Category Archives: Uncategorized

Anti-Semitism from the Extreme Right Wing and not the Left!

25 Monday Mar 2019

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Rabbi David Teutsch, who shares the co-chairmanship with me and Rabbi Andrea London of the J Street Rabbinic and Cantorial Cabinet, has written an authoritative piece that will appear in the Times of Israel detailing how the extreme right-wing is the greatest anti-Semitic threat and NOT the extreme left wing. Though there are concerns about a growing anti-Israel sentiment on the left, these people are not violent. The right wing is.

David shows us why and is to be complemented.

http://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/dangers-antisemitism

Two States for Two Peoples – Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

18 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Israel and Palestine, Uncategorized

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Anyone who supports the right of the Jewish people to a state of our own and calls for a two-states for two people’s resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not an anti-Semite.

Congressman Ilhan Omar has now laid her cards on the table. Her support for the rights of the Jewish people for a state of our own in Israel and the Palestinian people for a state of their own should satisfy doubts we might have had about her position vis a vis the Jewish people and Israel.

Ilhan Omar: We must apply our universal values to all nations. Only then will we achieve peace, Washington Post –

Rep. Ilhan Omar writes, “U.S. support for Israel has a long history. The founding of Israel 70 years ago was built on the Jewish people’s connection to their historical homeland, as well as the urgency of establishing a nation in the wake of the horror of the Holocaust and the centuries of anti-Semitic oppression leading up to it. Many of the founders of Israel were themselves refugees who survived indescribable horrors. We must acknowledge that this is also the historical homeland of Palestinians. And without a state, the Palestinian people live in a state of permanent refugeehood and displacement. This, too, is a refugee crisis, and they, too, deserve freedom and dignity. A balanced, inclusive approach to the conflict recognizes the shared desire for security and freedom of both peoples. I support a two-state solution, with internationally recognized borders, which allows for both Israelis and Palestinians to have their own sanctuaries and self-determination. This has been official bipartisan U.S. policy across two decades and has been supported by each of the most recent Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as the consensus of the Israeli security establishment. “

For full article go to https://wapo.st/2ub60vk

 

Gallup poll on attitudes towards Israel and Palestinian Authority

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Israel/Zionism, Uncategorized

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Americans’ overall views toward Israel and the Palestinian Authority have changed little in the past year, with roughly seven in 10 viewing Israel very or mostly favorably and two in 10 viewing the Palestinian Authority in the same terms.
At the same time, the new poll finds a slight softening of Americans’ partiality toward Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly among moderate/liberal Republicans and, to a lesser extent, liberal Democrats.
 
While liberal Democrats are no less favorable toward Israel today than they have been over the past two decades, they have grown more favorable toward the Palestinians and, perhaps as a result, less likely to side with Israel in the conflict. On average from 2017-2019, liberal Democrats have been nearly as likely to be pro-Palestinian as pro-Israeli in their views on the conflict, and that is very different from Republicans, and to a lesser extent moderate/conservative Democrats who remain more solidly in Israel’s corner.
 
Note: The question was not asked “Do you believe in the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state according to its Declaration of Independence even if you disagree with policies of the Israeli government vis a vis the Palestinians.” I suspect that had that question been asked, the numbers in support would be much higher for Israel.
 

Young people remembering Holocaust Survivors

05 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Uncategorized

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This week I received an email announcement of an 8-minute animated video created by a group of 12-year old students at a local middle school, one of whom is an upcoming bar mitzvah at my synagogue. The film is based on an interview of an Auschwitz survivor, Erika Jacoby, who tells her story. The students created the visuals.

The film is astounding in its own right, beautifully executed and moving to watch, and even more so given that it was created by very young Jewish and non-Jewish students.

Given the diminishing and aging community of Holocaust survivors, we in the Jewish world have worried how younger generations of Jews would come to understand and regard the Holocaust and its significance in Jewish history.

This film ends on a vision of hope and is worth seeing.

To read more and find the link to the vimeo go to my blog at the Times of Israel –

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/young-people-remembering-holocaust-survivors/

Our Reform Movement Condemns Bibi’s Decision to Bring Kahanists into his Coalition

28 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by in Ethics, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Uncategorized

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“The Reform Movement strongly condemns the recent initiative of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring loyalists of racist Rabbi Meir Kahane into the Knesset. Those who espouse an ideology of hate, intolerance, and incite violence have no place in the Jewish State let alone in her government.” — The Reform Movement released a new statement this morning on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Initiative to Bring the Racist Otzma Yehudit Party into the Government.

For full statement, go to – https://bit.ly/2Xxa1Yi

Bezalel – Judaism’s First Artist

28 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Art, Divrei Torah, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

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On the face of it, the verses from this week’s Torah portion Vayakehl describe the matter-of-fact building of a movable edifice. But this isn’t merely an architectural plan. It’s a description of the highest aesthetic vision of the ancient Israelites, a standard that would impress itself upon the hearts, minds, and souls of generations of Jews to come…

Not just any craftsman could design and build this sacred structure. Only someone with the right qualities of heart, mind, soul, skill, and communal attitude could do the job, qualities spelled out in the text.

To read the entire d’var Torah, go to https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/bezalel-judaisms-first-artist/

My blessing for Pearl Berg at her 109th Birthday – updated in 2022

17 Sunday Feb 2019

Posted by in American Jewish Life, Health and Well-Being, Life Cycle, Uncategorized

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Pearl Berg's 109th birthday
At the end of an amazing Shabbat morning service at Temple Israel of Hollywood that celebrated my 30th and final year as Senior Rabbi, I had the honor of invoking a blessing upon Pearl Berg who celebrated on February 14 her 109th birthday! [Pearl’s actual birthday was 3 months earlier – on October 1, 1909 – a story in and of itself]
She still knows what’s going on and knew me immediately.
Her son, Robert, told me that on her 107th birthday the family invited KTLA television to interview her. The anchor asked: “Mrs. Berg – how were you able to reach 107 years?”
She answered: “First, you have to reach 106 years!”
I told her that she should live to 120! She said “Please no!” The room cracked up!
She’s still got “IT!”
Notes: As of October 13, 2022, Pearl is still alive and well making her now 113 years old.
Pearl is listed as the 12th oldest American as of this date and the 2nd oldest Californian. She is likely the oldest Jewish person in California and, possibly, the oldest Jew in America – https://gerontology.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_oldest_living_people_in_the_United_States
See article in the Jewish Journal – October 2022 – for the full story of Pearl’s life – https://jewishjournal.com/cover_story/352205/cover-story-113-year-old-pearl-berg-may-be-the-oldest-jew-in-the-world/

If Howard Schultz runs as an independent for President, a national boycott of Starbucks ought to be the consequence

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by in American Politics and Life, Uncategorized

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Howard Schultz, should he run for President as an Independent, would likely take more Democratic votes away from the Democratic nominee than from the Republican Trump, and that could be the difference that elects Donald Trump to a second term.

Schultz should run, if he wants, as a Democrat. That he wants to do so as an Independent is not only self-centered and likely to be a failure (no Independent candidate has ever won for President including Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 – remember John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992), but it’s a cowardly act because, in my view, it seems that he doesn’t want to run competitively in the primaries against other far more politically experienced than him, despite running an international company with a strong concern for ethics and fair treatment of employees.

I hope that Schultz decides to drop this potentially disastrous run and do the responsible thing – step aside altogether or run as a Democrat in the primaries just like the 20 or so other potential candidates will do.

If he runs as an Independent, I will never step foot in a Starbucks again – and neither should any of us because we will likely be able to blame him for a 2nd Trump term!