Biden team stands by Palestinian-American staffer after backlash

Joe Biden’s transition team has said that it continues to support the appointment of a Palestinian-American to a senior position after critics accused her of anti-Semitism.Arab-American organisations had hailed the appointment of Reema Dodin, formerly a Senate staffer, as deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs and the first Palestinian-American to serve […]

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Middle East, USA

Biden’s Team Turns Blind Eye to Palestinian Terror

President-elect Joe Biden’s first major foreign policy appointments are being hailed as centrists and experts. None of them are known as radicals, ideologues or Israel-bashers. News outlets have made much of the fact that the stepson of a Holocaust survivor is one of the key appointments. But a closer look at their backgrounds and associations raises disturbing questions about their views on Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. [Moshe Phillips]

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Middle East, USA

TV Series on Yom Kippur War drives home peace necessity

Valley of Tears, the dramatic series currently being shown on Israeli TV about events in the Golan Heights at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war, has had me and many others spellbound each week. Although several of my friends and acquaintances have told me that they are unable to watch it as it brings back too many painful memories, I find myself compelled to watch. I quite understand their attitude, and am almost surprised at my own ability to persist through every graphic scene. I admit that I find it difficult to sleep afterwards, but some obsessive preoccupation with the events of that traumatic time brings me back to the screen every week. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Trump says he will leave office — if Biden victory is confirmed

Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump said Thursday for the first time that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden is officially confirmed the winner of the US election, even as he railed against the “rigged” vote.Trump has made an unprecedented attempt to defy the results of the election by refusing to concede, spreading

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USA

Ethiopian-Israeli activists denounce PM for failure to fulfill aliyah vow

Ethiopian-Israeli activists staged a demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s Office and even blocked the road on Wednesday morning in protest at the failure to bring those waiting in Ethiopia to Israel.In September, the government approved a plan to bring to Israel before the end of the year 2,000 of the remaining 8,000 members of the

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International, Middle East

Netanyahu welcomes passengers of first flight from UAE to Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed travellers arriving at Tel Aviv’s airport on Thursday, on the first flight arriving from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Israel, authorities said.The flight was operated by the airline Flydubai and was the first scheduled flight between Dubai and Tel Aviv, according to authorities.Netanyahu spoke of an “historic flight”

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Middle East

Cuomo calls Supreme Court decision blocking NY restrictions on religious gatherings a political statement

NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down Wednesday night blocking state officials from enforcing a cap on religious gatherings in coronavirus hot spots in Brooklyn and Queens is “irrelevant from any practical impact” because those areas are no longer designated virus hot spots.He said the decision,

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Jewish Religion, USA

Biden Addresses Nation For Thanksgiving – ‘We’re At War With The Virus, Not With One Another’

President-elect Joe Biden tried to inspire Americans to keep fighting the pandemic Wednesday night in a Thanksgiving address ahead of the holiday.Biden began the speech by briefly remarking about the history of Thanksgiving and linking it with Americans’ need to continue fighting COVID-19.Speaking from Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said, “The first national day of Thanksgiving, authorized

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USA

A Word of Torah: A Giant’s Presence

The portion (Va-Yetzei) starts by telling us where Yaakov left, something we already knew. Why didn’t it just say, “And Yaakov went to Charan?” Rashi, the great classical commentator, explains a specific lesson from the seemingly extra phrase. When Yaakov, great Tzaddik (righteous man) that he was, departed Be’er Sheva it made an impact. Likewise, when he arrived in Charan it made an impact. That is what happens when a saintly person leaves a place and arrives somewhere else; it makes an impact. The influence of the holy is profound and enduring. [Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort]

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Jewish Religion, Yeruchem Eilfort-Rabbi

The Saga of the Sammy Sculpture

I’ve never known a bad guy named Sam. I said that in the early 1960s, and many years later it is still true. Sam’s are warmhearted with a faint, off-beat nature. They are comfortable with their lives, competent in their work, devoted husbands that don’t cheat on their spouses; they usually work for large organizations and don’t complain.
My observation of these people inspired me to design and build a nine-foot tall stucco sculpture for Helen and Mike and named “The Essence of Sammy.” [Ira Spector]

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Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Thanksgiving Blessings and Tzedakah

I’m always fascinated at Thanksgiving time to see how rabbis express what is a central tenet of Judaism: giving thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings bestowed upon us.
For example, the Forward offered a prayer from the book, Talking to God: Personal Prayers for Times of Joy, Sadness, Struggle and Celebration  by Rabbi Naomi Levy of the Neshuva congregation in Los Angeles. The poem focuses on every day things—children’s laughter, our ability to breathe, having enough food to eat, living in adequate shelters, being clothed, being healthy, the special people in our lives, and residing in a country where people are free to practice their religion without fear. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Medical professionals lament holiday travel

My wife and I are in the medical field. My wife works on the front lines at a large medical center and watches the suffering that COVID inflicts.  Not just to the patients and their families but to the front line workers risking their lives to help others.  In the evening we watch the news showing these dedicated doctors, nurses and support staff, exhausted both physically and mentally, literally begging us to stay home this Thanksgiving.  The Surgeon General, the President-elect and many of our states’ governors also warn us not to make matters worse. They are ignored by a huge percentage of the population. [Ben Dishman, PharmD]

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Ben Dishman, Judaism, Lifestyles, USA

Contentment, Mindfulness and Judaism

The world has never been more advanced than it is now. Humans have found cures for many of the major illnesses that threaten us; we can travel across the globe in a matter of hours; and we can communicate with each other almost instantaneously. Virtually every problem humans have historically had, besides suffering caused by other people, has been mitigated to some degree. Why is it then that so many of us are still unhappy? Daniel Cordaro says that the problem doesn’t lie with the state of the world, but with the state of our internal being. [Shor M. Masori]

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Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shor M. Masori