Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

In Palestinian Arab towns, its a death sentence to make a wrong turn that is, if youre a Jew.

Thats one of the lessons to be learned from the recent news about an elderly Jewish man who was attacked by Arab rock-throwers and nearly murdered after he took a wrong turn and found himself in the town of Kalandiya, just north of Jerusalem.

Thanks to social media, you can see for yourself what happened. It was an ordinary Saturday night in Kalandiya, warm and pleasant until somebody spotted a Jew. Its not so easy, at night time, to notice the slightly different color of an Israeli license plate. But apparently the haters in Kalandiya have become experts at this sort of thing.

The next thing you know, theyre hurling rocks at the car. Not just one attacker, but an entire mob is chasing the car down the street. You can see people joining the mob, streaming from all directions, throwing rocks. And they dont give up! The chase continues for block after block.

Palestinian Arab rock-throwers know that stoning Jews can be lethal thats why they do it. Sixteen Israelis four of them American citizens have been murdered by Arab rock-throwers since the 1980s.

In some of those attacks, the rocks directly killed the target. For example, on the evening of June 5, 2001, US citizens Benny and Batsheva Shoham were driving home after paying a condolence call in Raanana. Their five month-old son, Yehuda, was asleep in the back, strapped in his car seat. As they passed near the Arab village of Luban a-Sharkiya, rock-throwers attacked. One heavy rock crashed through the front windshield and struck the baby in his head, killing him.

IN OTHER instances, the rocks smashed the front windshield of a moving car, causing a fatal crash. Eleven year-old Chava Wechsberg, a US citizen, was murdered when the car in which she was riding was attacked in the Gush Etzion region on February 24, 1993, causing it to crash.

On September 23, 2011, Asher Palmer was driving on the road to Jerusalem. His infant son Yonatan was in his car seat in the back. Rocks were thrown at their car from Arabs in a car that was traveling in the opposite direction. The impact of the rocks shattered the front windshield of Palmers car and fractured his skull, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. Asher and Yonatan, both American citizens, were killed in the crash.

Rock-throwers have also used improvised roadblocks. An Israeli family returning from a visit to the Western Wall on September 11, 2014, made a wrong turn and accidentally drove into the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Wadi Joz. The mother, Mrs. Etti Cohen, later said that when their car slowed down to exit the area, there was shouting in the street and three Arab cars suddenly blocked them from moving forward. In other words, it was a spontaneous but well-coordinated ambush.

Rocks and bricks were thrown at the Jews from all directions. Both the front and rear windshields were smashed, barely missing the children in the back seat. The car escaped only when Cohens husband drove wildly onto the sidewalk, getting around the car-roadblock.

Sometimes, a stoning sets up the kill. Amnon Pomerantz drove by mistake into the Arab town of El-Bureij on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 1990. Arabs stoned the car until he crashed. Then, as he lay slumped unconscious over the driving wheel, they burned him alive.

Yehoshua Weisbrod, a young father of five, made a wrong turn into Rafah, in Gaza, on March 4, 1993. Arab rock-throwers attacked, causing the car to crash. Armed terrorists then walked up to the car and fatally shot him in the head, chest, and stomach.

THE ELDERLY Jewish man in Kalandiya last weekend came within seconds of becoming another Amnon Pomerantz or Yehoshua Weisbrod. Like them, he lost control of his car as a result of the massive rock-throwing attack, causing him to crash into a concrete barrier. Despite sustaining various injuries, he managed to flee on foot just before the mob could catch him. They settled for lighting his car on fire.

The reason the victim wasnt murdered is that he managed to reach a nearby Israeli Army checkpoint. Those are the same checkpoints that J Street and the US State Department are always claiming are so humiliating and such an inconvenience for Palestinian Arab travelers. In this case, the checkpoint inconvenienced a lynch mob.

Can you imagine the UN condemnations there would be if the tables were turned? If an Arab driver made a wrong turn into an Israeli Jewish neighborhood, and a mob of Jews spontaneously attempted to stone and burn him to death, it would be headline news around the world for weeks.

Of course, Arab drivers make wrong turns into mostly-Jewish neighborhoods all the time, and nothing happens to them. In fact, many Arabs live in mostly-Jewish neighborhoods, so the turns theyre making are not wrong turns at all. And nobody tries to harm them. But thats not newsworthy.

Dont expect The New York Times or CNN to report the near-lynching in Kalandiya. Acknowledging the deep levels of violent Jew-hatred among Palestinian Arabs would upset the international news medias preferred myth of peaceful, moderate Arabs mistreated by violent, racist Jews. They wouldnt want reality to intrude on that narrative.

The writer is a past board member of the American Zionist Movement and was a delegate to the most recent World Zionist Congress.

Excerpt from:

Palestinian Arab towns are a persistent threat to Jewish Israelis - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Palestinian Arab towns are a persistent threat to Jewish Israelis – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

An 88-year-old woman was assaulted outside Paris by two assailants who pushed her to the ground, kicked her, and called her a dirty Jew as tensions over surging antisemitism continue to boil in France.

The attack occurred last week, and the woman filed a complaint to local police on Monday, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. Law enforcement is investigating the attack, which occurred in Val-dOise, just north of Paris.

The elderly woman recounted that she was on her way to a medical appointment when two assailants attacked her from behind. They punched her in the face, pushed her to the ground, and kicked her while hurling antisemitic slurs, including dirty Jew, this is what you deserve.

According to the complaint, the elderly woman was wearing a Star of David necklace, allowing the attackers to identify her as Jewish. I think they saw my necklace; otherwise they would not have known, she said.

The 88-year-old victim suffered a broken tooth, back and wrist pain, as well as mental anguish including nightmares.

Israeli opposition lawmaker Sharren Haskel reportedly said on Thursday that the victim was her grandmother and described the attackers as two Arab thugs.

She tried to hide it from my family because she was embarrassed and ashamed, but she couldnt, Haskel told JNS. It could have ended far worse. Today, she went to the hospital to be examined as part of her filing a complaint with the police.

In a post on X/Twitter, Haskel wrote that she has no hope in the French authorities, arguing that the government allows blood libels to be spread against Israel, and as a result, the Jewish community suffers from violence, rape, murder.

Haskel called on the Israeli government to lead the fight against the explosion of antisemitism, adding that Jewish communities around the world are inseparable from Israel.

I call upon the Diaspora Jews like my grandmother to come to their national, cultural and historical home, she concluded.

The attack in Val-dOise came amid a spike in antisemitism to record levels across France.

In an especially egregious attack that has garnered international headlines, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped by three Muslim boys in a Paris suburb on June 15, according to the French authorities. The child told investigators that the assailants called her a dirty Jew and hurled other antisemitic comments at her during the attack.

The three alleged attackers were arrested by French police two days after the rape. Two of them were indicted for gang rape, death threats, antisemitic violence, attempted extortion, and invasion of privacy. The third boy was charged as a witness.

After the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the scourge of antisemitism overtaking French society and spoke of the need to combat hatred of Jews in schools.

The incident sparked national outrage as massive protests against antisemitism erupted in France.

The French Jewish representative body Crif condemned the two recent attacks, noting Jews have not been spared from violence even if they are children or elderly.

This despicable act highlights the reality of antisemitism in France, where victims aged 12 to 88 are attacked daily because of their Jewish identity, Crif tweeted.

France has experienced a record surge of antisemitism in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Antisemitic outrages rose by over 1,000 percent in the final three months of 2023 compared with the previous year, with over 1,200 incidents reported greater than the total number of incidents in France for the previous three years combined.

Last month, an Israeli family visiting Paris was denied service at a hotel after an attendant noticed their Israeli passports

In April, a Jewish woman was beaten and raped in a suburb of Paris as vengeance for Palestine.

Read the original:

'Dirty Jew, This Is What You Deserve': Elderly French Jewish Woman Assaulted in Paris Suburb - Algemeiner

Category: Jew | Comments Off on ‘Dirty Jew, This Is What You Deserve’: Elderly French Jewish Woman Assaulted in Paris Suburb – Algemeiner
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

Not unlike prior forms of Jewish dark tourism, the trips I joined seemed intended to reassure participants that they could support Israel while retaining the moral clarity of the victim. For example, at the end of the Kfar Azza tour, Shpak, the kibbutz member, explained that the community had once been invested in peace and co-existence efforts, but everything was broken and trampled in our childrens blood. Shpak told our group that in the past, he had found it painful to witness the suffering of the other side. I admit and confess that not this time. I have no sympathy for whats happening on the other side, he said. Other leaders on the trips I witnessed frequently glorified the war effort. In one case, a groups Israeli driver boasted about having driven bulldozers bigger than our large bus into buildings in Khan Younis. Various guides echoed well-worn pro-Israel talking points arguing that Palestinians are not a people, or that the Nakbathe mass dispossession of Palestinians in 1948was not a case of ethnic cleansing. This messaging has clearly affected participants. There arent a lot of innocent Gazans, one member of a rabbinic trip wrote in a blog post. After hearing the stories from those who were there, I am truly sad to say that this is the reality. Greg Harris, a rabbi from Bethesda, Maryland, who led a trip for his congregation, told me that while, in the US, it is perceived that Israel is retaliating against the Palestinian people, in fact that is not what is happeninga truth that participants grasped just by being there in Israel.

The trips not only blur past and present Jewish trauma, but encourage visiting Americans to assume an Israeli identityand the sense of embattlement that comes with it. When one tour group arrived to help pick fruit in a Gaza Envelope orchard, their guide announced that they had come to show the farmer that were your brothers from another mother in America. A rabbi with another group I observed, after witnessing the devastation at Kfar Azza, told the local resident who had guided us, Your story has become our story, our memory, and our trauma. As the Israeli American who staffed multiple trips explained, participants are having their own moment of disorientation about whether they feel safe in America. And thats the lens through which they experience Israel: Were all part of the same struggle. A rabbi who went on a Hartman trip in November drove this idea home in a Shabbat morning speech upon his return. The Jew walking across a college campus to get to class, wondering if it is safe to be conspicuously Jewish in the 21st century in the USA ... is experiencing a phenomenon that is different from what the victims and the survivors of Oct. 7 confronted only in quantity and scope, not quality and category. They are the same. So we are all in that safe room.

Many Americans return from these trips ready to spread the word about what they have seen. A few participants told me that they hoped to draw on their experiences in particular, politically contested settings: One woman who worked with unions in the US said she thought the trip would help her more effectively advocate against organized workers supporting a ceasefire. Meanwhile, countless participants have given media interviews and presentations to their local congregations and JCCs, as well as to churches and public schools. For many, such results are proof that continued solidarity tourism is necessary: We need mega missions, one participant told me in an interview. Harris, the rabbi from Bethesda, told me that he now hoped to have his synagogue organize trips to Israel every two or three months, a rate that would have been unimaginable before October 7th.

Yet while Americans are clamoring to join such trips, Israeli survivors are exhibiting more ambivalence about their frequency and invasiveness. When I was there in February, Kfar Azza was often receiving between 30 and 40 groups a day, and in January, Gili Molcho, a spokesperson for Kibbutz Beeria town formerly of some 1,000 residents where nearly 100 civilians were killed and about 30 were taken hostageestimated that the community was receiving between 500 and 1,000 visitors daily. The feeling is of losing control, he explained to Ynet at the time. In another interview at the time, he told Haaretz: On the one hand, its unpleasant to refuse, and on the other hand, people say theyre starting to feel like theyre in a zoo. Kibbutz residents have described having strangers burst into their homes to photograph them or push past them to climb the stairs; others have spoken of opening their own front doors to find people taking selfies in the living room. Haaretz has reported that some tourists have taken items from peoples homes as souvenirs. In the past several months, Beeri and a few other kibbutzim in the area have largely stopped allowing tours. Multiple guides told me in interviews that it was becoming harder to find kibbutzim open to groups or survivors willing to speak. Theres a tension between people who are trying to return to their homes and rebuild their lives, versus all of these groups who keep walking around the kibbutz and reminding them that they live in a massacre site, the Israeli American trip staffer said.

See more here:

The Rise of October 7th Tourism - Jewish Currents

Category: Jew | Comments Off on The Rise of October 7th Tourism – Jewish Currents
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

Many French Jews are turning away from their prior political mainstays and are voting for the right-wing National Rally in Sunday's parliamentary elections, Jewish Paris resident David told The Jerusalem Post, as problems arising from immigration and cultural change have risen to the forefront of political discussion.

David said that everyone in his synagogue was voting for National Rally, as were many other religious Jew he knew. Many of his leftist Jewish friends were either voting for right parties of not voting at all.

"We're voting for the nicest enemy," said David, referring to National Rally's founder's controversies with Holocaust denial and antisemitism. "It is very hard to vote for them [National Rally], who wants to vote for those who have a history with Nazis."

David pointed to mass immigration and the consequent changes in French society and Islamist antisemitism as the major concern driving the drastic political shifts he had seen among his friends. David lives in an area heavily populated with immigrants, many from Mali, Senegal, or Afghanistan.

He explained that the area had become riddled with drugs and crime, and were not safe for native French or girls.

Many were occupying social benefits because they had no work, the rest employed by food delivery companies. It didn't feel like a city in France, anymore, but a foreign country -- and it was not relegated just to his area.

"France has changed so much in the last 10 years," said David. "The French are not having children."

The Paris resident traveled around France for work, and had seen many Muslim-dominated towns devoid of any native French. Despite being a heavily secular country, such areas had become decorated with Islamic religious trappings.

There had been a startling rise in Islamic terrorism in France in recent year, and in the wake of Hamas's October 7 Massacre there had been a massive spike in antisemitism. David described how many felt that the future of the Jews in the country wasn't optimistic, and many of the youth considered immigration to Israel.

Seeking solutions, David explained how the political blocs left them with few options. David said that French President Emmanuelle Macron's centrist party didn't do anything over the years. While the center offered no solution, the left was now inhospitable.

"I am a leftist, usually I vote for the left," said David. "I'm the most leftist of all my friends."

The left had hitched itself to Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sentiment since October 7, with some leftist leaders "talking just about Palestinians." In the European Parliamentary election earlier in June even had a French "Free Palestine party," David said showing a leaflet. Left-wing politicians appealed to French Arabs, said David, warning them that if the right rose to power it would return them all to Tunisia or Algeria.

"I don't know Jews who are voting for the leftists," said David. "Most of the Jews I know are voting for [Reconqute leader ric] Zemmour or [National Rally President] Jordan Bardella."

David had wanted to vote for Zemour, but Reconqute didn't have a candidate in his riding.

"The French don't deserve a man like Zemmour," said David, describing the leader of Algerian Jewish extraction as an intelligent man who had a passionate love for French culture and society. Zemmour had long warned about how increasing immigration could change the character of the republic's culture.

Moving from the Left to the right is a dramatic change for some French Jews, who David said had been left with a difficult choice -- But difficult or not, based on what David said his friends have made the choice all the same.

Here is the original post:

French Jews to change historic voting patterns, vote far-right this time - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jew | Comments Off on French Jews to change historic voting patterns, vote far-right this time – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

This weeks collection of the Rebbes English letters shines a light on the Rebbes deep concern and sense of responsibility for every Jew in need both spiritually and physically no matter his or her religious affiliation, social standing, or geographical location.

This weeks selection of correspondence is themed The Rebbes Care for Every Jew. In truth, in every one of the Rebbes Letters, an unparalleled sense of care and devotion to every individual is apparent. In this weeks booklet, we attempt to present a selection of letters that shine a light on the Rebbes deep concern and sense of responsibility for every Jew in need both spiritually and physically no matter his or her religious affiliation, social standing, or geographical location.

In addition, included is a Newly Released Letter as part of our recently relaunched daily newly released letter series.

Rebbe Responsa kindly requests anyone who may be in possession of letters of the Rebbe in English, to send them by email so that these unique treasures can benefit the public.

These selected letters are sourced from the extensive collection of over 5,000 English letters written by the Rebbe, accessible through the Rebbe Responsa app. To view previous issues click here.

Click here to download the booklet.

To subscribe to the weekly publication by Email sign up here.

Read more from the original source:

Rebbe Responsa Highlights the Rebbe's Care for Every Jew - Anash.org - Good News

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Rebbe Responsa Highlights the Rebbe’s Care for Every Jew – Anash.org – Good News
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

More than 10 years ago, I attended a college friends wedding in New York City.

My friend is Muslim, her husband Jewish. They were married under a Jewish wedding canopy made from the grooms bar mitzvah prayer shawl which, his mother announced to the assembled guests, had been made in India, the brides parents country of origin. The bride wore a red wedding sari. The grooms mother read and explained the seven blessings of a Jewish wedding; the brides mother read from the Quran and then provided an English translation.

The bride and groom sipped from the same cup of wine, as one does at a Jewish wedding. But knowing that I was writing about her wedding for my book on interfaith marriages, the bride pulled me aside in between the ceremony and the photos. They had replaced the traditional wine with white grape juice, she told me nonalcoholic in deference to the fact that she is Muslim; white out of fear of staining the wedding finery before the photos.

My friends interfaith wedding might seem unusual, but it is part of the American Jewish normal. Approximately 42% of married Jews have a spouse who is not Jewish. Among American Jews who have gotten married since 2010, that percentage rises to 61%.

Many advocates for interfaith families prefer not to call these marriages between Jews and non-Jews, because that term defines people by what they are not erasing their own vibrant religious and cultural heritage. There is great diversity in whom Jews marry. Most spouses come from Christian backgrounds, given the demographics of the United States, but Christianity itself is very diverse. Others marry Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists or people from any number of other religious traditions.

In my research on interfaith families, Ive seen ceremonies combine traditions in a wide array of ways.

Sometimes the Jewish wedding canopy, called a chuppah, is simply a beautiful piece of cloth, or combined with floral arrangements. Often, though, it represents family traditions. A bride or groom might use the same chuppah as their parents, use a family prayer shawl, or have a chuppah that combines fabric from both of their mothers wedding dresses.

At interfaith ceremonies, the chuppah is often a way to weave another culture into the wedding. When Jews marry people from India be they Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or even another Jew they will sometimes use a sari or a shawl with distinctively Indian embroidery to make the wedding canopy.

Another couple that I wrote about in Beyond Chrismukkah, a book based on my research on Jewish-Christian families, made the chuppah out of an African American story quilt that they then hung over their bed, with the intent that they would add a square for every year of their marriage. The last square that they added depicts two people standing together: her pregnant and him beaming. They laughingly told me that life got busy after the baby was born, and they are now over two decades behind.

Still another bride and groom made a chuppah decorated with symbols, some of which represented them as individuals, and others narrating what brought them together as a couple. Their design included a Star of David for him and a flaming chalice, the symbol of the Unitarian Universalist Association, for her, and then the love of books and hiking that they shared.

While many rabbis are not allowed to formally co-officiate with clergy from other religions at weddings, some are able to do so.

Other rabbis allow another clergy person to offer a reading or take another role in the ceremony sometimes to picturesque effect. At one wedding, a Catholic Franciscan friar offered a blessing in his brown robe and sandals, standing under a chuppah next to a rabbi wrapped in a Jewish prayer shawl.

No matter who performs the ceremony, couples often find creative ways to incorporate their traditions into the wedding day. Many pull readings from both of their traditions: some meaningful commentary on marriage, or even the famous biblical verse I Corinthians 13: Love is patient, love is kind. Jewish-Hindu couples may pair the seven Jewish wedding blessings with the seven steps taken in a Hindu wedding.

Some couples have a Jewish ceremony but make other parts of their heritage a central part of the celebration: inviting a Christian relative to say grace before the supper, for example, or greeting guests at the reception venue with a Hindu aarti, in which one of the hosts will wave trays of lighted lamps in front of the guests to show them honor, respect and blessing. Often, families will include food from the non-Jewish culture, whether its elaborate Italian American dinners or Chinese wedding banquets.

Other interfaith couples will surround their Jewish wedding day with traditions from the non-Jewish culture. For instance, Jewish brides traditionally visit a ritual bath called a mikveh before their weddings. Some brides in Jewish-Hindu interfaith weddings follow the trip to the mikveh with a mehendi party and ladies sangeet: a night of henna painting and singing.

Not everything is fun and easy in the world of interfaith weddings. More and more rabbis in the more liberal Reform, Reconstructionist and Renewal movements perform interfaith ceremonies. In August 2023, however, the Conservative movement reaffirmed its ban on Conservative rabbis performing interfaith marriages.

During my research on interfaith families, couples told me many, many stories about their weddings even though, in the end, I was not really writing about weddings. Sometimes, the stories were hard. One brides childhood rabbi refused to perform the ceremony, angering her parents so much that they quit their synagogue of 30 years. Some couples expressed pain about grandparents or aunts and uncles who skipped the ceremony. In one case, a woman expressed relief that her father had died before her nephew announced his engagement. She was glad that her father never said to his grandson what he had said to her when she fell in love with a Protestant.

Overall, however, most peoples weddings were happy memories that offered hints to the interfaith lives and household that they would go on to create together.

Samira Mehta, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies & Jewish Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Originally posted here:

For American Jews, Interfaith Weddings Are a New Normal And Creatively Weave Both Traditions Together - The Good Men Project

Category: Jew | Comments Off on For American Jews, Interfaith Weddings Are a New Normal And Creatively Weave Both Traditions Together – The Good Men Project
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

As Jacob Steinmetz prepared for his first international road trip as a professional baseball player last week, he had plenty on his plate literally.

The 20-year-old pitching prospect, who in July 2021 made history as the first Orthodox Jew drafted into MLB, was set to make his third start for the Hillsboro Hops, the Arizona Diamondbacks High-A affiliate in Oregon, as they traveled across the border to face the Vancouver Canadians.

But before he could take the mound on Sunday afternoon, Steinmetz had to work out where hed stay and what hed eat. Since joining the Diamondbacks organization, the team has ordered kosher food for Steinmetz and put him up in hotels near the field so he could walk to practice on Saturdays.

But in Vancouver, there werent any hotels within walking distance. And the team was concerned that the kosher food it usually orders for him from the Western Kosher supermarket in Los Angeles would get caught up in customs. So Steinmetzs family stepped in, helping him find local kosher restaurants and arranging an Airbnb near the ballpark.

The 6-foot-6 righty wasnt fazed by the logistical hangups.

I had a kind of expectation going in of it being much harder, Steinmetz said of being Orthodox in professional baseball. With [the Diamondbacks] putting all that together, and just being so open and honest about everything, and just so willing to adjust to anything I need, its been a lot easier than I could have ever imagined. Thankfully I havent had to stress out too much about anything.

Since being picked 77th overall in the 2021 draft, Steinmetz has been working his way up the many ranks of the Diamondbacks minor league system. He made 12 starts in the rookie-level Arizona Complex League in 2021 and 2022 before being promoted to Low-A last year, where he made 19 appearances with the Visalia Rawhide in central California. He also enjoyed a breakout moment in the 2023 World Baseball Classic with Team Israel, striking out three big leaguers while facing the powerhouse Dominican Republic.

Steinmetz said the initial buzz that accompanied his likely being the first Orthodox Jew to go this far in the minor leagues has begun to wear off.

I am used to it, so its tough to put it into words now, Steinmetz said. At first it was definitely very cool, and I think it might have been a little, not pressure, but I kind of wasnt taking it as seriously. But now Ive kind of been able to just focus on baseball.

Even as his uniform and zip code changes, Steinmetz has settled into a unique routine. The organization orders frozen kosher meals that are delivered to wherever hes playing that week, with a usual rotation including chicken tenders, spaghetti and meatballs and pulled brisket. He orders grape juice from Amazon Prime for Shabbat, and matzah for Passover.

And while the observance has entailed a bit of a learning curve for some of his coaches, Steinmetz said they follow his lead even if they do sometimes text him on Shabbat.

But theyre understanding, he said, about the times he needs to miss practice or a game because of Jewish religious restrictions.

Theres definitely some explaining being done, Steinmetz said. But at the end of the day, theyre just trusting me with a lot of it. And I dont take it lightly. Whenever I can be there, I try to be there. Whenever I have a little bit of a dilemma, Ill tell the coaches and theyll always say, Hey, whatever you need, dont worry about that.

Minor league teams, especially in Single-A, are often located in rural areas, far from any local Jewish communities or synagogues. Steinmetz sometimes does a quick Shabbat service by himself in his room, and while he pitched on Shavuot last month, he said he avoids playing on Shabbat or Jewish holidays whenever possible.

Being a pitcher who only has to start roughly once a week makes things easier. And he got used to these kinds of makeshift arrangements as a promising teenage player crisscrossing the country with his father, Elliot Steinmetz, the mens basketball coach at Yeshiva University.

Especially growing up playing in tournaments where we were kind of in the middle of nowhere, me and my dad, making Shabbos on our own, Ive definitely gotten used to it, Steinmetz said.

In the clubhouse, Steinmetz said his teammates occasionally ask questions about his Orthodox lifestyle particularly about the laws of kashrut and about Shabbat. And, of course, whether McDonalds has kosher food. (Outside of Israel and Argentina, it does not).

I just try to keep it as simple as possible, Steinmetz said. Ill kind of give them the basics, like what makes food kosher. Ill tell them its just how the animal is killed and how the foods prepared from that point on.

Steinmetz said his teammates have begun to catch on, and even teach each other.

There are some times when someone will ask whats kosher and one of my teammates will be like, Oh, it just means the animal is killed in a certain way, and the foods prepared in a certain way, he said. And then theyll look at me and theyre like, Right? And Im like, Yeah, thats pretty much it.

Steinmetz said some of his teammates hail from cities with sizable Jewish communities, like Miami or Memphis, and are used to seeing Jews walk to synagogue on Saturdays. But for others, Judaism is completely foreign.

There was a kid that I was pretty close with thats from the middle of nowhere in Indiana that hadnt met a Jew ever, Steinmetz said. So it was a little bit different explaining to him as opposed to some other guys.

Steinmetzs top priority, of course, is his game and thats improving. He started 2024 with Visalia, posting a 3.60 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 50 innings solid numbers for a starter before being promoted to Hillsboro on June 18. He had cut his ERA nearly in half from 2023, while drastically reducing the number of walks he surrendered.

Last year, I was kind of struggling with command, Steinmetz said. Even in outings where I wasnt walking a lot of guys, I was still falling behind in counts. I think this year Ive just gotten a lot more confident with all my pitches in the zone, so it kind of allows me to expand more off of that. Just get early contact, get early outs and go deep into games.

One of Steinmetzs closest friends in Visalia was his roommate Druw Jones, the 2022 second overall pick and the son of former MLB star Andruw Jones.

Hes awesome, Jones told JTA before Steinmetz was called up. Hes one of my best friends on the team. Just a good guy, a good guy to have around, good vibes all the time.

Jones, who grew up in a Christian home, said he would frequently ask Steinmetz questions about his Jewish upbringing and practice though he hadnt yet tried any Jewish delicacies.

On the field, Steinmetz proudly wears his identity on his sleeve or more accurately, on his wrist. He has an Israeli flag sewn onto his Rawlings glove and wears an Israeli flag headband under his hat. In addition to reining in his long hair, Steinmetz, who is not very active on social media, said the two accessories are his way of making his voice heard.

When people see my headband sometimes theyll be like, Hey, I stand with Israel, or Cool headband, stuff like that, he said. Its just kind of showing who I am and not hiding from it.

Steinmetzs family was in Israel on Oct. 7 to visit his brother, who was on a gap-year program, but baseball obligations kept Jacob from joining them. He returned home to Woodmere, New York, from Arizona on Oct. 6 and spent the holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah with family and friends. Like many Orthodox Jews, he heard about the Hamas attack only after the holidays ended.

We obviously heard about it through shul, and nobody really knew what was happening until we all turned our phones on after, Steinmetz recalled. His thoughts immediately went to his family. I saw a text pop up that said they were fine, he said.

In the months since, Steinmetz said the Israel-Hamas war has rarely come up in conversations with his teammates.

No ones said anything outright antisemitic or anti-Zionist or anything like that, he said. Ive only heard words of support and stuff like that. It just isnt talked about as much.

Steinmetzs family watches his starts online and occasionally travels to see him pitch including an early June game in Rancho Cucamonga, California, where Steinmetzs father, grandfather and a handful of family friends made the trip for what proved to be his penultimate start with the Rawhide.

Its fun to watch your kids work hard at something and then succeed in it, Elliot Steinmetz told JTA. Watching him and knowing how hard he works at it, how much it means to him, and to see him out there, obviously enjoying it and getting better at it every day, it means a lot. Its awesome. Im proud of him.

Elliot said he attended two of his sons starts last year, and two so far this season. The Rancho Cucamonga start was the first in-person game of the year for Michael Steinmetz, Jacobs grandfather.

Its very special, Michael Steinmetz told JTA. Hes worked very, very hard for this. Hes always believed that he could do this and keep his faith and keep his observance. And hes working very hard to prove that, I think on both ends. Im very proud of him.

The elder Steinmetz also referenced fellow Orthodox athletes and friends of Jacobs Elie Kligman, who was drafted after Steinmetz in 2021, and Ryan Turell, the former Y.U. basketball star who spent the past two seasons in the NBAs minor league.

I think its great that hes first, that hes blazing a trail, that hes proved to people that we can do it, Michael Steinmetz said. Were regular people, and hes just trying to prove that.

Turell, who played for Elliot Steinmetz at Yeshiva, has also been to a few of Steinmetzs games, and the pair catch up occasionally in L.A., where Turell grew up. Steinmetz said theyve discussed their parallel paths as Orthodox professional athletes.

Ive asked him about it a couple times. It does sound kind of similar to me, Steinmetz said. Hes walking in the middle of nowhere and stuff like that. And obviously, its a little different and more difficult in the G League because theyre playing every day.

Back home on Long Island, Steinmetzs success has turned him into a celebrity of sorts.

When I got home in the offseason, and Id go to synagogue on Saturdays, theres kids coming over, just saying whats up, Steinmetz said. And kind of looking at me like Im some whatever, even though Ive been going to that same synagogue for 17 years.

But he gets why younger kids want to meet the Orthodox pitcher who could one day make the majors. He said, Its definitely cool for them to see that there is someone that does it.

Read the original post:

Jacob Steinmetz is the first Orthodox Jew to draft to MLB - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Jacob Steinmetz is the first Orthodox Jew to draft to MLB – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

Being a Zionist Jew has never felt at odds with being a proud Australian. After all, being a Zionist simply means believing that the state of Israel was established as a Jewish homeland in our ancestral land- a belief legally endorsed by our Australian government and the international community.

Since the horrors of October 7, however, the anti Zionist rhetoric in Australia has become an all-consuming eruption.

I write this as a Jewish Australian whose paternal grandparents arrived on these shores in time to avoid the monstrous fate that befell most of their family members in Poland, at the hands of the Nazis.

And yet last weekend pro Palestinians unashamedly marched in the streets of Melbourne holding blatantly antisemitic posters depicting Jews as Nazis.

Unashamed and unchallenged.

If you are shocked that this is occuring, you havent been paying attention.

One only has to look online to see how Jew hate is becoming normalised. I am not speaking of keyboard warriors who hide behind fake identities. I am referring to real, identifiable people who hold respectable positions in medicine, the arts, law, education and many other fields yet are unafraid to spout hate and put their name to it.

Anti Zionists have become more emboldened each day to spew hate as there have been relatively few consequences or questions. In fact, it seems that, online at least, it is becoming fashionable.

How did we get here in Australia in 2024?

How did it become socially acceptable to openly criticise the Prime Minister of Australia for visiting the Melbourne Holocaust museum? To make jokes about Zionists going back to Europe where they belong? When did it become tolerable to write no Zionists allowed on tents at universities? That is my children you are talking about.

Where was the outcry when lists of Zionists were written up and a Jewish couple were forced out of their neighbourhood for being Zionists? Why are Jewish businesses being targeted in the pretense that this will bring peace in the Middle East, with long detailed videos explaining the owners family trees and even showing their family homes?

When did it become sanctioned to say that Zionists do not deserve to feel culturally safe, or to chant on the streets that All Zionists are Terrorists and place stickers saying as much?

When did it become socially permissible for women to vehemently deny the sexual violence that took place against Israeli women on October 7?

When did it become normalised to tear down posters of innocent men, women and children being held hostage in Gaza? And when did screaming Zionist Baby Killer to a person holding a hostage sign at a rally not elicit a negative reaction from onlookers?

How did a member of parliament describe Jewish tentacles and barely receive a slap on the wrist?

How did we get to a place in time where condemning Jew die written on a school needs to be followed up with a caveat stipulating that one does not support Zionism?

I wondered that day when I saw Jew die written on the entrance of Mt Scopus College, whether the outrage would have been as great if it had simply said Zionist die.

I know the answer.

These are but a small handful of the hateful words and actions that Jewish people are confronted with daily in Australia. Even if one wanted to put their head in the sand, it would be impossible as a Zionist Jew not to see it, hear it and ever so deeply feel it.

I can already anticipate what the response to this will be from some- that demonising Zionists is not antisemitic. That they dont mind Jews as long as they denounce their deeply help love for Israel. I am able to anticipate this response as I see this rhetoric daily as an excuse for inexcusable behaviour.

And to that I respond Whether someone claims to be demonising Jews or Zionists, they are demonising the same people. They are demonising me and my family. They are demonising my whole community.

Call it antisemitism, Jew hate, Zionist hate use whatever word you want to hide behind. You are not fooling us. Hate is hate is hate.

And hate should not be tolerated.

It has been nearly 9 long months since that infamous evening on the steps of The Sydney Opera House when f the Jews (and worse) was chanted. Less than 48 hours after the horrors of October 7. And for 8 months the Jewish community have been placated with reassurances that the silent majority do not stand for hate against us.

I am waiting for that silent majority to stand up and challenge what has become socially acceptable in our society. I am waiting for our leaders to do something that will have an effect. Something more than words.

Hate of any kind should never be sanctioned by silence. It is silence that makes way for extremism, and we are seeing the rise of extremism in our country.

Hate of anyone is unacceptable and intolerable, and it is up to every Australian to call it out. It is up to our Prime Minister, our leaders and all citizens to stamp it out.

It is clear that what was unacceptable yesterday has become acceptable today. And what is unacceptable today will become acceptable tomorrow.

And if you, the members of our multicultural Australia do not say or do anything about it now, the bar will have moved so unbearably low that it will be impossible to raise it again.

Keren Zelwer is a speech pathologist living in Melbourne, Australia. Keren is a member of the Advocacy Subcommittee of National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (Vic). She has had articles published in The Australian, The Age, The Canberra Times and Mamamia.

Continue reading here:

Who will put a stop to the Jew hate in Australia? - The Times of Israel

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Who will put a stop to the Jew hate in Australia? – The Times of Israel
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

Last week, I had the chance to testify before members of Congress about the recent rise in antisemitism on college campuses. The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, which has initiated important investigations into this issue, asked me to speak about the legal recourses we can take to protect Jews at Americas universities.

To open my remarks, I asked the members to imagine the following scenes: A demonstration breaks out in the main thoroughfare of a public university. Activists carry antisemitic signs and chant, Slaughter the Jews. Police officers are present, yet they stand idly by as the activists intimidate Jewish students and faculty.

Then I asked them to imagine that hundreds of agitators swarm a law school, holding signs and chanting slogans like death to Jews. Weeks later, a professor finds a piece of paper outside her home entitled Loudmouth Jew accompanied by a book cover featuring a swastika.

Finally, activists erected an unauthorized encampment on campus. They create checkpoints, interrogate students attempting to pass, and deny entry to Jews. Rather than stop it, university officials aid and abet the encampment.

While these episodes may sound straight out of 1930s Germany, I made clear to the members of Congress that they werent. These are real events that occurred at UCLA over the past nine months events that have precipitated a federal lawsuit against the university where my law firm represents several students. They also describe events at other American universities where similar incidents have erupted since October 7.

So, what can be done to ensure that universities that have denied Jewish students, faculty, and employees equal treatment under the law are held accountable? Many existing laws offer potential solutions.

To start, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin at institutions receiving federal funding. That means universities can be sued when they deprive students and faculty of full participation and the full benefits of their programs for being Jewish. Similarly, Title VII bans employment discrimination, including creating a hostile work environment. Consequently, employers are liable to suit when they allow antisemitism to fester in their workplaces.

Other civil rights laws can also help. The Ku Klux Klan Act, passed during Reconstruction to protect Black Americans from racial terrorism, applies today and provides protection for attacks against Jews on college campuses. When universities acquiesce in antisemitic activity and refuse to apply their campus policies to unlawful behavior, that opens the door to filing a claim under the Act against the universities.

Where public universities are involved, our federal Constitution helps, too. Often, these schools deny Jewish students equal protection under the laws. And they are frequently denying them their right to freely exercise their religion by appearing as Jews and not disavowing Israel and their right to free speech.

The federal government can also make an important difference. In a recent Congressional hearing, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block admitted that UCLA officials knew about the antisemitic events on campus and did little to stop them. But his statements did something crucial: they galvanized Jewish students and faculty and made them realize they were not alone and could address these issues before they got worse. Without such Congressional oversight and investigation into antisemitism at UCLA and other universities, many would not have felt empowered to speak up.

Federal agencies can also act. The Department of Education, for example, has the power to investigate Title VI violations without needing formal complaints. Antisemitism in higher education is a known issue, and the Departments Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has the tools to initiate investigations outside the complaint process. As OCR has noted, agency-initiated cases, called compliance reviews, are intended to target resources to compliance problems that are particularly acute, national in scope, or newly emerging. Antisemitism on college campuses fits that bill.

The federal government must show the American people that it is taking antisemitism on college campuses seriously. Further Congressional oversight and decisive agency action are an excellent start.

In 1790, President George Washington wrote to a small Hebrew congregation in Rhode Island, assuring them that Jews could live free in the new nation. He wrote, the Government of the United States . . . gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. It is time for America to live up to Washingtons promise. Working together, our nation can ensure that our Constitution and our civil rights laws are kept and safeguarded for Jewish Americans.

Read this article:

Protecting Jewish Students On Campus - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

Category: Jew | Comments Off on Protecting Jewish Students On Campus – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com
Tags:

Posted By admin on July 6, 2024

Rishi Sunak, once a poster boy for Britains Indian diaspora, now faces their growing dissatisfaction amid rising living costs and economic stagnation further hurting his prospects in the countrys general election on Thursday.

The opposition Labour Party has been more than 20 points ahead in surveys for over 18 months as Britons tire of Conservative Party rule. Polls last month forecast that Sunak could even lose his own seat in the general election.

The Indian diaspora makes up about 2.5 per cent of Britains population, meaning their disenchantment with Sunak and his Tories could prove significant.

A lot of pain points are coming out in the open and the larger diaspora is going with the sentiment of an anti-Tory wave. People are saying that maybe its time to bring a new government, said Ashwin Krishnaswamy, a UK-based technology investor.

Rising living costs and disappointing economic growth have contributed to this perception, said Krishnaswamy, adding that the Conservatives are getting squeezed from both sides because they have not increased wealth creation.

The downbeat sentiment contributed to a drubbing for Sunaks Conservatives in local elections held in May. The Tories lost control of 10 councils and more than 470 council seats, besides ceding 10 police and crime commissioners to Labour.

Since announcing snap elections about a month ago, Sunaks election campaign, which has heavily focused on promises to fix the economy and public services such as the National Health Service (NHS), has not gained much traction.

Sunaks campaign has been about looking to the future. But in the past you [Conservative Party] have had so many leadership changes, [people are thinking] what is the guarantee that you will remain, said Priyajit Debsarkar, a London-based Indian author.

The diaspora had lots to celebrate when Rishi took charge of 10 Downing Street. The euphoria has fizzled out due to a failure to keep fundamental promises like tackling the cost of living and the National Health Service crisis, Debsarkar said.

Since late 2021, prices for many essential goods in Britain have been increasing faster than household incomes, resulting in a fall in real incomes. The phenomenon has been termed a cost-of-living crisis.

Sunak was expected to help fix Britains economic woes since the nations withdrawal from the EU in January 2020. But gross domestic product was estimated to have increased by only 0.1 per cent last year, following growth of 4.3 per cent in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Public sentiment has also soured over the state of facilities such as health services, which have suffered from chronic under-investment, spurring frequent protests by doctors over pay disputes since last year.

The NHS is a big disaster. There is a huge pay disparity in the NHS between different sections of doctors, Krishnaswamy said, on the reasons for the loss of confidence.

Labour traditionally enjoyed a stronger support base among British Indians, but it has weakened over the years with a new breed of richer and well-educated diaspora identifying more with the Conservatives, a trend which was only expected to accelerate under Sunak.

However, a lot of water has now flowed between the Thames and the English Channel, so even the Indian diaspora has had second thoughts, Debsarkar said.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has been able to project the party as a stable government-in-waiting, which has resonated with voters struggling with rising costs of living.

House rents are 100 per cent higher than six to seven years back, said Supriyo Chaudhuri, CEO of e1133 Ltd, a firm specialising in higher education, noting that it was tough for new immigrants to Britain to buy a house. If you are a new immigrant, you cant [afford to] buy a house.

Chaudhuri, who has been living in the UK for a decade, said Sunak does not talk about public services and the cost of living crisis, nor had he succeeded in creating business dynamism.

If Labour toppled the Conservatives, they too will need to find a new play book to resolve the issues, he said.

Cedomir Nestorovic, a professor of geopolitics at the ESSEC Business School Asia-Pacific in Singapore, said the key to enticing voters would be solving the economic riddle.

Companies needed to be provided with opportunities to create a ripple effect of jobs and salaries, which had not come through strongly under Sunak, he said.

Read the original post:

Amid rising living costs, will UKs Indian diaspora back ex-poster boy Sunak? - This Week In Asia

Category: Diaspora | Comments Off on Amid rising living costs, will UKs Indian diaspora back ex-poster boy Sunak? – This Week In Asia
Tags: