Ronia Victor and Shmuel Rosner discuss the scientific basis of love in its many forms.
Ronia Victor is a Clinical geneticist and a prominent writer, presenter and speaker in the scientific community.
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Ronia Victor: Celebrating Tu B’Av Read More »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that a factor in his Aug. 15 decision to bar Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) from entering Israel was one of their sponsors being a supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
Netanyahu’s office sent out a series of tweets explaining the prime minister’s decision, including one that stated, “The organization that is funding their trip is MIFTAH [Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy], which is an avid supporter of BDS, and among whose members are those who have expressed support for terrorism against Israel.”
In addition, the organization that is funding their trip is Miftah, which is an avid supporter of BDS, and among whose members are those who have expressed support for terrorism against Israel.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 15, 2019
MIFTAH issued a statement on their website that read, “As a sponsor of this trip, MIFTAH worked hard to organize a well-rounded visit for Congresswomen Tlaib, Omar, and Palskett, in order to facilitate their engagement with Palestinian civil society and to provide them with an opportunity to see the reality of occupation for themselves.” They added that “like all prolific human rights abusers, Israel wants to impose a blackout on the reality in occupied Palestine.”
Attorney and author Ari Hoffman wrote in an Aug. 15 op-ed in the Forward that “Miftah regularly decries ‘Judaization’ and accuses Israel of ‘summary executions’” and their Arabic version promulgated the “blood libel” that “the Jews used the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover,” which MIFTAH apologized for. Hoffman also noted that the founder of MIFTAH, Hanan Ashrawi, said in 2001 that Israel is committing “ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinians and “state terrorism.”
Ashrawi currently serves as the chair of MIFTAH and is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee; in a 2017 interview with Deutsche Welle, she said that Palestinian terror attacks “are seen by the people as resistance” and that “to somehow adopt the language of either the international community or the occupier by describing anybody who resists as terrorist” is “unfair.” When Deutsche Well pressed her further Palestinian officials inciting violence against Israelis, Ashrawi denied that the Palestinian leadership calls for violence and said that the Israeli leadership needs to be held accountable for their rhetoric.
Additionally, MIFTAH sponsored a 2016 trip to the West Bank consisting of five members of Congress meeting Shawn Jabarin, who heads the pro-BDS NGO Al-Haq and has been repeatedly flagged by Israel for having alleged ties to the Popular Front Liberation of Palestine terror group, according to the Foundation for Defense Democracies think-tank. In 2016, MIFTAH “sponsored a women’s unity conference, at which women representing Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah discussed how to implement the slogan, ‘One Country, One People, One Flag’” and has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Arab League-affiliated Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, according to Jewish News Syndicate.
MIFTAH, Omar’s office and Tlaib’s office did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
Netanyahu Cites Pro-BDS Sponsor As Reason to Bar Omar, Tlaib Read More »
Two young Palestinian men stabbed an Israeli police officer outside of the Chain Gates in Old City Jerusalem on Aug. 15.
Video footage shows the two Palestinians approaching a group of officers from behind when they start stabbing the closest officer to the entrance in his upper body.
The rest of the officers neutralized the two Palestinians, killing one of them on the spot and severely injuring the other, who reportedly succumbed to his wounds later in the evening. The two Palestinians have not been publicly identified along with their ages.
VIDEO: Watch the Jerusalem stabbing attack. NOTE: This content may be disturbing to some viewers. pic.twitter.com/vf5vVK6tEE
— The Israel Link (@TheIsraelink) August 15, 2019
The stabbed officer, who is 40-years-old, is currently hospitalized in Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and undergoing further tests.
“When we reached the scene, we saw a man who was fully conscious. He had stabbing wounds,” paramedic Moshe Cordova told Ynet News. “We gave him emergency care that included stopping the bleeding and bandaging, and evacuated him to a hospital with light wounds.”
Chain’s Gate is close to the Western Wall, according to the Jerusalem Post. The Times of Israel notes that have tensions have been high in the area after there were Palestinian riots on Aug. 11 protesting Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount. Fourteen people were injured in those riots.
Israeli Police Officer Injured in Palestinian Jerusalem Stabbing Read More »
let me cross over and see the good land
that is on the other side of the Jordan
Oh the things we plead for which we can’t have.
My ten year old is an expert at this
Can I have extra time on the Xbox?
Can I have ice cream?
Can we go to Souplantation?
Invariably the answer is no.
We, like God, who knows what Moses did
know what he did, or at least, we think
we know what’s best for him.
Because he hit the rock once
we’re not giving him extra time.
Because we care about his health.
we limit the ice cream intake.
Because our funds are limited
we will not cross the Jordan
(better known here as the 405 Freeway)
to the promised land where
salads are unlimited and he really
just wants plain pasta anyway.
We can’t always get what we want.
An advertisement came today
for a car I’ll never be able to afford.
(but would look so good in.)
It’s a life goal to have the means
to visit the French Laundry one day.
But I keep being sent to the
top of the nearby mountain and told
to look across the river at all the
nice things that are just a river away.
Someone knows better for me.
That’s Someone with a capital S.
And who am I to complain about
the view from the top of a mountain?
Sometimes I forget that this
is what I need.
Los Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 23 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Hunka Hunka Howdee!” (Poems written in Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville – Ain’t Got No Press, May 2019) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.
You Can’t Always Get What You Want – A poem for parsha V’etchanan Read More »
A Moment in Time: A Change of Scenery Read More »
(JTA) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who drove a pickup truck into a row of Jewish protesters in Rhode Island has been placed on leave, and police have announced that they will investigate the incident.
Five of the protesters were hospitalized, according to Tal Frieden, an organizer of the protest. The incident occurred Wednesday night at a protest in front of an ICE detention center in Central Falls, a Providence suburb.
The protest, organized by the new Jewish group Never Again Action, ended after an ICE official named Thomas Woodworth drove the pickup into a row of protesters who were blocking the entrance to the detention facility’s parking lot.
“Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility Warden Daniel Martin is also conducting a top to bottom review of the incident, Wyatt correctional officers’ response, and the Wyatt’s protocols regarding protest activities outside of the facility,” a statement from the detention center said. “The Wyatt supports the First Amendment right of citizens to peacefully protest on public property surrounding the facility, and the First Amendment right of journalists to report on the facility.”
Frieden said two protesters were injured by Woodworth, including one who suffered a broken leg, internal bleeding and a possible back fracture. In addition, Frieden said three protesters sustained injuries when correctional officers subsequently used pepper spray on them.
Frieden, who was not injured, was sitting near the protesters as the truck came upon the group.
“I heard someone yell that there’s a car coming, and turned around and saw the truck approach the crowd over my shoulder, and jumped out of the way,” said Frieden, who has attended protests against ICE in New York and Washington, D.C. “I know intellectually that this violence occurs every day in our communities across the country, but this is a stark reminder that ICE will go to any lengths to inflict violence on immigrants and those who stand with immigrants.”
State Police, as well as the Rhode Island attorney general’s office, are investigating the incident. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza came out in support of the protesters.
“We in #PVD stand with @NeverAgainActn and our community members who were there to say that we will not stand for this,” Elorza tweeted.
Never Again Action was founded earlier this year to protest ICE’s detention of undocumented immigrants, as well as U.S. immigration policy.
On Sunday, 40 protesters were arrested at one of the group’s demonstrations at a brick-and-mortar Amazon store in New York City. The group was protesting Amazon’s contracting with ICE.
Israel on Aug. 15 denied Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) entry into the country hours after President Donald Trump publicly urged Israel to block their visit.
Consider the following three things as you take a deep breath to ponder Israel’s decision to block the two congresswomen from entering the country.
1. The visit was a well-planned trap: Either Israel allows the congresswomen to enter, exposing itself to a barrage of criticism (live broadcast from Jerusalem!), or it prevents the congresswomen from entering, exposing itself to, well, a barrage of criticism. Because this is lose-lose situation, no decision would make everybody happy.
2. Israel had to consider which of the two bad options is more dangerous. Literally — dangerous. Having the representatives in Jerusalem could incite violence. In fact, it is not unreasonable to assume that they would seek to create clashes in order to prove a point (Israel is brutal, Israel’s police are violent, etc.).
3. Israel also had to consider the damage if it refused to let in the representatives. Possible answer: The damage wouldn’t be great. Those who already dislike Israel will have even more reasons to dislike it. Others will hopefully understand why the ban was necessary. Many think Tlaib and Omar are provocateurs who want to make trouble.
So here is the basic question for observers of this drama: Is Israel obligated to allow provocation by outsiders on its soil? Reverse the question: Imagine these were two Israeli legislators wanting to stir chaos and violence on American soil, and you might have an answer.
The pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee indicated it opposed the ban.
“We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib’s calls for a one-state solution. We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand,” AIPAC tweeted on Aug. 15.
Some critics of the president said his move was part of a strategy to divide the Democratic Party. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move “deeply disappointing.”
Three Things to Consider About the Decision to Bar Omar and Tlaib Read More »
The Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission unanimously voted against taking up a resolution calling for the federal government to end military aid to Israel on Aug. 14, MLive reports.
The commission’s vote came after City Attorney Stephen Postema told the commission that foreign policy matters do not fall under the purview of the commission, although the City Council could still vote on the topic.
Anti-Israel protesters proceeded to scream at commission members; one of them, identified as Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, shouted, “This is a commission of killers!” before being escorted out of the room.
At a July 1 Ann Arbor City Council meeting, Savabieasfahani told city council members, “If I cannot appeal to your sense of humanity, that it’s treacherous to live the life of a Palestinian in the West Bank and Gaza, I’m appealing to your sense of money. You’re paying for this slaughter.” Two members of the city council, Jeff Hayner and Ali Ramlawi, agreed with Savabieasfahani and the other anti-Israel protesters that the commission should look into presenting a resolution on the matter to the city council.
According to a petition against the resolution, the anti-Israel protesters at the July 1 meeting “spewed violently anti-Semitic language. One called Israel ‘a terrorist state funded fully by the United States of America, bombing its way wherever it pleases.’ Another accused the City Council of being an ‘accomplice to murder against the Palestinian people’ if they did not vote for the boycott.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor wrote in a Aug. 15 Facebook post, “Last night, the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission unanimously voted not to take up foreign civil/human rights issues, as it is not in their purview. Thank you to the members of our community that were involved as advisors, we are grateful for your participation.”
Michigan City Commission Unanimously Votes Against Anti-Israel Resolution Read More »
Jewish groups across the United States shared varying opinions on Israel’s Aug. 15 decision to bar Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) from visiting the Jewish state.
After Israeli Ambassador to United States Ron Dermer initially said in July that Israel will allow the congresswomen to enter the country, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced in a statement, “The state of Israel respects the US Congress as part of the close alliance between the two countries. But it is inconceivable that Israel would be expected to let into the country those who wish to hurt it, including by means of the visit itself.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “A good-faith visit to Israel is the best way to be exposed to its democracy, complexities, and range of views. And so while we absolutely disagree with the pro-BDS positions of Reps. @IlhanMN & @RashidaTlaib, keeping them out is counterproductive.”
A good-faith visit to Israel is the best way to be exposed to its democracy, complexities, and range of views. And so while we absolutely disagree with the pro-BDS positions of Reps. @IlhanMN & @RashidaTlaib, keeping them out is counterproductive.
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) August 15, 2019
American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris similarly tweeted that while Omar and Tlaib didn’t want to meet with “any Israeli leaders or mainstream voices,” Israel “should’ve taken the high road & let these Members of Congress in, no matter how vile their views.”
#Israel faced a tough choice.
Anti-Israel bashers @IlhanMN & @RashidaTlaib planned Israel/W. Bank trip. They wanted no mtgs w/ any Israeli leaders or mainstream voices.
Still, 🇮🇱 should’ve taken the high road & let these Members of Congress in, no matter how vile their views.
— David Harris (@DavidHarrisNY) August 15, 2019
Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal in a phone interview that Israel should have allowed Omar and Tlaib in, pointing out that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) both supported Israel’s initial decision to let Omar and Tlaib into the country.
“Israel could have withstood whatever antics would have played out,” Cooper said, adding that “when you flip flop at that level… it’s going to leave a big question mark and an opportunity for knockers of Israel to criticize her.”
However, he acknowledged that it’s “a damned if you, damned if you don’t” scenario for Israel and argued that had Omar and Tlaib gone with the delegation of 41 Democratic members of the House of Representatives, there wouldn’t have been any controversy.
AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] also criticized the move, tweeting that “every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand.”
We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib’s calls for a one-state solution. We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand.
— AIPAC (@AIPAC) August 15, 2019
Zioness accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of appeasing President Donald Trump, who tweeted earlier in the day that Israel would be demonstrating “great weakness” in letting in Omar and Tlaib, and argued the move would drive a wedge in U.S.-Israel relations.
“One does not have to agree with anything U.S. Representatives Tlaib and Omar say or do to comprehend just how cynical this game is that Trump is playing,” Zioness’ statement read. “Who wins at this game? Donald Trump, BDS activists, and frankly, those attempting to push the American left to adopt anti-Israel and anti-Semitic positions. Who loses at this game? International Jewry, democratic norms, and pluralism.”
Others thought that Israel’s decision was justified.
“On her first day in office, Rep. Tlaib placed a sticky [note] on a map of the Middle East, replacing Israel with ‘Palestine,’” The Israel Group Founder and President Jack Saltzberg said in a statement to the Journal. “Rep. Omar has continued to double down on her anti-Semitic rhetoric and tropes. And both women use their positions in congress to promote the BDS movement, which is dedicated to a one-state solution: a Muslim majority Palestine. Israel, like any nation, must keep out all people who are dedicated to the annihilation of its country, even those in congress.”
American Jewish Congress President Jack Rosen similarly argued in a statement, “Had [Omar and Tlaib] shown a true desire to commit to open and honest dialogue, they could have better understood the true character of the Israeli people and the reality in which they live on a daily basis. But sadly, this is not the case and the Israeli government’s decision is the right one.”
https://twitter.com/AJCongress/status/1162044775576547329
Omar released a statement saying, “Trump’s Muslim ban is what Israel is implementing.”
NEW: Rep. Ilhan Omar responds to Israel's decision to deny her and Rep. Rashida Tlaib entry to the country: "Trump’s Muslim ban is what Israel is implementing, this time against two duly elected Members of Congress." https://t.co/f4S7uUdxiF pic.twitter.com/1C66Dn6nq3
— ABC News (@ABC) August 15, 2019
Netanyahu defended his government’s decision, saying in a statement that a copy of Omar and Tlaib’s itinerary to Israel showed their visit’s “sole purpose was to support boycotts and deny Israel’s legitimacy. For example, they called their destination ‘Palestine’ and not ‘Israel,’ and unlike all Democratic and Republican members of Congress before them, they did not seek any meeting with any Israeli official, whether government or opposition.”
Netanyahu added that “the law in Israel that prohibits entry to people calling and advocating for boycotting the country, just like in other democracies that bar entry to those who they believe will do harm to their nation.”
Jewish Groups React to Israel Barring Omar and Tlaib Read More »
David Kasher serves as an Associate Rabbi, at IKAR, a non-denominational spiritual community in Los Angeles. He received his BA in Political Science at Wesleyan University, holds a J.S.D. from Berkeley Law, and received his Rabbinic Ordination at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. After college, he studied in yeshivot in Israel before rabbinical school. He returned to Northern California and became the Senior Jewish Educator at Berkeley Hillel. He was part of the founding team at Kevah. He has served on the faculty of Berkeley Law, the Wexner Heritage Program, Reboot, and BINA: The Secular Yeshiva, and taught for Pardes, SVARA, The Hartman Institute and Dorot.
Rabbi Kasher is a teacher of nearly all forms of classical Jewish literature, but his greatest passion is Torah commentary, and he spent the last five years producing the weekly ParshaNut.com blog and podcast, which he is now developing into a book, due to be released this fall.
This Week’s Torah Portion- Parashat Va’etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11)- continues to present Moses’ review of the Torah. He recounts the story of the Exodus from Egypt, declaring it an unprecedented event in human history. He predicts how in the future the people of Israel will sin, worship other gods, get exiled, and return to obey the lord outside the Promised Land. The portion includes a repetition of the Ten Commandments and of the verses of the Shema.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOPzxqMOqc8&feature=youtu.be
Previous Talks on Vaethchanan
Rosner’s Torah Talk: Parshat Vaetchanan with Rabbi David Kasher Read More »
