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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

July 31, 2019

Caring for an Aging Parent

Leave a Comment / Columnists /

The telephone rings and I immediately feel the frustration and sadness on the other end — a daughter or son whose life has been turned upside down by the parent who once took care of them and now can no longer take care of themselves. Their stories are accompanied by tears, exasperation and a vast array of emotions. 

They need someone on the other end to listen to their story and offer any intelligent insight as to their next steps. Raise your hand if you’re one of the 60-somethings reading this who has one or more living parent who’s 80-plus-years-old.  

I am not a geriatric care manager or a social worker. I have spent the past 15 years as a senior living advocate, providing a compassionate ear and expertise to the Los Angeles assisted living world. It is complicated; most callers need an objective source that will take the time to listen to the problem and point them in the right direction. The vast majority are sons and daughters of the elderly.

These adult children struggle with a duality of their feelings — their love for their parents, their sense of obligation, their difficulty in coping with their own needs, with their families and jobs, and their fears about their future. 

My conversation with Alan, who has lived in Israel since his early teens, comes to mind. His mother, a Holocaust survivor living in Las Vegas, was in failing health after her husband died. She was living in a board-and-care home for the elderly in Las Vegas.  There were issues with her care. There were no family members in the area.

“The memory of my parents inviting an elderly individual who had no family to our dinner table remains with me to this day.”

Alan flew to her side and, within 48 hours I helped him find an appropriate facility for her needs in Los Angeles, where she would be near a stepson. Alan arranged for her transportation to L.A. Alan said his mother was unable to care for him as an infant. He moved from foster home to foster home. He was 62 years old and never had lived with his mother. He tearfully said he still felt the need to make sure she was safe and has proper care.  

Even if your parents were not June and Ward Cleaver, most children want to do the right thing for their parents. We are all reminded of the fifth of the Ten Commandments, “Honor your father and mother.” Rabbi Michael Schwab aptly stated, “Our obligation in regard to parents was considered by the Torah to be extremely important. The logic seems to be that they helped give us life, so we owe them whatever we can give.”

Lillian B. Rubin, author of “60 on Up: The Truth About Aging in the Twenty-First Century,” said, “Parents commonly resist their children’s attempts to intervene, but they are often in denial about the depth of their decline and can’t or won’t see what’s plain to others: They need help.”

On the other hand, children don’t want to admit that a parent is declining and needs help. They may resist accepting that familial roles are starting to reverse and that they need to step in, either helping a parent themselves or lining up support.

Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman said, “Judaism offers a perspective on relationships between adult children and their parent that can provide us with compassionate, pragmatic moral guidance. Our tradition urges respectful, attentive care but also recognizes and supports what adult children can do.” It is fully appropriate to find assistance, whether in-home or a senior living community, which enables the child to work and take care of his or her own family needs. This can be seen as a mode of personal service, of demonstrating honor and respect.”

A career in journalism and public relations in the cruise industry didn’t prepare me for this work. I adored my grandmother and we remained extremely close until she died. The memory of my parents inviting an elderly individual who had no family to our dinner table remains with me to this day.

When my kids were entering high school and I found myself seeking a new career, I decided to follow my passion. Although I am blessed with an active and vibrant 88-year-old mother, when the time comes, I will need the advice I give in this article. There are no words to describe the personal satisfaction I get on a daily basis knowing I have had some part in bringing some solace and peace to adult children and their elderly parents.

Sandra Heller, a senior living advocate and placement specialist, is the owner
of Compassionate Senior Solutions in Los Angeles. 

Caring for an Aging Parent Read More »

How Apartheid Cost a South African Television Writer His Judaism

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Television writer Mthunzi Ramphele is living the American dream. With two animated TV pilots sold to major production companies, he’s achieved more than some of his most wealthy and well-connected counterparts in Hollywood have in a lifetime.

Ramphele is not up-and-coming; he has arrived.

As someone of Jewish descent, you’d think the television scribe (like anyone who’s seen “Seinfeld”) would be trying to use his Jewishness to help him make connections in Hollywood. However, as Ramphele goes in and out of studios, he’s trying to use Hollywood to connect to his Jewishness.

Ramphele was born in Johannesburg in 1993, one year before apartheid ended. In the midst of intense segregation, his mother, who was a nurse at a hospital serving whites, went into premature labor while at work. Although authorities wanted to transport her to a hospital that served blacks, it was too risky. So Ramphele entered this world with an act of defiance, not waiting for a permit or permission.

At a time when white and black people were forbidden to share the same side of the street, baby Ramphele did not break merely his mother’s water, but his country’s deepest boundaries. Now, as he brings to American audiences fantastical tales that subvert expectations of race, mental health and ostracization, Ramphele is unpacking the many costs of apartheid back home in Africa.

“I have been befriended by lots of Jewish people in South Africa, but they refuse to acknowledge me as part of the community because of how I look.”

— Mthunzi Ramphele

His birth country’s institutionalized racism stole many things from his family, he said, including Judaism. “My great-grandpappy escaped the Holocaust by moving to South Africa. There, he fell in love with this black woman.”  The two married before the passage of the 1950 Immorality Act, a law that made interracial marriage illegal in the country. “The government said this is a law now, so your options are to leave your black spouse and all is forgiven, or to stay with your black spouse, but then you lose your status as a white man — which means you lose all your wealth, lose all your property. You basically lose everything. He was one of the few people to stay.”

Suddenly impoverished, Ramphele’s ancestors lost access to one facet of whiteness few would never expect: their Judaism. “In South Africa, we are separated by race lines, not by religious lines,” Ramphele said. Those lines encircled synagogues, which were whites-only spaces. Because his great-grandfather was no longer considered white, he was banned. “We were forced to separate from our Jewish identity.” Forcibly estranged from Judaism, the Ramphele family did what it could to hold on to its history. His father read Kaddish for his grandfather after his grandfather’s death. But because Jewish education was unavailable, so were many ways to meaningfully connect to it.

Now, as a screenwriter, Ramphele is living out Jewish values through questioning the somewhat arbitrary need of humans to divide ourselves into hierarchies. His hyper-commercial worlds of monsters and magical creatures wander on the foundation of his lived experiences of being a second-class citizen. Watching classism replace racism in South Africa and in Hollywood, Ramphele has come to a realization: “As soon as we can create a hierarchy, we will. And if we can oppress them, we will.”

As Ramphele, having lived out his dream in Hollywood, pursues his goal of recovering his Judaism, these arbitrary rules continue. “I have been befriended by lots of Jewish people in South Africa but they refuse to acknowledge me as part of the community because of how I look,” he said. He noted this is a product of South Africa’s racial divide, but his struggles to be considered a Jew, or even an ally to Judaism, continue in the United States.

Ramphele recalled a particularly uncomfortable experience with an African American Uber driver in Los Angeles. “The driver obviously didn’t know what my vibe is. First and foremost, he’s being very homophobic and sh—- and just assumes I’m going to be on his team. The next thing he says is that black people were the first Jewish people and I mean, if you’re talking about in Israel, they’re not black, but fine. But now he starts talking about the ‘new Jewish people.’ He tries to erase that history and starts saying all this anti-Semitic stuff. I’m like, why are we trying to separate suffering?”

Ramphele stands strongly against pitting minorities against one another. Regardless of who acknowledges it, he embodies a Jewish spirit in his love of provocative storytelling, both in person and on screen. Among the most interesting of his questions is: “Suffering is suffering. Why do I need to compare my suffering to yours? Why do I need to erase your history for my history to be relevant?”

Ariel Sobel is a screenwriter, filmmaker and activist, and won the 2019 Bluecat Screenplay Competition. 

How Apartheid Cost a South African Television Writer His Judaism Read More »

Finding Peace Through Art — and the 405

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As anyone in Los Angeles knows, the 405 Freeway often comes to a standstill. But for Mindy Alper, who does not like crowds or excessive noise, it is heaven. “Just sit there not moving … completely safe to be with my thoughts.”

Through powerful cinematography and music, as well as animations of Alper’s drawings, director Frank Stiefel’s 2016 Oscar-winning short documentary, “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” shows viewers what it is like to have depression and mental illness.

However, during a post-discussion screening hosted by Jewish LA Special Needs Trust & Services (JLA Trust), Stiefel was quick to say this is not a film about mental illness. 

“I did not set out to make a mental health film,” said Stiefel, whose first film was about his deaf mother but did not focus on her deafness. “My intention was to do a portrait of a person. … I just wanted you to meet my friend Mindy.”

Stiefel purposefully did not reach out to any mental health organization for a consultation. He also felt strongly about not talking about Alper’s various diagnoses. 

“A diagnosis becomes a barrier,” he said. “You’ve now put somebody in a box and taken away the experience of meeting a complete person. You now are meeting a disease.”

An accomplished artist and sculptor, Alper is a client of JLA Trust, which ensures that children and adults with disabilities are able to obtain a high quality of life by leveraging the power of community to assist with financial security and peace of mind. 

“A diagnosis becomes a barrier.You’ve now put somebody in a box and taken away the experience of meeting a complete person. — Frank Stiefel

As a child, Alper lacked family support as she experienced a fear of touch, a mother who did not embrace her and father who did not accept her. She had no official diagnosis, but later in life received several. The only mention of something official in the film is when she talks about the medication she takes — for depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as for digestion problems due to the other medications’ side effects. 

In the film, her mother said her husband “thought it was deliberate, that she could do something to change it” when Alper was unable to take care of herself at age 16. She said while her husband “could talk about mental illness,” he was not willing to believe that his daughter needed help. “Maybe he believed it for someone else but not his daughter.” As a result, Alper was kicked out of her home. 

Later in life, she did not speak for 10 years. She tried shock treatments, which led to brain damage. 

“As far as I know, these things are due to trauma,” Alper said. “Still, I really don’t understand why I’m afraid of those things [like fear of touch]. I can feel lots of love from people. But I’m still a strange child.”

Art became therapy for Alper from a young age. Her mother first enrolled her in an art class when she was 4 years old and Alper has continued making various forms of art, from sketches to papier-mâché, as an adult. Her fascinating body of artwork reveals a lifetime of extreme depression and anxiety.

“Later times, it felt very cathartic,” she said. “When I could not speak, it was the only way to express myself because I could not write.”

Stiefel filmed Alper creating art every week for a year and a half, first interviewing her after six months of filming. The production of the documentary took four years. “There was no schedule,” Stiefel said. “We continued to filter through this until there was a film.”

Now, Alper and her mother have a much better relationship, with Alper talking to her mother multiple times a day. She continues to create — and sell — her art. 

“I’d like to have my own place to live,” Alper said following the screening. “I’d like to have a partner, who lives next door. I wish to be able to express myself when I want to.”

Lauren Appelbaum is vice president of communications of RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities for and with people with disabilities. She can be reached at LaurenA@RespectAbility.org.

Finding Peace Through Art — and the 405 Read More »

Strait Outta Hormuz

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There’s one word to bear in mind regarding current tensions in the Persian Gulf: Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Without it, Iran’s post-revolutionary theocrats probably would have lost power decades ago because 20% of the world’s oil passes through the strait.

That’s one-fifth of global oil, mostly in the hands (and ships) of an oppressive regime that sees itself as a unilateral protector of the waterway, which at its narrowest is only 21 nautical miles wide. One-third of the world’s liquified natural gas also passes through the strait.

Oh, to be a British or American oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran more belligerent than ever. It’d be safer to stroll through San Francisco with a “Make America Great Again” cap and matching onesie.

God help us if Iran decides to close the strait. The United States would sooner invite Syrian President Bashar al Assad to tea than to let that happen.

Last month, after Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in the Persian Gulf, President Donald Trump said he canceled a retaliatory attack against Iran 10 minutes before it was set to launch, but tweeted that the U.S. was “cocked & loaded to retaliate.”

On July 19, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a British oil tanker in the strait on charges that included … pollution. Persian mullahs complaining about pollution is like Hezbollah complaining about violence. (Iranian authorities alleged that the tanker collided with an Iranian fishing vessel, but never produced evidence of that.)

Given Iran’s behavior, one might have expected a harsh response from the British but their reaction can be described only as well-intentioned impotence.

The British seem obsessively dedicated to maintaining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal at any cost. That deal, which Trump pulled out of in 2018, empowered the Iranian regime to wreak havoc across the Middle East in return for promises to slow its nuclear ambitions for a decade or so. 

“Oh, to be a British or American oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran more belligerent than ever.”

Last week, outgoing British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt attempted to issue a warning to the Iranians by lamenting that Britain would deploy its navy to the Persian Gulf with a “heavy heart.”

I almost spit out some feta cheese when I read this.

Since when does the West respond to an Iranian seizure of an oil tanker (sailing under a British flag) with a “heavy heart”? We’re talking here about Iran.

Iran, the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism. Iran, which hosts Holocaust denial conferences. Iran, which has aided murderous insurgencies from Iraq to Yemen.

I certainly don’t want war, and I don’t think most Iranian Americans do, either. But perhaps announcing that it pains your heart to deploy your navy in the face of Iranian aggression was a choice of words that could hardly deter further aggression.

Despite the fact that the IRGC rappelled onto the oil tanker from a helicopter, screaming, “Allahu akbar!” Britain still wants to play nice. Hunt announced that Britain will attempt to form a coalition of European Union (EU) partners to monitor the strait, which is ironic because Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU.

Hunt also assured the House of Commons that Britain “will not be part of the U.S. maximum pressure policy on Iran because we remain committed to preserving the Iran nuclear agreement.”

As a persecuted Jew who escaped Iran, I can’t offer any alternative to dealing with the country other than applying maximum pressure. But I have a feeling that somewhere in London, a top Iranian official is being invited to tea.

Iranian leaders are desperate, thanks to American-backed sanctions and rejection of the nuclear deal, and emboldened, thanks to European appeasement and separation from stricter U.S. policy.

Can we find a middle ground between the U.S. being “cocked & loaded” and the U.K. suffering from a “heavy heart”? Perhaps.

But recently Iran announced it had arrested 17 Americans charged with being “CIA spies,” and has sentenced some to death.

Would war render my heart heavy? Of course. But I also know that appeasement often makes war more likely. So, do I believe that the U.S. needs a bipartisan policy of non-appeasement with Iran?

Yes, straight outta Los Angeles.

Tabby Refael is a Los Angeles-based writer and speaker. 

Strait Outta Hormuz Read More »

Doubling Down on Shabbat

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At a time of rampant assimilation and declining synagogue attendance, how do you get more Jews to connect to their tradition? In recent years, the non-Orthodox streams of Judaism have tackled this challenge with renewed vigor.

Much of the innovation has centered on making Judaism more relevant and meaningful. This can take many forms, from a focus on social justice and repairing the world, to musical and uplifting prayer services, to connecting with nature, to online education and entertainment, to radical inclusion and hospitality.

The general consensus is that in a chaotic, secular and fast-changing world, Judaism must find ways to adapt and keep up. It must fish where the fish are. It must figure out what Jews want and give it to them with a fresh Jewish twist.

All of that makes perfect marketing sense, which, paradoxically, may also be its weakness — it smacks of insecurity. We’re not sure our traditional product will appeal to you, so look at how we’re willing to mold it in your image.

That’s fine as far as it goes, but the question remains: Can we aim higher in selling our tradition?

That thought was on my mind the other day as I visited the new sanctuary at Temple Beth Am, which is due to open on the Shabbat of Labor Day weekend.

What other Jewish program has such a built-in mechanism to encourage weekly, ongoing connection with a tradition and community?

The Conservative synagogue’s main sanctuary has been reimagined and redesigned with circular seating surrounding the bimah, dramatic natural light streaming from above and several design touches that enhance the Shabbat experience, such as a striking row of artistic windows representing each Torah portion. The net effect is one of intimacy, openness and holiness.

But as beautiful as the new space is, I wondered: Isn’t Beth Am doubling down on the outdated model of the synagogue? After all, Jewish innovation today is not about real estate, it’s about soul estate; it’s about the software, not the hardware.

When I reflected more deeply, though, it struck me that Beth Am, too, is doubling down on software.

It’s doubling down on Shabbat.

When people criticize the synagogue model, they forget that the synagogue is the central communal instrument for Judaism’s greatest gift to humanity: the Sabbath, the day of rest and gratitude, the day we reconnect with what is real and most meaningful in our lives.

A synagogue that accentuates the Shabbat experience is no longer in the marketing business. It’s in the Jewish business. It is saying, in effect: We are elevating this 3,300-year-old Jewish ritual called Shabbat that we believe is needed now more than ever. Come see for yourself.

Shabbat, of course, is a lot more than a prayer service. It is the Friday night meal with its many rituals; it is Torah study, conversation, meditation, reconnection with family and community, unplugging from our smartphones, and so on.

Shabbat delivers gifts that we need all week. If it helps us repair ourselves, it can help us repair the world. If it helps us feel gratitude, it can make us more grateful. If it helps us slow down, it can make us more thoughtful.

Shabbat is reliable. It’s not an abstract ideal that floats in the air. It is concrete, wired in, guaranteed to show up every Friday at sundown to deliver its abundant blessings.

What other Jewish program has such a built-in mechanism to encourage weekly, ongoing connection with a tradition and community?

And yet, when Jewish innovators look for the big ideas that will secure the Jewish future, the Shabbat experience is often overlooked. Maybe we just take this Jewish tradition for granted. Maybe it doesn’t feel new and exciting enough.

When people criticize the synagogue model, they forget that the synagogue is the central communal instrument for Judaism’s greatest gift to humanity: the Sabbath.

Either way, it’s time we take a fresh look at this ancient ritual that hits the sweet spot between tradition and modernity. It’s time we invest more resources in an idea that has real potential to renew and strengthen the connection with the Jewish tradition. 

The whole Jewish community would be wise to make a Shabbat revival a top priority. There are myriad creative ways that the Shabbat experience can be expanded to re-energize communities and strengthen Jewish identity. Groups that are already doing this ought to share their ideas with others to create a Shabbat sharing network.   

At its best, Shabbat can be like a weekly Rosh Hashanah, providing us a weekly opportunity to renew and improve ourselves (without an expensive ticket.) Any synagogue that can empower this weekly promise of renewal is a lot more likely to increase its attendance.

As for congregations seeking to create inspirational spaces, they may want to check out the new circular sanctuary at Temple Beth Am — and soak in the plentiful light.

Shabbat shalom.

Doubling Down on Shabbat Read More »

Aug. 2, 2019

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Progressive Zionists Say in Second Letter to Warren Campaign IfNotNow Co-Founder Should ‘Step Down’ from Campaign

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

The Progressive Zionists of California (PZC) wrote a second letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign on July 30 calling on the campaign to ask IfNotNow co-founder Max Berger “to step down” from his position on the campaign.

PZC co-founders Susan George and Paul Kujawsky wrote in a July 15 letter that they were concerned about Berger being hired as the Warren campaign’s Director of Progressive Partnerships in June, citing his tweets expressing support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and calling Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in 2014 a “pogrom.” In the July 30 letter, PZC Steering Committee Members Andrea Beth Damsky and Matthew Finkelstein highlighted Berger’s expressed support BDS again.

“He has positioned himself firmly against even the most progressive Zionism, the liberation movement that helps to ensure a safe and secure homeland for the Jewish people while also standing for Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination,” Damsky and Finkelstein wrote. “We must stress that Berger is not merely criticizing Israel’s policies he deems unfair or unjust–progressive and liberal Zionists do that regularly—Berger is opposing the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state.”

They pointed out the House of Representatives’ passage of an anti-BDS resolution shows that the Democratic Party is firmly against the BDS movement, prompting Damsky and Finkelstein to ask the Warren campaign, “Why would your campaign enable such an extreme position by keeping Berger in an influential, leadership role as Director of Progressive Partnerships?”

Damsky and Finkelstein added that “personnel is policy,” noting that the BDS movement has frequently pushed out progressive Zionists from progressive spaces.

“We are concerned that having Max in this role would lead to a similar dynamic within your campaign and administration,” Damsky and Finkelstein wrote. “Director of Progressive Partnerships will focus very much on the left side of the political spectrum. It is the progressive left–particularly new and younger voters–that are most susceptible to a demonizing, one-sided anti-Israel framing of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.”

The Warren campaign did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment.

On July 8, a group of IfNotNow activists told Warren at a campaign event in New Hampshire that she should “push the Israeli government to end the occupation,” prompting Warren to respond, “Yes, yes. So I’m there.”

Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal at the time, “In combination with this guy [Max] Berger and this throwaway line that [Warren] put out ending the occupation, she owes her supporters and the rest of the American Jewish community and the rest of Americans a specific definition and context on what her Middle East policy will be.”

Progressive Zionists Say in Second Letter to Warren Campaign IfNotNow Co-Founder Should ‘Step Down’ from Campaign Read More »

Plan to Build 700 West Bank Palestinian Homes Approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a plan to build 700 homes in Palestinian West Bank towns.

It is the first Palestinian construction approved in the Israeli-controlled Area C since 2016, according to reports.

Haaretz reported that 6,000 housing units in Jewish West Bank settlements also were approved at the same meeting.

Area C is under full Israeli control, based on the Oslo Accords. The plan was first reported by the Kan national broadcaster.

It is not known if all of the homes are new units, or retroactive legalizations of homes built without permits.

The Security Cabinet approval comes days before the scheduled arrival of White House senior adviser Jared Kushner to discuss the economic component of the Trump administration’s peace plan. Some settler leaders said in interviews with Israeli media that they believed the decision was due to American pressure.

The projects will still require additional approvals, including from the Civil Administration, which oversees civilian life in the West Bank.

Plan to Build 700 West Bank Palestinian Homes Approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet Read More »

Democrats Unite in Condemning Trump on Race in Debate Focusing on Liberal-Moderate Divide

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

DETROIT (JTA) — Democratic candidates for the party’s presidential nomination united in condemning President Donald Trump’s record on race.

Much of the first night on Tuesday of the latest round of debates focused on differences between the two leading progressives on the stage, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and an array of moderates seeking to break through.

Questions about Trump’s recent attacks on lawmakers of color briefly united the stage.

“We need to call out white supremacy for what it is: Domestic terrorism — and that poses a threat to America,” said Warren, who accused Trump of advancing racism through his rhetoric and his economic policies.

Marianne Williamson, a self-help author who is Jewish, got one of the biggest rounds of applause of the evening when she called for at least $200 billion in reparations for slavery, as well as a public accounting of the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

“People heal when there is some deep truth-telling,” she said.

Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win major-party nominating contests when he ran for the nomination in 2016, pushed back hard at the moderates who said his favored programs — particularly “Medicare for all,” which would extend the free health care available to the elderly to the entire population — were unrealistic.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, interrupted Sanders as the senator listed benefits he foresaw under a “Medicare for all” plan. “You can’t know that,” said Ryan.

“I do know that, I wrote the damn bill,” Sanders said to laughter and applause, in a line that quickly went viral on social media.

Another Sanders moment came when former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper appeared to mock Sanders’ reputation for broad gestures. Saying Sanders’ policies were “extreme,” Hickenlooper said, “Go ahead, throw your hands up.”

Sanders said “I will!” and complied.

The CNN moderators paid little attention to foreign policy. Jake Tapper asked Sanders what distinguished him from Trump on foreign policy, considering both men had used precisely the same phrase, that the United States “cannot be the policeman for the world.”

“Trump is a pathological liar, I tell the truth,” Sanders replied, noting that the Trump administration has at times eschewed diplomacy for tough talk and was advancing a massive defense spending bill.

“What we need is a foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy ending conflicts by people sitting at a table and not killing each other,” Sanders said, adding that he would apply that strategy in the Middle East.

Warren faulted Trump for pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, blaming the decision for what she said was Iran edging closer to developing a nuclear weapon.

Another 10 candidates are slated to appear on the debate stage on Wednesday, among them leading moderates Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Democrats Unite in Condemning Trump on Race in Debate Focusing on Liberal-Moderate Divide Read More »

Berlin Rabbi Harassed and Spat Upon by Arabic-Speaking Attackers

Leave a Comment / Online, Worldwide /

BERLIN (JTA) — A Berlin rabbi was verbally abused and spat on, one of several recent attacks on Jews in the German capital.

The incident, which took place on Friday night, is under investigation. The perpetrators have not been identified.

Yehuda Teichtal, a Berlin community rabbi and president of Chabad Lubavitch in the capital, reported that two men shouted at him in Arabic, and spat on him after he left services at his synagogue in the Wilmersdorf district around 9 p.m. He was with one of his young children.

Teichtal told Die Welt that it was especially shocking to be physically attacked, adding that he had never experienced anything similar in 23 years in Berlin, though he has frequently heard “shitty Jew” from passersby.

In a statement to German media, Teichtal said that despite such attacks in Berlin schoolyards and streets, he was convinced that “most people in Berlin want Jews to be able to live openly as Jews, without fear of being cursed at, spat on or beaten up.”

“Of course we won’t hide ourselves,” he wrote. “We will continue to build on a foundation of love, tolerance, dialogue and education.”

The Berlin-based Anti-Semitism Research and Information Center reported that the district in which Teichtal lives and works, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, had 80 reported ant-Semitic incidents last year, the second highest level in Berlin, second only to the Mitte district with 146. In all, some 1,800 incidents were reported in the capital in 2018, an increase of nearly 20 percent above the previous year.

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