Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 28, 2017

Drew Petersen recently awarded the 2017 American Pianists Award is coming back to Temple Avodat Shalom.

The last time he visited, in 2014, the now 23-year-old highlighted the River Edge synagogues Selichot program. This time, hell be there for Yom Yerushalayim.

So how does the acclaimed performer who has performed solo, concerto, and chamber music recitals in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East and was a top prizewinner in the Leeds International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition, and the New York Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition come to be participating in a program commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967?

No, Im not Jewish, but I have visited Israel, Mr. Petersen said. Ive been lucky to have had a lot of Jewish friends. Some of them brought me to Israel, where I played a recital in Tel Aviv and then went to Jerusalem. It really was a moving experience as a Christian.

Im Armenian, and Ive found over the years that a lot of our Armenian and Jewish histories are very similar, he continued. I can certainly sympathize and understand many aspects of the Jewish culture and faith. Basically, he said, It feels like such a small world, especially in the Middle East. Everything is very connected. For example, he explained, it was fascinating to him to learn about Jerusalems Armenian quarter.

That connection, he finds, is enhanced by music. Music in general is a tool, whether Jewish, or Israeli, or Western European, the bulk of my repertoire. Great art has a way of expressing universal truths and connecting all of us to each other.

Still, to paraphrase a well-worn phrase about politics, in the end, all connections are local.

Mr. Petersen, who grew up in Oradell and continues to live there, began piano lessons when he was 5. Now a masters student at Julliard, he will graduate next month. Its a crazy life, he said, noting that after winning the American Pianists Award he had to go on a media tour. His parents are the most supportive people, he said, and its nice to be home.

According to Mr. Petersen, he got to be the River Edge synagogues pianist on call because his neighbor and longtime family friend Connie Schnoll founder of the synagogues Schnoll Music Fund heard me playing when I was growing up and admired my playing. She wanted me to play more in New Jersey, closer to home, and share my artistry locally. She was very well connected to the temple and was able to convince them to bring me here twice to share some of my music with them. I feel really privileged to share my passion with others.

The May 23 program will contain works by both Israeli composers and American composers of Jewish heritage. Naomi Lewin, a former WQXR commentator, will provide narration between the pieces.

Israel is one of the younger nations on the planet, Mr. Petersen said, and works by Israeli composers tend to be more contemporary. In addition, he said, many of the really quite well known composers of the early and mid-1920s were Jews, such as Gershwin and Copeland. He is not sure yet whose work he will include in his program, but there will be an eclectic grouping of them, featuring both the musical works and commentary on the composers themselves and the historical background of their pieces.

In order to have listeners enjoy his work, I have to enjoy it and be inspired, Mr. Petersen said. Thats what motivates me. Ive been working with the rabbi the synagogues Paul Jacobson over the past few months to come up with a concept for the program. We regularly discuss what our thoughts are and what were going to do. Its a partnership, a real collaboration.

I am fortunate to have these opportunities to explore Judaism and Israel. Its as much a learning experience as a performance. It makes me really happy to be constantly learning.

For his part, Rabbi Jacobson is very excited about the program and the opportunity to work with Mr. Petersen again. While the program is still in formation, the evening may include selections by Paul ben Haim, Alexander Boskovich, Yehezkel Braun, Marc Lavery, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copeland. The rabbi said that his young guest brings to the evening a warmth, genuineness, passion, and willingness to lend that presence in a positive way.

Rabbi Jacobson has been doing some research on the composers. I found out that Copeland was raised in a Conservative Jewish family, he said. I didnt know he had that background. He pointed out as well that the piano that will be used at the program is being donated by Forte Piano in Paramus, and the entire evening is being subsidized by the Schnoll Music Fund, which was set up so that the congregation can have events such as this.

Rabbi Jacobson has worked with the Princeton-born Ms. Lewin before. Ms. Lewin, a former host of weekday afternoon music on WQXR and of the podcast Conducting Business, has produced intermission features for Metropolitan Opera broadcasts and music programs and feature stories for NPR. She also has been an emcee, host, and moderator for concerts, galas, and other events. And as a singer and actress, she continues to appear onstage and to give talks on operas.

Asked whether the Yom Yerushalayim program might be seen as a political statement about a unified Jersalem, given the political climate today, Rabbi Jacobson said, We cant celebrate or commemorate Jerusalem without it being a political statement. But playing music creates space for people to appreciate that in their own right. It allows them to acknowledge different views.

Music can allow people to celebrate Israel and Jerusalem and acknowledge the significance of the day while leading them to have their own opinions, he said; indeed, Its more effective for being a musical program than strictly a verbalized one.

The program is important, Rabbi Jacobson added. If our Jewish community is not standing with Israel with what we see in the world then people wont stand with us. Weve seen this from the beginning of time.

Who: Pianist Drew Petersen

What: Will perform a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Yom Yerushalayim

When: On Tuesday, May 23, at7:30 p.m.

Where: At Temple Avodat Shalom, 385 Howland Avenue, River Edge

Cost: $10 per person

Doors open at 7 p.m. Refreshmentsto follow

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Celebrating Yom Yerushalayim with music - The Jewish Standard

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Posted By admin on April 28, 2017

February 27, 2017 file photo showstoppled and damaged headstones on ground at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia; the Anti-Defamation League found an increase in cases of anti-Semitic intimidation and vandalism in 2016, evidence that anti-Jewish bias intensified during the election

Jacqueline Larma, AP

NEW YORK -- The Anti-Defamation League found an increase in cases of anti-Semitic intimidation and vandalism last year, evidence that anti-Jewish bias intensified during the election.

The Jewish civil rights group found 1,266 cases of anti-Semitic harassment last year, compared to 941 in 2015 and 912 in 2014. The increase continued into the first three months of this year, with reports of 541 incidents compared to 291 in the same period the year before, according to the ADL data released Monday.

The preliminary 2017 numbers include a wave of more than 150 bomb threats that started in January against Jewish community centers and day schools. Authorities arrested an Israeli Jewish hacker who they said was behind the harassment. The ADL insists those threats should still be considered anti-Semitic since Jews were the target. During the same period, a former journalist in St. Louis was also charged with threatening Jewish organizations as part of a bizarre campaign to intimidate his former girlfriend. But authorities believe the Israeli man is primarily responsible.

Even without those bomb threats, the number of anti-Jewish incidents this January, February and March in the report would be higher than the year before.

The FBI compiles annual hate-crime statistics, but the 2016 numbers arent expected to be released until the end of this year. The ADL tally includes a much broader array of incidents, such as distribution of hateful materials, threats, slurs, intimidation and vandalism, along with physical assaults. The organization says its researchers evaluate reports from individuals, community leaders and law enforcement.

This latest compilation includes only a few cases of online harassment - incidents that led to on the ground intimidation - so that the organization can continue making year-to-year comparisons of ADL data going back to the groups first report in 1979, before the internet and social media were so broadly used, according to Oren Segal, director of the ADL Center on Extremism.

Anti-Semitic harassment in the U.S. has been at historic lows in recent years, according to the organization. In some prior years, the number of incidents surpassed 1,500 or 2,000, Segal said. But the recent uptick has fueled anxiety among American Jews during a period of emboldened expressions of white-supremacism and white-nationalism during the presidential election. Last week, a Jewish woman sued the founder of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, accusing the publisher of orchestrating a barrage of anti-Semitic messages from anonymous internet trolls starting last December.

I think the pace in which the incidents are happening, the speed at which the spike is occurring, I think the historic low is a thing of the past, Segal said.

The report linked 34 cases last year to the presidential race, including graffiti found in Denver last May that said Kill the Jews, Vote Trump. ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt was among the most vocal Jewish leaders pressing Donald Trump, as a candidate and president, to do more to combat anti-Semitism, including among his supporters. Critics, in the Jewish community and elsewhere, said partisanship was behind such pressure on Mr. Trump. In February, Mr. Trump opened his address to Congress with a strong condemnation of recent cases of vandalism at Jewish cemeteries.

On college campuses last year, the number of reports of anti-Semitic incidents remained about the same compared to the previous year, the ADL said. Many of the schools have been roiled in recent years by protests over Israeli policies toward Palestinians. However, the organization saw an increase in the number of reports of harassment against Jewish school children from elementary age through high school.

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Report seen as evidence presidential election hiked anti-Semitism in US - CBS News

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Posted By simmons on April 28, 2017

The Anti-Defamation League will host its inaugural WALK Against Hate, an event designed to promote diversity and inclusion in the Las Vegas Valley, from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday, April 30 at Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd.

The family-oriented, multi-cultural event, co-chaired by Melina Gluck and Adam Petrasich, will feature appearances by local officials, including Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman; the drumline from Desert Oasis High School; performances by Social CirKISH, Culture Shock and Jassen Allen.

For more information on creating a team or sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.WALKAgainstHateLV.com.

Who: Melina Gluck, Co-Chair, ADL Associate Board Member Adam Petrasich, Co-Chair, ADL Glass Leadership Institute Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman Brittney from KOMP 92.3

What: The inaugural WALK Against Hate, an event designed to promote diversity and inclusion in the Las Vegas Valley

When: Sunday, April 30, 2017 9 -11 a.m.

Where: Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd.

Photo Op: Las Vegas families walking through the Springs Preserve in support of diversity. Performances by Social CirKISH Culture Shock, Desert Oasis High School drumline and Jassen Allen

About The Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was founded in 1913 to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Now the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all through information, education, legislation, and advocacy. The ADL has evolved into an international organization dedicated to standing up for the rights of all groups.

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The Anti-Defamation League Announces the First Annual Walk Against Hate Set for April 30 - Nevada Business Magazine (press release)

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Posted By simmons on April 28, 2017

Its officialthe election of Donald Trump to the White House has precipitated a marked increase in anti-Semitism in the United States. A new report published by the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based civil-rights organization that monitors anti-Semitic activity across the country, finds that such incidents (vandalism, harassment, or assault) were up one-third in 2016, and have spiked 86% in the first quarter of 2017the fledgling months of the Trump administration.

Of the 1,266 acts targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in 2016, nearly 30% occurred after Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in November. The surge carried over into the first months of this year, with the ADL reporting 541 incidents, putting 2017 on track for more than 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents.

The Trump administration has been clumsy in addressing is evident resurgence of anti-Jewish sentiments, to say the least. Although the president acknowledged the spike in February, calling it horrible and painful, a few days earlier he rebuked a Jewish reporter for raising questions about it during a press conference a few days prior. He followed up in March with comments expressing skepticism toward the extent of anti-Semitic incidents. Press secretary Sean Spicer certainly didnt help matters earlier this month (Apr. 2016) with his bungled comments regarding the Holocaust and Adolf Hitlers use of gas chambers.

The administration is committed to tamping out prejudice and anti-Semitism anywhere it is found, Spicer assured reporters earlier this week. But the ADLs report remains damning, especially when viewed alongside the undeniable rise of global anti-Semitism hand-in-hand with hard-right populism. Anti-Jewish sentiments are at a new high in Europe, where xenophobic political parties like Frances National Front, Germanys Alternative fr Deutschland, and Polands Law and Justice party have gained significant traction. All have brushed up against Holocaust revisionism and anti-Semitic outbursts in their ranks. In France, Marine Le Pen, daughter of Frances most notorious anti-Semite, will face off against Emmanuel Macron in a run-off election come May.

The ADL agrees the problem is symptomatic of such broader shifts, at least in the US. These incidents need to be seen in the context of a general resurgence of white supremacist activity in the United States, Oren Segal, director of the organizations Center on Extremism, said in a statement. Extremists and anti-Semites feel emboldened and are using technology in new ways to spread their hatred and to impact the Jewish community on and off line.

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Report: The link between the election of Donald Trump and resurgent anti-Semitism is now undeniable - Quartz

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Posted By admin on April 25, 2017

Zionism in the age of Trump: it is becoming increasingly clear to more people that the Israeli states officially defined ideology is, at its very core, an anti-Jewish one.

It sounds counter-intuitive. How can the Jewish State or the Zionist movement be anti-Semitic? But several of US President Donald Trumps appointments have made it clearer than ever. He leads the most pro-Israel US administration in history, even while appointing key figures with anti-Semitic ties as his most important advisers.

Much has been made of chief White House strategist Steve Bannon, who before joining the Trump team ran Breitbart News which Bannon described as a platform for the alt-right. The so-called alt-right is little more than neo-Nazism dressed up in suits and Pepe the frog memes.

This month it had been reported that Bannon may be on his way out of the White House after being sidelined by Trump for falling out with his son-in-law. That remains to be seen. But Trumps pro-Israel and anti-Jewish appointments go further.

The figurehead of the so-called alt-right is Richard Spencer, so famously punched in the face by an anti-fascist during the Trump inauguration in January. An email obtained by The Electronic Intifada in February showed that a senior Trump advisor used to work directly with Spencer when the pair were at Duke University a decade ago.

Read:New UK anti-Semitism definition includes criticism of Israel

The advisor, Stephen Miller, played a central role in authoring Trumps failed attempt to ban nationals of seven predominantly-Muslim countries from the US the so-called Muslim Ban. Spencer denies being a neo-Nazi, and calls his advocacy for a peaceful ethnic cleansing of non-white people from the US a kind of white Zionism.

The links go further.

Last month the Jewish Daily Forward published an important investigative article on Sebastian Gorka, President Trumps top counter-terrorism advisor. The publication uncovered extremely convincing evidence that Gorka had sworn allegiance to, and is still an ongoing member of, a Hungarian far-right group which historically collaborated with the Nazi Holocaust in eastern Europe.

The group, Vitezi Rend, is virulently anti-Semitic, and was established as a loyalist group by hard-right Hungarian leader Miklos Horthy, whose regime collaborated with the Nazis including by deporting hundreds of thousands of Jews into Nazi hands.

While Gorka was not even alive in the days of Hitler, it is highly disturbing that he would belong to an organisation with such a history. Indeed, as late as 2007, when he tried and failed to break into Hungarian politics, he appeared on Hungarian TV to defend the formation (by two other far-right parties) of a fascist-style militia. The so-called Hungarian Guard was banned by Hungarian courts two years later, after it was implicated in anti-Roma violence including the killing of a five-year-old.

Arent protests about anti-Semitism occasionally manifestations of white privilege?

Gorka himself has basically ignored these revelations. He did not reply to the Forwards requests for comment. His only defence, such as it was, has been to issue a weasel-worded video statement to Breitbart News, in which he justified publicly wearing a medal often associated with Hungarian Nazi collaborators, as a mark of remembrance for his anti-Communist father. Omitted from the video was any mention of the fact that his father was also part of the anti-Semitic Vitezi Rend.

And what has the reaction of Gorkas defenders been? To clarify his full support for Israel! They do not deny his membership of an anti-Semitic group. Zionist Organization of America president Mort Klein claimed that, Dr. Gorka is a proud American patriot and fighter against radical Islamic terrorism, and a faithful friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. It is such disturbing associations as these that have long led Jewish anti-Zionists to conclude that Zionism is itself anti-Semitic.

Both Palestinian and Jewish forms of anti-Zionism are as old as Zionism itself. Indeed, until the Nazi Holocaust wiped out most of Europes Jews, most Jews were anti-Zionists. Jews were not won over to Zionism by argument and debate: most of Europes Jews (the majority of whom were anti-Zionist) were physically destroyed by European anti-Semitisms most horrific historical expression: the Nazi regime.

Meanwhile, most committed Zionists were, of course, in Palestine establishing their colonial entity, which would ultimately expel the vast majority of the Palestinian people in 1948. And as Ken Livingstone correctly if controversially stated last year, the German Zionist movement even directly collaborated with the Nazi regimes earlier 1930s project of deporting German Jews to Palestine. Palestinian-American history professor, Joseph Massad, made the history of all this clear in his seminal 2013 column, The Last of the Semites.

Miko Peled: From Israeli Zionist to Palestinian defender

Zionist extremists were so outraged at Massads definition of Zionism as ultimately an expression of European anti-Semitism, that they successfully pressured Al Jazeera English to delete the essay from its website. After The Electronic Intifada exposed this censorship and reposted the essay, the website reversed its decision and reposted it (Al Jazeera would go on to delete another controversial Massad piece in 2014).

Re-reading Massads essay now is to witness just how much it has stood the test of the last four years. It does not contain new information so much as newly revealed information, and an incisive political and historical analysis. But as Massad himself makes clear, it is something that has always been clear to Palestinians.

As he wrote:

The Palestinian people and the few surviving anti-Zionist Jewsare, as the last of the Semites, the heirs of the pre-WWII Jewish and Palestinian struggles against anti-Semitism and its Zionist colonial manifestation. It is their resistance that stands in the way of a complete victory for European anti-Semitism in the Middle East and the world at large.

Anti-Zionist Jews may now be in a minority in the West, but in recent years they have been an ever-growing and substantial voice. The most recent comprehensive poll of British Jews views on the subject suggests the figure could be as high as 41 per cent: 31 per cent state they do not describe themselves as Zionist, with a further 10 per cent unsure.

Zionism and European anti-Semitism have a unity of cause: to remove European Jews from their home nations and compel them to become colonists in occupied Palestine. We need to resist both.

What about anti-Semitism in Israel?

Nablus city residents commemorated the 2002 Israeli invasion by showcasing a photo exhibition of the martyrs and those wounded during the invasion.

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Zionism is anti-Semitism - Middle East Monitor

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Posted By simmons on April 25, 2017

Students played an integral role in seeing that the Texas House passed a bill last week barring the state from engaging in business with companies involved with the anti-Israel BDS movement.

HB 89, sponsored by Representative Phil King, passed unanimously, 131-0. The bill strengthens ties with Israel, Texas' fourth-largest trading partner, according to the Jerusalem Post. Jesse Stock of StandWithUs, a pro-Israel organization, says students did their part in promoting the bill.

"There was a 'Stand With Israel Day' at the capitol and we mobilized ... close to 50 students who came to the capitol for the day and met with legislators and expressed why this legislation is important," he shares with OneNewsNow.

Stock says high school students are a "huge part" of what they do in supporting Israel.

"We have five high school interns in Dallas, one in San Antonio, and one in Houston," he describes. "All of them were active in trying to mobilize their friends to call their legislators as well to educate their peers about the importance."

Rep. King explained to StandWithUs that he had multiple reasons for taking the lead against what he considers economic warfare against the Jewish nation:

"First, as a Christian, my religious heritage is intrinsically linked to Israel and to the Jewish people. Second, as an American, our national security is dependent in great part on a strong Israel, often our only friend in the Middle East. Third, as a Texas legislator, our state has a substantial Jewish population and this issue is important to them. Texans have historical ties and do a lot of business with Israel. Fourth, it's just the right thing to do."

The Senate passed its version of the anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) bill in March. It is expected Gov. Greg Abbott will sign the bill early next month.

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Students in TX stand strong with Israel - OneNewsNow

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Posted By admin on April 25, 2017

Sarah Costello, Staff Writer April 25, 2017

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On April 19, 2017, several University students, faculty and friends gathered for the 14th Annual Order of Service for Holocaust Remembrance Day at Bucknall Theater. Crowds, young and old, came together for a time of remembrance and reflection of those who were lost to dark times of the Nazi Party and the genocide of over 6 million Jews, in addition to the millions of homosexuals, handicapped people, gypsies, and others who did not fit the Nazi Partys criteria. The service was a dedication to the Jews who had been persecuted and killed, as well as a reflection on those who had survived and are still here.

University Provost, Daniel May started the memorial off with introductions. They highlighted the importance of teaching others what several millions of innocents went through during Hitlers regime, and how people can use what they learn to make every effort to cultivate the tolerance and understanding that should be the hallmark of a humanity, even when preoccupied with our ordinary studies, and day to day activities.

May gave a heartfelt review over the events of history, how it cost so many people their lives, and how today was a time to remember all those who were killed. The hope was that ceremony would inspire people to appreciate one another with respect and ignore labels or belief in supremacy.

The ceremony transitioned Ira Kleinfield and the lighting of candles. This was in keeping with the Jewish tradition of remembering and immortalizing what Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It is our custom to light 8 candles, explained Kleinfield, one for each of the million Jews who were slaughtered, making 6 in number. One in great commission for all the other groups who were killed as well, such as Jehovahs witnesses, gays and lesbians, and the mentally handicapped. And the eighth in recognition those righteous individuals who stepped forward to give comfort at great personal risk of themselves and to their families.

Additionally, there was a ninth candle in honor of Herman Sheppard, a survivor who was the keynote speaker in 2014, who sadly passed away last month. The students also contributed to the presentation through their creativity and words. Members of the University of New Haven theater department did a special performance in memory of Pavel Friedman, a Czechoslovakian boy who was killed in a concentration camp, and wrote the poem The Butterfly that was found after liberation. The theatre group recited the beautiful poem while painting, revealing a beautiful butterfly representing the one that Pavel missed during his time in the camp. The theatre group explained that they had assisted with the presentation the previous year, and felt compelled to be a part of it once again. One member explained that she is of Jewish heritage, and the entire day in extremely important to her.

The highlight of the memorial was the keynote speaker, Ruth Fishman, a survivor of the Westerbork and Theresienstadt concentration camps. She was rare case in that she was one of one hundred children out of 15 thousand who were sent to Theresienstadt, and also one of the extremely rare cases where most of her family, her brother, parents, and one set of grandparents, survived together through it all. Ruth was able to recount many details of what had happened to her, and had a unique perspective since she was a child.

She compared her memory to a movie you have seen many, many years ago, and youll see certain images quite sharp and real . . . certain things are reinforced by sharing a talking to others.

Ruth chronicled her story of survival and horror to the audience, starting with her home. She was born Ruth Lichtenstern in Cologne, Germany in 1935, but had to move to Amsterdam when she was only one year old. While her family avoided the Nazi party for a while, the invasion of the Nazi party put her family in danger. Little by little, she was limited, banned, and held up by the Germans for being a Jew, although her family was able to avoid being deported because her father worked in the metal industry. Unfortunately, they were eventually forced to move to an Amsterdam theater and sent to Westerbork Concentration Camp, a transit camp ready to deport Jews to their death. All while this was happening, little Ruth thought that this was all normal and a part of life.

Ruths family were fortunate enough to be in a one room cabin at the camp instead of a barrack due a Paraguayan passport that was smuggled to them from a friend in Switzerland. Her father started a metal operation with several men to separate metal and delay the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz. Her father and mother worked, and she and her brother preoccupied themselves with other children. Life was not wholly bad at the camp for Ruth, and her family was able to stay together with modest living conditions. She was given responsibility of guarding a small doll from her father that contained money and other small items hidden in the head; all of the familys savings needed for emergencies were in her hands.

A little over a year later, Ruth and her family were deported to Theresienstadt, and subjected to the camps terrible conditions. Sickness, starvation and being overworked made things harder for her and the prisoners. She lost her maternal grandparents to Auschwitz, and nearly her father. However, he was saved by the Paraguayan passport, and it helped keep her family together. The Nazis began to build gas chambers outside the camp, prepared to kill all of the prisoners within months, until they were liberated by Soviet Troops on May 9, 1945.

After relocated with her fathers metal business during the Korean War, Ruth attended American school and moved to the United States when she was 18. She now lives in West Hartford and has a family of her own with three children and seven grandchildren.

Ruth said that she started sharing her story at her grandsons class. My daughter-in-law asked me to. . . but did not tell me it was in front of the entire school. She continues to share her story as many people from those times have passed away. The younger generation must be the ones to tell the story and keep history preserved.

After Ruth finished her story, the ceremony held a tribute to Hiram Bingham IV. Hiram was responsible for helping over 2,500 Jews from escaping the advancing Nazi forces in France. He spent his time creating fake passports to allow them to leave, at the eventual cost of his successful political career, and was honored for what he had done posthumously.

Several members of the University and Jewish community came together to read the names of all the victims related to the families of the New Haven communities. 87 family and friends were remembered for losing their lives to the Holocaust, and would not be forgotten for a long time. The afternoon ended with a moment of silence and contemplation over what the events, as well as a beautiful memorial blessing and chant by Rabbi Andrew Hechtman.

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Holocaust Survivor Tells Her Story to UNH - Chargerbulletin

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Posted By admin on April 25, 2017

Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. increased more than one-third in 2016 and surged by more than 86 percent in the first quarter of 2017, a report by the Anti-Defamation League found.

"There has been a massive increase in the amount of harassment of American Jews, particularly since November, and a doubling in the amount of anti-Semitic bullying and vandalism at non-denominational K-12 grade schools," the ADL said in its report.

And ADL Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Greenblatt added: "There's been a significant, sustained increase in anti-Semitic activity since the start of 2016 and what's most concerning is the fact that the numbers have accelerated over the past five months."

"Clearly, we have work to do and need to bring more urgency to the fight. At ADL, we will use every resource available to put a stop to anti-Semitism. But we also need more leaders to speak out against this cancer of hate and more action at all levels to counter anti-Semitism."

The incidents include assaults, vandalism and harassment, according to the ADL. Almost 30 percent of the 1,266 acts targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in 2016 occurred in November and December, the ADL said.

"The 2016 presidential election and the heightened political atmosphere played a role in the increase," the ADL said. "There were 34 incidents linked to the election. For example, in Denver, graffiti posted in May 2016 said "Kill the Jews, Vote Trump."

Through the first three months of 2017, there have been 541 incidents compared to 291 reported during the same period in 2016, the ADL reported.

In the last 15 months, California, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Massachusetts have reported the highest number of incidents, the ADL said.

The Los Angeles Times noted part of this year's increase can be attributed to the 161 hoax bomb threats against Jewish community centers. Two men have been arrested separately in connection to those crimes.

But those threats account for less than a third of the incidents reported in 2017, the newspaper said.

2017 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

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Anti-Defamation League: Anti-Semitic Incidents on The Rise in US - Newsmax

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Posted By simmons on April 25, 2017

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) this week reported an increase in anti-Semitic incidents during the first quarter of 2017, compared to both 2016 and 2015 records. Within the ADLs Connecticut Region, which covers the entire state of Connecticut, recorded anti-Semitic incidents increased to 10 in the first quarter of 2017 from a total of 3 in the same period of 2016. Of the 38 total incidents in 2016, 25 were categorized as harassment or threats, 12 were acts of vandalism and one was an assault. From 2015 to 2016, recorded incidents in Connecticut rose by 68%.

The highest increase in anti-Semitic incidents this year involved anti-Semitic harassment. ADL observed a 40% increase in the first quarter of 2017 from the previous year, due in part to the waves of bomb threats that hit Jewish institutions in the beginning of 2017. In Connecticut, the JCCs in Woodbridge and West Hartford received bomb threats, as did Hebrew High School in West Hartford.

The increase in incidents is widespread and is not explained away by the handful of bomb threats we saw in Connecticut we received calls about and investigated more than twice as many incidents in 2016 than 2015, said Steve Ginsburg, Regional Director of the ADL Connecticut office, What is most concerning is the uptick in anti-Semitic harassment incidents in our schools. Implementing our anti-bias programming like Names Can Really Hurt Us and The Truth about Hate, which cover all kinds of prejudice, bullying and hatred, in schools continues to be a top priority for ADL. Our office has created and perfected these programs over the last quarter century and we will continue to work with school administrators, teachers and parents to empower students to address and combat anti-Semitism and all forms of hate in schools and on campus. We must send a message that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated.

The report of anti-Semitic incidents in the Connecticut Region comes from ADLs annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. ADL reports that there has been a massive increase in the amount of harassment of Jews in the United States, particularly since November, and a doubling in the amount of anti-Semitic bullying and vandalism at non-denominational K-12 grade schools. ADL has been tracking anti-Semitic incidents in the United States since 1979. The audit includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents, acts of harassment and intimidation, including distribution of hate propaganda, threats and slurs. Compiled using information provided by victims, law enforcement and community leaders and evaluated by ADLs professional staff, the Audit provides an annual snapshot of one specific aspect of a nationwide problem while identifying possible trends or changes in the types of activity reported. This information assists ADL in developing and enhancing its programs to counter and prevent the spread of anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the worlds leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

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ADL Connecticut sees increase in anti-Semetic incidents - Minuteman News Center

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Posted By admin on April 24, 2017

Film director Eric Axelman said part of growing up Jewish in central Maine meant believing that the state of Israel represented Jewish hope, strength and perseverance. The founding of the Jewish state in 1948, following the Holocaust and the war in Europe, was redemption, he said.

But as he got older, Axelman, 27, of Norridgewock said he discovered that Zionism the Jewish nationalist movement whose goal has been the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews took on a new, more frightening face.

He said the ancient homeland had come to embody colonialism, military occupation and institutionalized racism and that American Jews were not being told the whole story of what was happening to the Palestinian people.

In his film 70 Years Across the Sea: American Jews and 21st Century Zionism, due for release in 2018, Axelman said he hopes to tell the story of a people who were united after World War II but now see cultural and political differences emerging in Jewish communities in the United States and in Israel and what he calls the internationally condemned settlements in the region of occupied Palestine.

The film is for general audiences, but Im also really interested in having Jews re-examine what and how were being taught about Israel and trying to investigate what being Jewish means to us living in the 21st century and in a world that is changing so much, Axelman said in a phone interview. Not only, as American Jews, are we not being told the truth about Israel, but the most disturbing aspect is the censorship of left wing voices and voices that are critical of Israel in Jewish communities.

Axelmans father, David Axelman, a family doctor, is Jewish. Eric Axelman is a 2008 graduate of Skowhegan Area High School. His mother, also a medical doctor who is not Jewish, is Ann Dorney, a former state representative from Norridgewock.

Axelman said combined religious families and intermarriage are being seen more often in the U.S., as Jews assimilate into the general culture. He was raised Jewish and went to synagogue and Hebrew school.

After high school, Axelman attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, before moving to Boston to form Pushed Learning and Media, a nonprofit, which helps start and maintain conversations about identity and inequality with school visits around the Northeast discussing racial equality and cultural appropriation using hip-hop art as a medium.

He said one of the great things about being Jewish is the shared intellectual history and tradition and the ability to question one another and to question the status quo. His film, he said, lives up to that history by bringing what he says is the truth about Zionism to the Jewish community. Gone, he said, is the passivity and victimhood of the Jewish people, and in its place are guns, walls and the aggression of occupied settlements.

As American Jews become more liberal and assimilated, Axelman says in the films trailer, Israel, with its 50-year settlement of the West Bank, has become more nationalistic and more internationally isolated.

In the films trailer, Elias DEis, project manager at Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, a Palestinian nonprofit organization seeking peaceful solutions, says American Jews are the main supporters of the Israeli state and have to say Occupation is not my Judaism. Americans have the magic stick, he says, they can change the Israeli government.

But supporters of Israel and the settlements say it is their land and they will fight to keep it.

Israel was forced into a war of survival when it captured its historical highlands, Oded Ravivi wrote in an opinion piece for The Jerusalem Post in September. The land was legally ownerless at the time, he said. No other nation on earth has more right to Judea than the people of Judah, aka the Jews, Ravivi wrote.

Axelman agrees to a point, noting that Jews didnt have much of a choice but to move to Palestine, having faced unbelievable oppression in Europe, and America wasnt taking Jewish refugees after the war. The Jews are a Middle Eastern people originally, he said, but its the militarized aggression of the occupation forces that scare him.

Axelman said the film will be distributed at film festivals, college campuses and in synagogues. The debut of the trailer was Sunday at the Fortnight wine bar on Dorrance Street in Providence, Rhode Island.

The story in 70 Years is told through the eyes and voices of Jews and Palestinians both in Israel and in the United States, including historian Noam Chomsky and Baha Hilo, a Palestinian activist. There are interviews with Israeli settlers, writers, and with a member of Seeds of Peace, an international organization that seeks peaceful communication among youth of all faiths worldwide. It is headquartered in New York with a summer camp in Otisfield.

Doug Harlow can be contacted at 612-2367 or at:

[emailprotected]

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