Follow Shmuel Rosner on Twitter.
Leon Kass: Reading Exodus Read More »
Representative Andy Levin (D-Mich.) said during a February 1 webinar that anti-Semitism can’t be truly beaten until “Palestinian human rights are respected.”
Haaretz reported that Levin, who is Jewish, was speaking on a webinar hosted by the progressive Jewish group IfNotNow titled “How Should Biden Fight Antisemitism.” Levin said that he has been calling for the United States to combat the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, comparing it to how minority rights have been constantly infringed upon in Myanmar. According to the BBC, thousands of the Rohingya Muslims have been killed since 2010; Mymanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has denied that the Myanmar military has committed genocide against the Rohingya.
“Injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere,” Levin said. “Unless Palestinian human rights are respected, we cannot fight antisemitism.”
Liora Rez, director of Stop Antisemitism.org, denounced Levin’s remarks in a statement to the Journal. “Neo nazis and radical Islamists quite frequently hold Jews in America responsible for the Israel/Palestinian conflict,” she said. “For a sitting U.S. Congressman to mirror this horrific rhetoric does nothing but feed the Jew hating machine. Andy Levin should be ashamed of himself!”
Other Jewish Twitter users criticized Levin’s comments.
“Jews around the world get violently murdered, harassed, and attacked because a two state solution was rejected by the Palestinian leaders from time immemorial?” a Twitter user with the pseudonym Claire tweeted. “Would @RepAndyLevin please contact the families of these victims to let them know that’s why they lost loved ones?”
Jews around the world get violently murdered, harassed, and attacked because a two state solution was rejected by the Palestinian leaders from time immemorial?
Would @RepAndyLevin please contact the families of these victims to let them know that's why they lost loved ones? pic.twitter.com/ULNbirS8b9— Claire (@Claire_V0ltaire) February 3, 2021
Blake Flayton, an avowed progressive Zionist student at George Washington University, similarly tweeted: “The manic and irrational hatred of the Jewish people, what we call antisemitism, has nothing to do with the behavior of Jews. @RepAndyLevin seems to be arguing that antisemitism would be mitigated if only those darn Jews acted better. He’s dangerously wrong.”
Um. No, Congressman. The manic and irrational hatred of the Jewish people, what we call antisemitism, has nothing to do with the behavior of Jews. @RepAndyLevin seems to be arguing that antisemitism would be mitigated if only those darn Jews acted better. He’s dangerously wrong. pic.twitter.com/ckSVqbSaKc
— Blake Flayton (@blakeflayton) February 3, 2021
IfNotNow, on the other hand, hailed Levin as a progressive champion against anti-Semitism, tweeting that Levin “sees our struggles as connected and wants @POTUS to appoint a Special Envoy who recognizes the threat of the far-right.”
We need progressive champions to fight antisemitism in Congress.
It's clear that we have one in @RepAndyLevin — someone who sees our struggles as connected and wants @POTUS to appoint a Special Envoy who recognizes the threat of the far-right. https://t.co/r9cpZZQSsr
— IfNotNow🔥 (@IfNotNowOrg) February 3, 2021
The House of Representatives voted to remove Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from all committee assignments in a February 4 vote.
The final vote was 230-199, with 11 Republicans joining with the Democrats in voting to remove Greene from all House committees.
A) The House of Representatives has voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over her committee assignments.
The vote was 230-199.
11 Republicans joined all Democrats voting to relieve Greene of her committee assignments.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 4, 2021
Greene has been under fire for some of her past social media posts, which included a post blaming the 2018 California wildfires as a result of a Rothschild family space laser, calling the 2018 Parkland shooting a false flag and liking a post calling for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to be executed for treason.
Earlier in the day, Greene said in a House speech, “These were words of the past and these things do not represent me, they do not represent my district and they do not represent my values.” She also said that the pending vote was symptomatic of “cancel culture.”
The Christians United for Israel Action Fund said in a statement, “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s antisemitism, for which she has yet to apologize, does not represent the Republican party or the American people. Her bigoted beliefs should be shunned and removing her from her committee assignments was therefore necessary. Both parties must get their respective houses in order and reject any radical Members of Congress who desecrate the Capitol by trafficking in antisemitic tropes.”
On February 3, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that he condemned Greene’s past social media posts but didn’t remove her from committee assignments because he took her at her word that she no longer holds the views expressed in those posts.
House Votes to Remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from Committees Read More »
Before World War II, there were about 50,000 Jews living in Salonica (or Thessaloniki), the largest Jewish community in Greece. Between March and August 1943, the Germans deported more than 45,000 Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing camp. Most of the deportees were gassed on arrival. Because this represented the decimation of a community, it would go down as an especially dark moment in the darkest chapter of Jewish history.
But a few Jews managed to survive the massacre.
Two of those survivors gave birth to a man, Albert Bourla, who is now at the center of the biggest public health crisis of modern times. Dr. Bourla is the CEO and chairman of Pfizer, one of the pharmaceutical firms leading the charge to get the world vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
Let’s sit with that for a moment.
A son of Holocaust survivors has helped provide the vaccine that will save countless lives, not just around the world but also in the country of Jewish refuge, Israel. There was no refuge for the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, nor for Bourla’s fellow Greek Jews who were gassed at Auschwitz. Today there is.
A son of Holocaust survivors has helped provide the vaccine that will save countless lives, not just around the world but also in the country of Jewish refuge, Israel.
Consider the speed by which Israel is getting its people vaccinated. We know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made numerous calls to Bourla to make sure Israel would have enough doses. As Rabbi David Woznica of Stephen Wise Temple says in a moving video recounting this story, “Israel has managed to vaccinate such a large swath of its citizens with the vaccination created by a company led by the son of Holocaust survivors from a country where only a fraction of its Jews survived. I hope you’ll agree there’s something remarkable about all of this.”
There is, indeed.
The very sequence of the Holocaust followed by the birth of Israel is haunting. Within a few years, Jews went from the lowest to the highest, the darkest to the brightest, the pits of despair to the heights of hope. They went from the verdict of death to the promise of life.
A vaccine is the antidote to death. A Greek Jew who hails from a community of death is now spreading the hope of life. Eight decades after the massacre of Solenica, Albert Bourla stands as an enduring testament to the power of resiliency — for Jews and for humanity.
A Vaccine Miracle Rises from the Ashes of Salonica Read More »
(The Media Line) — Amid a frustratingly steady number of new infections and serious cases, Israel’s government announced Wednesday evening that it had indefinitely postponed a meeting that will determine whether to extend the nationwide shutdown imposed for the past five weeks.
Unlike previous closures, the current one is not unanimously supported by all coalition members, with some claiming the public’s refusal to follow instructions, after months of on-again, off-again limitations, makes the ongoing shutdown untenable.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has insisted on prolonging the blanket restrictions for at least the weekend, fearing a rash of new infections once places of business reopen.
“It’s a fake lockdown. We won’t allow it. Either everything is closed or everything is open. The days of deception are over.”
Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, meanwhile, has pointed to the stubbornly high infection rate as proof of the policy’s failure, instead offering to allow a limited reopening combined with stricter enforcement of closure ordinances in highly infected cities.
“It’s a fake lockdown,” Gantz said earlier this week. “We won’t allow it. Either everything is closed or everything is open. The days of deception are over.”
After a week of remaining at or close to a 10% test positivity rate, on Tuesday an encouraging “only” 9.3% of all coronavirus tests returned positive results. Still, thousands have been infected on a daily basis, with the infection rate again reaching the r=1 threshold Tuesday.
Over 4,990 Israelis have died since the pandemic began, 1,500 of them in January alone, easily the deadliest month since the virus’ outbreak.
On Wednesday, the nation’s Health Ministry published its proposal for winding down the total shutdown, the third such closure imposed in Israel over the past year.
Health officials are advising the cabinet to extend the measures until Sunday night, after which some businesses, namely those that entail “one on one” service such as barbershops and beauty salons, will be allowed to open, along with some school grades in relatively uninfected towns.
Officials admit that the complete shuttering of the country’s workforce and school system has failed to put a dent in the numbers of serious cases and new infections, citing “coronavirus fatigue” along with the rampant spread of the British and South African variants as the main culprits.
The successive, unrelenting lockdowns, paired with the blatant flouting of emergency government decrees by large swaths of the Israeli society, has caused unrest among business owners and parents, eager to get their children back in school and themselves back to work.
While the shutdown, slated to expire on Friday, will probably be extended by several days, major shopping center chains have already promised to open their doors regardless of the government’s decision. Restaurants and other smaller places of business have indicated they too will decide for themselves how to act next week.
Everybody in this country does whatever they want. Nobody listens [to the government] anymore. How do they expect us to make a living?
“I’ve had enough, they obviously don’t actually care,” an electronics shop owner in central Jerusalem told The Media Line Wednesday. He insisted that he plans to be open for business next week.
“Everybody in this country does whatever they want. Nobody listens [to the government] anymore. How do they expect us to make a living?” he demanded.
Efrat, a mother of two, said she hopes schools will reopen as soon as possible.
“It’s impossible. I understand the concern; we obviously don’t want to endanger ourselves. But there are ways to do it. Why does [the ultra-Orthodox community] get to open everything without being punished? It’s crazy. It’s politics,” she told The Media Line.
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox towns and neighborhoods have in recent weeks come under attack for refusing to abide by coronavirus restrictions, with some religious schools and event halls operating regularly.
A restaurant owner in the capital told The Media Line that his place, like most other restaurants, was already violating the government’s orders for weeks.
“We’re technically not allowed to offer a take-away option. But what am I supposed to do when someone lives close by and wants to pick up his food?” he asks rhetorically.
“We tell them to wait across the street, and bring it out to them, so it’s considered a delivery. It’s ridiculous, I know, but they force us to act like this with their impossible rules.”
Despite the unchanging levels of new infections, one undoubtedly bright spot in Israel has been a steep decline in hospitalizations and serious cases among 60+ year-olds over the past few weeks, thanks to Israel’s massive vaccination effort.
Close to 2 million out of a total of 9 million citizens have already received the second of two Pfizer shots, as Israel continues to pace the world in inoculation rates. On Tuesday, Netanyahu said he aims to have 90% of the population aged 50 and up vaccinated by mid-February.
“That will enable us to save lives, to ease the restrictions and open up our economy,” the prime minister explained. “It won’t happen all at once, but gradually, starting next week.”
On Thursday, Israel will open up its vaccination operation to the entire public, ages 16 and up.
Israelis Tire of Shutdown, Vow to Open Businesses Regardless of Gov’t Decision Read More »
Moses obeyed his father in law,
and he did all that he said.
Exodus 18:24
When I first met my father-in-law
naturally, he was suspicious.
Who was this man, who was not him?
Who had not supplied his daughter
with a lifetime of foreign dolls
or a baby grand piano, or music lessons
or decades of food and shelter?
Who had flown across the country
to meet him purporting to be
someone worthy of providing
his little girl with anything?
It took a while to build trust
especially when I came off with
the confidence of Gunga Din
who I later found out was a
fictional character, thus matching
the legitimacy of my confidence.
I was so sure how all that I was
it took years before I saw
the immensity of the empire he had built.
Built with the long-haul in mind
Built with a foundation so solid
he could lose a job and still
buy you dinner for a year.
He’s taken care of generations
of people in every direction
without breaking a sweat.
The intricacies of his structure
are what inspires me to
create the same for his daughter
and grandson. I may never
be able to feign an interest in golf
but I follow his lead like Moses
followed Jethro. Putting all the
pieces in place so everyone
connected has what we need.
Moses obeyed his father-in-law
and did all that he said.
We should all be so lucky
to have a Jethro
or a Bernie.
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 25 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 “The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express” (Poems written in Japan – Ain’t Got No Press, August 2020) 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.
The Wisdom of In-Laws – a poem for Torah Portion Yitro Read More »
Dear all,
The other night as Ron and I were tucking the babies in for bed, they engaged in the most adorable game, and we were fortunate to capture it on video. You can’t help but laugh and smile as Maya appears and disappears while Eli laughs.
Of course, this sweet game made me think…
It’s so comforting just knowing someone is there.
When we reach out to a friend who is in mourning….
When we deliver a meal to a homebound neighbor….
When we send a care package to our college kid …
When we leave a treat for the mail carrier ….
When we call an old friend ….
Letting people know we are there, for just a moment in time … it just creates a good feeling in a world that could really use more smiles.
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
A Moment in Time: Knowing Someone is There Read More »
When is the last time you laughed? Not a quick smile, but the kind of deep belly laugh that comes out of nowhere. That kind of laugh.
In a few weeks we welcome the Hebrew month of Adar in which we are told “one increases rejoicing.” The holiday of Purim reminds us that everything is topsy-turvy: the storyline you expect quickly unravels to reveal the exact opposite. And throughout the story, you might find yourself laughing. Not necessarily an expression of humor, but rather, laughter that conveys surprise, wonder, and the prompting of saying to oneself, “Wow, I didn’t think that was possible.” It’s the kind of laugh where unbridled joy takes over, letting in escape for a few blissful seconds. Or it is the kind of laugh that permits one to hope, knowing that joy can be experienced even within the deepest of pain.
When Avraham and Sarah hear they are to have a child, something they didn’t think possible, both laugh. Sarah laughs at herself, astonished that her body is capable of producing a miracle. Abraham also laughs, but as well, throws himself on the ground in deep submission. One laughed in wonderment in the realization of a dream she thought impossible; the other laughed with gratitude, his creating a bridge between God and moments of joy.
Perhaps, laughter is God smiling…humans getting the chance to witness and experience a holy grin.
As Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” In the most startling of ways, may our laughter surprise us. Contagious laughter that causes the smiles of many, reminding us that even through our pain, we can believe in the possibility of the unexpected. We are meant to hope in a way that makes us smile through our tears.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Nicole Guzik is a rabbi at Sinai Temple. She can be reached at her Facebook page at Rabbi Nicole Guzik.
A Bisl Torah — A Time for Laughter Read More »
(The Media Line) — Israel’s political scene was all a flutter Thursday, as desperate lawmakers and frantic politicians dashed to sign last minute deals or announce dramatic splits, with the midnight deadline for the submission of final party lists ahead of the March elections for the Knesset, or parliament, fast approaching.
Less than 50 days remain until Israelis head to the polls yet again, for the fourth time in two years, after the “unity government” formed last year by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz lasted barely six months.
Thursday was the final day for any eleventh-hour mergers between parties and individuals running in the general elections. From Friday, parties are not allowed to join forces, add or drop candidates from their lists, or reshuffle in any way.
The parliamentary system in Israel calls for voters to elect parties, not individuals, with the chair of the largest party usually given the mandate from the nation’s president to form a ruling coalition following the elections.
Over the past month, ever since parliament was dissolved and elections were called over Netanyahu’s refusal to pass a budget, new parties and Knesset hopefuls have emerged like mushrooms after the rain.
On the Knesset’s left wing, already splintered because of Gantz’s May decision to join Netanyahu’s government and desert his bloc partners, no less than seven new lists emerged, each one promising to represent the forgotten and forsaken Israeli liberals.
On top of the established Labor, Meretz, Yesh Atid and Arab Joint List parties, voters were presented with new lists headed by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, former Yesh Atid lawmaker Ofer Shelah, former Accountant General Yaron Zelekha, and former defense secretary – and another Yesh Atid veteran – Moshe Ya’alon, among others.
As the hours ticked away Thursday, many were still adamant about running separately, despite polling well under the four-seat threshold needed to enter parliament. Others were more practical.
If a party fails to gain four-seats, all the ballots cast for it are discarded, essentially helping the larger parties and especially those on the other side of the political spectrum. While no merges are allowed in the remaining weeks, parties can still drop out of the race until Election Day, if they deem their chances hopeless.
With just a handful of hours before the midnight deadline, Huldai announced in a post on Facebook that he would not run in the upcoming election.
“The most responsible move on my part is to take a step back, quit, and let others lead the effort on behalf of all of us to rehabilitate the country,” he wrote. “I will continue to help as much as I can to replace this evil government,” he added.
Shelah also announced that he and his party would drop out of the race, after failing to reach a merger deal with the Labor party.
“Most of these guys are polling so low, they’ll probably drop out soon,” Lior Chorev, a prominent strategic adviser who in the past consulted for then-prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, told The Media Line.
On top of the cluster of tiny parties, Israel’s left wing also includes Gantz’s Blue and White party. After netting a whopping 35 seats in the 2019 elections, public opinion polls now show it barely clearing the required four seats, after bleeding public support and losing nearly all its members to retirement or to other parties.
“They already filed their list, so they can’t merge with anyone, but I see them dropping out in a couple of weeks, once they consistently see they aren’t making it the polls,” Chorev said of Blue and White. “Public pressure on Gantz will be so high, he’ll have to quit, so as not to waste any votes.”
The Arab Joint List, after garnering a record 15 seats in Knesset last year, also is headed for rough waters.
The list, consisting of four smaller Arab-majority parties, appeared destined for divorce on Thursday, with hours left until final registration. One of the parties, Raam, which is expected to struggle to pass the threshold if it runs alone, promised to contend separately and be the true representative of Arab voters. The remaining three factions — Hadash, Balad, and Ta’al, appeared to agree to continue to run together as the Joint List.
While the slew of shattered parties was expected to somewhat coalesce before midnight Thursday, egos proved to be too much of a challenge, as the newly revived Labor party, headed by recently elected Merav Michaeli, refused to absorb those with identical ideologies and platforms, forcing them to quit the race.
The concern about wasted votes among the fractured center-left is exaggerated. With those parties either quitting the race or polling so low, it ensures nearly everyone will vote for the two-three larger parties in the bloc
“Shelah, for example, isn’t a vote magnet, but he is a talented parliamentarian that could have helped them lead the party,” Itzik Elrov, a former Labor strategic and communications adviser, said of the Yesh Atid co-founder, who last year decided to go out on his own after clashing with party chair Yair Lapid, and on Thursday called it quits. “Both sides would’ve benefited from that merger,” he added.
Chorev agrees that Labor, currently riding high after last week’s primaries bump, might fade as that boost subsides. Still, he said, “I don’t see the party taking any of the smaller fragments onboard. Why take a valuable seat from a party member who was just democratically elected in the primaries, and hand it to an outsider without any apparent electoral value?”
“The concern about wasted votes among the fractured center-left is exaggerated. With those parties either quitting the race or polling so low, it ensures nearly everyone will vote for the two-three larger parties in the bloc,” he said.
Over on the right wing, things seemed much simpler.
Netanyahu on Thursday breathed a sigh of relief, when his efforts to fuse two right-wing parties finally succeeded.
After failing in his mission in the past three rounds of elections, the prime minister guaranteed no right-wing vote will be wasted this time, when he convinced Bezalel Smotrich, chair of the Religious Zionism Party, to join forces with the Otzma Yehudit party, headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir a highly controversial figure who espouses the ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane, banned from the Knesset in the 1980’s for his racist platform.
To his right, Netanyahu also will have the two ultra-Orthodox parties, long a steady and constant feature in the prime minister’s bloc. Unlike the previous three cycles, no other party will have an ultra-Orthodox candidate.
Also a relative rarity in Israel, no party will feature an Anglo-Saxon member on its list either.
The embattled prime minister, who next week will arrive for his second court appearance as he stands trial for charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, must still overcome some challenges from his right flank.
Former prominent Likud lawmaker Gideon Saar, and popular right-wing member of Knesset Naftali Bennet are both running independently on anti-Netanyahu platforms, promising to unseat the long-termed prime minister.
The two have attracted several high-profile names to their lists, including the son and granddaughter of two Likud prime ministers, and a string of right-wing mayors and public officials, all opposed to Netanyahu’s policies or personal conduct.
As the final lists were filed to Israel’s Central Election Committee Thursday evening, hopefuls and longshots eyed their next target date – March 23, Election Day.
Final Deadline Before March Election Has Israeli Politicians Scrambling Read More »
UC Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) student senate unanimously passed a resolution on February 3 adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
Students Supporting Israel (SSI) at UCSB announced the passage of the resolution in a Facebook post, noting that this makes UCSB the first UC school to pass such a resolution.
“It took long hours of writing and negotiations but in the end it worked out and the IHRA definition of antisemitism passed unanimously,” SSI at UCSB Co-President Harrison Kerdman said in a statement. “This gives our community such an important tool to protect ourselves from both classical as well as contemporary antisemitism.”
Rabbi Evan Goodman, executive director of Santa Barbara Hillel, said in a statement to the Journal, “We are thankful that the UC Santa Barbara Student Senate unanimously adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism. I’m proud that our remarkable Hillel staff convened Jewish student leaders spanning many different organizations — encompassing varying perspectives, backgrounds, and interests — so our community could speak with a unified voice. We know that antisemitism has taken on pernicious new forms in recent years, and we believe this definition is a first step in addressing this issue.
“As always, Santa Barbara Hillel is proactive in standing up for our students, building bridges, and fostering a positive campus climate.”
StandWithUs co-founder and CEO Roz Rothstein similarly said in a statement to the Journal, “StandWithUs commends UCSB’s student government for unanimously adopting the IHRA working definition of antisemitism in an effort to name, identify, and educate about antisemitism. This is an important step in the right direction and we are encouraged by such overwhelming support and commitment to respond to antisemitism.” She also thanked groups such as the Israel Campus Coalition and Hillel International’s Campus Initiative for their efforts in getting the resolution passed.
The IHRA definition states that the demonization and delegitimization of Israel amounts to anti-Semitism; the Biden administration has stated that they support the IHRA definition, and the German cabinet has recognized IHRA as an international institution.
UCSB Passes IHRA Resolution Read More »