Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 3, 2017

2 August 2017, 14:13

James O'Brien: This Is Why Holocaust Denial Is On The Rise

00:01:15

A leading campaigner has warned Holocaust denial could rise in the next 20 years, and James OBrien has a theory why this is worryingly true.

Sir Peter Bazalgette, chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, believes Holocaust denial may well grow rather than diminish over the next two decades.

Its a concern James himself has raised and today during his LBC show the penny dropped as to why Holocaust denial is next in a post-truth era.

What you have is the desire to other a population, James said.

On this occasion as Britain and America are at the moment its Muslims and the desire is to portray them all as terrorists or paedophiles or members of grooming gangs.

He continued: They want to do the most textbook sort of style of othering, treat people differently, restrict their laws according to their ethnicity or background.

For example you cant come into this country if you were born into a certain background. You cant access this service if you were born somewhere else.

That kind of politics, and what they cant do is admit that leads to the Holocaust.

So if youre buying into the idea of othering Muslims or Irish people from the NHS or having having some kind of colour bar If you subscribe to that set then you have to deny the Holocaust.

Watch James full analysis in the video at the top of this page.

See the article here:

James O'Brien's Worrying Theory On The Rise Of Holocaust Denial - LBC

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Posted By richards on August 3, 2017

The titular schlubby hero of Menashe might, with a few tweaks, be a perfect fit for the lead of a Judd Apatow comedy about a wayward man-child. He works a fairly menial job at a supermarket stocking shelves, but still manages to be bad at it; hes well-liked by his co-workers, but irritating to his boss and his family, all of whom wish hed stop cracking jokes and iron his shirts once in a while. Though Menashe (played by Menashe Lustig) is quite a relatable neer-do-well, his story is set in Hasidic Jewish Brooklyn, one of Americas most insular communities.

Joshua Z. Weinsteins debut fiction film (he has directed several documentaries) is heavily indebted to the classic neorealism of the 60s but is delivered entirely in Yiddish. Its a quiet, poignantly told tale of a man whos not exactly an outcast, yet who struggles to fit into a very ordered society. At times sweet, but never patronizing, Menashe examines a world that might seem foreign or oppressive even to other Brooklynites who live alongside the Hasidimwithout ever turning its inhabitants into either caricatures or figures of fun.

Oy Vey: Yiddish Has a Problem

Weinstein has accomplished that by rooting his story (co-written with Alex Lipschultz and Musa Syeed) squarely in reality. Menashes story is based on the real-life struggles of Lustig, a Hasidic actor who has long clashed with some of the more conservative elements of his community. Like Lustig, Menashe is a widower with a young son hes not allowed to live with, since Hasidic tradition forbids a man without a wife from raising a child. The simple solution is to remarry, but Menashe refuses to, finding excuses to object to everyone the community tries to set him up with.

Menashe is not about a bitter custody battle, or even a principled stand taken against an unfair society. Menashes love for his son Rieven (played by Ruben Niborski, the only non-Hasidic actor in the film) is not in doubt, although theres a childish clumsiness to their times together. Menashe, critiqued by his strict and disapproving brother-in-law Eizik (Yoel Weisshaus) as a schlimazel, is certainly a sloppy caregiver, feeding his son potato chips and soda for breakfast, and unsure of how to win his affection other than by buying him presents or taking him out for ice cream.

Even as Rieven is embarrassed by his dad, the two clearly share a deep bond. If theres any religious conflict between Menashe and his late wifes pious brother, its over the godliness of raising a child without a mother, and Menashes willingness to defy the instructions of his rabbi (Meyer Schwartz). The movie never develops into a Kramer vs. Kramer-style drama in its 82-minute running time: This is still a society where Talmudic law is absolute, and theres little chance of bending it to accommodate Menashes unorthodox wishes.

The films most telling scene is one of the abortive dates Menashe goes on with a woman in a similar situation to himwidowed, with children, looking to make a new home. His potential partner grows quickly frustrated with Menashes unwillingness to join a marriage of convenience and with his inability to articulate the reasons for his stubbornness. She goes on to critique the men of her community as perpetually locked in childhood, cared for first by their mothers and then their wives.

Its the one truly critical look at the rigid structure of Hasidic life that Weinstein allows the film, and its rightly offered by a woman, the most marginalized figure in Menashes world. His date is the only woman with a major role in the movie, but the biggest female presence is Menashes late wife, whose connection with her husband was obviously strong enough to linger after she died; that, to the people around him, is the most puzzling mystery.

But Menashe is wise not to be preachy, or to make sweeping judgments about Hasidic life. Weinsteins workmanlike camera style allows him to act as a bystander who has gotten closer to a world thats still sealed-off (the director struggled to convince Hasidic actors to participate in the project). In grounding the story in a particular personality, and the familiar connection between a father and son, Weinstein has created a subtly powerful work of human drama, driven by the charismatic, if frustrating, man at its center. Menashe bodes well for Weinsteins future as a storyteller; it succeeds at taking older cinematic traditions of everyday storytelling and using them to help illuminate a world most viewers know little about.

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Menashe Is a Moving Drama of Hasidic Life - The Atlantic

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Posted By simmons on August 3, 2017

Q: You once told a sad and poignant story about a goat whose magnificent horns were given away, piece by piece. I think you attributed it to a particular Hasidic rabbi. Would you please remind me where that story comes from, perhaps point me to a source? S from Melville, N.Y.

A: I often say about different stories, "This is my favorite story." How can that be true? Well, it is true that the story I am telling is my favorite story that day. So the story of the sacred goat is my favorite story today. It is a story recorded by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber in his edited compilation, "Tales of the Hasidim." It is attributed to Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotsk (1787-1859), who was called "the Kotsker Rebbe."

Hasidism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that emphasized joyous worship over scholarly rigor. Hasidism is itself divided around the teachings of various charismatic rabbis,affectionatelycalled "Rebbes." The followers of a Rebbe are his "Hasidim."

Of all the early Hasidic Rebbes, the Kotsker was the most troubled. He spent the last 20 years of his life in seclusion, seeing only a few Hasidim. One of his visitors was Rabbi Yitzhak of Vorki, who said upon entering his room, "Peace be with you, Rebbe." The Kotsker angrily said, "Why do you say Rebbe to me? I'm the goat! I'm the sacred goat." Then he told this story:

"An old Jew once lost his snuffbox made of horn on his way to the House of Study. He wailed: 'Just as if the dreadful exile weren't enough, this must happen to me! Oh me, oh my, I've lost my snuffbox made of horn!' And then he came upon the sacred goat. The sacred goat was pacing the Earth, and the tips of his black horns touched the stars. When he heard the old Jew lamenting, he leaned down to him, and said, 'Cut a piece from my horns, whatever you need to make a new snuffbox.' The old Jew did this, made a new snuffbox and filled it with tobacco. Then he went to the House of Study and offered everyone a pinch. They snuffed and snuffed, and everyone who snuffed it cried: 'Oh, what wonderful tobacco! It must be because of the box. Oh, what a wonderful box! Wherever did you get it?' So the old man told them about the good sacred goat. And then one after another they went out into the forest and looked for the sacred goat. The sacred goat was pacing the Earth and the tips of his black horns touched the stars. One after another the people went up to him and begged permission to cut off a bit of his horns. Time after time the sacred goat leaned down to grant the request. Box after box was made and filled with tobacco. The fame of the boxes spread far and wide. At every step he took, the sacred goat met someone who asked for a piece of his horns. Now the sacred goat still paces the Earth but he has no horns."

Now, I normally do not interpret the stories I tell. Telling them is enough for me. After all, there are many meanings in every great story, and the Kotsker Rebbe's story of the sacred goat is an exceedingly great story. It raises the question in the minds and hearts of all teachers and parents, all healers and caregivers everyone who willingly cuts off their horns to give to others is my sacrifice worth it?

The goat was undeniably giving and gracious, but it gave away its sacred horns to make snuff boxes! What a waste of good horns. On the other hand, we worship a God who gives us salvation even though we neither deserve nor appreciate it sufficiently. There is a wonderful children's book by Shel Silverstein, "The Giving Tree," that bears a striking resemblance to the story of the sacred goat. It is about a tree that allows herself to be cut down to a stump because of the incessant demands of an ungrateful boy. Is this the act of a loving parent or is this the foolish confusion of self-sacrifice with self-destruction? My view of the goat and the tree is that they are noble gifts of one's substance to help others. Remember, the goat is still called the sacred goat even after its horns have been cut off.

When I see the sacrifices parents and grandparents and siblings and caregivers and healers and clergy and physicians and teachers make every day, I am overwhelmed by the number of sacred goats who still pace the Earth. We are all here because we have been given pieces of sacred horns that remind us always to reach for the heavens and to freely give what we have been given.

Send all questions and comments to the God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com.

Continued here:

Thankfully, sacred goats still pace Earth in droves - Plattsburgh Press Republican

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Posted By simmons on August 3, 2017

Jewish liturgy is the expression of the hopes, fears, joys and sorrows of the Jewish people, and the Aleinu, the best-known concluding prayer, is a very good example.

Composed when the Temple still stood in Jerusalem, and originally recited only on the High Holy Days, it became part of the daily liturgy after the blood libel massacre of the Jews of Blois, France, in 1171.

From that date, and following repeated expulsions and massacres, the Ashkenazim began to understand the phrase for they bow down to vanity and emptiness as referring to their Christian neighbours.

Further the word emptiness was identified with Jesus, since in Hebrew the word emptiness and Jesus name have the same (gematria) numerical value. At those words, the praying Jew would spit on the ground.

It was not until the decree of Frederick I, Emperor of Prussia, that this offending phrase was removed from Ashkenazi prayer books in 1703. It only returned recently.

With the establishment of the state of Israel, some modern Ashkenazi rites have reintroduced the phrase.

Indeed it was cited in defence of those who attempted to burn down the Christian pilgrim site, the Church of the Loaves and the Fishes in the Galilee.

Liberal Judaism has been a champion of interfaith dialogue and affirms the value of living in a multi-faith community amid diverse people. In modern Liberal liturgy, the Jewish people are perceived to have a role, but not a superior one.

Thus the Jewish people are called to guard the Land or teach Torah, but as far as Liberal Judaism is concerned, it does so as part of Gods plan for a diverse humanity all of whom have an integral and important role to play.

Danny Rich is senior rabbi of Liberal Judaism

Read more:

The Bible Says What? Is Aleinu an anti-Christian prayer? - Jewish News

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Posted By simmons on August 3, 2017

While the commemoration ran from Monday evening to Tuesday evening, it's not too late to tie Tisha BAv (literally, the ninth day of the Hebrew calendars month of Av) to the current state of affairs. You might want to refer to this handy Religion News Service Splainer."

I'm not qualified to speak definitively about just how the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif dispute breaks down along religious, nationalistic and political lines among ordinary Palestinians and other Muslims that support them -- as opposed to the statements of Palestinian leaders who always stress religious claims in rallying global Muslim support.

Suffice it to say that traditional Islam, far more than do contemporary Christianity or rabbinic Judaism (rabbinic, meaning post-Temple), makes little differentiation between the religious and political realms, and that for many Muslims living under undemocratic governments religion is the only outlet for political expression on any level.

However, I do know enough about the Jewish side to suggest that reporters consider the following.

For doctrinally non-Orthodox Jews who remain religiously connected to their heritage -- I'm referring to members of Judaisms Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist synagogues, most of which are in North America -- the Temple Mount is, doctrinally speaking, not so much a religious issues as it is a political one.

What do I mean? Why might theologically liberal American Jews say the Temple Mount isn't really an important religious issue for them?

Because while Orthodox Jews continue to pray daily for construction of a third temple on the mount -- not to mention restoration of the animal sacrifices that once occurred there -- the liberal movements have largely removed such language from their prayers and, hence, their thinking. (A tip of the hat to Rabbi Philip Pohl of Annapolis, Maryland, for pointing this out to me, though any errors here are wholly mine.)

When I say the Temple Mount is not a religious hot button for liberal Jews, I do not mean that control of the site is also of no importance to them. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict still resonates deeply for the majority of American Jews, even if they're secular, and despite repeated surveys showing that support for Israeli government policies is continually dropping among liberal Jews. (The liberal Jewish denominations account for all but about 10 percent of all synagogue-aligned American Jews.)

For these Jews, it's about Jewish pride and tribal history, and perhaps most importantly, the memory of the Holocaust and the psychological safe space from anti-Semitic forces that Zionism promised, though that's certainly not how it's played out so far.

Religion-beat scribes: If you interview liberal synagogue-affiliated Jews on the Temple Mounts significance to them, be sure to ask specifically whether the issue is political or nationalistic or simply religious for them. Remind them what their denominations say about this. I bet many won't be clear on it

This latest flare up over new Israeli security arrangements for the Jerusalem site ended in what appeared to most observers as a political defeat for Israel and, in particular, the current Israeli prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli press was highly critical of the Netanyahu government's actions, and so was the general Israeli population, one TV poll found.

Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim worlds considered Netanyahus removal of all the newly installed security technology a great victory.

But as I said, it's all another temporary state affairs, to be upended the next time violence intrudes on the site -- as it almost surely will the next time Palestinian leadership senses the Israeli government is seeking to assert any new authority over what is considered Islams third holiest site, even if it's a defensive move, as was the one that set off this latest uproar.

This Wall Street Journal analysis lays out why creating upheaval on and around the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif seems to work for the Palestinians. The writer often takes hardline right-wing positions on the conflict that I do not agree with, but I think hes nailed the main points in this piece.

Stay tuned for the next turn of this exasperating screw.

FIRST IMAGE: Artistic rendering of Herod's Temple.

Go here to read the rest:
Temple Mount wrap up: Where religion, nationalism and politics keep colliding - GetReligion (blog)

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Posted By admin on August 3, 2017

The Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday slammed new Republican legislation, embraced by US President Donald Trump, that would dramatically reduce legal immigration and shift the policies toward a system that prioritizes merit and skills over family ties.

Trump joined with Republican Sens. David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who introduced the bill, earlier Wednesday to promote it. The legislation has so far gained little traction in the Senate.

This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first and puts America first, Trump said during an event in the White Houses Roosevelt Room.

Perdue and Cottons legislation would replace the current process for obtaining legal permanent residency, or green cards, creating a skills-based point system for employment visas. The bill would also eliminate the preference for US residents extended and adult family members, while maintaining priority for their spouses and minor children.

This proposed legislation is cruel, anti-family and un-American, said ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt. These are the types of policy markers that exacerbate immigrant bashing and nativist attitudes in this country. We support an immigration policy that is comprehensive, protects our security, reunites families and improves our economy while honoring our values as a nation of immigrants. Diversity is our countrys strength and immigration has made America great.

Greenblatt vowed to work against the bill.

The legislation was the latest example of the president championing an issue that animated the core voters of his 2016 campaign, following decisions to pull out of the Paris climate treaty and ban transgender people from the military.

Overall, immigration would be slashed 41 percent in the legislations first year and 50 percent in its 10th, according to projection models cited by the bills sponsors. The bill would also aim to slash the number of refugees in half and eliminate a program that provides visas to people from countries with low rates of immigration.

The rollout included a combative press briefing led by Trump policy aide Stephen Miller, who clashed with the media over the plan and accused one reporter of being cosmopolitan when he suggested it would only bring in English-speaking people from Britain and Australia.

The president has made cracking down on illegal immigration a hallmark of his administration and has tried to slash federal grants for cities that refuse to comply with federal efforts to detain and deport those living in the country illegally.

But he has also vowed to make changes to the legal immigration system, arguing that immigrants compete with Americans for much-needed jobs and drive wages down.

Most economists dispute the presidents argument, noting that immigration in recent decades doesnt appear to have meaningfully hurt wages in the long run. Increased immigration is also associated with faster growth because the country is adding workers, so restricting the number of immigrants could slow the economys potential to expand.

The bills supporters, meanwhile, say it would make the US more competitive, raise wages and create jobs.

Backers said the bill would sharply increase the proportion of green cards available to high-skilled workers and would not affect other high or low-skilled worker visa programs such as H1-B and H2-B visas. The Trump Organization has asked for dozens of H-2B visas for foreign workers at two of Trumps private clubs in Florida, including his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The White House said that only 1 in 15 immigrants comes to the US because of their skills, and the current system fails to place a priority on highly skilled immigrants.

But the Senate has largely ignored a previous version of the measure, with no other lawmaker signing on as a co-sponsor. GOP leaders have showed no inclination to vote on immigration this year, and Democrats quickly dismissed it.

The bottom line is to cut immigration by half a million people, legal immigration, doesnt make much sense, said Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York, who called it a nonstarter.

The bill would create a new points-based system for applicants seeking to become legal permanent residents, favoring those who can speak English, have high-paying job offers, can financially support themselves and offer skills that would contribute to the US economy. A little more than 1 million green cards were issued in 2015.

In a nod to his outreach to blue-collar workers during the campaign, Trump said the measure would prevent new immigrants from collecting welfare for a period of time and help US workers by reducing the number of unskilled laborers entering the US.

But the president is mischaracterizing many of the immigrants coming to the United States as low-skilled and dependent on government aid.

The Pew Research Center said in 2015 that 41 percent of immigrants who had arrived in the past five years held a college degree, much higher than the 30 percent of non-immigrants in the United States. A stunning 18 percent held an advanced degree, also much higher than the US average.

Trump has long advocated for the changes and vowed during an immigration speech in Phoenix last August to overhaul the legal immigration system to serve the best interests of America and its workers. He voiced support for the Senate bill at a rally last week in Ohio, where his call for a merit-based system that protects our workers generated loud cheers.

Some immigrant advocates have criticized the proposal, saying that slashing legal immigration would hurt industries like agriculture and harm the economy.

Our system is broken, but the response should be to modernize it, not take a sledgehammer to it, said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of New American Economy, a group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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ADL slams Trump-backed GOP plan on immigration as 'cruel, un-American' - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on August 2, 2017

A Palestinian flag. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org As a child, I spent my summers at Camp Solomon Schechter, a Conservative Jewish camp in Tumwater, Washington. My experiences at Camp Schechter were central to the development of my Jewish identity, and my eventual decision to immigrate to Israel.

At camp, each day began at the flagpole. Hundreds of sleepy-eyed campers and counselors from all around the Pacific Northwest strolled to the flagpoles, where we would circle up around the American, Canadian and Israeli flags.As everyone circled up, the Israeli scouts (young Israeli counselors) would lead us in a morning song. Bo-bo-bo-boker tov! they sang, meaning Good morning! in Hebrew.

Additional Hebrew songs, the American and Canadian national anthems, and thenthe Israeli national anthem Hatikvah would follow.

Camp Schechter was founded on Zionist principles, and served as a safe haven to build a Jewish community for many campers who might be the only Jews in their schools orhometowns.

August 2, 2017 4:14 pm

But to my dismay, this safe haven was shaken last week when the Palestinian flag was raised over these very same campgrounds. I can only imagine the outrage among my thousands of fellow Camp Schechter alumni.

As first reported byThe Mike Report a blog that focuses on Jewish news in the Pacific NorthwestCamp Schechter welcomed a group of Palestinian Muslims and Christians from a group called Kids4Peace to join the Jewish campers for the beginning of a new session.

Read more from the original source:
In Raising the Palestinian Flag, Jewish Camp Disrupts a Safe Space for Zionism - Algemeiner

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Posted By richards on August 2, 2017

The New York Times has laid down a red line: anti-Zionism is hate speech. This is the message of an article by one of its staff opinion editors, Bari Weiss, about the Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour. When Progressives Embrace Hate.

Weiss notes Sarsours national prominence among progressives as a leader of the Womens March last January. Then she says that Sarsour is a purveyor of hate. The very first count against Sarsour? Anti-Zionism.

There are comments on her Twitter feed of the anti-Zionist sort: Nothing is creepier than Zionism, shewrotein 2012.

The article goes on to rake up a lot of old tweets and associations on Sarsours part. Including kinship to Congressman Keith Ellison, whom Weiss also smears:

Keith Ellison, a man with along historyof defending and working with anti-Semites, was almost made leader of the Democratic National Committee.

That sounds a lot like what Haim Saban said about Ellison at the Brookings Institution last year: he is clearly an anti-Semite, an anti-Israel individual, though pretending to bemore of a Zionist than Herzl, Ben-Gurion and Begin combined.

Bari Weisss bold and entitled attack on Sarsour is sure to get a lot of pushback from progressives in days to come. The article is a now-textbook attack on Palestinians, for it argues that Sarsour is an anti-Semite because she does not support the subjugation of her own people, Palestinians (as Donald Johnson wrote to us yesterday).

We would like to make two points about the article.

First,Weiss (and Saban before her) both took their stand on Zionism. The American mainstream is finally having an argument about Zionism, and its about time. Zionism is the religious nationalist belief system that supports the Jewish state in Israel; many older American Jews are adherents of that belief (along with some Christians too); and the ideology needs to be confronted and scrutinized. Are Jews really unsafe in the West? Then what about the great success of Jews in America as a minority with rights in a liberal democracy? Is a Jewish state necessary for Jewish survival? What about when that state discriminates against its non-Jewish citizens and imposes Jim Crow policies and worse across the occupied territories what does that persecution do to the Jewish future? And remember that this discussion is now taking place in the United States what is the required role of the worlds leading superpower in maintaining a regime so disliked by so many of its subjects?

So we are thankful that Bari Weiss is so upset about Sarsour. These people should be debating Zionism in forums across the land.

The second point is that Bari Weiss is a powerful person inside the mainstream media, and she is a pro-Israel apparatchik, and has a long history of attacking Palestinians and their friends. She has gone after such leading intellectuals as Joseph Massad, Rashid Khalidi, Nadia Abu El Haj, Timothy Mitchell and Lila Abu-Lughod, building a handsomeresume at the pro-Israel site Campus Watch. Stand up for Palestinian rights and this editor advancing the aims of Hasbara Central will take you on and call you a purveyor of hate. Bari Weiss has a lot of energy for this fight, and she has used it to try and keep liberal Zionists and right-wing Zionists in the same camp against the so-called anti-Zionist haters in the wilderness. And its the family line: her parents have led missions to Israel.

She is hardly the only pro-Israel ideologue at the New York Times. No, there is a rich pedigree. But what does it tell you that such a smear artist has a prominent place at the countrys leading newspaper? The Times has great affinity for Zionism; it has several Zionist columnists; four of its reporters have had children serving in the Israeli army, and it has no anti-Zionist columnist, though now and then it runs a token piece with that point of view.

Yet the battle is on. There are surely folks inside the Times who have growing doubts about Zionism. We might even expect defenders of Linda Sarsour to speak up at the paper. Heres Max Fisher, coming to Sarsours defense.

Have no doubt about it; Sarsours presence at the Womens March was a historic event. Here was a pro-Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (BDS) Palestinian woman who was NOT marginalized from a leading stage because of her views. In the past, the pro-Israel lobby has been able to sideline such figures from the progressive liberal scene: Andrew Young, Cynthia McKinney, Jimmy Carter, and Keith Ellison, to name a few. While Samantha Power and Chuck Hagel only attained high office after renouncing earlier statements critical of Israel or the lobby.

The pro-Israel camp did not succeed in marginalizing Sarsour, and they know how important that failure is; they are now struggling to reinforce a red line.

More here:
Ensconced at New York Times, pro-Israel advocate Bari Weiss smears Sarsour as a 'hater' - Mondoweiss

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Posted By richards on August 2, 2017

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a New York Jewish congregation is the rightful owner of the nation's oldest synagogue, in Rhode Island, along with a set of bells worth millions.

The decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston marks the latest turn in a long-running legal battle that began when members of the Touro Synagogue in Newport tried to sell a set of ritual bells, called rimonim, worth some $7.4 million.

New York's Congregation Shearith Israel attempted to block the deal, citing an 18th century agreement that named it a trustee.

A lower court last year placed ownership of the synagogue with the Rhode Island congregation that worships there, Newport's Congregation Jeshuat Israel. The appeals court reversed that decision citing previous agreements.

"We hold that the only reasonable conclusions to be drawn from them are that CSI (Congregation Shearith Israel) owns both the rimonim and the real property," the ruling said.

Gary Naftalis, a lawyer for the Rhode Island congregation, said he was disappointed by the ruling and was exploring legal options.

An attorney for the New York congregation could not be reached.

The historic building was consecrated in 1763, when the town had one of the largest Jewish populations in the American colonies, including many who had fled the Spanish Inquisition. It was vacated in 1776 when most of the city's Jewish population fled at the start of the Revolutionary War.

Members of the synagogue at that time shipped a pair of valuable silver bells used in rituals to the New York synagogue, and asked its leaders to act as trustees for the vacant temple. Worshippers returned by the 1870s and the New York group's influence waned.

Shearith sued Newport's Congregation Jeshuat Israel when it learned the Rhode Island group had reached a deal to sell the bells to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The Touro congregation had planned to use the funds to create a reserve to pay for maintenance of the building, after its finances were hard hit by the 2008 credit crisis.

The New York congregation also claimed ownership of the bells and charged that the Newport group was violating Jewish tradition by selling ritual objects.

Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Osterman

Link:

New York congregation owns oldest US synagogue, court rules - Reuters

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Posted By admin on August 2, 2017

The Epstein School is welcoming students back this month with a new logo, which communications director Coleen Lou said represents the institutions fluidity in moving forward while remaining rooted in its heritage, symbolized by the blue Star of David in the logos center.

The vision for the logo emphasizes the need to look forward as we move into the 21st century and reflects who we are as an organization, Lou said.

The wheel forming the logo represents movement and Epsteins continual change.

The logo was developed by Epsteins marketing strategist, Tali Benjamin, and Head of School David Abusch-Magder with input from a survey provided to community members and from school parents who are marketing professionals.

One of things we started to think about is who we are as a 21st century school, how we can be the best day school respective of our identity and how we teach as a process of continuous improvement, Abusch-Magder said.

In creating the logo, Epstein leaders focused on the range of students at the school, how it strives to meet their needs and what it means to be Jewish as they continue to grow.

Judaism will always be at the center and core of our students, but that doesnt mean they are static or stuck in the past, but rather that they will use it to help guide them, Abusch-Magder said. I think we have captured that in our logo and hope that it resonates more with people at an initial glance as opposed to our previous graphic, which looked like a cross between an E and the Hebrew letter shin.

Abusch-Magder said the old logo didnt match the schools direction.

The framework for the original logo was a box, and we didnt want to be confined to that, he said. We are not an in-the-box school and tried to capture that in a more coherent and organized way.

Although Epstein remains associated with the Conservative movements Solomon Schechter schools, although the Schechter name is not part of the new logo. Abusch-Magder said the Schechter organization has transformed into an affinity group thats part of the Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, which was formed last year from the merger of the major national Jewish day school groups.

Despite maintaining their association with the organization, Abusch-Magder noted that the schools identity was always connected to the Epstein school.

Although the Schechter association remains, Abusch-Magder said it has not been a strong part of the schools identity. No one really says I attend the Solomon Schechter school, but Epstein, and from a brand prospective, if you need to go complex, go complex on something that matters, such as how we educate our students. Thats the story we would like to tell the community and do so in a meaningful way.

Abusch-Magder said that although Prizmah continues to support Epstein through professional development and conferences, Prizmahs creation marked a national shift in Jewish education and often sparked denominational conversations on the experience of operating a Jewish day school in a small market.

Since its unveiling in July, the Epstein logo has fostered enthusiasm among faculty, parents and students. I am excited where we are going as a school and as an institution, Abusch-Magder said. We are constantly considering what it means to be a Jew and citizen in the 21st century, but also what it means to educate in todays era.

He said he hopes the Epstein community will be proud of the logo for the next five, 10 or 15 years and that we continue to grow and evolve alongside the community.

Excerpt from:

Epstein Not Just Spinning Its Wheel With Logo - Atlanta Jewish Times

Category: Jewish Heritage Month | Comments Off on Epstein Not Just Spinning Its Wheel With Logo – Atlanta Jewish Times
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