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Jewish Journal

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January 9, 2020

Department of Education to Investigate StandWithUs Complaint Against UCLA

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The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced on Jan. 3 that it is investigating a StandWithUs complaint that UCLA improperly handled allegations of anti-Semitism.

The StandWithUs complaint, which was filed in October on behalf of student Shayna Lavi, focuses on a May incident when San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi was quoted by witnesses as saying during a guest lecture in an anthropology class that supporters of Israel are white supremacists. Lavi told Abdulhadi she was offended by the assertion, prompting Abdulhadi allegedly to respond, “That’s your opinion but you’re wrong. I stand with Jews who do not support Israel and I hope that Jews will disalign themselves with white supremacy.”

The complaint states that Lavi brought the incident to UCLA’s Discrimination Prevention Office (DPO), which caused the class’ professor, Kyeyoung Park, to repeatedly mention during class that Lavi was victimizing her. Park also allegedly rebuffed Lavi’s request to bring in a pro-Israel speaker to the class.

“In short, Dr. Park used her position of authority not only repeatedly to harass, embarrass and intimidate Ms. Lavi, but also to retaliate against her for exercising her right to seek relief from the hostile environment to which she was being subjected,” the complaint states.

UCLA’s Discrimination Prevention Office (DPO) concluded in August that Abdulhadi’s comments and Park’s subsequent actions did not amount to discrimination or harassment. The StandWithUs complaint argued otherwise, stating that UCLA is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, gender or national origin, for not taking sufficient action in the matter. They urged UCLA to undertake a series of measures to address anti-Semitism on campus, including adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, issuing a statement acknowledging that Zionism is a key component to a Jewish student’s identity and establishing a task force of students and administrators to deal with anti-Semitism.

OCR’s Sarah Berman wrote in a letter to StandWithUs that was obtained by the Journal, “We have determined that your complaint is appropriate for investigation under the laws enforced by OCR and OCR is now opening your complaint for investigation. OCR is now beginning the complaint resolution process.”

StandWithUS CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein said in a statement, “Students should never be subjected to discrimination, harassment or retaliation by their professors after standing up for themselves, their identity, and their community. For Shayna, as for many Jews, Zionism is an integral part of her Jewish identity, and university administrators should be in the business of protecting students against conduct that marginalizes and demonizes them, not giving such hate a free pass.”

Lavi told the Journal in a text message, “I appreciate that OCR has taken my complaint seriously and is looking into it.”

UCLA Associate Director of Media Relations Ricardo Vazquez said in a statement to the Journal, “After viewing a recording of the class and interviewing participants, DPO, while not endorsing the guest speaker’s ideas or the manner in which the class was handled, concluded that the comments made during the lecture were not the type of severe, pervasive and persistent unwelcome conduct that constitutes harassment or discrimination. Some background information that we can share publicly is available here.”

He added that “discussions of issues of deep personal concern may be profoundly uncomfortable, but as a university our goal is to help students critically analyze even unpleasant ideas and engage across lines of difference with respect.”

Department of Education to Investigate StandWithUs Complaint Against UCLA Read More »

What We Learn From the Determined Fish: A poem for Torah Portion Vayechi

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may they multiply abundantly like fish

This is what we want for our children
to multiply abundantly like fish.
Not the fish in farms, or the ones
who succumb to hooks and nets.
But the fish who free-swim
the ones who head up waterfalls
without complaining. The ones
who don’t give a second thought
to the possibility of going up a waterfall.

This is what we want for our children
to be blessed by their grandparents hands.
The blessing that shows our parents’ approval
of how we’ve handled the next generation.
A blessing the blessed may not remember
until they start to wonder about their own names
and who they were named after, and who
they were named after, all the way back
to that first set of hands – the ones in Egypt
back when that was a neighborhood you
wanted to be in. And the ones before that
stretched over a stone in a promised land.
And the ones before that, that got wet when
the rain wouldn’t stop. And the ones before that,
that got dirty in the garden. And the ones
before that, the Holy hands, that made everything.

This is what we want for our children
to swim in that stream. To feel the pull
of the original current. To make their own waves
that their children’s children’s children will feel.
And so on and so on
forever.

God Wrestler: a poem for every Torah Portion by Rick LupertLos 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.

What We Learn From the Determined Fish: A poem for Torah Portion Vayechi Read More »

Elan Carr: Iran Is the ‘World’s Chief Trafficker in Anti-Semitism’

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During the Jan. 8 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) Global Efforts to Combat Anti-Semitism hearing, United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr called Iran a leading exporter of anti-Semitism worldwide.

USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer pointed out during the hearing that Iran uses government resources to get its citizens to chant, “Death to Jews” and “Death to Israel.” He added that “anti-Semitism seems to be one of the core reasons [the Iranian regime] exists.”

Carr replied, “Iran is not only the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, it is the world’s chief trafficker in anti-Semitism. The Islamic Republic of Iran has pushed anti-Semitic dogma throughout the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world beyond the Middle East.”

He pointed to radical Islamists perpetuating anti-Semitic violence throughout Europe as an example of Iran’s anti-Semitic propaganda metastasizing outside the Middle East.

“What happens in the Middle East directly affects the European street and in many cases, the U.S. college campus,” Carr said.

Carr called on world leaders to confront the Iranian regime on its anti-Semitism, and specifically urged European government to designate Hezbollah as a terror group.

“If you’re not willing to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, then protecting Jews seems to be a goal that is not being achieved,” Carr said.

Carr also said during the hearing that the internet has been utilized as a key purveyor of anti-Semitic rhetoric, citing various online chat rooms.

“Those of us who are parents would never dream of allowing our kids to wander unescorted, or even escorted, in neighborhoods of crime and drugs and violence and danger,” Carr said. “Yet everyday, kids are being sucked into this venomous vortex of internet chat rooms and sites that spout hatred … and they feed off of this for years and then they become radicalized and turn toward violence.”

He urged internet platforms to enforce their terms of service as a means to expunge anti-Semitic rhetoric.

“Anti-Semitic speech very often violates the terms of use of these sites and platforms, so we should be encouraging … these platforms to enforce these terms of use,” Carr said.

Others who testified during the hearing included Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Anti-Defamation League Senior Vice President of International Affairs Sharon Nazarian.

The full hearing can be seen below:

Elan Carr: Iran Is the ‘World’s Chief Trafficker in Anti-Semitism’ Read More »

The Baker: Chapter Fourteen

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PREVIOUSLY: Ernie sets up shop as a baker in the San Francisco Bay Area. While his pastries are sweet, his demeanor often remains sour.

As a young woman, fresh off the boat from Israel, Rachel Moyal knew how hard it was to establish a new life in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s.

She eventually became a hairdresser and for decades had her own shop.

But she wouldn’t have accomplished any of it, she says, without Ernie. 

The feisty baker took her under his wing, gave her work and a steady income until she got on her feet financially. He even helped her earn her green card.

While he could be nit-picking and temperamental in his kitchen, Ernie also had a magnanimous side he showed to people in need.

He did it when he was back in the Nazi SS camp, rescuing fellow prisoners from hard labor to work in his kitchen. In the British camps in Cyprus, he helped many hundreds of men escape, while he himself stayed behind. 

And in America, his old habit of helping others continued full-bore. 

“Everybody worked for Ernie,” said Rachel, now 73. “If you were from Israel and you needed help, you went to Ernie’s bakery. He helped a lot of people.”

Moyal met Ernie in 1968. She was 25, newly-arrived. She couldn’t even speak English.

Ernie didn’t care. 

At first, he put her to work teaching Hebrew to his daughter, Sharon. She recalls going to Ernie’s house and babysitting the girl. 

She’ll always remember how proud Ernie was of his daughter.

Eventually, Rachel began helping out at the bakery. 

Her first duty was to keep the place clean. “Because he came from the camps, Ernie knew about hard work. I was also a hard worker. I worked in a kibbutz. And he knew that.” 

Later, Rachel began helping Ernie with his baking chores. 

She recalls how they would make strudel together, standing side-by-side, kneading the dough on a long table, talking about life.

“We were friends,” Rachel recalled. “Ernie was a workaholic. Because of his life under the Germans, he was always afraid he wouldn’t have work.” 

She also noticed something else: this Good Samaritan never smiled.

“I used to tease him when we made the strudel,” Rachel said. “I said ‘C’mon Ernie, you’re not in the camps anymore. That time is over. You have to smile. If you don’t, I’m going to put you inside that oven of yours.”

And guess what?

Ernie smiled.

Finally. He smiled.

She also convinced Ernie to play music while they worked.

“I said, ‘It’s no fun to work like slaves. Let’s make music!’ I was still so young.”

Like he did with a half-dozen other struggling Israeli immigrants, Ernie later helped Rachel earn her green card, setting her on her way to achieve her own version of the American Dream.

She’ll never forget him for that.

“He had a temper,” Rachel said. “He wanted everything to be exactly the way he wanted. But he helped a lot of people. And he did it for nothing.”

And she says she will never forget the day she made that sad Jewish baker smile.

NEXT WEEK: Ernie Meets his second wife, Shoshana, and sparks fly.

The Baker: Chapter Fourteen Read More »

Swastika Drawn on Toronto Alzheimer’s Patient

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Family members of a 65-year-old man with Alzheimer’s reportedly discovered a swastika drawn on the patient at a Toronto care facility.

On January 8, Shane Morrow told Toronto.com, a local Toronto newspaper, that he and his mother were visiting his Uncle Larry at the Glendale Care Centre earlier in the week when they found the swastika and a smiley face drawn on Larry’s head in black marker. Morrow said a swastika was also on Larry’s back.

Morrow shared a photo of the swastika on Larry’s head to Toronto.com.

He added that a staff member at the facility told him a younger male was responsible for the drawings.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Morrow said. He also voiced concern that the younger man abused his uncle, citing bruising on his uncle’s forearms.

“Why was his shirt off?” Morrow questioned. “Did this guy pull his shirt over his head and was abusing him?”

Morrow said the staff member told him the younger man was arrested; however, Toronto Police Media Relations Officer Caroline de Kloet told Toronto.com that a police report was not filed under the facility’s address.

A staff member at the facility told Toronto.com they could not comment on the reported swastika drawing since it was a “private matter.”

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “This is absolutely sickening. An elderly man had a swastika drawn on his head in a care facility. The image of this incident is deeply disturbing. The facility must take immediate, transparent action and ensure this never happens again.”

B’nai Brith Canada similarly tweeted, “We are disgusted by this story of #antisemitism and elder abuse at a Toronto care facility and are further investigating the situation.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wrote in a Facebook post, “That someone would commit such a vicious assault on a human being in our society is almost beyond belief. We have reached out to the family member of the victim to offer support, and have contacted police and government to voice our serious concerns that something like this could ever happen.”

https://www.facebook.com/cijainfo/photos/a.220751191346870/2762544660500831/?type=3&theater

Swastika Drawn on Toronto Alzheimer’s Patient Read More »

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says She Is ‘Cancer Free’

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(JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that she is cancer free.

Ginsburg told CNN Tuesday during a wide-ranging interview that treatment for a localized malignant tumor on her pancreas, discovered in July, was successful.

“I’m cancer free. That’s good,” she said in the interview in her chambers.

Ginsburg, 86, has been treated for cancer four times. She had surgery in 2018 to remove a cancerous growth from her left lung. In 2009, she had surgery for early-stage pancreatic cancer. And in 1999, she was treated for colon cancer.

She is one of three Jewish justices on the high court and leads its liberal minority. She is also the court’s oldest justice. She says she plans to remain on the bench until she turns 90.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says She Is ‘Cancer Free’ Read More »

Timothée Chalamet to Play Bob Dylan in Biopic

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Timothée Chalamet, now on screen in “Little Women” as heartthrob Laurie, will play music legend, Bob Dylan, in a movie directed by James Mangold (“Ford v. Ferrari”), set in the period when Dylan segued from folk music to rock ‘n’ roll. According to Deadline, Chalamet is taking acoustic and electric guitar lessons to prepare for the role. 

Dylan will executive produce the project, and his manager, Jeff Rosen, is one of the producers. The movie, tentatively titled “Going Electric,” will shoot after Chalamet makes his London stage debut in the drama “4,000 Miles,” which will run at the Old Vic from Apr. 16 to May 23. It’s about a young cyclist who visits his grandmother (Eileen Atkiins) during a cross-country bike trip. 

Chalamet has completed work on the “Dune” remake, set for release Dec. 18 and “The French Dispatch,” also due this year. Directed by Wes Anderson, it follows journalists in an American newspaper’s Paris bureau in the 1950s. Henry Winkler is also in the cast.

Timothée Chalamet to Play Bob Dylan in Biopic Read More »

Mel Brooks to Bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to ABC

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Mel Brooks’ classic comedy “Young Frankenstein” bowed as a Broadway musical in 2007, and now it’s coming to television. “Young Frankenstein Live!” will be ABC’s next musical event, scheduled to air for Halloween. Brooks wrote the music and lyrics for the show and its book with Thomas Meehan. Brooks will produce the TV adaptation.

“We’re huge fans of Mel’s, as is everyone across the country,” ABC entertainment president Karey Burke said, breaking the news at the Television Critics Association press tour. Although no casting was announced, “You can expect that big stars will line up to work with Mel,” Burke added.

Mel Brooks to Bring ‘Young Frankenstein’ to ABC Read More »