Jewish American Heritage Month

In Attacks by Right-Wing Extremists, Guns are More Likely Than Bombs to Kill and Injure – The Trace

Posted By admin on June 7, 2017

Attacks by violent members of the American far right were more likely to kill or injure when perpetrators used guns than when they used bombs or other weapons, a review of 25 years of extremist incidents shows.

A majority of attacks committed between 1993 and 2017 using solely firearms were successful, with 37 out of 55 total incidents resulting in deaths or injuries, according to data provided to The Trace by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The group, a nonprofit that combats anti-Semitism and other bigotry, examined the attacks in a May report titled A Dark and Constant Rage: 25 Years of Right-Wing Terrorism in the United States.

The 37 shooting incidents described by the ADL resulted in 68 deaths. The deadliest was in June 2015, when a 19-year-old white supremacist shot and killed nine black worshippers at a prayer group in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. President Barack Obama delivered a eulogy for the victims of that attack. In the aftermath, many Southern states began to remove iconography associated with white supremacy and the Confederacy from public facilities.

Most other attacks have gotten far less attention. In September 2011, two white supremacists went on a three-state killing spree from California to Washington that resulted in four deaths. The following year, seven members of the sovereign citizen movement, which denies the legitimacy of almost all government, ambushed and killed two sheriffs deputies in LaPlace, Louisiana.

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The ADL report was released amid newly heightened concerns about an emboldened right-wing extremist threat, and heated rhetoric from a handful of Republican lawmakers that groups like the ADL say could provoke violence. On June 4,Clay Higgins, a controversial former police officer and current U.S. representative from Louisiana, wrote on Facebook that all of Christendom isat war with Islamic horror, and that America should hunt and kill Muslims.

The report builds on past research on extremism that has found that 95 percent of lives lost to terrorism on American soil since 9/11 were claimed by firearms.

The Anti-Defamation League considers an attack successful if it resulted in deaths or injuries, in the case of a gun or knife attack; a detonation, in the case of a bomb attack; or a fire, in the case of incendiaries. In compiling incidents from the report, the group tallied 150 right-wing terrorist acts, attempted acts, and plots and conspiracies carried out by white supremacists, anti-government extremists, anti-abortion extremists, and other types of far-right extremists.

Most acts were committed by a small number of extremists acting on their own rather than at the behest of organized groups. About half of the 150 incidents were committed by lone-wolf offenders, the ADL said. Right-wing extremists killed 255 people and injured more than 600 more in the incidents counted by the group.

Explosives were far less likely to have the intended result than attacks carried out with other weapons. The studys authors found that only nine of 55 attempts by the far right to blow up people or property actually resulted in a detonation, nevermind actual death, injury, or destruction of property.

Explosives have killed more people than any other method due almost entirely to a single incident, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. That attack killed 168 people in what was the worst act of terror on American soil before September 11, 2001. The next-deadliest bombing examined in the report killed one person.

The ADL also found that attacks using only guns were more successful than those using other weapons, which the authors say are usually knives and other blades. Only 10 of 27 incidents involving other weapons succeeded.

The only method of meting out destruction that succeeded more often than guns were incendiary devices, like molotov cocktails, which are designed to ignite fires. Incidents by far-right extremists using incendiary devices were successful 10 out of 13 times. However, such attacks were also the least common, and never resulted in deaths.

Guns are easier to access and they are more reliable than explosives, which take some amount of technical sophistication to assemble and successfully detonate, and which can be unstable, detonating at the wrong time, or not at all. Explosive materials like ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in both fertiliser and the truck bomb used in the Oklahoma City attack,are also heavily regulated.

The reports authors said that attacks using explosives with the exception of Oklahoma City may claim fewer lives because they are often used to target property, not human beings.

Right-wing terrorism is a subject under-covered by the media, in part perhaps because so many right-wing terror incidents take place far from major media centers and urban areas, the ADL report concludes. One consequence of this relative lack of coverage has been an inadequate awareness among policy-makers and the public alike of the threat that violent right-wing extremists pose.

The Trace is one of several dozen news organizations that has partnered with ProPublica to track hate crimes and other bias attacks. The project is called Documenting Hate.

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Israel’s Six-Day War Was a Step Backward for Zionism – The Atlantic – The Atlantic

Posted By admin on June 6, 2017

Israels victory in the 1967 Six-Day War and its resulting military occupation of the West Bank and its Palestinian residents transformed the Jewish state, providing it with both a measure of security it had not enjoyed and the responsibility of governing a people it did not want. It also transformed Zionismfrom an ideology of pragmatism and activism into an ideology of utopianism and passivity.

The stunning defeat of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and the sudden expansion of the territory under Israels control was ironically a step backward for Zionism, and it has struggled ever since to reconcile its core philosophy with the set of circumstances that has reigned for the past half century. The 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War is an opportunity not only to examine Israels past and future trajectory, but also to refashion a more pragmatic Zionism for the next 50 years.

How the Six-Day War Transformed Religion

Zionism has always had different strains, from the secular Zionism that predominated in the early years of the movement to the religious Zionism that surged following the Six-Day War. Theodor Herzls Zionist vision was the very definition of a utopian fantasy that seemed unachievable: a homeland for a persecuted nation scattered across the globe in a place from which they had been exiled millennia before. That this vision actually came to pass was truly miraculous, but its implementation was anything but a dream. The early Zionists who settled Palestine did not arrive to a Jewish state or even to Jewish self-determination; they arrived to a land controlled first by the Ottomans and then by the British, with little infrastructure or natural resources, and populated by frequently hostile neighbors.

When Israel was born half a century after the first Zionist Congress had called for a Jewish home in Palestine, it emerged directly into a war with its neighbors that resulted in one percent of the new countrys population being killed in the fighting to prevent the new state from being stillborn. The first 19 years of Israels existence were marked by struggles to create a viable economy, fend off attacks from the Arab countries surrounding the Jewish state, establish diplomatic ties with the world, and absorb hundreds of thousands of penniless immigrants and refugees.

This was certainly not the fulfillment of Herzls utopian vision, laid out in Altneuland, of a prosperous country and harmonious society. But it was the fulfillment of the Zionist essence: Jewish self-determination in the Jewish homeland. That the boundaries of the state in that homeland were limited and that the state was beset by true existential threats presented daily problems for Israels governance, but they did not present a threat to Zionism itself. Zionism had become a quest not for the perfect but for the possible, and it was this pragmatism and focus on a single core idea that made Zionism the rare 20th-century ideology that actually delivered on its promise and survived the crucible of wars, upheavals, and Cold War struggles.

The victory in June 1967 changed Israel in ways both momentous and trivial, and it transformed Zionism as well. The Zionist vision that has dominated Israeli politics and society almost without interruption for the past four decadesdating to Menachem Begins revolutionary victory in 1977became a far more expansive and ambitious one that created the dangerous illusion that Israel could have not only the sun, but also the moon and the stars. Accepting Jewish self-determination in the Jewish homeland was no longer sufficient; Israel could now fulfill this core objective in the entire biblical land of Israel. The outcome of the 1967 war provided Zionism with a new sense of territorial achievement as well as a new sense of security. The victory marked the removal of the perpetual sword of Damocles hanging over Israels head and represented the end of the era of Arab armies massing on Israels borders, constantly threatening to overrun it. The Yom Kippur War in 1973 was the last-gasp effort by Israels Arab neighbors to reclaim the dominance they had lost in 1967, but it only proved the permanence of the new system.

The strain of Zionism that was now dominant began to swing back toward its utopian origins, promising a world in which Jewish sovereignty had to make no compromises. The Palestinian non-citizens that Israel now controlled did not put a damper on this newfound exuberance. The ultimate realization of the Zionist dream appeared at hand, one in which Jews were now able to live throughout the entire land of Israel and were free from the existential insecurity that had plagued them ever since the first waves of European Jews migrated to Palestine the century before.

This transformation makes sense given the historical circumstances. The attainment of Greater Israel logically goes along with the construction of a Greater Zionism. But just as the dream of Greater Israel is increasingly hard to reconcile with the reality of Greater Israel, so too is the case for the expansive post-1967 Zionism. The maximalist vision of Zionism may have seemed like a dream come true in the heady aftermath of those legendary six days, but an honest reassessment 50 years later demonstrates that, like most dreams, it only works in an environment where the normal rules of nature do not apply.

The Zionism that envisions complete Jewish sovereignty between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea does not account for the complication of approximately 2.5 million West Bank Palestinians living in a state of limbo while their own legitimate national aspirations go unfulfilled. It does not account for Israels isolation within its own region and its increasingly difficult relationships with democratic European allies. It does not account for the security, economic, and ethical strains that controlling the West Bank places upon the Israeli state and society.

That Israel is not solely to blame for this situation, and that Israel cannot neatly or responsibly extricate itself from the West Bank overnight, does not change the fact that the Zionism that has become dominant in the last 50 years has become a slave to its environment rather than a force working to change it.

Part of Zionisms greatness was its ability to unify, but in shedding its pragmatic and activist spirit, it evinced a new capability to divide. By refusing to acknowledge that a more pragmatic vision is required and that the movements founders would not recognize an ideology that is so risk-averse that it has now ossified, Israeli and American Zionists risk the entire enterprise. The expansive vision of Zionism is dangerous in that it has created a set of expectations that cannot be met; by insisting in the face of all evidence and logic that it can overcome these insurmountable obstacles, it is setting itself up for a devastating fall.

One of the lessons to be learned from the events of June 1967 is that Zionism is most successful and dynamic when it seeks to make the best situation out of the circumstances in which it finds itself. For a young country constantly under siege that seized the opportunity to smash its foes, reclaim its holy places, and gain some much needed strategic depth, a Zionism that urges its adherents to settle the land of forefathers and prophets made sense. For the Israel of 2017, it does not.

If Zionism is to remain strong, it cannot support the status quo that has been established. A healthy Zionism must navigate the gap between dreams and reality and adapt to a changed world, one in which Israel can no longer afford to control another people without tearing itself apart, and is also strong and secure enough to not have to exert such control.

The 50th anniversary of Israels greatest victory and the apparent realization of Zionisms greatest desires can be a time for Zionisms renewal, which means a more pragmatic and realistic ideology that marries ambition with advisability. Governing and statecraft almost always involve tradeoffs, and that means rejecting the 1967 myth that Israel and Zionism can have everything they want, and embracing the truth that Israel and Zionism have to live within their means. Otherwise, one of the most successful political ideologies of the modern age will find itself unnecessarily struggling to maintain its viability.

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Capernaum Synagogue – Capernaum, Israel

Posted By admin on June 6, 2017

Capernaum is an ancient fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It is home to a celebrated Byzantine-era synagogue as well as the house where Jesus healed a paralytic and St. Peter's mother-in-law.

Capernaum is frequently mentioned in the Gospels and was Jesus' main base during his Galilean ministry. It is referred to as Jesus' "own city" (Mt 9:1; Mk 2:1) and a place where he lived (Mt 1:13). He probably chose it simply because it was the home of his first converts, Peter and Andrew (Mk 1:21, 29).

Many familiar Gospel events occurred in this village. Capernaum is where Jesus first began to preach after the Temptation in the wilderness (Mt 1:12-17) and called Levi from his tax-collector's booth (Mk 2:13-17). It was while teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum that he said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (Jn 6:54)

Capernaum is where Jesus healed a centurion's servant without even seeing him (Mt 8:5-13; Lk 7:1-10), Peter's mother-in-law (Mt 8:14-15; Mk 1:29-30); the paralytic who was lowered thorugh the roof (Mk 2:1-12), and many others who were brought to him (Mt 8:16-17). And it was Capernaum that Jesus had set out from when he calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mt 8:23-27).

Jesus was harsh with his adopted home when it proved unrepentent despite his many miracles. "And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you" (Mt 11:23-24).

It is actually quite likely the room enshrined within the church of Capernaum is the house of Peter where Jesus stayed. This is supported primarily by evidence for very early reverence and public use of the house (mid-1st century), which would be difficult to explain otherwise. Moreover, the identification is not contradicted by anything found in the excavations and the evidence actually conforms quite closely to the biblical descriptions. Read on for more details.

Now predominantly an archaeological park, Capernaum was originally a fishing village inhabited continuously from the 1st century BC to the 13th century AD. As the first town encountered by travelers on the other side of the Jordan, it was equipped with a customs office and a small garrison overseen by a centurion.

Capernaum was a Jewish village in the time of the Christ. It was apparently poor, since it was a Gentile centurion that built the community's synagogue (Luke 7:5). The houses were humble and built of the local black basalt stone.

Christian presence is attested early in Capernaum and the village was predominantly Christian by the 4th century AD. Rabbinic texts from the 4th century imply considerable tension between the Jewish and Christian communities of the town.

Both the church and synagogue were destroyed prior to the Islamic conquest in 638. One possible scenario is that the Persian invasion of 614 gave the Jews the opportunity to act on their resentment of the now-powerful Christian community and demolish the church. In 629, the Byzantine emperor and his troops marched into Palestine, and under this protection the Christians may have destroyed the synagogue.

After the conquest, the village shifted east, where houses, a jetty, a fish market and a church dedicated to St. John Theologos existed until the mid-10th century. The town's prosperity was badly affected by an earthquake in 746 and never recovered.

In the Crusader period, Capernaum was all but abandoned. The site was too exposed for Crusaders to safely build there, despite their considerable interest in its religious importance. In the 13th century, a visitor reported that "the once renowned town of Capernaum is at present just despicable; it numbers only seven houses of poor fishermen."

The site remained virtually abandoned until the Franciscans bought the land in the late 19th century. They raised a fence to protect the site, planted palms and eucalyptus trees from Australia to create an oasis for pilgrims, and built a small harbor. Most of the early excavations (1905-26) and restorations were conducted by Franciscans. St. Peter's House was discovered in 1968.

In 1990, the Franciscans built an unusually-shaped modern church over the site of St. Peters house. Hexagonal in shape and rather spaceship-like in appearance, it is elevated on pillars and has a glass floor, so that visitors can still see the original church below.

In March 2000, Pope John Paul IIvisited Capernaum during his visit to the Holy Land.

The main sights at Capernaum today are the ruined synagogue and the church, which stand quite close to each other near the shore, with ruins of 1st-to-6th-century houses in between. Also on the site are finely carved stones that belong to the synagogue (included one with a Star of David), and a new Greek Orthodox church nearby.

The synagogue of Capernaum is located just inland from the shore with its facade facing Jerusalem. It has been difficult to date, with scholarly opinion ranging from the 2nd to 5th centuries. It stands on an elevated position, was richly decorated and was built of imported white limestone, which would have contrasted dramatically with the local black basalt of the rest of the village. All of this would have given the building great beauty and status.

The "white synagogue" has a basilica-type plan, with a small terrace on the front (south) and a court on the east side. All three entrances are in the south wall; the other walls were lined with columns supporting the roof. A side door in the east wall leads to a courtyard used for community purposes.

Precise dating of the synagogue has proved problematic for several reasons. Aspects of its style suggest a date of c.200 AD and its orientation to Jerusalem also suggests an early date, yet coins and pottery were found under the floors that date from the 5th century. The diverse architectural elements found in the ruins make it difficult to reconstruct coherently. And unusually, it has 12 doors instead of the usual three or four.

One possibility is that it was built at an early date, and the 5th-century artifacts derive from later repair work. Another suggestion has been that up to four successive synagogues stood here in the 2nd-4th centuries, then dismantled in the 5th century by Christians who rebuilt a pilgrim shrine on the site. This would have occurred at around the same time that a prominent new church was built nearby.

Significant to this discussion is a layer of black basalt foundations beneath the white synagogue. The excavators believe this is the synagogue where Jesus taught and cast out demons (as indicated by the sign on the site, right).

In 381, the pilgrim Egeria said she visited "the synagogue where the Lord cured a man possessed by a devil. The way in is up many stairs, and it is made of dressed stone."

She clearly visited the white synagogue that post-dates Jesus, but this was perhaps built by Christians, or at least taken over by them, for veneration of the "synagogue of Jesus" that lay underneath. Local Christians seem to have preserved the house of St. Peter from an early date; it is reasonable they would have remembered the site of Jesus' synagogue as well.

The church of Capernaum was founded on the traditional site of St. Peter's home. Closer to the shore than the synagogue, the house was in a poor area where the drystone basalt walls would have supported only a light roof (which suits the lowering of the paralytic in Mk 2:1-12) and could have no windows.

The floors of these houses and courtyards were made of black basalt cobbles, in which it would have been easy to lose a coin (Lk 15:8).

By the mid-1st century AD, there is evidence that one room in this complex was singled out for public use: pottery and lamps replace utensils of normal family use, and there is ancient graffiti in the plastered walls, some of which mention Jesus as Lord and Christ.

The house was certainly a church by the time Egeria made her pilgrimage in 381, which she said included the original walls: "In Capernaum the house of the prince of the apostles has been made into a church, with its original walls still standing."

Archaeological excavations indicate it was indeed around this time that the room was given a more solid roof, which required the addition of a central arch, and two rooms were added on the two sides. This was probably the work of Count Joseph of Tiberias, a converted Jew, who obtained authority from Emperor Constantine to erect churches in Capernaum and other towns of Galilee.

In the 5th century, the site was razed to the ground and a grander church was built in its place, indicating increased Christian population and pilgrimage to Capernaum. The new church was octagonal in shape and had an ambulatory; this layout is identical to churches of the same type in Italy and Syria and similar to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (built later).

The central octagon enshrined the venerated room from Peter's house, which was given a floor mosaic featuring a peacock and a lotus-flower border. An apse with a baptistery was soon added on the east end. In 570, the Piacenza pilgrim reported that "the house of St. Peter is now a basilica."

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This Reform synagogue started by women is shaking up Jewish life in Spain – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Posted By richards on June 6, 2017

From left, Yael Cobano, Ruth Timon, Rabbi Stephen Berkowitz and Zohar Ben-David participate in the Torah reading at the Reform Jewish Community of Madrid. (Margarita Gokun Silver)

MADRID (JTA) At the conclusion of a recent Friday night service at theReform Jewish Community of Madrid, the space quickly transforms from a meeting hall into a dining room. Several people assemble a long table. They adorn it with a white tablecloth, place chairs on both sides and set two challahs topped by a cover in the center.

Men and women lay out plates of knishes and bourekas, shakshuka and kugel, a Spanish tortilla and an almodrote, a Sephardi eggplant dish. When the table is set, everyone gathers around for the Kiddush prayer. A monthly communal Shabbat dinner begins.

While such a scene may be typical at Jewish communities across the U.S., in Spain it is something of a rarity. The existence and evolution of a progressive congregation, as Reform congregations are typically known outside the U.S., is a departure from the citys traditionally Orthodox-dominated Jewish life. For the people gathered around the Sabbath table its a welcome development, one the Spanish capital needed for some time.

TheReform Jewish Community of Madrid the only Madrid congregation affiliated with the European Union for Progressive Judaism was founded three years ago by four women: Yael Cobano, Ruth Timon, Keren Herrero and Leidy Andrade. Theyre the ncleo duro, the hard core, as Timon, the synagogues treasurer, calls them. Since 2014, the congregation has grown from a gatheringof a some 20 regularsto a viable community of 26 families, complete with a rabbi, a Torah and a host of cultural and educational events, from Hebrew classes to book clubs.

AcrossEurope, there are fewer than 200 active congregations practicing progressive forms of Judaism and just six of them are in Spain.

Spain has been one of [our] three key emphases for the last five years or so, said Leslie Bergman, the immediate past president of the European Union for Progressive Judaism. At least four more Reform congregations are in the works, he added, and he expects a national federation of SpanishReform communities to open by the end of this year.

Looking back at the congregations beginnings, we found that [Jewish] community life in Madrid didnt fulfill us, said Cobano, the congregations president.

[We saw] the possibility of a community model thats inclusive, happy, where you can have a Jewish identity of the 21st century, she said, pointing to the Reform movement in the U.S. and U.K., as well as to Bet Shalom, the10-year-old Progressive Jewish Community of Barcelona.

A large part of that modern model is egalitarianism and inclusiveness. The founders, all female, have led the congregation and women lead Shabbat services. The members come from Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Israel. Additionally, members of Madrids LGBTQ community, people who come from interfaith families and those at various stages of conversion have found their Jewish home here.

Thereare about 50,000 Jews in Spain; 10,000 of them reside in Madrid. At the time when the nucleo duro formed, Jewish life in the city although quite developed for a country that dispensed with its Jews more than 500 years ago was limited to the main Orthodox synagogue, a handful of smaller Sephardic Orthodox synagogues, Chabad and theMasorti (Conservative) Bet-El congregation.

Members of the Reform Community celebrate Israels Independence Day in Madrids Retiro Park. (Margarita Gokun Silver)

There was no pluralistic alternative to look at Judaism from other perspectives, and especially, the liberal [one], said Cobano. Where a womans role would be different from what existed until now for example women officiating [at services], a community open to the society, contributing as Spanish Jews, and open to [ideas] of social justice, in a sense of wanting a better society for everyone including the Jews, but not only.

When the congregation first formed, itmet in a small space rented from a local wine shop. We didnt even know if we were going to be able to pay the rent that first Kabbalat Shabbat, Timon recalled.

The event was a success, and many more monthly Shabbat services followed each one accompanied by a potluck dinner. As the word spread, the congregation soon outgrew thespace and found a home in a building with flexible hours and a kitchen.

The kitchen plays a crucial role communal Shabbat meals are central to the life of the congregation. Staying for dinner [and] sitting down at a table [together] has always been connected with [us], said Cobano. It creates community, family spirit, links, audacious hospitality.

Eighteen months in, in the fall of 2015, the community decided to bring in a rabbi, as study of texts was important to the congregations members. Plus, the community realized that hiring theonly non-Orthodox rabbi in Spain would be a draw for those intrigued byprogressive Judaism.

To reduce expenses, the congregation teamed up with Barcelonas Bet Shalom to hire a full-time rabbi that the two communities could share.

With the financial assistance of EUPJ, the congregations found a French-speaking American rabbi who was willing to relocate to Barcelona from Paris. Since then Rabbi Stephen Berkowitz has learned enough Spanish to lead services although often with Cobanos help and he visits Madrid once a month. Berkowitz divides his time between the two during the High Holy Days and hesavailable for Jewish lifecycle events as well as ongoing pastoral support.

Its a privilege to be a part of the current Jewish cultural and religious revival in Spain, Berkowitz told JTA in an email.It is also a great honor to both teach and accompany individuals eager to deepen their involvement in the Jewish tradition through the approach of Progressive Judaism. The Reform Community [of Madrid] offers a unique community spirit which is warm, creative and participatory.

The congregation also recently got its first Torah albeit on a temporary basis. As part of the EUPJs Torah-lending initiative, they received the scrolls last year. The community will need to return it in 2018, however, to make it available for the next small progressive Jewish community.

What happens next? Well keep looking, Cobanosaid. We cannot afford [a Torah] ourselves yet but perhaps there is a community out there, either in the U.S. or the U.K., that would help and give us one.

Although now more established with both the Torah and the rabbi the Reform Community of Madrid remains true to its roots. Women continue to lead services, their doors are opento those in search of their Jewish origins and members are involved in Madrids social justice work.

This last aspect interactions with citys non-Jews is somewhat anomalous in Madrid, where Jewish communities are often seen as closed. The Reform congregation has participated in an event for refugees at the Madrid CentralMosque, given presentations to non-Jews about Jewish spirituality and has taken part in a collection of groceries for Madrids Food Bank. They are also beginning to collaborate with a restaurant thats helping to feed the homeless.

Members of the congregation cite the inclusivity and the communal atmosphere as the reasons they joined. My inclusion in the Reform Jewish Community of Madrid has a primordial place in my life, says Liliana Levy, a member. Without these experiences [my life] wouldnt be what it is today. Each of its members is essential. Why not another community? Simply because [here] I feel at home.

Cobano agrees. Nowadays people want to live their Jewish identity in a more cheerful manner, [with] more culture, more knowledge, she said. They come because they see [our] community as more friendly, more open like a model with more of everything.

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This Reform synagogue started by women is shaking up Jewish life in Spain - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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This Reform synagogue started by women is shaking up Jewish life … – Cleveland Jewish News

Posted By admin on June 6, 2017

MADRID At the conclusion of a recent Friday night service at theReform Jewish Community of Madrid, the space quickly transforms from a meeting hall into a dining room. Several people assemble a long table. They adorn it with a white tablecloth, place chairs on both sides and set two challahs topped by a cove in the center.