It’s a day of sad contemplation of what the Jewish people have lost, not only in numbers but in individuals, parents, children, relatives, people who worked with their hands or their brains, doctors, scientists, artists, writers, and lawyers, and so many others. So much talent wasted, so many minds and bodies obliterated senselessly. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]
A Family and a Nation Remember Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History
Participants from across the world joined leaders, dignitaries and Holocaust survivors April 8 in March of the Living’s virtual events marking Holocaust Remembrance Day across the Jewish world. This year’s March of the Living paid special tribute to the medical professionals who risked their lives during the Holocaust. [From News Releases]
Global Holocaust Remembrance Goes Virtual Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA
The Passover 2019 attack on Chabad of Poway in which congregant Lori Gilbert-Kaye was murdered and three other persons were wounded has prompted a pair of criminal cases and a civil case in its wake, while a fourth criminal case involving tax fraud proceeds in federal court. [Donald H. Harrison]
Another Shoe May Drop in Chabad of Poway Case Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, USA
Enabling communities to experience Independence Day as one global community, the International March of the Living (MOTL) program, “Salute to Israel’s 73rd Birthday,” includes panoramic views of Israel’s natural beauty and a special performance by Israel Army Choir and Chief Cantor Shai Abramson. [Marcia Wollner]
Global webcast to mark Yom HaShoah April 15 Read More »
International, Jewish History, Marcia Tatz Wollner, San Diego County, USA
The title of this book is an understatement if ever there were one. “Three Ordinary Girls” really should be retitled as “Three Extraordinary Girls.” [Donald H. Harrison]
Book Review: ‘Three [Extra] Ordinary Girls’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish HistoryWith antisemitism on the rise, it is tempting to stay laser focused on stories that impact our community, but we must resist the temptation. Those who complain how few people helped Jews during the Holocaust (although the Righteous Among the Nations surely did), need to follow the same moral high road that we wish others would have followed during our time of peril. [Donald H. Harrison]
The Sage Hillel Guides Our Choice of Stories Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA
The egoism that had plagued the Hellenists did not subside simply because they had lost the war. The Hasmoneans, who were now the masters of Judah, had soon fallen prey to the same power of increasing self-centeredness, and the moral and social decline continued. “In becoming rulers, kings and conquerors,” writes historian Paul Johnson, “the Hasmoneans suffered the corruptions of power. …Alexander Jannaeus [ruled 103-76 BCE] … turned into a despot and a monster, and among his victims were the pious Jews from whom his family had once drawn its strength. Like any ruler in the Near East at that time, he was influenced by the predominant Greek modes.” [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]
Jewish Unity and Antisemitism, Part VIII Read More »
Jewish History
Twenty years ago my book, IBM and the Holocaust exposed with crystal clarity—backed up with a literal tower of physical documentation—that IBM knowingly organized all six phases of the Holocaust: identification, exclusion, confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, and even extermination, all under the micromanagement of its celebrated CEO, Thomas Watson, Sr., operating from his New York office on Madison Avenue, and later through European subsidiaries. [Edwin Black]
IBM and the Holocaust, 20 Years of Corporate Denial Read More »
Business & Finance, Edwin Black, International, Jewish HistoryAn egregious lie has been making the rounds lately. It is a timeworn smear against the Jewish people in a modern guise. The ancient blood libel—“Jews are poisoners,” stoked antisemitic violence through the ages, from the Black Death to tainted wells, has reappeared. This time, it is the claim that Israel is denying COVID-19 vaccinations to its non-Jewish citizens and to the residents of the not-yet-sovereign Palestinian Authority. This lie is the same as all the predecessor lies. [Edwin Black]
Vaccine Denial, Medical Apartheid Are Blood Libels Read More »
Edwin Black, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education
A historical marker donated by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, with support from the City of Holly Springs, Ms., and the Marshall County Historical Society Museum was sited in Holly Springs. It recalled the worst antisemitic Government act in American history, the infamous, now largely forgotten General Order #11. [Jerry Klinger]
Marker recalls Grant’s Infamous Order No. 11 Read More »
Jewish History, USAAt the time when the Jews were in their prime, their ego rose to such levels that they could not overcome it. As a result, many of them began to shun the way of unity, the way of their fathers, and began to lean toward the cultures of their neighboring countries, namely Hellenism. The Hellenistic culture, with its gymnasiums, amphitheaters, grand statues and impressive architecture, seemed more appealing than Judaism, which demanded that the individual would strain to love others. Contrary to loving others, the Greeks extolled the self, the individual, and offered gods that were much more humanlike than godlike, which appealed to people’s growing self-absorption. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]
Jewish Unity and Antisemitism, Part VII Read More »
Jewish History
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) kicks off its Yiddish Women Playwrights Festival with a virtual reading of Chava Rosenfarb’s play The Bird of the Ghetto (Der Foygl fun Geto), the first time the play will be presented in the language in which it was written, Yiddish. Audiences can stream the event at 11 a.m. (Pacific Time), Sunday, April 18 through 11 a.m. Thursday April 22 at 2:00 PM ET. [National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) press release]
Yiddish writer’s play finally to be performed in Yiddish Read More »
Jewish History, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
This graphic novel is a relatively gentle introduction for children to the Holocaust, wherein two Polish Jewish children escape from their ghetto to the woods, where they are found by a Gentile farmer who has been working with the resistance. In fact, the farmer has been hiding from a German search party three Partisans who blew up a train that was headed with weapons and supplies to the Russian front. Among the brave Partisans is none other than the children’s aunt, who had left home before the Jews of their town had been moved and restricted to a ghetto. [Donald H. Harrison]
Adventure story is gentle introduction to the Holocaust Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish HistoryThe history of our people is strewn with agony. But the period between the Cyrus Declaration, in 539 BCE, and the beginning of the Hasmonean revolt, in 166 BCE, was relatively a quiet one and marked by a great achievement: being a role model of unity for the nations, even if briefly. [Michael Laitman, Ph.D]
Jewish Unity and Antisemitism, Part VI Read More »
Jewish History