Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on July 12, 2017

Joined by their families from Switzerland, Germany, Hungary and Ukraineand their friends and fraternity brothers from around the worldfive young men from the Lauder Business School in Vienna were called to the Torah and celebrated their bar mitzvahs last month for the first time.

The young men studied over a seven-week period with Rabbi Boruch Sabbach, co-director of the Jewish Heritage Center on the schools campus with his wife, Chaya Mushka. The lessons covered Judaism and various areas of Jewish practice, including the observance of tefillin. The bar mitzvah program is a joint project of Chabad on Campus International and the Alpha Epsilon Pi International fraternity, of which they are members.

The Lauder Business School, founded in 2003 with the assistance of philanthropist Ronald Lauder, is especially welcoming to Jewish students from Europe and abroad. Operating as a university of applied sciences in the Austrian education system, it is the one of the only universities in the European Union to be closed on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. In addition, the Jewish Heritage Fund scholarship program grants stipends to students that cover up to 80 percent of their housing and dining costs.

Dani Markus of Hungary spoke about why he decided to have a bar mitzvah nearly 10 years after the traditional age of 13: In my family, Judaism was never a core subject of conversation. But since I arrived at the business school, I felt that I needed to know more. During the preparation period held by the rabbi, we got to know the hows and whys of Jewish customs and traditions.

The students were still savoring the experience weeks after they were called up to the Torah in the presence of 60 family members and friends. The next day, they prayed in their new sets of tefillinarranged by the rabbi with the help of the Chabad on Campus International Tefillin Bankand then shared a celebratory meal.

For Peter Vandor, also from Hungary, knowing about my roots and getting closer to them was the main purpose for participation in the program.

But even in my wildest dreams, I never thought it would be this successful, he said. I feel like we, as five Jewish students, made a huge step forward with our Jewish identity. I give a huge shout-out to Rabbi Boruch for guiding us as our mentor and making this program possible."

The young men studied for seven weeks with Rabbi Boruch Sabbach, co-director of the Jewish Heritage Center on the schools campus. (Photo: Jewish Heritage Center)

Although studies at the Lauder Business School are in English, the emotions associated with the event were distinctly European. Magdolna Vrkonyi, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor who came from Hungary, wept as she described how moved she was to see her first great-grandchild, Benjamin Pretzer, have a bar mitzvah celebration.

Sabbach said the success of the program exceeded his expectations. It was extraordinary to guide these five young men through this important Jewish milestone. They showed a real commitment to the lessons, and their questions demonstrated a seriousness about the subject and their Judaism.

Equally important, he emphasized, was the impact on the participants families: Several of the parents spoke about a new commitment to Judaism and a desire to send their younger children to Jewish schools.

Six students have already signed up for a similar program for next year.

The bar mitzvah boys and AEPi members with friends. (Photo: Jewish Heritage Center)

No simcha is complete without dancing. (Photo: Jewish Heritage Center)

Enjoying a celebratory luncheon with family and friends. (Photo: Jewish Heritage Center)

Rabbi Boruch and Chaya Mushka Sabbach, and family (Photo: Jewish Heritage Center)

Six students have already signed up for a similar program planned for next year. (Photo: Jewish Heritage Center)

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Belated Bar Mitzvahs for Five College Students in Vienna - Chabad.org

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Posted By richards on July 12, 2017

The New York Times dropped another bombshell. It is reporting that Donald Trump Jr. received an email in advance of his meeting with a Russian lawyer informing him that the information she would provide about Hillary Clinton was part of a Russian government effort to help the Trump campaign.

The sound you hear iswhatever was left of Donald Trump Jr.'s credibility disappearing.

Trump Jr.'s response tothe whole Russia matter has been defiant and over-the-top from Day One, as The Washington Post's John Wagner and Rosalind S. Helderman report. In recent days, Trump Jr. initially suggested the meeting was about Russian adoption which was later contradicted by the revelation that he was promised information on Clinton and in March he promised that he had not discussed any campaign matters with any Russians. That, too, has now been directly contradicted.

But the most cringe-worthy denial Trump Jr. has given on this may have come in July 2016. Trump Jr. went on CNN and characterized the very idea of the Russians helping his father as crazy just a month after reportedly receiving an email about precisely that, and thenattempting to accept that very same help.

Let's take it piece by piece (with my emphases added):

JAKE TAPPER: So, I don't know if you were hearing earlier, but Robby Mook, the campaign manager for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, I asked him about the DNC leak.And he suggested that experts are saying that Russians were behind both the leak the hacking of the DNC emails and their release. He seemed to be suggesting that this is part of a plot to help Donald Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. Your response?

TRUMP JR.: Well, it just goes to show you their exact moral compass. I mean, they will say anything to be able to win this. I mean, this is time and time again, lie after lie. You notice he won't say, Well, I say this. We hear experts.

You know, 'His house cat at home once said that this is what's happening with the Russians.'It's disgusting. It's so phony. I watched him bumble through the interview, I was able to hear it on audio a little bit. I mean, I can't think of bigger lies, but that exactly goes to show you what the DNC and what the Clinton camp will do. They will lie and do anything to win.

You hear it with the DNC where they're leaking emails about Bernie Sanders and his Jewish heritage, to be able to try to destroy him in the South. It's a rigged system. It's disgusting and the people who should be fed up because when I heard it I certainly was.

Assuming that this email exists, this interview is now damningly dishonest. Trump Jr. characterizes information that he himself received from Russian-tied sources as lies innuendo made up by Mook's house cat. He even suggests he was taken aback by the ridiculousness of something he was apparently quite familiar with.

Later on in the interview, Trump Jr. even returned to the Russia rumors and continued to beat the drum that this was beyond the pale and that his father's campaign wouldn't engage in this kind of thing.

TAPPER: Lastly, Don, your speech obviously very well received and there are Republicans out there wondering if you might run for office someday yourself.It has even been raised a possible run against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Are these ideas that you're contemplating?

TRUMP JR.: You know, listen, I had a good time up there. It was exciting to be able to have a platform like that to speak my voice because as you can hear from this interview I'm really frustrated with what's going on in this country, Jake. And if I can do that one day I'd love to be able to do it for the people of this country. That's how I can pay back and give something back, I'd love to do it. But right now I'm more concerned about getting my father in there because I know that he will do a wonderful job with that. I know he's going to fight for the people.

You know, it's not going to be about signed (ph) by politics. It's not going to be about divisive politics and emails. You know, accusing people of working with the Russian government. It's not going to be about, you know, going against our opponents calling it a Jewish heritage and try to use that against them in theSouth.

If Republicans did that it would be disgusting and that's what you're going to see in a Clinton administration. This sort of divisiveness has to stop. They should be ashamed of themselves.

And again, if we did that, if the RNC did that, if my father's campaign did that they'd be calling for people to get the electric chair. So I want my father to win. I know he can fix this country. I know he can take care of the people that needs to be taken care of for a change. And I think we're going to do a great job. So that's my 100 percent focus until November.

That's right: The electric chair.

Usually when you know something that would rather not admit, you avoid the subject and offer vague answers that allow you some plausible deniability later on. Trump Jr., though, jumped headlong into denying these Russia rumors with a vocal and passionate denial that now just looks ridiculous.

Given that and his other comments that have fallen apart in recent days, it's difficult to take anything he says seriously at this point.

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This 2016 Donald Trump Jr. interview about Russia is now downright cringeworthy - Washington Post

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Posted By richards on July 12, 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being called upon to cancel next Tuesdays visit to Hungary unless Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban apologizes for praising a Hitler ally and implementing a billboard campaign widely seen as anti-Semitic.

The billboards show Hungarian-American Jewish billionaire George Soros laughing, alongside the words: Lets not leave Soros the last laugh. It is a reference to Soros call for Hungary to allow migrants to enter the country, something Orban is vehemently against. Soon after the billboards appeared last week, many were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. (The Hungarian government announced Wednesday that the billboards would be taken down.)

Asked by Jewish leaders in Hungary to denounce the campaign, Yossi Amrani, Israels ambassador to Hungary, last Saturday called upon the relevant authorities to exert their power and put an end to this cycle. The campaign not only evokes sad memories, but also sows hatred and fear.

The following day, the Israeli Foreign Ministry released a clarifying statement saying that although the Israeli government deplores any expression of anti-Semitism in no way was the statement meant to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israels democratically elected governments by finding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny its right to defend itself.

Soros told The Jewish Week in a statement that he is distressed by the current Hungarian regimes use of anti-Semitic imagery as part of its deliberate disinformation campaign. Equally, I am heartened that together with countless fellow citizens the leadership of the Hungarian Jewish community has spoken out against the campaign.

The Hitler ally Orban praised late last month as an exceptional statesman is Miklos Horthy, Hungarys anti-Semitic post-World War I leader who signed anti-Jewish laws in 1920, 1938 and 1939.

Yair Lapid, chairman of Israels Yesh Atid party, wrote in a blog that Horthy made anti-Semitism a central tenet of his regime, under which tens of thousands of Jews were sent to forced labor camps, then deportations began to the death camps. Among the victims were many members of my family, all of them loyal Hungarian citizens whose only crime was being Jewish.

If Viktor Orban doesnt personally and fully apologize, Prime Minister Netanyahu should cancel his visit to Hungary, Lapid wrote.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, pointed out that at some point you cross the line in looking to promote a proud heritage and encouraging and promoting the kind of forces that brought so much misery and worse to the Jews in that country.

He told The Jewish Week that he is mindful of the trend in Hungary with this government to rewrite and sometimes to whitewash that era.

Another man who lost 186 members of his family when they were transported to Nazi death camps aboard the Hungarian State Railroad (also known as the MAV), Gabor Eichler, told The Jewish Week that he too would like to see Netanyahu cancel the trip unless there is an apology.

I would call on him not to go, but I know he will go because he needs Hungarys support at the United Nations and other international forums, Eichler, a Miami businessman, said from his Manhattan office.

He said he also fears that Netanyahus trip will overshadow the civil suit he filed in Chicago federal court along with 167 Hungarian Holocaust survivors and their families against the MAV. Although the case was dismissed in 2013 to allow Hungarian courts to hear it, it was resubmitted June 21 after a Hungarian court dismissed it citing the statute of limitations.

In court papers, their attorney, Robert Pavich, pointed out that their attempts to press their case in Hungary has been frustrated unreasonably or arbitrarily despite assurances to the federal court that Hungary had extended the statute of limitations for Holocaust-related claims.

The attorney for MAV, Konrad Cailteux, argued in court papers that the federal case should not be reopened because the court in 2013 had said only that it might be refiled if the case was not resolved by Hungarian courts. He said also that there is no evidence the plaintiffs had exhausted their claims in Hungary, and that the request to reopen the case was made nine months after the Hungarian court ruled.

The long delay undercuts the motions assertion that time is of the essence, Cailteux wrote.

Pavich had noted that at least 24 of the plaintiffs have died since the case was first filed.

District Court Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan asked plaintiffs to submit their reply by July 25 before he issues his ruling.

Eichler said he is hopeful the judge will allow the case to be heard. It is believed to be the only Holocaust restitution case pending in the U.S. Plaintiffs are seeking billions of dollars in compensation from the railroad for the property it took from them in violation of international law.

In 2015, the French government agreed to pay $60 million for putting Jews on government-owned trains and shipping them to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Holocaust survivors and their families had sued the railroad seeking compensation.

Eichler noted that when their suit was first filed, there were some in Hungary who claimed it was another example of money-grabbing Jews trying to extract blood from honest Hungarians.

This is not about money, this is about justice, he insisted. Should there ever be a settlement that results in monetary compensation, I will give my share to fight anti-Semitism.

Eichler noted that last week in the Hungarian town of Vecses a new political party was launched that is violently neo-fascist, anti-Semitic and anti-Roma. It is planning to share space in the official opposition with the ultra-right Jobbik Party of Gabor Vona. They are using the same uniforms, slogans, flags and ideology the Hungarian Nazis used.

The Foreign Ministrys clarifying statement triggered a response from Zehava Gal-On, the leader of Israels left-wing Meretz party, who complained that Netanyahu ordered the Foreign Ministry to retract its condemnation of the campaign and to attack Soros. Netanyahus support legitimizes this despicable campaign, and anti-Semites around the world will use it.

She noted that as part of the campaign against Soros, billboards had been glued to the floors of trains so that passengers would step on Soros face.

Chemi Shalev, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was also critical of the Foreign Ministrys clarification, writing that it said in essence, that anti-Semitism is generally a bad thing but Soros is a legitimate target. Soros deserves it.

Israeli officials insisted, however, that the clarification was issued to stress that Israel was not seeking to meddle in Hungarys internal politics but rather to simply deplore the anti-Semitism the campaign triggered.

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Anti-Soros Campaign In Hungary Dogging Bibi's Trip - Jewish Week

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Posted By richards on July 12, 2017

David Lau. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Chief Rabbi David Lau described reports of a split with Diaspora Jewry over the cancelled Western Wall agreement and controversial conversion legislation as fake news at an economics and business conference of the Hamodia haredi newspaper.

Lau claimed that 80 percent of Diaspora Jews do not visit Israel, asserted that progressive Jews have full access to pray at the main Western Wall plaza, and said that accusations regarding a lack of access were lies and falsehood.

They dont come to pray at the Western Wall, they dont come at all, alleged the chief rabbi.

Lau's remarks came two weeks after the government's decision in late June to indefinitely freeze its Western Wall resolution and approve a bill granting the Chief Rabbinate a total monopoly on conversion spurred outrage from liberal Jews around the world.

The delivery of the divisive decisions were seen as fierce and stinging blows to progressive Jewish denominations in Israel and the Diaspora, as well as moderate Orthodox groups in Israel.

The cabinet decision to repeal the resolution creating a state-recognized egalitarian prayer section at the southern end of the Western Wall put an end to dreams of the Reform and Conservative movements for a grand site for their worshipers at the heart of the Jewish people.

Lau's comments also came after details of a blacklist compiled by the Chief Rabbinate of some 160 rabbis from around the world emerged on Sunday spurring further controversy.

Among those on the list were several prominent Orthodox rabbinical leaders, including open Orthodox leader Rabbi Avi Weiss and one of the founders of Nefesh BNefesh, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass. Those on the list include rabbis whose authority to approve Jewish and marital status the Chief Rabbinate rejects.

Graduates of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) yeshivot are also on the blacklist, along with Conservative and Reform rabbis.

Following its emergence, Lau strongly denounced the blacklist, stating that he had no knowledge of it until Sunday, and that it was the work of the clerk in charge of the Marriage and Conversion Department, who created it without proper authorization.

In a letter to Chief Rabbinate director-general Moshe Dagan, Lau said he was astonished to discover this list, that it was unthinkable a clerk would create such a document of his own accord, and demanded that the clerk be reprimanded.

It has been known for years that the Chief Rabbinate rejects the credentials of some Orthodox rabbis from the Diaspora. That has caused significant problems for some immigrants, especially those from the US, when they register for marriage in Israel.

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Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi: Split with Diaspora 'fake news' - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By simmons on July 12, 2017

As a part of our series exploring what recent graduates are up to, we caught up with Liron Ashkenazi (BFA 2016 Design), who talked the valuable lessons her teachers taught her in college, having endless job opportunities after graduating from SVA, working with clients like Beyonc and more.

What have you been up to since graduation?

After working as a freelancer for a few months, I had plans to open my own little creative technology studio with my programmer husband, but things changed when we were both hired together at a post-production studio. Its been a hell of a roller coaster ride since graduationendless job opportunities, really, which made it hard to choose. But honestly, Im super excited to be the head of a brand new design+technology studio in NYC and working with clients like Beyonc, MTV, Pepsi and other huge names.

Were you able to network through your SVA connections to help you get work?

I had such a strong portfolio after graduation, and endless amounts of connections through my former teachers, that I didnt need to do much to get a good job. It was fun having it so easy after working so hard during those four yearsand it was so worth it!

Was there a piece of advice a teacher gave you about the working world that was particularly helpful?

My teachers constantly gave me advice; some of them still do to this day. They taught me to develop my own voice, to push my ideas to the limit and to be a confident businesswoman. These are the things that helped me the most in finding my place in the industry.

What has surprised you about the student-to-working professional transition, or what has been a challenge?

Mainly dealing with finances. But outside of that, working is much easier than being a good design student.

What advice would you give to incoming students to get the best out of their SVA years?

Work your butt off from day/year one! Impress your teachers to the point that they wont hesitate to help you in any way you ask. And be kind and helpful to your fellow peersthey will probably be your co-workers. And have FUN!

To read more Before and After SVA interviews, click here.

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Before and After SVA: Liron Ashkenazi on Working with Clients Like Beyonc and More - SVA Features

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2017

Email a copy of "Israeli Chief Rabbi Stunned by Alleged Blacklist of 160 Diaspora Rabbis" to a friend

Rabbi Yehoshua Fass (left), co-founder of the Nefesh BNefesh aliyah agency, with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau. Photo: Courtesy of Nefesh BNefesh.

JNS.org At a time of heightened tension between Diaspora Jewry and the State of Israel over religious issues, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate sought to distance itself from a controversial alleged blacklist of 160 Diaspora rabbis.

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Laus office this week said Lau was stunned by the purported blacklist, which includes prominent American and Canadian Orthodox leaders. The diaspora rabbis were reported as having been banned by the Chief Rabbinate from performing conversions and/or confirming the Jewish status of immigrants. But both the list and its implications were mischaracterized, sources said.

The Jewish Link of New Jersey obtained a letter from Rabbi Moshe Dagan, the Chief Rabbinates director-general, to Rabbi Reuven Tradburks, the Rabbinical Council of Americas (RCA) representative in Israel, which states, The list that was released is not a list of rabbis who are not recognized or authorized. Rather, it is a list of rabbis who received a response of not recognized for some reason or other by the Division of Personal Status and Conversion of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for whatever documents concerning marriage they had presented. RCA Executive Vice President Rabbi Mark Dratch confirmed the correspondence between his organization and the Chief Rabbinate.

July 12, 2017 11:16 am

Rabbi Gil Student, editor-in-chief of theTorah Musings website, called the alleged blacklist a list of rejections without the necessary information to draw meaningful conclusions.

[The list] doesnt say why [Diaspora rabbis] letters were rejected, he said. Was it because the letter lacked a date stamp, or because the signature didnt match the letterhead or some other bureaucratic reason? No information.

Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, cofounder of the Nefesh BNefesh aliyah agency, found his name on the blacklist. But Lau met with him July 11 to address the issue and reject any rumors regarding Fasss status. I regret that this incident may have called your reputation into question. The Chief Rabbinate recognizes and appreciates you as a rabbi and all that you have done for the Jewish people, Lau told Fass.

After the meeting, Fass said, The Rabbinate should serve as a shining example of unity and connectivity within Judaism and promote its positive values in order to bridge any divides and prevent sinat chinam (baseless hatred). Fass expressed hope that a healing process would develop between the Chief Rabbinate and Diaspora rabbis.

The alleged blacklist of Orthodox rabbis comes amid tension between Israel and Americas Reform and Conservative Jewish movements, in relation to the issues of conversion and egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall. The Israeli cabinet had advanced a bill seeking to consolidate all conversions to Judaism within Israel under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate, but in late June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a deal to delay the bill by six months while a government-appointed committee examines the issue.

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Israeli Chief Rabbi 'Stunned' by Alleged Blacklist of 160 Diaspora Rabbis - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2017

Marriage contract (ketuba), ring

(Flash 90)

Kfar Chabad residents complained recently that their rabbi does not allow qualified residents to perform marriages which take place in their town.

After residents complained their local rabbi forbade other rabbis to perform marriages, attorney Yaron Huberman turned to the Religious Services Ministry's legal adviser and insisted he get involved.

"I was recently informed of a situation in which a couple who wished to marry in Kfar Chabad, which is under the jurisdiction of the Lod Valley Regional Council, suffered severe embarrassment and abuse," Huberman wrote. "Neither the husband nor the wife was a resident of Kfar Chabad, and they brought a rabbi of their own choosing to perform the marriage."

"Kfar Chabad's Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, who is not qualified by the Rabbinate, and as far as I know is also not qualified to perform marriages, prevented the couple's chosen rabbi from performing the marriage, and insisted on doing it himself.

"This caused much the couple and their families much anguish.

"In addition, Rabbi Ashkenazi forbids local qualified rabbis, residents of Kfar Chabad who are ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, from performing marriages in the town's halls.

"Please clarify the policies with the Lod Valley Regional Council, and tell Kfar Chabad's residents via letter and/ or formal announcements in synagogues and elsewhere, that any rabbi with the proper qualifications from the Chief Rabbinate may perform marriages within Kfar Chabad, and no one may prevent him from doing so."

In a response published on Tuesday morning, the Lod Valley Religious Council said, "According to instructions from the Religious Services Ministry, we allow any couple marrying within the jurisdiction of the Lod Valley Regional Council to choose whichever rabbi they want to perform their marriage, as long as his name appears in the Chief Rabbinate's list of rabbis qualified to perform marriages."

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Who can perform marriages in Kfar Chabad? - Arutz Sheva

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2017

JTA Carmel Shama HaCohen, Israels ambassador to UNESCO, is second to none in his admiration for the Trump administrations United Nations envoy, Nikki Haley. In fact, hed like to clone her.

Shama HaCohen appreciated Haleys efforts in trying to head off last weeks vote by UNESCOs Heritage Committee naming Hebrons Old City an endangered heritage site. And he believes the joint U.S.-Israeli bid to kill a resolution Israel saw as one-sided might have succeeded had a U.S. official of Haleys caliber been onsite in Krakow, where the vote took place. (Haley conducted her efforts from New York.)

We didnt have the spirit that was strong enough, Shama HaCohen said in an interview.

Crystal Nix-Hines, the Obama administrations UNESCO envoy, left on Jan. 20. The Trump administrations failure to replace her is part of a broader slowdown in naming top State Department positions. According to reports, fewer than 10 of the approximately 200 State Department positions that require nomination and confirmation have been filled.

Shama HaCohen, a blunt-speaking former Likud member of Knesset, said the absence of Israels most important ally at UNESCO was having far-reaching effects on defending his country.

As soon as you have an ambassador, you have an ability to create a relationship with Washington, to advance an agenda, he said. The absence of envoys harms our efforts to defend Israel, he said. The United States is far from a capacity to bring her full complement to defend Israel.

Shama HaCohen is not the only official on the front lines of defending Israel concerned about under-staffing among the U.S. diplomatic corps.

The issue of staffing at the State Department is critical at UNESCO and in the myriad other areas where U.S. leadership is crucial, Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation Leagues CEO, told JTA. While there was a good-faith effort by Ambassador Nikki Haley and other members of the administration at UNESCO last week, the fact that there was no ambassador on the ground had an impact.

For months, a broad array of Jewish groups and lawmakers from both parties have decried the Trump administrations failure to fill another role: the State Departments anti-Semitism monitor.

We are also concerned by the Secretary of States seeming reluctance to appoint a special envoy to monitor and combat Anti-Semitism, which plays a critical role in raising awareness and action against anti-Semitism and anti-Israel actions globally, Greenblatt said. These positions should be filled as soon as possible.

The understaffing and how it affects Israel-related diplomacy has also caught the attention of Republicans in Congress.

We need more appointees in place, said Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the Jewish states most ardent defenders in the Senate, when asked about Israel-related diplomacy. He pointed to remarks by Graham on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday: Secretary (Rex) Tillerson needs to staff up the State Department and use it wisely, Graham said, referring to a range of areas where he said it was AWOL. Im so worried about the State Department.

A State Department official told JTA that the Trump administration remained committed to defending Israel in every international forum.

We have been clear that the United States will oppose any effort to delegitimize or isolate Israel, wherever it occurs. We continue to do that, said the official. With respect to staffing, we continue to have a deep bench of experienced career professionals serving in key positions that are highly capable and able to help the Secretary lead the Department. We will continue the process of exploring and evaluating ways to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency, including optimizing the impact of available resources.

The White House has blamed Senate Democrats for obstructing nominations, noting in a release this week that Trumps nominees are on average taking longer to clear the Senate than those of his predecessors. But Trump has also been slow to nominate: A June 29 count by the Washington Post showed that of the 200-plus State Department positions filled by nomination, Trump had formally nominated just 20 and that the Senate had confirmed eight.

Dan Shapiro, until January the Obama administrations envoy to Israel, said career professionals were no substitute for diplomats who had the confidence of the administration.

When in the past, during the Obama administration when we were fighting an anti-Israel resolution to recognize a Palestinian state, it was all hands on deck, he said. We would have ambassadors in capitals raising it, we would have senior officials, secretaries and under-secretaries weighing with counterparts.

Without the personal relationships diplomats cultivate with their counterparts in other countries, Shapiro said, you dont have the tools available, you cant get to the most senior officials in other governments to be engaged to rally other countries to stand with us.

Shapiro said the lack of appointees is hindering another issue Israel says is critical: Pressing the Palestinians to stop paying families of people jailed or killed while carrying out attacks on Israelis.

We should be engaging many other governments at senior levels to urge them to let the Palestinians know we think its unacceptable, he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government is generally pleased with the Trump administrations priorities, and appreciates that Trump himself raised the payments-to-prisoners issue in his meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Indeed, Shama HaCohen said that part of his frustration was that the career diplomats in the U.S. UNESCO office were carrying out Obama-era policies seen as friendlier to UNESCO not because they sought to undermine Trump, but because it was the only guidance they had in hand.

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the UNESCO vote might have been an outlier: The Obama administration stopped paying dues in 2011 because UNESCO recognized Palestine as a state, and as a result the United States lost its capacity to vote, diminishing its influence at the body in any case.

We take the UNESCO issues very seriously and welcome the strong statements by Ambassador Haley, Hoenlein told JTA.

Daniel Mariaschin, the executive vice president of Bnai Brith International, said that the lack of staffing was a problem, but that Israels overall obstacle at the U.N. and its affiliated bodies was institutional bias.

Theres no question, having ambassadors with the worldview of Nikki Haley, building relationships, is important, he said. But automatic majorities, block voting which is built in the U.N. infrastructure. thats really where these problems lie.

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Under-staffed State Dept. Seen Hurting Israel - Jewish Week

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Posted By richards on July 12, 2017

Jeanette Chawki, far right, teaches League of Kitchens workshop participants how to cook Lebanese food. (Josefin Dolsten)

NEW YORK (JTA) Several times a month Jeanette Chawki welcomes a handful of strangers into her Brooklyn home. There, the visitors learn about life in her native Lebanon, talk about their own backgrounds, and eat food lots of it. Among the dishes visitors tried on a recent Saturday include freshly baked cheese-stuffed bread, tangy labneh with zaatar, chopped fattoush salad topped with fried pita bread and smoky babaganoush.

Chawki, a mother of three who moved to the United States in 2006, is one of nine instructors employed by the League of Kitchens, a New York-based business that offers cooking workshops taught by immigrant cooks.

She hopes that people come away from her class both with the ability to cook at least one new dish and a greater awareness ofLebanese culture.

I want [them] to know how Lebanese people are very generous, very friendly. I want to explain how we have [such a] wonderful country, its very nice, very good place to visit, and I would like to explain more about our food, Chawki said.

The League of Kitchens,whose name is a play onthe League of Nations,was itself inspired by a familys unique immigration story: Founder Lisa Gross fathers family is of Hungarian Jewish heritage and moved to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whileher mother emigrated from Korea in her 20s.

The fact that I grew up moving between two cultures moving between American Jewish culture and Korean culture also underlies this whole project. That gave me a certain comfort and understanding how to move between cultures, and connect between cultures, and thats really what were doing here, creating these opportunities for cross-cultural learning and exchange, Gross told JTA.

Gross, who founded the business in 2014, said providing ways for people to interact with immigrants has taken on an added significance following the election of Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to build a wall on the border with Mexico and restrict Muslims from traveling to the U.S.

An interesting side effect of the election has been a growth of interest in our business. I think people feel like not only is this a cool and fun experience, but its taken on political significance of supporting a company that is very much about recognizing and celebrating immigrants, Gross said.

Lisa Gross hopes the League of Kitchens can challenge peoples perceptions of immigrants. (League of Kitchens)

Workshops are taught by instructors from countries including Nepal, Mexico and Afghanistan, cost between $110 and $175 per person and run between two and a half to five and a half hours. Instructors receive 40-50 hours of paid training prior to teaching, are paid $25 per hour for the workshops, including preparation and clean up, and are compensated for ingredients.

I could really see and understand the immigrant experience in very personal way, said Gross, 35, aformer food writer who founded the urban agriculture project Boston Tree Party.Its so clear to me how much our country is built by immigrants, and the immigrants who come here bring so much expertise, energy and passion, and they contribute so much to our culture and society and to our food culture American food is immigrant food.

During her childhood in Washington, D.C.,Grossfelt like both insider and outsider in two cultures.

There was a little bit of a feeling of I dont really fit totally in either one, she said. Obviously within a typical Ashkenazi American Jewish community, I look a little Asian thats become more and more common, especially for younger kids, but for my generation [it wasnt]. I definitely didnt fit into the Korean/Korean American community, which in a lot of ways is very homogeneous and also theyre Christian.

Still, that didnt stop Gross from being involved in the Jewish community. At the urging of her mother, who converted to Judaism prior to marrying her father, Gross attended a Jewish day school through the age of 13. And the family would go to her fathers parents to celebrate the holidays and eat traditional Jewish food.

Gross hopes her workshops can provide a way to reverse preconceived notions both about immigrants and chefs.

[T]he immigrant, instead of being the displaced person in the inferior position, in this situation the immigrant is the teacher, the expert, the host, and they are people with incredible knowledge and expertise, and the students are really excited to learn from them and to hear their stories, Gross said.

And though it wasnt intentional, all League of Kitchens instructors are women.

In our contemporary food media landscape, so often its the white male celebrity chef who is recognized and celebrated, when most cooking around the world is done by women. And here are women who are immigrant women, who people might pass them and not think twice, but they have something really special to share. Creating a way for them to share that is really exciting, she said.

Chawki, who has worked for League of Kitchens since its launch, said she has had people visiting from around the United States and the world including England, Canada, Switzerland to attend her workshops.

People are coming from different countries, faraway, just to eat my food, to have class with me. This really mean[s something] to me, Chawkisaid.

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2017

A vandal was caught on surveillance video last week drawing more than two dozen swastikas in freshly poured concrete in front of a New York City building whose owners are Jewish.

The concrete was poured Friday on the sidewalk outside a building in Brooklyn. The building's street surveillance camera captured a young man spending 35 minutes drawing nearly 30 swastikas in the still-wet cement early Saturday.

State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn says the property owners discovered the vandalism Monday and alerted police. He says the video has been turned over to the New York Police Department. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

In April, the Anti-Defamation League reported an alarming spike in anti-Semitic incidents in the first quarter of 2017.

The ADL's "Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents," published on its website, noted a sharp increase in the harassment of American Jews, including double the incidents of bullying of schoolchildren and vandalism at nondenominational grade schools. Overall, the number of acts targeting Jews and Jewish institutions rose by 34% in 2016, to 1,266, and jumped by 86% in the first three months of this year, the report said.

The incidents were felt across the country but, continuing a consistent trend, the states with the highest number of incidents tended to be those with large Jewish populations and included California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Massachusetts.

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Wednesday July 12, 2017 - Israel Hayom

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