International

What Accounts for Israel’s Weight in World Affairs?

Israel is a serious country. It’s hard to imagine, from a perspective of years ago. Now more than 9 million in population, with a currency increasing in value against others, and apparently able to extract two citizens accused of treason in Turkey due to what seems like the innocent photograph of the President’s residence, without an overt concession to Turkey. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

A Cantor Says A Final Goodbye to the Grandfather Who Inspired Him

I flew to London last Wednesday, to say goodbye to my 97-year-old Grandpa. Although I usually see my grandparents half a dozen times a year, the pandemic has made it so that I haven’t been able to see them for two and half years. I entered their new assisted living apartment and went straight to my grandfather’s bed. Without hesitation I began to sing our favorite Yiddish song “Oy vey fein”. Immediately he chimed in and sang with me for about fifteen seconds. [Cantor Hanan Liberman]

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International, Jewish History, Obituaries & memorials

Dolly Parton Inspired the PJ Library Program for Jewish Children

Jewish books from the PJ Library are mailed free every month to 680,000  Jewish children to be read to them at bedtime by their parents or guardians.  Yes, you can thank Harold  Grinspoon, the Massachusetts real estate entrepreneur who funds much of this philanthropy, along with Winnie Sandler Grinspoon, his daughter-in-law who serves as president of his Foundation. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Judaism, Lifestyles, USA

Rep. Sara Jacobs Denounces Anti-Transgender Discrimination

Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) spoke on the House floor Wednesday evening on Transgender Awareness Week. Her remarks stressed the persistent threats trans people face, the importance of fighting for trans equality, and the need to honor and uplift trans voices.  Congresswoman Jacobs’ remarks came as part of a Special Order program organized by the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus.  [Sara Jacobs Press Release]

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San Diego County, USA

Gosar Is Censured But Why Not Omar and Tlaib?

We cannot argue with Nancy Pelosi: “When a member uses his or her national platform to encourage violence, tragically, people listen.” Whenever her Democratic colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives bash Israel and by association American Jews, they are inciting violence throughout the United States, as it trembles under the crush of antisemitism. However, the Speaker of the House was addressing the sins of Rep. Paul Gosar. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Sampling Israel’s Ethnic Groups and Restaurants

Author Ethan Michaeli is an American journalist with a knack for schmoozing with people wherever he goes.  While he lives in Chicago, his older brother and parents live in Israel. He travels frequently to Israel to see his Hungarian-born parents and his brother, and whenever he does so, he likes to go touring around the country, meeting people from as many different backgrounds as possible. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Travel and Food

Gaming Site, ‘Torah Live,’ Enlivens Jewish Education

Torah Live’s graphics, animation and film level are highly professional and their team of men and women includes over thirty scriptwriters, animators, video editors, and sound and special effects artists. While the world was in lockdown, Torah Live kicked in big time. Since Covid over a million and a half videos have been viewed, and the website has been accessed by 168,000 active users. It has hundreds of thousands of viewers from around North America and the world, including in Moscow, Paris, London, Australia, and South Africa, and including 117 in San Diego, a number the Torah Live people hope will continue to grow. {Toby Klein Greenwald]

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International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Toby Klein Greenwald, USA

The Anti-Israel Con at UConn

Not only was Israel’s self-defense denounced as disproportionate, illegal, overly aggressive, and tantamount to war crimes, but the broader question about Israel’s legal right to even exist was raised, along with the tired, loaded language of the woke Left, language which includes such terms, when describing Israel, as “colonial,” “occupation,” “siege,” “ethnic cleansing,” “settlements,” “state violence,” “racism,” as well as the favorite slur leveled against the Jewish state that it is enforcing a new form of “apartheid” and that a country called “Palestine” will be “liberated” as a result of global advocacy for the Palestinian cause. [Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D]

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Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Celebrating Diversity in Zichron Yaakov

Located twenty miles south of Haifa, Zichron Yaakov is a charming city of 25,000 people situated on the southern end of the Carmel Mountain range. One of the oldest cities in modern Israel, it was established at the end of 1882 by one hundred pioneers from Romania, members of the Hovevei Tzion – or Lovers of Zion – movement. Hovevei Tzion was one of several organizations that gained traction in Europe in response to the waves of pogroms and openly antisemitic laws that had the cumulative effect of causing approximately 2,000,000 Jews to relocate, a minority of whom made their way to Israel. [Gedaliah Borvick]

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Gedaliah Borvick, Jewish History, Middle East

Shoshana Bryen: U.S. Encourages Palestinian Intransigence

In a meeting in May with then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the Biden administration priority “to continue to rebuild our relationship with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority.” Now, after announcing it wants to open a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem for the Palestinians, come reports that the administration is working on a plan for a Palestinian “unity government” of Hamas and Fatah to negotiate the “two-state solution” with Israel. [Shoshana Bryen]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

StandWithUs Seeks Formal Investigation of Antisemitism at UC Santa Cruz

StandWithUs called for a formal investigation by the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) leadership into a case where the Muslim Students Association (MSA) likely denied a Jewish student their constitutional rights during a Zoom public meeting, as outlined in a legal letter to the administration sent by StandWithUs and the Jewish student. For the student’s safety, their identity is being kept anonymous. An independent source provided StandWithUs with a captured video of the MSA’s egregious effort to marginalize and stigmatize this Jewish student through discriminatory action. [StandWithUs]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA