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Zionism, the Nakba, and Feminism – Huffington Post

Posted By on March 13, 2017

In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, author Emily Shire asked, in relation to the International Womens Day Strike that included a call for the decolonization of Palestine, if the feminist movement has room for Zionists like herself. She went on to explain: I identify as a Zionist because I support Israels right to exist as a Jewish state.

What is Shire actually saying? Some history is required to answer that question. An understanding of Zionism cannot be separated from an understanding of the Nakba (the catastrophe in Arabic), which refers to the expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians from their land and homes during the establishment of Israel in 1948. The history of the Nakba has been thoroughly documented, including by Palestinian, Israeli, and other historians.

I know about Zionism from my own relationship with it. I had some serious unlearning to do. When I was younger, I, too, identified as a Zionist (a socialist feminist Zionist) until I realized that my image of Zionism as the Jewish national liberation movement was seriously misguided. Instead, I learned that what had been done and was still being done to Palestinians in the name of Zionism was theft of land and denial of a peoples right to freedom and national liberation. It was about the privileging of those who were Jewish over Palestinians. This was not just about Israels military occupation of Palestinian lands that began in 1967, but was fundamentally about what happened before and during the creation of the State, and what continues to happen today.

In Israel, as well as in the U.S., the Nakba is often disregarded or denied altogether. Instead, the focus is on the creation of Israel as a haven for Jews, completely ignoring the mass dispossession of the Palestinian people.

But the Nakba is not only about the past; it is ongoing. Palestinian women, men, and children continue to be pushed off their lands and their homes and denied their basic freedom and rights. Israeli apartheid is woven into the fabric of society, and it is taking brutal forms. Home demolitions, ongoing construction of settlements, land confiscation, arrests, torture of prisoners, and military assaults are just some of what Palestinian families endure on a daily basis, not to mention lack of access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment, and the right to live with dignity.

What Shires feminism seems to ignore is that Palestinian women are forced to give birth at checkpoints; their homes are bulldozed because permission to build is denied from racist Israeli authorities; Palestinians face systemic discrimination wherever they are living; and mothers and fathers live in fear that Israeli soldiers or settlers will injure, imprison, or kill their children.

Zionism and Israel have always afforded preferential treatment to Jewish womenand menover Palestinian women and men, in all aspects of life. This is the Zionism and the Jewish state Shire says is consistent with her feminism.

Instead of asking whether Zionists have a place in the feminist movement, perhaps the question that Shire should be asking is: How can someone who considers herself a supporter of feminism, which is a movement for justice and liberation that challenges patriarchal power and all forms of oppression, also consider herself a supporter of Zionism, a movement that denies the basic values of equality and fairness.

The womens day strike was intentionally and critically rooted in an anti-colonial feminism that is liberatory and multidimensional and that has as its foundation a deep commitment to social transformation and to resisting the decades long economic inequality, racial and sexual violence, and imperial wars abroad. If Shire has an interest in being part of such an inspiring movement, rather than supporting Zionism, she might want to stand with the Palestinian-led grassroots movement for justice and with the growing number of women around the globe who are committed to equal rights for all peoples living in Palestine and Israel. What could be more feminist than that?

The rest is here:
Zionism, the Nakba, and Feminism - Huffington Post

Monday March 13, 2017 – Israel Hayom

Posted By on March 13, 2017

Monday March 13, 2017
Israel Hayom
As for women in the military, religious Zionist girls have been enlisting in ever-growing numbers in recent years, and not only the ones from the more liberal factions of the sector. In fact, the phenomenon is even more prevalent among the more ...

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Monday March 13, 2017 - Israel Hayom

Omidyar Network and the Anti-Defamation League are launching a center to combat cyberhate – TechCrunch

Posted By on March 13, 2017


TechCrunch
Omidyar Network and the Anti-Defamation League are launching a center to combat cyberhate
TechCrunch
With hate crimes reportedly on the rise across the country and online, the Anti-Defamation League is setting up a new outpost in Silicon Valley, backed by the Omidyar Network, to look at ways to use technology to fight back. Racially and religiously ...
Anti-Defamation League to launch Silicon Valley center to combat cyberhateThe Independent
ADL To Combat Online Hate From Heart Of Silicon ValleyForward
ADL takes fight against online hate to Silicon ValleyCNET
USA TODAY -AZFamily -Jerusalem Post Israel News
all 9 news articles »

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Omidyar Network and the Anti-Defamation League are launching a center to combat cyberhate - TechCrunch

Anti-Defamation League, Jewish centers get more threats – Salt Lake Tribune

Posted By on March 13, 2017

"This is a moment in time, in history, where forces of hate have been unleashed," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a Jewish Community Center on Staten Island that had received threats. "It is exceedingly unsettling."

The Anti-Defamation League said threats were also made in Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Maryland and Toronto.

Federal officials have been investigating more than 120 threats against Jewish organizations in three dozen states since Jan. 9 and a rash of vandalism at Jewish cemeteries. None of the threats have resulted in physical injury.

On Friday, Missouri resident Juan Thompson was arrested on a cyberstalking charge and accused of making at least eight of the threats nationwide, including one to the ADL. Authorities said Thompson was trying to harass and frame his ex-girlfriend by pinning the threats on her.

A criminal complaint said Thompson started making threats Jan. 28 with an email to the Jewish History Museum in New York written from an account that made it appear as if it were being sent by an ex-girlfriend. In another round of emails and phone calls, he gave the woman's name, rather than his own, the court complaint said. He claimed on Twitter she was behind the calls.

Thompson is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday in St. Louis for a hearing to determine if he should remain detained pending trial.

Authorities are looking for other suspects in the threats.

Associated Press writers Chris Carola in Albany, N.Y., and Kiley Armstrong in New York contributed to this report.

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Anti-Defamation League, Jewish centers get more threats - Salt Lake Tribune

Theological Method Jewish Theology Pt. VIII Last in Series – Patheos (blog)

Posted By on March 13, 2017

LISTENING TO THE WORLD JUDAISM AS PHENOMENOLOGY

From a Jewish perspective, the foundation of spirituality is the human capacity of being called by something beyond ourselves, something that both speaks to our nature and is yet embedded there. In moments of quiet honesty, we find ourselves with a given orientation and that orientation offers itself up as an approach to our better selves it is the voice of our own objective nature calling us toward fulfillment. We understand this urging of our own nature as the foundation of morality and religious practice.

Listen! God speaks to us through the world through the burning bush and the quiet voice on the wind.

Human fulfillment requires alignment with this voice calling out from reality/nature, including our own human nature.The insights for living a meaningful and good life arise from a reasoned, teleological reflection on our own nature and our relationships to others. This vision offers a formal framework within which to conduct our theological and moral reasoning.

The goal of Jewish practice and observance is Shalom a holistic sense of peace and wholeness. Jewish spiritual practice teaches us to be good listeners to hear the voice calling us to strive for wholeness and help others obtain the same. By doing so, we heal ourselves and our world and achieve our evolutionary and Torah-based primary directive thrive and flourish!

SPIRITUALITY & TRUTH

The Jewish vision is that it is fundamental to human nature to seek the truth about the world and ourselves, attempting to find meaning in our lives. Genuine spirituality is centered on the truth not elaborate, ungrounded theology or grand speculation without foundation.

Truth is the adequate correspondence of human judgments to reality itself. Human knowledge is fallible, but generally reliable, and is verified in relation to reality. Reasoned human discourse functions along these lines when people make claims, they ought to be able to provide some justification for those claims justification involves offering evidence based in reality this is how human communities gain wisdom and make progress.

The Jewish search for meaning is approached from the vantage point of spiritual realism. Spiritual realism operates from an epistemological conservatism humbly seeking to understand reality and trying to offer some explanation for events and circumstances. Jewish history has provided ample experience of tragedy that tempers any inclination to lofty, unjustified saccharine theologies.

Therefore, the spiritually grounded person is the one who listens to and sees reality as it truly is waking up to the world as it is in itself. (Texts, teachers, and traditions can help us in this task, but these are fingers pointing to the moon, not the moon itself, as a Buddhist saying goes.)

The notion of listening is employed metaphorically the goal being to strip away the unnecessary filters that block more accurate perceptions of nature, including our own human nature. Awakening to the world as it really is and living accordingly is the heart of Jewish spiritual realism.

AWE & PATTERNS

We should stand in awe at the splendor of reality. And this awe, if carefully cultivated, reveals more than can be sustained by a mere mechanistic or materialistic vantage point that necessarily ascribes an accidental nature to everything that is.

Within the complex matrix of sufficient reason, causation, emergence, teleological thinking, and the nature of time we begin to glimpse some sense of the multiple layers of contingency of the universe contingency on some emergent cause that prompts the original expansion of singularity, the contingency on inherent principles that guide the ordered emergence of matter and energy, and the contingency on the regularity, continued existence, and direction of the unfolding.

Despite the protests of many, the universe appears to have an internal logic that inevitably drives matter from nonliving to living, from simple to complex, from inert to consciousness in a seemingly clear direction toward life and increasing complexity for the sake of survival. (Protests abound, in part, because science cannot properly detect or evaluate meaning, purpose, or value.)

We may dismiss the above as poetry, but the proper response to some of lifes mysteries are reflection and meditation. Science solves problems. Religion plumbs the depth of mysteries. Wisdom is knowing the difference between a problem and a mystery. Mystery does not cry out for solutions or answers it finds its resolution in awe and wonder and a willingness to engage its depths.

Jewish tradition understands that the purpose of theology isnt to intervene in science over questions that science is much better prepared to address, but to relate the material universe studied by science to questions of ultimate concernof value, meaning and purposewhich science cant address and are instead the proper sphere of religion.

Cultivating this sense of awe and reverence is the purpose of spirituality in general, and Judaism in particular. Such an enterprise is pivotal in undoing the unfortunate effects of secularization the tendencies toward nihilism and dehumanization and provides an Archimedean point from which our culture can be renewed.

THE LOGIC OF MERCY AND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Jewish theology is the result of ongoing engagement with its sacred texts and the primary rule is to always read the texts with an attitude of compassion looking for mercy in the texts at all times.

The two great literary works of the Jewish people are the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians call the Old Testament) and the Talmud. Most people are familiar with the Hebrew Bible, even if they dont read it. Its served as a foundational text for Western culture. Its myths and narratives are still invoked. Most Christians read it or have it read to them at least weekly.

The Talmud is less known and less read, even among Jews. Many people assume its a large volume of writings. But as my extremely kind friend who recently gave me, and thus carried the texts to my home, will attest the English translation of the Talmud is 28 volumes, each individual text comprised of a 200-350 pages, or more. Its massive.

What exactly is the Talmud?

The Talmud is a set of written teachings and commentary, related to the scriptures, and addressing aspects of Jewish law and tradition. The Rabbis began writing it down in the first century CE. And finished writing the initial version about 600 years later.

Each volume deals with general topics in Jewish life and poses questions, offers answers, debates the answers, clarifies scripture, and adds understanding to each issue.

Now, for the part about Jewish logic of mercy. Jews dont relate to their law the same way as do Christians. Linear logic is not the logic of the early Jewish Rabbis. Their logic is more circular, organic, more conversational, more dialectical, and more phenomenological and always an attempt to find mercy in the text.

Each issue in the Talmud begins with a short quote from the Mishnah a statement of law and/or practice often derived from the Bible. The statement is then debated and commented on for years, decades, centuries, by multiple authors, calling upon various sources, sometimes quoting teachers long gone and dead, but assuming to know what they would say.

Its like having Abraham Lincoln engaged in conversation with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Kennedy about the Constitution. Conclusions are few. The conversation is riveting. You learn tons.

But when youre done, youre not really done.

There often isnt a conclusion or definitive answer to the questions raised. First, the intention was that the conversation and debate would go on into the future, so that even Jews today would add their insights, their answers, and their thoughts for the generations to come. Second, its not part of Jewish logic that firm answers always exist to complex questions and issues. Some things seem settled and have a strong majority opinion, some issues are grayer, requiring further analysis.

Jewish theology always says lets talk we have time.

Where does all of this get us? Especially in terms of Jewish logic of mercy?

Consider the Biblical commandment to stone a woman found guilty of committing adultery. The scriptures call for the woman to be stoned in front of her fathers house. The command appears in scripture at least twice.

The Rabbis raise the question in the Talmud and then begin applying their logic. What is adultery? How do we find someone guilty? How many witnesses are required? Why stone her in front of her fathers house?

By the time the commentary and analysis is done, it would be nearly impossible to stone any woman for adultery the bar for conviction, the requirement of witnesses, the urging for mercy, the twists and turns of Jewish logic always opting for compassion, justice, kindness, and forgiveness. Granted, adultery is never approved of, never condoned, but mercy prevails.

Can such conversation sound legalistic? Sure. Is such conversation motivated by legalism? Not at all. The motivation of even the ancient Rabbis was mercy and love. The entire enterprise of Talmud is one of gentleness and a move toward affirming human dignity.

Talmud, and thus Jewish law, understands that conversation isnt over. The Talmud isnt finished. And the logic toward mercy, love, and freedom is still alive and dominant in Jewish theology.

Christians often say that Jews are under the law and that Christianity is about mercy and freedom from the law. Are Jews under the law? Well, it depends on how you define law? And what exactly do you mean by under? And what would Rabbi Akivah say about that? How about Hillel? And here in Torah it says we are all free

Pull up a chair. Have a glass of wine. This will take some time.

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Theological Method Jewish Theology Pt. VIII Last in Series - Patheos (blog)

An Incisive Play About Hasidism, With Actors Who Lived It – New York Times

Posted By on March 13, 2017


New York Times
An Incisive Play About Hasidism, With Actors Who Lived It
New York Times
As a Hasidic Jew, she spent her childhood with eight siblings in the Yiddish-speaking and largely insular Satmar sect in Borough Park, Brooklyn. She had little knowledge of secular theater, film and television, which are frowned upon as sacrilegious.

Original post:
An Incisive Play About Hasidism, With Actors Who Lived It - New York Times

This Hasidic couple's kinky open marriage could get them 'shunned … – New York Post

Posted By on March 13, 2017

James tucked his side curls behind his ears and tore off his yarmulke as he left the hotel.

Waiting for him in the parking lot in her car was a sultry brunette stranger, and they were both eager for their first date at an Italian restaurant in Omaha, Neb.

They hit it off. After the meal, they stopped at a golf course and had sex behind a hedge.

She told me to grab a stick and kept asking me to hit her harder, the married father recalled about the tryst that unfolded during a business trip last May. Then she sent a photo of her black-and-blue bruises a few days later.

It was just another night in James double life.

By day, he and his wife, Monica, are Hasidic Jews living in the heart of Williamsburg. But by night, the attractive 30-somethings pursue kinky sex as a swinging couple on the online dating app Tinder.

In a series of interviews granted to The Post over the last month, both revealed their secret pastime on the condition that their names and certain identifying details be changed to prevent expulsion from their religious community.

We look the part, but dont follow any of the rules, Monica said of her strict Orthodox faith, as the couple dined with a reporter at a decidedly unkosher Thai restaurant.

At night, the couple regularly shed the black overcoats and floor-length skirts required by their religion, and appear like an attractive, well-off couple in trendy clothes. In his first meeting with The Post, James wore jeans and a green T-shirt, while Monica donned an orange top with dainty shoulder cut-outs, her golden-brown hair pinned in a messy bun. Her wig, which Orthodox women are required to wear in a nod to modesty, was left in the car.

When it comes to monogamy, James and Monica dont play by the rules. Since 2014, the couple has used Tinder to swing using both separate profiles and one joint one. Each of them searches the app for individual rendezvous, or sometimes they swipe right together when theyve located an attractive woman for a mnage--trois. They look for lovers aged 25 to 40 for casual fun and emotional connections.

Although they proclaim themselves Hasidic at the top of their dating profiles, the accompanying photos are anything but straightlaced. Monicas ample bust is hugged by a shapely black bra, but her eyes are obscured by a bar. James, cropped at the neck, shows off his toned torso and upper arms.

Looking for multicultural experience. Due to our situation, we dont have the liberty to expose ourselves on here, their joint profile explains.

In short bios underneath, James touts his role play abilities, while Monica says she loves to laugh.

Please dont be shy, say hi, it beckons.

James describes himself as 100 percent straight, but Monica is bisexual. Shes more like 70 percent into men, 30 into women, he said, as Monica grinned and nodded.

The couple have a brood of children between the ages of 3 and 18. They, like all families of the Satmar sect, observe the Sabbath, go to temple every week, and speak only in Yiddish in the house or when around other members of the ultra-Orthodox community.

Naturally, they are cautious about how they woo potential conquests.

Once a hot single shows interest in them, creating a match, they typically make a move.

Hi Beautiful they usually message first. After a little back-and-forth banter, they share their phone number. They each have their own cellphones, but use a shared third phone when communicating as a couple with potential partners.

First we like to meet at a public place and have dinner. At least if we dont hit it off with them, we got to enjoy a nice meal, James joked.

While waiting for a date to show up a few weeks ago, the pair sat on bar stools at a trendy Williamsburg restaurant, facing each other, their knees almost touching as they talked casually and laughed.

When the woman arrived, James placed his hand on Monicas lower back as they stood to greet her.

Shes very seductive and fit. One day I came over to fix something at her place. She immediately grabbed me and took me to her bedroom

If all goes well on a date, they decide together how to proceed.

Sometimes were both interested in someone, or sometimes just one of us is, Monica said.

Their extramarital dalliances first began about 10 years ago, after James started flirting with a non-Jewish waitress who worked at a restaurant where he did business. After several weeks of instant-messaging with her, James was wracked with guilt. He confessed to Monica, hoping she wouldnt be heartbroken.

Her reaction shocked him.

I was excited by it, Monica said. It turned me on to know another woman desired my husband.

As they talked about it, they realized they both craved sexual and emotional relationships outside their marriage.

They started slowly, getting happy-ending massages together, attending fetish parties and flirting.

Four years later, James had his first affair with his married, Hasidic assistant.

Shes very seductive and fit. One day I came over to fix something at her place. She immediately grabbed me and took me to her bedroom, James said.

Afterwards James and Monica tried a threesome with the other woman.

She came over for a sleepover, but wasnt ready, James recalled. [Monica] and I were kissing and she felt like a third wheel.

She went downstairs and slept on the couch. We were pretty disappointed.

It was almost as disappointing as the way they first met through a family matchmaker, just weeks before their arranged marriage. He was 20 and she was 18, both virgins, and they met just once before the nuptials.

Though we love each other, we didnt have that butterflies-in-your-stomach love, said James.

But the strangers did develop chemistry in bed.

We are very lucky. Were actually quite attracted to each other, Monica said.

They found that open marriage suits them better than their cultures strict monogamy.

We dont have jealousy, Monica said. We never got to date people, so that made it easier for us.

They even encourage love affairs with others.

Its been so beautiful to watch [Monica] fall in love with someone else, James said. Monica needs emotional connections with others before getting physical.

Shes all about talking and vibing well with someone, James said.

James has a taste for S&M and for the uninhibited random encounters that can come from sex outside the marriage. If Im with a woman and we want to have sex in the park, we can, he said.

But with a double life comes the cost keeping secrets from family, friends and synagogue, sheltering their children from their hidden truths, and taking many precautions.

We dont want to take any chances, Monica said.

They keep their modern clothes hidden from their children and have no social media beyond their Tinder accounts. They tell everyone that their forbidden cellphones are for work purposes. They use condoms illicit among Hasidim religiously.

Their kids attend yeshiva. Monica keeps kosher, and they pray and sing the Torah before meals.

No one can tell were different. We look traditional. We blend in, Monica said.

With a double life comes the cost keeping secrets from family, friends and synagogue, sheltering their children from their hidden truths, and taking many precautions

After all, the cons
equences of getting caught would be dire.

What theyre doing involves breaking a host of serious taboos., said Hella Winston, author of Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels. Adultery is illegal under Jewish law, and offenders are punished with banishment from the community. Husbands and wives are not even allowed to touch each other during a womans menstruation. The sexes are kept separate in the synagogue, at weddings and on buses.

Monica and James are outwardly religious, but no longer believe in their faith.

Questioning God was a very difficult process for me, said James, who began having doubts as a young man reading Skeptic magazine and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Religion has a strong hold on your thoughts and the way you think.

The couple chooses to remain part of the insular community because we dont want to lose our family, Monica said. We would be shunned forever.

But they are willing to risk all to share their story.

We want to inspire other Hasidic couples who also have doubts about God and their marriage, said James. We hope to lead by example. By speaking out and breaking the taboo, we hope other Hasidic couples will do the same and feel less alone.

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This Hasidic couple's kinky open marriage could get them 'shunned ... - New York Post

Baseball Fever in Israel – The Media Line

Posted By on March 12, 2017

Israel beats Cuba in World Baseball Championship Tournament

Many Israelis got a jolt of national pride when Israel upset fifth-ranked Cuba in the World Baseball Championship, beating them by 4-1. Israel stands at 4-0 overall in the series, one step closer to the tournaments semi-finals.

Going into the tournament, Israel was given 200 to 1 of winning. Israel is the lowest ranked team to make it out of the qualifying rounds and the only team from the Middle East.

People didnt know we were here, Israel baseballs team manager, Jerry Weinstein told The Media Line, speaking from Tokyo. This is the first time in World Baseball Championship history Israel has advanced out of qualifications.

Weinstein said the team does not consider themselves to be underdogs. We feel we can compete in this tournament, Weinstein said, Our team is built for this kind of play.

He said Israels roster has a lot of pitchers and a strong dynamic, with all the players getting along and working toward a shared goal according to Weinstein.

I dont think its something many saw coming, Regional Director of Jerusalem for Israel Association of Baseball, Danielle Barta told The Media Line.

Baseball is barely known in Israel, where kids on recess all play soccer. Its been given a boost by American immigrants to Israel who have fond memories of rooting for their local baseball teams.

Its amazingly exciting, said Israel baseball fan Arnie Draiman, who lives in Jerusalem. He has been waking up at 5 am to live stream the games on his computer. A Jerusalem bar favored by many Americans, Mikes Place, is streaming a game later this week, and even promised an alcohol-free environment along with free refills on soda, to encourage parents to bring their children.

The Israeli team only has one Israeli-born player, Shlomo Lipetz, from Tel Aviv. The rest of the team comes from the United States. This has led some critics to question whether the team is really Israeli.

Manager Weinstein says the critics are mistaken. According to the World Baseball Championship eligibility criteria, an athlete who is not a citizen of the country they are playing for can represent a team if they are eligible for the citizenship or obtaining a passport in the country. It doesnt matter if members of the team have never set foot on Israeli soil, they can still represent the country if they meet the criteria.

In Israel, all Jews are eligible for automatic citizenship under the Law of Return, making all Jewish Americans theoretically eligible to play on the Israeli baseball team.

The reality is that this is an Israeli team, Weinstein said, We all are connected to Israel through our Jewishness.

From the sidelines, fans like Draiman say they arent bothered by the lack of Israelis on the roster. One day we will have enough home-grown players, Draiman told The Media Line.

Weinstein said regardless of who makes the team, it is still having a positive impact on the community, both in recruiting more Americans to play Israel baseball and developing the Israel Association of Baseballs reach at home.

The money the team makes as they advance through the tournament will go back, in part, to help fund the Israel Association of Baseball and provide more resources such as coaches, fields, and equipment to help spread the sport around the country.

Outside of money, Israels players are making changes at a grass-root level, with the children who are just learning to throw a pitch and swing at bat. My players in Jerusalem really look up to the players, Barta said.

Barta told The Media Line that in January ten players from the Israeli team, some of whom had never been to Israel, came to Jerusalem and met with the Israel Association of Baseball. Barta said the nationality of the players doesnt make them any less of a role model for Israeli youth and fans because they all have pride in their sport, pride in Israel and pride in their Jewish heritage.

Later this week, Israel plays the Netherlands (for a second time) and Japan, both in the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Israel plays the Netherlands on Monday, and Japan on Wednesday, both in the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The top two teams from each pool will go on to the semi-finals and the championship will be at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles later this month.

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Baseball Fever in Israel - The Media Line

Anti-Defamation League Reports Receiving Multiple Bomb Threats – Townhall

Posted By on March 12, 2017

The Anti-Defamation League reported Tuesday morning that their regional offices have received multiple bomb threats.

We just received multiple #bombthreats at ADL offices. Law enforcement personnel are responding. More details to come.

The news comes as four Jewish community centers were also threatened Tuesday morning.

Multiple JCCs, ADL offices hit with threats in sixth wave of harassment https://t.co/jY7fZtFQfo pic.twitter.com/O8o5xdfhA0

The organizations CEO also released a statement calling on the president to address the recent wave of threats to the Jewish community.

We call on @POTUS to take concrete steps to catch those threatening the Jewish community: https://t.co/YeTIwvHmza pic.twitter.com/pt9NND9dLo

ADL released another statement thanking law enforcement.

Thank you:@FBI@NYPDnews@bostonpolice@SFPD@DCPoliceDept@Atlanta_Police pic.twitter.com/T8Mmntfy2h

Now-fired Preet Bharara Boasts of 'Absolute Independence

House Panel Wants Any Evidence Trump's Phones Were Tapped

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Anti-Defamation League Reports Receiving Multiple Bomb Threats - Townhall

What’s Good About Failing? – Chabad.org (blog)

Posted By on March 12, 2017

Dear Readers,

I remember when my young daughter willfully did something against my explicit instruction. She averted her gaze trying to deny her act, or perhaps trying to take it back. She feared anger, rejection and disappointment. But most of all, she feared that this small misdeed would create a separation between usan end to the loving relationship she cherished.

So we sat down and talked about mistakes, about owning up to them and moving forward. We discussed how perfection is an impossible goal, and how she is so much more than the sum total of her choices.

And then we talked about our relationship, and how my love for her is not dependent on her actions. The love is constant, unconditional. Even when Im displeased, the love may be hidden, but it is just as strong. Most importantly, we spoke about how facing mistakes together helps us grow closer.

In this weeks Torah portion, Ki Tissa, the Jewish people commit the grave sin of worshipping the Golden Calf after having witnessed Gds greatest revelations at Sinai.

Moses turned and descended from the mountain with the two Tablets of Testimony in his hands. As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dances. Moses anger burned, he threw down the Tablets from his hands and shattered them . . . (Ex. 32:19)

Only after Mosess excessive supplications and the nations repentance was he commanded to carve out the second set of tablets. So serious was the Jewish peoples transgression that the Talmud (Sanhedrin 102) declares: There is no misfortune that doesnt have in it something of the Golden Calf.

Yet, the name of this portion, Ki Tissa, literally means when you raise up (referring to a census of raising heads), implying that the Jewish people were actually elevated through this episode.

How is it possible for a grave sin to elevate?

The Rebbe explains that the paradox of sin is that teshuvah, repentance, makes it possible to forge a greater connection with Gd.

Before sinning, our relationship with Gd need only be strong enough to keep us on track. After we sin, we realize that the enticement of sin meant more to us than our commitment. We then must search deep within ourselves to develop a stronger relationship with Gd where He means more to us than our indulgence.

Through teshuvah, our failings can be exploited and redirected positively.

The Talmud (Nedarim 22b) states: Had Israel not sinned with the Golden Calf, they would have received only the Five Books of Moses and the book of Joshua. Why? Because Much wisdom comes through much grief. (Ecc. 1:18)

Though we strive to have a relationship with Gd where we do not fail, mistakes are inevitable. Lets use our mistakes to to raise ourselves up and develop an even deeper connection with Gd.

The sin of the Golden Calf teaches us that mistakeswith Gd and with our loved onescan be opportunities to carve out second tablets, second chances, replete with even greater potential.

Chana Weisberg

Editor, TJW

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What's Good About Failing? - Chabad.org (blog)


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