautiful sunset, but we cannot live without a working body.

While we are conscious of our thoughts – our physical and mental abilities –  there are more than 10 major systems in our body that function in harmony, allowing us to enjoy our existence. Our 206 bones are living organs that allow us to stand and yet also give us flexibility in movement through the 26 vertebrae that go down our neck and back. While we may think bone is stable, it is maintained through a perfect balance of cells that build bone (osteoblasts) and cells that achieve bone resorption (osteoclasts). Bone marrow, soft connective tissue within bone, produces billions of blood cells (red, white, platelets) on a daily basis, continually rejuvenating the blood. Simultaneously, our autonomic nervous system regulates all the processes that we do not consciously operate, such as breathing and heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and balance of electrolytes in our body. Meanwhile, the endocrine system comprises the glands and produce the body’s hormones. For example, the thymus produces the T-lymphocytes that are necessary for the body’s immune system to function, and the pancreas produces insulin in a quantity necessary to keep blood sugar levels under control, while other hormones help regulate blood pressure, assist food digestion, and assist our reproductive function. While it works, our body is truly a marvel.

On the other hand, consider all that might go wrong in the body in a given day. With all these systems failures can bring on a myriad of woe. If neurons in the brain die, you may wind up with Parkinson disease, which progressively diminishes a person’s ability to control muscles, leading to tremor in the hands, arms and legs, and the face, impaired gait and posture, and dysphagia (the inability to swallow properly), which can lead to aspiration pneumonia and death. When brain function begins to deteriorate due to protein plaques, the result is often dementia, a series of progressive mental illnesses of which the most notable is Alzheimer disease. This disease progresses inexorably from memory lapses to language, judgment, even physical impairment. In bone, if osteoclasts proliferate (as in osteoporosis and metastatic bone disease), bone mineral density and bone quality decreases, leading to severe pain and a high risk for fractures. While lymphocytes ordinarily are the bulwark of the body’s immune system, a mutation and subsequent rapid reproduction of these abnormal cells produces lymphoma, a deadly blood cancer. In the endocrine system, if the pancreas does not function properly, insulin is not produced in the right amount or at the right time, which often leads to Type 2 diabetes; in turn, the resultant high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) can cause multiple other problems, macrovascular damage leading to heart attacks and stroke, to microvascular damage that can lead to kidney failure, blindness, and nerve damage (neuropathy). Finally, our heart is a mighty muscle, but if it weakens it can lead to failure and death. Unfortunately, this is but a small fraction of what can go wrong.

Most of us are blessed with years of a harmonious working of the body, and can, with gratitude, offer the traditional Jewish blessing daily. This gratitude should inspire us to take care of our bodies, a remarkable gift to be cherished. Further, this blessing should charge us to support those having physical struggles and health challenges. The blessing moves us vertically (gratitude above), horizontally (responsibility to others), and inward (awareness of the miracles within us). If we choose to be, we can be awakened to the spiritual power of constant miracles!

“Blessed are You, God, who heals all flesh and acts wondrously!”

 

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Executive Director of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute and the author of seven books on Jewish ethics.  Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America.”

Asher Yatzar: A Blessing of Radical Consciousness! Read More »

This week in power: The gun question and Miss Israel

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Should Jews carry guns?
“One of Europe’s most prominent Jewish organizations is petitioning the European Union to pass new legislation that would permit Jewish community members to carry guns 'for the essential protection of their communities,'” ” target=”_blank”>said John Hinderaker at Powerline. Others were more fearful: “When Jews need protection, when the international community points an accusing finger at Israel, and when Hamas welcomes it – the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly can smile from their graves. They won. The enlightened Europe is doing their job for them, intentionally and unintentionally,” ” target=”_blank”>went viral as a result of supporters of the former wondering why she posed for a photo with the latter. Only Mis Lebanon argued she hadn't, and Miss Israel had snapped the selfie without warning. “For starters, the Miss Lebanon selfie isn’t just a lolzy social media gaffe: It’s about the difficulties of embodying a self and a country simultaneously. It’s about the politics of personal identity and vice versa. It’s about the unwieldiness of semiotics itself,” ” target=”_blank”>added Sigal Samuel at The Jewish Daily Forward.

This week in power: The gun question and Miss Israel Read More »

J Street, StandWithUs debate best way to support Israel

Leave a Comment / Culture /

Representatives of StandWithUs (SWU) and J Street — two Jewish organizations with very different takes on Israel — faced off Jan. 13 in a debate on why their respective group is a better friend to the Jewish state.

The free event, at Temple Judea in Tarzana, featured attorney, writer and UCLA graduate student Philippe Assouline in support of SWU, and J Street Vice President for Communications Alan Elsner. Temple Judea’s Rabbi Joshua Aaronson served as moderator for the hour-long debate, which attracted more than 400 attendees. 

The two organizations are often pitted against each other. SWU is a pro-Israel education-and-advocacy organization that concentrates resources on bolstering Israel’s image on college campuses, which are becoming increasingly anti-Israel. J Street is a progressive organization that supports a two-state solution, often criticizes the Israeli government and lobbies United States congressional leaders on legislation related to Israel.

Aaronson began the night by asking the debaters to discuss public perceptions about their respective organizations and to comment on why those perceptions even exist. Assouline blamed J Street, along with pro-Palestinian organizations, for marginalizing SWU to the extent that it is seen as little more than a mouthpiece of the Israeli government.  

“Those two things combined have given StandWithUs a completely undeserved right-wing reputation. If I had to put a label on the people I work with, it would be center-left,” he said. “There is not one person I work with who is against Palestinian self-determination and who has come out vocally against a two state-solution,”

As for J Street, which is generally seen as more of a left-wing group, any misperceptions about it come from a different place, Elsner said.

“Since J Street’s inception, there have been people in the Jewish-American establishment who felt threatened by our organization, and have tried very, very hard to spread falsehoods and dishonesty and basically blackmail the organization,” he said, “and I find it bizarre.”
Each speaker was not afraid to throw darts at the other’s organization. Assouline called J Street a lobbying organization — and not in a good way — saying, “J Street doesn’t merely try to inject new voices into the discussion; it is a lobbying group that tries to influence American policy, to change Israeli policy over and against the wishes of the Israeli electorate, sometimes.”

After the debate, Elsner described SWU to the Journal as “just a classic hasbarah cheerleading group that pushes the case of the Israeli government. That’s perfectly legitimate, but let’s not call them what they’re not.”

Another source of tension between the two groups is the documentary “The J Street Challenge,” which takes a critical view of J Street. Attorney and author Alan Dershowitz is among those who speak negatively about the progressive group in the film.

SWU did not finance “The J Street Challenge,” but it has organized screenings of it in Los Angeles and elsewhere. During last week’s debate, Elsner criticized the journalistic integrity of the film, indicating that J Street leaders did not have a real opportunity to participate in it.

Aaronson repeatedly asked the audience to withhold its applause for both debaters, but people applauded anyway, including for SWU’s Assouline’s comment about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on college campuses: “This is a campaign to kosherize killing Jews, to kosherize terrorism and to make the eliminationist rhetoric of the Palestinians noble. It is an abuse of compassion to disguise hatred as concern, and it is not about 1967, to my distress; it is about 1948.” 

When an audience member asked if the two speakers could envision their respective organizations ever working together, Assouline said he believes middle ground lies in combating the BDS movement, which has made the climate on college campuses so hostile toward Israel that supporting the country has become an act of courage. Still, Elsner said, combating BDS requires a broad appeal beyond pro-Israel groups, which SWU lacks.

In an interview following the debate, Ilanit Maghen, 31, a Santa Monica-based architect who attended the event, expressed frustration with both sides.

“It just doesn’t make sense that within ourselves as Jews — American Jews, Israeli Jews, whatever you call it — that there is such a split in belief. This is what doesn’t work in my opinion about the peace process,” she said. “I don’t support anything. I support peace. I support people who support peace.”

J Street, StandWithUs debate best way to support Israel Read More »

Anne Frank oratorio at Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts

Leave a Comment / Culture, Theater /

The Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts in downtown Los Angeles — which is mostly Latino, Black and Asian — might seem an odd place to find a cultural experience with Jewish overtones. But this week, the public school’s students will be raising their voices in song for a special performance with the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) that will see them bring to life the story of Anne Frank in an oratorio they’ve written and composed.

The Jan. 22 and 23 performances are part of LAMC’s educational outreach program Voices Within, founded by former LAMC member Marnie Mosiman a little more than a decade ago. The program, which was originally designed for fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms, sends professional composers, lyricists, singers and musicians from the master chorale to schools around the city to help students learn about composing music.

“Voices Within is a study in collaboration,” said Alice Murray, who has been a member of the LAMC for nearly 16 years. “We just happen to use songwriting as a tool, but it’s mostly about teaching students to honor each other’s ideas, to be spontaneous.”

Murray and lyricist Doug Cooney have been working with this year’s students on the Anne Frank oratorio, and said the focus on Anne Frank, the famous Dutch diarist who died during the Holocaust, is something they’d been considering for a while. (Past subjects include Gilgamesh and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.)

“This year at the master chorale is a year of passions,” Murray said, and as a result, the Anne Frank piece has been titled “The Passion of Anne Frank.” The title may bring cringes to the faces of some Jews who are not particularly fond of Passion pieces — traditionally works based on the gospel story of the Passion — considering their history of being used to whip up anti-Semitism, but no offense is intended. The piece is a passion more in its musical form than content, though the suffering of Anne Frank will in many ways resonate with the suffering of Jesus for Christian viewers and students.

Desiree Fowler, who has taught in the school’s music department since its founding, said doing works that highlight different backgrounds is important to the school. “Within the fives years that we have done this project, we’ve hit all different types of cultures and time periods … to sort of reflect the diversity of our school.”

Fowler, who describes her job as “tricking kids into falling in love with music,” said Voices Within has been a huge help to her as a teacher. “It’s approached music more like a language,” Fowler said. “I’ve seen for five years now how successful it is.”

Students participate in every aspect of the production, from writing to performing. “They get access to what they’re supposed to sound like, how they’re supposed to behave, how seriously they’re supposed to take their role in a choir,” Fowler said.

She works with the beginner choral students, and said for many of them, getting hooked on singing or composing can be a challenge. “I might have an 11th-grader in that class who’s been in orchestra for six years of their life … and then I have people that don’t necessarily even want to sing.” 

Voices Within has helped many of those shy students open up. 

“It’s one of the best things that we could do for our choral department,” Fowler said. “I’ve had students say, ‘This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’ ”

Sophomore Eileen Garrido, who will be playing the role of Anne Frank in the oratorio, agrees. “It’s just an honor to be playing Anne Frank. She is my role model. I’ve loved Anne Frank ever since I was in sixth grade.”

Garrido, too, knows a thing or two about suffering. 

“I was born with a very serious heart condition known as Tetralogy of Fallot, and because of this condition, I’ve had to receive three major open-heart surgeries at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles,” Garrido said. She and her parents started a foundation to raise money for Children’s Hospital called the Beating Hearts Foundation (beatinghearts.org), which has raised tens of thousands of dollars to help support care for other pediatric heart patients.

Garrido has been singing since the age of 7, and describes the experience with Voices Within as one she’ll never forget. “It has been an amazing experience. Everyone from the LAMC is so nice. They’re so open to brand-new ideas.”

Murray said that’s what Voices Within is all about — exposing students to a new and exciting experience. “You have to talk the students into being playful and spontaneous,” Murray said. “That is the challenge … giving them license to not judge themselves or others.”

“It really is their words on the page,” Murray said. “We give them the structure, we give them the form.”  

Garrido, for one, is excited to see her work performed live, and to sing onstage with the octet from the master chorale, which will be singing with her and the other student soloists and choir members. “I always do have a little bit of jitters … but mostly I just go up there to have fun.” 

Garrido hopes that people will come out to see the show. “It’s going to give you a different perspective of what Anne Frank went through,” she said. “I know in rehearsals I get teared-up sometimes.”

“She was really a little hero hiding in the darkness,” she added. “It’ll just make you be more appreciative of what you have today.”

The Passion of Anne Frank will be performed Jan. 22 at noon and Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. at Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts.  Both performances are free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Visit lamc.org for details.

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